Texts & Topics

Your Provision is NOW

Texts & Topics

2018.07.17 Your Provision is NOW

YOU ARE PROVISIONED

The Lord’s ways are truly higher and different than our human ways.  And yet, there are so many elements of our modern life that He uses to teach us more about how He thinks and operates.  Along my professional journey, as I was developing a deeper relationship with Yeshua, there were many spiritual understandings that would be revealed to me through the mechanics and technologies of the products and services I was allowed to represent.  One of those revelations came through my time working with Motorola radio systems and cellular technology.

I was in that industry during the release of early smartphone technology.  When you purchase a new smartphone from a wireless carrier, the language they use for the process of activating your phone is the word “provisioning.”  That is when the hardware, operating system and preloaded software on that phone are connected wirelessly to their main server and the device becomes fully functional.  At that moment the latest updates and upgrades are installed on your device and you can download various applications for improving the performance and experience of the unit.

It was while working in that industry that the Holy Spirit taught me that as with those devices, we were created by Him and invested into the earth, each for such a time as this, with the necessary hardware and operational software built-in.  But not until we let Him “Provision” us through an active, continual relationship with the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer, a.k.a. God) can we become fully activated and walk into the works prepared beforehand and fulfill our unique missions in life.

Take a look at the powerful definition of the word “Provision”…

a : the act or process of providing

b : the fact or state of being prepared beforehand

c : a measure taken beforehand to deal with a need or contingency : preparation

(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary)

N.O.W: No Other Way

Our God did some extraordinary things in transitioning me from my roles in corporate America to becoming a “rep” working directly for Him as a “Kingdom Consultant” (a.k.a. Ambassador).  He began to teach me about His “Operating System (OS).” He showed me that I was previously living and working out of what can be referred to as the “Babylon OS” (the world’s operating system).  He led me into learning to run His software on my hardware (i.e. brain, heart, etc.) by letting go of what I think I think I know about anything and everything, and let Him begin giving me a complete OS replacement to begin running on His “REST OS”…

And if anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know. 
1 Corinthians 8:2

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 2:5

During that time the Spirit of God served as my “transition coach” and revealed several deeper understandings about His will and plan for our day and age as well my own life.  Through a long season of fasting He dismantled doctrinal and eschatological (end time) perspectives that I had forged over the years. But just before sending me out into a “free-lance” responsibility, He thrust me miraculously into the banking industry for about a year and trained me to work by Faith in Him vs. a fear of failure.  By His Spirit I learned to perceive His voice in real-time while relating to C-level executives throughout the U.S. banking industry.

The major lesson He worked into me centered around embracing the NOW, the present moment.  I learned that the Lord, knowing and preparing all things beforehand, had “provisioned” me and that whatever resources were needed to address each assignment and situation would be released/revealed in real-time day-by-day.  My responsibility was to stay presently focused on Him, speak what I perceive and receive what was needed for the task, both internally and externally. I realized that most human beings aren’t living in the present provisional access (relationship) to the Source that was originally intended.  Instead, people live either behind or ahead in their minds, considering the past or calculating the future. He did not promise us provision either ahead or behind in our heads. Even most Believers are not focused on “occupying” their moments in Christ but looking ahead for some future event. He promised His Provision in the open door of the “I Am” that He always is…His very present presence.  We spend much of our life in our heads and not in the Spirit of His Provision. The constructs of our society caused us to be raised this way as children and even educated to operate from this reality. Our cultures have even been built on this sub-standard foundation and it is not the Way of Yeshua.

For me, this lesson was encapsulated in the understanding that the only way the Kingdom of God can truly “come to earth” is in the present moment…the N.O.W. (No Other Way).  There is a continual open door and the “All Things” promised to us are accessible as we keep our minds on Him in Spirit and Truth…

You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.
Isaiah 26:3

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
Matthew 6:33

Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an ENTRANCE will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
2 Peter 1:10-11

IT IS “NOW O’CLOCK”

In the Kingdom of God it is always “NOW O’Clock”.  Each moment of life has been foreseen and prepared by God for us to receive from Him the resources to fulfill His will; and His will is very Good.  He has fully factored in our own Free Will and is waiting on us to look to him each passing moment as King David wrote…

Show me Your ways, O Lord;
Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day.
Psalm 25:4-5

Waiting ON God and not FOR something from Him is a key to seeing Him release the needed resources. God Himself is actually our Provision and in Him are the All Things promised through our Inheritance, both eternally as well as the Here & Now…

He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
Revelation 21:7

So He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or parents or brothers or wife or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who shall not receive many times more in this present time, and in the age to come eternal life.”
Luke 18:29-30

Our blessing is to get to trust God in helping us receive each element of our predetermined, prepared inheritance at the appropriate time.  I confess that too often in my life I have strived to secure a provision (resources, relationships, revelation) that was either not meant for me, was not yet time for and/or that I was not prepared to properly steward at the time.  There truly is a time for everything under the sun (Ecclesiastes 3). We currently live in the Chronos reality of time on earth (hours/days/months/years) designed by God (Genesis 1); however, learning to live in God’s Kairos (Ancient Greek word meaning the right, critical, or opportune moment) time in Christ is the Path to becoming an Overcomer.  As a Good Father, He gives us what we need, when we need it and in correlation to our attentiveness to Him.

Stay NOW…Stay in His Spirit…Stay Provisioned…because NOW Faith Is…

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not (YET) seen.
Hebrews 11:1

Originally published: https://nc-c3.org/2018/07/17/your-provision-is-now/

Walk the Talk

Texts & Topics

2018.04.17 Walk the Talk

WAS JESUS EXCELLENT?

An important focus for many within the modern day Body of Christ is around the concept of being “excellent”.  In fact, for us (C3), “excellence” is one of the six official values that we set to guide our efforts to foster unity.  I personally find myself regularly asking the Lord for His perspective on being “excellent” with each situation I encounter, both personally and professionally: Lord, what does excellence look like to you in this particular matter?

Excellent [ek-suh-luh nt] : adj. 1. very good of its kind. Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

If each of us who have a relationship with Jesus Christ were asked the question “was Jesus excellent?” (referring to His life and ministry on earth in the flesh), it is likely that most of us would say yes, He was excellent.  My answer would also be yes as I believe Jesus lived His life and walked out His ministry with excellence. That is to say that He was “very good of His kind”.

But why?  What was it about the way He lived that made Him “very good of His kind”?

Jesus once asked a young rich ruler “why do you call me good, there is no one good but God” after being addressed by the man as “good teacher” (Matthew 19:17).  In a manner of speaking, it was the God-ness of our Savior that made His Goodness. He was by nature (and supernaturally) good by the “kind” that He was, as God made manifest.

EXCELLENT PERFORMANCE

When we think of being excellent we tend to think of performance; and certainly how well we perform has an impact on the results we experience. Even more, performance levels serve to determine the value we elicit.  In every way performance plays into the equation of excellence. In some cases the words are even interchangeable.

Performance [per-fawr-muh ns]: noun 7. the manner in which or the efficiency with which something reacts or fulfills its intended purpose. Dictionary.com.

For the first 12 years of my relationship with God, the emphasis of my life in Christ was focused on what you could call “religious” performance.  Whether it was about reading/memorizing more scripture, spending more time in prayer, or how well I managed my interactions with others, it was a matter of my personal effort.  But then, during a season of deep transition, I perceived the Lord highlighting the following verse of scripture to me over and over again…

He who says he abides in Him ought Himself also to walk just the way he walked.
– 1 John 2:6

In that season of transition, it was like this verse pursued me for months.  What first stood out is the word “abides.” I had invested years prior to that point seeking to understand and live out an “abiding” lifestyle.  Chapters like John 14 and 15 were foundational in my pursuit to abide. During those days, it was on a walk with the Lord early one morning that I perceived a key to abiding that I hadn’t recognized before…

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in Me?  The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells (abides) in Me does the works.  – John 14:10

Talk about performance.  If God was actually the one “performing” the works, how excellent could that be?  I don’t imagine it could be any more excellent. The more I pondered the Truth of the functionality of Jesus and His Father in that level of collaboration, the clearer it became to me that all the works of God were created beforehand that we (as with Jesus) were to walk in them…

For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. – Ephesians 2:10

TALK THE TALK, WALK THE WALK

Jesus was actually the Word of God made manifest on the earth (John 1).  So when He walked out His days of ministry, He was actually the walking Word of God.  He walked into the words and works that had been pre-established for Him. This, I believe, is a key understanding how to walk in the Excellence of Christ. A key to daily living from the Rest the Lord has promised us that, itself, fulfills the Works prepared for us (see Hebrews 3 & 4).  This, I believe, is living in “excellence.”

Remember the definition of “excellent” is “very good of its kind”?  If in truth, we are of His kind, the way to be “very good” is to walk out the life we have been given as Jesus walked out His…by speaking words of the Father’s authority and letting Him do the works.

This is the ultimate expression of phrase “Walk the Talk.”  Let us now learn the abiding nature of Christ in all our work, that His works may fulfill His purposes in, through and around us.  To God be the Glory.

Originally published: https://nc-c3.org/2018/04/17/walk-the-talk/

Created As Community

Texts & Topics

02.06.18 Created For Community.png

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
–  John Donne, MEDITATION XVII, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1572-1631)

For me, January 1994 began in the bitter cold of a Chicago winter.  The windchill that year would eventually hit -74 degrees by the time I decided to move to the much more temperate climate of Charlotte, NC.  But the weather was just a small motivating factor in the major life decision I was about to make.

At that point in time I was about 2-½ years out of college, had some solid “real world” work experience under my belt and, in ways I couldn’t recognize, was deeply searching.  Searching for something I didn’t know or understand.  Searching for truth, or at least some evidence that there may actually be a “constant” in my world.  Perhaps some foundation that if I drilled down far enough, may help me begin to understand the Purpose of life.

In the midst of my search, it began to be apparent that someOne was searching for me.

A couple months earlier I had woken up to thoughts that seemed to be originating from some source other than me.  These thoughts left a deep impression upon me that “I needed to go to church, it was time to go to church.”  It was quite a surprising consideration because I hadn’t been to church in years apart from an occasional holiday.

Later that week, again to my surprise, I found myself in an encounter with two “born again” businessmen from two different states that didn’t know each other.  We had just met each other over a business opportunity.  By the time the conversation was over, they both encouraged me to visit Willow Creek Community Church in the Chicago-land area.  It didn’t take long before I found myself attending weekly.  The Truth of God’s word being communicated in those worship services began to “get all up in my business,” so to speak.

During the first few months I attended church I began to question my current status in life.  I was living in Chicago with the closest family member several hours away.  I had many friends that I enjoyed being with but was aware that my fun-loving lifestyle was less than healthy.  My main frustration centered around the fact that even after a couple years of operating as a “grown up” I still had no clearer understanding of who I was or why I was on earth than I did when I had started college years earlier.  Finally, in a phone conversation with my mother who was living in Charlotte, I began sharing my concerns about my lack of clarity surrounding my life, personally and professionally.  She encouraged me to consider moving to Charlotte and re-calibrate.  In response to her suggestion I heard myself say “I can’t do that.”  To which she said “I know, I know, you always have to do it on your own.”  Those words instantly began to haunt me.  Much to my chagrin, she was right, I had somehow developed a belief system that told me I couldn’t depend on anyone or anything…I had to make it all happen myself.

I could hardly sleep that night and through the late hours I pondered my “self made man” mindset.  I began to challenge my current way of thinking.  Through a fog of thoughts a clear memory started to shine through.  It was some poem I had studied in my Senior year of high school English class.  I kept hearing one line over and over, ”No man is an island…no man is an island…no man is an island.”  At the time I couldn’t remember the author of the poem or the majority of it’s words, but the writer’s intent was not escaping me…not one bit.  An obvious reality began to emerge.  There are billions of people on this planet.  I am not alone nor am I designed to “make it” in this world apart from the help of others.  Within weeks I was packed and on my way to be near family for a fresh start in Charlotte.  Within a year I met Jesus Christ and began the process of surrendering to a Spirit-led life.

ELOHIM IS COMMUNITY

Years after my conversion I was in a season of fasting and prayerful pursuit.  I was leaning into God with questions about why we had not yet seen the level of “promises fulfilled” that we read about in the scriptures.  I knew several people in deep pursuit of God’s “fullness” but it seemed to be elusive to us all.  And then, driving home one night after a prayer meeting, I received the following understanding from the Lord…

Just like the Israelites crossing over from the wilderness to the Promised Land together, we also will not cross over into the Abundant Life promised to us as “individuals”, but as a “Community” (the Body of Christ). The Kingdom of God is a team sport.

Even God’s name proclaims His priority of community…

In the beginning ELOHIM created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 1:1

Elohim is a plural form of the name of God.  It implies that though God is indeed One (singular), He is also the Godhead (plural) – Father, Son & Holy Spirit – and exists in constant, eternal community.  Through the use of this reference to God in the very first verse of the entire Bible we are made aware of God’s communal nature and begin to see that when we were created in His image, we were “Created as Community.”

Therefore, now that the fullness of time has come for the Christian community to function as One, let us seek the Lord together for the full revelation of His intended Community.

Originally posted at: https://nc-c3.org/2018/02/06/created-as-community/

The Kingdom, WITHIN

Texts & Topics
18.01.09 The Kingdom Within.png

Aliens, these people could be aliens! That was an actual humorous thought occurring in my mind as I sat there in the huge conference room at the base of a major hotel located on the Northside of Atlanta.  It was January 2007 and I was attending my first conference focused on God being involved in our work life.  Though I had been walking with the Lord for 12 years at that point, and attending a biblically-based Spirit-led church, God-at-work was a brand-new concept to me.  In that gathering, for 3 days I listened to leaders operating in various areas of society (Business, Government, Entertainment, Family, etc.) sharing stories of real experiences involving the Power of the “Kingdom of God” in all aspects of their lives, including professionally.

After facing the reality that I may not be “in Kansas anymore,“ I figured I better consult my “Owner’s Manual” immediately to see how these ideas aligned with the Word of God.  I had my Bible with me and I began to take a fresh look at the Gospels to match in real-time what I was hearing from the speakers.

I didn’t even get out of the first book of the New Testament before I realized that all Jesus was talking about was this “Kingdom of God”.  In fact, in the book of Matthew the Kingdom of God is referred to over 50 times.  Somehow I had overlooked this for years.  It was beginning to look like the “point” of the Lord’s Gospel was this Kingdom.

But it was in the book of Luke where Jesus‘s words launched the full-scale assault upon my paradigm…

The Coming Kingdom
Now when He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He answered them and said, “The Kingdom of God does not come with observation;” nor will they say, “See here!” or “See there!” For indeed, “the Kingdom of God is within you.”
Luke 17:20-21

Within you?!  What does that even mean? How does that work? And the questions began to stack up my mind.

A NEW DAY

Over the years following that earth-shattering encounter in Atlanta, I traveled the globe and discovered the simple Truth that the Treasure I had been seeking over the course of my life, had been hidden inside of me and other people all over the earth.  For too long we have been looking up and around for the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom isn’t coming TO us…that has already been accomplished.  It is now coming THROUGH us. As we grasp this truth of the Gospel of the Kingdom, we will see the manifestation of what Jesus was referring to in these words…

The Parable of the Leaven
Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal till it was all leavened.”
Matthew 13:33

The more we become this Truth of the Gospel of the Kingdom, we will see the “leaven” of the Kingdom begin to work into every area of our being. Eventually, the leaven will move into every area of our lives as it appropriately, powerfully impacts the people and environment around us.

For many of us, our day and age has been considered to be what the Bible refers to as the “last days”.  Regarding God’s plan for this era there are many details we can spend our lives disputing.  What Believers can know for sure, is that for 2,000 years the Kingdom of God has been, literally, right under our noses; it had been deposited within our earthen vessels.  The question we each need to answer daily is…

What are we going to do with it?

Originally posted at: https://nc-c3.org/2018/01/09/the-kingdom-within/