If you've been aware of the "grace message" for any length of time you've probably heard the phrase, "Grace is just a license to sin." And I really have to shake my head when I hear that. Because it's an argument built on faulty logic. Because if what you're looking for is a license to sin... if what you're looking for is the ability to do "bad stuff" without getting in trouble... then you don't understand what freedom is all about. See, grace is freedom TO sin, grace is freedom FROM sin. Now before we go any further I have to say that I don't believe "sin" is what you do. I believe sin is unbelief. If you define sin according to the Law of Moses, then you're in the wrong covenant. Jesus is the Lamb of God who TOOK AWAY the sin of the world. Now, did Jesus take away our actions? Of course not. We CAN do whatever we want to do. That's the measure of free will that we have. What Jesus took away was our unbelief. And how He did that was by giving us something (love)... someone (Himself)... to believe in! He gave His life as a ransom to many. And why did He have to ransom us? Because we were already under bondage! It's the story of the people of Israel, who were slaves in Egypt, being ransomed by the Passover Lamb! We don't seem to realize that before the cross we were in bondage. And then the cross freed us. Ephesians 2:1 says it like this, "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins..." We were in a dimension where we didn't have a choice about what we did. Romans 7:19 explains it like this, "For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do." It's the struggle of wanting to be "good" but not being able to. And it's a struggle because it's the wrong tree. It's the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It's the old man nature. The beast nature. And that old man was crucified, died, and buried on the cross. And the new man was quickened, raised, and seated three days later! We don't have that nature anymore. We're not in bondage anymore. The fig tree (of human effort... trying to get enough knowledge of good and evil that we can do good and stop doing evil) was cursed by Jesus Himself because it couldn't produce any fruit. And Jesus grafted us into the other tree--The Tree of Life. He is the vine and we are the branches. He produced the fruit of the Spirit (which is love) and all we have to do is bear it (or carry it) to those who need it. And that's the difference between liberty and bondage. When we were in bondage--when we were dead in our trespasses and sins--we couldn't be a "good Christian" no matter how hard we tried. But not, because Jesus ransomed us, we can't be anything BUT. Now we are equipped and empowered to be who we really are. Not a sinner... but a saint. Not a slave... but a Son. A beloved Son in whom our heavenly Father is well pleased. Now the good that we want to do comes out naturally. Now the love that we want to share comes from inside-out, and not from outside-in. It's in there (and we know and believe it's in there) so it comes out all on it's own!

"Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end..." (Isaiah 9:7). The deeper you go... the deeper you find you CAN go. Which is important because I think there's a real mindset of fear when it comes to love. And by love I mean giving away what we've got. Or rather, sharing what we've got. Because when we spend this Kingdom currency--if I can say it that way--what we find is that the more we give... the more we HAVE to give. We are blessed to be a blessing. And the increase comes not from hoarding, but from sharing. Being afraid to love is really all about not understanding love. 1 John 4:18-19 tells us that, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him, because he first loved us." We think if we give away what we've got we might not have anything anymore. But that's a selfish mindset. A mindset of, "I need what I've got so you can't have it." When, really, it's only by giving it away that we really have it to begin with! It's only by releasing it that we truly receive it. And when we understand that we love Him (by loving each other) only because He first loved us... when we understand where our supply comes from... then we can draw from the deep deep well of salvation with joy. We can boldly approach the throne of grace. We can go straigh to the source. And the source never runs out! There is no end to the Kingdom. No end to God's love. We can--and should--spend our whole lives exploring the height and length and depth and breadth of God's love for us and we'll never get to the limit. It's limitless! Which means WE are limitless! When you think, "I just can't love anymore..." you're wrong. You can. You can love because you ARE loved. You can forgive because you ARE forgiven. You can give grace, and mercy because you have been given grace and mercy. We aren't expected to produce anything. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. He produced the fruit of the Spirit (which is love) on the cross. And now we simply bear, or carry, that fruit out to those that need it. And by the way, "those that need it," is EVERYBODY. Everybody we come into contact with needs what we've got. And we don't need to be afraid to give it to them, because we can't run out. Love casts out fear because when you are filled with the fulness--in the inner man, by the Holy Spirit--there isn't room for anything else. You can go deeper and deeper and never even have to worry about hitting a wall. Like the city of Jericho... the walls came tumbling down! There ARE no walls in the Kingdom! Love without restriction. That's an abundant life. A everlasting life-long journey into the heart of the matter... which is the heart. The heart of the Father beating with love in our chests. What's deep inside us coming out with every breath we take and every move we make. Jesus manifesting Himseslf in us and through us and as us!

"O LORD, how great are thy works! and thy thoughts are very deep" (Psalm 92:5). Going deeper in God (deeper in love) means moving out of head knowledge and into heart knowledge. Out of knowing "about" Him and into KNOWING Him. Out of religion and into relationship. Don't be scared though, because while God's thoughts are deep, that doesn't mean they're complicated. It doesn't mean they're confusing. What it means--Jeremiah 29:11 spells His thoughts out of us, and they are of peace and not evil to give us the expected end that came on the cross--what it means is that God's thought CAN be hard to hear. Hard to accept. Because His thought, plain and simple, is "I love you." But sometimes I think we only accept the love we think we deserve. Which is to say we don't accept any love because we don't think we deserve it. We look at ourselves--and nobody knows all the "bad" stuff I've done like I do--and we think, "God could never love a sinner like me." But the Scripture tells us something different. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). And let me just throw in this little nugget: He saved us when we WERE sinners, past tense, before the cross. A "sinner saved by grace" isn't a sinner anymore. He's a saint. Guys... sin is unbelief, so by definition a believer cannot sin. Jesus transformed us. He CONFORMED us to His image. 1 John 4:17 tells us that, "...as he is, so are we in this world." So if you're the same as Jesus--if you ARE Jesus--then for YOU to be a sinner HE would have to be a sinner. And obviously that's ridiculous. So stop labelling yourself incorrectly and stop believing the lie. Stop settling for surface stuff and judging yourself (and others) by actions. There's something deeper. Something deep inside. The Holy Spirit. The Spirit of truth. Leading and guiding us into all truth. Teaching us to understand everything we know. We have an unction from the Holy Spirit and we know all things. But we don't yet understand it completely. That's why--if you want to--you can always go deeper and deeper. You can let the mind of Christ that's already in you BE in you. You can hear the thought of God (I LOVE YOU) and you can think the thought of God (I LOVE YOU)! You can experience life on a much deeper, much more abundant level. You can accept His love when you realize that it's not about you and what you've done, but it's about Him and what He did on the cross! And when you receive it you can release it. In fact, you can receive it BY releasing it. You can draw living water (love) from the well (that you are) with joy. Because you know that you ARE loved, and that you ARE LOVE! You can explore the Kingdom that you're already in instead of trying (and failing) to work your way into it. It's a gift! You can't earn a gift! So just unwrap it and start enjoying it! Start sharing it. And don't be afraid, because it won't run out. (We're seriously going to look at that aspect tomorrow... Seriously!)

Another song lyric: "I want more of you God." Oftentimes this is the cry of my heart. Even though I KNOW I have all of Him. He lives in me. How much more of Him could I get? But there's a difference in being given something... and RECEIVING something. There's a difference between something being true... and EXPERIENCING the truth. So while I know that I am filled with Him, I want to know the fulness of what I'm filled with! Which is what happens when we explore God's love for us. The height, and breadth, and length, and depth of His love. When we dwell in His love. That's what it means to go deeper. That's what it means to "want" more of Him. Jesus said, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you" (Matthew 7:7). And I really think that's the key. Because there are people--"Christians" even--who know what they know and are ok with what they know. They don't need (or really, they don't THINK that they need) anything more than what they've got. They're not interested in abundant, because they've settled for life as we know it. And I guess, in a sense, that's fine. Jesus didn't force His life on anybody, so I'm certainly not going to force His life on anybody. But it also breaks my heart to know that there is so much more available. And all we have to do is reach out and take it. The Kingdom is at hand. It's within our reach. And whosoever will can have it. Let me say it this way: Jesus set a six-course meal for us in the presence of our enemies at the cross. This is His finished work of being crucified, dying, being buried, being quickened, raised, and seated. That's where the transformation from "sinner to saint," and the conformation into His image took place. And because of that we don't have to accept life as we know it. We don't have to settle for surface stuff. We can dig deeper. Or, in our ocean of grace analogy, we can dive deeper! We can explore His love in every area and aspect of His life... because we understand that His love IS life! Everything Jesus is and everything He did (both for us and as us) is available to us right here and right now. So if we want "more" of Him, all we have to do is stop trying to get something we don't have and start receiving what we already do have! Nothing can separate us from God's love. But if we're looking for love in all the wrong places, instead of going to the source, then we can rob ourselves of what we've been given. We can miss out on it. And as badly as humanity wants, and needs, and desires love... and as available as it is... I don't think anybody should miss out on it. It takes a heart that wants more though, and it takes a willingness to go a little bit deeper. To know and believe. To receive and release. It takes an open mind, because God WILL surprise you. He's (love's) a lot bigger than you think. He (love) doesn't fit into a religious box. There's more available. There's abundance. There's everlasting. There's eternal. There's Resurrection Life. And we already have it!

There's a line in my favorite song that says, "If His grace is an ocean, we're all sinking." And I think it's appropriate. Because we don't really seem to understand how deep His love for us is, even though we are literally surrounded by out. We are literally overwhelmed by it. We are drowning in it. But here's the key: Instead of trying (with our own futile human effort) to get to the surface, what we should be doing is drinking it in. What we should be doing is swimming deeper and deeper. I ended yesterday's Rant with the passage in Ephesians chapter 3 where Paul tells us what happens when we are strengthened (by the Holy Spirit) in the inner man. And what happens is that we are empowered to explore God's love for us. To test the height and the length and the depth and the width of His love--of His Kingdom. To be filled with the fulness of Christ. To experience and manifest what we have been filled with. To receive and release the love. I want to show you something a little bit different today from what we commonly refer to as the "Great Commission." Matthew 28:19, "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." Ok. Now check this out: The word, "baptizing" is number 907 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "to make whelmed (that is, fully wet)." Now before I go any further let me be clear. I am NOT against water baptizing. I was water baptized, and it was an amazing experience for me. So I'm not saying anti-water baptism here. I'm just going a little bit deeper. Because what Jesus said we need to do is overwhelm people with the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Name means nature. And what, really, IS the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost? The Lord Jesus Christ! Because "Father" is not a name. It's a title. So what are we REALLY talking about? We're talking about overwhelming people with Jesus! With the Word of God (which is love). With the nature of Jesus. We're talking about overwhelming people with love! In our journey to get deeper and deeper into the heart of the matter (which is the heart), the most real way to do that is to "practice what we preach." If we want to experience love... we love. Not because we think we're earning it, but because if we release it then we believe that we've received it! You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. So if you "step out in faith" and love somebody, if you baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, what that means it that you know and believe that YOU have been baptized in that name! In that nature. In that love! How can explore God's love unless we share it? How can we get any deeper in Him unless we receive and release what we've already been given? And the best part is: The deeper we go, the deeper we CAN go! God's love (the God who IS love) is never ending. But we'll look at that tomorrow.

"Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and billows are gone over me" (Psalm 42:7). I know I've read this verse many times. But I can't remember exactly when it was that I HEARD this verse. Or at least that phrase, "Deep calleth unto deep." But whenever it was that it hit me, it's always stuck with me. I think this is such an important concept. Because there's a lot of surface stuff. A lot of, if you want to call it, "world" stuff. External. Exterior. It's all around us all the time screaming for our attention. And then there's something deep within. A still, small voice that whispers the ultimate truth of the universe, "The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand" (John 3:35). There's something deep (God... love) that calls out to something deep (the heart, our true identity) IN US. But for some reason it seems like the surface stuff is more powerful. I'm not saying it IS more powerful... God is ALL powerful, which doesn't mean MOST powerful, but means He has ALL the power. I'm saying it SEEMS like the surface stuff is more powerful. Or, at the very least, more convenient. Because it's right there on the surface. It's like--again, I'm not saying it IS, I'm saying it's LIKE--that old man beast nature is our default. It seems to be what where we start, or what we fall back on. And as I just got done saying in the last Rant series, that's not how it has to be. Really, that's not how it is at all. We don't have to try it ourselves and then call on God when we get in over our heads. In fact, looking at it in a different way lets us know that diving in deep is the best thing we can do. Letting God BE our lives (instead of just part of our lives) is the only way we can really experience that relationship between loving heavenly Father and beloved Son in whom He is well pleased that IS eternal life. But here's the thing--and I talk about this with my grandma all the time--the deeper you go... the deeper you WANT to go. When you ask questions, you often find that you might get SOME answer, but more than likely you'll just get more questions. And that's ok. This "Christian" life is not about having it all figured out. It's about the life-long journey into the heart of the matter. And the heart of the matter... is the heart. It's a life-long journey of God (love) revealing Himself to us and in us and through us. And love is both simple and vast. It can be the smallest thing in the world--a hug, or a shoulder to cry on, a friendly word, a smile--but it is also the biggest, most important thing there is. Look at Ephesians 3:16-19, "That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend will all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." Exploring God's love for us. Going and deeper and deeper as He strengthens us in the INNER man. The hidden man of the heart. Because when you know what's deep inside... it comes out all on it's (His) own!

If you have an emergency, you should break the glass and call on the name of the Lord. He's got your back. He's always with you. And that, actually, is the point of this whole Rant series. Because SINCE God is always with us--He swore that He would never leave us nor forsake us--I truly believe that we could avoid a lot of emergencies in the first place, simply by making God first choice and not last chance. And by that I mean make LOVE first choice and not last chance. See, there was this Old Covenant mindset in which God was for "us" and He was "against" our "enemies." Which is really kind of funny for a Gentile to think, because the "us" was the people of Israel and the "them" was everybody else. But somehow--in our own minds--we've kind of taken up the top spot, so to speak, and turned everybody who doesn't agree with us into "them." I don't know why this is, but religious folk ALWAYS seem to be up for a fight. If it's not the devil, then it's sin. And if it's not the sin or the devil then it's the anti-christ. There always has to be something to fight. Always has to be something to be against. Check out this little Bible verse though, "...if God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31). And that verse ISN'T saying, "Who can prevail against us?" It's saying, "God is for ALL of us, so there's nobody who CAN be against us." It's saying, "We're all on the same side." We're all parts of the same body. Jesus won the war to end all wars on the cross. He conquered, and made us more than conquerers. There's nothing left to fight. Nothing left to overcome--when we understand just how finished the Finished Work is. I'm trying to say, this emergency that we got ourselves into by trying to do it ourselves... probably could have been avoided simply by acknowledging God in ALL our ways. Starting with love instead of trying to use it as a "get out of trouble free" card. Doing whatever it is that we do because we are moved with compassion and motivated by love. Love doesn't break things apart. Love is the glue that holds everything together. Love doesn't draw lines of exclusion. Love is the open arms of INCLUSION. I don't know. I just think there's enough going on in our lives that we don't have to make things worse by looking for trouble. God defends us. We don't need to attack people in order to defend Him. So. Jesus broke the glass. He took the "insiders" and the "outsiders" and made one New Man. He drew us ALL into Himself. There WAS an emergency, and it was called, "We were dead in our tresspasses and sins." Then Jesus came and saved us. He made us whole. He brought us out of death and into life. He gave us HIS life! And His life is a life of relationship with our heavenly Father who loves us. His life is one that is abundant. Full of love. Not a roller coaster ride where we get into trouble and God bails us out, but a river of life that flows (effortlessly) exactly where God wants it (us) to go!

In order to get rid of this, "Break glass in case of emergency," mindset... this mindset where we try to do it ourselves until we get in over our heads... this idea where there are places or situations where God isn't present... we need to understand that on the cross Jesus gave us full access to God. Where once, in the Old Covenant, only the high priest could approach the mercy seat in the holiest of holy places in the tabernacle (and only if the blood of bulls and goats were accepted in order cover his sins), now we can, "...come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16). Or, to put it another way, "...he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace" (Ephesians 2:14-15). Jesus broke the glass! He broke down the wall of partition and made us all one with Him! He gave us full access to Daddy. That's what He meant when He said He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life and that no man comes to the FATHER but by Him. He was talking about the Father-Son relationship that IS eternal life. He was talking about living a life of love by knowing and believing that we are loved, and loving each other with that same love. Coming to the Father can only be done by the Son. And we are that Son! We are the body of Christ. He is our true identity. And there is no separation between the Father and the Son. God promised that He would never leave us nor forsake us. He took up abode in us. Jesus said, "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30). There's no glass. There's no wall. There's no veil. There's nothing keeping us from enjoying the abundant life all the time. Well, I say there's nothing keeping us but really there IS something keeping us from enjoying it. We keep OURSELVES from enjoying it by trying to earn what is freely given. By trying to come into the sheepfold any other way but through the door. That's what a robber does. And the tragedy is that by doing so we are only robbing ourselves. We, like Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, hide from the presence of God. We get self-righteous, or full of pride, and we try to take the Kingdom by force. That was how it was... up until John the Baptist. Up until Jesus came on the scene. Then the entire ministry shifted from the Levitical priesthood (and the Law of Moses) to the Melchesidek priesthood (and the perfect law of liberty). Jesus rolled away the stone of the Law and called those who were dead in their trespasses and sins into life! HIS life! A life of being loved and loving one another. A life of rest. Of simply receiving and releasing. A life not of rules, but of relationship. A life where we don't have to break the glass in case of emergency, because we know Daddy is always with us and He's got our backs!

When we use God as a last restort--a break glass in case of emergency--we miss out on so much of what is available to us. Jesus came to give us life and that more abundantly. He came to give us HIS life; eternal, everlasting, abundant, Resurrection Life. On the cross He gave His life for us and He gave His life to us. He opened up a whole new dimension of living. He equipped and empowered us to live in the context of a Son who is loved by His Father. See, we're always drawing lines. God is over here, but He's not over here. When the simple truth of the matter is that God is everywhere all the time. And more importantly, He lives in you. So wherever YOU are... there HE is. He doesn't want to be a PART of your life. He wants to BE your life, because He IS life. So when we, "do the best we can" on our own we're really robbing ourselves from what's available. We're living from a mindset of lack and poverty and trying to earn our bread by the sweat of our brow, when in reality Jesus sweat great drops of blood and reversed the curse of human effort! He finished the work and gave us rest. And look at how Jesus speaks of this rest in Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG), "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? COme to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me--watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." Rest is the difference between religion and relationship. Religion always requires you to do something. In religion there's always "one thing you lack." Religion demands. Grace, and rest, empower. And I love the part where Jesus says He won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Rest makes life easy. It doesn't have to be a struggle. Trying to fit in. Trying to be somebody you're not. That's how we get into trouble. Paul said it like this, "And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind..." (Romans 12:2). We don't have to accept what the world throws at us. We don't have to wait until we're in dire straits before we let God get involved. And if we acknolowedge Him in ALL our ways He will direct our paths. He'll keep us out of trouble. Jude 1:24 describes God as, "...him that is able to keep you from falling..." But we don't seem to understand this. We seem to have the idea in our head that, "Well, I'm only human so I'm GOING to screw up. But grace will keep an angry God off my back and let me avoid punishment." Man... there's so much wrong there I don't even know where to start! First of all we ARE complete in Him. That's a done deal. You can't get any more perfect than the perfect One living inside of you. Secondly, God isn't mad at you. He's mad about you. And lastly, if avoiding punishment is your goal then you've really missed the entire point. We have the opportunity to keep company with God. To keep company with love. To dwell in His love. To explore His love. To receive and release His love. To truly live by being loved and by loving with that same love. So instead of trying to avoid punishment, and instead of waiting until we're in big trouble to call on the name of the Lord--instead of breaking the glass only in an emergency--we can get rid of the glass altogether and walk hand in hand ALL THE TIME with our Daddy!

Here's what I think I'm trying to say in this Rant series: "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3). God is not a "break glass in case of emergency" last resort when we try it ourselves and inevitably screw it up. Eternal life is knowing God in the context of Him as our loving heavenly Father and us as His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. Eternal life is that relationship that comes from love. That relationship that IS love. Because love, if it's anything, is relationship. It's connection. It's unconditional acceptance. And it is literally every breath we take and every move we make. In Him--in love--we live and move and have our being. That's what eternal life is; knowing God. And not just knowing ABOUT God... but KNOWING Him. On an intimate, personal, experiential level. Knowing Him better than we know ourselves. Because when we know Him... we know ourselves! Our true identity is Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. The hidden man of the heart. The new creation. That's who we are. But that identity sometimes looks like it is buried under all of the surface stuff. All of the "world" stuff. And that's where faith comes in. We walk by faith and not by sight. But walking by faith doesn't mean that we're wandering around blindly. I don't think faith is a blind leap at all. It's not a blind leap in the dark, OR the light. I believe faith is simply trusting in God. Remember yesterday we looked at Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Today I want to add Psalm 119:105, "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path." Now watch how good this is: Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word of God. The Word is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path! The same thing that produces faith in us is the same thing that shows us the Way! Walking in faith isn't about taking a blind leap. It's about leaping into Daddy's arms and knowing (and believing) that He will catch you! And the more we do this, the more our faith grows, because the more we trust in Him the more He proves Himself trustworthy. We have faith because He has proven, and continues to prove, Himself faithful. The more we trust in Him--the more we REST in Him, instead of trying things in our own strength--the more He will direct our paths. The more natural it will be to acknowledge Him ALL the time, instead of just in times of trouble or emergency. And that's what God wants. He doesn't just want to be PART of your life. He wants to BE your life, because He IS life! He wants to be involved in every area, in every aspect. Not just on Sundays (or whenever you do church). Not just when you have your "holy face" on. But all the time. Every day in every way. He lives in you. And you live in Him. There's nowhere He's not. But when we acknowledge Him... let me say it this way: If you look for Him (in any and every situation) you'll find Him.