The Fear Of Total Acceptance

On June 24, 2014June 24, 2014 By happyreignIn JoelLeave a comment

I am convinced that the thing we most fear isn’t rejection but TOTAL ACCEPTANCE. There I said it. At least that is what my fear was…and sometimes still is. You see for me growing up in a religious environment where it was suggested and subliminally ingrained in our minds was that no matter what we did, how many hours we prayed and fasted it was never enough. I still felt dirty. God was still Holy on His blessed mountain and I was still a million miles away. If I was going to make it to Heaven surely it was on the off chance that God was focused on Jesus waving His bloody-nail imprinted hands drawing the attention to Himself so I could slip through the pearly gates. Then it happened…then He happened to me. About 7 or 8 years ago it was my time, my turn to be wrecked by Grace. I was on the Heavenly Hit List and He revealed Himself in me, to me. The Scandal of the Cross turned over all my tables of religious failed efforts on bettering myself. He showed me an aggressive unrelenting Love that simply would not let me continue on living with the roller coaster religion of one day being up and feeling loved followed by the next day of me feeling like I was not good enough for Him. You see the Good News is that we have ALWAYS been more than enough for Him.

So why do we often respond with fear in the face of total Acceptance and Love?? I am sure there could be numerous reasons. But at the core of it all I believe it all comes down to Trust. I remember when God whispered in my ear and said,”Joel, all of the problems that you think you have can be taken care of by simply trusting me.” I mean wow! To think of a God that is so in tune with all of our emotions and so intricately woven in our day to day activities, that He always wants to make Himself known in every area of our lives. I will never forget when Heather my wife said to me,”I want to know all of you.” Honestly scared the sh*@ out of me. I could feel fear surrounding me. Why?? Because for Heather to know all of me would involve me being VULNERABLE. And that is where for many the rubber meets the road. Not only with relationships with loved ones but with God Himself. We have become experts in hiding…hiding behind religious masks and behind tough exteriors of independence. But through His love He is still coming down to us searching and calling us by our name like He did with Adam. Where are you?? Who told you you where naked?? Who has said that you are not good enough for me?? Who has filled your head with nonsense and saying that I am not more than enough for you?

My question is: Will you let Him in? Will you Trust that He is good? Will you let Him love you?

-Joel

His Rest Was Never At Risk

On June 7, 2014June 7, 2014 By happyreignIn Joel1 Comment

His rest celebrates perfection. His work is complete; the fall of humanity did not flaw its perfection. (Heb. 4:3 the Mirror Translation)

Each day I am more convinced in the totality and perfection of not only what Christ did but in WHO he is. He has always been the Lamb slain before the foundations of the world. The solution was there before the problem, our forgiveness came way before our repentance. There is this Capon quote that I absolutely love. It reads: Creation is just as miraculous now as it was at the beginning, because redemption is present at every moment and every place throughout every part of creation. The creation and redemption are one act, not two. In the moment Adam and Eve eat of the fruit of the tree, they are redeemed. Not by that act but by him who made them. And therefore everything that happens after that is a proclamation of the gospel. Francois du Toit says: God saw more than his perfect image in Adam, he also saw the Lamb and his perfect work of redemption! I mean wow!!!

Growing up in the Church I always heard what God was about to do or was going to do but few rarely boasted in what He had done already. Religion always seems to put the good things of God in a far distant future. It thrives on distance and delay. Somehow Religion has made boasting through a language of lack as being “spiritual.” I am really excited about seeing how many have been waking up to the blissful reality of what Christ accomplished! Many when hearing the Good News feel life jumping inside of them. The truth is that the Good News is not a Message of something that they haven’t heard but it’s something that Religion tried to cover up. True Faith recognizes what has ALREADY taken place! In the beauty of this growing revelation we are not only finding who Christ is but we are also finding who we have always been… accepted and chosen in the Beloved before time!

Obscurity, Identity, Value and Thankfulness

On June 6, 2014June 6, 2014 By happyreignIn Joel2 Comments

Often there is a sense of wasted time or the looming fear of obscurity. We find ourselves with all these desires and dreams that God Himself has placed in us and we feel a million miles away from them. Was thinking of Jesus and him being a simple carpenter before his Ministry was made public. Here is the Saviour of the world and he is working on wood. Here is the creator of all covered in saw dust and splinters in his hands. I wonder if it was a setup from the beginning? The Christ who would be put to death on the Cross working with wood. The Divine has such a good sense of humor. So Jesus spent his years as a carpenter and the funny thing he wasn’t even known for being the best carpenter. When he came on the scene healing and teaching the people weren’t like,”Jesus the best carpenter of the land healed that cripple.” Do you think that Jesus ever thought those years as being wasted? Do you think that just being a son to Mary and Joseph was just filler? Or do you think he valued everything that Joseph taught him and that he cherished every meal that was prepared for him by Mary? That every day he rose and thought what will I learn today, who can I make smile today, who can I be a friend to? I absolutely love that in the moment when Jesus was baptized the Heavens opened up and God the Father declared,”This is my Son in whom I am well pleased.” If you think about it from the Ministry perspective Jesus hadn’t done anything yet. He hadn’t healed anyone or performed any miracles and here we see God declaring His affection, acceptance and that He is pleased with His Son not because of what he had done but because of who he was. Jesus’ identity didn’t depend on performance but it rested on whose He was.

Your identity is not wrapped up in your calling, or what you do. It is wrapped up in and solely relies on who your Daddy is! You are His! Whether you feel like it or not! Your value does not come from what you do. My wife loves to paint and she is amazing at it but for me to say she is just a painter would be to negate all these other amazing qualities and gifts that she has. Even farther still she is much more than her gifts! You are much more than what you can do or can’t do. You have value. I believe that each one of us is a unique expression of God on the earth, that it is not only we experiencing Christ on the earth but also that Christ is experiencing the earth again through us! I remember one day I was thinking of the Mystics of Old and God whispered in my ear,” If people met them today they would be marveled not by how supernatural they were but by how normal they were.” There is a lot of glory in everyday life but we fail to see it. There is something so powerful in sharing a smile or a hug but we have been so captivated by the smoke and mirrors that we have failed to see the glory in the mundane. Let us be marveled with love, friendships and family. Let us be caught up in awe with thankfulness because we got out of bed in the morning. I am supremely thankful for my wife who is my biggest blessing and everything else is sprinkles on the cake. Love you guys!

-Joel

Brave Dreaming…Brave Living

On March 12, 2014March 13, 2014 By happyreignIn Heather, Joel1 Comment

Joel: We have the privilege of dreaming together with God. Now Religion has told us that we must sacrifice our dreams, to offer them up on the altar, die to them in order to “please” God. When in reality He was the one who placed those dreams inside of us in the first place. This lie of giving up your dreams has left many depressed and not really living their lives to the fullest but merely surviving. We encourage you to dare to dream those dreams again. I see many leaving jobs that they have been working in for many years because they thought they had to and opening up their own businesses and or going to school again to go after those things they have longed for. I see a people who will no longer dread getting up in the morning to go to their boring job but jumping out of bed with joy and a great expectation of what that day will look like.

Heather: After working as a missionary giving “my all” to God, my career choice took an unexpected turn of events. While living in the midst of illiteracy, a culture of addiction, lack of adequately involved parenting, and general violence, while doing a lot of “good work” Papa said, “Quit belittling the gift I’ve given you.” In my hierarchy of perceived self-sacrifice I was “laying down everything” to do what I perceived to be God’s will. Until he had a conversation with me. I was invited by an individual to start painting. It seemed like the world was ending in the midst of my decision on this one point. I was picturing with God and I saw him through the eyes of a scared little daughter. I was tightly holding a box of 64 crayons (well used and appreciated in my childhood–mine even had the sharpener built into the back) and Daddy reached out his hand to following his leading. He was opening a door for me into the front of a building and was leading my hand to follow him and come inside. I said yes.

I’m not sure if I would have had the faith to step out into starting my own business trusting God’s leading if I hadn’t already done that on the mission field for eight years without having “produced” anything. But God made it undeniably clear that he desired my creativity and that somehow was important to him, well beyond my understanding. I was even slightly offended by my lack of understanding on how this was at all practical or effective in any regards to the kingdom of God but I decided he knew what he was doing.

To this day, two and half years later, I paint. I still don’t understand it, I still have never received training (I don’t have any concept of doing things wrong or right), I still don’t know why what I do is special, and I still often wonder how I should be doing things differently but in the meantime, I paint. I don’t paint led by money, I paint led by inspiration; sometimes those to combine nicely, other times, I am left to wonder and trust at the fruit. I find I am often challenged by the Holy Spirit–every project actually–always has something new I’ve never done before involved in it. To be honest, that’s what keeps thing challenging and intriguing and inside when I’m going to approach a project. I have to figure out the execution and that’s the part I enjoy of creation, the newness that I’ve never experienced before. I guess it’s kind of like singing a new song to the Lord. That’s a little of my story as an artist, a child, and a wonderer.