Tidings of Great Joy!

Hello, faithful readers!

I'm sure you're wondering where on earth I've been for the past several months. Well, I am pleased to inform you that I have not, in fact, stopped writing. Nor did I die. And I wasn't lost in the jungle, for that matter. The truth is that I wrote a book! So hopefully, you'll forgive me for being an absentee blogger of late. Rather than write a blog here, I've included a link to a free sneak preview of the book: the entire first chapter! The book is called The Christian Zoo, and it's an investigation of what the Western Church looks like to outsiders. Do we consider our traditions as we go through the motions of Sunday services, or are we aware of how mechanical "Christianity" has become today? It deals with things like the role of a pastor, tithing, Sunday morning service, missions, and much more! Over and above everything else, though, the heart and soul of the book is to encourage believers that each and every one of us is meant to be more than a spectator in God's work. God wants you. On this page, there's a link to the website where you can buy your very own copy. It's a book printer, so the shipping and handling may be a bit more than usual. It's probably cheaper if you just get a hold of me and buy one directly. You can find me at this e-mail address for book information: alyssa_cagle@mail.com. Please join with me in sharing the message of God's love and his desire to use every member of his family!

Ok, here's the good stuff.

FREE PDF Sneak Preview of the book: SNEAK PREVIEW

Link to the printing website: BUY A COPY OF THE BOOK


Thank you all so much! Please keep this new book up in prayer!

"Another fine bit of writing brought to you by yours truly"

The Manifesto, or "Thoughts From a Worship Leader's Heart"

When did praising God cease to be… enough?

That is the question with which I’m wrestling tonight. There are so many ideas floating around the church about what a service should look like, whether we should even have church, and what we need to do during our meeting times.

As a “worship leader”, you could say that my job description is more or less to sing like a maniac and help people enter into God’s presence. But there’s this eerie, vile thing creeping into the church, especially in the West: needing something “else” from a service. Heaven forbid that we simply stand before our God, like children, and simply burst into song because we love him. People want hymns, or they don’t want any hymns, or they want you to operate in the prophetic like some kind of wind-up doll, or they label you a heretic if you happen to prophesy, and God help you if you bring along a drummer.

I can see it in a congregation’s eyes sometimes: Here we go, Worship Leader. Plug me into His presence. What? You played THAT song? Now I’ll lose 5 minutes of my worship time. Good Lord... Ok. Now, THAT song works… Great. Whew! Glad it's over.  

As if I--me, myself, the random person at the front of the room with a guitar-- am the one to usher you into God’s presence.

Another thing I see is perhaps the more heartbreaking one: A congregation that actually does break out into authentic praise, with hearts torn open before the Lord for the entire set. BUT… but, someone comes along with the final word: “You really should have played this song” or “it would have been better if you had done x after the bridge” or “if you would just lead in y way we could really have entered into God’s presence.”

I mean, don’t get me wrong. I hope that we’re all big enough receive comments and suggestions. So throw me a bone here and believe that worship leaders are people, too, and have opinions of their own. I’m just speaking for myself here. I love leading praise and worship. But I often wonder if we’re missing the point.

Do you really believe that the worship team is the one that somehow produces the presence of God in a room?

Furthermore, do you really believe that if I play chord x after bridge z God will somehow be more likely to show up?

Will God somehow be offended if the leader doesn’t talk when you want him to and then not show up, perhaps spending the rest of the evening crying in a heavenly closet?

See, that’s the backdrop to what a lot of people are really saying. You want a worship team—or the poor preacher, for that matter—to produce in your heart what reading the Word and talking to God every day is supposed to do. I cannot create, grow, or somehow manifest your relationship with God. Neither can any song, in any key, even if followed by a prophetic word of encouragement. Worship comes from your heart. Worship with song just provides a special way of allowing a congregation to express their love to God. That’s it. I’m no more in control of God’s presence than anyone. So when people come to me, good as their intentions may be, I often wonder what would have happened if they had simply taken five minutes of their morning that day to praise God on their own.

Mind you, I realize that a horrible worship team, off-key singers, and poor musicianship can seriously hinder your experience. It’s just plain distracting… and icky. What I’m getting at here is much deeper than that.

You see, I actually once heard a much-lauded and acclaimed guest speaker suggest that we should all get together and pray, and have praise services… to avoid God’s judgment. This stance, coupled with a particular form in which to pray and worship, was to be the model followed by God’s children.

And it broke my heart.

When in the heck was it not enough for us to just love on our God?

For that matter, when the heck was God not enough to love on?

I’m serious. You can blame me and that mistake I made while playing the chorus or you can take a moment and search your own heart about why you spent more of the church service thinking about "The Office" than God. If you are depending upon me to usher you into God’s presence, or to “unleash the Holy Spirit” (people have told me that, and I often want to ask where on earth he’s leashed up…), then you are in for some serious heartache.

Perhaps I’m foolish. Or immature. Or maybe I just “haven’t been in the ring long enough.” But I try not to come before God with motives. I’m just silly and simple enough to want to spend time with God, however I can get it. See, worship is the outflowing of a LIFESTYLE. And if your lifestyle is lacking in love, expression, and affection towards God, then guess what? Your WORSHIP will be lacking in life. You cannot spend your week bickering, fighting, ignoring God, watching T.V., and then expect some worship leader, or a church service, or a teaching to give you a “zap” and get you back through the week. (And, worship leaders, this goes both ways—you cannot lead people somewhere you’ve never been.)

But if someone really is expressing his or her love toward God in a real and relevant way for him or her personally, then who are we as outsiders to dictate that person's parameters? Do we also make a habit of telling married couples how they're supposed to romance one another?

            See, my Bible tells me that God has given us the spirit of sonship, by which we are able to boldly call him our Dad. Even in the natural realm, there is an understanding about dads. There may be kids out there who only talk to their dads when they want something, but that’s really a disgusting way to live. Can you imagine if every time I saw my dad, I tried to use a specific plan of communication in order to leave with five bucks? If I kept trying different ways to communicate with him until I “found the combination” and got the cash?

           

Can you imagine how hurt my dad would be?

            So why do we do that to God?

We treat church service as some kind of chore that ranks morally above taking out the trash but emotionally below doing homework. As long as we “get it out of the way,” we’re set, and we can more or less be kinda sure that we won’t go to Hell when we die. But really, we’re not sure why we go and we sit in our pews confused but unwilling to confess it, wondering why we’re singing to an invisible Old Man somewhere up in the sky.

Or perhaps you’ve found yourself on the other end of the spectrum where people are watching your every move and if you don’t dance like a spider monkey on crack cocaine then you haven’t experienced the Holy Spirit. (That may be an exaggeration…) But I’m referring to services where there’s an unspoken count going of “manifestations,” and we look down our charismatic noses at those who are sitting still as if they don’t know the first thing about God… As if prophetic utterances or miracles were in our hands to deal out and understand.

Church, I beg you. As someone who has been through just about every church knothole backwards and seen things from both sides of the stage more times than I can count, I urge you: can we all take a deep breath here?

I don’t care if you sing so loud that the people in front of you go deaf. And honestly I don’t care if you just sit in your chair the whole time. I’m not impressed if you speak in the tongues of men and angels. And I’m certainly not impressed by your theology, or your fancy prayer models, or how long you’ve been in the ministry. It doesn’t move my heart if you roll around on the floor laughing. And I’m not awed by your holiness if you sing only hymns.

But you know what really wows me as a worship leader? What makes my heart skip a beat and reminds me why I drag my tired body on stage, why I waste hours writing chord charts and organizing power point presentations?

It’s when I see some idiot on the fourth row, completely unaware of what’s going on in the room, singing his guts out to God. He may be clapping to a different time, and he may never be able to play an instrument on this side of Heaven, but what I see coming out of that heart brings me to tears. Because I see someone who has looked past the walls of ministry models, who isn’t coming to pick God’s pockets while he’s in his presence, and who has long forgotten that there’s anyone else in the room at all. This person has realized the simple truth most churches spend their Monday morning meetings trying to cover up: even if (God forbid) the guitar player was off key, and the pastor’s jokes were corny, and the kids at the back wouldn’t shut up—even then, God would still be God, no one’s salvation would get revoked, and we could rest assured that eternal damnation is probably not going to fall upon us.

If God is your father--if you proclaim that to be truth--then I dare you to come before him as a child and not as some cookie-cutter church member or ministry leader.

Not so that you can look around the room and slap other peoples’ hands and inform them of what things “are great, but…”

Not so that you can click your heels together three times and get what you want…

Not so that you can check “church” off your to-do list…

Not so you can one-up someone else’s “experience” of the Holy Spirit…

            But simply because you have discovered this amazing, mind-blowing, fantastic, earth-shattering love. And because being able to set aside time and come before him makes your heart skip a beat. Because you stopped caring what time service will be dismissed. Because, even if God doesn’t say or do anything that you can chalk up on your “prophetic encounter” wall of honor, you love him just the same and know that he loves you. Because you know that your Dear Friend is not a wind-up doll that will mechanically respond to your ritualistic practices.

            Over and over again, I read in the Bible where it says to give praise to the Lord “for He is good, and his love endures forever.” And I could be wrong, but I think that’s about as good of a reason for praising as we’re going to get. I love God so much, and he loves me so much, that I honestly couldn’t care less about what you think of me when I’m singing to him. You think I’m too expressive? You think I’m not excited enough? I’m not up there so you can give me a pat on the back, or because I have some magic power to make God appear. (He’s in you, remember?) I'm singing to my Dad. And I have never, in my entire life, seen a parent hush a toddler by saying, “Shut up, Timmy. Daddy only likes it when you sing in E major.”

            I promise as a worship leader to always be striving to play with excellence, and master my craft, and to improve as a musician. But I will NOT compromise on how I come before my Daddy. That ground is untouchable. He’s MY God. He’s MY true love. He’s MY best friend. And HE’S the one I’m singing to, not you.

            So let’s all do ourselves a favor and worry more about what God thinks, and whether or not whatever the heck we’re doing is honestly the simple outpouring of a heart overwhelmed by the love of our Father.

"another fine bit of writing brought to you by yours truly"

Complete Surrender

Luke 7:36-50

 Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.

When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”

Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me, teacher,” he said.

“Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”

 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled.”

“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.

Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”

The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”

Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

* * *

I have sung the words “I surrender all” so many times and with so many melodies that it nearly makes my head spin. I’ve even written those words in my very own songs, more than once.

But do I?

Am I brave enough to surrender my all to the One I call, “God”?

Truth be told, I am often quite a hypocrite. I may sing about it, but I find that I would rather surrender all to the god of my imagination, or surrender all except… anything I’d just rather not surrender. This is an issue of the heart and the will.

 People, I’m talking about SO much more than sin here. Sure, if you’re struggling with something, you’ve got to give it up. Of course there are bad, icky things we do that trip us up. But think about this for a second: are we so arrogant as to assume that if we could just give up [fill in the blanks with the sin of your fancy], we’d be totally ready for God? That we’d even want him once we got Him?

Perhaps I only speak for myself, but let me throw this one out there: the idea of surrendering to God is terrifying. Heck, God can be terrifying. I mean it—the invisible, invincible Being that spoke into creation not just earth but everything in the entire universe? The One who has no beginning, no expiration date, and who is everywhere and sees everything? Sounds rather scary to me. Let’s be real. I’ve never seen God. In fact, the word says no one can or has seen God (John 1:18; Exodus 33:20). So how can I trust God? How do I know he’s not a menace, luring me into his inky, black snare? A villain, perhaps, he is punishing us for not believing him and yet still mysteriously hiding his full revelation from us. Or perhaps he gets some kind of sick pleasure from our troubles because they “teach us” some random lesson he decided we needed to learn. Maybe he puts us through hideous “faith tests” to ruin our lives but somehow glorify himself.

Those are doctrines at work in the world today. They certainly don’t help the church overcome doubt toward the character of God anymore than they produce the belief they so arrogantly proclaim.

So what do we do with our creeping doubts about God? Normally, we hide them—either in masks of pompous religiosity by which we somehow cast down the Devil 5 times an hour or read our Bible 50 times a day, or we veil it with outright “disbelief.”

Yet we still can’t escape him, can we? The irresistible yearning in our hearts, those pesky and rushed thoughts as we marvel at creation, and that gnawing hunger that ever ebbs away at the very fibers of our being. Everything inside of us testifies to God.

Somehow, though, these moments are all too often drowned out by a simple, common, and evil question:

What if God is a let down?

Don’t pretend like the thought hasn’t crossed your mind. It’s at the very heart of what the serpent asked Eve. What if he lets you down? What if he’s not everything he says he is? What if he’s no different than anyone else that has promised you something?

This question provokes a most alarming response: we make a mad dash for the apple, and snarling like wild dogs with food scraps, we bite into it. I’ll do it. I’ll take control of this situation. I’ll worry about this problem. I’ll [fill in the blank]. I cannot bear to be let down by God. I can’t let him hurt me. I don’t know what I’d do if he let me down. I’ll be my own God. Then, I’ll never hurt me. And before you know it, like crazed animals we are hiding from the very God who created us.

* * *

I believe that this point, this moment in our lives, that deep spot inside of us where we must make a decision—that part of us is really what God is after. It is when we teeter on the brink of trusting God that all the marshals of Heaven and Hell stand on full alert, as though the universe itself were leaning on the outcome of our decision.

Honestly, that is why we must re-think our perspective of sin. The New Testament has a pretty simple standpoint: get rid of it, put it off. Not some great list of prayers, and certainly not any idiotic casting out of evil “sin spirits,” as some very falsely suppose. No, if God were after our ability to not sin, I believe he wouldn’t have given us free will. Why on earth would he bother? If serving God, if my faith, is summed up in merely doing whatever God says, then I serve a rather silly Lord. He should have just made wind-up dolls and got on with the job.

Oh, no, friends. God wants so much more than that.

He wants you to want him.

He is after your will.

           

Isn’t that insane? It’s true though, isn’t it? What is the one thing God will not touch on all the earth? Man’s will. In the words of C.S. Lewis, “he cannot ravish; he can only woo” (The Screwtape Letters). God will not force us to believe. We must choose. And choice is an action of the will.

That is why trust is the pivotal moment. God has said some pretty wonderful things about himself, but we must choose in our very will to believe that it is eternally and unchangeably so. And we must make that choice every single day, no matter what. God is not after our emotions, entirely—they come and go. And God is not ultimately after our obedience (for isn’t it also possible to obey someone that you hate?). No, he merely stands before us in scandalous grace, waiting for all eternity for those who would simply and sincerely utter, “Lord Jesus, I choose you!”

For the record, I’m not talking about the pithy vows we think of in marriage when one person decides that more or less, he/she will do for present. If that’s your idea of marriage, save yourself the divorce paperwork and call it a day. No, I’m talking about the absolute and firm declaration of the believer who purposes is in his heart, “My God is forever who he says he is.” And let me assure you, such a believer couldn’t give two dimes about your thoughts on the matter; He will be so set on his God than anything you might say which doesn’t smell and taste of his true Love will be immediately dealt with in the Word.

Brothers and sisters, God ripped his heart out of his chest and handed it to humanity in the Garden of Eden. So insane and illogical is his love! And we, in our own fear, slammed his heart down on the dust, lest he let us down. But rather than destroy us, God gave a nod to the Son, who then stepped forward and put his own heart on the cross, just so we could again be given the choice! Do you see how ridiculous the whole ordeal is? I mean, I can almost understand the Devil’s disgust. It’s outright revolting!

Part of me wants to run screaming into the council of the Trinity, as they stood hatching the plan of salvation before creating the universe.

I imagine myself screaming, “DON’T DO IT, GOD!”

And the trinity would look at me in horror and ask, “Why not?”

“Because us humans will mess it up!” Then the trinity would stare at me, knowing the heart-wrenching question I would barely be able to speak until I simply sobbed, “What if I’m the let down?” (If you’ve never asked that question, I wonder if you’ve ever really pondered your salvation.)

But then I imagine that there would come roaring, deep, and almost musical laughter from them. And I would suddenly notice strange scars on the Son. For, you see, he is the lamb slain from the foundations of the earth (Romans 13:8).

“You’re too late,” he would whisper. “I already chose you.” And he would hold out his heart and ask, “Will you choose me?”

* * *

That is what surrender is. It is not a list of rules, it is not some idiotic faith formula, and it is not miraculous power. It is in quietness and trust, when we look beyond our doubts and see the beaten, pulsating, bruised, and broken heart of God before us. And we simply respond with, “I choose you.”

Isn’t it just irritatingly simple?

We so desperately want formulas, because they allow us to help God keep himself from “letting us down.” We long for some secret knowledge for which we must toil, because then we can banish God to the unattainable world of tomorrow, where we’ll hide him away as we wither in fear. But everything—everything—God ever wanted to be for you, he wants to be right here and right now. Of course you’ll have a lifetime of revelations and ecstatic experiences, but until you can forfeit it all and simply let God be himself, they wouldn’t matter anyway.

 Do we not serve an unchanging God? Then I declare to you today that at this very moment you are in the presence of everything God is, will be, and has ever been. And you don’t get a say over it, either. Your will must bow. For only in that moment can true love for God blossom.

How I wish that we could return to the simplicity of what God has for us! That we would forget, if just for a moment, about our stupid ministry projects and the hustle and bustle of what so many call “church” in this era of unprecedented busywork! How I wish that we would stop obsessing over the devil and contemplating his actions like bratty children waiting to tattle on a sibling! That is nothing more than background music at the fest. All it does is distract from our Guest of Honor.

There is only one thing that silences such a hubbub of clanging gongs. In fact, we have a record of one of the very few people who figured it out. One woman, with one jar of perfume, who simply surrendered—her dignity, her reputation, her doubt, her most valuable possession, and any hope of a future. She surrendered all, not by singing about it, but in simply telling Jesus “I choose you.” And long before she knelt to anoint Jesus’ feet, she had already willed in her soul to surrender. That is how she got the resolve to barge into such a crowded party. In the simple working out of that choice, the most beautiful, and arguably the most powerful, expression of love toward Jesus in all gospels is revealed.

Church, I pray we would see God as God sees himself. I pray that we would search his word night and day like gold miners as we seek greater and greater glimpses of the one we love. I pray that we would give God the one thing He’s after, the one thing he refuses to take until we lay it down. I pray that we would come to a place where we would declare, “God, I want you more than I want the answers.” I pray that as we teeter on the brink of trusting God, we would fall helplessly into the arms of grace. I pray that we would be zealous to guard our hearts against anyone who would try to speak falsely about our God.

Above all, I pray that in the deepest places of our hearts, we would have such a revelation of God’s love that we would finally understand that there really is no other option than to pour everything out to Him and, for once, actually surrender all.

"another fine bit of writing brought to you by yours truly"

Co-heirs with Christ, or "Throw the Hamburger Away"

Have you ever been to a restaurant that has pictures on the menu? I was at a place (that will remain unnamed) recently, and I had the strangest experience. There was this amazing picture of a hamburger. This baby looked like they managed to stuff the whole cow into the burger. The vegetables were clearly grown on the slopes of Mount Olympus, and I would have bet that the bread was baked somewhere nearby. The French fries were the size of small children and soda was streaming out of a cup like only high-fructose corn syrup can. This burger literally looked like it could make dreams come true. Logically, a friend of mine ordered it. 

Much to our horror, this…thing…arrived. A pathetic, squishy little sandwich was staring back up at her from the table. For all we know, someone on staff accidentally stepped on it on the way out of the kitchen. What happened? How could the restaurant present something so false to its customers? What was going on?

But do you know what the craziest thing of all is?

She ate the dumb thing. No protests, no running up to the counter and demanding everything she’d been promised in the picture. No asking for money back. Nothing! She just... quietly... ate it and then left.

Friends, that is what the church does every Sunday. 

***

Romans 8:17: “Now if we are children,

 then we are heirs —heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ,

if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that

 we may also share in his glory.”

This verse has literally blown my whole life apart in the last several weeks. I think this may be one of the most important statements of the entire New Testament. Obviously, the message of salvation (the gospel) is of primary importance. But I believe this verse is the heart and goal of salvation.

Read it through again. Heirs of God. Co-heirs with Christ.

Good grief!

We read these incredible verses about a passionate and romantic rescue from sin by the God who has pursued us in His insatiable love since before the foundations of the earth, who destined us to be his very Bride, who is the personification of grace and the source of all power. For most of us, these are all things we profess to believe!

...and yet, somehow, we have the audacity to sit quietly in pews wondering if maybe, just maybe, the old guy in the sky really cares about helping us out at work. We have the audacity to think that because we sing extra pretty, maybe his pride will be satiated for a while and he’ll leave us alone. We have the audacity to profess a Bible full of miraculous works and at the same time live our lives like God isn’t moving.

Based on what we see in so many “churches” week in and week out, would you consider it worth it to give up your child?

I wouldn’t give up my cat. I’m not kidding.

Well, church, I’ve got news for you. According to the verse we just read in Romans 8, you’re an heir. I believe the Holy Spirit has a message for you. And he sent me on assignment to write it down.

Congratulations, dear reader.

There has been a death in your family.

You were included in the will.

Your inheritance includes, but is not limited to:

-righteousness before God. (Philippians 3:8-10)

-all spiritual blessings in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 1:3)

-everything you need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1)

-the indwelling of the Almighty (John 14:20)

-divine provision of all earthly needs (Matthew 6)

-accompanying signs of your belief including, but not limited to: new tongues, healing the   sick, casting out demons (Mark 16:7)

Actually, there’s a whole lot more to the will. You see, the will is rather long. Some call it the “Bible”.

Brothers and sisters, where did we lose our way? I am serious. If I read in the pages of my Bible that I we are co-heirs with Christ, than the shivering and anemic body we call “the church” is a heresy, at best. We proclaim a God who gives us peace and we live lives of anxiety. We proclaim a God who gives us wisdom and yet we would rather ask our financial adviser than him. We proclaim forgiveness of sins and then slander other brothers and sisters on the basis of their sins. We proclaim righteousness and act like on the Cross were not enough–as though somehow, it hadn’t totally rid of us of sin; as though we weren’t really welcome to come “boldly before the throne.” And what is most heartbreaking to me (and, I think, to God) we proclaim the God of love but live our lives as though he did not care about us. How can we call ourselves children of God if won’t let him be our Father? Whatever happened to the glorious gathering of the saints, the beauty of a community of people that come together not because it’s Sunday but because they cannot wait to have a party at Dad’s house?

Seriously!

 

We pray like He’s bored and needs us to keep talking in order to not fall asleep. We sing like He’s some kind of ego-maniac that needs us to exalt Him in order to not feel self-conscious. We preach as though He were not wise or eloquent enough to speak for Himself. (How many sermons do we hear, week after week, trying to excuse his Word and delving into what “the Hebrew really means” in order to explain why you’ll never understand your Bible without a Master’s degree?)  We gather “in His Name” but spend our time largely unaware of His presence. And we treat those few brave souls who claim to have heard from Him like they belong in a room with padded walls. We confuse the Holy Spirit for Casper–we cry out for his presence and then promptly call Ghost Busters when he makes Himself known to us.

I’m starting to feel like a broken record here...

Make up your mind, church.

Either God loves you or He doesn’t.

Either His salvation was enough or it isn’t.

Either you have been set free or you haven’t.

Either the Bible is the truth or it isn’t.

Either God’s promises are true or they aren’t.

You cannot live in an in-between world. That is why God describes Himself as an “all-consuming fire.” He gives you absolutely everything. And believe me, He expects everything in return. 

That is precisely what “joint heir” or “co-heir” means.

God used legal terminology in our verse from Romans 8 for a reason. You see, under the law, whenever there was a situation of a “joint heir,” a very specific legal document had to be drafted. It was the inheritance, and it required two parties to put their mark upon it. Until both heirs’ marks were present, neither could receive his portion. (Don’t believe me? Dude, even Spurgeon preached this one. Google it.)

Do you grasp the significance here?

Unless you stand up and accept your rights as an heir–put your mark on the line–Christ himself cannot take his inheritance. You get it all or nothing, and so does he. The scandal! The unthinkable degradation of deity! That God would lay his riches aside until we were willing to partner with Him! It’s disgusting! Nauseating! What kind of a God have we?

Why, God? Why? Why would you give up your son for the church? WHY? 

I would like to submit something to you. Take it as you like it:

God did not give up His one and only Son, his dearly beloved, so that you and I could get together once a week, clap our hands, and go home. God gave up his son so that he could dive headfirst into the lake of fire and pull us out. He came to seek and to save us, who were lost. Grace grabbed a hold of us and dragged us, kicking and screaming, out of our old lives. We fought him–oh, how many of us are honest enough to admit that we used to like sinning?! But still he held us. We kicked and bit like wild animals, but still he held us. Then, in a blinding moment, we were brought before the judgment seat to receive sentencing. All of our sins were listed before us and we realized we were trapped. Judgment was upon us. Then, something unexpected happened. The Son stood up before his father and accepted our punishment. We watched as he was the one dragged back to the lake of fire to take our place. And as we sat there confused and utterly dumfounded, we heard the gasps of angels who could not understand what was happening, either. God? Crucified? For... them? 

Because, you see, a will is not legally binding until its author has died.

     

So, based on the finished work of Christ, the Will of God from before the foundations of the earth is now legally binding in your life—both on heaven and earth, for there is nowhere where God’s Word is not the final one. God paid for the promises of the Bible with his own blood. His crazy, passionate, and illogical love for you is written all over every single page. God doesn’t want you to just be his slave–he wants you to be his heir. That’s how we got the family name–CHRISTians. That’s how we can boldly say that we are “hidden in Christ.” 

God gave up his son so that you could be his Bride. So that you could personally and intimately know him. So that you could let him show off in your life–in miracles, in provision, in peace, in the fruits of the Spirit, in the love he would shower upon you. And, if I may be so bold, the kind of halfhearted Christianity at work in most “churches” is more of a slap in the face to the love of the Father than we really understand. Think about it this way: if he promised you peace, your anxiety and stress and worry is just another way of saying He’s a liar.  

                                                                          

Church, I dare you.

I dare you to devour every page of your Bible as if it were your very own inheritance.

I dare you to believe that God told the truth when he said he loved you.

I dare you to go through every day as if church—the “called out ones”—was your identity, 

not an address.

I dare you to stop sniveling on the ground in front of the throne and take your rightful place alongside Christ.

I dare you to stop maligning the finished work of Christ by claiming the identity of a “sinner” when God’s word says we were made righteous in Christ.

I dare you to be everything that God says you are.

I dare us all to take back “church” and make the gathering of the saints something worth dying for.

But most importantly, I dare you to do something really scary: let God loose. Let him prove his promises to you. Let him keep his Word to you. Let him answer for himself. In his time. In his way.

***

It’s about time we took the nasty, squishy hamburgers we’ve been calling “church” and threw them in the garbage can, anyway.

Anxiety, or "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Lord"

 

 

Hello. My name is Alyssa, and I am an expert in the realm of stress.

 

Not surprisingly, God had to beat me over the head with about 12 different two-by-fours before I calmed down enough to hear what he has been teaching me. (Literally--we’re talking an accident at work, fire, sickness, sound system disasters, and a whole lot more…) See, the problem with going through trying times is that the only things shining, usually, are your true colors. That is to say, it’s easy to keep everything together when your world is great and dandy. But let one irritant into our snow globe of personal perfection and our fatal cover-up is exposed. Think about it this way: God brings us through deserts, not snowstorms.

 

In a desert, you have to shed layers to survive. In the snow, where we would probably rather be, you keep adding layers and bundling up until the real you disappears into a mound of scarves gloves, and thick coats. God, however, wants the real you. If you can’t be real about yourself before God, what business do you have asking him to reveal Himself before you? God will not honor a religious façade. He is, however, the Rewarder of those who diligently seek him. So here are some things God showed me in this…

seriously…

trying…

time.

 

#1: Our relationship to God is our choice

NIV Psalm 103:7 “He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel.”

There are two kinds of “believers” out there: those who know God and those who know about God. And the difference is absolutely fatal. This verse exemplifies the two choices that we have in our walk. Do you want to know God’s ways, or are you after his deeds?

On the side of knowing God’s ways, we have Moses. He walked in unparalleled closeness to God—he saw his glory and spoke to him face-to-face, “as a man speaks with a friend.” He was not about coming before God with any kind of personal resume; if you need any evidence, just check out the precious little fireside chat between him and God at the burning bush. There are only a handful of things that seriously set Moses apart: his closeness to God, his humility, and his faith. The Word doesn’t describe him as some grand warrior, a great political genius, or even the orator to silence the masses. He just… knew God. His humility kept him from having clouded vision when coming before God and his faith was his trust in the God to whom he was so close. Not exactly rocket science here. Yet, somehow, this seems to be the hardest thing for us to accept.

On the side of God’s deeds, however, we end up with the most complicated and (being honest here) outlandish formula for a friendship the world may have ever seen: the Law. See, the people of Israel were given a shot at being an entire nation of little Moses-es (Moses-i?). They stood before the glory of God at Mount Sinai, waiting breathlessly alongside Moses for what was about to happen. And personally, I believe that any Israelite who would have fallen on his face before the mountain and cried out, “GOD!! Make me your friend also, that I might know you!” would have been honored. Yet the silence on the part of “God’s people” is rather deafening. In fact, the only thing they did say out loud was to tell Moses they wanted to be separated from God.

They were afraid.

Of God.

So they sent Moses in their place, in doing so making themselves spectators in what should have been their championship game. They were all about God’s stuff—his power, his ability to part the Red Sea, receiving raw instructions and mindlessly following them. Or, how about this: gifts of the Spirit. Let’s hit a little closer to home. Do you want prophecy, or do you want to be in tune with God’s voice? Do you want healing, or do you want to know the Healer? Do you want to go around casting out demons, or do you want to be so engulfed in God’s presence that they leave the room before you get there? How about this one: do you want to be a great evangelist, or are you willing to be so under God’s control that he will make himself known without you having to speak a word?

You see, in rejecting God’s presence before Mount Sinai, the Israelites gave him no other choice for relationship than law. They didn’t want to know him; they wanted to know about him. So Moses chiseled out the Ten Commandments and ushered in the era of legalism.  I know my God, and I believe his heart was for each and every Israelite to humble him/herself and scamper up the mountain just like Moses. (Check Hosea 6:6 in the AMP if you doubt it). God doesn’t want servants, he wants sons and daughters. And you can’t be a child of God if you don’t talk to your Father.

 

#2: God has chosen prayer as the way in which we will be fed and sustained in our walk.

NIV Exodus 33:12-14

“Moses said to the Lord, ‘You have been telling me, “Lead these people,” but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, “I know you by name and you have found favor with me.” If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.’

            “The Lord replied, ‘My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’”

I want you to notice the key word here to Moses’ prayer:

                       

You.

He says it eight times in two verses (referring to God). You see, Moses is not talking to some old English “Our Father,” nor some far-off deity too busy to trifle with his idiot creatures; Moses is talking directly to his friend and confidant—not arrogantly, but boldly and with simple assurance. Do you know who you’re talking to when you pray? Let me tell you: if you don’t know who you’re talking to, you will never have power in your prayer life. If you are praying to some lofty idea from the Bible, give it up. If you are praying to some great and ethereal spirit that’s “up there somewhere…” you might as well just call Oprah. But if you only knew the God who is “near to those who pray to him,” who is your Father, who has lavished his love upon you, who is the undefeated Warrior of all eternity, who owns the cattle on a thousand hills, and who is absolutely bound by his WORD to hear your voice when you call out to him, then you had better buckle up; your prayer life is about to take off.

Here’s another thing to note in Moses’ prayer: He brings God’s word right back to him. God, you told me x, so explain it. God, your Word says y; if that is the case, fulfill it. Moses doesn’t come to hack away at God’s word in doubt, he doesn’t come to yell at God for what may be perceived as God not fulfilling his word, and he doesn’t come sniveling in false humility to the task before him. He’s basically just saying, “God, I know you want me to do this. I believe you have everything I need in order to accomplish the task at hand; now I call upon you to fulfill your Word, though I don’t know at this point how it will work out. I know that you love me and that your plans for me are good, so I trust you in this, as in all things.” What has God revealed to you? What has God asked you to do? Have you ever brought it back to Him and asked for empowerment and clarity? Or did you just take off running to perform like a circus monkey? (been there, done that…) God doesn’t call us so that he can play some kind of intergalactic video game. He’s not using us like controllers. He is asking us to partner with Him in what he’s already doing.

Here’s the crazy part… Check out God’s response: “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” This is groundbreaking. Have you ever thought about this??? Moses was asking who would go with him. In a sense, Moses was saying, “God, give me some manpower here! How can I do it?”

God simply said, “Moses, I’m going to give you Me.” Then, God gives Moses yet another thing he hadn’t even asked for: rest! Moses didn’t ask for rest; he asked for direction. But when you humbly offer yourself in prayer to God, he will not only refine what you’re looking for (God’s presence vs. human help), he’ll add to your blessings that which you could never have imagined (rest for the leader of at least 2 million people). Can you imagine the rest that washed over Moses at that moment? He was so at ease before God that the very next verses in Exodus show him making what is perhaps the boldest request in human history: “Now show me your glory.” Do you see how the process brought Moses to another level? He started by simply bringing before God what God had already given Him. Then, God’s Spirit gave Moses the answer he was truly seeking. THEN, Moses was empowered by this faith (a response to God’s grace) to make a bolder request than he could have ever imagined.

Brothers and sisters, may you begin to pray crazy things. Start out with things like Bless my finances, but for crying out loud end with something like Bring the world economy to its knees before your throne. May you reach a point in prayer where you are speaking to God as a man speaks to his friend. Honestly, if you’re not nearing that point… why are you praying? If God isn’t your friend, how can you love him? And if you can’t love him, how can you live this life? We cannot live outside of God’s love. The Christian walk is meaningless without God’s love.

Without God’s love, we are left in fear and—you guessed it—anxiety. And (can you handle this?) anything outside of the kingdom of light must by definition belong to the kingdom of darkness.

 

#3: Anxiety, stress, and fear are actually red flags signifying a misunderstanding of God’s character

 

AMP 1 John 4:18

“There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and [so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love's complete perfection].”

 

I could probably just stop here. This scripture doesn’t really need much explaining. But think about this: Fear brings with it the “thought” of… punishment. When we get into punishment, we’re talking about Law again, right? You see, your fear will move you from God’s love and put you right back under the law. Your anxiety is the physical manifestation of an interior belief: Christ’s work on the Cross was not sufficient; you must still sweat out your walk and hope that you can make up for what Jesus is lacking. Ouch. See, fear is actually a mental exercise. It’s true. Fear does not intersect with the physical world.

 

Let’s take a “real” case here: say I’m being chased through the streets by a flesh-eating zombie (yep, real). Now, no matter what my emotions are telling me (RUN, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD), nothing is actually happening to me yet. Right? I’m still free and clear, outrunning the zombie. But, if the zombie were to catch me and start eating me, I would no longer be afraid. What I had feared in my head is now coming to pass. And although it would be quite bothersome to be sure, I couldn’t be afraid of that which was already taking place. Because fear resides in the dark corners of the mind, where we think that we alone are the master weavers of our destiny. It gathers in these shadows, growing power only in the absence of light. But when light shines upon fear, it must of necessity dissipate—darkness is, by definition, only the absence of light. And in John 1, Jesus is called “the light of men.” And we know that Jesus is God, and God is love. So all analogies hold true.

 

It is precisely because fear is based on un-reality that it is so detrimental to our faith. Our faith is based on the rock-solid grace of God which was demonstrated in human history by the Cross of Christ. God gave you evidence. Can your looming mortgage payment provide any proof that you will live under a bridge? Can your broken relationships give you any exhibits to support the assumption that you will never have friends again? Can your illness provide you with assurance that you will live out your days in brokenness and pain?

 

So…

Why do you listen to fear more than the voice of God?

 

Full-grown, complete, and perfect love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror.

 

You missed it!

 

Love turns fear out of doors. Love expels terror. God is Love.

 

So… why are you performing mental exercises to calm yourself down? Where the heck does the Word say “brown paper bags and yoga turn fear out of doors”? May I be bold here for a second?

 

Where does the Word say “good deeds turn fear out of doors”? Or how about “reciting God’s scripture turns fear out of doors”? Or even, “going to church turns fear out of doors”? Lord help me, did you get that? God and God alone can expel your fears and set you free. Stop trying to help him and get out of the way!

 

Anxiety is not a battle you fight. It is a battle God has already won. For greater love has no man that the one who would lay down his life for his friends. The greatest love that has ever and will ever exist has been demonstrated before all time and space. All fear has been cast out. That much love, poured out for us on the Cross, is enough. Brother, it is enough. Jesus couldn’t say “it is finished” if you still had to sweat out anxiety.

 

Anxiety is when you try to sneak off and handle life on your own.

Knock it off.

 

I told you guys God had some stuff to share!

Just because I love you all so much, this last one is on the house…

#4 The only option besides overcoming is to opt-out. 

NIV 1 John 5:3-4 “This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

Everyone.

How many?

Everyone.

Even you?

Everyone.

Everyone born of God overcomes the world.

And here is the secret: our faith.

And here’s the cool thing about your faith: God is the Author AND the Perfecter of  your faith (Hebrews 12 if you don’t buy it).

It’s all on him. So seriously, stop stressing out.

 

PS--Just wait until I write about what God is showing me today!!! Key word: "heir". Love you guys!

"another fine bit of writing brought to you by yours truly"