In the Plan of God

When I was a kid, my fifth grade teacher had a chessboard in her classroom. A friend and I decided we would learn to play, so we checked out a book (no Google back in the day). The book was mostly over our heads, but we figured out how the different pieces move around the board, and the basics of the game.

Fast forward twenty-five years, my son joined the middle school chess club. the club leader taught them the basics I had learned, and then taught them how to think strategically. He showed them moves that could almost ensure success. So when my son asked me to play, I figured I would have to take it easy on me. I mean, I'd been playing for twenty-five years.

He beat me in three moves.

What was the difference? He had a plan, and I just knew how the parts move. His very first move set up a course that was designed to grant him victory, even though both of us had to make a few (very few) moves before we reached checkmate.

In Ephesians 3, Paul gives us a glimpse of a similar story, a game of sorts, which has been being played for ages. The rulers and authorities in the spiritual realm were given some authority over earth, and they understood how the parts moved. Then in arrogance, they decided they could challenge God, their creator.

The difference, God had a plan, a strategy, that has been in play since before the foundation of the world. There was one move that ensured victory in this spiritual chess match - Jesus. The rulers just couldn't see that move.

 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2:6-8

The rulers during Jesus time on Earth didn't understand there was a strategy, a plan. Some might say this is talking about the Romans and Jews, not spiritual rulers, but I would remind them that Satan entered into Judas Iscariot to make sure Jesus' death happened (John 13:27). Satan didn't get it.

Jesus death and resurrection were the moves that ultimately won the game, reversed all that had transpired since Satan made his first move back in the Garden of Eden. But, God's plan wasn't just to win, but to show these rebellious rulers just how great his plan was, just how great He is, and so the game plays out. You have been placed into this plan of God, and through us - the church - the manifold wisdom of God might now be made know to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places (spiritual realm).

Because the American church tends to have such a focus on a personal relationship with God, we focus on God's plan for ME. This self-focus can often take our eyes off of something so much greater than God's plan for your life.

When you are placed in Christ, you can see that all of us are in the plan of God. Not "in God's plan for your life," but in God's plan for ALL life for ALL eternity. That's a sizable piece of spiritual geography.

God is sovereign. He is in control - total control. He has a plan, a plan that has been unfolding from eternity past. And, you are a part of it!

That should give us supreme confidence. There is not anything that has, is, or will happen in your life, that surprises God. When things seem totally out of control, He is still reigning supreme.

Are you living your life in such a way that the rulers and authorities in the spiritual realm are seeing the manifold wisdom of God. Unless you are living in God's eternal plan, you will never know his plan for your life.

Watercolor Tree 4

Watercolor Tree 3

Tried a little more wet on wet with this one, and a splatter effect.

Watercolor Tree 2

Watercolor Tree 1

In a Kingdom - Ephesians 2:11-18

In Ephesians, Paul describes what he calls a mystery, and that mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs (3:1-6). Here in chapter two, Paul speaks to the Gentiles about this. He reminds them that at one time, they were "separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise."

Israel had been  chosen by God. They were his inheritance (Deut. 32:9), and therefore they were set apart from all other nations. This setting-apart was demonstrated by Israel through obedience to the Mosaic covenant established at Mount Sinai.

It is important to point out that Israel was never referred to in the Old Testament as the Kingdom of God. In fact, the phrase "Kingdom of God" is not in the Old Testament. However, "Kingdom of the Lord" is found one time in 2 Chronicles 13:8 and Daniel refers to God's Kingdom.

In spite of this, the idea of God as king is found throughout scripture, and the kingdom of God was a well-defined idea by the time Jesus began his ministry. His first sermon was, "the Kingdom of God is at hand." Nothing in the Gospels gives us any indication that He was promoting a brand new idea.

Instead, He proclaims the proximity of this kingdom. He preaches about its peculiarities - "the Kingdom of Heaven is like... ." And, at one point, He tells the Pharisees that this kingdom will be taken from them and given to a people producing its fruit (Matt. 21:43).

From this we can see that dividing wall Paul talks about which separated the Kingdom of God - located physically within the physical nation of Israel, since God dwelt in the temple there - from the Gentile nations around them. This was never the fulfillment of God's plan. It was a temporary measure God set up so He could use Israel and his covenant with them to point to the redemption He would bring for all the nations.

Crowns

Let's look again at a couple of verses we referred to earlier:

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God. But the Lord's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.

Deuteronomy 32:8-9

These verses are packed with information we typically don't talk about in church, but I just want us to focus on the last part, where Israel becomes God's inheritance. It sounds like this is set for all time. The nations are divided according to the sons of God, then God takes his portion. Done deal. But wait, there's more.

In Psalm 82, we once again see this idea of sons of God ruling nations, and in verse six, God says "You are gods, sons of the Most High all of you, nevertheless, like men you shall die" (because of their sin spoken about in the previous verses). After this, the psalmist adds, "Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations." God's plan for the Kingdom was never just about Israel.

In Christ, the wall that divided Israel and the nations, and in essence the Kingdom of God from the kingdom of darkness was torn down. The covenant from Sinai, with its "law of commandments" was abolished, so in him one new man (the body of Christ, which Paul speaks of later) can be established.

One thing that is somewhat confusing is Paul's easy movement between metaphors and similes. In chapter two alone, he contrasts life and death, and Israel and the nations, then leads right into one new man and then to one house. While they may sound very different, each one is tied to the others in Christ, and all these ideas give us different glimpses of being in him.

While the explicit phrase might not be found, the idea of the Kingdom of God runs through the entire Bible, and, in my opinion, is one of the most important, but least taught subjects. God is not anyone's homeboy. He is the omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing) King over an eternal kingdom, and He is sovereign (in complete control) over ever aspect of it. Jesus is seated at his right hand, and we have been placed in him.

With this understanding, we can see that physical Israel was never the Kingdom of God, but God chose to temporarily reign from there - at least here on earth. When Isaiah had his vision (Isaiah 6), God was in the holy of holies in the temple, while still being on his throne in heaven. When Christ died and the temple veil that separated God in the holy of holies from the people outside was split in two, God moved residence.

If the King moves into new territory, the kingdom expands, hence Jesus words, "the Kingdom of God will be taken from you." At Pentecost, God the Holy Spirit began to reign from the hearts of his people, and soon after that, the kingdom began to spread throughout not only the Jews who believed, but to the lost sheep of Israel (the northern tribes that had been scattered among the nations) and to the Gentiles.

God began reclaiming his inheritance, all of it. This process is ongoing, and He has given you the opportunity to partner with him in this endeavor. We must work, because the day will come, when loud voices in heaven will be shouting, "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever" (Rev. 11:15).

One interesting note about this last verse. It says, "the Kingdom of the world," not kingdoms. Not everyone from every nation comes into the Kingdom of God, only those who are his, and despite differences in nations, tribes and tongues, we are all from this world. But God is not. His kingdom is over all. Sometimes we think God's story is all about us, but the Kingdom of God on earth is only a small part of the whole Kingdom of God.

There is a battle in the spiritual realm that has been raging for ages. There are angels - faithful and fallen, heavenly creatures we have seen only glimpses of through the written Word, and who knows what myriad other beings might exist of which God has not even let us know about. And then there are the puny people made from dirt; the ones that only live seventy years or so. The big story doesn't just revolve around us.

However, you are vitally important. Jesus Christ was willing to leave all of the eternal, spiritual business of heaven behind to come and establish that eternal, spiritual kingdom here among us. While even in that part of the story, we are not the main character, we are important, and it is truly good news. God came down to squash a rebellion by dying for the rebels, so they could join the Kingdom of God. In Christ, you are living alive with dual citizenship on earth and in the Kingdom.

How will you serve the King today?

Ferris Wheel at Night - Screenprint

Silkscreen prints may soon be available. If you are interested in one of the designs let me know. 

Mom with flowers - Screenprint

Silkscreen prints may soon be available. If you are interested in one of the designs let me know. 

Bloom Where You're Planted - Screenprint

Silkscreen prints may soon be available. If you are interested in one of the designs let me know. 

Flappers - Screenprint

This week I'm going to display a few pieces I've created for screen printing. Let me know what you think.

Silkscreen prints may soon be available. If you are interested in one of the designs let me know. 

In Eternal Life - Ephesians 2:1-10

In this passage, Paul talks about spiritual or eternal life, but he begins by describing spiritual death. He doesn't call it "spiritual" death or "spiritual" life, but we know that is what he is talking about. Unfortunately, our understanding of the physical world may impact our views of the spiritual. The physical world seems so much more real to us, and in the physical realm, death is something that happens in the future.

This can creep over into our thinking about spiritual death. Too many people feel that spiritual death is a future thing. It is what happens if you die physically without ever putting faith in Christ's work on the cross.

While physical death may put some finality on spiritual death, Paul makes it abundantly clear that spiritual death is where we come from. It is our past.

Every human is born in spiritual death. David said, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity..." (Psalm 51:5). Spiritual death is where we live until we put our faith in Christ (yeah, that's a little mind blowing), and so, Paul describes what living in spiritual death looks like.

• In spiritual death, we were walking in trespasses and sin, following the course of this world. We had completely missed the mark of God's holiness and righteousness.
• In spiritual death, we were following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. We weren't just aimlessly wandering, we were being led - and we willingly followed.
• In spiritual death, we lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and mind. the works we produced were merely the fulfillment of our own desires. Matthew Henry said, "The carnal mind makes a man a perfect slave to his vicious appetite - the fulfilling of the wills of the flesh."
• In spiritual death, we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. Our holy God hates sin, and thereby sinners. Psalm 5:5 says, "The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers." Now, God is also LOVE, so He is capable of loving and providing salvation.

Spiritual death was our situation from birth until new birth. Spiritually dead. Eternally lost.  Without hope. But God...

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ."

So, spiritual death is where we were. We had been born into death, which is why we needed to be born again. When we put our faith in the saving work of Christ we were born into spiritual life.

We didn't invite Jesus into our hearts, as we hear so often. We've already seen, He is in heaven at the right hand of God, but in addition to that, our hears were dead. According to Jeremiah, we had hearts of stone. 

We could not invite God into our death. God and God alone took out our hearts of stone and gave us living hearts. He made us alive with Christ.

Now, here's where it gets crazy in the realm of spiritual geography. God didn't just make us alive in Oklahoma or Oahu. He made us alive in Christ, in the Beloved. And where is the Beloved?

If you said, "At the right hand of the Father," then here's a smiley-face sticker for you. 😊 (If you didn't, read this.) Father made us alive in Christ. You are now living alive instead of living dead. AND, He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus.

This can be a little confusing, because if your life is anything like mine, it doesn't seem like heaven. Many pastors have chosen to teach that Paul is speaking about a promised future. We don't have it yet, but it's guaranteed.

While we do have a promised future of heaven, that's not really what Paul is saying. According to  the passage, we have been raised and seated - past tense. But we know we aren't there yet. 

This conundrum in our thinking occurs because we don't truly grasp the reality of spiritual geography. The verse doesn't say God has seated us in heaven, but in the heavenly places, or in the spiritual realm. Prior to our second birth, we were a physical being with no access to the spiritual. After we have been placed into life, we have the ability to move "spiritually," directly to the throne of grace. We can commune with God, dwell with him, abide in him.

And as amazing as our salvation is - we have spiritual life and access to God - we are also still physical beings trapped here in a physical world. And we wait.

We are waiting to be shown the immeasurable riches of his grace in Christ Jesus. God has take the filth of our sins and washed it away with the blood of Christ. We can have a relationship with him because of his mercy and grace.

We don't deserve it. We couldn't do anything to make it happen. God gave us life through the death of his Son, and He has placed us in the spiritual realm so we can truly live as his children in the here and now. 

This is a debt we could never repay, and yet God is not finished. In the coming ages He wants to show us the immeasurable riches of his grace. We already become overwhelmed when we sing about his Amazing Grace now, but God... God has even more grace.

Rainbow Trout

Angelfish

Clowning around

Let your light shine

This is a screenprint design I created. Next week I'll share a few more designs, but this week some fishy art.

In the Knowledge of Him – Ephesians 1:15-23

In this passage, Paul lets the people of God in Ephesus know he is praying for them. He doesn’t pray that God gives them more grace, faith, love, hope or anything else we might think of as gifts from God. And, he sure doesn’t pray that God bless them with health, wealth or happiness.

These are people who are IN CHRIST. In the Beloved, they have been adopted, redeemed and forgiven. They have moved from a place of being spiritually dead, spiritually lost and spiritually condemned to life and holiness in Christ.

Paul prays that God gives them “a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him.” It’s as if he is saying, “God, please help them understand what it means to be in Christ.” In Christ there is nothing else we need from him.

We may need to rely on him more. We may need to follow him more closely. We may need to think more like He thinks, but we don’t need more of him. “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence,” (1 Peter 1:3)

Do you live a life without needs? Are you IN CHRIST? If you are, you only need to realize you have no needs in him.

Paul prays the eyes of their hearts would be enlightened, so they would understand the hope of the inheritance. In the first century, “the eyes of the heart” would have meant the mind. For us, the heart tends to represent our emotions and feelings. For the first century person, feelings and emotions were from the stomach or loins.

This is an important distinction. Think about where most of our perceived needs come from. “I need a new job – because I don’t feel appreciated here.” Even in the spiritual realm, I know I’ve told God I need to hear from him – because I didn’t feel his presence in my life right then.

Paul doesn't pray that they feel like they are in Christ. He prays for their minds. If our minds are truly focused on what we do have in him, our feelings will be kept in check more easily.

Grow in your knowledge of him

If we understand that in Christ we already have everything we need for life and godliness, and we understand the hope of our future, what really matters in this life? If you don’t have the house you want in this life, didn't He still go to prepare a place for you in his Father’s house? If you have a terminal illness (and in truth, we are all terminal), didn't He promise you eternal life? If so, what is your need?

Paul also prays that they would understand “what is the immeasurable greatness of his power towards us who believe according to the working of his great might that He worked in Christ when He raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places far above all rule and authority and power and dominion.”

Sometimes we act like, “Oh, is that all?” Seriously. How great is his power? You can’t measure it!

But He used that power to defeat death and seat Christ above every other power of every kind. And, are you ready?...YOU ARE IN CHRIST! That means you are already seated in a position of power over every other power that exists, except the immeasurable greatness of his power.

And that’s the power that works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure (Phil. 3:13). Are you truly living in the knowledge of him? If not, I pray that the eyes of your heart will be enlightened to who you are in Christ.

Where did they go? - 4

What happens in the laundry room, stays in the laundry room

 ... until this week.

Where did they go? - 3

What happens in the laundry room, stays in the laundry room

 ... until this week.

Where did they go? - 2

What happens in the laundry room, stays in the laundry room

 ... until this week.

Where did they go? - 1

What happens in the laundry room, stays in the laundry room

 ... until this week.

Thanks to those of you who were able to teach me some of that there Inglish. I done made it better, now. 😃

In the Beloved - Ephesians 1:20-23

...he has blessed us in the Beloved. - Ephesians 1:6

If this is true, God has blessed us in the Beloved, then where is the Beloved? According to verses twenty through twenty-three, Father has raised the Beloved from the dead, and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. This is in total agreement with Jesus' own words: I am going to him who sent me (John 16:5). 

He spoke these words just before He was arrested. Just over forty days later, his ascension occurs, and is recorded in Matthew, Mark, Luke and Acts. Paul refers to this again in Chapter 4 of Ephesians and in other letters he wrote (Romans 8:34, Philippians 3:20, Colossians 3:1 to name a few). The Apostle Peter wrote, "...Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God" (1 Peter 3:21-22). The writer of Hebrews stated, "But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet" (Hebrews 10:12-13)


These verses tell us exactly where Christ, the Beloved, is. He is in heaven, at the right hand of God.

Wait a minute! Jesus is living in my heart.

Many Christians truly believe this, but is it scriptural? In a sense, yes. But, we have to be careful.

Technically, the person Jesus Christ - the God-man who came to earth, lived, died on the cross and was resurrected - is in heaven, as we have already seen. Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, we have the essence of Christ in us. Christ and the Holy Spirit are both God, they are the same in character. When the Bible says, "God is love," God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are all equally love.

Jesus told his apostles, "It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you" (John 16:7). Just before this, He  told them He would send the Helper, but the world would not know him. Then Jesus said, "You know him, for He dwells with you and will be in you." In Ephesians, Paul said it this way, "According to the riches of his glory He [Father] may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith..." (3:16-17) The God-man, Jesus, is not dwelling in your heart, but through the Spirit his essence is.

In addition to this we also have the thoughts of Christ. Look at what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:10-12, 16: 

These things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.11 For who knows a person's thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. ... But we have the mind of Christ.

Through the Holy Spirit, it is as if Christ lives in our hearts by proxy. Through the Spirit Christ can reign in our minds. It may seem picky to point this out, but if we see Christ on the throne at the right hand of God the Father, we are more likely to see our king, instead of a "homeboy." 

Jesus did say, "I now call you friends." In fact, He said that to the twelve, but when the Apostle John saw Jesus at the right hand of God, he fell down as if dead (Revelation 1:17). That's my king. 

Who do you serve? Good ol' boy, buddy Jesus, or the reigning King of Kings? How does this impact how you live your life? 

Great Friends - Great Food

I really liked this picture, but my scanner went down last week. Thought I'd throw it back up this week, so you could see the colors. What do you think?

Panda with dots