We are more literate, more filled with data, than at any time in the history of the Church.  We have more books or ebooks, more teaching, webinars, powerful conferences; yet our hearts, our families, and indeed the world around us remain unchanged. There must be a further transformation, a greater becoming of who we are in Christ. The account of the resurrection of Lazarus in the Gospel of John as an analogy of this restored life through this pattern is found many places in the Scriptures. The restored life is a journey from quieting, to listening, to restoring and becoming.

Quieting

The restoration of Lazarus began in the quiet darkness of the tomb.  New life often begins in the dark: the darkness of creation, the darkness of the womb. The process that restored life to every cell of Lazarus begins in the stillness or quiet. We have noisy hearts.  Quieting allows us to be intensely present and aware of Christ until we hear the beating of his heart within us. Jesus often sought the solitude and quiet of the mountain or the wilderness where he might separate Himself from the noise and demands of daily living to the heart of the Father. These times often preceded or followed great signs and wonders.

Until we are quiet, we cannot hear the heart of God.  The Psalmist says, “Be still and know that I am God” (PS 46:10). God speaks to Elijah in the “sound of a gentle stilling” (1 Kings 19:12). Hearing God begins in the quietness of separation where our hearts connect with His and where we become empty of noise to be filled with His unconfused Voice.  Quieting is about focus until we can hear the sound of the heart of Jesus beating within us.

Listening

When the stone was rolled away and the obstacle to hearing the voice of Christ was removed, Jesus shouted loudly to his friend, “Lazarus, come forth.” As we set our hearts to listen, the voice of God breaks into the silence connecting us with the Voice. And the Voice speaks something simple to us. “You are loved—you are Mine!” In the story of Lazarus, Jesus calls forth his beloved friend by name, saying, “Lazarus, come forth!” (11:34). Lazarus is referred to as “beloved” several times in the Gospel of John (11:3, 5, 36). As we listen, we hear the Voice calling us to know that we are the beloved of God.

We are the beloved of God as Jesus was the beloved of the Father.  We overhear conversations from Father to Son twice in the gospels: once when Jesus is baptized, and the other time on the mount of transfiguration. Both times the Father says, “You are My Beloved Son.” (Luke 3:21-22, Mark 9:7). In quietness and listening, the followers of Christ experience truth and the conversion of heart. He must be unbound and released from the grave clothes, the remnants of death and the tomb. It is not enough for Lazarus or us to simply respond to the Voice only to shuffle to the mouth of the tomb. We are still bound.

Restoring

Restoration reflects the command of Jesus to the community around Lazarus to remove the grave clothes and remnants of death. (John 11:44). In this practice, the followers of Jesus experience his personal and interactive presence healing areas of past wounding and negative programming. This often involves the healing of memories. Henri J. M. Nouwen suggests that parts of us that have been wounded in the past and have caused emotional pain must be healed. “Your pain is deep, and it won’t just go away. It is also uniquely you, because it is linked to some of your earliest life experiences. Your call is to bring that pain home. As long as your wounded part remains foreign to your adult self, your pain will injure you as well as others.”

The source is often a childhood wounding experience that has implanted beliefs not reflective of the truth of God. The presence of God is acknowledged in the time of wounding. As the subject recognizes the presence of God, there the truth is received, healing begins,offenders are forgiven, vows are broken and spiritual strongholds are removed. We are unbound and the stink of death is off us.

Becoming

When Jesus commands the community of Lazarus to “let him go,” Lazarus is released to continue his journey toward Christ. This devotional analogy reflects growth in intimacy which leads to Christ-like character and peace. This transformation is also a process of establishing new beliefs, habits or, as Psalm 23 puts it, “paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.” Jesus tells us in John 8:31 that it is not enough to merely acquire truth, but that we must continue in truth in order for it to become personal to us. “So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free’” (John 8:31-33 NASU).

We invite you to seek our Restored Life Encounter where we journey with Jesus through the entire healing pathway. We will learn to quiet our noisy clanking hearts so that we can listen to the heart of Christ that restores and refreshes us to become like Him.

Editor’s Note: You can find Thom Gardner’s books here: Relentless Love and Healing the Wounded Heart

Someone recently asked me for some recommendations on powerful “healing” worship/music and after going back through some of my favorite albums I decided on the following:

Kim Walker-Smith: “Healing Oil”

Available on her album “Still Believe” – iTunes

Bethel Music: “Healer”

Available on the album Here Is Love – iTunes

Deluge: “Healing is Here”

Available on the album “Swell”

Michael W. Smith: “Healing Rain/Let It Rain”

What about you, what would you have recommended?

Let me know in the comments below.

Access to God

“We all have access to God provided by Christ our High Priest in the same measure that He does! There is no “cleaning ourselves up” before we enter His presence or come before His throne. Jesus has already “cleaned us up” to the point of perfection. Nothing we can do will add anything to that finished work. ” (Pure Grace Page 71)

Let’s Talk Grace

It is important to remember what it takes to have “access” to God. Only those who are without any sin attached can be in union with Him!  That is precisely why God had to remove our sin from us; why Christ “took our sins away.” Access to God, for the Believer, is fully available and never restricted in ANY measure for ANY reason!  The erroneous religious idea that God withdraws from Believers if they have “unconfessed” sin in their lives is a lie that corrupts the glorious gospel. The devil must rejoice over such nonsense. COME BOLDLY BEFORE HIS THRONE!

EDITOR’S NOTE: You can get Pastor Clark Whitten’s book, Pure Grace at Amazon • Barnes and Noble • Books-A-Million • Christianbook.com and other fine retailers.

The Everyday Supernatural Life

When most of us think of the supernatural realm, we don’t always think of these things happening in everyday life.  I was like most, who thought of supernatural encounters taking place in special settings or operating through a select few.  I am referring to supernatural encounters in the life of the believer that occur due to our communion with the Holy Spirit. Jesus has been changing my heart and mind on this since last year.

Finding myself being bored with the Christian life I was leading, I was praying and inquiring of the Lord as to why I was not seeing more supernatural encounters.  When I read the book of Acts, it seems as though the supernatural moved in the lives of the believers on a consistent basis. Was it possible that moving in the supernatural realm could be a common, everyday thing?  My life at that time was very busy with full time work, leadership roles and ministry at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City, and other ministry roles through my own 5013c ministry. Good things were happening on all fronts, but still my heart longed for more.

A Call to a Deeper Journey

The Lord began to call me, draw me into a deeper journey with Him, an ongoing journey into the supernatural lifestyle of faith.  I was very excited to take this journey at the beginning, but quickly learned how resistant my heart and emotions were to taking the necessary steps required to see the supernatural manifested in my life on a consistent basis. I learned that walking in the supernatural faith realm requires me to stop relying on or leaning on the natural realm, but instead to allow Jesus to awaken and focus my spiritual eyes. I had to see past what was obvious in order to see into the supernatural realm. When I was able to get past my natural resistance and move out into this realm, I began to see some awesome things take place in my life. One area where this was manifested was in the area of daily provision and expenses.

Supernatural Provision

Jesus had instructed me to come to Him when I had a need and He would give me directions as to how to get what I needed. He did this in various ways. Once, I needed money to pay some monthly expenses. I had quit my job, at the Lord’s leading, and now was to depend on Him totally. This was one of my first lessons on not looking or depending on the natural but looking with eyes of faith and relying on Jesus.   Honestly, this was a scary place for me.  I struggled just to make the decision to stop working. What if I didn’t hear Him correctly? If I was wrong on this, I was going to quickly ‘crash and burn’!

Yet, here I was at this place of need… So I went to Jesus about this as He had instructed. I then felt led to check my bank account balance, which I did. To my great surprise, I found that there was a little over $400 in my account!  There was no explanation as to how it got there.  I called the bank to inquire if a mistake had been made but was told that this was simply the amount that was in the account.  I knew I had not made a deposit and had no job income coming in, but there was $400 in my account!  This was more than enough to take care of the expenses I had, plus leave me with some extra.  Praise Jesus!! There were other times, as well, when I had a need and went to Jesus about it. Soon I was given the exact thing I needed by someone who had no idea about the need. I have had food and toiletries provided for me, gotten price cuts at stores for items I specifically needed, and once got a $40 blender for $15 by Jesus directing me to a specific store in order to purchase one.

Supernatural Healing

I have seen healing take place on a new level, both in my own life as well as those I have prayed for.  Once, I felt the Lord telling me to go pray for someone who was sneezing consistently. I did this and the sneezing instantly stopped! On another occasion, I heard Jesus give me specific instructions as to how to pray for a woman who was struggling with depression. Her countenance was very dark.  I could barely hear her as it seemed to weary her just to speak. As He gave me specific instructions at to what to pray and what spirits to cast out, the countenance on the woman’s face began to change and brighten. Suddenly she began to cry, then smile, then laugh.  She then began to pray for herself as more and more of the oppression and darkness lifted. She was totally set free.  As more of these types of things kept happening in my life, I came to realize that this was truly our birthright as believers in Jesus. (John 14:12) This is how life should be lived by every believer in Jesus!

How about you?

Just like an earthly inheritance, we each have to choose to move out in our spiritual inheritance and take possession of our birthright.  In order to receive this inheritance, we have to shake off the obstacles of fear and doubt in order to claim our full birthright that Jesus ordained for us to have.  This is a journey that will allow each of us to claim treasures that are unknown to us at this time, with Jesus being the most precious treasure of all.  Enjoy the journey and let me know the stories of how you are exercising your birthright to live supernaturally everyday in the comments below.

“It is fun to be in the same decade with you.” – Franklin Delano Roosevelt to Winston Churchill

They had just spent three weeks together at the White House, in strategic war planning and personal friendship building. Upon his return to England, Churchill found the note that Roosevelt had wired ahead. Two men, leaders of nations, allied together against the Axis powers – they were commanders in chief, in the midst of warfare, who also found delight in a deep friendship.

My Beautiful Friend

When I read this note penned by FDR, I couldn’t help but reflect upon the last three decades of my life, the highlight being the pleasure of partnering with one beautiful woman. Together, we have walked through history, aware of the evil axis of this age, the plotting of the “god of this world”, expressed through evil nations but also in the daily, domestic life of married couples and families.

Since the garden, God has sought to express a prophetic witness on the earth of bridal, covenant love. Humankind has been vested with authority and stewardship to represent God’s kingdom on planet Earth. The greatest strength in a Christian marriage is when husbands and wives wear their robes as kings and priests. Attacks come unannounced, devised to catch us, unprepared. Every married couple since the garden has experienced this onslaught.

The Fun of Relationship

I like the fact that the President used the word “fun.” Deep friendship, joy in the journey, fighting side by side – a comrade in arms is my spouse to me. This creates a perimeter of protection around our relationship. Every marriage that is fighting for excellence needs to find the mirth in the midst of madness—the kindness to combat the cruelty of the war that’s raging.

They stood in front of war maps; they played card games. They solemnly reviewed the casualties of the war at sea, Germany holding dominion over the shipping lanes; they enjoyed good food and conversations. They battled with Congress over appropriation measures; Churchill found time for his daily afternoon nap (a man after my own heart).

There will be times in your marriage to tighten up; there will be times to lighten up. Find the fight and you’ll find the fun.

How About You?

What ways have you and your spouse found to “lighten up” your marriage and have fun together? Let me know in the comments below.

Who’s fault is it?

One of the greatest challenges we all face in life is offenses. Even Jesus said in Matthew 18:7 that offenses would come, but just make certain they don’t come through you (my paraphrase). Life is filled with opportunities to be offended. Every day, we run across family and friends, co-workers and strangers that say or do something that has the potential of offending us.

Sometimes those offenses build up to where we’re walking around with a big chip on our shoulder just waiting for someone to cross the line… easily provoked, touchy, discontent and frustrated. Our families are walking around on egg shells in fear of that one word, that one gesture or look that will set you off into a tailspin of verbal abuse.

What is the challenge? Is it what people say or do? Is it that things don’t go our way? Is it that the day or drive or something else insignificant didn’t go as we had planned? I submit to you that, in reality, it’s none of those things.

It’s not your spouse, your children, the economy or your personal finances, the political climate, your work environment, or the war in Iraq, but it’s YOU. You, my dear friend, are at the heart of the problem.

The problem of the heart is always the heart of the problem. You know, most of us live as professing Christians but practicing Atheists. We say we believe our God is large and in charge, but every time a problem comes our way, we act as if Jesus is still in the tomb. We act as if the Holy Spirit is resident in us for all of those sad times we go through in life, but not in our daily struggles.

What is faith?

Certainly He is there to comfort us in our time of need, but He lives in us for so much more—for life and life more abundant, and to empower us to overcome our flesh and live according to the Word He breathed. Not in a legalistic way but by grace through faith. Faith seems to be assigned to the big struggles in our life but not the everyday confrontations.

Dear friend, it is always the “little” foxes that spoil the tender grapes in life. We seem to do pretty well with the big predators, but it’s those little annoying problems we face on a daily basis that seem to defeat us. So let me give you a great working definition of faith.

“Faith is an act of man on the revealed truth of God that converts the doctrine of the Bible into reality.” God wants his truth to be manifest through you and me every day in every way.

Great Peace

The point of this short article is to ask the Father to reinforce to all of us Psalms 119:165, “Great peace have they that love thy law and NOTHING [my emphasis] shall offend them.” What offends you? What upsets you? What bothers you to the point of frustration? If we are walking in the Spirit when offenses come, we will respond to God and not react to the offense. But if we don’t, then God will allow us to keep being offended until we become un-offend-able. Why? Because He doesn’t want us to be filled with offenses, but instead filled with His peace, love, and joy.

There was NO offense found in Jesus when the enemy looked at His life.

Christ wants the same for you and me. So the next time you get touchy or offended, realize it’s because you’re not walking in His peace. If you were, NOTHING would offend you. When we’re loving and living within the confines of His word, we will have great peace and rest, and nothing shall offend us. We’ll stop being anxious and frustrated and, instead, we’ll live in His joy. Then and only then will we be a joy to be around.

The Bottom Line

One more suggestion… It may serve us well to resign as the General Manager of the Universe and leave all of that up to God. And that’s the bottom line.

How about you? Have you noticed times that you have been easily offended? What did you do to change? How did you handle it? Let me know in the comments below.