Out of the Flood Came the Rainbow

Every once in a while, a memory floats up out of the past, and I get ambushed by a failure. Sometimes, it is something that happened 30 years ago, and I didn’t realize that anything was wrong until 10 years ago. Or last year. Or last week.

The usual result of such a memory is a wave of depression, emptiness, and lack. Because of the consequences of my actions, or inactions, I view myself as a failure, and not having much worth.

I don’t know if you have ever noticed, but a person, who sees himself negatively, begins a wave of negative momentum. Any effort focused through a lens of “I’m a failure. I can’t do it.” will not succeed. Any “project” that is worth anything has set backs. Negative focus saps a person’s resiliency, which is needed to overcome those setbacks.

Some time ago, I posted about a shift that happens in a person’s spirit when he gives thanks.

Thankfulness is an agreement that something is good. Thankfulness to God is an agreement that something God did, is good. The word in the original language has roots in both “grace” and “joy.” Being thankful receives grace, which activates joy.

Recently, I experienced one of those memories from the murky depths. Negativity began to cloud my vision. Self-recriminations. Blame games. Just quit!

I took a walk, and began to look for something — anything — to be thankful for.

I began to think about the brokenness of the world, and how I was a part of that brokenness. It’s a wonder anything goes right, that there is any light at all. And it seems to be getting darker. The only reason I have any hope at all is because Jesus loves me, and died for me.

And then, I realized — Jesus knew at the foundation of the world, that I was broken, and he went to the cross for me. He knew I wasn’t going to be perfect. He knew I was going to fail again, and again. And he went to the cross.

Father created the world to be whole. People chose brokenness. So, Father adjusted the plan. He invited broken failures to be his children. He knew they were broken. He knew they were never going to be whole — until glorified in heaven. But he chose them anyway. And he hinges the whole plan on his broken children.

Followers of Jesus often feel they need to through a period of restoration before they can properly represent Jesus. But that’s not the case. Father made the broken his agents, his ambassadors, his priests, and his family. We don’t become these things after a period of purification, and training. We are these things when we give allegiance to Jesus.

We will continue to grow, and become more whole. And we will represent him better. But Father knew you, weakness, warts, and all. And invited you into his family, made you his agent, his priest, and his ambassador now.

He knew the failure you were then. He knows the failure you are now. He knows the failure you will be. And he chooses you, To proclaim him. To show him. To invite him into you life, and the situations around you. To love people for him.

Thank you Father, that you knew I was broken, that I was going to continue to fail, and you chose to die for me reguardless.

Paul's Prayer (3)

And Paul prays for anther part of God’s family. Another man has motivated a group of people to give their allegiance to Jesus, and the news has reached Paul about the birth of this new part of God’s family.

So, Paul prays that they might have complete knowledge of God’s will, in wisdom and understanding. Whole books have been written about knowing God’s will, with processes of discernment and verification.

Christianity is a relationship with the Living God, Creator, and Father of all. And it is important to know the right path, how to walk in it, and how to be able to cooperate fully — physically, mentally, and spiritually — with God’s will. But God’s will is not a long list of check boxes. “Check box” living, and thinking, is not relationship; it is religion.

If we know, and understand, God’s will, we can make decisions that honor, and please, God. We will produce good fruit. We will grow in knowing him. We will create patterns in our lives, that agree with his design.

But the heart of his design is love. Where is the check box for responding in patience, when someone cuts you off on the Interstate? Where is the check box for expecting, and wanting, God to work positively, to work miracles, for those who hate him.

The core of Christianity is: God dying for rebels, traitors, rapists, and murderers — as well as, those of us, who are just self-centered, and error-prone — because he loved each one of them, and that they might become family. His family.

Check boxes might be necessary to get things rolling. God is for discipline. But a changed nature is better. Love flowing from people, as naturally, as easily, and as habitually, as breathing.

Paul's Prayer (2)

Paul was reviewing God’s revelation of his plan to a group of God’s children. Reminded them, that God intends to reveal himself to the world, first, through his chosen nation, Israel, and, second, through the church, that is, people who have chosen to stand with God, and his family.

And it motivates Paul to pray for these people.

He prays that God would apply his unlimited resources, and God’s “dynamite” would plant itself in the heart of his children. Then, Christ would make his home in their core.

God wants to reveal himself to the nations. He will reveal himself through his family. He may reveal himself through the miraculous. But, most of the time, he will reveal himself through the changed lives of his people, and their revolutionary group dynamics, where love and service have first priority.

And he prays that what we cling to most is God’s love. That fact that God’s love stands with us, and for us, should motivate, and enable, us to stand with him, and press on to greater obedience, toward lives that represent him more openly, and vividly, and move into greater alignment with how he designed people to be.

And, not only cling to it, but wade into it up to our chins. To grasp how strong, and how vast, it is. Throughout our lives, and throughout eternity, layer after layer will be removed, and we will see God’s love more fully, and truly. And it is this love, that as we grow in understanding, and we interact with, that touches us deep in our cores, heals us, and completes us.

Paul's Prayers

When Paul wrote his letters, it was often in response to news that he learned about God’s family in other cities, and provinces. He wrote to encourage, to help, and to enlighten.

As part of these letters, he would often write about his prayers for them. Paul, and the early believers, had all learned from Jesus, how important prayer was. Jesus demonstrated how much attention, and involvement, God gave to the prayers of his children. Jesus demonstrated how much God listened, and acted, on the prayers of his children.

Much of the church in the West has lost a sense of the supernatural. God’s work is being done using modern business practices: advertising, entertainment, glitz, and celebrity star-power. The first century church was built by faith, love, prayer, unity, gospel proclamation, and gospel demonstration.

Paul’s prayer also give us a look at God’s priorities.

For one group, Paul prayed that they might have a spirit of wisdom, and revelation. It was not only important to understand the right path, and how to walk in it faithfully, but to be open to new communication from the Father. All of which should result in growth of the knowledge of God.

The word “knowledge” in the original language did mean information, and understanding, but it also included experience. Many people have information, and understanding, about war. But the mean, who splashed ashore at Normandy, on D-Day, have tastes, smells, sights, and sounds, engraved into their memories, because of what they experienced.

He prays that we might understand the positive future, God has invited us to participate in. We partner in a mission to reclaim God’s kingdom, of world transformation. We move into an eternal relationship with the Father, and his family.

He prays that we might grow in grasping how much god values his people. His death to redeem us proclaims it. His moment by moment attention proclaims it.

And he prays that we might realize the power that God is ready to wield on our behalf. He exerted that power, when he raised Jesus from the dead, and turned the world upside down.