Revelatory Ramblings…

• some recent events in my life have served for me to refocus myself on god.  the situation wasn’t His idea, but i’m glad that it caused me to see what’s really important:  Him.
• i sincerely think that i have the best parents in the world.  in a situation that can be very draining and stressful, my mother told me to stand strong in the lord.  she really encouraged me.  i was expecting to be disowned…but that’s b/c there’s some issues that i have to work out.
• i’ve been reading the book “The Way of the Wild at Heart.”  MAN!  this book has been my answer for so many things!  it talks about the process of manhood and how god fills in the gaps when the men in our lives don’t or can’t help us.  i have a Father!  i’m a beloved son!
• so…in my bible reading, i’ve discovered two cool things.  The first thing is this:  getting stuff doesn’t make you blessed.  it’s the blessing that empowers you to get stuff.  if you look at the trend in scripture, God would bless someone, and then they were told what the blessing was for.  Adam and Eve were blessed, and then they were told to rule.  Abram was blessed, and then He was told that he would be a father of nations.  Holy Spirit fell on Jesus, and then He announced that He would set the captive free.  Blessing is empowerment from God.  I believe in blessing that He actually releases His own ability into our lives!
• the other side to the bless thing is this:  you’re blessing is according to your level of favor, and you increase in favor by being like god.  Adam and Eve were blessed b/c they were in the image and likeness of God.  Abram had faith of God, so He was blessed.  as believers we all start with a certain amount of favor because we’re God’s children.  however, our character and growth determine how that favor increases.  God loves everyone, but everyone doesn’t have the same level of favor.  a parent wouldn’t (shouldn’t) give the irresponsible child the car keys, regardless of how much they are loved.  blessing is enablement.  enablement is dangerous in the hands of someone that doesn’t have the character to maintain it.  that’s why the bible says in James chapter one that a double-minded man can’t receive anything from God, b/c he’s unstable and the blessing can’t rest on Him!!

okay…my rambling is over.

Dell’s Theology…

i was talking to my old friend kimo yesterday.  it was nice.  haven’t talked to him in a while.  he’s currently in seminary, and i want to go to divinity school, so we started talking about that.  i stated that i tend to convulse when i consider the thought of becoming a theologian.  kimo said that in one of his classes, he learned that we are all theologians.  we either actively demonstrate what we believe about god, or we demonstrate our believes based on our inactivity. 

the thought was intriguing.  so i thought, “what is my personal theology?”  more importantly, what is my theology about Jesus.  many people believe in Jesus, but what you believe and actively walk out is the most important thing.  so, this entry will be devoted to a piece of what i’d like to call, “Dell’s Theology.”  as you’ll see, it’s vital that my theology, to the best of my ability, revolve around scripture.

Bedrock #3:  God is Good

this is really the corner stone of everything for me.  god is good…all the time.  scripture affirms it very openly in Naham 1:7 by stating that “god is good.”  very few would disagree.  i mean, he did create grass, starbucks, and all the other things we (i) treasure.  but i believe that you have to get specific about the goodness of god.  how do i see His goodness in every day life?

in my personal study of the word and experience w/god, here’s my specific view of the goodness of god.  god=good; devil=bad.  if it’s good…god did it.  if it’s bad, it’s not Him.  now, i understand how simple minded that sounds, and my words may not have done it justice, so let me further explain.  in john 14, Jesus fussed thomas out for asking to see the Father because Jesus Himself was showing them the Father.  hebrews 1:3 states that Jesus is “the exact representation” of the Father’s glory.  so, i base my actions on what i see in Jesus’ life in the gospels.  since jesus only did what He saw the Father doing (John 5:19), all the good stuff that Jesus did wasn’t even His idea, it was the Father’s.

So, riddle me this…

Would Jesus give you Cancer?

Does Jesus kill people to get there attention?

Nope.  I don’t believe so.  jesus never did that.  does Jesus discipline? absolutely.  the same Christ that healed all those sick people is the same one that made a whip and cleared the temple.  however, i believe because of our lack of understanding, we confuse discipline with the effects of living in a fallen world that’s begging for the touch of God. 

that point of view poses a challenge.  if god is good, then why does He just take all the bad stuff away?  why doesn’t every person i pray for receive healing?  i’ve learned that i don’t need to have an answer for everything.  if i get it in the process of submission to his will, then so be it.  all i can say is that god’s good, the world’s a mess…i suffered a loss.  jesus suffered a loss.  john, his cousin, was murdered.  how ironic that jesus was the one that came to set people free, to die for people’s sins, and the one that preached about him first was thrown in prision and died on account of Him.  pretty contractory.

yeah, i think i rambled some.   but the goodness of god is a vital thing to understand.  it makes the love of god a personal thing instead of some abstract concept. 

questions?  ask away.

The Reason For Miracles

Annoyed at the propsect of the person limping around with a bad knee, I typed back to them, “I don’t like it when knees are hurt.  Jesus heals knees.  Can I pray for you?”

The person said that I could, and I proceeded to type the command over the internet.  After a pause, they responded with an “OMG” and began to testify how their knee was almost back to normal.  As we chatted a little more, the knee in question began to get even better.  Jesus likes healing knees.  In fact, He’s very interested in your knees because He said that “every knee shall bow” to Him [insert studio audience laughter here].

This is reality, Christ’s reality.  Jesus still heals, and He still does miracles.  As the writer of Hebrews declares, Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  It’s an awesome thing to watch God be God.  I can testify that I witness the Lord healing or restoring something on a somewhat regular basis.  Probably once or twice a month.  I’m praying for it to be everyday, numerous times a day.

It’s vital that believers are able to demonstrate the reality of God’s kingdom in everyday life to everyday people.  Why?  Because that’s what Jesus did, and that’s what He taught His disciples to do.   Power is the distingusishing mark that gives weight to the good news.  It does matter what we tell the world, but it makes more that we back it up with.

So, to make my thoughts legal, let me present some biblical examples.  In Exodus, God charged Moses to openly display the power of God to confront Pharoah.  The goal was to prove God’s sumpremacy to Pharoah so that he’d let God’s people go.  The enemy had power as well.  Pharoah’s magicians were able to reproduce the miracles that Moses performed…but only to a point.  It came a point when the power of God  was shown to have no equal, and Pharoah had to loosen his grip on God’s people.  The result was the instantaeous release of over one million people as a result of God manifesting His power.

When Jesus comes onto the scene, we see Him begin the New Testament parallel of the same event:  openly displaying the power of God to release God’s chosen people.  This time, however, the charge to display God’s power wasn’t just in Jesus’ hands, but in the hands of all that followed Him (read John 14:10-12).  And the point wasn’t just to free one group of people, but the entire world.  Lastly, Jesus didn’t display the power of God to plague people, but to show the love and compassion of the Father to a dying world. 

The word says that Jesus was manifested to “destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8).  Jesus didn’t come bearing a plauge; but He used the power His Father gave Him to dispell them.  The works of the devil are disease, torment, broken families, and all the other plagues that haunt mankind.  This truth tells us that the display of power through Jesus’ life was intended to reveal one of the main intents of all of scripture:  God’s intense fiery, love for His most prized creation:  man.  Whatever God loves is a target for His power and presence. 

What do miracles sound like?  They sound like breaking chains.  Every believer is destined to experience their Father’s power and give the people around access to His goodness.   Do you need a change in your life?  Ask God to show you His power today.  Have you already experienced His power in your life?  Open the door for someone else to.