Africa Day 1
Day 1 Africa Trip March 18, 2015
Made it to Amsterdam. The Boeing 747 is an amazing piece of machinery. As old as it is, it is still impressive to see one on the ground.
Somewhere over the Atlantic ocean I sensed in my spirit the Lord’s voice. It was as if I was in the room with Him. He called me His son. HIS SON!!!! I don’t call myself His son; He calls me that. I am His son with all the rights and privileges that entails. I am loved and accepted by the Father. I am incredibly valuable to Him. Everyday, I can receive His kindness and affection. He wants there to be nothing between Him and me; one heart. His heart beating in mine and mine in His. Perfect community and intimacy. His peace, joy, power available to me independent of the world around me and the thoughts that continually break into that communion.
That time with the Lord was sweet. Unhurried, without distraction, full, serene, quiet, present. Clean and clear. I know in that moment that I had entered into the space that God describes when He says “pray continuously”.
God said “I am with you. Lean on me, listen to me, follow me. All I have is yours; wisdom, patience, kindness, mercy, grace, power”. All mine, available continuously. As a son I want only to use these gifts to bring honor to my Father. That is obedience. Not forced but given back to Him with gratitude.
I realized that I am not a slave in God’s eyes, I am not even a servant. I don’t have to work to please Him. I am accepted just as I am. God sent His Son to die so that I might become a son of God. God’s one Son died so that God might have 100s of millions of sons and daughters. Jesus is God’s son. I am God’s son. That makes Jesus my elder brother. We are of the same lineage, we have the same spiritual DNA. I am reminded of the Prodigal Son. He was a bad elder brother. Our Elder Brother is more like the Father in the story of the prodigal.
I learned in that moment what breaks God’s heart. When we live in fear of God (not in the sense of ‘the fear of God’, but when we are afraid of God). When we believe that we are not good enough to be a son. When we believe that we have to work more, study scripture more, pray more, be a better person, sin less because we are not good enough. When we believe this we separate ourselves from the tender, passionate, embracing love, acceptance, and value of God. God’s heart breaks when we refuse His love. Not because we don’t believe in Him, but we don’t believe in ourselves. Not out of disobedience but because we think too small – about ourselves and about God.
Our God is a consuming fire – He burns with fire for me, His beloved Son. He burns with fire for you – His beloved son or daughter. Let’s let His fire ignite a passion in our hearts for Him that the world and our own demons cannot extinguish.