A foundational question to ask...

"Who do you say I am?"

So who DO you say Jesus/God/Holy Spirit is?
Have you thought about it?
Not in the perfect answer (though if that IS your answer then great and so be it =) ) sense, but in a personal-I-can-give-specific-examples sense.

Because this is FOUNDATIONAL to how you live your life. And as you ponder and think and raise examples to yourself and keep thinking and pondering, something inside you changes. Because as you look at WHO God has been in your life, something fundamental in you changes to realize perhaps, that God IS your provider. And you worry that bit less, and you ponder some more and more, and you find that more and more true. And so you worry even less.

Your actions betray your beliefs. And your beliefs will determine your life. So answer this question which Jesus put to the disciples daily:

"Who do YOU say I am?"

The book in between...

There's a book in between Malachi and Matthew. A book spanning 400 years (so people estimate) and one which says alot about God. One which has no words written in it and yet is very important. For those looking no, there's no actual book there, but in between, on that page in most Bibles which says 'New Testament', for 400 years, God kept 'silent'. Nothing was written in the Bible during those 400 years. So was God really silent, did God really do nothing? How could God abandon His chosen people for 400 years? Or did He? There's a big difference between waiting ON God and waiting WITH Him. God didn't sit on His bum and go: "Ho hum, We'll just let them suffer for 400 years and then We'll do something." God was waiting. For what? Perhaps if nothing else, for Joseph and Mary to finally be born and bethrothed. For John to be ready to be born. In that 400 years, God was probably still preparing for the coming of Jesus in His human genealogy. Just because God doesn't say anything doesn't mean that He doesn't care. And so we learn, to wait, not alone, but with God, not ON God, but with Him, not trying to move His hand, but waiting in His arms, not squirming and yelling, but in quiet and content trust. Dad, I'm really NOT good at waiting, but teach me and help me to abide in You, knowing that You WILL move, and that You ARE for me. Thank You for loving me, I love You too.

What's in a name...

one thing I've been learning is naming before numbering, but not without it (from Peter McHugh). The principle is simple, Daddy is interested in your identity first before what you do. Thus you are before you do. Perhaps I could put it this way, prophecy before fulfilment. Or, dare I say it, title before function (GASP! Please don't anyone kill me, I will clarify this ><*). What does it mean? It means that the way Daddy functions and is, is that He gives each one a vision, a destiny, an identity BEFORE He expects (I'm not necessarily sure this is the right word) results. That is, who we are is not based on what we do, what we do comes from who we are. Example one - My new favourite Bible character: Gideon. Why? He's a chicken wuss. No, really, I mean it. He IS a coward, or perhaps, he was, until God worked and changed him. He wusses when God first calls him. He wusses in tearing down the altar of Baal. He wusses when the townspeople come to get him. He wusses when God sends him out, and he wusses AGAIN just as he is about to fight the Midianites. Why do I love Gideon? Because I see alot of me in Gideon. =P There IS a part of me which is afraid to do all these things which God calls me to do, a cowardly part of me which doesn't want to step out. Why do I love God even more? Because He STILL uses Gideon, and more than that, He helps Gideon along the way. I mean, really, Gideon gets to test God like 4 times before doing anything and God accepted that, God even initiated the last test (the one before fighting the midianites) and made provision for Gideon should he be afraid. But even more than that, God gives Gideon a new identity, God CALLS OUT of Gideon his destiny: Judges 6:12 - When the angel of the LORD appeared to Gideon, he said, “The LORD is with you, mighty warrior." That was the LAST thing one Gideon's list of things that he would be called, but God called out Gideon's identity MIGHTY WARRIOR. God looks at us for what we are called and have the capability to be, not what we are now! Which leads me to prophecy. If God was interested in performance, prophecy would be so different. So often prophecy is about who we ARE and who God sees us to be, to encourage us that HEY! THIS is who you are. Prophecy calls us into our identity, NOW. God doesn't wait until we've done what we 'needed' to do before sending a prophet and going: "Oh, good, you've now become a great leader." God sends a prophet before and says: "You ARE a great leader." And from that vision, from that identity, then we start to do the things which great leaders do, knowing that this is how God sees us! And so...... title before function. Now, I know, I know, we always teach that you function as a leader first before you get the title. But perhaps, that is a teaching which needs to be clarified as we teach it. A title is not something that you EARN. It is something that you are. What we really mean is that you need to recognize first YOURSELF, that you are a leader, from there you act like a leader, and THEN at the right time, a, hmmm... official title is given. What we really mean is this: a true leader isn't a leader because of a 'official position' a true leader is a leader because God has called them to be and they believe they are one regardless of whether or not there is an 'official title' given. This ended a loooooooong way from where I thought it would, but, yeah... Father, let me live from a place of identity, and not from performance, I pray and ask this in Your Name Jesus, amen.