Oh my! Already another year coming closer to an end. I know that God sees time differently than I do, but seriously, a year feels like a week. I encourage the ones that I love to try and stay present. When we are young we tend to wish our lives away; “I wish I were older”, or “I wish I could drive a car”, and one of my favorites, “I wish I were married with children.” The anticipation to live life will always be there and yet as we age, we relish the time that God has given us. We also now know the reality and responsibility of some of those wishes. We know loss, we know fatigue, we know fear, we know so much more than we did in those innocent wishing days. 

There is always something bittersweet about holidays: the anticipation, the build-up, and then the execution of menus, meals, and guests. And then, it’s here. And then, it’s gone, over. Dishes to wash, leftovers to hand out and the proverbial, “We only have a month left until Christmas.” I do laugh at people when they talk about it sneaking up on them, as if we don’t celebrate it at the same time every year. 

We can also feel sorrow, discontentment, fear and a myriad of other emotions during the holidays! Some will face their firsts! First Thanksgiving, first Christmas, first New Year without a loved one, whether spouse, child or other. Some will be alone during these holiday seasons. 

We encourage you to find the joy that only Jesus can bring. And to be thankful for the comfort and power that the Holy Spirit is always ready to supply, at just the right moment! Grace is always timely. We do not have tomorrow’s grace today. Each day carries the same access to the grace we need. As you are able, reach out to those around you who may need a friendly face during this season. If you are one of those people, reach out and make your needs known. There are so many in our communities who are willing but they are not aware of your need if you don’t tell them.

Global Mission Awareness (GMA) is a family of families. We love family and are so grateful to have you as part of ours. We are so thankful for you, and as we push toward our End of the Year Giving campaign, we are fully aware of the sacrificial giving you have all been a part of this entire year and pray God’s riches blessing as you consider giving generally or to one of our following global connections. Just know that whether you are able to give or not, we always appreciate your prayers covering us in that way!

Follow along with our giving campaign by subscribing to the newsletter here. You can support the mission and work of GMA by clicking here.

In Christ,

Jennifer Hetland

From the time of His baptism to the time of His ascension, Jesus spoke of one thing–the good news of the Kingdom (Matt. 4:23). That, He tells us, is what He was sent to do (Luke 4:43). And He sent out His disciples to do the same. 

Jesus was obsessed with the Kingdom. And rightly so. He had just come from Heaven where the Kingdom stood in all its splendor, everything radiant in its beauty, everything in harmony with the love of God, everything at peace, everything bursting with life, brimming with joy. For Him, that was the real world. Earth, even at its best, was merely a dim and distorted reflection of all that existed in Heaven.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave His first recorded teaching on the Kingdom of God. When He finished, Matthew says the crowd that heard it was amazed. G.K. Chesterton, the British essayist who was a contemporary of C.S. Lewis, described the sermon like this:

“On the first reading of the Sermon on the Mount you feel it turns everything upside down, but the second time you read it, you discover that it turns everything right side up. The first time you read it you feel that it is impossible, but the second time, you feel that nothing else is possible.”

Chesterton’s words are particularly applicable to the upside-down way that Jesus tells us to treat our enemies. In Luke 6:27-31, we are challenged to love our enemies and do good to those who hate or curse us.  

God so loved—not Americans, not Muslims, not Jews, not Christians, not Republicans or Democrats—the world. He doesn’t want anyone to perish but wants everyone to come to repentance (2 Pet. 3:9). Everyone. The Father’s heart is for the Jew and the Gentile, for the slave as well as the free, for the woman along with the man. And that includes Muslims, whom many believe are our enemies. Muslims are not a problem but a promise. 

The God of the Bible is a searching God, seeking to find us, regardless of how alone or afflicted we feel. It doesn’t seem to matter where we have ended up or how we have gotten there. It doesn’t matter into what physical wilderness we sought refuge. All that matters is that we are found and that we are brought home. The parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son all tell the same story—the story of how greatly we are loved, how greatly we are missed, and how happy Heaven is when we are found and brought home (see Luke 15). 

That includes our enemies.

Take Saul of Tarsus, for example—a terrorist in the eyes of the early church, a jihadist against this emerging threat to his Jewish faith. He was a murderer, and he took pride in the fact that he did his murderous duty with such religious zeal (Acts 9:1-12). From the perspective of the early church, Saul was seen as an enemy. But that is not the way heaven saw him. Heaven saw him as a friend in the making. 

There are a lot of ways an enemy can be dealt with. He can be threatened into silence. He can be tortured into compliance. He can be imprisoned or exiled, even murdered. Jesus does none of those things. Instead, Jesus seeks him out—not to censure him, not to intimidate him, not to harm him, but to love him. And in loving him, Jesus turned this most feared of enemies into the most faithful of friends. Look in Acts 9. Put yourself onto the scene, looking with Kingdom eyes and hearing with Kingdom ears. What do you see? What do you hear?

Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting” (Acts 9:3-5, ESV). 

What do you see? You see a light—not fire, not brimstone—but a heavenly light, dispelling hellish darkness that had blackened Saul’s heart. And what do you hear? You hear a voice. There is no anger in it, no animosity, no antagonism. But there is tenderness in it, tenderness tinged with sadness. “Saul, Saul…” The repetition of the name is reminiscent of His words to Martha when she came out of the kitchen, angry at her sister and at Jesus, accusing Him of not caring that she had left her to do the serving alone. “Martha, Martha,” He begins. And you can hear the tenderness in His voice, mingled with sadness. He doesn’t return her anger with anger. He corrects her, but in the gentlest of ways, without a critical spirit or a condescending tone (Luke 10:38-42). Then there is His final entry into Jerusalem the week before He weeps not for His destruction but for hers. And the words He speaks have the same tender but grieving tone. “Jeruslame, Jerusalem…” (Matt. 23:37). 

After Jesus calls Saul by name, He doesn’t threaten him, rebuke him, or lecture him. There is no ridicule, no payback, no evening of the score. Just a tender, sorrowful questions. “Why?” And it sounds as if Jesus is confused, at a loss to understand all Saul’s animosity toward Him. “What are you persecuting Me?”

That was the beginning of their friendship—Jesus seeking out an enemy, and loving him instead of hating him, forgiving him instead of punishing him, blessing him instead of cursing him. Before then, Saul was filled with hate for Jesus and for anyone who followed Him. His hate was an obsession. Blaise Pascal once said “men never commit evil so fully and so joyfully as when they do it for religious convictions.” The bloody history of the world’s religions backs up Pascal’s claim. The three great Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—are stained with the blood of their enemies. 

When will it ever end? And if it doesn’t, where will it all lead?

Martin Luther King Jr. was right: “The chain reaction of evil—hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars—must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.” 

How can that chain reaction be broken?

By the radical principles that Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount—loving , forgiving band lessing our enemy. 

However difficult it was to treat His enemies like that, Jesus practiced what he preached. He lived by those principles; He died by those principles. And in doing so, He showed the world how to step back from the abyss.

This blog is an excerpt from Leif Hetland’s book Seeing Through Heaven’s Eyes. You can purchase your copy by clicking here.

Paul said to the Romans, “For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed” (Rom. 8:19). If you listen closely, you can almost hear the strain from exertion. The longing is so great that his words are about to burst at the seams. The whole world waits in eager anticipation for the revelation that can only come through the exploits of the Father’s children. We are confounded by how the Lord values our contribution. Let me clarify Paul’s message one more time: God’s creation waits in eager expectation. The whole earth groans in pain. The whole of mankind eagerly waits for deliverance.

In anticipation of a forthcoming query, the apostle wrote down the logic behind his statement. He said, “[C]reation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay, and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21). As if on cue, the eyes of our understanding begin to open. All of a sudden we see why there is a cry that echoes from the bowels of the earth. Creation longs to be restored to its former state! And there is only one way to satisfy that deep-seated long- ing of all living things: through the intervention of Father’s children. As we imitate Christ, we will show the way (see 1 Cor. 11:1).

It is God’s will to heal and liberate mankind. Just as creation was subjected to the curse through the fall of man, its redemption and total restoration are realized with the manifestation of the glory of the sons of God. It is the Father’s will to restore order and fruitfulness to this planet. If we are children of God, we need to participate in this kingdom mandate. This mission is framed through the Lord’s decree, “You are my son; today I have become your father. Ask me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession” (Ps. 2:7-8). By revelation, David spoke of the depths of Father God’s heart, that is, the nations are the Father’s inheritance to His beloved Son, Jesus. As co-heirs with Christ, the nations are our inheritance and the ends of the earth our possession as well. 

This global mission of inheriting the nations can only be accomplished through the love of the Father. This loving mission is manifested in affection and working relationship where children learn to serve their Papa God in love. Jesus Christ laid down the blueprint for this master plan. We know that the Old Testament is a foreshadowing of the Lord’s coming. Therefore, it is the Son of God who will fulfill this particular prophecy.

But take heed! Christ is in us. Since He is in us, then we also partake of the same inheritance. Our inheritance is not merely limited to future events in the divine realms. Our inheritance is not merely limited to heavenly mansions. We can live thankful that someday we will inherit a jeweled city with pearly gates. However, a major part of our inheritance is far better than streets paved with gold. It is more precious than walls encrusted with rubies and diamonds. If you are a child of God, you are destined to inherit nations. Christ is in you! Thus, these words form part of your reality and commission. It may all seem like mission impossible at first glance, but take heart; the risen Lord that is in you is greater than the devil that roams the earth. Everything is possible through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

We are called to be people of destiny, but many people never recognize theirs. I’ve noticed four destiny-killers in my life: disappointments, discouragement, distractions, and delays—I call them the four D’s. Any one of these can undermine the destiny we have been given, but they also work in powerful combinations to divert us from fulfilling our true purpose. The destiny of both David and Saul was to be a king, but only one of them fulfilled his destiny. Saul became a king but had his kingdom taken from him because he was not faithful. He was a man after man’s own heart, while David was a man after God’s own heart. David was faithful in the natural—with his harp, with his sling, in his friendships, in his responsibilities, and in his Bethlehem season. Faithfulness in the natural realm correlates to faithfulness in the spiritual realm.

Many believers want to move into the supernatural and change the world. We’re in the middle of a training-for-reigning program, but our identity as sons and daughters of the Father needs to include faithfulness in our natural identity too. It took 30 years of preparation before the destiny over Jesus’ life was birthed into a three-and-a-half year ministry that changed the world. He learned how to be a faithful son in the natural until the supernatural came in. Then the Father opened heaven over Him and the Dove came down. David was a faithful son to Jesse, his father. He was a shepherd who took care of his father’s business. He also knew he was a worshiper and a warrior, a priest and a king. Others had their own dreams, but David had a vision for his father’s dream, and that upgraded him into the destiny God had given him.

We are not fulfilling our destiny because we are not living from a place of rest in our identity, intimacy, and inheritance. God is raising up world-changers, giant-slayers, and history-makers who will go through this training-for-reigning program and not shrink back from it. David was willing to take care of his father’s business even when a bear or lion came against his father’s sheep. No one was going to snatch those sheep away from the family’s estate. David knew his responsibility in the natural and his responsibility in the supernatural were connected. David wasn’t always in Chair 1. He didn’t always have the right perspective during his season in the wilderness. He learned how to get out of Chair 2 and back into Chair 1, as we see in many of his psalms. He often cried out with a focus on his problem, but ended them with a focus on God. During David’s years of exile from King Saul, who was trying to hunt him down and kill him, he took refuge in the cave of Adullam. “Everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. Now there were about four hundred men with him” (1 Samuel 22:1-2). In the cave David learned how to create a culture to sustain what God had called him to be. He was called to be a king, but if he was going to conquer a kingdom, not just one tribe, he needed to take these people on the margins, create a synergy among them, and develop a covenant relationship. David went from Adullam where everybody was in it for themselves—Chair 2—and came to Hebron, where he reigned for seven years after he became king, before Jerusalem was conquered and made the capital. In Hebron, he developed a new culture that was going to change the old culture. It was a kingdom culture, a family culture that was part of his destiny. That foundation was eventually given to his son Solomon, who took it and established shalom. David paid a price. He was at war so his son Solomon could inherit a kingdom. The Bible says there was rest on all sides, with no adversary and no evil threats.

Many people never pass that test; they never come out of the cave or stop seeing it as a problem. David was able to turn his cave into a palace. He could see himself as royalty before he ever sat on a throne because he had learned to see himself as God saw him. That identity began to pull from heaven’s resources. David’s destiny was not just to kill one giant; it was to raise up an army of giant slayers. It was not just to worship at a temple; it was to create a culture of worshipers. David’s destiny was bigger than David and yours is bigger than you. 

If you are on a path of discovering your destiny, my Blueprint for Kingdom Destiny may be a helpful tool for you in this season. You can learn more about this life altering experience at www.kingdomlifeblueprint.com/masterclass-destiny.

God is raising up a generation of people who understand that ministry is not something that happens just within the walls of a church.

I’ve always had a weakness for cars. They are like one of my love languages. When we lived in Alabama years ago, I would take my car to a place every week to get it cleaned, and the guys there did a beautiful job. The young man who owned the shop knew I was a pastor and ministry leader. He would tell me often, “God has called me to be a pastor. I’m eventually going to sell the business and go to Bible college and seminary. I have a lot of prophetic words over my life. Will you pray for me? I want to be faithful.” For months, he told me this, and I began to get to know him.

One day the Holy Spirit spoke to me and taught me something I had to share with this young man. So the next time I saw him, I said, “You are a pastor. Let me pray for you now, and I’ll ordain you.” He had tears in his eyes. He had never thought of his employees as his church members. Every car his company washed was touched with the presence of God inside and out. He didn’t realize he had more lost people coming through his business every day than any church does. 

He was meeting and influencing people with the kingdom as a business owner. He was a pastor in the marketplace. Many people have dreams of doing something unusual and influential in the marketplace but don’t realize that it qualifies as ministry. If you have those kinds of dreams, they may be pointing to your destiny, so too are the things you weep over when you watch the news or hear someone’s story.

If you could do anything without any fear of failure, what would you do? A special sensitivity to injustice, immorality, poverty, conflict, certain needs or problems, or anything else may tell you a lot about what you are called to do.

As you can see, pastors aren’t just in the four walls of a designated church building, they are in car dealerships, tech companies, grocery stores and the film industry. If you can name it, I guarantee you, there is someone who doesn’t know how loved they are. Maybe Abba has called you as a marketplace pastor. Are you ready to say “Yes” to the call?

The process for my daughter to receive a car from me took time. She was a daughter of blessing, but it took time for her to become a daughter of inheritance. What’s the difference? A blessing is something the father has paid for. He feeds his children, buys them what they need, and takes care of everything for them. There’s a season for that. As a child matures, the father’s gifts become less about blessing and more about the family wealth. Is she mature enough to steward what I have worked for over the years? Does she take responsibility? Will she use what she has been given for a greater purpose—to expand it, multiply it, or invest it—rather than simply spend it? That’s how a child becomes a son or daughter of inheritance.

We see this with Jesus and his natural parents. He didn’t just learn how to be a carpenter; He became a master craftsman. He mastered His father’s skills. His heavenly Father translated that responsibility a much different and much more significant inheritance than his family was about to give Him, but Jesus had demonstrated in both realms that He could be entrusted. He would be faithful to steward the supernatural and inherit the kingdom.

It is interesting in Luke 15 that the father of the rebellious and religious sons treated them as sons of inheritance before they had shown the necessary maturity. He said, “All that I have is yours,” while they were still acting like orphans. It’s normal as a child to value a father for what he can do for you, but sons and daughters eventually grow out of that. They realize they are being given access to something someone else paid for, and they learn to honor it and value it. They take what fathers and mothers have worked hard for and then build on it.

We have to go through a process of maturity so that we will handle the inheritance we receive in a way that helps us and does not hurt us. That is why the Father can say, “All that I have is yours,” and it still is not in your hands yet. It is yours—to inherit, but perhaps not yet to possess. You must learn to value what you receive so you can steward it well. Whatever you know how to steward, you know how to multiply. Whatever you multiply, you have authority over. The parable of the seeds and the soils teaches us to see not just a seed but a 30-fold, 60-fold, or 100- fold harvest. We can’t just ask for what someone else has without going through what they have been through. You may be able to access their inheritance, but that only comes as you honor the relational elements they have experienced.

Your Father does not want your blessings to take you away from the One who blesses you.

I’ve seen many people tap into the inheritance of a spiritual father and move in that power and fruitfulness for a while, then decide that they don’t need that mentor or father anymore. They don’t realize that one of the reasons they were able to access the blessing was by being under that person. When we know how to honor inheritance and take responsibility for it, we can build off what others have paid a price for. We take one generation’s successes and invest them in the next generation.

What inheritance has the Father revealed to you? How can you continue to faithfully steward what Jesus has paid for?

The idea of loving our enemies is hard for a lot of people to swallow. But even those who are the most skeptical of Jesus’ claims and the most critical of Jesus’ teaching have to admit—He took His own medicine. He took it without resisting the spoon, without complaining about the test and without adding the slightest bit of sugary sentimentality to help the medicine go down. 

Follow the narrative of Jesus’ last 24 hours, and see how He took it. What you see and hear is the best visual aid to the Sermon on the Mount you could ever find. Look and listen…and you will fall even more in love with Him than you are now.

Judas. Jesus chose him as one of the 12 and all the while knowing that one day he would betray Him. For three and a half years Jesus walked with him, talked with him, ate with him, ministered with him. He befriended one who would turn into an enemy when Jesus most needed a friend. That final night in the upper room, Jesus washed Judas feet, just as He had done for the other disciples. He dined with the man who would soon turn the tables on Him. He spoke kindly to him, never once berating him for his betrayal. And He fed part of the Passover meal to him with His own hands, dismissing Judas in hushed tones so as not to publicly humiliate him in front of the other disciples (see John 13:21-30)

Peter. Jesus warned him ahead of time about his defection. To soften the blow: Jesus explained to Peter that it wasn’t all his fault, that Satan had a hand in it, too. For this man who would deny not only his friendship with Jesus but even his acquaintance with Him, Jesus prayed. He prayed, and He told Peter, essentially, not to let the failure destroy him, that He still loved him, still believed in him, still thought he was the right man for the job (see Luke 22:31-32). And after Jesus rose from the dead, He sought out Peter, especially Peter, because Peter especially needed to be found and brought home to the Savior’s loving arms (see John 21:15-19).

Malchus. He was the high priest’s servant who accompanied the soldiers when they arrested Jesus in the garden. In a rash move to defend Jesus, Peter drew his sword and cut off a portion of the servant’s ear. Jesus’ response?

Jesus said to him, “Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:52-53)

What an incredible restraint of the angelic arsenal He had at His disposal. On His way to the Cross, Jesus wouldn’t allow so much as a sword to slice on His behalf.  

(see Luke 22:51).

The other disciples. Outmanned and out-armed, they deserted Jesus at His most desperate hour. His response? He didn’t call them cowards; instead, He covered for them, explaining that their actions were simply a fulfillment of prophecy: Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered ” (Matthew 26:31).

The religious leaders who tried Him. They accused Jesus falsely and gathered witnesses to testify against Him, again falsely. They hit Him. His response? He didn’t defend Himself, and He didn’t denigrate them. Not returning insult for insult, or injury for injury, He took the fist, silently, bravely, and with a bold resignation that befits a king (see Mark 14:53-65).

The Roman soldiers. Brutal men, they mocked Jesus, draping His shoulders with a purple cape, thrusting a thorny crown into His scalp, and humiliating Him as they took turns beating Him. His response? Again, He took the blows, turned the other cheek, and did not resist the evil that propped Him up and pummeled Him (see Mark 15:16-20).

The crowd that surrounded Him at the Cross. They taunted Jesus, quoting Scriptures to Him, daring Him to prove Himself King, if indeed He was one. His response? He bore the daggers of ridicule, the spears of sarcasm. And He didn’t throw them back. He took it all, and He took it with the nobility of a true king (see Mark 15:29-32).

The soldiers at the Cross. The ones who hammered the nails into His hands, His feet. The ones who raised the Cross into place. And the ones hunched over a pair of dice, gambling for His cloak. His response? For-giveness. And not only that, listen to His plea bargain on their behalf.

“Then Jesus said, ‘Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do’ (Luke 23:34). In other words, Jesus is telling the Father that if the soldiers could only see Him for who He really was, if they knew that He was indeed a king, indeed the Son of God, they would never have done this. Remarkable, when you think about it. Jesus not only forgives His enemies, He defends them.

The two thieves. When you compare the parallel accounts, you discover that both thieves cursed Jesus (see Mark 15:32; Luke 23:39-40). Never once did Jesus curse back. Instead, He gave a blessing to the one who asked to be remembered. The blessing? The man had just asked that Jesus remember Him when He got to His Kingdom. That’s all. And Jesus gave him Paradise. Paradise! In a few hours of witnessing Jesus’ response to His enemies, one of those enemies was transformed into a friend, and remained a friend forever (see Luke 23:42-43).

We are told that when Peter denied Jesus for the third time, a rooster crowed, reminding him of Jesus’ words earlier that night. He turned and saw Jesus looking at him. What he saw were not the eyes of an enemy but the eyes of a friend. And when their eyes met, we are told that Peter went away, weeping bitterly (see Luke 22:60-62). The next day Peter likely approached the Cross, but from afar. He saw Jesus’ enemies, teeth bared like a pack of wolves that had cornered its prey. He heard the insults, the taunts, the mocking, the cursing. And he saw Jesus’ response to them, heard His words and the tone in which the words were spoken. Here is how the example of Jesus impacted him, inspiring his words to fellow believers who were undergoing persecution by their enemies:

For what credit is it that if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps; ‘Who committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”, who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously. (1 Peter 2:20-23).

What Peter saw and heard that day, though it was from a distance as he stood on the periphery, cloaked in anonymity, changed him forever. How could it not? How could anyone not be changed if he or she only knew the story–the whole story of just how much we are loved? (Excerpt from Seeing Through Heaven’s Eyes)

What is the Holy Spirit saying to you today about loving your enemies? Did names or situations come to your mind? This is just an act of His love. I encourage you to lean into the heart of God and let His love wash over you, over your perspective. And then, watch how He will love through you. Now is your time for an upgrade in love.

If I took everyone on a journey into eternity past, you would meet the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself was the very Lion of the tribe of Judah, He ruled and reigned together with the Father and the Spirit. But, when the Father sent His only begotten Son in that specific place of sonship, we see revealed in Jesus, the Lion and the Lamb. 

When we look at lions, we see that they are the ‘king of the jungle’. They rule and are hardly ever the prey. Lambs, they require guidance. They are humble, quiet creatures and can fall prey to lions and wolves. Jesus revealed through His life that the identity we rest in, must come from the Lamb’s heart so that our authority can be in the Lion. 

The world around Him, including the disciples, was looking for the Lion. Palm Sunday was a good example. Our Jewish brothers and sisters wanted somebody to rule and to reign over them. They had endured years of oppression under Roman rule. So, naturally when Jesus was revealed, out of the abundance of their hearts they spoke, “Hosanna in the highest” (Matthew 21:9) but the same one they cried to become their king ended up being the same one they asked to be crucified. They wanted a lion, but Jesus showed a different way. He did not defend Himself. Isaiah prophesied this about Jesus “He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that is before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:7) In order to truly free them, He had to show them a different way. Jesus chose to lay His life down in obedience to the Father. This was the one who taught with authority that was given to Him by God. He was the Son of God, the darling of heaven, the Creator – yet, He humbled Himself and He came as the Lamb – to take away our sins. He was slaughtered for us. He paints a sobering picture. It was in the laying down of His life that Jesus overcame the world. There is no greater love than this. It’s displayed in the Lamb.

This is the upside Kingdom. It was so opposite to the way they operated and how we continue to operate today. The people desired peace, they believed it would come through an earthly king. As His body was laid in the tomb lifeless, they didn’t know that a Sunday moment of victory was coming with a Resurrection. They didn’t understand that there had to be a Friday. They didn’t know there had to be a sacrificial Lamb to take away the sins of the world. They didn’t understand that their King was to come to them riding a donkey’s colt, but that He would also suffer.  Jesus’ own disciples struggled to receive this. When Jesus revealed that He must suffer many things and be rejected and killed, Peter rebuked Jesus and the Lord’s response to him was “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” and follows up by clarifying for the disciples that the way of Jesus, the Lamb is to lose one’s life, not to seek to save it. (Mark 8)

Jesus gained His authority by becoming obedient until the point of death. He is the original “roaring Lamb”. His roar came in His humility and His yes to Papa God. The Father has drawn me to focus on the next mission force as the roaring lambs. If we are going to show the world a God that looks like Jesus, it’s going to be important for us to learn how to behold the Lamb and recognize His values. Looking at the Beatitudes, all of those are characteristics of the “upside down kingdom”. So, if you are looking at each of them, you see Him: “blessed are the poor in Spirit”; it’s the Lamb’s nature, each one of those are characteristics of the Lamb and then it shows the Lion on the other side–the byproduct–the Kingdom belongs to them! It’s important for us now, in this next season even as we are looking into the future, looking at all the challenges that we have in our country, from the war on the identity to all of the polarization, the tendency we have as believers is to try to be lions and try to roar but we actually cause people to scatter because it doesn’t come from the Lamb’s heart. The priority is to recognize this: who Jesus is to you is who Jesus will be through you. If all you see is the Lion when you look at Jesus and you cannot see the Lamb, then that is the Jesus you will represent to the world.

I want to challenge myself and all of us to fall in love with the Lamb; to fall in love with His humility because that’s how you tap into His ability. Fall in love with vulnerability. The Lamb is vulnerable. It looks like He’s weak, but it’s called strength; it’s the strength of weakness. When you are tapping into that, you access something called grace.  Jesus said, ‘I can only do what I see my Father doing.’ ‘I only say what I hear my Father saying.’ It is the identity of the Lamb that is totally living in dependence, not independence. He prioritized this relationship. Out of that, now He has authority. He says, ‘All authority has been given now to me’ because of that Lamb posture and then out of that, we see the Lion’s authority emerging. So, Jesus is the Lion that became a Lamb so that we could become lambs that are becoming lions. And when we roar people will gather and not scatter because it’s an authority that is flowing from humility.

I am so excited about this journey as we are going to learn more about the ‘roaring lambs’. In you, there is a lamb and in you there is a lion. That’s the Christ in you that will be the hope of glory to the people around you. (Colossians 1:27) 

You have authority over what you weep over. Are you broken over what’s broken? Remember, you have authority over what you love. It’s going to be so important for us to capture that the Lamb feels the pain and the brokenness that’s around Him and when we get broken over what’s broken, we tap into intercession. When we step into this we’re entering a place where we can represent God before people and people before God. It’s called the ministry of reconciliation and that belongs to the ambassadors of love. It starts with the Lamb’s nature. 

Some people in leadership are not afraid of the Lion, but they just don’t know what to do when it comes to the Lamb. It’s time for us to arise and shine for our light has come. It’s in the Lamb that the Light shines, so that you can roar as a lion in this beautiful season of transformation. You change the spiritual climate when your internal climate has been changed by the Lamb. 

What are you broken over? In what ways is Father drawing you to become like Jesus?