William Shakespeare wrote, "To be, or not to be: that is the question." And while I'm not exactly ASKING that question in this Rant series, I do want to explore the idea of being. Because I think more than anything that's what mankind wants. We want to BE. We want to be accepted, and known, and loved. Unfortunately, way back in the garden of Eden the serpent hissed in Eve's ear and lied to her and convinced her that she had to DO in order to BE. We don't think we're worthy of acceptance and love, but we think if we try hard enough maybe, just maybe, we can earn it. "God doesn't accept me now, but if I change from bad to good then He WILL accept me." I feel like that's the religious mindset in a nutshell. And that's what we need to repent of. We need our conscience purged of dead works. And, in fact, that's exaclty what Hebrews 6:1 says, "Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God." That's the foundation. That's where we start. Jesus, the Truth, was manifested to destroy the works of the devil. He showed up to show us the truth. That Daddy DOES love us. That we ARE accepted in the beloved. He came to show us the Father and to conform us into the image of His Son! "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 9:14). See, our repentance of dead works comes from HIM purging our conscience of dead works! And look at what "dead works" means: "Dead" is 3498 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "a corpse." "SWorks" is 2041 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "toil, by implication an act." So "dead works," is simply acting like a corpse! Acting like the Old Man isn't dead and buried. I think this is one of the most important aspects of baptism. We are baptized into Christ's death. We acknowledge and identify with His death AS our death, and we leave that old man in the watery grave. We leave Adam behind. Before the cross we were "in" Adam. He was mankind's representative, and what happened to him happened to everyone else. But on the cross Jesus was lifted up from the earth and He drew all men into Himself. From that point on what happened to JESUS happened to us. He died, and we died. DEATH died. The works of the devil--the lie that man believed--were destroyed. We moved out of death and into life. Jesus didn't come to make "bad" people "good." He came to make dead people alive. He brought us out of religion and into relationhip. Out of the world--trying and trying and trying to DO in order to BE--and into the Kingdom--knowing who we are and doing BECAUSE we be! Man wants to know and be known. That's what God wanted too. That's why God sent His Son. Jesus came to show us the Father. To show us OURSELVES. Our TRUE selves. He came that we might have life, and that more abundantly. Jesus is God's BELOVED Son because He allowed Himself to BE LOVED. And that's what He equipped and empowered us to do when He gave us His Spirit; The love receptor. In order to hear God's voice you need to be still. And in order to love you need to BE LOVED. Know and believe that you ARE loved!

I know I use this verse a lot, but A. I love it and B. I never hear anyone else use it so I might as well. Revelation 22:11, "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still." To me this verse is pretty much the same as saying there is no condemnation in Christ. To me this is simply saying: STOP TRYING TO CHANGE PEOPLE. And, perhaps even more importantly, STOP TRYING TO CHANGE! Because to me there's a big difference between "changing" and "learning and growing." If you need to change it's because you aren't good enough. But if you're learning and growing you're being changed FROM glory TO glory. What's already inside you comes you as you fill yourself with the fulness of it. As you grow in grace, and the knowledge of Jesus. And the knowledge of Jesus, of course, is the knowledge of who YOU really are. What's true about Jesus is true about you. He IS the Truth (and the Way, and the Life). So instead of DOING in order to BE--that's the lie that the serpent hissed in Eve's ear, right?--we do BECAUSE we be. We are human BEINGS not human DOINGS. Running around trying to change is the opposite of being still. Religious calisthenics and jumping through hoops--works and labor--does not work. Trying to keep the Law of Moses will only ever show you that yo ucan't keep the Law of Moses! Because if you brake one part of the Law, you've broken the whole Law. And Jesus preached the Law to the thoughts and intents of the heart. Not just what you do, but who you be. He did that to shut up every man's mouth. To leave us all in the same sinking boat. So that we might come to Him. "God, I can't do it." "I know. That's why I did it for you and as you on the cross." Savior. Redeemer. King and Priest. Jesus. And now, on this side of the cross, the work is finished. We don't have to DO it. We ARE it. We ARE the righteousness of God in Christ, and that's why we DO righteousness. Faith without works is dead. But if you don't know who you really are, the best you can DO is try to be somebody you're not--or somebody that you THINK you're not. Being able bodied ministers of the New Covenant is not about telling people what to do. It's about telling people who they are, by telling them who Jesus is. It's about letting people BE. Letting people be STILL. Look at 1 Chronicles 4:40, "And they found fat pasture and good, and the land was wide, and quiet, and peaceable..." There's room to learn and grow. Room to make mistakes. God is long suffering. He's not in a hurry. Especially when you know that the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world. Your fate was never in doubt. Love won before the war even started. Before there was a sinner there was a Savior. You don't have to make... ANYTHING... happen. The land--the Promised Land of rest--is quiet and peaceable. You don't have to try to overcome when you understand that Jesus already overcame, and when you understand that there is nothing LEFT to overcome. We're not overCOMERS. We're overCAMERS. Past tense. Done deal. It is finished. And that means WE are finished. We are complete in Him. We don't need to change. We need to BE STILL and BE who we are. Who we are in Christ. Who Christ is in us...!

I feel like a big part of my ministry is helping people to know and understand their identity. Who they really are. And who we are in Christ is who Christ is in us. That's why I wrote the Answer Trilogy (Identity Crisis, Six Steps to the Throne, and EPIC), and that's why I preach and Rant so much about the inner man. The hidden man of the heart. What's deep inside. So with that in mind let's look at 1 Peter 3:3-4, "Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." The hidden man of the heart is a meek and quiet spirit. And according to my pastor, meekness is not weakness. It is strength under control. And according to Jesus, "Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth" (Matthew 5:5). Jesus even described HIMSELF as meek and lowly in heart (Matthew 11:29). But of course He did. Because HE is the hidden man of the heart. HE is the One who lives deep inside of us. This is what I've taught my son, Logan, about God so far: God is love. His name is Jesus. He lives in your heart. That, to me, is the foundation that Paul was talking about that we must build on. That's where it starts, and that's where it ends. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. The first and the last. The beginning and the end. And He's everything in between. LOVE is everything in between. But I'm finally ready to give you my thought for the day. It's from Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." I believe that's what Jesus meant when He warned of the thief and the robber--one who tries to enter the sheepfold any other way but through the door. Because when we're running around trying to take the Kingdom by force and the violence of human effort we miss the truth that God already gave it to us. That the Kingdom is WITHIN us. We need to be meek. Not demanding our own way or stomping around trying to "fix" everything (and inevitably making everything worse). We need to be still and know that HE is God. We need to stop focusing on the external and start focusing on the internal. Not on circumstances, and actions, and knowing one another after the flesh. But on the unseen things that are eternal. We need to set our affection on things above, not on things on the earth. We need to stand in awe of Him. And be still. Stop trying to get God to do what WE want--or what we THINK we want, since there's a way that SEEMS right to a man, but the end of it is death--and we need to let God do what HE wants. Which is to love us, and protect us, and bless us more than we could ever ask or even think. I've heard it said, "If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plan." But I think there's a more excellent way. And it goes like this, "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths" (Proverbs 3:6). Don't make a plan and then try to fit God into it. Don't try to do things your own way. Don't try to TAKE the Kingdom. He's already given it to you. It is WITHIN you. Receive it with meekness. Fill yourself with the fulness of His love and watch that love flow out all on it's own. Naturally. Not by trying. But by resting. By being still...

God speaks in a still, small voice. So we need to be still in order to know that He is God. If we're running around trying to "fix" every "problem" we see then we're not resting in the finished work. We're walking by sight, and not by faith. But if we can trust Daddy to fix it--trust that Daddy already fixed it--then we can exalt HIM and not ourselves. And I'm not saying we just stick our head in the sand and do nothing. Rest is not inactivity. Rest is Holy Spirit directed activity. Being led by the Spirit and walking in our Sonship. Doing what we see Daddy do and saying what we hear Daddy say. Not trying to finish the work, or judge things according to appearance, but judging righteous judgment. EXECUTING righteous judgment. Not finishing the work, but manifesting that finished work. Malachi 3:10 tells us that WE are the windows of heaven that God opens in order to pour out blessings. WE are how what is true in heaven becomes true in earth--which is what Jesus told His disciples pray; in earth as it is in heaven. That doesn't happen by us trying to TAKE the Kingdom by force and the violence of human effort. That comes from us RECEIVING what is freely given. That comes from HEARING the still, small voice. Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God. But you can't hear a still, small voice unless you're being still. You can't hear it if you're too busy arguing with the wind, and the earthquake, and the fire. If you're too busy with what's external you can miss what's internal. And that's so important. Because the still, small voice is within you. It is the sound of God's heart beating in your chest. Beating with love. It's the still, small voice whispering the ultimate truth of the universe: Daddy loves you. And when we know and believe--when we UNDERSTAND--that truth, everything flows from that. Everything flows from a posture of rest. Not trying to EARN Daddy's love, but SHARING Daddy's love with others! You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. So it's vital to KNOW what you have. And in knowing, you can believe. You can't believe something you don't know. But when you know it... that's when the Holy Spirit leads and guides you into the UNDERSTANDING of what you know. That's when you can believe it. And when you believe the Word of God, it manifests. When Jesus opened the eyes of the blind He said, "Become what you believe" (Matthew 9:29 MSG). And that's exactly what happens. You ARE what you believe. What you believe is what's REAL to you. And I'm not saying you can go around "believing" you're a millionaire and then check your bank account. That's not belief. That's wishful thinking. Faith comes from God proving Himself faithful. Trust comes from God proving Himself trustworthy. Faith comes from HEARING. Believing comes from KNOWING. Knowing what we have. Knowing who we are. Knowing what's inside. And when we know what's inside... when we believe it's in there... that's when it flows out like rivers of living water. That's when GOD is exalted and glorified. When we stand in awe of Him, and commune with our own hearts in the bed... and be still. Be still, and KNOW that He is God. Know it, and believe it, and manifest it!

God is not glorified when we run around like chickens with our heads cut off, trying to finish a work that is already finished. He isn't glorified by what we can do in the flesh. He isn't exalted when we try to exalt Him. He is glorified, and exalted, when we be still and know that He is God. When we be still, and hear His still, small voice. When we do everything we do from a posture of rest. And remember, rest is not inactivity. Rest is Holy Spirit directed activity. Those who are led by the Spirit are the Son(s) of God. Not because being led by the Spirit MAKES you a Son, but because only the Son is led by the Spirit! Look at Psalm 4:4, "Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. Selah." Being still is not about not doing anything. In fact, it's the opposite of that. Being still is about rest. About communing with God on the Spirit to Spirit, holy to holy, deep calling out to deep level. God is a Spirit, and we must worship Him in spirit and in truth, right? We can't bring Him an offering from the ground, from our works and labor, like Cain did. We must bring Him the only offering He has ever required or will ever accept--the Lamb. And, like God commanded Moses after smiting the Rock ONCE, we don't keep smiting Him. We speak to Him. Or rather, speak ABOUT Him. We don't finish the work (it is already finished) but we are witnesses of the work. We share the Gospel, the good news, about Christ and Him crucified. Not let me hit this little detail, "Stand in awe, and sin not." That's not saying you better not sin. That's basically telling you HOW to not sin. Because sin is unbelief. And if you're standing in awe of Him, then you're believing in Him. And a believer, by definition, cannot unbelieve. Those who are born from above cannot sin. We always have it so backwards: "I'll clean up my act then I'll go to church." But my question is, "How in the world are you going to clean up your act without going to church?" Church is where we edify one another. Where we share the truth about who God is--LOVE--and what He did both for us and as us--the cross--and where we learn that we don't need to change, because on the cross a change took place. On the cross we were conformed into the image that we were originally made in. Running around trying to change is never going to work. And, in a sense, that's what sin is. Romans 14:23 tells us that, "...whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Faith... believing that Jesus did it all. Sin... unbelief. Standing in awe IS sinning not because we aren't trying to do something that's already done. Because we know and believe that it IS done. It is finished! "Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still." The bed is the place of intimacy. It is the place where life comes from. It is the place of rest. And I think it's important that we are communing with our OWN heart upon the bed. Being tranformed by the renewing of our minds and proving TO OURSELVES that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God. Proving it to ourselves. Seeing it for ourselves. And standing in awe of what we see. Guys, seeing is believing. Jesus came as the visible face of the invisible Father so that we could SEE Him. Know Him and believe in Him. Receive Him and release Him. But we don't do it by running around. We don't do it with human effort. We do it with rest. We do it by being still.

The deep calls out to the deep. We communicate--really CONNECT--with each other Spirit to Spirt, holy to holy. The Jesus in me and the Jesus in you. There's a still, small voice on the inside whispering the ultimate truth of the universe, that Daddy loves you. But to hear that still, small voice... we need to be still. Psalm 46:10, "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth." Catch this now, God is not exalted among the heathn, and exalted in the earth, by us running around like chickens with our heads cut off. He is not exalted by how hard we TRY to be "good Christians." And I think the reason for that is, when we try to be "good Christians" the only thing we can think of to do is make someone else look small so we can look big in comparision. I think that's why it seems like so many churches are constantly on a sin hunt, instead of a righteousness hunt. Why so many preachers seem to tell people what to do instead of telling people who they are. And I think it's ironic that when someone preaches hard against a certain "sin" (in quotation marks because sin is unbelief, not bad behavior), it's the same thing THEY struggle the hardest with. They are trying to fight the darkness, instead of just letting the light shine. Trying to take the Kingdom of God by force and the violence of human effort instead of knowing and believing that the Kingdom of God is within them! Working and laboring instead of being still. I've found in my own life that the harder I try to fix things, the worse things usually get. When I bang my head against the wall, all I ever come away with is a headache. And let me say this: Just because I think something is best, doesn't mean it is. Remember Proverbs 14:12, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." And Proverbs 21:2, "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts." We always think we know what's best. And it's easy to get caught up in our "good ideas." By the end of OUR way is the way of death. Adam and Eve went their own way and ate of the tree of death. They didn't listen to God's warning. But Jesus is THE Way. It's not us working for Him... It's Him working in, and though, and as US! Let me say it another way, "Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain" (Psalm 127:1). It's not what we do, it's what HE did. What He did on the cross 2,000 years ago, and what He's doing in us today. But if you're trying to do everything yourself, you're not giving the Lord any room to operate. I don't think God will very often force His will on us. I think He wants what's best for us--I KNOW He wants what's best for us--but He has given us a measure of free will. If we want to try, He'll let us try. But there's a more excellent way. And it's called, "Be still, and know that I am God." It's called presenting our lives as a living sacrifice. Letting Him exalt HIMSELF by letting Him BE Himself in, and through, and as us. Not Jesus AND me, but Jesus AS me. My mouth is His mouth. My hands are His hands. My feet are His feet. I'm not trying to be LIKE Him, I'm simply being myself--my true self--and doing what comes naturally to me. Which, believe it or not, is love. We know He is God. We know He is love!

Baptized in the name--or nature--of the Lord Jesus Christ. Like a sponge thrown into the ocean of grace. Filled to overflowing with the love of our heavenly Father. Soaking it in. Soaking it UP. Letting Him who took away the sin of the world soak the sin out of us. The REMEMBRANCE of sin. The CONSCIOUSNESS of sin. Being filled with the light of the world--that we are--so that the darkness has no choice but to flee. Where there is light, there is no darkness. Where there is love, there is no fear. No fear that Daddy is going to punish us if we mess up. No fear that by giving away (sharing) what we've got, we'll run out of it. No fear... and no torment. No running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to be someone we're not or get something we haven't got. Because we know. We know what we've got. He did it all so we could get it all. The "all" that He did was the cross. Giving His life for us and giving His life to us. And the "all" that we got is HIM. His Spirit. His life. We have been blessed with all Spiritual blessings. We have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness. Look at Hebrews 13:5, "Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Being content with what we have is only possible if we KNOW what we have. And, again, what we have is Him. What we have is the promise that He will never leave us, nor forsake us. What we have is everything we will ever need. And all we need to do is absorb that truth--the ultimate truth of the universe that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hand. The ultimate truth of the universe that Daddy loves us and gave us everything when He gave us Himself. If you're always trying to get something that you think you don't have, then you're missing out on what you DO have. Jesus said trying to get into the sheepfold any other way but the door makes you a robber. Because you're robbing yourself of the gift that you've been given. You can't earn a gift. You can't force your way into the Kingdom through the violence of human effort. All you can do is fight the good fight of faith. LAY HOLD of eternal life. Lay hold of the gift you've been given. Receive it and release it. Be filled with the fulness of His love by testing the height, and length, and depth, and breath of His love. And we test it... by giving it away. Because that's what love is. Love is giving. For God so loved the world He GAVE His only begotten Son. He GAVE us abundant, eternal, everlasting, Resurrection Life. He GAVE it to us. And now all we have to do is receive it and release it. Receive it BY releasing it. Believe that it's in there and it comes out naturally. A light doesn't try really hard to shine. It shines because that's it's nature. We don't try really hard to love. We love because that's our nature. Because, like a sponge, we have soaked it up. Not from the outside-in, but from the inside-out. You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. So when you know (and believe) that you are loved... that's when you CAN love. That's when the Word (Jesus, love) is made flesh. That's when love overflows out of your inner most being like a river of living water. And that's when you truly begin to live!

There's a song by Sheryl Crow called, "Soak up the Sun." And really, that's my entire thought for the day. Instead of trying to ACT LIKE the Son, we really ought to just soak Him up. Let me say it another way, "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun..." (Revelation 12:1). We know the woman is the church, right? Us? The corporate body of believers? And we know that when New Jerusalem is pictured in the book of Revelation, "...the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof" (Revelation 21:23). So we know that we're talking about US being clothed with HIM. Just in the same way that God clothed Adam and Eve with coats of skins way back in the garden of Eden. Coats of LAMB skin. There's always been this picture of God clothing us with Himself. And then, through the cross, He doesn't just clothe us, but He transforms us. He doesn't just cover us, He takes up abode IN us. Because even though MY picture of soaking up the sun (the SON) like a sponge looks like something exterior is working it's way into us... the truth of the matter is what's IS us (and has always been in us) is working it's way OUT of us. It's not outside-in. It's inside-out. And I really like the picture of being baptized, or being immersed, in Him. The dry sponge tossed into the ocean of His love and mercy and grace and becoming so saturated that it can't hold in what's it's been filled with. I like that picture. But in the same way that the circumcision of the heart wasn't a heart TRANSPLANT, but a cutting away of the flesh to reveal what was always there... the true picture of how this thing works is a seed being planted. It's already in there, and then it grows. An incorruptible seed named Jesus. Named love. I don't like this idea that we were ever incomplete. I don't think God created us "not good enough." I think we were certainly blind to some aspects. When Adam and Eve ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil their natural eyes were opened but their Spiritual eyes were closed. They didn't KNOW they were loved. But that doesn't mean they weren't loved. They simply needed the Holy Spirit--the love receptor--in order to know and believe the love of God. And that's what we were filled with on the cross. That's when the God-shaped void that we felt (again, just because it FELT real doesn't mean it WAS real) was filled with the only thing that could fill it. The only thing that can fill a God-shaped void... is God. The only thing that can fill a love-shaped void... is love. So if I'm not talking about consciously trying to receive and release--trying is another word for not succeeding--and if I'm not talking about getting something we don't have, then what am I talking about? I'm talking about soaking UP the SON! I'm talking about what's deep inside bubbling up out of us. I'm talking about an INTERNAL light, not an external one. The light that we ARE. Shining OUT of us. Not soaking up what's outside and letting it in, but soaking up what's inside and letting it out! And by "letting it out" I mean watchinng it flow out all on it's own. Effortlessly. Naturally. Because love isn't just what we do. Love is who we are. And you can't try to be who you are. You can only BE who you are. You can only REST in who you are! Rest in His love...!

It really does seem like we are (foolishly) trying to finish in the flesh what was started in the Spirit. As if to say, "God set me up, but now I have to walk it out." And if you've followed this ministry for any length of time you know the distinction I make between "walking it OUT," or doing it in your own power, and "walking IN it," or letting Jesus walk IN you! Look at Psalm 51:2 in the Message Bible, "Scrub away my guilt, soak out my sins in your laundry." This is the cry of the heart in the Old Covenant. "I'm not clean, but you can make me clean." Because that's what the Law of Moses showed the people: The Law of Moses demanded perfection without being able to produce perfection. Not even Moses himself could get into the Promised Land by keeping the Law. Nobody could. That wasn't the point of the Law. The point of the Law was to show us that we CAN'T keep it. To bring us to the end of ourselves, and bring us to Christ. We tried our best to "walk it out," but the standard was too high. So Jesus came and fulfilled the Law. And He did it both for us and AS us. He scrubbed away our guilt. He soaked the sins out of us and took away the sin of the world! And catch that phrase: "Soak out my sins." We've been talking the last couple of days about being so full of God--of LOVE--that there isn't room for anything else. Absorbing His love for us like a sponge and then letting it leak it because it's too big for us to contain. To me, this is that. We're not fighting with sin. We're fighting the good fight of faith. We're not focusing on what we're NOT supposed to do--because that's the best way to end up doing it--we're focusing on what HE did! Let me give you an example. If you need to go to the bathroom, but you can't because you're in the car, the more you focus on needing to go... even though you are trying NOT to go... the harder it will be to hold it. Because what you magnify is what manifests. But if you instead focus on something else, the praise and worship song on the radio, say, then it becomes much much easier to hold it. If you're always thinking about "bad behavior" even in the context of trying not to do it... I'm telling you, you're going to do it. But if, instead, you let God wrap you up in His love... then all of that other stuff just fades away. When we are immersed in Him--and that's what the word, "baptize" means--everything else just soaks right out of us. And I think that's an important picture for another reason. We still, wrongly, seem to believe that we have a "sin nature." That we are sinners and so it's only natural for us to sin. But think about a dirty dish. When you soak it... the dirty part separates. Because it's NOT PART OF the dish. It's foreign. It's UNNATURAL. The washing of the water makes it (makes US) clean by getting rid of that which never belonged in the first place. And I'm not saying it doesn't seem like we can get really dirty really easy. Sometimes it seems like everything we touch we make it worse instead of making it better. But look at what Jesus said in John 15:3, "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." The cry of man's heart before teh cross was, "I'm dirty... make me clean." Then when Jesus arrived on the scene--when the Word of God, which is love, arrived on the scene--He said, "You ARE clean through the Word!" God's love MADE us clean. He presented us to Himself as a bride without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing. He soaked us in His love and soaked OUT our sins. "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Isaiah 1:18). "His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire" (Revelation 1:14). He cleaned us by His Word. By His love. By conforming us to His image (that we were already made in). And now we ARE clean. As He is, so are we in this world!

This thing--this eternal, abundant, everlasting, Resurrection Life--is really just simply about what's inside you coming out of you. The LOVE inside you coming out of you. The very first thing I taught Logan about God is that Jesus is God, and God is love, and Jesus lives in your heart. To me, that's the foundation that Paul was talking about. Everything else builds from there. And to me, it's so important that we KNOW and BELIEVE what's inside us so it CAN come out of us! But in this Rant series I'm really trying to focus on the attitude of rest in regards to receiving and releasing. I don't want to put to much pressure--or really, any pressure or focus at all--on what WE are doing. Because that's not what it's about. It's not about what YOU do, it's about what JESUS did! God poured His Spirit out on all flesh. He took up abode within us. Jesus said, "The Kingdom of God is within you" (Luke 17:21). But it seems like the trick is getting what's in there... out! The outward expression of the indwelling Spirit. Which, actually, is the definition of grace. Grace is the divine influence on the heart, and it's reflection in the life. What's inside coming out. Not a rug to sweep sin under so we can do whatever we want and "get away with it." We CAN do whatever we want. But that doesn't mean we SHOULD. "All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not" (1 Corinthians 10:23). And when you really understand grace that's what happens. "I can do anything, but there are some things I don't WANT to do." And when you understand just how full of the Holy Spirit you are--when you let the mind of Christ that's in you BE in you--you'll find that some of those things you thought you wanted to do... you don't even have room for them anymore. Because, like a sponge, you've absorbed Daddy's love to the point where you're full to overflowing WITH that love. When you understand that you are the light of the world, you understand that there's not darkness in you at all. You'll start to SEE clearly, and guys... what you see is what you be. What you magnify is what you manifest. So, to answer our earlier question: How do we get what's inside... out? "Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation" (Isaiah 12:3). Remember Jesus spoke of rivers of living water flowing out of our bellies? Out of our innermost being? Out of our hearts? Well... we draw it out with joy! The joy of the Lord is our strength! Let me say it this way, "Draw me, we will run after thee..." (Song of Solomon 1:4). HE draws me, and then WE (Jesus and I) run after Him. It's not what WE do, but what HE did, and what HE is doing! He fills us--FILLED US--to overflowing. What's inside FLOWS out when we believe it's in there. When we focus on HIM and His love for us. Where else could joy come from? "For we have great joy and consolation in thy love..." (Philemon 1:7). Righteousness, peace, and joy are found in the Holy Ghost, right? The same Holy Ghost that leads and guides us into all truth. The truth that Daddy loves us and has given all things into our hands! He draws us, and we draw from the well inside us with joy! Joy because of what HE did, and joy because of who WE are! Soak it up, and with joy draw it out!