Living with Heaven in Mind

In order to be used by God to the fullest measure while living on earth, we must constantly keep heaven in mind. Without the concept of heaven filling our thoughts we will not be able to live up to our full Kingdom potential because desperation and fear will drive our labor. This takes place when diminishing time, not timeless eternity, directs our actions and creates our emotions.

Our view of time can be an enemy or an ally. All time is a diminishing commodity. It will always compress and become smaller the longer one lives. We can see this diminishing time in two ways – with desperation or delight. The only way to navigate the compression of time without striving and unrest is to keep our eyes fixed on heaven.

Raise your eyes above the challenges you are currently facing and fix your eyes on the reality of heaven. That perspective will give you the ability to press through whatever challenge has crossed your path. It will also infuse your life with a peace that only comes when we keep our eyes fixed on the realities of heaven.

“Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God’s right hand. Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth.” Colossians 3:1-2

It is Time to Fly Higher

Just a few years out of high school, I began taking flying lessons in a glider. About thirty minutes from my home was an excellent glider school called Fremont Sky Sailing located in Fremont, California.  The school had a fleet of older Schweizer 2-33 gliders used to instruct students and rent to licensed glider pilots. Flying a full-size glider was like sitting in an easy chair thousands of feet up in the sky hearing only the sound of wind passing over the airframe. It is my favorite kind of piloting.

 The city of Fremont was also home to a Ford Motor Company assembly plant. Huge buildings housed the assembly lines where a thousand vehicles were produced each day. The buildings were surrounded by acres and acres of asphalt parking lots. One day, after we were towed to altitude by our Piper Cub tow plane I pulled the release knob to free us from the towline. It was a cooler day and very little thermal heat was being generated. We needed those rising thermals to take us to our practice altitude. My instructor taught me a valuable piloting skill that day. He said, “We need to move. See the Ford Motor assembly plant? Head to the parking lot.”

In route to the parking lot, my instructor said on days when no lift is taking place there are always heat thermals rising from the black asphalt of the assembly plant parking lot. The black asphalt attracts the rays of the sun and releases waves of heated air skyward. These columns of rising air are called thermals. Thermals rise like invisible hands, pushing a glider to a higher altitude. 

When we arrived, I was told to circle over the parking lot to gain the additional altitude we would need for our training sessions. I will never forget the lesson I learned that day. Later, I would come to understand the importance of that lesson when applied to spiritual matters.

Some of you may have wrongly assumed the decline and decrease you are experiencing is somehow God’s plan. You have made plans for a life of descent, not ascent. This is not about gaining more possessions or acquiring a new level of prestige. It is about rising higher in your experience with God and from that higher place seeing a wider expanse of God’s Kingdom. This is a humble rise to a new altitude. It is a humble rising because once you arrive at a higher place you will know it was the lift of God's Spirit, not your striving, that brought you there.

You will need to gain a higher altitude in order to learn the next lesson God has planned. It cannot be learned at a lower altitude where disbelief has put a ceiling on revelation. Just as my flight instructor told me to move and fly over the large parking lot, it may be time for you to move.  Ask God to show you where the lift of the Spirit is taking place. Change your heading and begin to move in that direction. Make this change and you will gain the altitude required to navigate through the next season of your life.  

An Ambush of Lies

Every lie about your identity in Christ has been uttered with a purpose. The enemy plans to use his lies to herd you toward an ambush where the destruction of your faith lies in wait. It is time to stop believing the lies and running in panic. God wants you to uproot these lies from the landscape of your life and begin to follow the path of hope and faith, not fear and panic.

The native people in the arctic regions of the earth used an innovative technique to hunt reindeer, the main source of their food supply. It would be virtually impossible for a hunter to approach a herd of reindeer crossing a vast glacier field to get within range of a bow and arrow. Something called scaring sticks was devised. These sticks got their name as in someone being scared of something.

A scaring stick was a wooden stick approximately three tall. At the top of the stick was a short line attached to a small piece of wood that would move back and forth in the wind. To a reindeer anything that moved in these featureless and frozen fields of ice represented danger. The sticks were used to scare the reindeer and cause them to stampede in a pre-planned direction. The scaring sticks were inserted in long rows like upright fence posts. Hundreds of scaring sticks were positioned in a curving pattern to literally herd the running reindeer toward a waiting ambush where hunters could release their fatal arrows. It was a brilliant tactic.

Are you running through life under the influence of a lie? Where have your scaring sticks been placed? What lie has scared you and caused you to run in fear instead of standing in faith? Fear is not your assignment. You have not been called to run with the cultural herd currently running in panic under the influence of a lie. Stop and take a moment to reassess why this is happening. Give God a chance to show you the craftiness of the enemy who has set in motion an ambush. He will show you the enemy's plan to bring you within fatal range of the lies you have believed.  An ambush of hell is waiting to pierce your heart with deception and rob you of your faith. God has another plan.

Resist the herd mentality of fear. No one is immune from its influence. Only the wise will survive this stampede. Fear is not your calling. Break away from the herd and run free under the influence of God's Spirit.

R

Adjusted Vision

God is making small adjustments to bring about greater clarity. What is out of focus is about to become clear.

Three months ago, I scheduled an eye exam. During the exam, I found out I needed a new prescription, so I purchased some new glasses. I picked out a frame and the technician marked the lens to help create a perfect fit. I was told my new glasses would be ready in about an hour.

When I picked up my new glasses and put them on it felt like the many times before when I was getting used to a new set of progressive lens. I needed to give my eyes a few days to adjust to the new prescription. In this time of adjustment, it is not like you are seeing things really blurred or out of focus. Your field of vision is just not right for a few days. If you give it time your eyes will eventually adjust.

After two months my glasses still did not feel right. It was not that I was unable to read signs at a distant. I could, but it took some work. So, I returned to the business and asked the manager to check my glasses. I handed them over and into the back room she went where technicians and machines create new glasses.

Several minutes later she returned and said, “I am so sorry. One of your lenses was 3 degrees out of alignment.” I asked, “How could you tell?” She went on to describe a machine she used called a lensometer that checks to see if a lens is correctly positioned in a frame. After the correction was made, I put my readjusted glasses on and looked out the window. Viola! Everything in the distance was clear. It took no effort to see the smallest of details. My eyes began to relax and so did I. I thanked the technician and left the store a happy customer.

Your outlook on life can be only a few degrees off from how God wants you to see people and culture. You might not know you are out of alignment. These small errors in alignment will prevent you from seeing with clarity what is really taking place. We can settle for less than perfect spiritual sight and think that is a livable condition. It’s not. God wants us to see with perfectly aligned clarity.

The level of insight you possessed in the last season of life will not provide the clarity needed for the new season you have just entered. Don’t settle for anything less than absolute clarity. Ask God to show you where you are not seeing people and circumstances with His eyes. You will know that God has adjusted your vision when you no longer need to strive and squint to see what is taking place in the world around you. Once God makes this adjustment, you will be able to move forward with a new confidence that comes from greater clarity.

God is making small adjustments to bring about greater clarity. What is out of focus is about to become clear.

Three months ago, I scheduled an eye exam. During the exam, I found out I needed a new prescription, so I purchased some new glasses. I picked out a new frame and the technician marked the lens to help create a perfect fit. I was told my new glasses would be ready in about an hour.

When I picked up my new glasses and put them on it felt like the many times before when I was getting used to a new set of progressive lens. I needed to give my eyes a few days to adjust to the new prescription.  In this time of adjustment, it is not like you are seeing things really blurred or out of focus. Your field of vision is just not right for a few days. If you give it time your eyes will eventually adjust.

After two months my glasses still did not feel right. It was not that I was unable to read signs at a distant. I could, but it took some work. So, I returned to the business and asked the manager to check my glasses. I handed them over and into the back room she went where technicians and machines create new glasses.

Several minutes later she returned and said, “I am so sorry. One of your lenses was 3% out of alignment.” I asked, “How could you tell?” She went on to describe a machine she used called a lensometer that checks to see if a lens is correctly positioned in a frame. After the correction was made, I put my readjusted glasses on and looked out the window. Viola! Everything in the distance was clear. It took no effort to see the smallest of details. My eyes began to relax and so did I. I thanked the technician and left the store a happy customer.

Your outlook on life can be only a few degrees off from how God wants you to see people and culture. You might not know you are out of alignment. These small errors in alignment will prevent you from seeing with clarity what is really taking place. We can settle for less than perfect spiritual sight and think that is a livable condition. It’s not. God wants us to see with perfectly aligned clarity.

The level of insight you possessed in the last season of life will not provide the clarity needed for the new season you have just entered. Don’t settle for anything less than absolute clarity. Ask God to show you where you are not seeing people and circumstances with His eyes. You will know that God has adjusted your vision when you no longer need to strive and squint to see what is taking place in the world around you. Once God makes this adjustment, you will be able to move forward with a new confidence that comes from greater clarity.

The Fiery Pen of God

I saw a large sheet of parchment paper lying atop an antique desk. At the side of the paper were an inkwell and quill pen.  Words were written on the paper in precise and measured lines. It looked like an image from the 18^th century.

As I continued to watch, a hand entered the scene. It was the hand of God. In His hand was the pen of heaven. He by-passed the ink well and the pen on the table and pressed His pen against the parchment. When the tip of God’s pen touched the paper a flame ignited between the paper and the pen. The Lord began to write over the words we had written about our lives and the cultures in which we live. His words burned away our interpretation. He began to write a new script.

While God can use His people to accomplish His will on earth there are some things that can only take place by His intervening hand. He is always at work beyond our most faith-filled prayers and our greatest acts of obedience. When these works of God invade our realm this is when wonder and awe are experienced. If we serve an image of God who is limited by our current level of faith and understanding, we will create a god who can only work within the limits of our script of misunderstanding.  

Some are relishing in the recent events in our nation. Others are living in fear. Another segment of our culture has given up and are living a life of retreat. Each of these responses can blind us to seeing what God is doing. Each camp in culture has written a personal script of interpretation defining how they think God has moved and will move in the future. 

The Lord is about to write over our words of presumption with the pen of heaven. The fire from His pen is not a fire of judgment. It is a fire of amazing revelation and intervention. While Jesus is same, yesterday, today and forever in His character, His methods are not. He is not limited to the pages of our interpretation. He is the creative God of our universe and beyond. He can write anything He desires even if it violates the script of our presumption.

Breaking Things

In every breakthrough, something must break in order for us to get through whatever obstacle stands in our way. It is not always an external opposing force that needs a work of demolition. The most significant breakthroughs take place when we demolish unhealthy ways of thinking in our own minds.

In 2 Corinthians 10:5 Paul wrote, “We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.” This verse has been used primarily to confront people “out there” with opposing views of faith and culture. It can be applied in that way, but only after God has destroyed the wrong thinking and obstacles that exist within the Church.  This internal breaking must first take place in us or we will not have the capacity to faithfully steward the fruit of a cultural breakthrough when it arrives. A breakthrough that is “out there” with “those people” will always lack the humility and mercy required for us to become a healthy part of true cultural breakthrough.

Once you take your thoughts captive to the love of God, brutally interrogate them to find their source. They are hidden deep within our soul and will not make themselves known unless revealed by the Spirit. The source of your thinking, not the thinking itself, is what you are trying to discover. That discovery will be the place of your personal breakthrough.

Some of you will be surprised when these sources are revealed. They have been camouflaged behind religion, personal pain and the expectations of others. Their discovery will radically shake your thinking and your world. This will be the internal breakthrough that will set you up to be used by God to usher in a breakthrough in your culture.