For people to receive everything God wants to give them, they need to learn to see themselves according to their new identity. For us to experience all the blessings of the Gospel, we need to see ourselves as new creations, adopted and fully loved and fully blessed by God in Christ. 

Think about the story of Jacob, for Jacob to receive all God wanted to do for him—to fulfill those promises given back at Bethel, where Jacob had laid his head on a rock and dreamed—he had to see himself as someone other than a deceiver. He could no longer just be Jacob. 

In that place of surrender, where Jacob was pinned to the ground by an angel of God, he got a new name. The place of surrender is always a place of change. You will find that to be true in your life again and again. And Jacob’s identity changed from deceiver to Israel—one who contends with God and prevails. 

Now Jacob would be able to walk in his destiny without defaulting back to his old nature. His orphan heart had been adopted and given a new identity. He no longer needed to make a name for himself; a new name had already been given. When we come fully surrendered to the Father and let Him define us, that is when we are able to step into our true identity.

Something changed in that moment. Scripture doesn’t go into detail about why Esau was coming with four hundred men but not with a plan to attack. It doesn’t tell us exactly why Jacob arranged all the women and children the way he did. But his fear seems to have been gone. The Father’s perfect love casts out fear. (See First John 4:18.) It takes care of the root of fear. Jacob’s root fear for years had been Esau’s anger. What if his brother tracked him down and just showed up one day with vengeance on his mind? All that time Jacob spent in a distant land, working and marrying and fathering children, he still remembered the last image he had seen of his brother—a man who wanted to kill him. For all he knew, Esau was now marching toward him with four hundred men with that mission in mind. But Jacob couldn’t run away from his wrestling match with God, and he chose not to run away from Esau now. And the first thing we see from Jacob as Esau approached is genuine humility. He bowed down seven times.

No longer did he believe he had something to prove. He was Israel. He already had an A-plus on his report card. He could just be who he was—which was all new now. No more running because there was no more fear.

Jacob/Israel now began to see himself as God saw him. He was resting in a new identity. As always happens in a baptism of love, he started to love himself the way God loved him because he had received the Father’s love. And he was able to love Esau the way God loved him because his heart was no longer an orphan heart and could be filled with the Father’s love.

Because he had received love, he could give love.

Jacob’s bowing and offering were ways of saying, “Whatever I have is yours. I’m not holding on to anything.”And Esau just embraced him. His heart seems to have been healed, too. He did not need to be appeased with all of Jacob’s gifts.

But Jacob insisted and made a really remarkable statement: “I have seen your face as though I had seen the face of God, and you were pleased with me.”

When you realize you have been transformed by love, you start seeing people differently. You don’t define them by their history but by their destiny.

And because you are seeing them differently, they start to see you differently. Esau may have been coming with four hundred men because he was suspicious of his trickster brother or perhaps even with vengeance still on his mind. But the loving face that saw his own face with the Father’s love made all those issues irrelevant.

Jacob’s journey is a beautiful picture of how God wants to change our nature, give us a new name, and transform our vision and relationships. He gives us genuine humility from being surrendered, and out of that humility we love freely and completely, with no agenda or hook. Because the environment has changed in our hearts, we can change the environment around us. When our lives are fully surrendered to the Lord, we are able to understand the place of true strength. As it says in 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” When we go low in surrender, then He is able to take His place.

Changing the way we see is a process. When we hear a report of radicals burning down Christian homes and businesses, or suicide bombers devastating a marketplace full of innocent people, it is difficult not to get angry. 

I used to look at these situations and think harsh judgments about them. I still feel that they are horrific, but the difference now is that I see an invitation to dream with God. When I see an enemy that comes to kill, steal, and destroy, I turn my focus to the One who comes to give abundant life. In the past, I didn’t know how to be a change agent. I was overwhelmed with the darkness because I could see no way to make a difference. When you love, you don’t ask God for judgment; you ask Him for solutions. 

In this journey of learning the different worldviews, I began to understand that you only have authority over what you love. If you don’t love your city or country, then you won’t get authority over it. When you get God’s solutions, you want to be part of the solution. 

When I began to think in this way, I found myself praying differently about these horrific situations in teh world: “Father, do You see the destruction of those terrorists? Whatever they deserve, place them on me, because I’m Your priest. I represent these people to You. Where there is sickness and disease, I present healing and life. I am an ambassador of reconciliation.” The Father’s heart in you begins a ministry of reconciliation in you. You step into the equation to become a history maker and world changer. Many of us pray from Chair 2, asking God to do what He has called us to do. Nothing is wrong with prayer meetings, but if they become a substitute for our assignment, then they are disobedience. 

When Abraham was negotiating with God to spare Sodom and Gomorrah, God wasn’t the one who stopped. Abraham asked Him to withhold judgment first for the sake of 50 people and got all the way down to 10, then didn’t go any lower. But what if he had? What if there was only one left? Eventually there was, and God placed the sin of us all on His shoulders at the cross. He took sickness and disease on Himself so that by His stripes, we are healed (Isaiah 53:5). 

He took the punishment of us all. And then He called us to follow in His footsteps—to take up our cross and follow Him. We can; we are already righteous in teh Father’s eyes, already loved as much as we’ll ever be. Absorbing the sins of others is not going to lessen our status before the Father. That’s what priests do. We never go in to attack the people; we attack the enemy behind the people. 

As I began to see Muslims differently, God opened doors to make a difference in their culture. It didn’t matter to him if the desire to bring peace looked impossible—he specializes in the impossible. You overcome evil with good, not with judgment. If the enemy knows that every time he attacks there will be a tsunami of love, then the world will be changed. 

Jesus said it was actually better for Him to go away than to remain (John 16:7) because that meant His presence could be everywhere rather than in one place. It is a very real presence. From that presence, we have peace; and from that peace, we have provision. From that place, we get new passion and new power, we are sent on assignment with a new program and purpose, and we begin to see from a new paradigm. 

The Father sent Jesus, and Jesus sent us in the same way He had been sent. Now our view of the world has everything to do with how He will treat it. When we know He is good, we will show the kindness that leads to repentance. We re-present on Earth what’s in heaven. 

Our lives reveal to those in Chair 3—those who have no idea how to access heaven—what heaven is like. In us, they can encounter Jesus. So too can those in Chair 2. Even though they know Him and believe in heaven, they don’t think heaven is available while we are on Earth. Our union with the Father, Son, and Spirit demonstrates the heavenly blueprint here and now. 

The world longs for the revelation of the sons and daughters of God (Romans 8:19). Chairs 2 and 3, even with different belief systems are in one way or another trying to belong. Chair 2 tries to belong to God, Chair 3 to the world. They believe they have to behave in order to belong. But Chair 1 believers know we belong, therefore we behave like sons and daughters. We demonstrate to the world what it’s like to belong in Papa’s house. We become the revelation the world is looking for. We learn how to steward and access our inheritance. With the Son, we inherit the world.

If you look closely enough, you can find something to honor in everyone. Natural human love looks for something to honor in the people we like and stops looking in people who are different from us. Supernatural love keeps looking, keeps hoping, and keeps finding ways to honor others – even when those ways are hard to see. This is very important because wherever honor is, life flows. Dishonor quenches life and produces death.

The love between the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit before time was a perfect picture of honor. The Trinity models honor for us. The Father honors the Son and the Spirit, the Son honors the Father and the Spirit, and the Spirit honors the Father and the Son. This continuing cycle of honor creates oneness and makes life flow constantly.

This is how things operate in the Kingdom of God. It is a culture of honor. The family of Heaven and Kingdom families on earth are kept together by the superglue of honor. 

Have you ever noticed how Jesus honored even those who dishonored Him? He honored His own followers too, but many of the people dishonored by society – demoniacs, tax collectors, women with bad reputations – had their honor restored by the words He spoke and the works He did. Regardless of how people looked on the outside, Jesus saw something to honor on the inside. He saw the real identity the Father had given them. 

Imagine what that would look like today. Think about the political figure you can tolerate the least. Picture yourself saying, “He/she is fearfully and wonderfully made, beloved and adored, so important that Jesus died for this person. I honor this person because Jesus does.”

If you have become immersed in the culture of social media, you will not be able to say this very easily. If you read those comments and have conversations about current events, you know how rare it is to hear or see words like this about a political adversary. 

Imagine speaking highly about society’s outcasts, blessing people who make hateful comments online, or praying for terrorists because you know that even though their acts are serving the kingdom of darkness, their souls are precious to God. 

If our love does not look like honor, it cannot be a reflection of the Father’s love. We need to reevaluate the source because the love of Jesus is rooted in honor. In our current culture, where dishonor is normal, people are often surprised when they experience someone responding from a place of honor. Actually, they are surprised when they see any evidence of supernatural love. 

I hope you notice that there is an opportunity in that. If supernatural love and honor are so rare, and if this kind of expression of the Father’s love surprises people, then we have a greater opportunity than ever to demonstrate who God is to the world around us. 

As the world seems increasingly divided, we can choose to love and honor God’s way, without an agenda or hook. But our love must be more than words. When love is genuine, it’s in our hearts, our words, and our actions. It looks very much like Jesus.

In a world that constantly is being shaken how do we have an unshakable heart? In Psalm 16, David says that keeping his eyes on the Lord enabled him to have an unshakable heart.

I will praise The Lord, who counsels me; even at night my heart instructs me. I keep my eyes always on The Lord. With Him at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body will also rest secure. – Psalm 16:7-9

In Psalm 21, David said it was his trust in God that made him unshakable:

For the king trusts in The Lord; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken. – Ps. 21:7

David learned how to turn to God, regardless of what was happening around him, for his strength and hope. Because he fully relied on God, the giants he faced could not cause him to lose heart. In Psalm 62, it is David’s belief in God’s strength and salvation that makes his heart strong:

Truly He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will never be shaken. – Ps. 62:2, 6

Here, David refers to God as his fortress or stronghold. 

In the Old Testament, a stronghold was a place of safety and refuge. Often, a stronghold was built on higher ground to give added protection and advantage over the enemy. In ancient warfare, the army that possessed the higher ground always had the advantage. This same principle applies to our spiritual lives. By fixing our eyes on Jesus, we cause our hearts to occupy the higher ground of the presence of God. In this way, we create a stronghold, a fortress, for ourselves against the enemy.

In the same way, when our eyes are on Jesus, our hearts will not be swayed or intimidated by the giants we face. In all circumstances, Paul’s advice holds true:

“Since, then, you have been raised up with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God” – Col. 3:1

When we set our hearts on Christ and His heavenly truths, the difficulties of earth will not be able to overcome us. Keeping our eyes on Him enables us to see life the way He sees it. As a result, we will have the strength of heart to respond in faith. We will have the strength of heart to live like David did. 

This is what it looks like to be imitators of Christ. He is our ultimate example of the unflinching heart of a giant slayer. Through His perseverance and strength of heart, He faced the greatest giant of all and overcame:

Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. – Hebrews 12:1-3

His example and the grace He imparts in our lives can chase away weariness and keep us from losing heart. When we fix our eyes on Him, we become more and more like Him. And we learn to live like He lived and have a heart like His. We learn to be unshakable.

I remember lying on the floor several years ago and soaking in the Father’s love. I was so tired and burdened. It was one of those seasons when the journey was costly and painful. As I lay there, I sensed Jesus saying, “I’m going to wash your feet.”I was like Peter. “No, Lord. I can’t do this.”But like He said to Peter, Jesus said, “Yes.” I had to receive in order to be able to give. And having already given much, I had to receive more.

So I took off my shoes and socks, lay on a mat on the floor, and literally began to feel someone massaging my feet. I wept and wept. I knew the King of kings and Lord of lords had come and washed my feet, just as He had done with His disciples, just as He does with anyone whose heart belongs to Him.

I got up, healed, and refreshed. And I knew the words Jesus was saying to me, which were the same words He spoke to His disciples. He wanted me to love in the same way He loves me, to continue in the love that I had been shown. He wants that for all of us. 

In our relationship with Jesus, we have unveiled faces. We are free to experience love and glory. This is part of our journey. 

And it is a necessary part. We cannot see transformation in the world until we see transformation in our hearts. We have nothing to offer orphan hearts until we know the perfect love and acceptance the Father has given us in adopting us into his family. 

Good works, diligent study, compelling arguments, and strong relationships aren’t enough by themselves. They are good, but we need personal face-to-face encounters with the Father and the love that carries us through our journeys between those encounters. With our spiritual eyes, we need to see the love in His eyes, feel the affection of His heart, study His ways, and build relationships with others from this place of heavenly love. We need to live from love rather than strive for it. 

We have been adopted into the family of love, welcomed into the warmth and acceptance of the Father’s living room, seen Love in the flesh, and received the Spirit of love He gave us.

It’s a heavenly encounter on earth and an earthly process that carries us to heavenly places. We have been, are being, and will continue to be baptized in love. 

What is the relationship between your private moments of encounter and God’s glory covering the earth? How can your private moments lead to transformation in the world? Why do you think He has arranged the world so that our intimacy with Him does not always remain private?

What is the difference between a visitation from God and a habitation of Him? What benefits does a habitation of love have that a visitation does not?

🙏🏼 Prayer: Ask Papa God how He wants to send you out as a love ambassador. Pray for His love to fill any cracks in your foundation and for Him to supernaturally empower you to know the width, length, depth, and height of His love. Ask Him to put specific people and situations on your heart and to give you wisdom and power as you enter into those lives and situations in love.

📝 Next Steps: Think of a difficult situation or relationship that affects you today. Ask, “What does love look like in this situation?” As you pray through this situation, listen for insights that might help you apply love and take practical steps to show it. Memorize and meditate on Luke 19:10 as a mission statement of what love is sent into this world to do.

You can learn more about this topic by purchasing my newest book, The Love Awakening!

Sometimes we have to ask ourselves if we really know that we have a good Father in heaven. Often, the emotional trauma caused by the betrayal, abandonment, and infidelity of our earthly fathers blinds us to the reality of our wonderful heavenly Father who is always calling those who have gone astray. Being the by-product of a dysfunctional family may make it difficult for some people to understand the concept of both good and father in relation to each other. 

For many, it seems to be a misnomer to place these two terms side by side. Others have taken for granted the goodness of our Father God. Jesus said, “He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matt. 5:45). The kindness of God surrounds us. It is this unconditional love and the repetitive nature of His blessings that sometimes dull our senses.

The people listening to Jesus telling this story could relate to the younger son’s dilemma. In ancient societies, the honor of the father and the honor of the family were of greater importance than the individual merit of the son. In the case of the prodigal son, he was at a greater disadvantage because he was the younger of the two sons, therefore, less important. Based on the Mosaic Law, he was only able to get one-third of his father’s assets. Moreover, tradition dictated that he did not have much leverage to ask for an unconditional pardon in order to be restored to his former status. Nobody had to tell him he had brought all of his troubles upon himself. 

Among the crowd were Pharisees and teachers of the law (see Luke 15:2). They probably snickered halfway through the story, wondering why Jesus was wasting His time talking about a sinner who deserved to be punished severely. In their minds, there was no news to over-analyze this parable. They believed they knew the moral lesson because they were confident they knew the law. In the minds of the Pharisees, the Law called for death, for this is what was written:

If someone has a stubborn or rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” then all of the men of his town are to stone him to death. (Deut. 21:18-21)

It was as if this particular law was written specifically with the prodigal son in mind. The description fit him perfectly. He was stubborn and rebellious. We can surmise that he loved to drink, but we are sure that he was a glutton because he recklessly spent every single penny he owned. It was easy for the Pharisees to judge this young man. For them, it would have been better for the prodigal to stay away because his father had the legal right to stone him for his rebellious attitude. They had no idea that Jesus was talking about a different kind of Father.

In the parable, the prodigal son lived outside the embrace and the will of his father. He put as much distance as he could between himself and his father and spent all his time and money pursuing the things he thought would make him happy and satisfied with life.

Dirty, tired, weak from a lack of food, and living in an environment to which he was not accustomed, the prodigal son is a powerful image of the consequences of rebellion—the insistence that we can live outside of Father God’s embrace. At home, he has been certain he was missing out on life, deprived of the freedom to do the things he really wanted to do because his father was too strict, like a tyrant, having absolute control over him. However, in the pigpen he realized the real tyrant was self.

His self-will had driven him to the pit of despair and into a spiritual pigsty. As he compared his current status to that of the servants who worked for his father, he concluded that they were better off than he was: “How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!” (Luke 15:17). Then it hit him like a thunderbolt—his father was a good father!

The prodigal son went through life without taking time to reflect or be grateful that he had a loving father. It wasn’t until he experienced life in a pigpen that he was able to recognize the difference between the world and his father’s home. The Bible says, “He came to his senses”(v. 17). He knew in an instant there was nothing else he could do except seek his father’s face and beg for mercy. Only one thing had been stopping him: his belief that no one could accept a rebel such as himself.

Take some time to reflect on the goodness and loving kindness of our heavenly Father who says, “Everything I have is yours!” 

Ask the Father to show you if there are ways in your life where you choose to act like the prodigal son, working as a slave for His love and inheritance instead of knowing it has all been yours from the very beginning.

P.S. Interested in learning more about this topic? Purchase Healing the Orphan Spirit here.

One thing I have desired of the Lord, that I will seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire of His temple. Psalm 27:4

Gazing at His beauty and inquiring in His temple, both aspects of our coming to God are important. One might think soaking prayer is only about developing intimacy with God. However, Psalm 27:4 reveals soaking prayer is not just about developing intimacy with God, although that should be our main motivation; it is also about inquiring of Him about our Kingdom assignment. 

We can never separate our Kingdom assignment or heavenly call (what we are called to do) from our Kingdom identity (who we are) as sons and daughters of God. As we go deeper into intimacy, we discover who we are in Him and what He has called us to do and to be. When John the Baptist saw Jesus by the River Jordan, he exclaimed, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” The Lamb of God is Jesus’ Kingdom identity. Taking away the sins of the world is His Kingdom assignment. 

David’s leadership differed from Saul’s in many ways. One difference was in the area of inquiring of the Lord. Saul inquired of God only once or twice throughout his reign as king, while David inquired of God in almost all of his battles. God revealed to him strategies and specific directions which brought him sure victories. David led Israel in possessing the Promise Land.

So David inquired of the Lord, saying, ‘Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hand?’ And the Lord said to David, ‘Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand.’ 

2 Samuel 5:17-25

We see that David inquired of the Lord twice before he and his army went to battle to face the Philistines. The first time was in verse 19. Despite his skills and a great army, David took time to ask God and never presumed anything. The victory was sure, of course. He declared that God had broken through the Philistines before him like the breakthrough of waters. 

The second time he inquired of the Lord was when the Philistines once again came against Israel in Rephaim. Remember, earlier, David wrought  GREAT VICTORY against the same nation. It would have been easy and logical to go against their opponent at once, considering their advantage, but David took time to inquire of the Lord. This shows his heart to trust God in all things, more than his strength or the size of his army. 

In verses twenty-three and twenty-four, God gave David clear instructions on how to defeat the Philistines. God said, “You shall not go directly up; circle around behind them and come at them in front of the balsam trees. And it shall be, when you hear the sound of the marching in the tops of the balsam trees, then you shall act promptly, for them the Lord will have gone out before you strike the army of the Philistine.” 

It takes a listening heart to hear such detailed instructions from the Lord. Such was David’s heart; it was so trained and sensitive to the Voice of God. his heart was always leaning towards Him to listen. He developed this ability to recognize God’s voice through the intimate times he had with Him in the secret place. The instruction God gave him this time around was the complete opposite of the first one. 

The first one was a direct assault. This time around, they had to go behind the enemy and wait for the go signal, the sound of marching on tops of the balsam trees, before they fought their enemies. This is amazing! This time the angelic warriors marching on the balsam trees are with David and his army. To top it all off, God Himself went before them and struck the Philistines.

As we come into deeper intimacy with God, we capture His heart and mind and understand His purposes on earth and the very things He is about to do. He reveals His secrets to His friends because He desires for them to be part of the fulfillment of His plans on earth. The way to co-labor with God is to recognize and hear His voice clearly and obey what He says. Hearing God’s voice is imperative in our stepping into our destiny.  

If you enjoyed reading about this topic, purchase the Soaking In God’s Presence eBook in my online shop.

It is possible to feel powerless as a Christian in modern society. Political parties are full of corruption on all sides. Wars and rumors of wars fill every corner of the earth. Divorce rates continue to climb. Church leaders are regularly caught in adultery. How can we, the ones who are supposed to “turn the other cheek” and be as “gentle as doves” hope to bring change to the world? 

1 Corinthians 12:4-8

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails.

It did not say love is weak. It did not say that love is powerless. It did not say that love is afraid. Many of the miracles Jesus performed were done when He was “moved by compassion.” Love releases the power of heaven on earth. Love is aggressive. It seeks to bring the justice of heaven to every injustice on earth. It fights for the restoration of the victim and the redemption of the victimizer. God is love. Therefore love is powerful. 

God’s love sent His son to die for the redemption of all mankind. His love is the final authority in heaven and on earth. There is nothing higher. 

I believe that the enemy has tried to rob love of its power. He wants us to feel powerless when confronted with the darkness in this world. In reality, we have been given all authority through the power of His great love. 

We Are Commissioned

Jesus did not come just to die for our sins. If that were the case, the Gospels would have been much shorter. Jesus came as the redeemer of our sins, but also as an example of what it looked like to be a child of God. His life was not just an act of love. It was an example. As He ascended into heaven, after he had been resurrected, He gave us a great commission:

Matthew 28:18-20

18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

We have been commissioned with the full authority of heaven, and our words and actions are meant to carry that authority. We are not meant to look at the world with the authority of kings and queens in the kingdom of God. We are to look at the world as ambassadors of heaven, commissioned to make our world look like His. 

It is easy to see the darkness in the world, but we are called to something higher. We are called to be the light. We are called to be the city on the hill that cannot be hidden. We are called to shine. God’s love acts both as the power to make us shine and the authority to let us do it. 

Now let’s attack the fears that have held us back from showing God’s love to others. Whether it’s as simple as not knowing where to start or as big as being overwhelmed by all darkness we see in the world, God is ready to empower the church to do His work on the earth. If you need boldness, He will give it. If you need wisdom, He will give it. If you just need permission, He will give it.

Pray this prayer:

Jesus, help me see the world as you did when you were here. Help me not be overwhelmed but inspired by what I see. Show me how to release your goodness into the earth by the authority of your love. Thank you for commissioning us with your authority. Show me the tools you’ve given me to do your will. 

What has your perspective been on the nature of God’s love? Do you see it as powerful?