Yom Yerushalayim

Yesterday was Yom Yerushalayim!!! (Jerusalem Day!) The young and the old alike flooded the streets (and atop vehicles😂) to celebrate 51 years of reunification!!!

Faces of the Holocaust

Those eyes have seen horrors beyond what can be told. Those hands once held desperately to the grip of loved ones, only to be ripped from each other and hauled away like cattle to concentration camps. Their hearts experienced the penetrating ache of utter loneliness as they realized the majority, if not all of their relatives perished. Those cheeks felt hot tears streaming down, day after day, year after year. A living nightmare. And yet they are here. They are living and breathing. Against all odds. These are the faces of survivors.

Throughout history, they have been the most oppressed people on the face of the planet. Their enemies surround them on all sides, (even today... like - right this second) and the kingdom of hell wishes to wipe them off the face of the planet. But this will never be. Because He promised.

Today, we grieve. We remember. We stand with you. #holocaustremembranceday #yomhashoah // 

The promise: “This is what the Lord says, he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar— the Lord Almighty is his name: “Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,” declares the Lord, “will Israel ever cease being a nation before me.” This is what the Lord says, “Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,” declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 31:35-37 @ Jerusalem, Israel

Passover

We gathered around a table this evening to celebrate Passover. 

We gathered to rejoice with the children of Israel and remember the wonders of the Great I AM as He freed them from their unbearable bondage in Egypt. 

We gathered to hear the lovesick heart of God desiring union with His people. 

We gathered to remind our souls of our own Exodus as well; that we have been rescued from the dominion of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of His beloved Son. 

We gathered to remember the honor of being adopted into this ancient, covenantally secure family. 

We gathered to remember the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ the Messiah, the Great I AM.

The One who was and who is and who will return to us. 

It baffles me to think that less than a mile from where I’m typing this insta caption from my apartment in Jerusalem, the Light of the world Himself sat in a little room, reclining around a table with His friends to celebrate this prophetic festival - knowing full well what was to come soon after. Knowing He was about to lay His life down and shed His very own blood as the paschal Lamb for me. For you. For the world. And for the joy set before Him... He endured the cross. All because we were worth it to Him😭 (and still are). All so this lovesick God might have for Himself a lovesick people whose only heart cry is that we may KNOW HIM and the power of His resurrection, and may share in His sufferings. There is no greater love than a Man who lays down His life for His friends.

It is stunning to me how the Grand Storyteller orchestrated the sequence of the Jewish feasts to correlate with His redemptive work in the earth. He is so fun and intricate. We get to peer into the Almighty's manuscript as we study and experience these "appointed times." It is truly enriching my appreciation and depth of love for the One who came to fulfill them.

Sabbath

Every single Friday right about this time, the city begins to shut down. Busses stop running, shops and restaurants close, the busyness ceases for a time. (Until Saturdays at nightfall). 

In a few hours, families will gather around their table to enjoy a delicious feast all the while filling the air with laughter, blessings, and songs. It’s a sacred time to thank Adonai for His faithfulness and kindness. It’s a time to thank Him for the gift of rest. It’s honestly a weekly holiday. There is such a joy in the atmosphere! Children laughing and playing... families walking together... the smell of food cooking when you pass by homes.

Ahhhh I love how God designed this day for us. It’s so kind of Him. 😭🙌🏼 (I know it can be a challenge.. (s/o to my western civilization friends)... but try and rest your bodies AND your souls. Turn your phones off. Go listen to birds sing and talk to the living God who inclines His ear to hear us. (He loves to hear us). Eat good food with friends. Laugh. Sing. BREATHE. Restttttttt. I dare ya). #sabbath

Old City Market

Old City market :: #jerusalem

Hanukkah

eyes like a child... looking for the Light

Back in the Land

My first full weekend back in Israel was spent with the incredible #zealousisraelproject #z3 crew and other old pals from #bridgesforpeace!! We hiked around #TimnaPark (southern Israel... close to Egypt🗺🗿), slept in a bedouin tent, chased the sunrise, snorkeled in the Red Sea, worshipped our Maker, sang the #princeofEgypt soundtrack, etc etc etc. 😂

It has been quite a whirlwind of a week for me as I’ve been transitioning back to life here in this breathtaking, powerful land. In so many way, it feels like I never left. I’ve run into old acquaintances at the market, passed by familiar street buskers still singing their songs, visited my favorite cafes, walked down those tiny, colorful, cobblestone laden alleys of the #OldCity.

Now for some downsides to balance my silver linings with reality: Jet lag is the MOST obnoxious companion, my housing situation turned out far differently than expected... (s/o to couch surfing and waiting on Jehovah Jireh #amiright 🏄🏽‍♀️🙌🏼) It feels as though an entire month [or maybe 3] has been jammed into nine days. I have sensed my weakness and frailty this week in deeper layers than I anticipated or wanted. It felt like I couldn’t catch my breath for the first few days...

but Toda L’El (thank You, God) for the wilderness. I’m so thankful for silence. I’m so thankful for the way His Spirit rejuvenates and restores; how He tenderly allures us back into the shadow of His wings when we momentarily forget we were there with Him all along...

“But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.” Luke 5:16

Houston

As #HurricaneHarvey began to unleash trillions of gallons of water on #Houston, Demaris and her three sons escaped their flooded house in a rescue boat. @pdufilho was out helping evacuees and shuttling families from the boats to various shelters. The shelters began filling up, so Paul decided to pile the single mother, her three sons, her aunt and their dog into his truck to take to his house in order to keep them safe from the unrelenting waters. @bethanyleann, Paul’s wife, was home with their three kids when he showed up with a truck full of new friends.

The family spent the day well-taken care of at the Dulfilho’s house. The six kids became quick friends - laughing, playing, eating, doing kid things and not needing to worry about the destruction outside.

Paul and Bethany’s son, Will, was to turn four years old on August 30. They had a little celebration a few days earlier on the 26th with other family members before the storm hit the hardest. They enjoyed a delicious Lego cake (to fulfill any four year old’s dreams, of course), and they saved a small inner circle of the cake for Will to have on his real birthday, August 30th. When Demaris and her family arrived that morning, August 29th, the Dufilho’s home was still decorated with birthday regalia.

After the family got showered and settled down from their hectic, traumatic morning, word got out that it was Demaris’ oldest son’s birthday! Ethan celebrated his birthday eating what was left of Will’s Lego cake lit with twelve candles, surrounded by his family and new friends in a dry, warm house. Bethany wasn’t sure if she would have enough candles to decorate the rest of the cake for Will’s birthday the next day since she wouldn’t be able to get to the grocery store, but she gladly put the twelve candles on Ethan’s cake anyway.

The next day, a donut shop opened and they were able to pick up a donut for Will. She got the candles out to decorate the birthday donut and… there were exactly four candles left. 😭🙌🏽💃🏽

(📷: the last three pictures were taken by @bethanyleann) 😊

“Just the day before this, I had watched water creep up our driveway and I had felt terror for my own children & home. It was like in that moment He was reassuring me that no matter what He would provide. Even in the midst of devastation and loss He is there and taking care of us all.” -@bethanyleann

Today, about twenty friends and strangers showed up for hours to help Demaris mud out her house. She gazed around at all the people helping. She glanced back at me with bloodshot, tired eyes on the verge of tears… “I’m not alone. That’s what means the most to me. I just don’t know what else to say. I’m not alone.”

 #hurricaneharvey

Peasants and Princes

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation." 2 Corinthians 5:17-19

After the fall, Adam and Eve’s relationship with Yahweh was not the only thing that broke. Their mindset was shattered to smithereens. The perspective on themselves went from confident innocence to crippling shame. The peace and bliss of the garden - the birthplace of God’s friendship with man - was replaced with turmoil and fear at the acceptance of a liar’s words. An entire world of deceit, envy, murder, strife, shame, lust, control, suffering and pain was conceived through a few crafty questions and cunning lies. The trustworthiness of the greatest Friend to ever exist was questioned, doubted, and betrayed. 

I despise the thought of what we friends and children of God do to His heart sometimes. He wrote this grand story [aka LIFE/history/eternity past to eternity future] to show us His great affection and majesty. To give us a chance to be welcomed into His kingdom for our good and His sheer delight, to the praise of His glorious grace. And time and time again after this first betrayal in the garden, we have wounded the most perfectly good and kind heart with our constant doubts rooted in pride and fear. I am glad He is not only the most affectionate and tender heart I’ll ever know intimately, but He is also the strongest, most relentless, most jovial, intensely sure, steady, confident, and unshaken Being I’ll ever know. It feels unspeakably ridiculous to even state this, but He surely does not need our pity. He is the Living God. The most powerful force in existence. The very Being whose omniscience beheld the pages of this Story before they even played out. He always knows what tomorrow holds. Thankfully though, He knows we are dust and He is compassionate. And this is quite a nice segue into what has been making my heart burn for quite some time...

When the sons of men inherited the broken relationship status with God from Adam and Eve, what came in that packaged deal was a mutilated perspective. Not only is working now a curse, but I believe working became a curse partly because their viewpoint and mindset was cursed. The way we view EVERYTHING through the lens of the old self is cursed. Alive within our old man is every manner of deceit, misconstrued affection, lust, greed, fear, pride, anger, envy, and self gratification. We don’t desire God or ache for Him like one in love. We cannot. We are disillusioned in our narrow-minded craving and commitments to inferior things. We live inside chaos and distraction - rarely coming up for air as the days pass us like clouds racing swiftly across the vast sky. 

We are quick to forget that we have no right to any of the breaths we take. We did not even choose to come into existence! Our existence was chosen by Another. This God I speak of is not up there in the sky looking disappointingly at his creatures exclaiming “Oh what have you done! I had no idea this would happen!” No no, He has been God for a really really really long time and He is not surprised by us. Not only is he NOT surprised by us, but He decided to come acquaint Himself with our sufferings and temptations in effort to bring us to HIM because He knew we needed Him. He demonstrated the greatest act of love the world will ever know. 

I hear often the descriptions we give ourselves as ‘Christians.’ “We are all just beggars looking for bread.” “God, we are sorry for being such pitiful, sinful children.” We lift an octave in our voices to sing the phrase: “prone to wander, Lord I feel it!” like some refrain that holds freedom and power. I have said and done all of these things, but I’ve started to ask myself why?

What if I believed I have an unending flow of bread from the greatest Bread Maker ever. Not only for myself, but plenty to hand around to those who are hungry like I used to be? What if I believed He always had bread to give me if I will go to Him trustingly? (John 14:4). What if I believed I make God proud? (Hebrews 11:16). What if I believed I made Him smile with sheer delight because I am His kid, His beloved, and He can’t stop thinking about me? (Psalm 139:17-18 + John 17:22-23). What if I believed I was prone to love Him now that His Spirit is alive in me? (Galatians 4:6-7). What if I believed His Spirit in me was powerful enough to help me believe these things? (Luke 18:27)

Walking in the latter mindset is freedom. The weight of crippling shame is thrown off and exchanged for confident innocence again. It is nothing short of a miracle. I believe this is the essence and process of sanctification. 

“…even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.” Ephesians 1:4-6 (Plz stop here and go read all of Ephesians 1 just for fun).

With the renewed mindset that we are children instead of beggars, gloriously adopted instead of orphaned, will we not work with greater excellence, love with greater depth, risk with jovial boldness, and live life with greater fullness? Will we not be the most humble, confident human beings walking around on this floating mystery called Earth? We know we are undeserving of this radical and endless love, peace, goodness, joy and grace, but once we receive it (namely, HIM)… why not enjoy Him to the full and carry His Spirit with sureness? There is a world of difference in the shame of a weary peasant and the confidence of a righteous prince.

As Christians, we have the most powerful force in existence living within our flesh and bones. He chose us to be His hands and feet in this time period for some reason, so we must stop using our faith as a crutch to do nothing; to sit in idleness and pity. We have the ability to transcend our contexts through the active work of the Spirit in us revealing the truth of God to our hearts. His truth is revealed as His Word abides within us. 

"Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth." John 17:17

I am convinced the more we delight and feast upon the Words of God, (and I mean really feast on them - i.e. wake up thinking about his words. Go to sleep thinking and talking to Him about His words and promises. Meditate on Him in the afternoons, etc etc…) the more we will realize the power within us, find ourselves possessing greater awareness of our ability to transcend beyond the thoughts of our culture, the thoughts of people, and even our own thoughts rooted in our old nature. We don’t meditate to empty our minds. Our minds must be filled to feed our hearts with the only truth in this entire world - the word of God. Otherwise, we too will be “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (Ephesians 4:14). I don’t want to spend my days thinking about things that won’t matter in 100 years, or 50 years, or 1 year, or 1 month. Or 1 hour for crying out loud. The craze of our culture and the trends of our day inhale our attention, affections, focus, and time for hours upon hours. Those hours turn into days. The days to into years. And those years will eventually amass to a lifetimes of wasted energy, effort and emotion invested into vapor. Nothingness. Vanity. A chasing after wind.

If He sent forth His Word to create the galaxies, (and He did…) then His Word will surely recreate the broken perspective inside of us. (See Psalm 107:20) Not only is our relationship with Him made right positionally, but His powerful Word inside of us will take root in the deepest crevices of our souls, restoring what was stolen and reestablishing a correct and righteous perspective on “self.” The more we allow His word to rebuild the rubble inside of us, the more we will be restored to the children of God we were destined to be before sin entered. (s/o to sanctification again).

(Three important things I need to mention: Firstly, yes, we are daily [and for our lifetime] taking out the trash that reeks from our old self - but we are no longer defined by these sins and struggles, or confined to them. We are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Do not believe what is spoken to you or about you if it is not in God's thought life. (Romans 6:11)

Secondly, I believe God's heart melts when we come to Him desperately and vulnerably like a child needing Him... like a parched deer panting for Him. We will spend our existence relying on Him, aching for Him and humbling ourselves before Him. Yet there is a difference in mindset between desperation and victimized pity, just like there is a difference in confidence and pride.

Thirdly, when we begin to think and live like confident [yet meek] princes and princesses/children of God... suffering is sure to come - but like Stephen - our gaze is fixed upwards because we are sure of Him and sure of who He says we are in Him. We are joy filled and expectant within the pain and struggle - like our Lord Jesus Christ was).

His heart has always been to have us close. We make Him happy! When we choose to believe this, the world will stop stereotyping the Church as a bunch of hypocritical, judgmental bigots. Instead of believing Christ's Body to be a congregation of behaviorally modified human beings without passion, the world will see a people who realize to Whom they belong and they will take note that we have been with Him because of our joy and childlike faith. Some may even ask us for directions on where to find Him. :)

The Pleasure of the Father

To live within the pleasure of the Father is a lesson my Teacher (Prof. Holy Spirit) has been cultivating within me specifically for over a year now. I am convinced the more we become aware of our individual belovedness, the more we will truly look like Jesus Christ. And what follows as we imitate and reflect Him is a world that will take note that we have been with Him.

"And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17

"Here is My servant, whom I have chosen, My beloved, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will proclaim justice to the nations." Matthew 12:18

Before Jesus performed any healings, before he cast out one demon, before accomplishing any miraculous work or speaking a gracious word to the public, before He gave Himself on the cross for mankind, and before He came back from the dead, the Father expressed His sheer delight and pleasure in His Son. Jesus knew His Father loved Him and was pleased with Him. He beheld the reality that He lived, moved, and had His being within the smile of His Father. What would change if we believed this to our core? What if we hung on His every word? What if we really believed it all?

What change really took place in our LORD's human nature when the Father bestowed His Spirit like a dove to rest on Jesus? When this bestowal of the Spirit of God occurred, so did the ginóskó (the understanding through personal experience) that He has and will permanently please the Father. We see in the very next chapter that He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. I would venture to say that Jesus then beheld an even greater intuition, power, and gifting after this encounter in the wildnerness. Although His human will was already in step with the Divine, He was brought into greater awareness of that present harmony through suffering and trial. His prayer life and His actions intensified. He was in greater harmony with the heartbeat of God the Father... crying "Abba Father!"

As a young [human] boy, Jesus was aware that God was His Father as we see in Luke 2 (Did you not know that I would be about my Father's business?)... but there is a greater intensity in this experience that had not been felt before. There was a conviction in His human soul that He is the SON... the BELOVED.

"For he whom God has sent utters the words of God, for he gives the Spirit without measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand." John 3:34-35

Ephesians 3:16-19 says: “I pray that he may grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner person, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith (you having been firmly rooted and established in love), in order that you may be strong enough to grasp together with all the saints what is the breadth, and length, and height, and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, in order that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

Take another look at the last verse. Does it leave you breathless, baffled, perhaps even a bit confused? Filled up with the fullness of GOD??? Seriously?

It seems all too wonderful at times to believe God desires to fill us with the fullness of Himself. The apostle Paul prayed this over the church in Ephesus two thousand years ago and it still remains true for us today. If you know you have given your life to Jesus, the fullness of God is for you to behold. The Maker of the Universe offers us something we cannot comprehend. But the question remains: what does this even look like and how does this happen?

Jesus Christ is someone who showed us what it was like to be filled with the fullness of God as a human being. He walked out what is possible for us as God’s kids. 

Jesus prayed for both you and me in John 17. He prays in verse 26, “I made known to them your name, and will make it known, in order that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I may be in them.” This means God the Father loves you as much as He loves JESUS! He is just as pleased with you as He is with Jesus! (This is not even a joke!). When God looks and thinks of you, He sees the righteousness and loveliness of Jesus... and He smiles. He is proud to be our Dad. And this is all because Jesus paid for us, made us new, and set us free. 

If you will let the LORD sing this over you in secret, you will tap into one of the keys to life… “knowing the love and pleasure of the Father.” Faith is what pleases God, and if you will have the wild faith to believe that God's passionate affection for you is for who you are today and not for who you think you should be, your whole world will be flipped upside down in the most beautiful way. You will live as one who is FREE. Free from offense. Free from enslavement to the opinion and approval of man. Free from your OWN thoughts. Free indeed.

Your identity and value is not defined by your yesterdays. Your identity is not in who other people say you are. Your identity is not even who you feel like you are. Your identity is who God says you are. And when you choose to believe this, you will begin to experience the illogical love of God in places you thought He couldn't reach. Experience is what transforms mankind. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. He will breathe new life in you in order that you might be filled up with His fullness. Will you let Him love you today??????

"In loving me, you made me lovable" -St. Augustine