Original post here

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Bob and Sue Prunebottom were a few years into their marriage when Sue felt the need to challenge Bob on the lack of romance they were experiencing. Gone were the days when he initiated exciting and unexpected events that brought the two of them together romantically. Now their marriage consisted of a steady diet of predictable rituals and routines that maintained stability but lacked passion. This was, understandably, not enough for Sue. Bob agreed and committed to taking the initiative to help rekindle some of the former romance they had shared together.

One Tuesday evening, around six thirty, the door bell rang: ding, dong. Sue went to the door to find little Maureen Tupperman, their usual babysitter. Sue was surprised since she knew she hadn’t booked Maureen, and she was even more surprised when Maureen explained: “Mr. Prunebottom booked me.” Now this was a first. Bob had called the babysitter all on his own?

Sure enough, Bob came to the door, welcomed in little Maureen, and asked Sue to head upstairs and put on whatever she would enjoy wearing out on the town. Wow. Romance was returning.

Sue came down minutes later in a beautiful red dress and off they drove together. They pulled into the parking lot of a fancy little Italian restaurant. As they walked in the front door, they were cheerfully greeted by the manager. “Your table is all ready, Mr. Prunebottom,” he said with a knowing smile. Then he led the couple to a charming, candle-lit table for two in the back corner of the restaurant. Waiting for Sue at her place setting was a card with her name on it. She opened it to see something beautiful. It wasn’t the usual Hallmark special with a prefab message and Bob’s signature. It was a simple card with no factory message on the inside, but a deeply thoughtful, handwritten note from Bob about his love for – and delight with – Sue.

As the evening progressed, Bob and Sue enjoyed a truly meaningful conversation over candlelight and wine. When the dessert came, Bob reached under the table and pulled out Sue’s favorite flower – a single, stunning blue rose. His thoughtfulness down to the last detail was a precious gift to Sue, and she was moved to tears.

That week was one of the most wonderful weeks of their married life. Bob’s intentionality, mindfulness, and creative initiative filled Sue with renewed hope for the future. And Bob was feeling like he had become the husband he always wanted to be. “How can I make this last?” Bob wondered.

The next Tuesday night, at exactly six thirty, the door bell rang: ding, dong. Sure enough it was young Maureen Tupperman. Sue was again taken aback, especially when she learned that Mr. Prunebottom had made the arrangements again. Two weeks in a row! thought Sue. I could get used to this!

She did think it was a bit odd when Bob encouraged her to put on that same red dress that she wore the previous week, but gladly made herself ready for another night out together. As they pulled into the parking lot of the same little Italian restaurant, Sue thought to herself that Bob might not get full marks for creativity this time, but a night out was a night out, and she would be happy with their evening together. She was again touched to find a card waiting for her at the same table at the back of the restaurant. But her delight turned to disappointment when she saw that Bob had written almost exactly the same words on the inside. Now the evening was beginning to feel not romantic but just plain weird. Refusing to draw attention to Bob’s lack of creativity, Sue determined to enjoy the night. Bob ordered the exact same meal as the week previous, and as the evening moved forward Sue became aware of how he manipulated their conversation to cover the same basic relational territory as the week before. Now Sue could almost hear the Twilight Zone theme playing in the back of her mind. Whenever she tried to take their conversation in a new direction, Bob seemed to find a way to bring it back to the same issues, the same questions, even the same jokes that passed between them the former Tuesday. For Sue, the evening went from feeling weird to feeling suffocating. A part of her wanted out, yet another part of her wanted to give Bob every benefit of the doubt.  Perhaps the joke would soon end. It came as no surprise that when dessert arrived Bob reached under the table and pulled out – you guessed it – a single blue rose. Sue received it polite gratitude, but the tears that welled up in her eyes this night were for a different reason.

Bob and Sue enjoyed and cordially but mildly distant relationship that week, until the following Tuesday evening, at six thirty, when Sue heard: ding, dong. Once again Bob manipulated Sue through a scripted evening of supposed romance. Very little was different from the previous two Tuesdays. Now Sue was plainly discouraged. Visions of Bill Murray’s Groundhog Day kept coming to mind. Sure enough, the following Tuesday at six thirty: ding, dong. And a week later: ding, dong. And so on, and so forth, Tuesday after Tuesday, blue rose after blue rose.

And today, if you asked Bob how his marriage is doing, he would probably smile with a sense of accomplishment and say, “I romance my wife religiously.” He might even boast about finding the secret to a successful relationship and encourage you to follow his system for a healthy marriage.

If you were to ask Sue how things are going, you know you would get a different take on things. Most likely, she would burst into tears and tell you she feels trapped, imprisoned in a loveless relationship by someone who means well, but who doesn’t have a sweet clue what relationship is all about. And me, I’m left wondering if this is how God feels sometimes.

Bob mistook the form for the substance. He turned their relationship into a kind of religion. He lost the heartconnection with his wife. The fact is, after months of Bob’s dinner routine, Sue could have been dining with anyone who had memorized their dating traditions. Love was unnecessary. The system Bob created allowed him to function on autopilot.

This illustrates why Jesus always – ALWAYS – puts the emphasis of his teaching on heart issues, not behavioral routines. If the heart is right, loving actions will follow.

…

Routines. Rituals. Customs. Traditions. They can be used to enhance or to kill intimacy. Over time, intentional thoughtfulness can be lost since the routines do all the thinking for us. We are left with something that looks good on the outside, but is filled with nothing but the bones of a long-dead relationship. This is true of any relationship, including our relationship with God.

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Excerpt from The End of Religion: Encounter the Subversive Spirituality of Jesus by Bruxy Cavey

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• No Related Posts

I used to hear a lot of girls say, “Ooh, I’m so in LOVE with God!”

It always bothered me…but I couldn’t really put my finger on it. For some reason I just had a very hard time believing that girls would say that the exact same way I heard other girls talk about their new boyfriend.

I loved God. But, it didn’t make me react like that. I didn’t have that tone to my voice that made it sound like I had some romantic relationship.

I think that romantic love stuff sells the love of God short of what it really is. Most people who “fall in love” eventually “fall out of love.” They “fall in love” with certain aspects of that person, and then they “fall out of love” when they find aspects they don’t like or can’t deal with.

This kind of love is still about finding a reason to love someone, rather than the kind Jesus demonstrated.

Sure, it makes sense; God is so perfect, what’s not to love about Him? But to think that’s the same unconditional and raw love that He demonstrates toward us and that Jesus demonstrated, is a serious understatement.

Why is this important? Because the way we love people reflects how we believe God loves us. So if we believe God has a hard time loving us because we mess up, then we’ll also have a hard time demonstrating unconditional love towards people when they mess up.

God’s kind of love is much different.

He IS love. (1 John 4:8)

It’s who He is. And He’s unchanging.

That’s why even while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). He loved us even when we didn’t love Him. He laid down His life for people who crucified Him and said, “Father, forgive them.” He treated them better than they deserved. He was able to forgive the worst offense.

It was the father who gave the lost son the best robe, a ring, and sandals on his feet, even when he deserved punishment.

It was the forgiving King who cleared all the debts of the servant.

It was Jesus who forgave and healed the paralytic – he didn’t deserve it!

It doesn’t make sense in our culture today….

How can we love someone so unlovable? How can we love someone who doesn’t deserve it? How can we love our enemies like Jesus said? How can we forgive someone that has hurt us intentionally?

It feels impossible because we don’t understand what kind of love this is. We’ve been raised with this carnal love that changes based on whether someone deserves it or not. Worse yet, we secretly believe that God sees us the same way.

We believe that God is “far away” if we sin, God hides from us if we do something bad to “punish” us. We believe that God can’t bless us if we have sin in our life; we’re taught that God withholds it to “teach us a lesson.”

This is not God’s heart. He isn’t affected by our failures. He doesn’t treat us any different based on our performance. He’s doesn’t have criteria we need to follow or a list of requirements we need to fulfill. He treats us according to His love towards us, not according to our love for Him – our behavior doesn’t sway Him.

Why?

Because He IS love.

He will never treat us otherwise, because we cannot change who He is. That’s why grace is called unmerited favor. It’s favor towards us that we never deserved.

That means your actions can’t earn it, or disqualify you from it.

That’s why in the light of sin, God gives grace (Rom 5:20). He constantly keeps no record of wrong (1 Cor 13:5), He covers a multitude of sins (1 Peter 4:8), He remembers sin no more (Heb 8:12 & 10:17), and He doesn’t count sins against people (2 Cor 5:19).

Why?

He wants reconciliation (2 Cor 5:19). The father wanted to have restored relationship with his son (Luke 15:21-23).

Why was he able to simply disregard offenses?

Because He is love. And love gives grace.
That’s why “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).
That’s why it says, “for God so loved the world that He GAVE His Son” (John 3:16).

For God so loved, He gave grace to an undeserving world – it came in the form of His Son!

And that’s why God never stops giving grace toward us – even in our sin (Rom 5:20). He so loves that He extends grace to people who don’t deserve it. In fact, He loves those who don’t deserve love.

Why?

Because He IS love.

And when we understand His grace toward us, it shouldn’t make us want to take advantage of grace, but instead it should change how we see (Rom 2:4), and as a result, keep us from wanting to abuse it (Rom 6:1-15).

Being Like Your Dad

When you realize how He loves, that becomes the reason why YOU love (1 John 4:19).

You’ll stop finding reasons to love people because you realize God didn’t find a reason with you.

You’ll stop trying to love people who don’t deserve it because you realize God didn’t try to love you.

You’ll stop loving people because they deserve love, and you’ll start loving because it’s the love of God that has taken root in you. You’ll love people because you’ve become part of the Vine. You’ll bear the fruit of the love of God because you abide in His love (John 15:9).

“Loving people” is no longer a spiritual chore that God “commanded” you to do, or something your pastor drilled you on how “you need to ‘love your neighbor’”, or “you need to forgive this person.” Now, you love people because you are love.

You no longer need to try to bear the fruit of love. You just understand that the love God has expressed toward you is too good to keep to yourself, so you want to freely give to everyone what you’ve freely received.

You’ll understand that you’ve been made one spirit with Him (1 Cor 6:17), and His nature has become YOUR nature. You’ll understand that God’s kind of love has become a part of your identity.

What’s the Point?

The whole point of the Christian life is to demonstrate love to the world the same way God has demonstrated love toward us.

It’s laying yourself (your life) down to serve, to benefit, to build, to add value to someone else’s life…freely. (John 15:13; 1 John 3:16)

It’s showing people that they are worth our time, they are worth our attention, and they are worth our care.

They can see in your eyes that it’s real, raw love, and not some hyped up fluffy love with common clichés. It’s a love that gives regardless of what is deserved or expected.

It’s a love that expects nothing in return. It’s a love that does not change based on the response of others; that isn’t offended by first impressions, reputations, or accusations.

That’s why I’ve never liked the term “full-time ministry.” We all are full-time re-presenters of God’s audacious, unchanging, furious love.

Your love for people is paralleled by your understanding of God’s love toward you.

The “ministry” is to love as He loved.

That is the distinguishing mark of the believer.

“By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

Love has no agenda other than to freely express itself to the person in front of them.

Love is in it for what it can give, not what it can get.

Love isn’t looking for a “thank you”; it isn’t looking for recognition or appreciation (though, it won’t turn it down).

Love is a no-strings attached, no conditions, no hidden catches, “I want to help you and serve you” way of thinking.

Love doesn’t feel required to give, love is compelled to give; it’s not a have to, it’s a get to.

Love gets to express grace. Gets to express kindness to those who don’t deserve it. Gets to be patient… It’s supposed to be a privilege, not a chore.

The Good Samaritan is the perfect parable.

Jesus was a perfect model.
Jesus perfectly represented the Father.

Jesus sent us to re-present Himself.

We are to be examples of what love looks like and how love treats people .
We are to be examples of what it means to be Christ-like, and how He would treat people.

All these failed marriages? They are missing love.

Broken relationships? They are missing love.

The reputation of the church today? It’s missing love.

The hurt, the offense, the unforgiveness, the hate, the envy, the jealousy, the anger, the bitterness, the insecurity, the brokenness, and all the grudges people hold against each other are a result of not understanding love and therefore, not understanding how to love.

They justify it all by saying “look at what they did,” or “look at what happened to me,” because they do not understand how God has loved them.

God loves because that’s who He is! He forgives, keeps no record of wrong, trusts, and covers a multitude of sins because that’s who He is!

YOU ought to love because that’s who you’ve become! You’ve been grafted into the Vine (John 15), you are a partaker of the Divine Nature (2 Peter 1:3-4)!

Friends, this is the great call. This is why Paul prayed that we would be “rooted and grounded in LOVE” (Eph 3:17).

When we understand God’s perfect love toward us, we’ll no longer have any fear and we’ll boldly approach Him (1 John 4:18; Heb 4:16).

When we learn to model that same perfect love to the world, the world will no longer have any fear in coming to us, hungry to know and experience the love we’ve been given.

Let’s grow and mature in the love that Jesus demonstrated to sinners and tax-collectors. Not this fluffy, romantic love that is erratic, unpredictable, and unstable. We’re doing everyone a great disservice by “dumbing down” God’s love to some cliché and a “nice feeling.”

This love is bold, this love is a rock, this love results in compassion, this love brings action (1 John 3:18). It’s what compelled Jesus to heal the broken, free the oppressed, help those in need, strengthen the weak, encourage the disheartened, and it’s what should compel us to do the same for those around us.

This love “has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom 5:5)

By this love “all will know you are my disciples” (John 13:35)

What love is this?

God’s kind of love.

Related Posts:

• The Blueprint of “Renewing Your Mind”
• Decisions that Define Us — Graham Cooke
• The End of Performance
• The End of Worthlessness

I spent years thinking that the process of “renewing your mind” was something that just naturally happened and was beyond my control. I used to think that it was something God was in control of. I didn’t know that I could actually intentionally do something to renew my mind — that I could “consciously” renew my mind. I used to think that if you just go about your Christian life, some way, some how, your mind is suddenly renewed.

But, in the last few years, I’ve discovered that it’s actually not that complicated — you can do it intentionally and it isn’t hard. I’m going to show you how it works, how you can use it intentionally, and how you can use it effectively.

How it works:

Imagine that you’ve lived at your house for 20 years of your life.

You’ve memorized the fastest ways to drive back from your work, from church, from your friend’s place, from school, and from the gym. You’ve developed a route that you take every time. You don’t think about it, that’s just the way you go home because you’ve done that for 20 years. You know the correct turns to make. You know the best time to take which route based on how bad traffic is. You know which roads have the most cops. And you know all the ins and outs of getting yourself home.

Then imagine if you move 10 minutes away.

The next day, you’re about to head back home from work. You get in your car as usual, and you start driving. Out of sheer habit and muscle memory, you take the same old highway, the same old exit, and the same traffic all the way until you get home, only to realize that you no longer live at your old house. You slap yourself on the forehead thinking, “How could I forget?! I moved! Gotta make sure I don’t do this again…what a waste of time!”

The next day is similar, you get into your car and you begin to take the same route you’ve taken for the last 20 years. It isn’t until about halfway home you realize again, “Shoot! I moved!” You pull a U-turn and head towards the new home you recently moved into.

So by this point, you’re consciously making an effort to make sure it doesn’t happen again. You create a reminder in your head, “Alright, when I reach this street, I have to make a left where I used to make a right.” You know it will take a conscious effort to forge a new pattern because the old pattern was so familiar, natural, and comfortable. But you know you have to do it because you no longer live at the old house – none of your belongings are there. Plus, the new house is much bigger, with a lot more freedom to move around.

The next day, as you leave your house for work, you make another mental note to remind yourself that you’ve moved so that you won’t forget at the end of the day. The time arrives, and you get into your car. Confident, reminding yourself that you have a new home, you get all the way home without taking a wrong turn. When you arrive, you breathe a sigh of satisfaction, knowing that you took the right route and you’re confident it’ll be easier next time.

Over a period of a few weeks, what started with lots of errors and mistakes starts to become second-nature and natural. The muscle memory and old pattern of thinking was undone and now it’s hard to imagine ever taking that old route again. In addition to that, you’ve done the same exercise with your church, school, friend’s place, and the gym. All the old routes were reprogrammed and redesigned to fit the location of your new home.

Months down the road, it’s nowhere near a struggle. You’ve forged a new routine — a new habit. You arrive at your new home every time. And every once in a while, you’ll be at an intersection you used to use when you were at your old house, and you’ll get a familiar feeling of when you used to slam the pedal to try to make the light…you reminisce on the memories.  But then you’d snap back into reality remembering, “Well…I don’t live there anymore.”

This is the life of the believer. This is the call of Romans 12:2, to “renew your mind.” As a believer you have a responsibility to renew your thinking, to rewire your brain as a result of understanding the fact that you have become a son of God, an heir of God, an ambassador of a King. As a result of understanding that you have been bought at a price (denoting worth) and that you have been given a new nature (new tendencies), it should cause you to make different choices. It is a different path — a different life than you once walked.
The old house had its own set of ways and its own set of patterns. If we find ourselves veering off into the old paths, it’s only because we’ve forgotten that we’ve moved to a new house that’s more glorious.

How to use it intentionally:

“Renewing your mind” is definitely not just about reciting a list of facts. Nor is it about confessing a phrase in an effort to try to persuade yourself to believe it. When you renew your mind, it should renew the way you do things. A new perspective should result in a new set of actions, just like moving to a new house will cause you to take new directions. Taking new directions aren’t a requirement, but it’s a natural byproduct of understanding that you have a new house.

Say for example I’ve dealt with jealously for many years of my life, and if I hear that a friend has achieved something that I’ve been trying to achieve, I get jealous and I have a hard time celebrating with them.

And then let’s say that I hear a teaching and I realize that I’m just like the disciples arguing and competing to be the greatest. I’m jealous because I’m actually performing for the approval/praise of man instead of understanding I already have approval from God. I realize the simple truth that my worth comes from what my Father has already said about me, not what other people say.

When that new revelation is received, that’s when I get a new house. Immediately, I am “free” from my old house, and I am free to not “drive back” to the old house of jealousy. I am free to celebrate with my friend instead of getting envious. I am free, but the rubber will have to hit the road.

So the next time a friend has achieved something I’ve been wanting to achieve, I have a choice to drive to the old house that I’ve been used to (jealousy), or I remember that I’ve moved on to a new house (celebrating my friend). The problem is that it will still feel natural and I will be tempted to take the old route toward the old house if I believe I still live there. I will allow the habit and the muscle memory to dictate my direction if I never realize the fact that I have a new house. But if I’m truly convinced that I have moved, I will make every conscious effort to take the new route every time. Why? Because I’ve moved. The new house is better than the old house, and all my belongings are in the new one.

So, suppose that I failed to make it to the new house. The muscle memory and habit got the best of me the first time.

Do I deem myself a failure, feel condemned and think, “You’re so horrible for driving back to your old house, what a failure“?
No, I just write it off and think, “Wow, how did that slip my mind?”

Do I think, “Man…I guess I’ll never remember to make it to my new house, it’s just so hard to remember“?
No, I just make a few more conscious reminders to make sure that I make it the next time. I’ll think, “Alright, when I’m at this intersection, I no longer take a left…I make a right. Left is the old house. Right is the new house.”

Do I think, “I just feel so stuck. I just somehow can’t get to my new house…I feel bound to drive back to my old house…every time. I’ll never make it to my new one, this is hopeless“?

Ridiculous. I will only feel bound to my old house if I still believe I live there. I will only be bound to the same old habits and same old routes if I believe I still have the same old “home base.” When I’ve renewed my mind to the fact that I have a new “default,” a new “home,” a new “building”...I will make the effort to get there every time, because it’s a better house!

So to answer the question: “How do I intentionally renew my mind?” It’s a moot point. The same way you change the routes you take when you move to a new house is the same way to renew your mind (re-read the parable if it hasn’t clicked yet).

Using it effectively:

Naturally, when you move to a new house, it’s not just one route that has to change. All the routes change. You have to ask yourself, how do I get home from the store now? From the bank? From my friend’s house? From the restaurant? All the “courses” of action change as a result of your new “‘home.”
Every one of your old behaviors will change based on the revelation of your new house, but they will all take a conscious effort. Only you can do that for you.

Whether it’s about your poor temperament, a struggle to be patient, a habit of gossiping, getting free from addiction, thinking poorly of yourself, worth issues, dealing with fear of man, struggling with jealously like I did, or struggling with pride… it doesn’t matter. It’s the same process.

You need to understand that you have a new house, and you need to figure out what the path to that new house looks like. What does it look like to no longer gossip, but speak life and encouragement? What mindsets need to change so that you don’t get angry so easily? What lie are you believing about yourself that you need to diffuse in order to stop the self-loathing and sense of unworthiness?

If you keep digressing to your old paths, it’s because you haven’t forged a new path. If you feel like you’ll never escape your old habits, it’s because you believe that you still live in your old house and haven’t moved yet.

The Process of Growth:

You’re probably realizing now that this is everything in your Christian life.
This is how you walk out the fruit of the Spirit (even fruit takes time to mature).
This is how you walk as Jesus walked (babies have to learn how to walk, and then run).
It’s all a result of understanding that you’ve become a new creation.
You’ve been cut off from the old. The old has gone. The old has died. It has been put off.

Get it?

Here’s the beautiful thing…

It gets easier.

The more you take the new route, the less you’ll feel prone to take the old. The more you take the new, the less of an effort you’ll need the next time.

Soon, after a few months, it’ll hardly cross your mind. You won’t even be tempted to take the old route. It might cross your mind and you might reminisce, but by then, you’ll have forged a new habit and living reality. You’ll have a new walk, a new path, a new way, and by then, it’ll be an effort to go back to the old.

(1 Peter 1:13-14, 4:1-3, Col 3:5-10, Eph 4:17-23, 5:8-10, Gal 5:24, Gal 5:13)

Related Posts:

• What Love is This?
• The Root of Most Problems
• Decisions that Define Us — Graham Cooke
• The End of Performance

This is an awesome video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRqDmDohTLM

Transcribed:

This is called, “Decisions that Define Us”

We have decided, that teaching the Gospel without demonstrating the Gospel is not enough
good preaching, good doctrine, being good people — it’s not enough
We’ve decided that having a good church club is not enough
good fellowship — it’s not enough
just being a member of that club is not enough
We’ve decided that having good bible studies is good, but not good enough.
That just making it to heaven is not our goal
and that knowing about God without truly knowing Him and experiencing God is meaningless

We’ve decided that having good programs is not enough,
That change without transformation is intolerable
And that staying the same is not an option

We’ve decided that gifting without character is futile
We’ve decided that singing songs without worshipping is hollow
Having meetings without God showing up is pointless
We’ve decided that faith without works is not enough
And having works without love is not acceptable
That our function comes out of our relationship first, with our father and second, with each other

We have that decided that reading about the book of Acts without living the book of acts is unthinkable

We’ve decided that confident faith is good, bold faith is better
We’ve decided that hearing about the Holy Spirit without experiencing Him is silly
That believing in His presence without seeing it manifested in signs and wonders is hypocrisy
That believing in healing without seeing people healed is absurd
and that believing in deliverance without people being delivered is absolutely ridiculous

We’ve decided to be Holy Spirit filled, Holy Spirit led, and Holy Spirit empowered
Anything less doesn’t work for us

We have decided to be the ones telling the stories of God’s power, not the ones hearing about God
We have decided that living saved, but not supernatural, is living below our privilege and short of what Christ died for.

We have decided that we’re a battleship, not a cruise ship
an army, not an audience
special forces, not spectators
missionaries, not club members

We have decided to value both pioneers and settlers
pioneers to expand our territory and settlers to build on those territories
but we are not squatters — people who take up space others have fought for without improving it

We have decided to be infectious instead of innocuous
contagious instead of quarantined
deadly instead of benign

We have decided to be radical lovers and outrageous givers
We have decided that we’re a mission station, not a museum
Therefore, we honor the past, but we don’t live in it.
We live in the present with our eyes on the future

We see past events, success and failures as stepping stones, not stop signs
We pursue learning in order to be transformed, not learning in order to know

We are people of engagement, not observation
We focus on what could be, not what is or has been
We are not limited to the 4 walls of this building
Our influence is not restricted by location
Not even the nations are ‘out of bounds’
We are more concerned about how many we send out into the world,
Than how many we convince to come into the building

This building is meant to be filled, and it will be
but it will not be the measure of who we are, or the measure of our effectiveness
We raise up world-changers, not tour-guides
We train commandos, not committers

We are people of our destiny, not our history
We have decided that it’s better to fail while reaching for the impossible that God has planned for us than succeed in settling for less
We have decided that nothing short of His kingdom come, and His will be done in our world as it is in heaven will satisfy
We have decided we will not be satisfied until our world freaks out, and cries out “those who have turned the world upside down have come here too” (acts 17:6)

These are some of the decisions that define who we are as a community and how we live our lives
These decisions are not destinations but rather journeys
Journeys along an ancient path, we’ve not found some new way
but rather we’ve discovered the path as old as Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
The same path followed by Moses, Joshua, Caleb, Paul, John, and Peter
A path followed by the first century church
A church that revolutionized the culture of the 1st century and beyond

It’s a path that will impact the world we live in today
It’s a path of bold faith
believing that what God says is really true and acting on it

It’s a path of outrageous generosity
Giving our life away in order to demonstrate his kingdom
It’s a path of radical love
Loving God with everything in us
and our neighbors as ourselves

It’s a path of liberty freedom and healing
On this path, you will find significance purpose and destiny
It’s a path less traveled, however
It’s not a path only available to a select few
but to whosoever will may come
It’s for people of every nation tribe and tongue
for those in any occupation or vocation

No matter where you are on this life journey, there’s room on this path for you.

- Graham Cooke

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRqDmDohTLM

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It frustrates me when people reduce “healing the sick” to a theological argument.

Think about this.

It’s not even supposed to be a “stance” of scripture. Jesus didn’t even try to prove that healing was for His day.

He didn’t try to validate it through Scripture. He just did it.

It wasn’t an argument. He just did it.

It wasn’t a formula. It was just a byproduct of who He was with — His Father (John 5:19-20)

“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.” – Acts 10:38

Jesus never mentioned “this is for the elite”. He never said, “for pastors and people with ministries only”. He did it because God was with Him.

Doesn’t that make perfect sense?

God, Creator of the universe, spoke worlds into existence…

Jesus healed all who were oppressed by the devil because the Creator was with Him.

Hmm…

Ok.

God is with US. We have become the temple in which God Himself dwells. God is with us (1 John 4:4, John 14:16, Joshua 1:5). We have the same spirit that Christ had.

Are you connecting the dots?

God was with Jesus, therefore, Jesus healed all those oppressed by the devil.

God is with _____, therefore, _____ can heal all those oppressed by the devil.

Must I fill in the blanks for you?

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See, it’s not about, “let’s examine the theological soundness of this statement”

It’s about healing those who are oppressed by the devil. 

(rephrase)

It’s about freeing people from the devil. 

Do you realize that the sickness that Jesus healed are the same sicknesses that are still here today? Deafness. Blindness. Muteness. Paralysis. Epilepsy. Leprosy. Fever. Sickness of the blood. Death.

All those sicknesses, Jesus healed.
All those sicknesses are from the devil.

All those sicknesses are still here today. 
All those sicknesses are still from the devil.

Do you see where I’m going?

Healing was a tool that Jesus used out of the overflow of compassion that He had for people.

He healed people because He wanted to free them from the devil. Because when you get someone free from the devil, that’s actually good news.

Healing isn’t about a doctrine. It’s a jail-break from the prison of physical bondage (Luke 4:18). It’s about serving people who are in need (1 John 3:18).

Think about this: When Jesus encountered someone sick, He could say to them:

“You don’t have to be blind anymore.”
“You don’t have to be deaf anymore.”
“You don’t have to die of this sickness.”
“You don’t have to suffer from epilepsy anymore.”
“I can set you free from the devil. Right now.”

What a privilege! What a joy to get to be able to say that! How was He able? Because God was with Him.

Think about this: When a Christian encounters someone suffering, we ought to be able to say:

“You don’t have to have chronic depression anymore”
“20 years of scoliosis? No problem.”
“Doctors said you have stage 4 cancer? Would you want that report reversed?”
“You were born deaf? Would you like to be able to hear?”
“Your husband has advanced Parkinson’s? Do you want your husband back?”
“You’ve had migraines for 10 years? It can stop today.”

Why?

Because He is with us. 

What an honor to be able to represent King of Kings.

What an privilege we can bring hope to people who have lost it.

To not run after this is like shirking at a $10,000 bill.
Yes, it seems like only rich, famous, renown people have been able to use this $10,000 dollar bill.
Yes, people have abused their use of the $10,000 bill.
Yes, people have idolized the $10,000 bill.
Yes, people have boasted in their $10,000 bill instead of using it.
Yes, the devil has created counterfeits of the $10,000 bill.

Every believer has been given the $10,000 bill.
But God gave it to us with the intent that we would freely give to others, because it has been freely given to us (Luke 12:32, Luke 17:21, Matt 10:8, Acts 3:6).

It was given to us as a tool to better serve the people around us. It was a tool to equip us in a supernatural way to express love for people, not something to wave around and idolize.

Do you get it?

You get to demonstrate love for people in a supernatural way because God. is. with. you.

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A few weeks ago (September 17), I went to Tijuana, Mexico with a team of ~15 people led by Chris Preitauer. Chris actually compiled the majority of the team’s testimonies here, including videos and pictures.

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But first, here’s some background to how I met Chris:

The last time I went to Southern California (SoCal), I was staying a night in Los Angeles and I came across Chris’ site that my friend had cross-posted. I read a few of the testimonies on the site and realized that this guy was on a similar page as me.

I looked him up on facebook and found out that he was in San Diego — it just so happened that I was going there the very next day. I sent him a friend request and a message saying something along the lines of:

“Hey I came across your site, seems like we’re on the same page. We should meet up! Are you free in the next few days?”

He responded, and a few days later, we met up at a local mall and spent a few hours sharing our stories/journey/testimonies. At one point in the conversation, Chris told me that he went to Mexico on a consistent basis and he invited me to go with him the next time around. This trip we just came back from was a result of what we discussed that night.

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I left 5:30am from San Jose, picked up my friend Christian as I was passing through LA, and we arrived at the meeting area around 2:30pm. Chris had me do a short training on the basics of healing. Here’s the clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cpjPTFQKw0Y

We drove across the border, and before we got started with anything, we had tacos. While we were ordering at this small taco shop, Chris yelled out at me and pointed across the street. I looked, confused at first because I didn’t know what he was pointing at. And then I saw it. It was a man on crutches; he was missing his left leg.

As other similar occasions, this is what went through my head.

“You’ve never seen an amputee healed.”

“This is IMPOSSIBLE. HELLOOOOOO”

“What? A limb’s gonna grow out? You crazy.”

I blipped. I decided it would be more convenient to not go after the guy. I spent a few minutes fixing my thinking. If I blip, I intentionally confront why I had the hesitation, and correct it with the right thinking. I picked myself back up mentally and went on with the day.

I went back to ordering tacos and getting acquainted with the team. We ate tacos and talked for a little bit, and after a while, to my surprise, the guy with the missing leg came into the store. I turned to one of my teammates, Francisco, and asked, “Hey you wanna translate for me?”

“Sure.”

We went to approach the guy, but he was ordering tacos so we decided to wait a little. When we finally greeted him and asked, I asked, ‘Hey, you mind me asking what happened to your leg?’ Francisco translated for me and the guy told us that it was a medical mistake; the doctors ended up amputating his whole leg with the exception of a stump.

I asked, “Do you mind if I pray for your leg to be restored?” He welcomed it. I put my hand on his stump and commanded the leg to be restored, and then asked him how he was doing. He said he felt some tingling in the area, but not much else. I went in to pray again, commanding bone/flesh/tendons/ligaments to form and then asked again how he was doing. Not much else.

I decided to close it. “Thank you for letting me pray for you. Make sure you keep checking your leg for any change.” He was grateful that we even took the time.

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The church we were ministering at was “Charismatic Family Center” in Tijuana. There were probably about 100 people there.

I decided to hang outside the building just before the meeting was about to start. I saw a younger woman pushing an elderly woman in a wheelchair across the street. It just so happened that Francisco was outside as well. “Hey there’s a lady in a wheelchair across the street, you wanna come?”

We approached the lady and asked what had happened to her. The younger woman told us that she had diabetes and it was affecting her eyesight and her strength. I asked if she wanted to be made well (who doesn’t??), and she nodded. I wish I could give a solid result of what happened, but that was lost in translation.

Immediately after, I met Jose and his wife. Jose was using a blind cane, so I went to talk with him to see what happened. He told me he had glaucoma and he lost most of his vision. I laid hands on his eyes ~3 times without much concrete progress. He dismissed himself and told me that he was heading to the church meeting anyway. We will continue with his story later..

On a side note, we didn’t just go to this church to minister to the sick, Chris also arranged for clothes and food to be given out to the locals.

http://powerdemonstration.com/2011/09/21/videos-the-blind-3-receive-their-sight-in-mexico/

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