Recovering Rebels - The Heart of David

            So, I'm actually going to attempt to start a bit of a blog series based around a lesson that is becoming very dear to my heart. Titled Recovering Rebels, I want to spend time briefly sharing how God has transformed my heart of rebellion over the last few years of my life. Not that I am perfect in this regard; nonetheless, I want to begin sharing some of the truths of what I have learned.

            This first post is especially for those of my generation who claim to be part of a "righteous rebellion." Let me start by saying that I used to take pride in the term "righteous rebel," like it was something to boast in. I thought I was doing God a favor by recovering various apostate aspects of his kingdom and calling them back to holiness. I know that there are others who have felt this way. I've broken bread with groups that believe that they are destined to raise up a new Christianity that throws off the bondage and religiosity of the generation of our parents and grandparents. Even as some of you read this, there is a fire developing in your gut that provokes such strong emotion as anger, jealousy, and bitterness. You gather with other groups of young people and forsake the advice of the older generation. You say things like "I love Jesus, and hate religion," and believe that our generation - those born in the 80's to mid 90's, are called to lead the church into spiritual revival. Been there.

            I'm not trying destroy destiny with this post. Actually, on the contrary I want my generation to actually walk into their destiny with the heart of Jesus instead of under the bondage of Satan. I believe that our generation has a calling to help restore the American church back to a place of passion for Jesus. But in order to do so, we must forsake the principle of Satan, which is rebellion. Instead, we must embrace the heart of David, which is a heart after God's own heart.

            I’m going to go into quite a few different aspects of this issue, but if you can identify at all with the previous paragraphs, I want to highly recommend studying and praying over the life of David. You see, David was called, similar to us, to restore a kingdom to righteousness, to be a leader, and even to deal with corruption that was present in the leadership of his youth. However, instead of using this as an excuse to set himself against Saul, who was the corrupt leader of that day, he actually continued to honor God’s appointed authority, who was also Saul, and submitted himself to the hardships that endured.

            This isn’t to say that David participated in the corruption of Saul, nor did he always honor the wishes of Saul, but he did not set himself against God’s anointed. He very carefully recognized that he must not walk in a spirit of rebellion. He did not curse Saul. He did not even celebrate others who attacked and rebelled against Saul’s reign, he actually punished them! Eventually, God himself dealt with Saul’s sin and fulfilled his promise to David. David was humble enough to be patient, though, and by doing so pleased God greatly.

            The issue I encountered as I studied David’s life was this: can there be more than one of God’s anointed? Apparently, there can be! They can even co-exist with the same calling, yet one has to submit to the other simply based on the order in which they were appointed. Does this seem ridiculous? It did to me. However, we must remember that God’s ways are not our ways; His thoughts are not our thoughts. Logically and emotionally, this idea can be confusing and frustrating (especially as a young person). However, biblically and spiritually, it is true and right.

            So from my ramblings of this first post, let me pose a few questions for all of us – no matter how old we are.

1.      Who might be an appointed authority that God has placed in your life to submit to?

2.      Do you believe that God will fulfill his promises to you? Or do you try to achieve them yourself?

3.      Is there a Saul, or possibly multiple “Sauls” in your life? Maybe this is a person, a parent, or an organization.

4.      In regards to any “Saul-figures” you may have identified, are you walking like David walked or do you wish for their failure and misfortune? Are you respecting and submitting to their anointing even if you disagree with it?

5.      Finally, are there others in your life that have a similar anointing, call, or destiny that you can submit yourself to? Are you willing to wait until God actually raises you up to walk in a position you desire or feel called to? Or do you attempt to achieve your dreams by circumnavigating people that have already achieved certain pieces of your dreams?

            Please feel free to comment with any thoughts about this issue. Maybe there is something you would like to expound on or something that particularly struck you. I have not walked perfectly like David, but I am praying that the Lord can recover what I have embraced in rebellion and set me upon a righteous path for my future. I believe that God can restore my generation to not only radically follow Jesus but also to gain freedom from the spirit of rebellion. May the Holy Spirit make this truth ever truer in our hearts and lives.

Alyssa's Beatitudes - Matthew Five from the Eyes of My Wife

These are the beatitudes, looked up in Greek and put into plain words by my beautiful wife. I read these and thought that her translation and commentary underneath was so beautiful, it should be put out for other's to see. Enjoy and be edified as I was:

1. Happy and well off are those who are begging and helpless for the life giving Spirit, for they are the ones that will have riches of the everlasting kingdom and the sonship of royalty and kingship dominion.
2. Well off are those that grieve and wail, for they will be called to be near to God.
3. Blessed are the gentle and mild in spirit, for they shall be a royal heir to good fertile land.
4. Happy are those who crave and suffer after a right standing with God, for they will be satisfied and refreshed.
5. Well off are those who are compassionate towards those who are undeserving, for they too shall receive help in times they are afflicted and destitute.
6. Blessed are those who are purified by fire -  clean and blameless - for they shall gaze upon God.
7. Happy are those who love peace and are pacifists for they will be named the offspring of God.
8. Well off are those who are run after and pursued and despised because they long after a right standing with God, for theirs is the royal power and authority and right to rule over the kingdom.

Compassion and passion. When the gospel is simple there's no reason not to follow it. You either do it or you don't. Love jesus.. love others. The poor don't have back up plans. They cant do it themselves. If you want to know the heart of God looks like... stop and love them. We have complicated the gospel. God said “sit and love.” I wanted to understand the gospel and Jesus brought me to the poor and they taught me about the kingdom of God. Will you stop, will you care? Will you be Christ's hand extended?

The Rock and the Sand

Jesus told a story in Matthew seven about a wise man who built his house upon a rock and a foolish man who built his house upon the sand. In this story, a rain storm came upon both homes - the house on the rock stood, while the house in the sand collapsed.

Over the years, I have heard many descriptions of being the "wise or foolish man" in which wise people build their lives around Jesus, go to church every sunday, and make sure to plan out their futures. But what did Jesus actually say?

In Matthew 7:24, Jesus prefaces this story by saying, "Everyone who hears these words that I am speaking and does them will be like this wise man..." What Jesus is telling this story for is to emphasize the entire teaching and instructions that he gives his followers in Matthew 5-7, commonly called "The Sermon on the Mount." But if we really examine what Jesus tells us to do in these chapters, are any of us living lives of wisdom that is "built upon the rock" that Jesus laid for us?

Let's examine some of these harder teachings, Jesus told his followers:

• Rejoice when you are persecuted and men say evil things about you.
• We are salt and light to this world, and we are of no good to it unless our good works cause others to glorify God in Heaven.
• Anyone who becomes and stays angry with another is in danger of judgement and punishment from the Kingdom.
• Do not offer an offering or gift to Jesus without being reconciled with others.
• Cut off things in life that cause you to stumble in your walk - especially those concerning fleshly lusts.
• Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
• Do not resist someone who is doing evil to you.
• Do good in secret; pray in secret; give in secret. 
• Do not lay up treasures in this world.
• Do not become obsessive about planning for the future and taking care of yourself.
• Do not judge others without first being set free.
• Ask God, and he will give.
• A person following Jesus will bear fruit according to that relationship with Jesus.

Honestly, these teachings are the rock Jesus advises men to build their lives around!  But let's be completely honest, our culture does not teach these kind of things. We find excuse after excuse to embrace things that are easy and reject things that Jesus taught that are hard.

• "Our society complains, files lawsuits, and becomes afraid when the Church begins to suffer "persecution."
• Rarely do our "good works" result in men praising God - so it could be assumed that our good works are coming from our flesh.
• "How often do we stay angry and harbor bitterness over the smallest, meaningless things! "They didn't cook my food right, he cut me off in traffic." Especially when we have expectations of receiving service, "That church didn't preach the way I liked, the waitress was rude, or I had this client that....". The list goes on and on.
• How often do we go before the Lord BECAUSE we are angry with someone - his directions are clear! Be reconciled and then come to him! He will forgive as we forgive!
• Many men in women would admit that they have struggled in their faith because of things on the internet, television, or various other forms of things in the entertainment world. But how often do we freely surrender these things for the sake of walking rightly with Jesus?
• How much time do we spend praying for those who dislike us?
• How often do we seek to retaliate, seek justice, or "protect ours?"
• When you do good things, do you seek recognition from God or men?
• Do not store up treasures on this earth! But how often do we upgrade to more and more things we don't need or don't use! Jesus DOES care about what you have! I would venture to say often he wants us to have less of stuff and more of him! 
• 401K's, retirements, school-planning, insurances for everyone and their cats - we obsess over the "could-be's" of tomorrow instead of walking in the confidence of God's provision and supernatural love.
• Can we even go a day without talking or thinking about someone and all the things that could be wrong with them? How often is our prayer, "Search ME, oh Lord!"
• How often do we seek to provide for ourselves? Our wants? Our desires? Even our needs? Jesus promises to provide for us - do we often seek him when we want or need something? Maybe Jesus will actually tell us that we should not be seeking those things? Maybe he will give out of his love and abundance anyway! But maybe we should at least ask more because Jesus told us to!
• Honestly, if we are doing these things according to what the Lord says - we will bear fruit of them. In our lives, our joy, in making more disciples of Jesus... we should seek all these things and pray that the result of following would be tangible fruit! God's Word  bring increase!

I say all these things so that we may more rightly seek to build our homes and lives upon the rock that is the teachings and truth of Jesus. No amount of man's wisdom, planning, or will can negate the truth of the words Jesus actually said! So let us lay aside our agendas, our pride, and our comfort and embrace the Jesus that we claim to follow! Let us construct our homes in a manner worthy of hearing, "Well done my good and faithful servant!"