Why did Jesus come?

I’ve often heard the gospel constricted or depleted down to only being a gospel of sin management.  Sadly this keeps many believers from entering into all that God has for them.  Yes, Adam sinned and man fell away from right standing with God and so something had to be done to save the world.  God knew all along that man would sin.  Jesus was not his plan B, He was the plan from the get go.  He has always been the only plan.  God is appalled by sin because it is harmful to those that He loves—us.  Purely out of love He sent His son Jesus to redeem humanity.  This was not to satisfy His anger and wrath but it was compelled by His pure love.  He wanted to be with us and with sin in the way that couldn’t happen until we were redeemed.

So why did He do it?

Compelled by love with the purpose of redemption He came for the result of being in union with you.  He came for the result.  The veil has been torn, the door has been opened and the invitation has been sent out.  Now all that’s left is a response from us.  We respond through faith.  This is what we give God in return.  Through faith we stop hanging around in the outer court and go boldly into the holy of holies.  This is why He came—to be with you and for you to be with Him.  So this Christmas stop calling yourself unworthy and give God the gift of your faith.  Go boldly before the throne of grace and simply enjoy the presence of His love for you.

The Spirit of Adoption

The Spirit of Adoption
by Justin Powell

The enemy had prepared a prison cell just for me,
A trap I fell into without the slightest attempt to flee.

I gave in and would lie there in loneliness and death,
So broken inside, I had little hope to resurrect.

Entangled in sin, I had no idea what to do,
I could cry out for help, but the enemy said, “From whom?”
“There’s no one to save you! Go back to the booze.”

“Give up, you’ve lost, your soul belongs to me.”
“Just an alcoholic, that’s all you’ll ever be.”

Then a still, small voice said, “No, that’s not true.”
I whispered, “Lord, can you hear me?” He replied, “Yes, I hear you.”

“Your enemy’s a liar, a cheat and a thief,
For Satan desires only to sift you like wheat!”

“But I, Jesus, have prayed for you so that when you return to Me,
Your enemy will fall, but you’ll stand on your feet.”

“Reach out your hand my child, and from My victory,
Together we’ll ensure your enemy’s defeat.”

I reached out my hand and He pulled me up.
Now it’s His glory I drink from my cup.

He said, “Friend I have someone that I’d like you to meet.”
Then He clothed me with a robe of righteousness and gave me bread to eat.

With excitement He said I was the guest of honor,
The time had come at last for me to meet His Father.

I exclaimed, “No Lord. This must be a mistake!”
But He said, “Make yourself comfortable, just sit there and wait.”

It wasn’t long before the Father entered the room.
A cloud of righteousness almost blinded me and I didn’t know what to do.

I trembled and shook, then fell to the floor,
While my instincts all told me to run for the door!

I wept and I cried, though not sure what for.
There was an overwhelming presence I had never felt before.

I cried out, “How can I meet this Father, so righteous and true?”
But then our eyes met and He said, “Son, is that you?”

I couldn’t believe what I had heard with my own ears.
Is this the Father I had longed for all of these hard years?

Without the slightest hesitation He ran up to greet me.
He hugged me, embraced me, and then He even kissed me.

He put a ring on my hand and sandals on my feet.
He brought out the fatted calf and said, “Come son, let’s eat.”

We danced and were merry, He threw a party just for my sake.
Then He stood up and said He had an announcement to make.

All of heaven quieted so there was not one single sound,
He said, “My son was dead and lost, but is now alive and found!”

Jump

Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. –Isaiah 41:10

There’s been a stirring in my spirit the past couple weeks and the word I keep getting from the Lord is “Jump!”

Yes, there are seasons of waiting but there are also seasons of entering.

By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. –Hebrews 11:8

We have everything we need in Christ, through Christ and by Christ in us. God wants more of us to walk in this reality. I’ve never bungee jumped before but I could imagine the fear and adrenaline that would build up right before letting go. This is human nature to be afraid of making bold moves, to enter into what we do not yet know or fully understand, but with God all things are possible! He goes before you and says, “Don’t worry I’ll catch you.”

He will not allow you to be robbed of your hope. Jump into Him and receive all the glory of the fullness of God. Speak and proclaim to your soul as David did: “Return to your rest, O my soul, For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.” –Psalm 116:7

“Arise, my darling,
my beautiful one, come with me.
See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.
The fig tree forms its early fruit;
the blossoming vines spread their fragrance.
Arise, come, my darling;
my beautiful one, come with me.”
-Song of Songs 2:11-13

** photo by Chau Thai Ly @ http://instagram.com/shoutabovethenoise **

It’s time for a rest…

And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ –Acts 26:14

God’s been telling me to give up writing on this blog for a while and I’ve been resisting.  I’ve felt some sort of obligation like I need it or something.  But I don’t and in trying to keep writing posts I’m just kicking against the goads.  It hasn’t been working.  Every time I sit down to write I think I have something to say and then boom.. blockage.  And it’s not blockage from the enemy.  It’s lack of grace blockage.  It’s Jonah trying to escape from going to Nineveh blockage.  So without any further disobedience I’m giving the blog a rest to see what else the Lord has for me in this season.    I’ll be back at some point.  Maybe in a couple months or as little as a couple weeks?   Either way God is good all the time!  He loves you all the time!  And He is speaking all the time!

Much love to you all,

-Justin

“The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.”’

 

The Pursuit of Love

I am in a constant pursuit of God, and with knowing that God is love, I pursue love constantly.  I am not satisfied with having less when I know by reading scripture that there is more.  The pursuit itself makes life worth living because it’s not just a pursuit…  it involves a lot of finding as well.

As I discover new facets of His love I am overwhelmed and amazed by His glory—which is His goodness.   His love never fails me and He is always faithful.  I know that sometimes we can throw around those words in a cliché type of way…  But it’s truth.  He really has never ever failed me.  I can say this about Him because I have not only read it in scripture but I have experienced it for myself and I continue to experience it.   It is this revelation that compels me to dig deeper past the surface—which is theology and understanding of who God is through reading the scriptures—to a further realm of knowing Him and experiencing who He is in relationship.

I do however have to be careful that my pursuit itself is rooted and ground in love.  I’ve realized that in the past at times my pursuit was fueled by fear.  It was as if I tried to force Him into an encounter because I was so scared of my faith being tested.  I wanted evidence of His existence.  God did reveal Himself to me in time, although it was not so much in the ways I expected Him to.  He knows what’s best for our development.

Trust Him through this season.  Trust Him because He really is a good God.  Trust Him because His love will never fail you.   Pursue love.

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,  that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love,  may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.  –Ephesians 3:14-19

Redemption Destroys Shame!

Instead of your shame you shall have double honor… -Isaiah 61:7

God is doing it again—He’s freeing many from bondage!

Redemption destroys shame and God is breaking the chains of shame at this very moment!  Hallelujah!

Believe what He says about you today.  Draw the line in the sand and step over it to never look back.

Be a believing believer … it’s your destiny.

Rest in Hope

My flesh also will rest in hope. –Psalm 16:9

The Lord says, “Rest in Me today and I will restore your hope.”

I think sometimes we forget the human side of Jesus…  I know I do.  I get caught up and amazed by His eternal glory and infinite power that I forget He was just as human as we are.  He’s been through human life.  He understands your every emotion and struggle and He loves you through all of it.  We need to understand this to have an accurate perception of God.  He’s not some angry god that is like a mean dad waiting for his kid to mess up so he can yell at him.  He’s our friend and a loving Father.  He’s on your side.   He’s in this with you, not against you.

God spoke to Moses telling him to bless the children of Israel by telling them, “the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” (Num 6:26)

How do we get peace from His countenance?  Well, the only way that is going to happen is when you have an accurate perception of His countenance—His expression towards you.  When He looks at you what He sees is love.  He sees a saint.  He sees family—His sons and daughters.  He is smiling at you because…

He’s proud of you.   

Believe this word today and rest in the hope of God.  It will change your life.

 

Secret Revelation

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
-Psalm 91:1

At the turn of the New Year the Lord gave me that verse and told me that 2013 would be a year of finding the secret place.

So what is “the secret place” talked about here?

For a long time I just thought of the secret place as our prayer closet because Jesus said shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in the secret place…  But I’ve come to realize that the secret place is so much more than just a prayer closet.

The secret place is our very personal divine relationship with God.   But here’s where we mess up a lot—my secret place is going to be different from your secret place and not everything that God tells me in my secret place is meant to be given to others…  That’s why it’s a secret.   He will often give us secret revelation.

So how do we know what’s secret and what’s for others?  We’ll the first thing to do is ask the Lord but one way to know it’s secret revelation is when the things He has shown you are inexpressible.   Paul when talking about his third heaven vision in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 said that he heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.  Paul had been given secret revelation.

Have you ever read over a verse that you know speaks to your spirit?  Where it jumps off the page at you and moves you in a certain way?  But then you read it again and realize you don’t even intellectually understand the verse completely?  Or maybe the verse is so simple like “Be still and know that I am God” but yet at the same time it’s so profound that you wouldn’t be able to explain how much it means to you to someone else?   It’s because the Lord has given you secret revelation and often times these things cannot be expressed.  They can’t be expressed because they are between you and the Lord and if you tried to explain it to someone else it probably wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense to them.

The Lord told me recently that He is releasing a wave of secret revelation to those who are hungry and those who want it.  It’s the cry of His heart to be closer with His children and that’s what this is really about.  It’s about sharing feelings with the Lord and letting Him speak to us in new ways.   It’s about just sitting with Him in His presence and sharing a moment of silence.  It’s about listening more than speaking and it’s about putting away your shopping list of prayer requests and asking Him what He wants you to pray for.

He is saying, “I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places.” –Isaiah 45:3

Ask God what He wants to show you.  Ask Him to take you deeper into the secret place of His presence.

Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. -Isaiah 60:1

Christ lives in me

I have been given revelation to why faith without works is dead and the letter kills but the Spirit gives life.  I have become less of a fan of words and more of a fan of experience.  I have become less interested in knowledge of Him and much more interested and dependent in knowing Him.  Anyone can say, “I love you” and anyone can say “God loves you” but unless you’ve experienced love yourself how can you know for sure?  Only fools say “We cannot experience God” or “We do not have the right to seek Holy Spirit experiences.”  What a dull religious box they live in.   May the power of the resurrection wreck your religion and leave you fervently abandoned to Jesus Christ.  Seek and you will find!

I have searched high and low and there is NOTHING else worth living for aside from Jesus.

For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. –Galatians 2:19-20

Thank you Lord for the journey, for the process of ups and downs in life, and for the completely undeserved privilege of knowing You.  You make me come alive.

Great is the LORD most worthy of all praise!

I sat down to write a post today and kept getting interrupted by my heart singing the lyric to a song.  “Great is the Lord most worthy of all praise!”

I really couldn’t think of anything worth writing except that one line.  God is so good and He is worthy of all our praise.  Join me today in worshiping Him.

Great is the Lord – by Daniel Bashta

Splendor and majesty
Strength and beauty be
Unto your name on ancient of days
You’re holy

We tremble before your throne
All hearts prepare you room
We come and adore
Ruined before your glory

Great is the Lord
Most worthy of all praise

We tremble before your throne
All hearts prepare you room
We come and adore
Ruined before your glory

Holy You are holy
Crowned with wonders
Majesty

In the morning
In the evening
At the end of all days
We will sing
We will shout
You are worthy of praise