“I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.” (Rev 3:18)
Dear Beloved,
God wants to come visit us right where we really live. Lets look at our friend Zacchaeus…
Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the
crowd, for he was of short stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:1-10)
In this passage, we see Zacchaeus, a rich man, a tax collector who had betrayed his people—and despised by his brothers—wanting to see Jesus. He was a good example of someone being discerning, alert and intentional in his movement of hope.
In the four gospels we see a series of “encounters,” and that every “encounter” is unique and distinct.
Yet one thing in common is…It’s faith that gives us the ability of “seeing and hearing.”
We are citizens of heaven. What we see and hear from heaven is our testimony. We are learning to agree with heaven, but this is difficult while we are living on earth.
We believe that faith comes from hearing and hearing from the word of God. Something breaks through and we see and turn to what we see. Change comes after our turning.
Zacchaeus said, “I’m going to turn and see what this is all about.” When he turned, the voice of God spoke to him. Jesus came right to him. Anything is possible when encountering God.
He wanted to see Jesus, but since Zacchaeus was short, he climbed a tree to be able to SEE Jesus. We have to get out of our limitations or restrictions to see Him.
When you have to find Jesus, but your resources are not enough to get you there, you have to go higher.
Then, Jesus looked up to see Zacchaeous!
Zacchaeus had a change of heart. He had been bound by a spirit of mammon; it was his master. But THE MASTER came into his house and delivered him from the familiar-mindset master. He liquidated his assets and gave to the poor. There was a mighty change in him. This day, salvation came to him.
We have come up. We have chosen well and we have learned to choose to come up to where Jesus is. But now, we see that Jesus chooses our reality to come down to where we are.
Zacchaeus was hoping to get a glance of Jesus, yet Jesus ended up coming into his house and he received an encounter.
Our life in Christ is a series of—encounter to encounter to encounter…Granting us the ability to receive what we haven’t received. This is a desire of God: to dwell with his people where transformation happens, sometimes without any of us aware that a change has happened. This is where people would not mentally make their way to God, but be spiritually transfigured through the encounters of the Lord.
Psalm 73 reveals us getting to the point that we can’t live in that disparity UNTIL we see the light. Truth is different than reality.
Revelation 3 talks about the lukewarm church. We usually read this as a rebuke from an angry God. But let’s look at it with the knowledge of the character of our loving Father wanting us to see differently.
‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.”’
14-16 And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,
God is not angry or hating here. That isn’t the heart of Jesus. Life can neutralize us so that Jesus can’t touch us there. There is no life exchange happening here; we are stuck. We ask, “What do I do? I’m supposed to be in the victorious Christian life? I can’t expose anything that seems to not proclaim this.”
We have been forced to hold a “truth” as a “reality”…when it isn’t reality, it’s just truth. This puts us in a position where Jesus can’t touch us because we aren’t acknowledging the reality of where we are.
John promises us to know “Glory” and “Love.”
• If we want to know Glory, begin with praise.
• If we want to know Love, begin with honesty.
If we couple these two together, they will release an experience with God that neither denies the perfection of Christ, nor the reality of your life. This allows God to marry the two.
of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—
17 Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need
Most of us who hold a confession of victory do so because we have no other recourse for our confession. We feel “forced” into wearing a mask that everything is great when it isn’t, in our reality. But if we say what we are really experiencing, someone will attempt to “fix it” by telling us what we should be “doing” more, or judging us, indicating that we must have done something wrong because of our situation. And that we must change what we have done wrong in order for our situation to change.
However, these are works, works, works and more works. No Jesus—just works, and after we have done it over and over in our journey, we forget how to be real. We don’t allow each other to be undone (in a funk, mad at someone, having a bad day, etc.) YET, truth is the essence of worship! How can you worship without a true (honest) heart?
The Lord wants to really hear what we really think. Tell Him what you really think. Try Him.
He wants us to be honest with Him…then He will set us straight…He will turn us from a controlled society to the really free one.
may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
18 I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you
Jesus isn’t telling them to get their act together…He’s telling them that they need something from Him that they are no longer gaining.
We aren’t allowing Him to clothe us, provide His riches to us, or give us sight. We are so busy “holding” what we want. Holding, “I am rich, I have need of nothing”—not realizing that we are blind, naked, and wretched.
He is saying that He wants us to have an encounter with Him, because He wants to clothe us, to cover our nakedness, provide for us with true riches, and give us eye salve so we can see.
22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
Vs 19 is the hinge or beginning point…
• Love means as many as are My friends, someone I KNOW, I like.
• Rebuke means that something will be opened up that we can’t see.
• Correct means to give us a new direction, experience.
• Zealous means to have warmth of feeling for or against.
The worst place we get in our Christian walk is when we become indifferent. You can’t move me, impress me or intimidate me…I’m just here. Yet, Jesus wants us so vulnerable that when we begin to have an encounter, we are excited, in awe, that HE IS HERE! He’s here! He’s here!!! We come alive, our heart patters…The voice of my beloved…I was asleep on my couch but then I heard, I responded. This is the essence of our journey as a people—to become a bride—a people of response. He says “repent”. That simply means to think differently. Come alive – Respond!!
We don’t have to know what to do when Jesus shows up—we just need to respond to His showing up. Climb a tree, scream, “Jesus, don’t pass by!” Fall on your face.
In this prayer, you will find yourself connecting to a posture of approaching the Lord. This gets His attention. Then from this point He says, “I want to go to your house… I’m coming to YOUR house.” He wants to come to our house… in the exact condition it’s in. He already knows the condition we are in.
voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
20-21 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My
We have been stuck in a mindset of sufficiency, where we aren’t able to receive from Him—and He can’t come to that place. It would be like us going to hug a tombstone. There is no honest connection.
He says, “So, if you are hearing me…open up your heart and let Me come into you and I’ll eat with you—just where you live. At the palace of praise, I will eat at the table of your misery. Under the auspices of My finished complete work, I’ll come right to the messy kitchen.
How are you really doing?”…
Upcoming Events
Wednesday, October 9, 6-7pm: We have begun a “Seeing and Hearing” session to discover the new thing that Jesus is doing.
Sunday, October 13:
9am: Marilyn Noorda will be sharing her journey of discovering the heart of God.
10:20am: Nations Prayer. Pray with us as we agree with heaven on the course of nations. Mercy triumphant over judgment.
11am: I will be sharing “Coming up Higher in Truth,” Experiencing new places in Christ in your current reality.
Grace and shalom,
Steve
