Brennan Manning, author, friar, priest, contemplative and speaker

Uncharted territory

Every great accomplishment in human history had a strong risk component. Remember the mission that brought 4 men on the moon, Apollo 17. The great step for humanity was the fruit of months of preparation, but there was certainly a great amount of risk in leaving the planet earth, and travelling to the moon. However, the awe that resulted from this adventure, who could believe it?

In the same way, God is taking us to places unimaginable in the times gone by, and we must stand courageously, and take the step of faith that will make the difference.

Living at risk, part 1

This is what I shared last month. I proposed that risk was a key element in accomplishing the great deeds God has prepared for our lives, giving several biblical examples. We then examined what could bring forth risk taking. We discovered that a courage rooted in God’s love is a fundamental part of living at risk, and helps deal with the fear factor. We also brought forth the importance of perseverance, and never giving up, even in apparent failure.

More ideas

As I was thinking about this subject, several important elements came to my mind on how to take risks successfully.

Preparation

Taking risks alone will never get you anywhere but neither will only being prepared. But preparation is a crucial point to be ready for the risk-taking moment that will change your life or your country. So prepare well.

The right perspective

Faith is all about a question of perspective. When you’re free falling, you can either focus on the 10,000 feet that separate you from the ground, or turn towards your instructor, hold on to your parachute, and the instructions that were given to you.

In the same way, Joshua and Caleb had their eyes set on a big God, whereas their companions who had seen the exact same land had an entirely different perception. Who entered the Land? Those who had their eyes focused on the Lord and his words.

In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8:37

The Message translation puts it this way: “So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose?” Do you hear that? We are unbeatable! Whatever you do with a good heart will turn out for His glory, and obviously this is a consequence of having a really great God! Think about it! We can’t lose!

That definitely takes away the pressure doesn’t it?

Joy

This victory perspective fills me with Joy. Joy is also a great weapon against fear. What was behind the boldness that characterized the first Christians? It was that joy of the Holy Spirit, the believer’s strength  (Nehemiah 8:10).

Let us laugh!

Great examples

I grew up near the ocean. Once we were at the beach, and my uncle took me into the waves. I was frightened because I had never been there. Suddenly, he let go of me in the middle of the waves, and to my great surprise I started swimming. From that day on, I have always greatly enjoyed the Atlantic Ocean’s waves.

Sometimes, we need people who will take risk with us. Remember David and his 400 men. They were all losers in the eyes of society, yet under the example of the man after God’s heart, a company of mighty and brave men arose that changed the history of their country (see 1 Chronicles 11).

I can only encourage you to develop relationships with people who take risk, and live for the kingdom.

Conclusion

Come alive, and be courageous, loving, fearless, bold, and spirit-filled warriors of the Kingdom. Never let anything steal your joy, your hope or your faith because you were born to conquer! Finally, find a great warrior who can challenge with his lifestyle.

Take care? No, take risks!

Release the fullness of Your Spirit

Shekinah glory come, Shekinah glory come

You move, we want more

You speak, we want more

You move, we want more

We want the fullness.

The words ‘come’, ‘more’ and ‘fullness’ are all used more than once in just that section of the song – the cry and essence of it is for an absolute abundance, an overwhelming outpour of God’s glory and who He is to come and completely surround us. That’s wonderful: no problems there, because that’s what we’re all after, right? Don’t worry, this is not a trick question, it’s simple:

‘do we want God to come in such a deep and full way that words fall short of describing the encounter?’

The rest of what I propose will only interest those who answered ‘yes’; if you answered ‘no’ you are still welcome to read on; though I doubt whether this will hold the same truths for you as it will for those who said ‘yes’.

So, what have we established? That we wish to receive and host God in his fullness more than ever before. How do we go about that? The answer (as absurd as it may seem at first) is to give away the fullness of what God has already put in you. I know that in economic terms this doesn’t add up: spending £20 on clothes doesn’t tend give you £50 worth in return, nor does it magically give you more money to spend.

Here’s the great catch: the economy of heaven doesn’t work like the one we have on earth. It carries multiple currencies which work together, like prayer, faith, hope and love. And, it is through spending these things that we are given, that we receive more.

It’s reminiscent of the classic primary school song ‘love is something if you give it away…you’ll end up having more’. As childish as that song can seem when we look back on it, in reality, it isn’t childish, but childlike, which is exactly the kind of faith Jesus asks of us in Mark chapter 10:

‘Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.’

Mark 10:14-15 (ESV)

I must point out that there is a difference between being childish and childlike. Being childish denotes a lack of maturity, which in children is generally because they haven’t yet developed that maturity. Since we are not children, this is not for us.

Being childlike, however, is a completely different thing: it’s not about a lack of maturity but about an abundance of clarity and faith – it’s about not allowing our experience to weigh down and dictate the reality of who God is and how He works to us. The bible tells us that God is good. Experience may say ‘Hang on, didn’t one of your grandparents die, only recently? That’s not good is it?’ but childlike faith says ‘God tells me He is good, so He must be good – I trust and believe Him whole heartedly’.

Childlike faith doesn’t ignore experience, it just doesn’t allow experience to shape their view of who God is and how His kingdom works!

With that childlike view of the King and His kingdom in mind, let us return to releasing and receiving of God. Here’s the simple process: you get given , you spend wisely, you get more in return. It’s the parable of the talents in Matthew 25 put into action: you receive the power of the Holy Spirit; you pour that blessing into and onto others, and you receive a greater measure of Him in return. Bliss.

Notice that in the parable those who benefited were those who used their resources wisely. Throwing away what we have is not what God is looking for, just as burying it and keeping it hidden is not either. These options do not open a greater flow of heaven to us; they make us become lakes instead of rivers, places with no fresh input and no outpouring or blessing into the world we have been commissioned to reach.

So what does wise use look like? I don’t feel to offer you hard and fast answers, but to leave you with the perfect excuse to go and spend time with the Father yourself: go and ask Him ‘Father, what do you want me to do with what you’ve given me?’

Whatever His answer looks, sounds or feels like, you can be sure that as you release the fullness within you, He will release the fullness of heaven upon you.

Blessings and love,

Jonno.

A name? An age? A football supporter? A guitar player? Justin Bieber’s biggest fan?

Who are you?

Are you popular? How about sporty?

How about a king?

We call ourselves by lots of different names; lots of different faces and identities, suitable for the occasion. By day I’m an action-orientated, results driven, focused employee. By night, I’m the sensitive songwriter; a deep thinker, a person who forms worlds from words. On Sunday’s, I’m an encourager, but on Monday, I can chop someone down.

But I’m always a king.

I’m a king because the One Man Jesus Christ has made me one (Romans 5:17). I did not become one through conquering a rival country, or because of my exceeding political savvy, but because I choose to put my faith in Him. And because I didn’t do anything to make myself a king, I’m always a king. Plus, think about it, the Queen doesn’t stop being the Queen when she eats a sandwich, or walks the corgi’s. She’s still the Queen, and I’m still a king. I just have a choice over what type of king I want to be.

God’s got a lot of history with kings. You’ll find that a good chunk of your old testament is taken up with dealing with kings. At least 6 books is dedicated to them, letting you in on the good, the bad, and the ugly of sovereign rule.

One particularly bad one was a king called Ahaz. He ruled in Judah around about 735BC, becoming king when he was just 20 years old. To call him wicked would be a bit of an understatement. According to his story, he sacrificed to idols on all the high places and under ‘every green tree’. He made an altar to the Gods of Damascus and put it in the temple, before later shutting up the temple. Altars to idols occupied every street corner of Jerusalem, and in one final act of horror, he sacrificed his own son in the fire. The words of Isaiah, Hosea, and Micah couldn’t bring him round, and so disgusting where his actions, he was not buried amongst the other kings of Judah.

We do not live in a world totally unfamiliar to this. Our landscape may lack religious icons of bronze and stone, but have we not simply swapped them for images of footballers, popstars, and celebrity. Our altars may not feature lambs, goats, or pigeons, but are not our time, our money, our affection, even more valuable than livestock.

What type of king are we?

Following the death of Ahaz, a new king took the throne; Hezekiah. He decided that he wouldn’t follow in the footsteps of his father, that he was no lame duck king, but that he would change things. The first thing he decided to do was to reopen the Temple, to remove the dirt and the dust, to fix the broken objects of worship, and to remind the people that they chosen by God “to stand in his presence, to minister to him and to be his ministers and make offerings to him.” The king, when no one would go with him, decided to bring the people back to God.

The Temple ready, Hezekiah gathered the people together to worship God, and to remove the sins of the whole of Israel by sacrifice.

‘And they slaughtered the lambs, and their blood was thrown against the altar.’

Someone told me recently about sacrifices, and made a really interesting remark. A Jew, waiting in line at the temple to offer his sacrifice, would not be concerned about the amount of sin he carried, but only that his lamb would be good enough to be recieved by God.

The blood of Christ, the lamb of God, is, and will remain good enough for all our sins.

So here is the type of king I want to be. No matter what altars we set up on our street corners, or how long the temple has been closed, that I would bring people back to their God, and show them that the lamb is good enough.

Let me ask, one more time.

Who are you?

Thankfully Hadley texted me back & she was up for the adventure!!!! Happy Spring Break, Hadley!!!

When it rains, just jump through the puddles!!! There was so much freedom stepping through this door, of everything being “re-booked/cancelled” & stepping into a door of letting nothing hold me back!!!!

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This is our 13th issue as a webzine, so well done us.

Thanks for reading

Find your passion.

You need a part of your life doing something that makes you come alive.

[so that one day] you can live your life doing what you love.

- Paul Manwearing

Dare to dream.

Dreams pull life to the surface, shape the life you will live and aim you through chaos and confusion.

Dreaming with God causes dissatisfaction with the ‘natural’, empowers our dreams with grace and makes our gifts impossible to extinguish.

The number one killer of dreams is fear.
What would you do with your life if you knew you could not fail?
What would you do with your life if you were 10 times more bold?

- Danny Silk

Dream, then choose to let go of fear. It’s a decision, and it’s yours to make.

I know what it’s like to be held to morals by an ever nagging conscience, in an alcohol and sex induced culture where morals are mocked. I know the horror of knowing what right is, while feeling powerless to do right. I know what it’s like to be taken advantage of.. while harboring every bit of the pain. I know the anguish of trying to be something I’m not, while the only praise and affirmation I receive is from everyone telling me that I’m amazing at a destructive lifestyle. A lifestyle I loath. I know the pain of not feeling like anyone knows who I really am. Stuck in the middle of two lives that both have expectations that I can’t break. Both lives full of expectations without grace, trust, love, or safety. I know waking up in the morning with a hangover that could kill, and hating myself for everything I did the night before. Never able to tell anyone how I really felt and only having to brag instead. I know waking up next to someone I barely know in the middle of the night, frantically wondering how I got there and running away in complete terror, shame, anger, and guilt..  I know a lifestyle of being so caught up in an image, that even I didn’t know who I really was anymore; a façade so thick I can’t find myself. Walls around my heart so impenetrable that no one could find me. I know being completely powerless to express myself because of image. I know depression medicated by alcohol, women, and parties. I know hell disguised by GREEK LETTERS..

But…. I also know, a loving Papa. A Papa that was there with me amidst my mindless wanderings through a moral cesspool full of rebellion. A Papa that had His hands all over the wheel when I passed out from alcohol and exhaustion while driving on a twisting mountain road. I know a faithful Papa that was in the pigpen with me. When I realized where I was and came running toward Him, He was already there running with me. He took me back right where I was.  He cleans me up slowly careful not to expose too many of my wounds, covered in mud, all at once. His restoration plan for me is perfect, infallible, exquisitely timed by the author of time, catered to my every experience and personality trait. “I relate to you perfectly on every level” He says in the most loving and excited voice. As if He had been waiting all of eternity to tell me. He loves me and knows me deeper than the most intimate moments of my childhood. In fact He was there in all of my most intimate childhood experiences. He is complete acceptance. He was there in my secret places. He is still there and here; in my writing, in my speech, in my relationships, in my dreams, in my identity, in my future, in my destiny.

Josh

Living at risk

God has been speaking to me about the temple, the role it played in the old testament, the way that Jesus interacted with it while He was on earth and then the amazing picture the temples serves as in the new covenant.

Old Testament
God came and went, He would be in a certain place for a certain amount of time and then His presence would leave.

God’s interactions with man were conditional.

The followers of God had sacred places where God had met with them in the past; monuments to past encounters, but they were dotted around the land God’s people had nothing permanent.

King David decided that he wanted a place worthy enough to house the presence of God permanently as a sign to all nations, a building worthy enough for God to move into and never leave.

God, the creator of all things, very clearly told David that no building could ever contain Him as He sustains all creation, but for the sake of His people decided to agree to Davids hearts desire and instructed Him in build a house for the true King of Kings.

After years of planning and eventually constructing, the great temple was built, a building purpose built for the presence of God to permanently dwell (1 Kings 8:13).
Jesus and the Temple
The time that Jesus walked the earth the temple had become the focal point of the Jewish peoples interactions with God. God lived in the very centre of the temple, the Holy of Holies, and only the high priest was able to appear before God. Followers of God would have to come to the temple and offer sacrifices in order to atone for their sins.

Their interactions with God were conditional, with the temple you never knew where you stood with God.

Then Jesus burst onto the scene.

He enters the temple and in a bold statement drives out all the money changers and animal sellers (Matt 21:12-17).

The temple courtyard was the place to go to buy your animal sacrifices, everything that you needed to make an offering to atone for your sin.

Jesus came to remove everything that facilitated the sacrificial interactions between God and His followers.

Jesus declared that “something greater than the temple was now here” (Matt 12:6) “If they were to destroy the temple, in 3 days He would raise it up.” (John 2:19).

The good news of the Kingdom of God is that there is a new way, no longer are we to live not knowing were we stand with a distant God. Unsure if what we are doing is pleasing or not to Him, then offering guilt offerings when we mess up.

Something greater that the temple is here.

New Covenant
Jesus took the place of the High Priest, the only human able to enter the presence of God (Hebrews 5:1-10), and offered Himself as an atoning sacrifice for the whole of creation so that man would be in a permanent right relationship with Father God.

So what happened to the temple?

Well we, the people of God, are now the temple of God (1 Corinthians 6:19)

We are purpose built vessels designed to permanently house the presence of God.

When we give ourselves to Jesus and ask Him to saturate us with His spirit we are asking the presence of God to come an dwell in His temple, and like the temple of David, God’s presence need never leave.

You are purpose built to house the presence of God, Jesus did away with the sacrificial system of condition that separated us, something greater than the temple is here and it’s simply this;

Where once the temple was the sign of God’s glory to the world around, now Christ permanently dwelling in you is the sign to the world, their hope of glory.
Mike