Welcome! Take a listen to the message on Sunday on our YouTube Channel and then read through the prayer directive and reflection to dig a littler deeper.
There were so many great things that could be expanded on after this weekend! I hope that you’ve found something that you can take and hold throughout the week to let Holy Spirit expand in you. Here are a few things that were highlighted to me in this month of Iyar.
Our Common Destiny | Romans 8:28-29
As I was sitting in the nursery, listening to worship with my daughter sleeping in my arms, I found myself resting in the song Casey was singing about casting our crowns before Him. I was imagining these crowns and I thought about how we will probably be surprised when we get to Heaven and see what is worthy of a crown in the sight of God. Because what actually matters to God is often much different than what we think matters. He has a very different definition of success than this world does.
As I sat, the question was swirling in me, ‘What really matters to God?’
As a culture and probably as humanity, we value accomplishing and achieving. We ask questions like:
What or how much do I need to do?
What or how much do I need to let go of?
How much can I get away with that won’t affect my performance in God’s sight?
How can I protect my reputation for the sake of God?
When is it my time to be seen so I can live my destiny?
In fact, how do I make sure I don’t miss my destiny?
But God’s success is based on our becoming and our becoming is based on how much we’re willing to surrender to Him. From this position, we begin to ask very different questions:
Where do I see myself becoming more like Jesus?’
What else can I lay down to receive more of you?
How many of my own rights have I laid down?
How much of the fruit of the Holy Spirit do I see growing in my life?
How much have I let my walls down and let myself be known by God and by others?
Listen, we can even make the great commission about accomplishment! How well am I living out the great commission? And while this really isn’t a bad question, it’s not what matters the most to God.
As I was pondering all these things, making notes, asking questions, my daughter woke up, so I brought her to the nursery and walked into service as Pastor was sharing from Romans 8 about our common destiny. Needless to say, my heart was singing!
Romans 8:28-29
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. 29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
God’s good for us doesn’t equal comfort. If we think that’s what it means, it will seem as though God isn’t very good at keeping His promise. But when we read verse 29, we find out that God will use everything for good for those who love God and that His good is conforming us into the image of His Son. He will use anything and everything in our lives - if we will allow Him – to conform us into the image of Jesus. And He calls this good. He calls this success.
Here are a few marks of those who love God:
Lovers want to be transformed not because they hate themselves, but because it allows them to love God more deeply.
Lovers want to partner with Holy Spirit in surrendering.
Lovers want to obey in order to protect the heart of the Father and show Him love.
Lovers want to become sensitive to the ways their choices are affecting the heart of the Father.
Lovers ask questions like:
How much of my own rights have I laid down?
How much of the fruit of the Holy Spirit do I see growing in my life?
How much have I let my walls down and let myself be known by God and by others?
How much am I willing to surrender?
How can I see and know more of Jesus?
For those who love God and are called, it’s not about the doing, it’s about the becoming.
When we agree that the best good that exists is to become like Jesus, we welcome Holy Spirit to partner with us in the transformation rather than resist Him.
Repentance and Forgiveness | Luke 24:45-47
“Preach repentance and forgiveness.” This was such a great statement that Jesus makes in the transition as He brings vision in the month of Iyar to His disciples. Immediately, I thought of how it brings together John the Baptist’s kingdom message of repentance and Jesus’ kingdom message of forgiveness. Both are necessary in inspiring someone to turn to the Father. And we know that it’s His loving kindness that leads us to repentance.
I would encourage us to lay our definition of repentance and forgiveness before the Father and lean in to hear God speak about it. Allow Him to define it. Because oftentimes, this concept has come to us through condemnation. Repentance received without forgiveness divides, separates and disconnects.
But once any condemnation has been sifted out of it and it is brought through the lens of forgiveness, it takes on a different meaning. Repentance and forgiveness become relational words. They are words that invite, protect and heal. They are words that restore and connect. They bring hope. And when we experience God’s loving kindness, repentance follows.
When Jesus sent the disciples out to preach repentance and forgiveness, I imagine it sounding something like this…
Go and tell them there’s an answer to that heavy weight they feel.
Tell them there’s an abundant resurrection life available to them, a way to feel alive.
Tell them there has been a payment made to their account and that nothing is being held against them anymore.
Tell them there’s an answer to the things they are doing that they don’t want to do, the things that are causing harm.
Tell them there’s a way to come to me and talk face-to-face.
And then tell them… it’s me!
New Wineskin | John 21:15-17
This story of Peter’s restoration is my favourite story to read in scripture. And each time, there is something new. This time, as we visit it through the lens of Iyar in the transitioning and the forming of a new wineskin, it comes alive in a new way and gives us a glimpse into what may be happening in our lives. Holy Spirit, unveil our understanding so we can see!
Peter was a fisherman. He was accustomed to fish. He knew the best places to go, how to operate his fishing vessel, when to lower the net, when to pull it in, the best weather and time of day to get the best catch. He was experienced and he was talented. In this modern culture, we might call it ‘gifted’. It made sense that he fished. He was good at it!
But Jesus was going call him out onto the water again, where He would have to search for Jesus’ gaze and be led by His hand in order to stay afloat. He was being given the opportunity to be formed into a new wineskin. And perhaps his denial that we tend to see as such a great failure was actually a part of his becoming? Because as we know, God uses all things for the good of those who love and are called according to His purposes. Maybe this denial was just what Peter needed to see that, although he claimed he would follow Jesus to the ends of the earth, he didn’t have the power within himself to do it. It was humbling. And before something new can be formed with the Spirit of God, there must be a humbling that says, “There is more and it’s beyond my ability.”
Jesus knew that He would meet Peter three days after the denial to invite him into something new. Something he would need help in order to do. Perhaps by the third time Jesus asked Peter if he loved him with the invitation to feed sheep, he started to feel the ache of his inability. He became acquainted with the deep inadequacy that he was previously unaware of. How would he feed Jesus’ sheep? He was supposed to be a fisher of men. He didn’t know sheep. He didn’t know how to care for sheep. He couldn’t even stay when Jesus needed him the most…
But this time, notice Peter responds differently. Instead of making a bold claim about how he would do anything for Jesus, we see Peter in deep humility and meekness accepting Jesus’ invitation – and not even with a verbal agreement!! His denial shook him so hard that he realized he was at the end of his ability. But I bet it would be this very unravelling that allowed him to step into his God-given identity as ‘the rock’ – the one who stayed strong to the end.
Don’t be surprised if God brings you to the end your ability and if it feels disorienting, painful, humbling. You, my friend, are on the brink of greatness and are being set up for the greater things that come from learning to lean on your beloved and surrendering your own strength in exchange for His.
In order for Jesus to take Peter beyond, he first had to face the end of his ability. And while we may read this denial as an utter failure on Peter’s part - certainly not worthy of a crown - maybe we will see Peter in Heaven casting it at His feet while the Father fondly reminisces, “Now this, this is what I call good, my son. This is story of your becoming.”
Personal Reflection
When you hear the word repentance, what comes up within you? If this is hard for you or you notice a big reaction, spend some time with the Lord. Let Him wash over you with His presence, cleansing you and releasing you from the ways it’s been misused and misrepresented. Forgive where necessary and ask Holy Spirit to help you let go of the old so you can move into the new.
Ask Holy Spirit to reveal your priority. If it feels challenging, that’s okay! What habits are you practicing, or could you practice to pursue success as God defines it? How might Holy Spirit want to move you out of the loop of accomplishing and achieving and into the rest of becoming?
Take some time to reflect on the ways that you have noticed you are becoming more like Jesus. Lay them as crowns before the feet of Jesus. Ask for a word or vision from the Lord that He wants you to grow into.
In this month of transition (or maybe it’s been a longer season for you), have you been feeling humbled and challenged by what you see as failure? Take some time to share with the Lord and with a trusted friend. In the crushing and the pressing, you will find strength in the support of the body.
bAsk Holy Spirit to show you what He is working for your good right now in your life. Let it encourage and surprise you! Sometimes the very things we are praying to get out of are meant to become the shaping agents that forge the new wineskin to carry the new wine. He will give you strength to endure as you continue to come to Him.