God is the stuff of hope. He is love. Love never leaves you wanting. Love never leaves you alone. Love makes you whole. You were made for love, to give it and receive it. You were made in His image. You are one with Him. You are His home. You are in Him and He is in you and you are in the Father. In him you are seated in heavenly places. You have been restored to your created intent. You are being transformed back into your godlike nature. You are becoming Him, not equal to Him but a shadow of and completeness of Him as a man. That is amazing.
Gen 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth… 31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (ESV)
When we bring Jesus to someone and they meet Him something happens in power. We breathe the resurrection life-giving breath into another person. We see the Holy Spirit touch someone. The pinnacle event is to witness their rebirth. The rebirth moment is amazing when someone sees the goodness of God and wants to be His child.
I have witnessed a touch by God. I can say there is no greater joy. When you witness a sibling birth you are infused with the very stuff of God. He loves to make kids. He gave us the mandate to be fruitful and multiply. That is because He wanted to see an earth inhabited and managed by a multitude of “in-His-image” ones. He wanted a really big family. An infinitely good, loving and bountiful God has more than enough for a finite number of us. We are his joy. He is ecstatic when one of his “very goods” is restored to the family. He loves child-birth. We get to be the birth coach. We, as one with Him, experience His joy in the moment. To see it happen is glorious. The expression on someone’s face is priceless. I call it “the look.” Once you’ve seen it you “know that you know” rebirth is the very thing that God loves the most. It is the manifestation of hope. It is the creative stuff of God. It is “very good.”
Paul Ellis suggests this is our reward in heaven. Restoring people to their created state and ushering them into the kingdom is our investment in the eternal bank of heaven. It is our act of storing up treasure that lasts. When I heard his teaching it was like a really bright light came on. I know he is right. Here are His words:
“Paul says we are rewarded for our labor. What labor is more rewarding than the labor of childbirth? As in the natural, so in the spiritual. What could be more fulfilling than co-laboring with the Lord to create new life? You tell someone the good news, the lights go on, a smile dawns on their face, and you realize that you and the Holy Spirit just did something special. A moment ago this person had no great regard for Jesus; now they’re shining with his very life. They just became a new person, one who will learn to call God, “Abba, Father.” It truly is a miracle. The Father-heart of God beat within Paul with such intensity that he felt compelled to preach the gospel. He didn’t do it for mansions or money but people. Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. (1 Corinthians 9:19)”
I really love it when you see or hear something that is so different but it is exactly what you already knew to be true. It’s like pulling up a fond memory of the past that just a moment ago wasn’t there. Experience trumps knowledge when what we experience is Him. I know this so strongly inside but just now see it on paper. The dots are being connected and there is emerging a beautiful picture. What is our purpose other than to bring people to Jesus? Actually we get to reveal Him in person. That is the beauty of being a Christ-like one. We are little anointed ones that make other little anointed ones. How amazing.
This creative expression of rebirth is an infusion of hope. Check this out:
Rom 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. (ESVST)
Paul actually chose bringing others into the Kingdom over going to Heaven.
Phi 1:21-24 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. (ESVST)
Paul understood the reward for his work on Earth.
The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. (1 Corinthians 3:8)
Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. (Psalm 127:3)
No one can please God without faith, for whoever comes to God must have faith that God exists and rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6, GNB)
And lastly Paul understood it was all from God, in Holy Spirit power based on faith.
Romans 15:17-21 Looking back over what has been accomplished and what I have observed, I must say I am most pleased—in the context of Jesus, I’d even say proud, but only in that context. I have no interest in giving you a chatty account of my adventures, only the wondrously powerful and transformingly present words and deeds of Christ in me that triggered a believing response among the outsiders. In such ways I have trailblazed a preaching of the Message of Jesus all the way from Jerusalem far into northwestern Greece. This has all been pioneer work, bringing the Message only into those places where Jesus was not yet known and worshiped. My text has been,
Those who were never told of him—
they’ll see him!
Those who’ve never heard of him—
they’ll get the message!
(The Message)
Our greatest reward in this life and the life to come is bringing others into the family.
I love “the look.” Bringing the “Good News” to someone is actually good news When people hear good news they are drawn to God. When people see how good God is they are awakened. When they see what Jesus has done they are stunned. When they accept what Jesus has given them they are overwhelmed. When they give themselves to God they are never the same again, they are born again. When you see this happen in all the various stages it impacts you deep down inside. Sometimes you see a birth. Sometimes you see a light come on. Sometimes you see a stunned expression of gratitude. Sometimes you see questions and wonder. Every time you see “the look.”
Step closer.
Peer deeper.
Look just there, wait, there it is…
Jesus looking back!!!
Yay Jesus!
Lance
alancetotheheart 