peace in Jesus. Freedom. shoulders relaxed. lettin it flow. amen all right.

my fam is praying for you on your trip to Nepal.

For hundreds of years people have been trying to pin God down with theological theorems and postulates…”God is omnipotent, and God is omniscient, therefore we know God must be…” All the while Father is standing there saying, “Why don’t you just humbly come before me and tell me how much you love being with me and really want to know me?”

All I know is that while Jesus walked the earth in the same flesh I’m wearing now, you could not tear him apart from communion with Father for all the world. He had to hear Father’s heartbeat in literally everything he did and said. He’d run away into the hills in the middle of the night in the middle of mighty signs and wonders and people wanting to make him king…just so he could be alone with Father. He could listen to people quoting the Torah like machines, and see right through it to the essence of their (lack of) relationship with God. He learned early on to value only one thing: real relationship with Father. So Father gave it to him!

And out of that simple passionate desire to know Father and hear Father and obey Father - we now have all things in Christ.

I suppose it could be argued either way,
Colossians 2:9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
but your view certainly changes the way He would have depended on his communication with the Father for everything. He was still the second Adam without the first Adam’s sin nature.

still wrestling…

And just like in John 3 with Nicodemus, John 11 ties together Jesus’ mighty works with his conversation in heaven. Jesus has a revelation of the miracle that will take place before it takes place - he’s already seen Father do it, so now he can do it along with Father. People come to Jesus knowing that Father will give him whatever he asks. Then when Jesus talks to Father publicly, he has absolute confidence that Father hears him - so his conversation with Father spills over into an authority to shout commanding Lazarus to come out of the tomb.

In both the accounts of meeting Nicodemus (John 3), and raising Lazarus (John 11); we see Jesus totally enamored with heaven, with the things of the Spirit, with the glory of God. These had become tangible to him. What he had received from heaven had become bigger to him than anything going on in the earth, so when he spoke heaven invaded earth.

So often when we witness about things of the Spirit, people just hear a loud “no no no” to natural things. It is temporarily painful to trade something you already have for something intangible. But if we are willing to admit how little of heaven we’ve actually tasted (compared to how much is right now available), and if we really understand how Father throws heaven open to the hungry - we’ll find ourselves not even considering the implications. If you dive into how you experience heaven, the earth will never be the same.

The first part of John 3 really says it all. Here you have Jesus talking to Nicodemus, who is probably the most qualified man on earth to relate to Jesus at that point. The greek literally says he’s the “THE ruler of the Jews,” he’s thoroughly familiar with the Law and the Prophets, and he accepts Father’s confirmation of Jesus whole-heartedly.

The fact that he has no clue what Jesus is talking about really shows us something dramatic. And it’s not that Jesus is a superhero… Jesus came in the flesh making absolutely no effort to relate to man’s best - why do you think?

I don’t know what people “read” when they read those words. But Lord knows what I mean, and I do mean it

I’d guess that most people who read this site are very into music, art, film, ..creation. And no question I love how Jesus makes everything new: the new man, the new song, the new creation, new life - and life absolutely to the full!

Just realize that Jesus had roughly 3 years after he was baptized and anointed with the Holy Spirit, and during that time we can see very objectively how he lived - what he knew, what he did, where he was focused. I’d really challenge people to find any scripture that indicates that Father communicated with Jesus on earth any different than he communicated with Paul or Peter or you or me. Remember even when Father spoke audibly from heaven, it was for the crowd’s sake, not to give Jesus direction.

Especially the fact the he was tempted in every way just as we are (and without once giving in!) pretty much spells it out that he was conscious of exactly what we are (or can be) conscious of - no more, no less. Everywhere I see Jesus interacting with Father, it’s on a very dynamic, need-to-know basis.

So 3 years. You’re given the Spirit in an unlimited measure. You can do anything you want in God and it will succeed. Now…what drives you?