I know a secret. And because of this secret I don't have to accept things the way they seem to be. Truth is higher and fact. You can face the facts, or you can accept the truth. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says that we walk by faith and not by sight. This is the difference between the facts and the truth. This is the difference between darkness and light. Because walking by sight (natural sight) when it is dark out will cause you to stumble and fall. But walking by faith and knowing and believing that the light of the world shines in you... that's how Jesus keeps us from falling. Let me say this about faith: Faith is not trying to make something happen. Faith is believing in what already happened. Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God. Faith isn't hoping for a move of Christ. Faith is a revelation of Jesus. Faith is receiving and manifesting what is already true, no matter what the facts say. The facts say you're a screw up. That you're not good enough and no matter what you do there's always one thing that you lack. But look at Psalm 25:14 (our key verse for this Rant series), "The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant." So what, you may ask, exactly IS the secret of the Lord? It's the mystery that was hidden but is now revealed! It is Christ in you the hope of glory! It is God's covenant. The NEW Covenant. It isn't just Jesus for you, or with you. It's Jesus IN you and AS you! It's an ascended life. An abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life! And here's the best part. When you KNOW the secret... you can enjoy the secret. When you KNOW what covenant you're in you can stop trying to fulfill an obsolete one and you can stop jumping back and forth between Old and New. I've used this illustration before: The Law is a stone. Grace is a mirror. If you try to mix the Law and grace you get a cracked reflection. A messed up picture of who you really are. But the secret is: You are loved and accepted unconditionally by your heavenly Father. The secret is... there's nothing wrong with you. You don't need to change. And in fact, the kind of change we usually think about (changing from evil to good) is impossible. If you're a sinner (which to me means unbeliever but to most people means somebody who does "bad" stuff), then at the end of the day that's who you are. But in God's eyes--in the New Covenant, once the secret gets out--you AREN'T a sinner. He built the New Covenant on a foundation that says, "Your sins and iniquities I will remember no more." He took a human race that considered themselves sinners and revealed them to be His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. He said, "If I can get your focus off of sin, and off our behavior, and off of what YOU are doing... then maybe I can show what I'M doing (both for you and as you). I can show you what I DID on the cross." That's the secret of God's love. He's not mad AT you, He's mad ABOUT you. And He would literally rather die than be without you. This secret (and we find the secret in the secret place, but we'll get there) is the difference between death and life. Because LOVE is the difference between death and life. Without love you can't really live. And with love there's nothing you can do BUT live. Here's the good news: The secret is out. God loves you.

God--who IS love--told us and showed us through He is by dwelling in a man named Jesus. Then that man gave us His Spirit and took up abode in all men. We are God's love letter to the world. Not a Law written in stone that we are required, but unable, to keep... but a life (of love) that keeps us. God wrote His letter, His Word (Jesus, Love) on our hearts when He cut away the flesh of human effort and revealed His heart in our chests. He brought us out of the power of darkness--out of the lie of thinking that we are a servant that has to earn God's love--and into the Kingdom of His dear Son. He brought us out of religion and into relationship. He equipped and empowered us to read His letter of love to ourselves (so that we could know who we are) and to each other. It's the idea of receiving and releasing. And that's why we're here. We're here to be loved by God and to love one another with that same love. That's the New Commandment Jesus gave when He said, "A new commadment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another" (John 13:34). That's it. That's what it's all about. Letting God love us and loving one another with that same love. And that's so amazing because it takes all of the emphasis off of us--as far as both the motivation and the power to do this thing--and puts it all on Jesus. Paul told us that it is the power of God working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. It starts with Him and it ends with Him. We love because He first loved us. We know He loves us because He wrote it on our heart. Because He gave us His Spirit. And that's where our desire to love one another comes from. See, the carnal mind is selfish and only cares about BEING loved. And it will do whatever it has to do to get that love that it believes it lacks. But the mind of Christ can love others because that desire has already been satisfied. Through the mind of Christ we know and believe that Daddy loves us. Through the Spirit we can cry out, "Abba, Father." We can know God as He truly is (our loving heavenly Father) instead of how we've thought He is (a cold, distant taskmaster who is just waiting to get us every time we mess up." Jesus said it like this is John 3:17, "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." God's not out to get us. In fact... on the cross He GOT us. Jesus was lifted up from the earth and He drew us all into Himself. He drew us out of bondage and condemnation and brought us into freedom and acceptance. He showed us the greatest expression of love that a man can have when He laid down His life (both for us and as us). And then He executed the judgment of God when He rose back up from the grave and conformed us to His image. The image of LOVE. The letter that is read of all men. Love in us flowing out of us. That's what eternal life is; knowing the Father and the One whom He sent. That's what life is all about; being loved and loving one another. To live is to love and to love is to live. God wrote His letter in us, and through the Spirit the Word has become (and continues to become) flesh everytime we love one another with the same love that we are loved with!

Jesus is the Word of God. Everything God had to say TO man, He said THROUGH a man. And that's why we (with Jesus living in us, with the Word being made flesh... in our flesh) are God's love letter to the world. And I really want to try to hit home today that my concept of "the world" doesn't mean "bad people." It simply means people who don't know where they are, and people who don't know who they are. Because according to Revelation 11:15, "...The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." The only difference between "the world" and the Kingdom is that in the Kingdom the light is shining and we know a few things. We know who we are (Jesus) and where we are (the Kingdom). Let me say it like this: God is the One, "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son" (Colossians 1:13). Jesus, the light of the world, shined His light so that we could see the world pass away and the Kingdom be established. Jesus went to the cross to prepare a place for us. And that place isn't a faraway heaven somewhere three miles south of Mars. That place is the heaven IN us. That place is the heart of God beating in our chest. He prepared that place for us by finishing the work. By writing His letter (His Word, LOVE) on our hearts. So when I say we are God's love letter to the world, I'm not trying to make a big distinction between "us" and "them." All I'm trying to say is that the difference between the Kingdom and the world is that in the Kingdom we know that we are loved. In the Kingdom we are no longer under the power of darkness. And here's the glorious part-- wherever we go people are reading our letter (the letter that we are). Wherever we go the light is shining. Because even as Jesus said HE is the light of the world He also said WE are the light of the world. The light (that is God, that is love) shines into and out of us. We read the letter of love that God gave us when He gave us Jesus and we also let everyone else read it. But lets make this practical. If I'm a love letter and somebody is supposed to read me... the only way that works is if I'm displaying love. Which is exactly how we "do things in Jesus' name." It's not about going around hitting people over the head with the Bible. And it's not about shoving Jesus down people's throats. It's about love. When I love somebody the Word is made flesh. When I love somebody they have an encounter with Jesus (whether they know it or not). See, doing things "in Jesus' name" isn't about quoting Scripture or threatening people with an angry God. It's about doing things in Jesus' character and authority. It's about doing things in love. Publishing the love letter, if I can say it that way. And when we understand just how full (full to overflowing) we are of the love of God, then it's not just something we do--and it's not something we have to try to do--because it's simply... who we are. We are loved, and we love, and we ARE love. God showed (and shows) His love to man... through man.

2 Corinthians 3:1-2, "Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered to us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." We are God's love letter to the world. A living epistle, known and read of all men. I don't want to put any pressure on you... but people are watching you. People watch everybody, "Christian" or not. But if somebody knows that you're a "Christian" you go straight under the microscope. You're automatically expected to act holy. And by that I mean, people's misguided view of what holiness is. Because the world, "holy," means set apart. And I've always kind of thought that if most people are miserable... then being set apart from that would mean you're happy. Yes, I equate holiness to happiness. And what could possibly make us happier than what we say in the last Rant series (Delight in the Lord and Him giving us the desire of our heart)? Here's what I'm saying: Even though people WILL read your letter (the letter that you are), and they WILL judge you, the only sensible thing to do is to read the letter that Christ wrote on your heart with His Spirit. To know what you have (love), and to share what you have. And I love how the Apsotle Paul says, "...not in tables of stone," referring to the Ten Commandments. Because another misguided notion is that in order to "be a good Christian, you must follow the 10 Commandments." Guys... the 10 Commandments were not given for us to follow. They were given so that we could understand that we can't follow them! The Law was given as a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The 10 Commandments are NOT the be-all, end-all. And if you try to follow them in your own strength you WILL fail. All the Law can do is produce law breakers. It demands perfection without being able to produce it. But there's a more excellent way. The letter (or word, LOVE) written on our hearts with the Spirit of the living God! Love is teh be-all, end-all. Love is the more excellent way. Love is the letter that we read when we hear the gospel--the good news of Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross--and love is the letter that people read when we simply receive and release the gift of God (which is eternal life, which is knowing the Father and the One whom He sent)! God gave us His Spirit so that we could understand who He is (our heavenly Father) in relation to who we are (His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased). God gave us His Spirit so we could read the letter. So we could experience and share the love that He has given us. The love that He is. The love that WE are. When we let God love us, that love (that we are already filled with) fills us to overflowing and comes out of us naturally. That's why we love Him (because He first loved us), and that how we love Him (by loving one another with the love that we are loved with). That's how we publish the letter that He wrote!

Think about this for a second: Jesus is the Word of God. Everything God ever wanted to say to the world He said through His Son. That's what John 3:16-17 says, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." Love and life and salvation. NOT perishing and condemnation. Jesus is the Word of God, and the Word of God is love. Because God IS love. And He sent Jesus. He sent a man. He showed love to the world by showing a man who loved the world. Now, because of the cross, Jesus isn't just Emmanuel (God WITH us), He is now God WITHIN us! Not just a love that we can see, but a love that we can feel on the inside. He wrote His Word (love) on (in) our hearts. We are His love letter to the world. Now, in the same way that Jesus is the Word of God, WE are the Word of God. Now, in the same way that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, the Word becomes flesh every time we let what's inside of us come out. That's what the manifestation of God is all about. It's not about us trying to act like Jesus. It's about Jesus acting like Himself in and through and as us. It's about the light of the world (that we are, because of the light of the world that He is) shining IN us and shining OUT of us. Because a letter isn't effective unless it's read. And the simple truth of the matter is that people are reading you every single day. Whether you want them to or not. Which is why Christians are so universally referred to as hypocrits; we say one thing and then people see us DO something else. We preach against the things that we struggle with, while pretending that we don't struggle with anything. But that's us trying to write our own letter, if I can say it that way. And that doesn't work. The more you struggle... the more you fail. When you bang your head against the wall, all you end up with is a headache. Works and labor doesn't work. But Jesus finished the work. He wrote HIS letter--again, His Word, LOVE--on our hearts. And all we are expected to do, in order to work the work the God, is believe. And here's the key: Seeing is believing. In the same way that people read our letter and know what's real and what's not, we read the letter that Jesus wrote on our hearts. We let the Holy Spirit lead and guide us into all truth--all truth that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. All truth that Daddy loves us. And when we know what the letter REALLY says, instead of what we're trying to make it say, that's when things get easy. That's when we enter into rest. That's when we can enjoy the fruit of HIS labor. And that's when we start to release what we've recieved. The letter is a love letter. And when you know how much you are loved (SO LOVED), you can share that love with others.

Before I really get this Rant series started I want to say: Everybody has a different part to play. There are some things I don't feel qualified to speak about, or write about. And there are some things I do feel qualified to preach. One of those things is love. I don't know why, but God has really put it on my heart (in my heart) to just talk about love. Which, since God IS love, works out well. So that's usually my focus. That's definitely my focus this series. Because that's why we're here. We're here to be loved and to love. Period. We are God's love letter to the world. His love flows into us and through us and out of us. Look at 2 Corinthians 3:2-3 in the Message Bible, "You yourselves are all the endorsement we need. Your very lives are a letter than anyone can read by just looking at you. Christ himself wrote it--not with ink, but with God's living Spirit; not chiseled into stone, but carved into human lives--and we publish it." Think about that: Christ wrote a letter on your heart... by writing HIMSELF on your heart. By taking up abode IN your heart. And make no mistake, God's love letter to the world only has one Word on it. And that Word is Jesus. That Word is love. Jesus IS the Word of God. When God speaks (or writes) that's what He says. That's all He needs to say. And I love the way the Message Bible puts it: He wrote it in us, and we publish it. What's inside us comes out of us. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And then the Word wrote Himself in us. And now the Word becomes flesh every time we let what's in us come out. Every time we love one another with the love that we are loved with the Word becomes flesh. The Word manifests in OUR flesh. Jesus (God in the flesh, love in a body) in and through and as us. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. That's what it's all about and that's how it all works. I say this ALL the time, but it's not about what you do... it's about what you believe. Because what you do flows from what you believe. You can't fix what you do. But you can fix what you believe. Faith comes from hearing and hearing from the Word of God. The Word of God is written on your heart. Listen to your heart. Follow your heart. Let the love that's in there come out of there. People are going to "read your letter" no matter what. And that's why most non-Christians think most Christians are hypocrites. Because what we preach isn't always what we do. We preach the Law but can't follow it. Or we preach a, "Love or else" message when we aren't loving anybody. That stuff turns people off. The GOODNESS of God leads to repentance. Seeing a more excellent way equips and empowers us to believe (instead of just hoping). The Way of Grace equips and empowers us to Walk by Faith. It all flows from the source. Love flows from the God who IS love. He wrote it on (in) our hearts. All we have to do is read it (to ourselves) to receive it, and read it (out loud, to others) to release it. We are God's love letter to the world.

Here's the key to "getting" the desire of our heart (which is to be loved)... realizing we already have it! Letting the Holy Spirit lead and guide us into all truth; all truth being, "The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands." And all truth being, "You are His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased." And here's the awesome part: WHEN we receive (and release) the desire of our heart... we can delight in the Lord! It's not an "if then" statement, it's a "one and the same" statement. The desire of our heart is to delight in the Lord! Because He delights in us! We love the Lord because He first loved us. And we love the Lord by loving one another. So, really, we delight in Him when we delight in each other. When we receive the love of the Lord (the love that IS the Lord) and release it to each other. Look at Deuteronomy 8:10, "When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee." You don't bless God in order to get the fruit of the land (or the fruit of the Spirit, which is love), you bless God because He has given you the fruit of the land! You don't pray in order to get something. You pray because you have something. You don't delight in Him in order to get the desire of your heart. You delight in Him because He has given you the desire of your heart! And, again, He gave you the desire of you heart when He gave you Himself. See, God has always (and will always) love you. That's not just what He does. That's who He is. But on the cross He gave you His Son. He brought you into the Father/Son relationship of unconditional love by giving you His heart and His Spirit. By equipping and empowering you to EXPERIENCE His love. That's what the Holy Spirit is all about. It testifies of your true identity by testifying of Jesus. By whispering, in a still, small voice, "Daddy loves you." And when you know and believe the love of Christ... that's where the delight comes from! We don't earn anything from Daddy. You can't earn an inheritance. An inheritance is passed down from Father to Son. You don't "get it" because of what you do. You "get it" because of who you are. And when you "get it," what else is there to do but delight in Him? You can't convince people to love God. And you can't scare people into loving God. That's not love. Love is something that has to be received before it can be released, because you can't give what you don't have. Until you know (and believe) that you ARE loved... you can't love. Until you know that God delights in you (you are the apple of His eye) then you can't delight in Him. The GOODNESS of God leads men to repentance. Getting what we desire is what allows us to delight in Him. We eat, and we are satisfied, and that's what allows us to bless God (by blessing people). We're not trying to earn anything. We're enjoying the fruit of HIS labor. He is our desire and He is what we delight in!

What we desire is what we delight in. And I'm not talking about "stuff." Stuff is the substitute we use in order to try to fill the God-shaped, love-shaped void inside of us. The truth of the matter is, though, that there is NO void inside us. Look at Genesis 1:1-3, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light and there was light." This is the story of creation, but it is also the story of us. Heaven is our mind and earth is our body. And before the cross we FELT void because it was dark. We couldn't see the truth. And since seeing is believing we couldn't believe that God loved us. Because without the Holy Spirit (our love receptor) leading and guiding us into the truth that Daddy loves us... it seems too good to be true. We desired God's love without ever really believing we could get it. So. On the cross God let His light shine. The light of the world laid down His life for His friends and showed us the greatest expression of love. He gave us something to believe in. He gave us His heart, and His mind, and His Spirit. Why? So we could delight in Him. He showed us how good He is. And look at the end of Romans 2:3, "...the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance." Repentance, of course, meaning to change your mindset, or change your way of thinking. God brought us out of darkness and into the light of His Kingdom by giving us something new to think about. Something new to believe in. He showed us a more excellent way. And that more excellent way... is love. Jesus IS the Way! And the Truth! And the Life! LOVE is the way, the truth, and the life! This is why I always say, "It's all about Jesus." Because it's all about love. And that's who Jesus is: God in the flesh. Love in a body. Love in YOUR body. And when we understand (throught the Spirit) that He has already given us the desire of our heart--that we are already loved and accepted (and always have been)--then we can begin to delight in Him. Guys... when somebody loves you it's REALLY hard not to like them. Because, as one of Logan's favorite movies says, "an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart." That's was man's problem before the cross; he had a hard heart. He couldn't receive the love of the Father because he didn't see God AS a Father. He saw God as an angry taskmaster, so he tried to earn the gift of eternal life--and Jesus said eternal life is knowing the Father and the One whom the Father sent. Eternal life is the RELATIONSHIP between the heavenly Father and His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased--but you can't earn a gift. A gift is freely given, but must be received. That's where the Holy Spirit comes in. And once we receive the desire of our heart... that's when we can delight in the One who IS the desire of our heart! If we're trying to get something, that's no fun. But when we understand that we already have it... then we can enjoy it and share it. Then we can receive and release it. Then we can delight in the desire of our heart... because our heart is fully satified by the love of the Father!

Yesterday we looked at desire. Today we're looking at delight. Because it seems like one of the biggest questions in the "Christian world" is... HOW do I delight in the Lord? HOW do I worship and praise Him? HOW do I love Him? And the short answer is: You love God by loving people. Jesus said, "And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me" (Matthew 25:40). And yes I know that verse is in the middle of a parable, but the connection remains. If God lives IN man, then what we do to man, we do to Him. Which really puts a spin on our key verse, "Delight thyself in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart" (Psalm 37:4). Because in order to delight in the Lord... we have to delight in one another. Now here's what I'm NOT saying: I'm NOT saying we have to fake it 'til we make it and pretend to get along with everybody. That's fake. And one thing about the human race is... we're good at knowing the difference between what's real and what's fake. See, we have this idea where we think, "Ok... If I love people then God will love me." "If I delight myself in Him then He'll give me the desires of my heart." But it's not an "if then" statement. BY delighting in Him we EXPERIENCE the desire of our heart (which is love). Think about it this way: On the cross God gave us the desires of our heart. He gave us His Son. He gave us His Spirit. He gave us Himself. So He's not waiting until we do something. He did His part in order to equip and empower us to do our part. Let me say it like this: His part is the Way of Grace. Our part is the Walk of Faith. But grace had to come first. The gift had to be given apart from any effort that we could put forth. Because if it was dependent on our effort then it wouldn't be a gift. A gift is only a gift if it is freely given. But a gift must be receieved before it can be enjoyed. Look at what the phrase, "delight thyself," means in Psalm 37:4, "to be soft or pliable." Basically it's the opposite of having a hard heart. It's understanding that God is the potter and we are the clay. And He makes us into whatever He wants us to be (which is His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased). It's understanding that the wind (of the Holy Spirit) blows where He wants to and He carries us where He wants us to go. It's rendering your body as a living sacrifice. Delighting yourself in the Lord is letting Jesus do whatever He wants to do in and through and as you. And here's the best part: What Jesus wants to do in and through and as you... is love. Because that's what He does. Because that's who He is. And because He lives in you... that's who YOU are. So here's the long and the short of it: Delight thyself in the Lord (by delighting in people). Love the Lord your God (by loving people). And when you do that, you receive the desire of your heart (to be loved) which He gave us 2,000 years ago. By releasing the gift we receive the gift and experience the gift! His love flows into us and out of us!

The Kingdom economy does not work on an, "If then" statement. It's NOT, "IF you delight yourself in the Lord, THEN He will give you the desires of your heart." The truth of the matter is... the Lord IS the desire of your heart, and it's only by delighting yourself in Him that you can experience that desire. And this is a very good thing because according to Proverbs 13:12, "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick: but when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life." See, when you want something but you can't get it, you get heart sick. You lose hope. You give up. And that's what religion forces us to do so many times. It's like Jesus told the rich young ruler: One thing you lack. There's always one more hoop to jump through. Until eventually you get the mindset that it's not worth it to even try. That's what's so wonderful about the Lord. He finished the work. He gave us the desire of our heart--which is love--when He gave us HIS heart! Look at the word, "desire." In Proverbs 13:12 it is number 8378 in Strong's Hebrew Concordance and it means, "a longing; by implication delight (satisfaction)." So what we see is that our desire IS our delight. Our desire is to delight ourselves in the Lord! And only BY delighting ourselves in Him can that desire come. Which is not to say that we have to "fake it 'til we make it." I'm telling you, the only way (the only REASON) we can delight ourselves in Him is because He takes such delight in us! We've got is so backwards where we're trying to scare people into loving God. "Turn or burn." "Get right or get left." Love isn't love if it comes from fear of punishment. In fact, perfect love casts out all fear. We don't love because we're afraid we'll get in trouble if we don't. We love because He first loved us. We don't delight in Him in order to get the desire of our heart. We delight in Him because He IS the desire of our heart, and He has fully satisfied that desire! Our verse in Proverbs says when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life. And who is the Tree of Life but Jesus? And what does the Tree of Life give us but the fruit of the Spirit? And what is the fruit of Spirit but love? The thing we all desire--at the most basic level--is love. Man was created with a God-shaped, love-shaped hole inside of him. And because of the cross--because of the Holy Spirit (our love receptor)--we now know that that hole is filled with the only thing that could fill it. The only thing that can fill a God-shaped hole is God. The only thing that can fill a love-shaped hole is love. That's what the cross was all about; saving us from our sins--our unbelief, our belief that we had to earn God's love. The Holy Spirit reveals to us that God always has, and always will, love us. That's the Tree of Life that we feed upon. That's where our appitite is satisfied. We don't have to look for love in all the wrong places because we can go straight to the source. We can boldy approach the throne of grace to find grace to help in times of trouble. We can call out, "Abba, Father," and know that Daddy hears us. Because we know that Daddy loves us. Our heart isn't sick... it is fully satisfied!