One of my favorite songs goes like this, "Life's a dance, you learn as you go. Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow. Don't worry 'bout what you don't know, life's a dance... you learn as you go." I think this is so true. But, when we have this kind of rigid idea of what we think life is supposed to be, any misstep, or mistake, can throw us for a loop. Instead of enjoying the journey--or the dance--we try so hard to make it be something that it's not that we end up missing out on what it's supposed to be. Jesus said it like this, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). See, if we think we're in control and we have to do everything perfectly right in order to get to where we think we need to go... then we are setting ourselves up for failure. The wind blows where it will. The Spirit knows where we're supposed to be, and how to get us there. And, in fact, since we are already there all the Spirit really does is reveal to us where we are... reveal to us WHO we are. Remember the thoughts of God? Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." That expected end is the Promised Land. And God gave us that expected end on the cross. So, again, when we're talking about life we're not talking about getting anything, or getting anywhere. We're talking about receiving and releasing the gift that we've been given. We're talking about living this abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life by letting Jesus live it in and through and as us. We're talking about letting the Spirit lead; letting the wind blow us wherever it will. We're talking about dancing. And listen, besides dancing with my three year old son, Logan... I'm not much of a dancer. I don't have any rhythm and I can't carry a tune in a bucket. So when I see a verse like Psalm 150:4, "Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs," it would be easy for me to get discouraged. But watch this, because this is absolutely magnificent: "The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing" (Zephaniah 3:17). And that phrase, "rejoice over thee" literally means, "dance, skip, leap, and spin around in joy." I'm telling you, God never requires ANYTHING of us that He doesn't provide for us. We dance for Him because He dances over us! He dances IN us! He's a happy God and the work is finished and now it's time to party! We don't have to do anything except let Him do whatever He wants to do in and through and as us. Present our bodies as living sacrifice. Let Him dance in you and through you and as you. Let Him LIVE in you and through you and as you. It's ok if you don't know the steps, because life's a dance. You learn as you go.

I said it to start this Rant series and I'll say it again to end this Rant series: The journey of life is not about trying to get from point A to point B. The journey of life is a journey into the heart of the matter. And the heart of the matter... is the heart. It's all about love. And that's what we have. That's what the Holy Spirit reveals to us. So rather than a journey of trying to get somewhere or trying to get something, life is a journey of exploration and discovery. We already have everything we need because we have Jesus. We have already arrived in the Promised Land. So now, rather than wandering around like strangers in the land of promise, rather than coming to Daddy with our hands out like beggers, we can begin to experience and enjoy the gift that we have been given. We can begin to know and believe the love of Christ. We can begin to live the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrecion Life by letting Jesus live it in and through and as us. That's the journey... not getting anything (because, again, we already have it all) but letting go of some things. Letting go of control. Letting go our idea of what life is supposed to be. Letting go of our preconcieved notions and our expectations so that God can do whatever He wants to do, for us in us and through us. Because what He has in mind is, "...exceedingly above all that we ask or think..." (Ephesians 3:20). Sometimes I think we limit God by thinking too small. Like... we figure out what we think this life is supposed to be, and then we reject anything outside of that box. Or we judge things by good and evil and we miss out on LIFE. Look at Romans 14:14 in the Message Bible, "I'm convinced--Jesus convinced me!--that everything as it is in itself is holy. We, of course, by the way we treat it or talk about it, can contaminate it." See, we try to build a good life... we try to take the right journey... but we don't understand that ALL of life is a journey. It's a life-long journey. And if the journey is life-long, and we have everlasting life... that means the journey never ends. Every experience adds to it. Every mistake is something to learn from. Sometimes you have to do it wrong before you can do it right; that's called learning. And if we look at our mistakes--not as bad things, but as holy things--then we can get off the up and down, good and evil, rollercoaster of life and we can begin to enjoy the ride. That's the point. The work is finished. We are WHO we need to be, and we are WHERE we need to be. Jesus took a three days' journey from the earth to cross, from the cross to the grave, from the grave to heaven. And He did that both for us and AS us. So WE'VE already taken the journey. Now, as that finished work, that journey, that LIFE is revealed to us and in us and through us, it manifests. What is already true becomes true... for us. We get to the heart of the matter when we understand that God's heart is beating with love in our chests. We enjoy the journey when we understand that it's all about love. The journey is exploring the height, depth, length, and breadth of God's love for us. 

Two thousand years ago Jesus took a three days' journey both for us and as us. He brought us out of the bondage of Egypt (sin, death, darkness) and into the Kingdom of God. At the point the work was finished. At that point we had arrived. What I'm saying is: Everything that needed to be done... is done. We have been transformed. We have been conformed to His image. We're in the Promised Land right now. We're in heaven because heaven is in us! The journey of life is not about what we do. It's about exploring and experiencing what Jesus did. Look at Philippians 3:11-15, "If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you." I love this passage. But at first glance it almost seems as if there IS a journey that we have to take. We haven't apprehended, but we need to. We aren't perfect, but maybe we'll get there someday. And that's the religious mindset in a nutshell: I'm not good enough right now, but if I DO enough good stuff then maybe someday I will be good enough. But check this out: Only a few verses after saying he's not perfect Paul says, "Let us therefore, as many as be perfect..." So he's not perfect but he is perfect? Well... yes, actually. You can't get any more perfect than having the Perfect One (Jesus) living inside of you. But it's only as you come into the realization and revelation of just how perfect you are that you begin to manifest that perfection. Let me say it like this: The only reason we can apprehend this thing is because we are already apprehended of it. The only reason we can BE transformed by the renewing of our mind is because we have already BEEN transformed by the finished work of the cross. The only was we press toward the mark is because Jesus--both for us and as us--has already hit the mark. We aren't doing anything apart from what He's already done. We are simply manifesting what He has already done. We don't try to be like Jesus. We simply learn of Him and then we find out that we're already like Him. As He is, so are we in this world. We are His body and He is our head. There's no difference and no separation. So instead of trying to get somewhere, we need to focus on where we are. We need to focus on what the three days' journey of Jesus death, burial, and resurrection accomplished. And what it accomplished... is us. A New Man. A new creation. An everlasting journey of revelation. Leaving the former things (Adam) behind, and pressing on the mark of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus... which IS Christ Jesus... in and through and as us!

God loves the number three. You see it over and over again in the Scriptures. Faith, hope, love. Righteousness, peace, joy. "The three tenses of salvation," have been saved, are being saved, will be saved. But most prophetically we see the three days' journey. Exodus 3:17-18 encapsulates it, "And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey. And they shall hearken to thy voice: and thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath met with us: and now let us go, we beesech thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God." The difference between bondage and freedom, between slavery and rest, between life and death, was a three days' journey. This passage always confused me, because Moses bringing the people of Israel out of Egypt for good didn't seem to jive with what he was telling Pharoah--that they needed to go three days into the wilderness, sacrifice to God, and then come back? What? It wasn't until I understood the Finished Work, the death, burial, and resurrection, that I began to see what we were really talking about. Because even though the people of Israel were in natural bondage to Egypt, it was really a picture of a people who were dead in their trespasses and sins. It was really a picture of all mankind who was under the idea that they had to work for everything they could get. A people who had to earn their bread by the sweat of their brow. But, again, the three days' journey changed all that. Colossians 1:13 tells us that God--in the work and person of Jesus, "...hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." Let me say it like this: The Kingdom was a three days' journey from the world. Jesus said, "...The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again" (Luke 24:7). Jesus took the journey both for us and as us. When He was lifted up from the earth and crucified He drew us all into Himself. And when He was buried He planted Himself in us all. And when He rose again (on the third day) a new creature came forth. A new fruit, a new harvest, a New Man. And that New Man has a new life; an abundant, everlasing, eternal, Resurrection Life. So this life that we live... this life that JESUS lives in and through and as us... isn't a journey. It is the result of a journey taken over 2,000 years ago. It's not about getting anywhere. We are already in the Promised Land. It's about knowing where we are--the Kingdom--and about living in, and out of, the Kingdom. It's not about works and labour, but it's about enjoying the fruit of Jesus' labour! The journey isn't about what we do. It's about what Jesus did both for us and as us!

The more I get into this truth of a Finished Work the more my thinking begins to change. Or, as the Apostle Paul put it, the more I BE transformed (into what I'm already transformed into) by the renewing of my mind. Not by trying to think God's thoughts, but by letting Him think His own thoughts in and through and as me. Letting the mind of Christ (that's already in me) BE in me. And this maturation process is really focused on life right now. Because as many things as we try to make our existence about... it's about life. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. And, really, that's one of the biggest perceptions that had to shift. Life isn't about getting stuff. Life is about giving away--or sharing--what you've got! It is more blessed to give than to receive. Because it is only by giving that we truly can receive. Now let me say this, because I really think it's important: There's a big difference between being given something, and receiving something. I believe that the gift of eternal life was given to every man when Jesus was lifted up from the earth and drew all men into Himself. But that does NOT mean that everybody is experiencing. Because that's what faith is all about. Knowing and believing that you've been given something is what allows you to receive and enjoy what you've been given. But having said that, I also believe that receiving something is very different than "getting" something. If you're trying to get something it means you believe you don't have something. And that's coming from a place of lack. Let me say this clearly: We have no lack, because our God has no lack. We are always with Him, and everything He has is ours. The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hand. So, we don't need to get anything. We simply need to receive what we've already been given. What does this have to do with The Journey? Everything! Because it shifts our focus. Jesus said, "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" (Matthew 6:25). Take no thought for your life. There's a more excellent way then "getting what you need" and simply surviving. Is not the life more than mean, and the body than raiment? What's more than what you eat and what you wear? What's more than life? Abundant life! HIS life! Love! A life of love... which is what LIFE really is. The Father loving us and us loving each other with that same love. That's what it means to truly live. And that's got nothing to do with a journey from point A to point B. That's got nothing to do with going anywhere or getting anything. That's a totally different mindset about success, and about what we are "supposed to do." Tomorrow we're really going to look at this, but the journey was a three day journey from death to life. And, in the person of Jesus, we have already taken that journey. We were dead in our trespasses and sins. Dead in Adam. But now, BECAUSE of the journey, we are alive in Him! Because of the journey that He took (both for us and as us) we can rest. Because of the journey, we can be transformed... because we've already been transformed. We can love, because we know that we are loved, and we know that we are love!

Sometimes it seems like we look at life life a journey. From point A to point B. But one of the biggest problems with that mindset is that we can easily get stuck along the way. And then that opens up a whole can of worms. We start in with the self condemnation, and we consider ourselves (or others) failures. Just because we aren't as far along the journey as we (or others) think we should be. When we define our life according to what society says it should be, or even what we think it should be, then we miss out on so much. Jesus came to give us ABUNDANT life. Not a life of going through the motions. He came to give us ETERNAL life. And if life is eternal, then there IS no destination at the end of the trip... because there is no end of the trip! Or rather, since we are already in the Promised Land, we have already reached the destination. See, life is not a journey from A to B. You don't start HERE and try to get over THERE. Life is a journey into the heart of the matter. And the heart of the matter is the heart! I think most "religious people" will agree that God is the most important thing (even though we don't always seem to operate out of that truth). And God is love. So love is the most important thing. Look at one of my favorite passages of Scripture. This passage literally tells us how to live. How to enjoy the journey. "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 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 with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passesth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God" (Ephesians 3:14-19). Remember when I Ranted about the meaning of life? To be loved by God and to love each other with that same love? Well that's the journey. Exploring His love for us. Living in His love for us. Enjoying His love for us. And, guys, it doesn't get any more abundant than being filled with the fulness of God (that we are already full of). Being filled with His fulness means being filled to overflowing with love. Having such an experiential knowledge of the height, depth, length and breadth of His love that we couldn't hold it in if we tried so it just comes out of us natural. That's the journey. Not GETTING more of Him, but KNOWING more of Him as He reveals Himself to us and in us and through us and as us. Not getting anywhere, but exploring where we already are. Not getting from point A to point B but knowing that wherever we are, and whatever we're doing, Daddy loves us and we are equipped and empowered to love each other with that love. Christ dwells in our hearts. And we dwell in His love. We have arrived. The work is finished... but the journey never ends!

A job well done can give a strong sense of satisfaction. Or, as we put it when I worked for the city, "filling up the pride meter." A lot of our sense of self-worth comes from what we do. We define ourselves by our jobs. And seemingly there is some Scripture to back this up. For example, "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called" (Ephesians 4:1). Or, "For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat" (2 Thessalonians 3:10). So there IS an aspect of what I like to call, "taking care of business." But, guys, this isn't where our satisfaction comes from. The job that was well done that gives us true satisfaction... is the work that Christ did (both for us and as us) on the cross! Jesus said, "Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; not yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" (Matthew 6:25). And at the end of the day, I think we understand this. No matter how much "stuff" we accumulate, we're never really satisfied. It never fills that God-shaped, love-shaped hole. There's always, "one thing we lack." Because as hard as we try to fill that hole with everything and anything else... a love-shaped hole can only be filled with love. Nothing else fits. Nothing else satisfies. And it's only when we stop trying to define ourselves by what we do that we can rest in who we are--who HE is in and through and as us. 2 Timothy 1:8-9 says it like this, "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God; Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." See, it's nothing about us and everything about Him. HE saved us. HE called us. It is the power of God that works in us both to will and to do of HIS good pleasure. We can't satisfy God, and we can't satisfy ourselves with our works. Can't be done. Because it's not what you DO that pleases God. It's who you are! And because of who you are (His beloved Son) He IS well pleased with you. You can't earn Daddy's love because He always has and always will love you. What you CAN do is stop trying to satisfy Him (and yourself) with works, or with stuff. What you CAN do is rest in His finished work and find satisfaction in His unrelenting, unstoppable, undeniable, unconditional love for you. You can stop trying to get something you already have and you can start receiving and releasing it instead. You can stop working to try to earn a gift (that has already been given) and you can open that bad boy up and start enjoying it. You can find satisfaction at the source, when you understand what WILL satisfy you. And, in a Word, that's called love. God is love.

I once preached a sermon about man's appetite. It was in the Gripped by Grace sermon series and what I THOUGHT I was going to preach about was how grace changes your appetite. But the day before I preached the sermon God revealed something to me. This is what He said, "Grace isn't about changing man's appetite. Man's appetite always has been, and always will be, the same. Grace is about SATISFYING man's appetite." And that was so powerful to me. Because it really brought our appetite into focus for me. I thought, "Man before the cross wanted to do whatever he could get away with." But the truth of the matter is: Man (before, during, and after the cross) wants to be loved. Period. That is our appetite. That is what we crave and what we desire. That's what we spend all of our lives trying to earn, because that is what we think we don't have. And that's why the tree of knoweldge of good and evil was so attractive to Eve. It made perfect sense: If I can get enough knoweldge about good and evil I can stop doing evil and I can do good. And if I do good I'll be accepted. If I act the right way I can earn Daddy's love. The problem, of course, with that thought process is that Daddy always has and always will love you. It has nothing to do with what you DO and everything to do with who you ARE. It's the unconditional love from a Father to His Son. It can't be earned. It must be received. And that's where the Holy Spirit comes in. The Spirit of Truth that leads and guides us into all truth--All truth being the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hand. And when we know that we are loved--when we know the source of that love--then we can stop looking for love in all the wrong places. Then we can stop trying to earn a gift and we can rest in the arms of our loving heavenly Father. When we know that we are loved... we can be satisfied. We can stop running FROM God and start running TO God. We can stop jumping through religious hoops and start enjoying a relationship with our Creator; the lover of our souls. True satisfaction cannot come from anything external. It must come from within. The Kingdom of God is WITHIN you. Righteousness, peace, and joy are found in the Holy Spirit and we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Everything we need has already been given to us and already lives inside of us. So instead of robbing ourselves of what we already have, by "living" from a posture of lack and trying to get something that we think we DON'T have, we are now equipped and empowered to live Jesus' abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life by letting Him live it in and through and as us! We are completely satisfied when we know and believe the love of Christ. When we know and believe that not only are we LOVED, but that we are LOVE. And that second part is vitally important because we truly experience God's love when we love one another. When we receive and release. That's satisfaction. That's why we're here. That's what it's all about. We are loved, and we are love, so now we can love. We are satisfied when we bring satisfaction to others. When we give (or share) what we've got. Who we are. Who HE is in and through and as us!

As long as we think our satisfaction comes from getting something we don't have, we will never be satisfied. Because in Christ we already have it all. So if we are approaching life from a position of (perceived) lack, then we will never be able to enjoy what we've got. If we're always looking outside in order to try to find something, then we'll miss out on what's already inside. And what's already inside is the only thing that CAN satisfy us! Without the Holy Spirit (or, on this side of the cross, without the knowledge that we have the Holy Spirit) it feels like we have a God-shaped, love-shaped hole inside of us. And we'll do anything to fill that hole. Until we understand the six course meal that Jesus prepared for us in the presence of our enemies (the Six Steps to the Throne that He took both for us and as us on the cross) we will eat and drink whatever we can earn and we will hunger and thirst again. But when we drink the water Jesus gave us, it flows out of our belly. And that's the key to truly being satisfied. Satisfaction doesn't come from what you get. It comes from sharing what you have! We don't really receive God's love until we release it. Things aren't real until we share them. It is more blessed to give than to receive. We think we need something in order to be satified, but really we simply need to wake up to what we have... wake up to who we are. And who we are is Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. And what we DO with that love is... we give it away. We love others with the love that we are loved with. We bring others joy, and therein we find our own joy. We bring others happiness and therein we find our own happiness. We love others and therein we find love. See, if you love someone in the hopes that they will love you back... then A. you're setting yourself up for disappointment and B. you don't really understand love in the first place. Love does not say, "I'll scratch your back, you better scratch mine." Love says, "You've got an itch? Let me take care of that for you." Jesus said it like this, "Therfore when thou doest alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward" (Matthew 6:1). If you're loving in order to be loved then you've missed the point. You don't love in order to be loved. You love because you ARE loved. You don't get a reward from loving people. Loving people IS the reward. You won't ever find satisfaction if you're trying to get it, or earn it. Because there will always be one thing you lack. If it's external, it's never enough. But when you understand that it's INTERNAL, when you understand that the Kingdom of God is within you... Righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost... then you can stop trying to get something. You can be satisfied with what you have. And you can satisfy others by sharing what you have. By showing them what THEY have. By shining the light. By loving others with the love that you are loved with!

We all have this idea of what life is supposed to be. This idea of what "success" is. And (whether we realize it or not) we all work towards this goal. We think if we can just GET whatever it is that we think will satisfy us... then we'll be happy. But here's the dirty little secret about getting: It's never enough. We get what we think we want, and then we just want something else. Nothing satisfies us because nothing external CAN satisfy us. It feels like there's a hole INSIDE of us. And it can only be filled by something INSIDE of us. What we're really looking for--the only thing that can fill a God-shaped, love-shaped hole--is righteousness, peace, and joy. And righteousness, peace, and joy are found in the Holy Spirit. Now the glorious truth of the matter: This hole that we're so desperate to fill... has already been filled. God has already poured His Spirit out on all flesh. He has already filled us (to overflowing) with the Holy Spirit. We WERE dark and void and without form. But then God said, "Let there be light." The problem isn't that we need something. The problem is that we don't know what we've got. We're looking for love in all the wrong places because we don't know that we can go to the source. We don't know that we ARE the source. So we try to fit in. We try to build ourselves a kingdom. We try to get what we think we don't have. And all we end up doing is robbing ourselves of the gift that we've been given. All we do is miss out on what's presently available to us. We aren't satisfied because we don't understand that everything we need... we already have. Look at Psalm 17:15, "As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness." See... it's not GETTING His likeness. It's awaking to the fact that we HAVE His likeness! Remember in the garden of Eden when God put Adam to sleep and took out one of his ribs and made Eve? Well the Bible tells us that Adam fell asleep, but it never tells us that Adam woke up. A big part of Jesus' earthly ministry was doing just that--waking us up. Shining the light so that we could see things clearly. Paul put it this way in Ephesians 5:14, "Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light." See, our satisfaction doesn't come from getting something we don't have. It comes from waking up to what we do have--to who we really are. That's what the light of the world does. It shows us who we really are by showing us who God really is. When we behold His face in the mirror (because He lives in us) that's when we see that we were made in His image AND conformed to His image. That's when we see that our life is hid in Him and He lives in us. That's when we can stop trying to be someone we're not, and stop trying to get something we don't have. That's when we can rest in our true identity and be satisfied with the unconditional love of a heavenly Father to His only begotten Son!