I had to buy it.  It was simply too cool to pass up.

But now that I owned it what was I going to do with it?  I had one already I used regularly, so why did I need another one?  Well, I guess I really didn’t need it, I just really wanted it.

“It”, is a journal.  But not just any journal.  This is an Italian leather journal with an antique metal clasp to keep it closed.  It looks like something a European explorer would have used to document his explorations in the new world.  It looks like adventure, it smells like adventure, it feels like adventure.

I love it!

And now I’ve finally figured out what to do with it…

Anne and I went for a holiday this summer to a resort on the sunshine coast of British Columbia.  Our goal was to simply unplug and take it easy.  We wanted to do some hikes, do a little kayaking, eat and drink, and rest.

With all the downtime we were scheduling to have I planned a little activity I’ve wanted to do for some time.  I’ve wanted to go through my recent journals and pull out the directional words the Lord has given me over the years.

So, I took my journals dating back 14 years and methodically went through them each morning.  When I came across something I had written down I believed God has spoken to me, like taking some kind of action, or praying for something in particular, or a prophetic word of encouragement or of direction, I wrote it down in my new “explorer’s” journal.

What an experience.

It was amazing to look back over 14 years and see what the Lord has been speaking to me.  Much of it is very relevant to where I’m at right now.  And, much of it was also accomplished during that time frame.

I have to say, it was very encouraging.  It really helped me to refocus on the mandate God has given me.  It also re-energized me for the work the Lord is asking me to do.  I realized anew how critically important it is for us to remember what God spoken to us.

Why is it important to remember what God has spoken to us?

Well, quite simply so we can fully embrace what God’s will is for us and for others through us.

One thing in particular was on my mind while I was working through my journals.  Someone had spoken to me in the recent past about the need for us to partner with the Lord in what He is saying to us.  For example, if God has spoken to you prophetically, what do you need to do to partner with Him in that?  To take hold of it in faith?

I realized I had been passive in a number of areas where God had spoken to me.  My thought had been, “Well, if God has said it then He is going to do it.”  However, there was a role that I needed to play in partnering with God in it.

For example, over the years I discovered I had received a number of words about asking God for more of something so I could fully partner with Him in the work He was calling me to do with Him.  I discovered there were actually 13 things God has asked me to pray for more of, and I simply had not been doing it.

So, I am now praying for more anointing, authority, courage, faith, Holy Spirit, leadership, power, provision, revelation, strategy, vision, wisdom and zeal.  I want to ensure I am wholeheartedly partnering with the Lord as best I can.

So what has God said to you?  Did you care enough to write it down?  Have you taken the time to go back and read through what the Lord has said to you?

Let’s care enough about what the Risen Lord of Glory has to say to us, to write it down.  God is speaking, are we listening?

Let’s write to remember, so we’re not destined to forget, and miss all the Lord has for us – and for others through us.

Psalm 103:17-18

“But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.”

James 1:25

“But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.”

Jeremiah 30:2

“This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Write in a book all the words I have spoken to you.’”

Deuteronomy 8:11

“Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.”

Are you a Frank Sinatra fan?

I have a friend who is a huge Sinatra fan. In fact, my friend is actually a great singer and sings Sinatra classics. When I had my agency we produced 5 albums for him. During that time I certainly had an education in Sinatra’s music.

Sinatra certainly has a massive impact on North American culture, and arguably global culture as well. He performed for 6 decades, sold millions of records, acted in dozens of films and won all manner of awards from Grammy’s to Oscars.

He is truly a cultural icon.

I thought about Mr. Sinatra recently when I was chewing through something the Lord was helping me to understand. What I recalled was a simple lyric from the song, “Strangers in the Night”

At one point in the song he simply croons the words, “Do-be-do-be-do”

I thought, “That’s it. That’s how we’re called to live.”

Let me explain before you begin to think I’ve lost it…

We are human beings. Sometimes though, we are more about doing and can be accused of being “human doings”. In fact, at one point in time someone pointed out to me that I was a pretty good human doing, but not a great human being.

In other words, I was great at doing things; at working. But, I was not very good at resting, at being still – at being.

I believe we need to be like Mr. Sinatra sang – we need to know how to do and be. Do-be-do-be-do, that’s how we’re called to live.

I believe we all have a propensity toward one of these 2 ways to live. Some of us are motivated to get out and “do” things. We want to make it happen. We can’t sit still for very long. We don’t do nothing well – doing nothing is difficult for us.

This is actually a God-given strength. We take action. We get stuff done.

However, the corollary weakness to this strength is that we can define ourselves by our performance. We can believe that the better we perform, the more valuable we are. We can actually believe that what we do defines us.

That is a very dangerous belief indeed.

For those who have a propensity to “be”, they believe that what they do does not define them. They have a deep understanding of who they are. They know how to be still, they know how to rest, they can actually do nothing and not go crazy. They can be at rest.

This is a God-given strength as well. They can rest and be at peace.

However, the corollary weakness to this strength is that they can be very unproductive. They don’t get much done. They don’t “do” anything. They can be lazy and are quite content with “being”.

We’re all created and called to both be and do. Mr. Sinatra actually got the order wrong though. I think we all need to have a deep revelation of our being – who we are. We’re beloved sons of our Father in heaven. There’s nothing we can do to earn His love or get Him to love us more.

It’s only out of a profound revelation of who we are that we can actually “do” in total freedom. We don’t do things to earn God’s love, or to prove our value and worth. We actually do things as an act of worship of God and obedience to Him.

We do because we’re loved and can rest in our value and worth in Him.

We need to know how to “be” – to know Him. And, we need to know how to “do” – to make Him known.

As we increasingly know God, we can increasingly make Him known. It is in knowing Him that we discover how to make Him known. It is in being a beloved son of our heavenly Father that we can powerfully partner with Him in all that He wants to do through us to see his kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

Let’s commit ourselves to know our Father, so we can truly make Him known.

Be-do-be-do-be

Romans 8:15, 16

“The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”

John 15:16

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit-fruit that will last-and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.”

John 14:21

“Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”

James 2:17, 18

“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.”

Psalm 46:10

“…Be still, and know that I am God;…”

Where does most of the living happen in a family home?

The kitchen.

Prepping and eating the meals, and simply hanging out around food.  The highest traffic area in any house is the area around the fridge.

Our family often hangs out at our kitchen island.  Late night nacho nibbling, popcorn prep, microwaved cheese buns, chocolate milk, cheese and crackers, leftovers, you name it, all in the kitchen at the island.

The kitchen is the heart of the family home.

The porch is where non-family wait to be invited in by the family.  Family don’t have to be invited in, we have an open invitation to enter the heart of our home.  Strangers can’t walk straight into our home.  Stranger wait on the porch for an invitation to come inside.

Our relationship with the Lord is like that.  We’ve been created to live as family in the heart of the family home.  We’ve been created to have full access to all the rights and privileges of a beloved child in our Father’s family.

However, our sin – our insistence to do life our way – means we’re relegated to living outside of the family of God.  And, the closest we can come is the porch.

But Jesus is at the front door to the house, to the family of God.  He made a way for each of us to be born again into the family of God.  Through Jesus’ death and resurrection we can move from the porch to the kitchen.

This week I had the pleasure and privilege of witnessing a friend of mine responding to Jesus’ invitation to move from the porch to the kitchen.  He was born again into the family of God with full access to God’s kitchen!

Daniel has been a client of mine for close to 4 years now.  We began talking about Jesus a number of months ago.  It had become very apparent the Lord was calling him – he just didn’t recognize it yet.  He was very open to learn more and he was very keen to have me close our coaching sessions by praying for him.

I was going to a Heaven in Business conference at Bethel Church in Redding California, and invited a number of my Christian friends to join me.  None could make it.  So, I invited Daniel.  I figured if he came he would somehow have a profound encounter with Jesus.

And that’s exactly what happened.

Though a little apprehensive, he was game to come, and Jesus powerfully met with him in many different ways.  We talked on a number of occasions about moving from the porch to the kitchen, but he wasn’t quite ready yet.  Then, he experienced something that in 46 years of walking with Jesus I have never experienced…

Basically, Jesus visited him at the beginning of a session.

Daniel said it was like Jesus stepped inside him and sat down in a big comfy leather chair, and asked Daniel to sit down with him.  Daniel sat with Jesus and said he had never felt such peace and love in his life.

We then, as part of the conference, got together in a small group to pray for each other.  Daniel stepped in the circle and God, through the prayers and words of others, continued to do even more to woo Daniel.

That was it.  He gave up resisting God and trying to do it on his own.  He talked with Jesus on the porch and asked if He would forgive his sin.  Daniel asked if he could become a beloved son in God’s family and move into God’s kitchen.

After heart-felt hugs he looked at me and said, “Am I allowed to be this happy?”

Absolutely!  Welcome to the family!

God’s heart is for all of us to move from the porch to the kitchen.  Jesus made a way for all of us to commune with our Father around His kitchen table.  Don’t relegate yourself to the porch – gather round the kitchen table of our father and commune with Him and the rest of the family.

Jesus made the way for you to move from the porch to the kitchen.

1 John 3:1

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”

James 1:17

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

Romans 8: 15-17 (The Message)

“This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike ‘What’s next, Papa?’ God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him!”

John 15:11

“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”

Brown Eyed Girl, Domino, Moondance, Crazy Love, Have I Told You Lately That I Love You, In The Garden, Gloria, ‘Til We Get The Healing Done and over 550 more songs through which Van Morrison has touched millions.  I have always enjoyed his music and his lyrics:

“…No guru, no method, no teacher, just you and I and nature and the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit in the garden…”

“…Till you live in the glory of the One, Till you live in the land of the sun, Till you feel like your life has just begun, Till we get the healing done, Till we get the healing done…”

He has penned some powerful heartfelt lyrics and created some incredibly heart moving music.  I had always wanted to see him in concert and now here I was – 8 rows back on the floor directly in front of him.

There is something very moving about live music, but what I really enjoy is somehow, in some slight way, getting to know the artist.  I particularly enjoy it when the artist interacts with the audience – they talk, they tell stories, they share a bit about themselves.

We connect somehow.

Well, the music was big and bold, the energy was electric, the solos were outstanding; he played many of his classic hits, but he never said one word to the audience.  He never talked.  He never connected.  I never got invited into his life.

He took the stage amidst a song, sang and played for an hour and a half and left the stage amidst the final song.  No “hello”.  No “goodbye”.  No “good to be here”.  No stories.

I wanted to connect, but he didn’t.  Even though the concert was great, I left feeling a little empty.  We had no connection.

It made me think that this is how we sometimes feel about God and church meetings.  We want to connect with God.  The music can be great, the ‘performance’ fabulous, but there is no connection.

Does God actually want to connect with us?  Does He want to share Himself with us?  Or, is He content to simply put on a great performance and stay aloof?  Is God someone who wants to stay far off and not really engage in our lives, or does He want to be intimately engaged in every part of our lives?

Does God actually want to do life with us?  Or perhaps more accurately, does He want us to do life with Him?  Does He want to be known by us?

I am confident that God wants to be engaged with and connected to us.  He wants to be intimately engaged in our lives – He wants to connect.  He was the one who initiated the relationship.   You didn’t choose Him.  He chose you.  He came after you.  He pursued you.  He loved you first.  None of us can come to the Father of our own accord – He draws us.

He woos us.

In fact, the whole purpose of Jesus coming to earth and dying on the cross was to create connection between man and God.  Jesus made a way so that we can draw near to God and actually know Him, to be in relationship with Him, to connect with His heart and purpose for us and for others through us.

Through the redemptive work of Jesus God invites us to connect with Him.  But it’s more than an invitation, it’s a longing to connect with us.  He wants us to know Him and call Him Father.

In Jeremiah 29:13 and 14 (The Message) God expresses His longing for us to pursue Him:

“’When you come looking for me, you’ll find me. Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.’ God’s Decree.”

Wow – the God of the Universe chose you so that you could be in a deep meaningful relationship with Him.  Jesus made a way for us to draw near to God.  Yes, He wants to connect with you.

God is serious about connecting with you.  How serious are you serious about connecting with Him?

Jeremiah 3:19

“I myself said,” ‘How gladly would I treat you like sons and give you a desirable land,       the most beautiful inheritance of any nation.’ I thought you would call me ‘Father’ and not turn away from following me.”

Matthew 15:16

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”

John 6:44

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Hebrews 10:22

“Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”