The God Version

John 14: 20

On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I in you.

This is the great miracle, that Jesus lives in us. It is really quite amazing if you stop to think about it. Jesus brought a whole new way of thinking about our relationship with deity. He is the present God, God with us. And yet . . . we often think about God being off in heaven somewhere. We have this nebulous idea of God apart from us. God with us is, truthfully, God in us and that is a defining thought.

Who are you? Doesn’t that question take on new richness when you consider God in you? Wait, let me ask you this question, who is God? Now, get ready for a startling answer.

There is an amalgamation of you with God once you let God intertwine Himself in the fabric of your life, thoughts and dreams. No longer are you the simple you. You have become God with you. This is so important!

I told you this little story once. It’s about the day I rode my mountain bike through a lovely pine forest. The smell of pine was invigorating, the sound of pine needles crunching beneath my tires, mesmerizing. Above all, though, was the absolute beauty of that forest. It truly was remarkable so, I remarked to God about the loveliness of the entire scene. I, at once, felt silly for telling Him about this beautiful landscape as if He had never seen it before. He, after all, did make it. His response was startling though. He said, “Ivey, I’ve never seen it through your eyes before.” Wow! You see, in that limited way, He had never seen it before.

We are complex organisms. Our perceptions are colored by all the experiences of our lives. Even our thoughts are unique. That is why it is beneficial to have different folks in any planning committee. We see things differently, perceive things differently and will come with different thoughts. It always fascinates me how it isn’t a mere function of intelligence but also of all the tastes, flavors and experiences of life. People come up with ideas I would have never dreamed up even given hours, days and years of cognitive effort. All of this is going somewhere, and it is circling back around to God in you.

When you honor the intertwined you and give place to God to speak into your heart and thoughts, you become a God engine yourself. Your thoughts can be God inspired. The pictures in your mind go beyond what you would have imagined on your own. Here is a key bit. God can speak into you in ways that I may never be able to hear. He can paint on the canvas of your imagination in colors and shapes that others don’t see. Therefore, the thoughts you have, the truth you are able to share may be slightly nuanced from what someone else has perceived. That’s great! It’s not bad at all. When we combine our revelations, we see a much more complex and wonderful tapestry. How marvelous!

For this reason, I wish to encourage you. You should honor your thoughts as unique. The synergy that we should all seek is oneness with our Lord and Father. In that synergistic union, He will speak through your filters. He will see through your eyes. Had you been on that bike ride with me, you may have seen something different from what I saw. Maybe you would have noticed the crispness of the air or the way the light streamed through the pines. If your perception was different from mine, and it is almost a surety that it would have been, that does not make it wrong, or right. It is purely a celebration of God in you while my perception is an observation on God in me.

This Word of the Day is meant to encourage you to honor your thoughts, hopes, dreams and ambitions. Your thoughts are valuable when you are intertwined with the Holy One. God thoughts are light and life, but I want you to understand that none of us has a patent on those inspired thoughts. This is why God has more than one minister of His gospel. We each teach according to the light He has inspired within us. You too can have God thoughts.

Look for God, but don’t look to the sky. Look within. Let Him touch your thoughts. Your Father has much to show you and tell you. In your quiet time with Him, He will lead and inspire you. Be still and listen to that voice with you. God is speaking to you!

Miracle Worker

2 Kings 5: 14          God’s Word translation

So he went to dip himself in the Jordan River seven times, as the man of God had instructed him. His skin became healthy again like a little child’s skin.

This is from the story of Naaman. He was a captain in the army of Aram. Naaman had a skin disease and heard of the prophet in Israel. So, he asked his king, Aram, to send him to Israel that he might be healed of his disease. Elisha told him to go wash seven times in the Jordan river. He rebuffed the advice at first but his servants convinced him to do as Elisha directed.  Once he dipped in the Jordan river seven times, he came out cleansed of his skin disorder.

This a really good story with many messages in it when you read the whole story but what caught my eye was the heading. In the God’s Word translation the heading reads, “Elisha Heals Naaman.”  After the last couple of weeks of thinking about who works miracles in the earth, this caption was significant.  What is interesting is that the editors didn’t caption this passage as “God heals Naaman.”  Even though this is Old Testament, the same operation of partnership with God for the effecting of miracles was in operation. Obviously, Elisha did not heal Naaman in his own power nor did Moses turn back the sea apart from God.  However, God didn’t perform any of these wonders without a person.

As you read through the story of Naaman’s healing, and indeed other accounts of Elisha’s ministry and life, you will perceive Elisha’s relationship with God. He lived in a space where he fully accepted his ability to move in the power of our God without having to beg God to show up. He spent his everyday life, communing with God so that when the time came to employ God’s power, he knew how to move. This is where God is leading us.

We can live in and through Jesus every minute of every day.  We are led by John’s gospel to abide in Christ.  That means we live in him, not that we visit him on Sunday and Wednesday.  Living in him means that every breath is part of of our life with Christ.  As we learn to abide in him, we will move in the earth the way Jesus did, the way Elisha did and others.  There are no miracles apart from God but there is no miracle without you either.  God has given you power and authority in the earth.  He has given you his Holy Spirit, His power.  He has given us His name.  Now it up to us as to what we will do with these gifts.