Learning to Love your Limp

What’s your limp?  In all my years of ministry I have never met someone who doesn’t have a limp. It may be a physical, relational, emotional, a spiritual battle or a a combination of all four that has hobbled them. A few weeks ago I touched on the story of Jacob wrestling with God for a blessing that would bring healing to his wounded heart (see Gen. 32).

But along with the blessing of encountering God face to face he was left with a limp. God lightly touched his hip socket and for the rest of his life he walked around the land of promise with a noticeable hitch in his step. His family, friends, and those who knew him before this divine encounter likely asked, “What happened to you?” And what a story he had to tell.

But why would God do this, wasn’t this cruel on God’s part? Jacob did not think so as you read on in the story:

“So Jacob called the place Peniel, saying, ‘for I have seen God face-to-face, and yet my life has been delivered.'” (vs. 30).

Jacob should have died as a sinner, wrestling with a Holy God, but instead he came away with a blessing of the Father’s love and a new name to forever be reminded of the moment of God’s amazing grace that changed His heart with love.

Every step he now took in pain after the event would remind him of God’s mercy and grace and to live in total dependence on the Father’s love for Him. His limp would remind him of God’s supernatural power and filling His heart with the blessing of His love through the Holy Spirit.

The older I get the more thankful I am for the limps in my life. The pain and times of suffering over the years and the wrestling matches I have had with God continue to teach me of His loving grace. Suffering has been a great teacher to remind me I’m not in control. My sinful pride easily wants to make me think I am somehow in control and that I can be my own little god over my world. But I humbly praise God for how suffering quickly brings me back to reality.

The limp of suffering reminds me of how I need to step-by-step surrender to the One who is  Sovereign over every detail of my existence. His path and not mine leads me to my Father’s home of healing and wholeness through overflowing rivers of love poured into my heart. I’m learning to love my limps because they have been gifts to lead me to the perfect love given to me in Jesus by way of my Father.

I love how Timothy Keller put it in his book “Counterfeit Gods”;

“The blessing through that Spirit that is ours through Christ – is what Jacob received, and it is the only remedy against idolatry…As with Jacob, we usually discover this only after a life of looking for blessing in all the wrong places. It often takes an experience of crippling weakness for us to finally discover it. That is why so many of the most God-blessed people limp as they dance for joy.” (p. 164)

Our limps open us up for the power of His Holy Spirit to flow into our weakest places and use them for a testimony for His glory.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Cor. 12:9

 

 

Reaching Prisoners via the Pando App from God Behind Bars

 

In today’s podcast, I spend 10 minutes talking with Henry Miersma about an exciting new effort that Oceans Ministries has undertaken to tell of the Father’s love to thousands of prisoners throughout the country.

An organization named God Behind Bars has developed an App that runs on the tablets used in many prisons across the country. The app, named Pando, is the first and only app that is allowed to bring faith-based content into prisons in this manner. Currently, 459,950 inmate tablets have the Pando App installed, but more are expected in the future.

Click the link below to listen to the podcast and hear details about how the effort was started as well as details about some of the initial response the effort has garnered.

Please pray that God might move the men and women in prison to read The Journey to the Father’s Heart ebook, or watch the related video series, and come to know Christ as their personal savior.

The Blessing!

Recently I was asked to share at a Men’s breakfast and with Pentecost approaching I decided to teach on what I believe is one of the greatest gifts of the Holy Spirit-to encounter the deep love of Abba Father (Rom. 8:15) and receive the immeasurable blessing He has to offer. Our hearts are desperately longing for this blessing and the first step to receiving this gift is to acknowledging our absolute weakness. For me, and perhaps you as well, my human nature  is to avoid all signs of weakness. Yet, I have learned that  the path to Abba and the blessing He desires to bestow, is awareness of the brokenness in our lives and realizing we are powerless to anything in our own strength.

In order to experience the blessing  of the Holy Spirit we must seek the Blesser and shamelessly pound on His door until the gift is received.  An illustrations of this audacity in seeking the blessing is in Genesis 32.  Jacob searched for this blessing his whole life. Even in the womb he grabbed his twin brother Esau’s heel to gain first place in the family. Later on Jacob was so desperate for the blessing from his father Isaac, he tricked him into thinking he was Esau just to receive the coveted blessing for the first born.

Despite this blessing, more pain followed and Jacob escaped to his uncle Laban as Esau sought revenge. So Jacob searched for yet another blessing in beautiful Rachel thinking she would fill the void. But Jacob now was the one tricked and ended up with the oldest sister Leah on his wedding night and worked 7 more years for Rachel. Even Rachel and the 11 sons born left him dissatisfied.

Work provided immeasurable wealth and still Jacob’s heart was unfulfilled. Then after 20 years away, God prompted Jacob to return which meant a confrontation with Esau. The unsettling evening before meeting Esau, Jacob wrestled all night with a mysterious figure-who I believe was Jesus. Just before dawn the figure said to Jacob, “Let Me go.” But Jacob refused to release his grip until the “man” blessed him.

At the moment of weakness and sheer exhaustion the blessing came to a desperate man and God changed Jacob’s name to Israel, because of their wrestling match. It is to be noted that the Hebrew letters in Israel mean one who retains God. I would translate it as his heart became a dwelling place for the presence of God.

Jacob finally got the blessing his heart was longing for when he came to the end of himself and clung to God until He blessed him. It is through weakness that our hearts are opened and prepared for the gift of the Holy Spirit. And what is that Gift or Blessing we all need? The Love of our heavenly Father. This is what empowered Jesus in ministry and kept Him faithful to the cross. This is what changed fearful disciples into bold witnesses-when the Holy Spirit came upon them.

As we look forward to Pentecost be reminded how much you need the blessing that comes from the Holy Spirit. Realize you are powerless and that you need the supernatural love of your Daddy to be the blessing you have been longing for. Don’t let go of Him until you get it.

“What father among you, if his son ask for a fish, will instead give him a snake…if you then, who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give you the Holy Spirit for those who ask Him.” (Luke 11:11-13)

Our Abba Father offers His healing and transformational love. This blessing is waiting for you to claim.

Fire Season

A few weeks ago in South Africa fires raged over the mountains near the valley where Oceans Retreat Center resides. The fire ate up thousands of acres of mountain foliage and forests-thankfully no lives were lost. For the last few years during this time of year, the end of fall and the vegetation is dry from limited rain fall,  fires have raged all around the valley.

A year or so ago after a massive fire had caused destruction, I was hiking on a mountain near the Retreat Center and to my amazement saws signs of new life were already springing up from the sandy soil. Beneath the charred and dead tress small shoots of green grass  were sprouting. After the fire and harsh rain of winter, it was utterly amazing to observe wild flowers and tidbits of foliage breaking forth over the once scorched area turning it into a spectacular natural garden.

Creation mirrors our Creator God and how He works spiritually within our hearts. Just as a wild fire can burn across a mountain consuming everything in it path, yet in time a new season of healthy, strong and vibrant growth breaks forth displaying the glory of our Creator God. So too in our hearts we wait for Him to work anew in ways we could have never imaged.

In the Biblical calendar we’ve just walked through the Resurrection season and are heading into the Spiritual season of Heavenly Fire called Pentecost. This is when Jesus promised His followers that the Third person of the Trinity would come down and fill the Father’s children up with a Holy Fire that would bring new life anew within them and ultimately spill over to the ends of the earth.

I love this spiritual season because it testifies to the Goodness of God’s amazing Grace through the work of His Spirit. As I look back on my life’s journey it was the Fire of the Spirit of God that opened my eyes to the gift of Salvation. I would have never encountered the love of the Father through the work of Christ if the Spirit did not open my eyes to see and receive the gift.

And my life would be powerless without the continual gift of the Holy Spirit that fills the weakest of vessels with Heavens love and strength to walk forward in faith and testify to His amazing grace.

During the 50 days from Resurrection to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; I’m reminded it is Fire Season. A time for me to praise God for the powerful work of the Holy Spirit given because of what Christ’s death and resurrection. It is a time to be reminded of how much daily need the Holy Spirit in my life. A time to acknowledge my weakness and absolute dependance on the Fire from heaven to burn away my sin and fill me with the Spirit of Jesus to live through me for the Father’s glory.

Jesus told His disciples:

“Don’t leave Jerusalem, but wait here until you receive the gift I told you about, the gift the Father has promised, ‘For John baptized you in water, but in a few day from now you will be baptized in the Holy Spirit!” (Acts 1:4-5).

We need the Fire to fill us again and again. During this Fire Season don’t hesitate to daily ask for a fresh filling of the Spirit of Christ.

“And don’t get drunk with wine, which is rebellion;  instead be filled continually with the Holy Spirit and your hearts will overflow with a joyful song to the Lord!” (Ephesians 5:18-19)