Archive for February, 2010

Dear TC-HOP Family,

God created us with a longing for the pleasure of being fascinated or awestruck and filled with marvel and wonder. Without a sense of awe, we live aimlessly and spiritually bored, and thus are vulnerable to Satan’s attacks. A spiritually bored church is weak. A fascinated believer is strong and equipped to face temptation.

We are designed to be pleasure seekers and we are fascinated most when we are fascinated by revelation of God. We cannot repent our longing for fascination, but we repent of seeking to fulfill them outside of God’s will. We will either satisfy it in God or in darkness.

The fullness of the gospel involves forgiveness, healing and fascination with Jesus’ splendor. When God the Spirit reveals Jesus to our hearts it has a powerful impact on our emotions. It liberates us from the tyranny of inferior pleasures by introducing us to superior pleasures. We must be preoccupied with a superior fascination. “In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forever.” (Ps. 16:11)

We sin because we believe that it will provide a pleasure that is superior to obeying God. The power of temptation rests on a deceptive promise that sin will bring more satisfaction than living for God. Scripture calls this the deceitfulness of sin or deceitful lusts. “…put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires.” (Eph. 4:22) John Piper says, “Sin is what we do when our hearts are not satisfied with God. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”

The best way to overcome the darkness is to turn on the light. The way for darkness to decrease in us is to focus on increasing the amount of light we enjoy. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”(Jn. 1:5) We will not overcome the darkness of immorality, bitterness and pride by focusing on it. We do not decrease the darkness in us by focusing on the darkness. We change our focus to become preoccupied with gaining more of “the light of the superior pleasures of revelation” of God.

The struggle for holiness must be the pursuit to stay satisfied with God. True holiness is not the result of gritting our teeth to resist sin, but the joy of encountering God in a spirit of obedience. We are most effective in our battle against temptation by enjoying God. We overcome by being satisfied in God, as we experience the superior pleasure of being fascinated with Him.

I want to overcome the inferior pleasures this world has to offer with the superior pleasures of God by being awestruck and fascinated in Him.

Come join us this week as we seek the Lord together at the TC-HOP.

Blessings,
Gary

Dear TC-HOP Family,

Psalm 16:11 says, “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” The path for my life: to be in the presence of the Lord and experience the joy and superior pleasures He has for me. The call to holiness is a call to the superior pleasures of being fascinated by the revelation of Jesus.

God is the author of pleasure and He created us to enjoy physical, mental, emotional and spiritual pleasures. Our longing for pleasure is part of our created design; therefore it must be satisfied because it will not go away. The Devil tempts us with “counterfeit” pleasures that are outside of God’s will for us.

The greatest pleasures available to the human spirit are spiritual pleasures that come to us when God reveals God to our spirit. This exhilarates our spirit at the deepest levels. We are liberated from the inferior pleasures of sin by experiencing the superior pleasures of the beauty of Jesus.

The Spirit discerns the deep things of the Father’s heart and mind including the delight He feels for us and reveals them to us. I Cor. 2:10-12 says, “The Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God…We have received…the Spirit… that we might know the things that been freely given to us.” If we quench the Spirit with the inferior pleasures we will not experience the deep things or superior pleasures He has for us.

As we spend time in the presence of the Lord He will release to us small measures of insight and inspiration from the Word which tenderizes our spirit. These subtle flashes of glory are to be a regular part of our relationship with God. Over time, this holy influence will change us emotionally as we desire more of His superior pleasures.

This week be exhilarated with the fascination of Jesus and get a vision to desire the deep things of God and experience of the superior pleasures He has for you.

Come join us this week as we seek the Lord together at the TC-HOP.

Blessings,
Gary

Dear TC-HOP Family,

I got home late last night from spending four days at IHOP-KC with three friends who hadn’t been there before. Today, I feel very blessed that God allowed this to happen, to see God’s hand move in our lives while we were there, and to experience and receive from others God’s love in a powerful way.

I’ve been writing about our personal prayer time and praying for the release of God’s glory through my inner man and through my ministry. As I pray these things and then see and experience what happened to us this past week I feel an even stronger urgency to continue pressing into the Lord with these prayers, because I want more, not just for me, but for the others the Lord brings into my life.

Today, I want to write about praying for the release of God’s glory in my circumstances, physical, financial and relational. As III John 2 says, “I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.

First, I want to pray for God’s gifts in this area. I’m praying to see God’s power and favor on all my circumstances (Ps. 91). I pray for physical health, protection and strength to fulfill my assignment in life. I pray for finances so that in this blessing I may be able to help others. I then pray for relationships, that there be unity and the Lord would remove all division, and I pray for His favor so that He would give me divine, strategic connections. As I look back over the past four days I can truly say that the Lord blessed me and the others I was with all three of these gifts.

I then pray for evidence of the Lord’s fruit in my circumstances. I pray that the blessings the Lord gives to me will result in righteousness and joy increasing in others instead of resulting in oppression or harm. We are blessed so that we can be a blessing to others. In Col. 1:10 we pray that we will bear fruit in every good work.

Finally, I pray for wisdom in my circumstances. I inquire of the Lord to know who, what, when and where related to my circumstances. I’m asking the Lord for paradigm shifts as I receive creative wisdom for my friends, family, ministry and relationships.

Seek the Lord for these things in circumstances in your life, and then see the way in which the Lord moves to answer these prayers.

Please come join us this week as we seek the Lord together at the TC-HOP.

Blessings,
Gary