Sunday, November 4, 2012

God is nice and He likes me

I accidentally walked into a New Age store the other week thinking they were selling handbags (the store was called the Bag Lady). I found it quite interesting to look around there for a while on all their books and stuff. What caught my attention more than anything was a bumper sticker that simply said: "Don't make me come down there - God". That sentence left me really sad and troubled and I have been contemplating on it ever since. It represents such a huge misconception of who God is. This view of God is way too common among people - people who call themselves Christians and people who don't call themselves Christians alike... Even if I know in theory and through experience that God is good I sometimes buy into that lie too, the lie that God is the big police up in the sky and that I am in trouble in one way or the other. Last night I heard a talk about grace and the following questions came up, questions to see if you are comfortable with grace: Would you (metaphorically) wear a T-shirt that said: "God is nice and He likes me". How about this one: "God loves you but I am His favorite" These are fundamental truths. The truth that I am LOVED by God. Even LIKED. I AM his favorite. So are you and everybody else in this world, but I need to know that I am his favorite - that is the fundament for the rest of my life, my thoughts, emotions, deeds... That is the thermometer with which I can check and see if I have a healthy heart - am I filled with love, hope and faith? In any area of my life where love or hope or faith is missing - that is an area where I need healing... God is not a threat in the sky that we need to watch out for and protect ourselves against ("You better behave or else... God sees you wherever you are... etc) We live under a friendly sky! God is the garbage man of the world that came to take away all my garbage! I don't need to hide anything.

Monday, September 24, 2012

Power and Love

I made a discovery the other day as I was reading from Revelation chapter 4 about the throne of God. Certain passages in the Bible I like to return to often and try to visualize and dig into and ask questions around. This is one of them. God is sitting on a throne. Angels and various creatures around Him. What does all this mean? In verse 5 it talks about seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. God's seven Spirits? What is that? I have always heard you should let scripture explain scripture. Well, Isaiah chapter 11 verse 2 tells us what the seven Spirits of God are:
Spirit of the Lord Spirit of wisdom Spirit of understanding Spirit of counsel Spirit of might Spirit of knowledge Spirit of the fear of the Lord
And then verse 3 adds for good measure: His delight is in the fear of the Lord. This is all good! But still... As I was meditating on those words they all seemed a bit hard, masculine, authoritative, very much like you would describe a king in those days. They are power words. But what about all the soft, feminine side of Gods, his loving, caring, tender, gentle ways? It was then I made the discovery (in verse 3) that blew me away.
And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne.
The rainbow - God's love, goodness, faithfulness, loving-kindness, mercy, grace, gentleness etc is all around Him, shining like emerald. He is a king, but He is a loving Father. As He reigns in power, He does it in perfect love, even humility. The rainbow is all around Him. I don't know how He does it. We can keep on meditating on this forever. King David wrote about it in Psalm 62:
"One thing God has spoken, two things I have heard: “Power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”

Saturday, September 1, 2012

The Lord's rebuke

One thing I have learned is that I tend to read the Bible "backwards". When you are poisoned with a religious thinking it is like you read the stuff that is supposed to be good news but somehow it gets twisted with the glasses you are wearing and it comes off as heavy burdens when it was intended to be joyful invitations. Religion is putting yourself in the centre and asking what you are supposed to do and how you are supposed to act when the Bible actually delivers the exact opposite message: put God in the centre! God loves you! God has done for you what you never could do! Relax! Receive His grace and love!!!! And from that position a new life is going to flow out of you and your actions are going to change as your whole outlook on life is changing when you dare to start living as "the Beloved". Every word in the Bible is being seen in a new light. The words that seem harsh like "rebuke" has to be read from this new understanding of who God is and how good He is. Religious people (myself included) have mis-used the Bible and made it sound bad when it is good! "The Lord will rebuke you" is used as a threat when it is actually Good News! Hey, The Lord's rebuke is the best thing that can happen to you! Because He is Good. Even His rebuke is Good. And gentle and tender and loving and joyful and life-giving! The Lord's rebuke is an invitation to repentance = to turn around to God and find our place as His Beloved again, wrapped in His loving arms. The Bible is often using the picture of us as sheep and God as the shepherd. The shepherd is carrying a rod and a staff to rebuke the sheep as they are wandering astray. With the rod He might hit the sheep to call attention to Himself or save the sheep from danger and with the staff He is pulling the sheep into His arms. The whole purpose of the rod and staff is COMFORT.
your rod and your staff, they comfort me
God is
the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
2 Cor 1:3 So the Lord's rebuke is really comfort! He is rebuking us because we are getting it backwards! He rebukes us tenderly. Hey listen, stop striving! Enter into my rest! Listen: it has been completed, it is finished. Your sin has been paid for!
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. 2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for
Is 40:1-2 Then He is raising His voice, not in anger, but it needs to be shouted it and proclaimed:
“Here is your God!”
This is what your God is like, this is how good He is. Don't forget!
He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.
That last sentence struck me this morning as I have a young one. He is extra gentle with us, fancy that. Sooo good.

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Delight

I have started a journey through the Psalms and what struck me already in the very first chapter was the word DELIGHT. This is so far from religious burdens that you can get. I think I have actually discovered the antidote to religion and the recipe to keep our souls free from the poison of religion: DELIGHT! God wants us to delight in Him and all He is and all He does. He is GOOD. Even delicious. It almost feels sacrilegious to use such terminology in connection to God but that just proves how truly thwarted my thinking is when it comes to God. Ps 34:8
Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!
It says in this Psalm to delight in His LAW. The law is not what you usually associate with delight but pretty serious stuff, judges and punishment etc but whenever we read the Bible we need to remember that it is all about JESUS. God's law personified is Jesus Christ. It is not about black and white letters, it is amazingly colorful and life giving and full of Grace and Truth.
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 God's Law is Love and we are to delight in His Love for us and in being the Beloved. Then our souls will surely prosper.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Righteousness

If you haven't noticed - this blog is not so much about me or my everyday life but I just write about my discoveries in God and especially misunderstandings I have had about Him and different spiritual realities.

My latest discovery (not that I have it figured out, but a few thoughts...) is about righteousness. I have had some wrong ideas in my head about righteous people that is probably more self-righteous people. Self-righteousness is an appalling thing in the eyes of God (and men) and not to be confused with the real thing. Self-righteous people are absorbed by being right and are constantly watching others to see if they measure up. There is no peace or joy in self-righteousness.

Righteousness on the other hand is overflowing with joy.

You love righteousness and hate wickedness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.

Ps 45:7

Jesus personifies a righteous person and He was (and is) the happiest person in the universe. Never a wrinkle on his forehead.

A righteous person is not nervous about being wrong but there is a profound peace and confidence coming with it.


The fruit of that righteousness will be peace;
its effect will be quietness and confidence forever.

Is 32:17

Righteousness is playful and not all serious. Like a passionate couple in love kissing, righteousness is completely absorbed by the joy of being loved that there is no room for concerns about other people's mistakes or failures.

righteousness and peace kiss each other...

Ps 85:10

Righteousness - together with joy and peace - is what constitutes the kingdom of God. They come together as a holy trinity.

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit


God's kingdom isn't a matter of what you put in your stomach, for goodness' sake. It's what God does with your life as he sets it right, puts it together, and completes it with joy.

(The Message)

It is not about what we do (eat or drink)! It is about experiencing the mystery of being utterly loved and accepted by the living God through Christ. Righteousness looks down from heaven. Like a playful hide and seek. Welcome into the joy of the mystery of God.


Faithfulness springs forth from the earth,
and righteousness looks down from heaven.


Ps 85:11

...about righteousness, because I am going to the Father, where you can see me no longer;

John 16:11

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Power

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.


Hebrews 4:16

God's power also looks different than we are used to in this world. His throne that He sits and reigns on is not a threatening throne with any need to show off its power, strength and authority to make us bow down, fear and submit Him. Quite the contrary - it is inviting us. Come boldly! Come with confidence before the throne of God as His children.

It is a throne of GRACE.

I wonder what a throne of GRACE looks like? Grace extended towards me, overflowing, inviting, covering all of my shame, drawing me in to His majesty. His power doesn't try to squish me. He doesn't need to prove anything. He HAS all the power, because of who He is and He KNOWS who He is. And His throne is a throne of grace. Grace, not justice, punishment or judgment. All those power words that we are used to they are also included in God's nature but we have to start in the right end - in God's heart! After all - He is HOLY, different and "other" than we think.

He is sitting on a throne of grace.
And we are invited.

Friday, March 2, 2012

Majesty

Ps 45:4

In your majesty ride forth victoriously
in the cause of truth, humility and justice



Whatever we think about God we can always be sure there is more to the story. He is more and bigger than we ever can imagine or think.

“Deus semper major” in Latin

I have had some issues with God's majesty and power and bowing down to Him, calling Him Lord and King and all that. I am sure this is related to wrong ideas of authority and I have just never seen a perfect example - like none of us has! People, even the most good hearted ones, tend to misuse power sooner or later, at one level or another. But not so God! He is not like us! He is Holy, different, Perfect Love. That is why Jesus came, to show us how and who God is.

Interestingly enough - the word "humility" is in the center of this verse. I picture this majestic king riding forth victoriously, defending truth and justice, I get that, but wait a minute - how do you ride forth in the cause of humility? I am going to ponder on that for a while. There is always more to the story.

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Thesaurus

My new best friend is thesaurus.com. I punch in a word and - bam - it opens up a world of synonyms. I use it for scriptures and it has rocked my world already. For example with Psalms 45:11. This Psalm has been a special Psalm to me the last few years and I keep returning to it and find comfort and amazement. Take this verse:
Let the king be enthralled by your beauty.
How crazy is that? God taking delight in a human being, his creation, to the point of "being enthralled". Of course it makes sense when you think of your own children and how you are mesmerized with their beings, just with them being who they are, but I am not usually thinking about myself in those terms and God going bananas in His love for me and how cute He thinks I am... But that is what this verse tells me. Enthrall means:

absorb, beguile, bewitch, charm, enchant, engage, enrapture, enslave, entrance, fascinate, grab, grip, hold spellbound, hook, hypnotize, intrigue, mesmerize, preoccupy, rivet, spellbind, subdue, subject, subjugate

Now, this is the kind of attitude God has towards me. And viceversa. As I am digging into His heart for me, words like "subdue" and "subject" get a new meaning. I am not bowing down to Him because I have to, but because I WANT to. It is not a relationship of power but one of LOVE. God doesn't want servants, or subjects. He wants lovers. Now that is crazy.

Monday, February 20, 2012

Holiness and resting

Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Genesis 2:3

Apparently holiness is connected to RESTING.
We usually think the other way around in our distorted ungodly ways of thinking, turning everything upside down when God many times is the exact opposite to our beliefs... At least if we have been poisoned with any kind of religious thinking which very easily happens in this world we are living in. We tend to think that holiness has something to do with our behavior and we start measuring ourselves and others to see how holy we are. When it actually has nothing to do with us but everything to do with GOD. He is holy. And He invites us into His rest and the enjoyment of His completed work. We cannot add anything.

Rest and Silence


Wow. I just felt an urge to pick up my blogging again. It has been a year of silence. I guess I am slowly waking up from my hibernation.

11 See! The winter is past;
the rains are over and gone.
12 Flowers appear on the earth;
the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
is heard in our land.


I have been sick for a few days. Just a regular cold but it can be very annoying when you want to get stuff done and your body is not quite following your mind. It took me longer to get over the cold because I just didn't rest enough. I felt so much better after a couple of days and then I spent the whole day running around, going to the store, cleaning the house, going to the park when it probably would have been much more effective - in the long run - if I would have rested some more and done less of running around... The best way to fight an infection is to BE STILL and REST and let God work in mysterious ways inside of you through His servants the white blood cells. This became a powerful testimony to me as I was telling somebody I was planning on fighting this cold through resting - when I finally took a day of rest this last Sunday. That is how we should fight every war I thought to myself. That doesn't mean being irresponsible but to let God do His job. Let God be God. "Stop helping God across the road like a little old lady" as U2 puts it in their brilliant song "Stand Up Comedy". That is the most effective way of living. Although it might not look like it from the outside.