...........We too, must weigh what is to be gained and lost if we are going to follow the Kingdom and finish out our destinies. If our objective is not clear to us, confusion and fear of loss infects our hearts, robbing us of our confidence in God to be there when the pain gets too great. If we don’t understand that He is the God of grace, we will view Him as a merciless tyrant who only seeks to use us for His own selfish desires and masochistic pleasure. I’m sure Mephibosheth thought that about David. Yet, he was totally unaware that there was a king in Israel who sought to lavish grace and loving kindness to him all along.

Leadership that does not affirm, teach, or demonstrate the grace of God to the people who follow them are creating spiritual dependants and peasants, not faith filled kings and priests. The spirit of God is searching and trying the hearts of men, sanctifying them according to His Word of righteousness. We are a peculiar people, a holy nation, and a royal priesthood, called to show forth the goodness and love of God in our day. What a privilege to have so great a love, so great a salvation offered and paid for us in advance. In case anyone is wondering if God is going to bail out on us when we need Him the most, Romans 5: 6-10 declares, while we were yet in weakness and powerless to help ourselves, at the fitting time Christ died for and in behalf of the ungodly

(7) Now it is an extraordinary thing for one to give his life even for an upright man, perhaps for a noble and well loved and generous benefactor someone might even dare to die for.

(8) But God shows and clearly proves His own love for us by the sheer fact that while we were still sinners, (His hostile enemies, distant and contrary) Christ the Messiah, the Anointed One died for us and gave Himself freely for our benefits

(9) Therefore, since we are NOW Justified, Acquitted, Made Righteous, and brought into restored right relationship with God by Christ’s blood, how much more certain is it that we shall be saved by Him daily and in the end of the world from the indignation and wrath of God

(10) for if while we were His enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, It is a much more absolute unmistakable, unchanging certainty that now that we are reconciled, that we shall be daily delivered from the dominion of sin through His resurrection Life!    The Amplified Bible

What a powerful declaration of God’s faithfulness and the intent of His heart! This kind of love and goodness is something the human mind just can’t wrap itself around. God seeks a heart connection with His children face to face, not some distant religious nonsense or struggle with a set of rules. What more can a person do to prove the intensity of their love, then to even die for their enemies! God must be crazy, or He is as serious as He can possibly be about being gracious and expressing His heart as a Father, a Savior, and a Friend.

I know that there is nothing in my weak human self that can make me deserving of His grace and goodness, let alone the miracle of salvation. Not a single one of us can. And yet, He does it all for us! That blows my mind! All I have to do is trust Him, and believe like a simple child. Jesus at the Sermon on the Mount is making a point on how much the Father cares for us. How greatly He loves us and desires to meet our needs. In Mathew 6 :27-30 He says, And who of you by worrying and being anxious can add one unit of measure to his stature or length of life?

28) And why should you be anxious about clothes? Consider the lilies of the field and learn thoroughly how they grow; they neither toil nor spin.

(29) Yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his magnificent excellence, dignity and grace was not arrayed like one of these.

(30) But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and green and tomorrow is tossed into the furnace, will He not much more surely clothe you, O you of little faith.

This is more powerful than most of us realize. Let me ask you a question. Why do people wear clothes? Isn’t it nakedness? Who say’s we’re naked? Ultimately it is shame that accuses us. It demeans our souls, wounds our hearts and beats the hope right out of us. Shame is the byproduct of the fallen human personality. It is the force that binds the image and likeness of God in the earth (us) to live the life of an emotional harlot, looking for love and attention in all the wrong places. Outwardly, we clothe ourselves with all the latest designer fashions if we can afford them. Yet, if we’re inwardly polluted with a distorted view of our connection with God, we remain hiding in the bushes with Adam and Eve.

Thousands of years have passed, so many advances man has made through the centuries, but he is plagued with a mark that only grace can erase. If we could just get His righteousness settled in our hearts and minds and wear the wardrobe God has already provided, we would realize once and for all, we’d never need to shop again for another outfit. In doing so, I believe there would be such an explosion of His power and anointing that the whole earth would be filled with His glory. That day is coming. In the body of Christ, His glory is manifesting as ripples in a lake leading to rapids in a river and exploding as waves in an ocean. God said, “In the last days, I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh.”  Not some, not the select few, not the ones with the best church attendance or the best tithers. He said, all. These are days of His outpouring.

No one will be able to say,

“I never had an opportunity to experience it”

Jesus was such a masterful story teller. He had such a powerful way of getting into a persons head or heart. He was led by the Holy Spirit, just as we are today. There is a reason He is our comforter. Jesus was pressured to forfeit His identity and listen to everybody else’s opinion of who they thought Him to be. They said, “Isn’t this Joseph the carpenter’s son?”

When He spoke, He spoke and acted out from the identity and power in His spirit. This is what made the religious folk stark raving mad. He was resented because He wouldn’t give up His real identity. Along with real identity, comes real authority because it’s rooted in humility. Humility is nothing more than being real. Its being who you are and not being ashamed to say it, or act like it. Thank God for the Holy Spirit that aids and comforts us when the sting of resentment and hostility comes our way as the world, the flesh, and the devil try to talk us out of our identity in Christ. Thank God for the revelation of truth concerning the righteousness of God in Christ given us.

Jesus knew, we likewise would be afflicted and pressured to also forfeit our position and authority in Him once He restored us to it. The devil is desperate for our authority. That’s why Jesus sent the Holy Ghost to continue His ministry of comfort and council to His body. In the Garden of Gethsemane as well as in the wilderness, Jesus was tempted. His trust in the love and goodness of the Father toward Him was put to the test. How did He pass the test? How did He overcome? He spoke the Word. He didn’t remain silent and suffer as a fool. A fool say’s in his heart that there is no God.

By speaking the word, Jesus placed a demand on the power of the Kingdom, acknowledging the Father in the process. Satan had to run for the hills. Those confrontations were boot breaking in experiences for Jesus. How he handled the opposition in secret, is what ultimately led to all things being placed under His feet publicly.

Likewise, our opposition if handled correctly,

is the very thing God uses to pave a road beneath our feet, leading to our purpose for why He made us in the first place.

Back to the lily Jesus was talking about, what is the point in considering such a simple thing as a lily? This is high tech, high hype 2006 as of this writing. In Texas, there hasn’t been much rain this year. Everything is brown. The only flower you can count on coming up is a blue bonnet. I can consider a blue bonnet. Hey, it’s still a flower and the truth of what Jesus was trying to convey is still applicable, even with a native Texas flower. Whatever flower grows in your state, consider it. Take a moment to be still and look at what a beautiful thing the Lord has made. My point, Jesus was trying to make the people understand that a flower is His handiwork. He created it. He designed its beauty and sweet smell. He put within it an ability to come to fruition at a specific time of year if it is not messed with by man. He made the point, the lily neither toils nor spins.

In other words, a lily doesn’t have to struggle to be a lily. It doesn’t work to maintain what it already is. It just automatically agrees with God to its design. The proof is that it pollinates and blooms, reproducing itself with the same exact cell structure created in the image of the very first one. It is what God made it to be, plain and simple. The deeper point Christ was conveying was a hidden mystery of the Kingdom. When He brought Solomon into the picture, everyone understood the immense level of majesty, wealth and wisdom Jesus was talking about.

The reign of Solomon was revered and idolized by the nation. These were glory days for Israel. They had the most beautiful temple in the world, the wisest and wealthiest King on earth and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to protect them. Yet Jesus said, “Solomon in his entire splendor was not arrayed as one of the lilies He was talking about”. Solomon was not able to participate in the New covenant that Jesus was about to initiate in the earth with His own blood. Solomon was as his fathers, under the Law and lived before the Word was made flesh and dwelt among men.

Those under the law had or have to toil and spin in their observance of every speck and word of the law laid down from God to Moses.

We need to understand that through Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, God was about to create a new species of man in the earth. Satan was clueless to his imminent defeat. The victory at the cross was so overwhelming and so spectacular, that even to this day we are still trying to comprehend its overall totality. The fact, that many of God’s people live weak, defeated lives, proves that a lot of leadership within the body of Christ is ill equipped and impotent in communicating the power of the Kingdom because religion and tradition has ruled the church house for generations. That is why we need to lean entirely upon the Holy Spirit for truth. Man cannot substitute what He alone can give.

Leadership can only give what it possesses and can only lead to where it has already been

Once the foundation of the Kingdom has been laid within the heart by the Holy Ghost, by faith we can go into un-chartered waters because we’ve become acclimated to His voice and know Him thru experiences, not by what we’ve heard about Him. Once this knowing takes place within us, we become absolutely confident that our steps are ordered by Him in all circumstances. At one time in his life, Job said to the Lord, “At one time I had heard of you with my ear, but now I see you with my eye.”

It was through the pain and struggle of Job’s misconception of God and the information he received from those around him, that caused him to go from hearing, to seeing the real heart of God. The knowing I am talking about only comes through “A wrestling with God” He loves and longs for our debate to persuade us of his ways and to deliver us from ourselves into the son-ship he has restored us to. We are not servants or slaves, but sons. When we understand the heart of God, we take upon ourselves the influence of His spirit and serve Him out of love and a heart of joy, not obligation or fear. He would have it no other way.

Just as God loves a cheerful giver, He also delights in a cheerful son who takes on the pattern of a servant serving his Father! It is the duty and calling of those in leadership to equip the saints to do “The work” of the ministry. “The work” is the administration of the Kingdom of God on earth as it already is in Heaven. Through the affirmation of grace, the revealed spirit of God’s love purges our consciences from dead works according to the power that is at work within us. If we don’t expose ourselves to His grace and love, allowing it to have its way, there won’t be much of a working power to display. If we are in pursuit of Him, the continual washing of His Word is made flesh within us and upon our hearts. This is what empowers us to see and experience The Kingdom restored to us and gives us power over the flesh’s carnal tendencies. Without the affirmation of our Spirit that edifies us as the sons we truly are, we will try to serve God by our own ideas and efforts, but our strength and results will be by the arm of the flesh.

I want you to seriously meditate on the following verses of scripture. If you want to understand how to comprehend and grasp the reality of what you are in Christ as a new creature, or want to understand the powerful and glorious work of God in your life, you would do well to camp out in the book of Ephesians and allow the Holy Spirit to soak this into your soul. This is a launch pad for any person who wants to experience the reality of God in their life and see Him show up in a mighty way. I believe that it starts by agreeing with Paul’s prayer in

Ephesians 1:17-23

(17)For I always pray to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, that He may grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation, of insight into mysteries and secrets in the deep and intimate knowledge of Him.

(18) By having the eyes of your heart flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you, and how rich is His glorious inheritance in the saints.

(19) And so that you can know and understand what is the immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power IN and FOR US who believe, as demonstrated in the works of His Mighty Strength.

(20) Which He exerted in Christ when He raised Him up from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places

(22) And He has put all things under His feet and has appointed Him the universal and supreme Head of the church.

(23) Which is His Body, The fullness of Him who fills all in all, for in that body (That’s us folks!) Lives the full measure of Him who makes everything complete, and who fills everything everywhere with Himself

Did you notice how Paul prayed, in us and for us? This immeasurable and unlimited and surpassing greatness of His power is Christ’s supernatural DNA. This is the partaking of the divine nature of God, Zoë, or eternal life. I’m a father with two sons. Anthony is my youngest, and Philip John, my oldest. I love my sons more each day as I learn how God is fathering me and role models to me what a father actually is. God is awesome in His wisdom and grace. He knew that with this message He put within me today, He was going to have to give me the reality of its experiences first hand.

In His divine providence, before He formed me in my mothers womb, He planned what I’m about to share with you. I legally adopted Philip on his fifth birthday. I have been his father since he was sixteen months old when his mother and I married. But, in the realm of the spirit, I was his father before God formed him in his mother’s womb even though he did not come from my own body. Philip and I share a birthday. We are both adopted sons. I was saved, adopted and born into the family of God and made one of His sons on February 26, 1970. I was five years old but I remember it like it was yesterday. Philip was born on February 26, 1987. I legally adopted him on his fifth birthday on the 26^th of February 1992. He was given my name and all rights and benefits as a Larussa. The law makes no distinction between offspring that are either natural born or adopted. Each are equal and have the same rights.

As Philip was growing up, sometimes the question would arise, since Anthony came from my own body; did I favor him or love him more? I always told Philip that I chose to be his father. That being my son was not the random result of the union between two people that loved each other. That consciously and anxiously, I wanted to be his father just as strongly as I wanted to be married to his mother. My love for him and his mother was the motivating factor. I had a desire for fatherhood that looking back on it now, was a God inspired desire to nurture the purpose of God in the Earth.

That purpose was him. Philip is the manifestation of God’s purpose, just as we all are. On the other hand, Anthony came from my own body. Physically, he has all the traits and characteristics of a Larussa. My DNA is in every cell of his body. He is an expression of my glory and the glory of my ancestors. In the natural, he is so a Larussa, that it’s impossible for him to become something else. (God, please help him!)

His behavior, attitude, speech, walk, whether good or bad has no bearing on the fact that he is mine. My seed remains in him and will be there always. He can change his name; have plastic surgery to change his features to look different. He can learn another language and move to the other side of the earth and never speak to me again and yet, he is and always will be, a Larussa. Why? Because the nature of who he is, is on the inside where it cannot be seen by the human eye, nor can it be changed by man. He is my workmanship and the fruit of my seed. My life remains in him and he cannot remove it. He is powerless to undo what I have done. His life stems from mine. This is a type and shadow of the restored relationship and identity that we have with God our Father through Christ.

 When we received Him, He placed His spiritual DNA in us. His DNA is His Word.It’s His incorruptible seed. It is the very seed we are born again by. It can’t be removed.

1 Peter 1:23-25 declares, being born again, not of corruptible seed * (flesh) but of incorruptible. by the Word of God which lives and abides forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers and the flower thereof falls away, but the Word of the Lord endures for ever. This is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you. *emphasis mine

The spiritual adoption performed by God is stronger than any natural bond of fatherhood in the flesh

The mind of the flesh is corruptible. It can only think of itself. God chose to become our Father and provided the dying of His own Son to bring it to pass. A sacrifice of love was considered and then performed, all the while, God‘s heart longed to father us. I chose not to look at any physical distinction between me and Philip in the natural. The bond of the heart and spirit was more real than what was seen by my natural eye. I knew without a doubt that I was to be, and wanted to be his father just as surely as I knew the same about Anthony.

They are my son’s. They are each special and unique, but they are not loved, accepted, blessed, encouraged, directed, corrected, or welcomed any differently. Just as every cell of Anthony’s body has my DNA, so too, in every cell of your born again spirit, resides God’s spiritual DNA. His seed created after its own kind and now His fruit remains, for it is an incorruptible fruit of His Spirit. In the natural, it is hidden from man but God sees, for He looks in the heart and sees Jesus, the first fruit of His seed, the tree of life who said, “I will never leave you, nor forsake you!”

Praise His name forevermore!

We have received of His fullness, just as in the natural our sons have received of ours. My relationship to my sons is forever settled and unchangeable. They are called by my name. But, in my fellowship with my sons, if I never affirm a sense of purpose and identity for them, nor confirm for them my love and acceptance, they will experiment with their lives trying to find their purpose and identity outside of my council and love. They would either, out of insecurity display a bent of over performance that seeks my acceptance, or in shame, display an attitude of self pity that seeks my rejection. In either case, if I don’t role model to them my identity and foundation found in Christ, they will never really know who they are, nor be able to recognize the spiritual DNA that connects them to their Heavenly Father.

They will toil and spin all their days trying to discover their spiritual identity. This describes a large majority of the body of Christ. It need not be so. Just as the lily neither toils nor spins to be what God created it to be, we likewise can cease from the toil and spinning in the natural to be what God created us to be in the spirit. The new man, created in true righteousness and holiness is the new creature........

Continued in The Bruised Reed