SEASONS 8 Secret Place Dwellers

"He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High will abide under the shadow of the Almighty." Psalm 91:1 KJV "You who live in the shelter of Elyon, who spend your nights in the shadow of Shaddai. . ." (a Jewish translation)

Does your heart burn for a more concrete expression of this hidding place? If it does, it is probably because the heart of the Most High God burns for the same thing. Think about it. Where would that desire come from if not from Him? He is the one who is drawing you and creating the desire for close encounters with Him.

There are many things that I think contribute to the distance we may feel. It is perception on our part, because God has promised to never leave us, never abandon us. I do not think that the senior season of my life has increased my longing for conscious awareness. I have always wanted more and more of God, but I do enjoy more time to sit in His presence and visit than I did in my busier seasons. For me, the secret place of God is an awareness of His presence where I can focus my attention and my affection on Him. Make time at least once a day, no matter what season you are in.

Those born of the Spirit of God are called by the apostle Paul, new creations saints. We are a "new breed" on earth because we have become a dwelling place for the Spirit of God. God can not get any closer. However, our hearts long to have all the limitations and barriers of our old selves (our false-self) to be removed. We long to see Him face to face. Refer to John 16:5-24 The disciples were struggling to understand the season Jesus was preparing them to enter next. They did not want Jesus to physically be taken from them.

We, as new creation saints, can function in two realms; the physical and the spiritual. As we learn to walk in the spiritual realm with Jesus, we should be learning the ways of the Kingdom and how to effect the physical as Jesus did. Jesus taught us to pray for the Kingdom to begin to manifest in the earth as it did in Heaven. This has become my passion; to enjoy a love relationship with Jesus like what He enjoyed with the Father, and to feel confidence to do the "same works Jesus did" as He lets me know what He wants to do through me. I expect it to change me from the inside out.

One of the reasons for doing this series was to show the progressive revelation of God's redemptive plan. Everything is building to a grand ending. We can be encouraged that what we are experiencing now is securely in God's hand. If men did great exploits for God under an inferior, incompleted covenant, think what the new creation saint can do under the superior, completed covenant? What Daniel, Moses, Joshua, etc. did with the Anointing on them, we can do more with the Anointing in us. What David did, we can double. Jesus said, ". . and the things I have done, you will do also and greater, because I am going to the Father and I am sending you My Spirit to be in you."

You are indwelt by God. The resurrected Christ, with resurrection power, is one spirit with you. I Cor.6:17 If you are stuck in the Season of the Law that brings condemnation, throw it off. If you are exhausted from the "treadmill of performance"? Heed the invitation.

The Spirit of the Bride says, "Come away with Me. Come dance with Me. Let Me tell you who you are to Me. I paid for the right to enjoy your affection. Let's do life together. I will prepare you to be all you need to be in this season of your life."

SEASON 7 A SUMMARY

It seems reasonable that what God designed and purposed in the beginning, He will secure in reality at the end. So I am praying toward and expecting a triumphant Church to appear out of the chaos around us.

Think back over the last 6 seasons of God's history in the earth. we saw a progression of God setting up each season to move closer to His special creation, man. He longs for union and fellowship with His creation.

1.The Garden of Eden - He established a Lordship/love relationship with Adam and Eve. He lost it when they dis-connected through rebellion. The judgement for rebellion was carried symbolically through animal blood. God re-establishes the relationship.

2.Abrahamic Covenant - The everlasting covenant of grace was made with Abraham, Father of the Hebrew people and our faith. Gal.3:26-29 God pledged that He Himself would pay the penalty for rebellion and do for us what we could never do. Animal blood was still the substitute for man's life.

3.Tabernacle Worship - Moses was given God's laws for righteousness. This was never intended to make us righteous in God's sight. It has always been by God's grace that man has a relationship with his creator. The Law was given to prove to the people that man can never bring himself or society to meet God's requirements. God Himself is the only hope for man experiencing what he was created to enjoy - love, peace and happiness expressed in a love relationship with a sovereign Creator.

God also gave Moses a highly developed and symbolic system of worship with strict measures to protect the rebellions people from the holy God who is passionate about moving closer to those He loves. God moved into the midst of their encampment. It has become clear that animal sacrifice pictures a better sacrifice to come. They were headed for the land of Caanan to become a nation, under the government of David and God in partnership, in Jerusalem, City of Peace. We are to reign in life by Christ Jesus.

4.Davidic worship - David enjoyed an intimacy of friendship with this holy God that was rare up until then. I think God was demonstrating with David what He longs to enjoy from every spirit-born individual. He longs for our attention and our affection, not our duty and our performance. Those things will flow out of a healthy relationship with Jesus. We were created to draw our greatest pleasure from Him. The Psalms reflect David's heart and how he played life openly before God. Our hearts long for intimacy without shame. We must find the Secret Place of the Most High God as David did.

5.Jesus, as God come in flesh, launches the Kingdom of God and a new closeness to His human creation. After bearing our grief and debt in His own body on the cross, He moves right in to the midst of each individual who will open their heart to Him and love Him with gratitude. He removes the shame that causes us to hide, opens our heart so we can become a new breed of humanity on the earth. (New Creations in Christ)

6.The Church, the Redeemed of God, learning to walk in step with the Spirit of God. We are indwelt by God Himself! WOW! Can you believe it? Can God get any closer? Christ was the incarnation of God. Each lover of God is an incarnation of Christ.

Listen to what Jesus told the disciples just before He left them to carry on with all He had trained them to do:

"Don't you believe that I am united with the Father, and the Father united with Me? What I am telling you I am not saying on my own initiative. The Father living in me is doing His own works. Because I live, you too will live. When that day comes, you will know that I am united with my Father, and you with me, and I with you. Yes, indeed whoever trusts in me will also do the works I do! Indeed, he will do greater ones, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask for in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son." John 14

Ponder this in your heart.

Raw Kale Salad #2

Here is another way to prepare raw Kale and it is full of flavor. I tried it with Karen T. and she loved it too. So I decided to share it with my bloger friends.

RAW KALE SALAD #2

Wash well and remove from the tough stem. You can tear the Kale from the stem and then place in water to wash.

For two people, one bunch is enough. Tear into bite size pieces. Place in bowl.

Drizzle with Olive Oil and sprinkle with Sea Salt.

Squeeze lemon Juice over the Kale. Half may be enough for you, depends on how much
you are preparing.

1 Avocado - remove seed and add the meat of the Avocado in the salad.

Now, massage the Avocado into the Kale with your hands. This becomes like a dressing. Allow to rest about 1 hour to soften the Kale and over night it is still fresh tasting.


I was going to add Sun-dried Tomatoes and small slices of Sweet Onion. Tal tasted it and said, "Oh, that is really good just like it is." I went ahead and added them and we both liked it.



I think English Cucumber and raw sunflower seeds, soaked and sprouted overnight, would complement the flavor if you wanted. But the basic combination is outstanding.

If any of you try this, I would like to know your opinion.

SEASONS 6 Season of Fulfillment

How close does God's heart long to draw you? I encourage you to ask your heavenly Father that question. Why not ask Him right now, before reading further. He may surprise you and/or affirm this truth as you read.

If you want some really good clues, read through the Gospel of John. Ask the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Burning, to point out the emotions of Jesus and what He was passionate about. Chapter 14 & 17 should be meditated on.

John 14:20 17:20-26 You will find He is passionate about revealing the Father. He wants us to be connected heart to heart. He wants us to be where He is. From the life and teachings of Christ, I understand that there is romance at the center of the universe. Our creator God is a LOVER. Also the giver of good gifts, happy, joyous, and celebrative.
"You will know that I am united with my Father, and you with me, and I with you."
"I am giving you My Spirit and My peace to be in you forever. I will not leave you alone or orphaned."

God's incarnation in Christ is the Season of Fulfillment. "In the fulness of time" is a phrase Scripture uses to indicate that history is moving according to God's time. We today are still in the season of the Covenant of Grace fulfilled. The Old Covenant that God made with Abraham has been completed in Christ's blood, not the blood of animal sacrifice. So when Christ said, "It is finished", He was referring to the redemption of the Bride that would flow from His side. This was pictured in the first season of redemptive history in the Garden, as the Creator took from Adam's side a rib to form Adam's bride. She was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh and they were one flesh. Look through the seasons of progressive revelation and read again John 14 & 17 or at least the few verses given above. Do you get a sense of the passion in Jesus's voice. He is preparing the disciples for His departure after the resurrection. Connect with the emotion of Jesus here and when He talked to the Samaritan woman in John 4.

Here is my suggestion:
Read through John 13 - 17.

Read through the second time underlining with pensil everything that impressses you.

Read through the third time, taking notice of possible emotions of Jesus. Ask the Spirit to make you aware.

See yourself as one of the disciples listning to Jesus. You have the Counselor with you.

Ask the Spirit to give you more than theological insight. You want a heart impartation that will shift you out of the 20th and 21st century Christianity into the new Season on God's calendar. We are already in this new season.

Samuel was grieving that the nation wanted a king like all the nations around them. He saw them rejecting God's authority. Many of us see the same thing has happened in America. God told Samuel to stop grieving. "I am doing a new thing. Get yourself ready to do your part. Go anoint David and launch this new season of redemptive history.

SEASONS 5

The next Season of Redemptive history brings us to David and his son Solomon. Both of these men had their weaknesses and made wrong decisions, but their heart was open to God. They brought in the best days of the nation of Israel. After Solomon's reign of peace and prosperity, the kingdom was divided and most of the kings were corrupt, ending this season of 500 years with silence from God.

It seems that God was most pleased that David's heart was so passionate toward Him. It appears that David enjoyed many privileges that were to be reserved for New Covenant Christians, because he hungered and thirsted for the Living Waters that Jesus would bring in the next Season. David enjoyed a love relationship with God of the Old Covenant that embarrasses many Christians today. Mike Bickle says that David introduced the Bridal Paradigm that Jesus would further develop in His Kingdom teaching. Remember that Jesus said to the Samaritan woman, "The Father is LONGING for worshipers who know Him in spirit and truth."

The life of David is so rich in spiritual realities that the saints are supposed to be enjoying today. Think with me: David demonstrated the supernatural powers of God in defending his father's sheep and later the giant that threatened the nation. As a youth He took advantage of the solitude from distractions and enjoyed intimacy of fellowship that set his relationship with God for the rest of his life. God allowed him to eat the holy bread that only the priests were to eat. David went through hard times as a fugitive that developed character and prepared him to reign as king because he heard from God personally in all he faced in life. He danced before the Lord in abandonment and joy. As king, he developed musical worship leaders and helped write much of the praise music. These priests led the people in corporate worship, while worship was going on 24/7.

David was very spontaneous and authentic in his relationship with God. He expressed his feelings of adoration and awe of God as well as his feelings of lonliness, anguish of confusion and suffering, bitterness. In this he gave us a pattern of authentic love relationship with God that was not common for David's season. Jesus comes next in redemptive history to clarify and reveal more deeply the passionate heart of God.

In summary, David enjoyed great intimacy outside of the office of the priesthood. That was not for his season. He lived beyond his time and demonstrated the relationship with God that Jesus would reveal. The prophets and priests were to represent God to the people and the people to God. David was an exception in his day and modeled what would be available to every Christian. I believe that God was pleased with his passionate pursuit. "David is a man after My own heart." God provided a preview in David and Solomon's reign for the Kingodm Jesus has in mind for every individual and every nation.

Our next visitation will be the coming of Messiah. How close does God plan to go with this progression from season to season? As close as your very breath.

SEASONS 4

There are far too many worshipers in our churches who see God as a demanding, unapproachable God. Yet Moses and Joshua were as close as any to Him and they found Him to be most fascinating, awe-inspiring and welcoming. Joshua often stayed in the Tent of Meetings for hours and hours in the presence of the Lord.

When God called Moses to the mountain, Moses asked to see His face. God was very accomodating. He showed him His glory and then declared His name. The Lord passed before Moses and proclaimed: "Adonai is God, merciful and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in grace and truth, showing grace to the thousandth generaqtion, forgiving offenses, crimes and sins; yet not exonerating the guilty ......" This indicated His plan to be the substitute for our guilt. Exodus 33:11-23, 34:5-9.

Moses was convinced that man needs God to go with them, to be their personal God. He told God that if He would not go with the people into Canaan, "don't make us go on from here. For how else is it to be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and Your people, other than by your going with us? That is what distinguishes us from all the other peoples on earth." WOW Think about it.

Stop and think about that last statement. Our God goes with us and makes His presence known, and communicates with us. He hasn't gone silent just because we have the Scripture in our hands. "Lord, give us ears to hear You and the determination to be in a place of hearing."

God made a covenant to bring the whole nation into their inheritance. After He safely delivered them from slavery in Egypt, He gave Moses the Law that would govern the nation and create a unique people group out of which He would present to the world a savior/redeemer. The other thing Moses received from God was instructions for constructing a place of worship and the safe way to live that close to a holy God. In this season of redemptive history, this arrangement allowed the longing heart of God to move into the midst of the camp in the wilderness journey to their permanent home. They were given visible evidence of God's presence by the cloud over the Tabernacle and so many more things changed in this season to bring God closer to His people and make them aware of Him.

In this more developed pattern, the people actually enacted the plan of redemption that He Himself would experience in the fullness of time. I hope each of you reading this are familiar with covenant and Tabernacle. It is so very rich with meaning for us Gentiles and especially the Jews who acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Messiah. They were looking forward in time to Messiah's redemption and we look back in time to this event. It is by grace we are re-connected to His heart, both under the Old Covenant and under the New Covenant.

Do you see the progression of God moving closer and closer to humanity, the apple of His eye? Various heroes like Daniel, Joshua, Job, Joseph had special relationships that are to teach us about God's character, faithfulness and loving heart and to what lengths He has been willing to go in pursuit of us.

But He has another move to make and we will talk about that in the next post.

SEASONS 3

Jesus came with a passion to reveal the Father. In our self-focus, each age has mis-interpreted the relationship God has initiated with man. Even today, we tend to see God as harsh, demanding, impossible to please, unapproachable. We want His help but we don't want to get too close. We feel more comfortable with Jesus, however, Jesus clearly taught that to know Him was to know the Father. John 14:8-11

In John 4 Jesus makes a statement something like this. "The Father has longed for this time in history. He has been looking forward to the time when man would be able to worship Him in spirit and in truth." This makes me think that the triune God had a plan that was to unfold through out history. This redemptive plan was to bring a rebellious, blind, self-centered humanity back into intimate love relationship as He had origionally planned in the Garden.

God gave the plan in a nutshell when He came looking for the naked couple hidding from Him, yet desperately needing to re-connect with His loving heart. We still hide and He still comes looking for us. Let's look at the major seasons of human history that show how God methodically planned and progressively revealed His longing heart.

God told Adam to kill an animal and cloth themselves with the skins, thus the first season in redemptive history was animal blood as a substitute. God gave specific directions and a more full understanding what it would cost Him to cover their nakedness. Who would ever think that the Creator would take on flesh to become man's sin-bearer Himself. Authentic Christianity is the only religion that believes God Himself took our guilt and judgment so we could escape the penalty of our own mess.

Enoch walked with God in such intimacy that God took him without seeing death. This pictures the relationship God longs for. (Evidently Enoch did not find God harsh, demanding, hard to please and unapproachable.)

Noah, in a season of extreme wickedness, obeys God and builds a boat when no one had ever seen enough water to float a boat. God instructs him to go inside, God shuts the door and they ride out the wrath of God's judgment. A picture of being in Christ. Noah probably did not know the longing in God's heart for such intimacy and it could not be so until Jesus came. Now we are in Christ and Christ is in us. Rejoice.

The next important season of redemptive history was when God visited Abram. So much happened during that visitation of grace. God changed his and Sarah's name when He made covenant with him. That covenant is rich with meaning and this is the covenant that Christ fulfilled, not the covenant of works He made with Moses. Isaac is a type of Christ as Abraham obeys God and takes His son to Mount Moriah to offer him as sacrifice. God stops him and says, "God Himself will provide a lamb as a sacrifice." God actually revealed to Abraham that 2000 years later He would take a body. As Jesus of Nazareth, in that same location, He would die instead of Isaac and His death would cover all who would come to him. (John 8:56)

I am going to stop here, mainly because I want to keep it a readable length. We will pick up with Moses and Joshua. I hope you are beginning to see that God's heart longs for man to love Him for who He is. He goes to great lengths to draw us into Himself.

SEASONS 2

One July 24 I started a series of postings that I entitled, SEASONS OF LIFE. I sense that the Church (Body of Christ) is moving into the final SEASON of Redemptive History. If this is true I am looking for mature sons of God to be revealed. I want to be one of them. To me this means that authentic Christians will begin to live up to their name in character and demonstrate the Kingdom power that Jesus talked about in John 13-17. Jesus came teaching about the Kingdom and His life and death brought it into existence. He told us to pray for it to manifest in the earth. "Thy Kingdom come and will be done, hallowed Father, on earth as it is in Heaven." However, we can not seem to move past our Self-focus, our victim mentality, our helplessness; even though Pentecost was to empower us to live like Jesus. Many like me, are reluctant to move into our inheritance as mature image bearers due to pride issues. We know we are hiding many unresolved issues that have not yet bowed the knee to Christ.

How obvious it is to me that all humanity suffers from the same effects as our original parent's dis-connect from the Creator. The following are descriptive phrases for the results of this disconnect:
"nakedness"
"falling into ourselves"
extreme "me-ism"
narsistic lens through which we view and interpret life events and relate to God.

Would it be too harsh to say that our fear of nakedness sets us up to take on a victim mentality? Everything wrong is someone elses fault. Self-pity and anger rule us. Yet we continue to look within ourselves for ways to "even the score", maintain the control we need to protect and pursue our slice of life. We want God to garuntee pleasure on our terms. This unresolved stress is being stored in our physical body and its pain is constantly crying out distress signals. We deal with their agony with anti-depressent, anti-anxiety drugs and sleep aids. Cancer, diabetes, bi-polar disorder, high blood pressure, are as common to Christians as those who know not the Prince of Peace.

For us in America in the 21st century, we have about maxed out the American Dream. What will we have when all of this collapses? Will our gracious God come looking for us in the winter season of our life and our nation's life and ask us the same question:

"Who told you that you are naked? Yes, your misery is real because this life is not your final home and you have spent too much focus and energy on temporal things. I am still covering you, still loving you, still holding you in covenant. Come into the Secret Place with Me. I will give you a different perspective on your nakedness. No condemnation and no shame. I took that into Myself. Let My life flow through you. Soar with Me on the wings of Spirit energy. My love with bring wholeness to your body and soul."

God created us to be lovers.
Greatness lies within us.
We are beautiful and awesome in our design.
We are healers, builders and extremely creative in vision.
But we can't move in the flow of who we are, because we are not being nourished and affirmed by the I AM who made us in His image.

We ought to be moving from glory to glory and doing exploits of Kingdom dimensions.
We ought to be restoring our society and rebuilding the waste places.
We are sick, life has us defeated and we don't have answers to give. Something is terribly wrong with this picture of the church of Jesus Christ. Have we settled for a ticket to Heaven when we die? This greatly disturbs me. I guess you can tell. Right?

I have just run a "rabbit trail". Hope I haven't lost you.

I will bring this posting to a conclusion and bring us back on track. This posting has focused our attention on the final Season of Redemptive History which I see as the Bride of Christ being made ready for the return of Christ the King. In this season, the people of God will focus on hearing the sounds from the throne room and seeing what it looks like as the Kingdom manifests on earth through the Redeemed community. We must throw off all that restrains and distractions and press on to know the Lord.

Next blog I hope to fill in the Seasons God has brought us through. This may give us a better perspective for the present season. We are the Bride and He will make us ready.
In each season of redemptive history, we have seen God's people do exploits. Think of Joseph, Joshua, Moses, Daniel, David and many more. Their heroic lives are examples of what a whole generation will look like before Christ returns.

I don't know how the rest of this is going to be presented, since this seems to be coming spontaneously, but then perhaps that is how a blog can be useful. I am vulnerable to your response, for this is not all thought out manuscript, so be kind and give me allowance if you disagree.

WHO TOLD YOU THAT YOU ARE NAKED?

"Who told you that you were naked?" Do you know who and when this question was first posed? I sense that the same person is still asking that question to each of us. We are compelled to live by how we feel about a matter and Scripture is very clear that we are to live by every word that comes from His heart and mouth of God. Deut. 8:3 Matt.4:4

God would challenge you & me, "Who told you that you are inadequate, ugly, a loser and unlovable? "Well, Lord, I feel that I am inadequate, ugly and unlovable. I feel it so strongly, I must be right about it."

What makes us think those things about ourself? How can a woman look at herself in the mirror and dispise what she sees, or a slinder young woman actually see an overweight body instead of what everyone else sees.

After Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden tree in the middle of the garden, they experienced the disharmony of the universe in their being and it felt like nakedness. This choice indicated that they "felt" they should be allowed to make their own decisions about everything that concerned them, but were shocked at the consequences. They "felt" or reasoned, then acted without consulting their creator. Cut off from God, the source of truth, man is forced to make evaluations based on what he observes, what he feels, what he is told by influencial others and what his experience tells him. Our feelings are so powerful that we will do a lot of foolish things that lead to pure misery.

Our loving Father came to Adam and Eve, and comes to each of us and draws us into a place of healing and wholeness if we are willing to face Him and not turn away in shame. He askes, "Who told you . . . ." Who are you listening to? Who is influencing your conclusions, evaluations, judgments, and reasoning? What lies are driving your destructive activity, robbing you of peace and joy?

Oh what mercy, that God calls us out of our hidding places and probes our heart. "I see your misery, My heart hurts with you. Your nakedness is real because you have lost connectedness with my heart and are at the mercy of your own thoughts and emotions to know the truth about any matter. I invite you to come to Me. Do not trust your own understanding. I will cover your nakedness. Out of the intimacy of our love relationship and dialogue you will know the truth. I will restore and make all things new. In the mean time, draw your joy, peace and love from me."

We all long to be beautiful, smart, be valued, make a significant contribution, be noticed and appreciated. We can't live well without love, joy, and peacefulness. All these things we strive daily for and God would tell us to stop striving, we already possess them from Him, if we would only listen and receive.

Fellow bloggers, our culture in America has created great hindrances to the inner tranquility we need to maintain health and vitality. We are stressed on the inside at an unconscious level and on the outside in our daily activities. So often the church adds more to our already full plate of activities and obligations. Your church life is not the same as your personal relationship with the Lord.

Have we forgotten the very basics of our faith? God calls us to "be still and know. ." recognize His presence and enjoy Him. We cheat ourselves and the Lord of the intimacy He died to provide. He waits for us to come away from the pressure of activity and sit with Him. Only then do we have the ability to respond wisely and creatively instead of react out of our pain and fear. Only then can I say that I know the Lord rather than just know about him from someone else's perspective.

Let the real me, know the real You, Oh Lord my God.