Being noticed by God

I am outside and standing in the sun, waiting for God to notice me.  Before this, I am getting my mail.  Birds chirp.  Wind blows.  Leaves move.  Light pierces moving leaves.  I walk back to my yard, then stop.  I am alone.  No people.  No man. No woman.

Alone.

I stand in the sun letting it heat my shirt.  I wait for God to notice me.

I wait for some sign. Something that shows me he sees me and is reaching out to me.  Some clearly deliberate thing to happen.  Maybe a bird lands in front of me, looks at me, and approaches me.  It chirps.  It waits for me to chirp back (somehow it makes this known.)  I imitate it's whistle.  It does it back.  As I type I hear birds chirping to each other.  Echoing each other's chirp, the same rhythm and melody, one lower, the other higher.  One nearer.  The other farther.

They are responding to each other.  Alive.  In sync.  Relating.

I am typing, in my house, looking at the sun shining on leaves, feeling the shade of my house, seeing the breeze on the trees in my yard, not looking at the keys as I type, waiting for God to notice me. 

How do I know if he's noticing me?  Really?  The same way I know if any other person is noticing me.  When I am outside I see a man with a red shirt on, talking on a cell phone, approaching his mail box.  I notice him.  But how does he know I notice him?  He doesn't, as far as I can tell.  He is not looking at me, or in my direction, and I am not trying to get his attention.

How do I know if God is trying to get my attention, like me getting the attention of the man in the red shirt?

I'm noticing the birds, but so is everyone else in my neighborhood.  Where is everyone else, other than the man in the red shirt?

What if it is just me at home right now? 

Creation.
Sun.
Trees.
Breeze.

None of these have minds, emotions, or wills.
They can't reach out to me.
But they can by used by their Creator.
How would he write me a message in the dirt, or the sky?
How would he call to me through a birds so that I know the bird is his messenger?

Maybe Adam waits in Eden for God to notice him.  But he does.  He speaks to Adam.  "From these trees eat.  From this tree don't eat or you'll die."

God speaks to the first man and woman.  Even to the serpent.

God notices them disobeying him.

God notices the man alone, puts him to sleep, takes a rib, closes the flesh, and makes a woman.

Why?

God notices the man alone and says, "It is not good for the man to be alone.  I will make him a complimentary companion."

He makes the woman and brings her to the man.
The man notices the woman; she, alone, is like him among all creatures.  He names her. 

I am waiting for God to notice me, to speak to me, to come to me. 

I am sitting in my living room.  Will he come?  Will an angel?  Will someone risen from the dead?

A revelation is God noticing me, revealing something he sees, hears, feels, thinks, chooses.

Am I alone?
I know I can pray.
I know God is everywhere at once, seeing all, knowing all, holding all together by his power.  Even me. 

This is God noticing me.
To be alive is to be noticed by God.
He is not passive.
He actively keeps me alive.
To be alive is to be noticed by God.
To be alive means God is paying attention...to me.

"In Him we live and move and have our being."

We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.  1 John 1:3 NIV

I know that God is in me, that I love him and that he loves me.  I know he hears me.  When I pray I feel him listening.  It feels different from when I'm talking to myself, or imagining, or reflecting.  I feel God when I'm alone.  I hear him in the silence that surround me as I write.  I see him like we see the water that we see through when we are swimming in it.  As it is written, "In him we live and move and have our being."

I feel him in me.  A presence. The presence.  I don't ever feel alone or lonely...not really.  Sometimes in a room full of people I feel alone in relationship to them, but never with him.  I feel him in that room with me, and he seems "lonely" with me, as if he is just as unnoticed as I am. 


I'm telling you all of this so we can share our relationship with God with each other, or so that you will join me in my experience of God if you aren't having one.

Join me.
Write me.
We can experience God together, you and I.
Jesus makes this possible by his Spirit.

Life and death

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. 
Proverbs 18:21 NIV

Someone you know is dead.  He is in heaven.  She is in hell. 
Words heard, accepted or rejected, determined which place they ended up after they died. 

Perhaps words you spoke. 

Our words birth or kill. 

Sometimes I think about people I know that are dead. 

I wonder what I said that brought them closer to or farther from God. 

I wonder about the impact I had on their lives by my words, or my lack of words. 

I wonder what impact I'm having on you.

What if my words are the last ones you will read? 

If so, I want you to know that God made you.

You owe your life to Him.

If you are not living for Him as you read, stop reading and give your life to Him right now.

If you are living for God as you read, stop reading, and rededicate your life to Him right now.

I'll do it with you....

"God, you made me.  I am yours.  I live for you and you alone.  I give my life to you."

We did it. 

We are ready to live, because we are ready to die, even if it's today.

The only real relationships

Whoever does the will of God are my brothers and sisters and mother.  ~The Lord Jesus

How do you define relationships?  Jesus defines them by obedience to the will of God.  He was so committed to this exclusive definition that he was willing to give this definition in the presence of his own blood family. 

Real relationships are defined by obedience to God.

If your father or mother disobey God, they are not your real father or mother.
If your brother or sister disobey God, they are not your real brother or sister.

Your real family are those who obey God, both now and forever.  We must believe and act on this truth if we are to be truly faithful to the Lord.

Hopefully, our blood relatives are also our spiritual relatives.  This is how it should be.  If it isn't, we can pray for our blood relatives to be born again.  Until then, we must cherish true relationships and seek out true relationships where we don't have them.  This is more than attending the same church gatherings.  It is unified submission to and obedience of God's will. 

What is God's will?

We must completely obey His Spirit, moment by moment, day by day.

Our family and friends are those who are obeying the Spirit at this moment.  This point is crucial, and I've experienced it's crucialness.  I first have to make sure I am obeying the Spirit at this moment so that others can count on me in a real relationship.  Then I have to make sure that my fellow believers are doing the same.  This is not being judgmental.  It's being real.  If you know you're obeying the Spirit, and you see the fruit of the Spirit in your life without question, then anyone who is opposing you is by definition in the flesh at that moment.  The converse is true.  If you know that a brother or sister is bearing the fruit of the Spirit, and you oppose him or her, then you are in the flesh at that moment.  This is why Paul says to the Galatians that if a brother or sister is in sin or at fault, those who are spiritual should restore them.  The spiritual believer has clear discernment, while the carnal believer's judgment can't be trusted at the moment.

Where are you at this moment?  In the Spirit or in the flesh?  The answer to these questions determines whether any believer can be in a real relationship with you right now.

Where are your friends or family at this moment?  In the Spirit or in the flesh?  The answer to these questions determines whether you can be in a real relationship with them right now.

So that you may know where you stand, if you want, pray this prayer with me:

Father God,

Thank you for your Spirit through faith in your Son. 

I submit to the Spirit right now. 

Help me to encourage my brothers and sisters to do the same

so we can experience the only real relationship possible,

relationships based on doing God's will. 

Amen.

Three characters in a play that I loved

When he came on the stage I couldn't take my eyes off of him.  He played a character tempting young boys to leave the path of righteousness to follow him on the path of unrighteousness.  He didn't say a word.  His motions and emotions were made known by his actions.  He mesmerized.  I watched him, proud of him, proud of my first born son.

***

I tall girl spoke boldly about the love of God shown to us in sacrifice.  She sang of his love in a clear innocent voice.  She led other dancers in a dance for his honor.  I was so very proud of her, my first daughter...a leader...a singer...a dancer...a child of God.

***

Tears filled my eyes as I watched a girl in red...dancing...smiling...free.  I looked at my wife, whose eyes were wet as well.  We were seeing what we'd longed to see, our first baby girl, dancing free, singing free, glad to be who God made her to be.  She belongs on stage, her smile bright and beautiful, her movements graceful and joyful.  The girl in red...my second daughter, filled me with joy.

The Asian boy who played Jesus

I saw a boy playing Jesus in a play; his character was called "the carpenter." 
To me, he was what Jesus would be like if he were a little Asian boy. 

He was quiet and confident; he said little, but what he said was true, focused, and powerful. 
He was humble and powerful, like Jesus. 
He led the other characters in the play by serving them, but he led them unapologetically. 
He commanded them. 
He said he could be completely trusted, that he knew where they were going and could get them there safely; he said this confidently, yet not arrogantly.  His confidence was not in himself.

The carpenter in the play focused on his father and his father's ways, his father's will.  His focus on his father was genuine.

He seemed real.  Sometimes people think the way Jesus would be wouldn't seem real in our daily lives, like he would be strange or nerdy or not socially skilled.  This little Asian boy showed them wrong.  I could see Jesus being himself on earth right now, being compelling and interesting.  I could see following him; I could see him in the boy who played Jesus. 

This little Asian boy gave me a glimpse of what Jesus is like.  He inspired me to give all who know me a glimpse of the Lord.