Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get. Or so they say. Because life is always changing. It's never just one thing, and it's never anything for long. Taking the good with the bad and learning and growing--enjoying the ride--is a big part of what life is all about. Which is pretty much what 2 Corinthians 1:7 in the Message Bible says. "When we see that you're just as willing to endure the hard times as to enjoy the good times, we know you're going to make it, no doubt about it." What's that old TV song say? "You take the good, you take the bad, and then you look at what you have... the facts of life." Something like that. Point being, you really can't have one without the other. And if you let every disappointment or bump in the road wreck you... you'll end up robbing yourself of the good things that came along with those "other" things. I always talk about how you can't learn from your mistakes if you never make any. Or if you refuse to acknowledge them. There's a silver lining that comes with every cloud. There's a lesson to be learned. Experience to be gained. Longsuffering is a fruit of the Spirit, right? I've Ranted on that before. So I guess my point for today is found in two more memory verses. Nehemiah 8:10, "Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." And Isaiah 41:10, "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." God's strength is made perfect in weakness, right? Which means it's ok for us to be weak, right? Things happen, and the best thing we can do is lean on the Lord. Let Him be involved. Invite Him in to every situation. When you're not fighting against what's happening--and, listen, there ARE some thing we shouldn't stand for. I'm not saying you should accept anything and everything--but when you're not fighting against what's happening, that's when you can learn from it. When you begin to endure what is happening instead of throwing a fit about it, that's when you can see the bigger picture. You can see that all things work together for good. You can see that no matter what happens, God is involved. He knows the throughts that He thinks towards you, thoughts of peace to give us an expected end. He knows how things are going to work out. He knows the end from the beginning. He knows what's best for us. And when we give in to HIS plan, when we be still and know that HE is God, that's when He has the opportunity to really move. To show up in a big way. We can't endure this life all on our own. It's too big. And that's ok, because we're not supposed to. It's not good that man should be alone. We're all in this together. And, above and beyond that, our heavenly Father has our backs. We ARE never alone. Because He has sworn to never leave us nor forsake us. He can keep us from falling. Hold us up when we stumble. He can help us endure whatever we are going through. Because HE endured everything HE had to go through in order to bring us out of the Old and into the New! So it doesn't matter what flavor chocolate life throws at you at any given time. You can enjoy it no matter what. You can endure the good, the bad, and the ugly and you can enjoy the ride!

What Jesus endured on the way to the cross--being beaten, and mocked, stripped down, having a crown of thorns stuck onto (into) His head--is generally referred to as the Passion of the Christ. I think because it shows how passionate His love for us was (and is). Right? Because you would really have to love someone to endure all of that for them. Which, of course, was a big part of the point. Jesus said the greatest love a man can have is to lay his life down for his friends. And then, friends, He went to the cross and did just that. He laid His life down... for us. Endured all of that hurt, and ridicule, and humiliation... and death!... for us. Gave us everything He had and everything He is. Look at Romans 5:8, "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." That's how God showed us His love. That's how He proved to us... that He loves us. He died for us. Literally gave His life for us, and to us. Told us what the greatest measure of love was... and then gave that measure of love to us. Jesus put His money where His mouth was, if I can say it that way. He endured the worst that WE had to offer. Because make no mistake--God did not kill His only begotten Son. We did that. God raised Him (and us in Him) from the dead. In order to show His love. Again. He died for us to show His love to us, and He rose from the dead to show His love to us. It's all about love. God is love. So, as we saw yesterday, it is HIS endurance that matters. What HE did on the cross. And that's why KNOWING what He did on the cross is so important. Let me try to paint a word picture for you. If your parents tell you to mow the grass (and lets say, just for example, that you really don't like mowing it)... that's gonna weigh heavily on you until you do it. Because--whether this part is true or not--you probably think you're going to get into trouble if you don't do it. So it's like this big ominious thing hanging over your head. But then let's say your older brother comes up to you and says he mowed it. I think your first reaction would be relief. The job is done, you didn't have to do it, all is well. And maybe some gratitude towards old big bro. So you go back to what you were doing. But there's a tickle in the back of your mind. An itch you can't quite reach. Because what if he just SAID he did it, but didn't really do it? What if the work ISN'T finished, and your parents are still relying on you to do it? Now you're freaking out again. When, in truth, all you need to do is go look at the lawn. See if the work is finished or not. And if you give it a little peek, and see that the grass is cut... now you're at peace. Because you know beyond the shadow of a doubt that it is finished. And not because of what you did, but because of what was done for you. That's how it is with the cross. Until you KNOW that the work is finished, you'll always be worried about it. Either running from it, or trying to finish it. Knowing what Jesus has done (endured) both for us and as us is what allows us to enter into His rest. To stop trying to do it ourselves. Knowing and believing that it is HIM--His Spirit, His forgiveness, His endurance, His love--that equips and empowers US is what allows us to be who we really are. Which is who we are in Christ. Which is who Christ is in us!

As always, I think my message is a simple one: Receive and release the gift of God. What is true about God is true about us. He has given us... Himself. His Spirit. His Son. His nature. His love. So when we're talking about enduring, a verse like 2 Thessalonians 3:5 in the Message Bible is very important. "May the Master take you by the hand and lead you along the path of God's love and Christ's endurance." Because it's not OUR endurance that matters. It's Christ's endurance. And the understanding that His endurance IS our endurance, when we stop trying to do things ourselves and simply receieve and release what God has given us. What God is doing in us. It's the same thing I preach when I talk about faith. All "your" faith needs to do is connect you to God's faith. Because when, "Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth" (Mark 9:23), I believe He was saying just that. All things are possible for JESUS. So believe in HIM. Connect your faith to HIS faith and it's a done deal. When Jesus prayed the Father answered. We, today, right now, have that same access to the Father. When WE pray the Father listens. And answers. Now, let me say this: Sometimes the answer is "no" when we want it to be "yes." But that's only because God knows what's best for us. And what He knows is better than what we think. And that's not a bad thing. That's a good thing. So look at our key verse again. God takes us by the hand and leads us along the path of HIS love and HIS endurance. Because that's what matters. We endure because HE has endured. We died because He died, right? We live because He lives. It's all about Jesus. Because it's all about love. What is true of Jesus is true of us. When God looks at Jesus He sees us. And when God looks at us He sees Jesus. There is no separation between God and man because God lives IN man. So it behooves us to live in Him. And by that I mean receive the gift we've been given. By knowing it and believing it. By releasing it. Breathing it in and breathing it out. Letting what is already inside come out BY knowing and believing that it is in there. Because what is inside WILL come out. It has to. It is too big not to. What you believe is inside you will always come out of you, because your actions are dictated by your beliefs. If you believe that God can handle anything... then you can handle anything. In Him. Through Him. As Him. If you believe that Christ's endurance is enough to get you through whatever it is you're going through... then you will be able to get through whatever it is you're going through! It's His endurance that carries us through. Look at Jude 1:24, which is one of my all-time favorite verses, "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy." God--LOVE--can keep you from falling. It doesn't always have to be falling down and then picking ourselves back up. We don't have to stumble. We can walk that straight and narrow path that leads to life. (If we DO stumble He WILL catch us, let's be clear.) He can hold us. He can endure. And because He is holding us up... WE can endure! Love can carry you through!

A big part of life is just living. Just showing up. Taking care of business. Doing the things you have to do in order to get from the start of the day to the end of the day. And that, by the way, includes self-care. Self-care is vitally important. You can't let yourself get lost as you go through the grind of day to day life. You have to take time for yourself. Find a balance where it's not selfshness or self-centeredness... but it is you being the best, healthiest you. Let me drop my memory verse for this Rant series and then we'll really get into it. Matthew 24:13, "But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." Now you guys know I like definitions. The Law of First Mention. Things like that. Really digging into what we're really talking about. So I want to define two of our terms here. "Endure" is number 5278 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "Stay under (behind), that is, remain; figuratively to undergo, that is, bear (trials), have fortitude, persevere." Think about that for a minute. Stay under, or behind. In a safe place. With someone else protecting you. One chapter earlier, in Matthew 23:37, Jesus said, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" That's the cry of our heavenly Father's heart--to gather us under His wings and protect us. Keep us safe from all harm. And that, friends, is how we endure. That is how we get through everything we need to go through. We, in a very real sense, hide behind love. And that doesn't mean we cower. Just as rest is not inactivity but Holy Spirit directed activity... "hiding" behind love so that we can endure means loving people. Giving what we've got. Receiving and releasing the gift that we've been given. So. Now we get to that word "saved." It is number 4982 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "Safe; to save, that is, deliver or protect (literally or figuratively):-heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole." So while it seems as though anytime religious folk see that word "saved" they immediately think "save us from the devil. Save us from hell" this is a more immediate saving. Save us from what we're going through right now. Help us to survive right now. Help us to endure what has been placed in our path. Help us to hold on. Because when you get to the end of your rope, the best thing you can do is tie a knot in it and hold on! The best thing you can do is realize that as hard as you're holding on to God... HE is holding on to YOU! And He will never let you go. He has sworn to never leave us nor forsake us. We endure--we CAN endure--because He HAS endured. Everything we can do (or are expected to do) comes from God. What He has done. What He is doing. One more memory verse for tonight: "Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away" (1 Corinthians 13:8). Love never fails... because love endures. Love never gives up. Love never lets go. Love carries us through whatever we have to go through. Love never fails. Because love endures.

To declare something means to confess it. To confess something is to let what's inside come out. A truth that you believe with all your heart. And, listen, I know the Bible talks a lot about confessing your sin. Confessing your faults. But I don't believe God wants us to go around all day every day "confessing" how horrible we are. Because that's not true. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are the righteousness of God in Christ. We are the apple of His eye. His greatest and most favorite creation. He loves us with everything He has and everything He is. He loves us so much that He died for us. And as us. So that we could live for Him. And as Him! That's the decree. That was God's sentence--not a death sentence. God didn't kill Jesus. We did. God raised Jesus from the dead. God is the God of life. Because God is life. Because God is love. And to live is to love. Love and life aren't just connected. They are the same thing. So when we're talking about declaring the decree... that simply means receiving and releasing His love. Filling ourselves to overflowing with what He has already filled us with. Look at 1 John 4:15, "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God." That should be our confession. Not how "bad" we are but how GOOD God is! Our confession should be the ultimate truth of the universe--that God is love and He loves you. That the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His (our) hands. That's what we should be confessing. "God loves me." And because God loves ME... I can love YOU! Because God loves me, not only CAN I love... but I AM love. Just as love is not only what God does... it is who God IS... love is not only what WE do. Love is who we ARE. That is our new (true) nature. That is what we are equipped and empowered to do. Not GET something... but give what we've got. Let what's inside come out by knowing and believing it's in there. By filling ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with. See, in order to declare the decree you have to know what the decree is. Right? That makes sense. You can't give what you don't have, and you can only give what you do have. You can't believe something you don't know. You can't declare, or confess, something that you haven't witnessed. Personally experience. But when you do witness (experience) it... and then you do confess it and declare it... that's when things get real. That's when things get powerful. That's when the truth (that has already set you free and made you free) explodes in your life so that you can experience that freedom! The truth has set us free and made us free. But the truth we know, the truth we accept, the truth we walk in, is how we experience and enjoy that freedom. The decree of the Lord, "I love you, I love you, I love you, and I can't stop won't stop loving you," is what we should be decreeing. To ourselves and to each other! That's what this life is all about. It is Jesus's abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love! Declare it. Confess it. Witness it and be a witness to it. Experience it and enjoy it by giving it away!

I really truly believe that it's all about receiving and releasing. Because it's all about love. Love is the Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end. And everything in between. And love is giving. Which is why receiving is so important. Because you can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. So you have to know what you have. Right? You have to receive what God has given you before you can release it. Before you can give it away. Look at 1 Chronicles 16:23-24, "Sing unto the LORD, all the earth; shew forth from day to day his salvation. Declare his glory among the heathen; his marvellous works among all nations." Shew forth His salvation and glory. Which doesn't mean beg Him for it. It seems like so often we use prayer as a lamp that we rub in the hopes that a genie will pop out and grant us some wishes. It seems like we think of prayer as our wish list for God to get busy with. "Can I have this? When will I be blessed with that." And there's nothing wrong with casting our cares on the Lord (because He cares for us). That's Biblical. But to me that was always more of a "let go and let God" type of deal. Not telling your God how big the storm is, but telling the storm how big your God is. Letting God handle the things that are too big for us to handle. Not whining and crying and complaining... but simply having faith in God. Trusting your heavenly Father to have your back. Because He DOES have your back! So instead of that begging mindset--a mindset of lack--we focus on what we DO have. An attitude of gratitude. Instead of begging God for things we don't have (or think we don't have)... we thank Him for what we DO have. We thank Him for what He HAS done, and what He HAS given us. We declare His glore among the heathens (or those who don't know Him) not by wailing about what He hasn't done... but by declaring what He has done. Singing His praises does not mean asking Him for stuff. Singing His praises means... singing His praises. Praising Him for what He has done. Enjoying the gift He has given us--by giving it away--is how we declare the decree. God has declared life. He has declared love. Jesus gave His life for us... but He also gave His life to us. So that we might have it. So that we might be able to experience it as He lives it in us, and through us, and as us. Our part is not to "get" anything. Because love is never about getting. Because love IS giving. Our part is to use what we have. To be grateful and thankful for it. To, oh yes, receive it and release it. Know it and believe it. Breathe it in and breathe it out with every breath we take and every move we make. God has declared so many good things for us. Decreed so many good things for us. He made the Way of Grace. And we respond with the Walk of Faith. He has done things that are praiseworthy. All we have to do is praise Him. And when we do that... we experience those things in even greater measure. We let what's inside come out and then we get to experience it and enjoy it as it comes out!

I think in the last however many years I've been doing these Rants--somewhere around a decade, I think--one of my main thrusts has been receiving and releasing. And the reason I've been focusing on that so much for so long is because I think it is vitally important that we stop chasing what we think we want (or need), and simply be still and know that HE is God. Stop trying to be someone we're not in order to get what we think we haven't got... and simply embrace who we are. Who we really are. Which is who God is in us. Who we are in Christ. Look at Romans 10:10, "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Believing and confessing. Receiving and releasing. That's the Divine Order of things. That's how this life works. That's how we experience the gift we've been given. Not by "getting" it (because we already have it), and not by hoarding it (because love is giving). We experience the gift we've been given by sharing it. By giving it away. It comes from the heart. You believe WITH your heart what is IN your heart. The righteousness of God. Which, by the way, isn't just what we have. That's who we are. "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him" (2 Corinthians 5:21). The Lamb of God took away the sin of the world. We are not sinners. Not even "sinners saved by grace." Perhaps before the cross we WERE sinners... but then we were saved by grace! And a transformation took place. That old man died in the watery grave of baptism and we rose up (in Him) as a New Creature. One without spot, wrinkle, blemish, or any such thing. That's our confession. Not that we messed up and need forgiveness... but that we have been forgiven and can now walk in newness of life! Not that we need a Savior... but that we have One! It's a total and complete mindset shift. From sinner to saint. From slave to Son. And one doesn't really have anything to do with the other. So we can leave one behind and fully embrace the other. It's not jumping from branch to branch on the tree of knowledge of good and evil. It's not picking flower petals and hoping and praying that we end up on "He loves me" instead of "He loves me not." It's a totally different tree. The Tree of Life. Which feeds us the fruit of the Spirit. Which is love. Which is good. Because you are what you eat. When you get your diet right, everything else falls into place. What's inside flows out. What you believe in your heart is what you will confess. Because it will bubble up out of you like a river of living water. Whatever is in there--whatever you BELIEVE is in there--is too big to stay in there. It comes out. Even when you try to bottle it up. Especially when you try to bottle it up. That might work for a little while, but then it explodes, doing more damage than ever before. So my point is--receive it and release it. Let God love you, and love Him back by loving people. Declare the decree. Share what you've witnessed. Believe it... and confess it!

Being a witness is a big part of our Spiritual life. And it goes well beyond just "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." Now don't get me wrong--I love that. I believe that if you read the Bible and come out of it with anything other than "Jesus loves me" you've completely missed the point. Having said that, there's a knowledge that passes knowledge. Heart knowledge rather than merely head knowledge. Experiential knowledge wherein you know something because you have a PHD in it. You Personally Have Done it. That's the kind of thing you can be a witness to, because that's the kind of thing you've literally witnessed. You can share your experience in Christ. And a man with an experience is NEVER at the mercy of a man with an argument. You can "think" whatever you want to think... but if I've been there, done that, and got the t-shirt then I KNOW what I'm about. And that's what God wants--He wants us to KNOW Him. He wants us to be able to fill ourselves to overflowing with what HE has already filled us with. And what He has already filled us with... is His love. That's what we experience. That's what we witness. That's what we are witnesses to. That's what we share. Look at Matthew 12:18 in the Message Bible, "Look well at my handpicked servant; I love him so much, take such delight in him. I've placed my Spirit on him; he'll decree justice to the nations." I really like this idea of declaring the decree. Of confessing the truth, if I can put it another way. Of executing God's righteous judgment. Taking what He has declared... and declaring it. Receiving it and releasing it. God's Spirit inside of us is what fills us up with Him. And when we know (and believe) that we are filled with Him... that's when we can experience His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life as He lives it in us, and through us, and as us. It's not about what WE do... it's about what HE does in us. It's about being still and knowing that HE is God. Letting God do what HE'S of a mind to do. Letting the mind of Christ (that's already in us) BE in us. God knows the thoughts that He thinks towards us. We need to start knowing those thoughts too. Letting HIS thoughts be OUR thoughts. Instead of trying to do what we think Jesus would do--and, again, I'm not against things like WWJD--we ought to just let Him do what He's of a mind to do. Just let go and let God, as they say. Just be still and know that HE is God. That HE is in control. He puts forth the decree. All we have to do is declare it. He puts forth the righteous judgment. All we have to do is execute it. On the cross, Jesus did all the heavy lifting. He did everything that needed to be done. That's why He said, "It is finished." We don't have to finish it. We don't have to do the work. Which doesn't mean we don't do anything. Rest is not inactivity, it is Holy Spirit directed activity. And the Holy Spirit directs us to declare His justice. His mercy. His forgiveness. His love. That's what this life is all about--letting the goodness of God that is in us come out. By knowing and believing that it's in there. And letting it out BY knowing and believing that it's in there. Filling ourselves to overflowing with what we've already been filled with. Knowing the truth, and sharing the truth!

So many times I have had people ask me things like, "What am I supposed to do?" "What's this life for?" "What's my purpose?" And, to be completely honest, those are the same questions I asked for a long, long time. It is, in my opinion, part and parcel to the human condition to have that search for meaning. "Ok, I was created. I was given this life that I never asked for. Now what?" Well, let me say it the way I usually say it and then we'll look at it in a few different ways. What I usually say is, "This life is for living." Which seems a little simple, maybe. But it's not until you understand that living and loving are not just connected, but are, in fact and in truth, the same thing that life starts to make sense. We always think it's about getting. About "Whoever dies with the most toys wins." When it's really about giving. Because love is giving. Giving everything that you have and everything that you are. That's what love is. That's what life is. That's what it means to receive and release the gift that God has given us. See, on the cross Jesus didn't just give His life FOR us. He gave His life TO us. So that we could experience it as He lives His own abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of love in us, and through us, and as us. Life is for living. Which means life is for loving. Receiving and releasing the love of God. Now look at Psalm 2:7, our key verse for this Rant series, "I will declare this decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee." Receive and release. Declare the degree. The truth has set us free, right? Set us free and made us free? That happened. Because the truth--the ultimate truth of the universe--is that God is love and He loves you. And being loved is what equips and empowers us--frees us--to love. To live. But it's the truth we KNOW (and believe) that really allows us to experience that freedom. Because if you're free but you don't know it, you'll just keep on acting like you're not free. Because you don't know any better. Because you're used to it. You've settled for "how things are" with no hope that there is a more excellent way. What I'm trying to say is: Faith comes from hearing, and hearing from the Word (which is Jesus, which is love) of God. The decree that we declare is not one that we make up. It is one that we hear. It is the same decree that Jesus heard when He was baptized. "You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." That, again, is the ultimate truth of the universe. The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. God is love and He loves you. He has given all things into YOUR hands. We have everything we need. We know what the decree says. So in order to, in a sense, empower that decree... what do we do? What's this life for? What's it all about? We declare it! We confess that truth. We give what we've got. We receive it and release it. We act as witnesses to the glory of God. We share that glorious truth about who we are--about who GOD is--with each other. And in that way we edify each other. We build each other up. Help each other. Support each other. Love each other. What am I supposed to do?" Let God love you and love Him back by loving people!

It gets tricky when we try to separate things. When we draw lines in the sand. When we put "us" on one side and "them" on the other. Listen: nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. So we ought to stop separating things and just realize, understand, and accept that we are all in this together. I say this at work all the time, "We're all on the same team, right?" Unfortunately, not everybody feels that way. At work or in life in general. So we separate. We try to get in where we fit in, while making sure people who DON'T fit in got to go. It's unfortunate. It makes things harder. Makes things worse. What we need to really run with is what Jesus was saying in John 14:20, "At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you." There IS no separation. We are all One. Which brings me to my memory verse for tonight. "That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ" (1 John 1:3). Our fellowship with each other flows from our fellowship with God. Because God is love. And our fellowship with each other is--has to be--based in love. There is no other foundation that can be built on, other than love. Love is the glue that binds us and keeps us together. Love transcends all of those differences that we use in order to separate. I've heard it said that boys look for reasons to be friends, but girls look for reasons to be enemies. Like, boys look for things in common but girls look for things that are different. I don't know if this is necessarily true. Certainly not all of the time. But I think if you WANT to be friends with someone you need to major on the majors and minor on the minors. You don't have to agree on everything. Or, really, on anything. You can let people be who they are, and you can be who you are, and you can still love each other. You can still fellowship. Because love isn't about getting. It's not about getting your own way. It's not about getting someone to agree with you. Love is giving. Giving what you've got. Giving who you are. Giving grace, and mercy, and forgiveness. Just as God has given those things to you. Receiving and releasing His love. We love because He first loved us. He filled us up and now we fill ourselves to overflowing with what He has already filled us with. The New Commandment is to love one another as Jesus loved us. So He first has to love us. He has to give us what we need if He expects us to give it away. And He has. He gave His life for us on the cross... but He also gave His life TO us. So that we could have it. So that we could experience it as He lives His own life of love in us, and through us, and as us. Your relationship with people flows from your relationship with God. That's what I'm trying to say. Our fellowship with each other is the fellowship of the Spirit. The fellowship of love. Where else could that come from but the God who IS love? So focusing on God means focusing on people. Whatsoever you do to the least of them you do unto the King. Jesus is in the Father. And He is in us. And we are in Him. There is no separation, and no need for separation. We are all in this together. And things work out better when we work together!