I am a living manifestation of God who exists to know God and express God and His kingdom! This is the status on my wall. Its a statement I read in a book some time ago and began thinking about it again earlier today so I just had to post it. To be honest its something I have been thinking about for the last several weeks. Different facets of this thought have been brought up in multiple places. I've learned in my time on this earth when I see a pattern that I need to slow myself down and go deeper until I find the nugget for my life. This is one of those times. It's not the first time I've mined this thought and I hope it won't be the last. I want to get all I can out of it for this season of my life but still be able to mine it later too. In Christ I have access to the richness of God and I love to seek after the veins of understanding that flow through His person.
I remember the first idea of this manifestation was that of coming to the place where God turned the statement, "Its all about Jesus" around on me and said, "Its all about Mike." That rocked my world for several months as I dug deeper into that revelation. I know! This has to be totally wrong or at least that's what I thought. I really thought I'd understood something wrong... I must have misunderstood what the Lord was communicating to me... Right? To go back to my roots I grew up hearing, believing, and preaching the statement, "We're just sorry sacks of mud saved by God's grace." I want to be clear on the the part of being saved by God's grace. That is the most amazing truth of my life! The part that is absolute pooh is the sorry sacks of mud part. Even before I came to Christ I still had unfathomable value to God. At no time in my existence was I ever a sorry sack of mud. I was a sinner and separated from God because of it but not anymore! Now before you go getting your panties in a wad and calling me all sorts of names hear me out on this. I'm not saying that I sin any less now than then, I'm just saying what God is. "I'm a new creation... old things are passed and all things have become new." Don't take my word for it... dig this out for yourself. It will mean more to you that way.
What makes this so vital is the impact it will have on your life. Its the mother of all paradigm shifts and one of the most vital aspects of transformation. I'll put it in different terms to shed light on what I mean. In sports if a player steps on the field of competition believing he's already defeated then its no big surprise when he steps off the field defeated. There is a scene in a Harry Potter film where Harry pretends to put a potion in his friends drink to make him lucky on the field. His friend is unstoppable in the game and seals the victory with his effort. After the game Harry reveals that he didn't put the potion in the drink. What changed? Certainly not the physical ability of the friend. It was his confidence. He believed he could do it and he did. Now we just need to translate this idea into our lives as Christ followers. Why? Because of all the Christians I know I would sadly have to admit that upward of 85% live defeated lives that produce little fruit for God's kingdom. Most walk drably through life with a self-righteous false humility believing that attending church every week and giving their tithe is doing their Christian service. BS! That's not gonna cut it for me! I want to experience the Christ-life I read about in the Bible. I've had my fill of this whatever the hell it is coming from the American Church. It grieves me that to see more Kingdom messages and fruit coming from Hollywood than from the pulpits of churches. The self-absorbed message of building our kingdom is killing us. Back to my original thought (got carried away there but I'm not sorry). Translating the belief that we will do greater works than Jesus into our lives is vital to God's kingdom. I didn't sat it... Jesus did, but sadly that's not the case for most of my life. To be honest I still feel the pull of dead religion urging me to line up and don't make any waves. That's not me though. To do that is to deny who I was made to be and I refuse to fit that mold any longer. I will do greater works than Jesus because He said I would, empowered me through the Spirit, and I am just strong willed enough to believe Him. Here's how it looks in simplicity. As I learn to surrender my will to His and become obedient to Him, He then turns the tables on me and begins the process of revealing to me the best me I can be. That's what I mean by Its all about Mike. When He has your heart then He knows He can trust you to give Him the glory so He puts the spotlight on us as His sons and daughters! When people speak highly of my kids it fills me up! Where do you think I got that from???? I'm made in His image not my own! He gets the glory from me being a manifestation of Him in my world. Every time someone appreciates something about me that God put in me its to His glory.
Here is an example of that false humility I mentioned earlier. Picture a conversation. I am telling someone about a time I laid hands on a person, prayed for healing, and saw them healed. False humility is what makes me feel guilty enough to throw in the statement, "It wasn't me that did it, but God." When I do what I sense the Father is compelling me to do then I am giving Him the glory. I don't have to tack that statement on to make sure he gets it. He knows my heart for crying out loud! We make statements like that so that we don't get labeled as whatever by the ones hearing about what happened. I've come to the place where I'm not concerned by what the Pharisees around me have to say or think.
To bring this all to an end I am once again at the place where Daddy is giving me more understanding of who I am in this season of my life and how that relates to me being that manifestation of Him and His kingdom in Conway, AR. Who I am doesn't change but the application of who I am is being custom fit to the work and calling of the body here. I am excited for the relationships that are being birthed in the process as well as strengthening of the relationships born long ago in this place. I will do great things for God in this place and abroad as I am a living manifestation of God who exists to know God and express God and His kingdom.
