Encouragement

Where Prayer and Pain Meet

Leave a Comment / Encouragement /

After my recent blog about finding God’s presence inside our pain, several people wrote to express how they have navigated this in their own lives. One was a friend, Jack Salter, from South Carolina, who shared a piece with me from his journal, written shortly after he suffered a major stroke that compromised his eyesight. I share it here with his permission.

This struck me as similar to what David often does in the Psalms, sorting through his questions of God until trust emerges greater than his distress:

I’m not really sure where to begin here, where pain and prayers meet. The place where my dreams for a good thing, an outcome of my choosing for what I think is right, and the tear-soaked place where my pain and my prayers last met.

Not able to make sense out of anything becomes my reality… where my seemingly silly prayers for selfish things and my recognition of such, face off like old dusty cowboys in a western movie.

Looking over my shoulder and wishing for some good thing to happen, and still, my pain becomes more real than it is supposed to be. My hope is tied to an outcome for my good, and the enchantment of such makes me lean into a form of “lucky sayings”, practice, old wives’ tales, and the like. All of which sounds like religious quackery.

Does my pain become me? Does it articulate my mouth and influence each word and motive I have? Does it become me?

Pain becomes the way I see things, you, and everything beyond the captive man in the tower I am standing in.

My prayers seem to rise from a place beyond any known depth. Words that sound more like moanings and mumblings. Pleadings roll off my tongue, and often I stop to see if there is an answer, a reply, but there is only silence. Is this the place where pain and prayer meet?

Then, ever so subtly, there is a nudge. A small current of persuasion that dances like leaves in a gentle breeze somewhere next to the place where my moanings emanate.

I have seen small streams that flow out of the side of a mountain; if not but a small trickle, water amazingly gushes out from a source that is profoundly unseen. It’s as if there was an unseen force that said to the side of the mountain, “Let the water flow out.” This is the place where earth and water meet, and it defies my simple mind in how this happens.

And so is the nudging that comes from some hidden force beyond my knowing.

Wondering if my pain and prayer are bound together by some invisible force. What holds these two together and why? Am I the only one who has ever fumbled their way into this chasm? What little hope I muster seems like dipping my finger in a bowl of boiling water—mostly unsure.

How long have I been here, with the clatter of teeth for sound and fumbling fingers that seem to touch nothing? Listening, “Try listening,” I say to myself. Try to just plain stop and persuade yourself to listen. Stop. Listen.

The small nudge was the stream flowing out of the mountain. The mountain of my pain, perhaps the mountain of my doing, that has left me undone. Groping fingers that muddle in the little flow of water find nothing to hold but register something different, something unique, and something real. It is Fresh and Alive!

My station will stay here, by the small stream, where if only small comfort comes,… I at last can rest in hope. I will stay by the small strea, and the small stream will stay with me. 

And we will rest together.

I have found a similar progression in my own times of extremity. After I’ve exhausted myself trying to get God to fix it the way I want, I can finally stop. Settle. No longer fighting the pain or even trying to deny it, I can now sit in it and invite him to come. “Meet me here in the midst of my disappointments, grief, pain, or sorrow.” No longer struggling for what I want, I find myself surrendering to his love. Embracing him in my tears, I sense the trickle of Presence, inviting me to see with different eyes. The trickle grows; my capacity to trust grows with it. That’s when I discover plans that are bigger than my plans, what God dreams instead of my dreams.

Don’t think this happens in a five-minute prayer. Finding our way home to Presence may take weeks, sometimes even months. Don’t be discouraged by that; all the while, God is untangling stuff in your heart that gets in the way of you seeing him. And over time, you’ll become more comfortable in your pain, and it won’t take so long.

Now I move ahead, not only more aware of his work, but also somehow more transformed by his goodness. Is this not his abundance?

Sara and I read this in my own devotional this morning…

He is there in our simplest joys and in our most crushing circumstances, always inviting us closer, always transforming us so that we can live more freely in him. If this isn’t at least a piece of that abundant life, it is more like it than anything I’ve known to date. from Live Loved Free Full

 

 

 

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JUST LOVE Now in Stock and On Sale

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This past weekend, I was invited to appear on Great Day Colorado, a morning show in Denver, to share about my new book, Just Love. The host, Denise Plante, was a fan of The Shack and wanted to know if the message of Just Love is a continuation of the same theme. She had read my new book, and we had a great conversation about how Just Love is the other side of the coin. The Shack and my previous book, He Loves Me, deal with how we each get to experience God’s love.

Just Love builds on that theme by helping people understand how God’s love not only wins us into God’s life but also invites us into the flow of love that shapes every relationship we have. If love just comes into us and we try to hold it there, it will stagnate. Love is not a possession; it is a river. We can’t own it, but we can jump in it and frolic in his delight even as we begin to see others as potential recipients of that same love.

What I have enjoyed most since writing this book with Tobie is how it has reframed God’s purpose throughout human history. Scripture has taken on a new clarity as the themes of love and justice are the bloodstream coursing through the text. We see God’s disdain for injustice, arrogance, and the exploitation of others. Adam and Eve lost life because they reached outside of God to try to find fulfillment. That compromised their relationship with God and each other. God has been working ever since to restore the connection humanity lost.

The connection between the Law of Moses, the power of the Gospel, and the reality of God’s Kingdom in the world today has never made more sense. We aren’t saved just to get into heaven, but we are rescued from the narcissism of flesh by the love of an awesome Father.

The Law told Israel how to honor God and each other in a way that would allow them to live in peace and joy. They couldn’t do it, however, because humanity was too self-focused in its fallenness. Jesus came not to abolish the law, but to fulfill his justice in his people through love. When we connect with God’s love and become one with that love, it will flow through us as we will treat others with the same compassion and justice he gives to us.

That’s why he said if we love others like we’ve been loved, the whole world would know who he is. Love manifested in God’s children would change the world. And yet, we haven’t seen that come to fruition because those who claim to be Christian are often just as self-focused as the world is, even exploiting their faith to take advantage of others.

I’ll be honest, this is quite a shift in thinking for those who have been schooled in traditional views of righteousness and salvation. I love it when I hear that people I know are taking time to process the meaning of this book. They may be hesitant at first, but they are willing to take a hard look and see if these things are so. Tobie and I tried to keep it as simple as we could so that others could grasp what we’re saying and explore it in their own relationship with Jesus. And if you have questions about all of this, feel free to send them to me, and we can tackle them on a future blog or podcast.

This is an even more amazing adventure than I knew it to be. Living loved and loving makes us part of his unfolding kingdom in the world, where God’s love and justice reign. Human justice can only come after the fact, trying to impose punishment or derive recompense from perpetrators. God’s justice works in people before they act in hurtful and harmful ways. By putting us in the place of the other, love will not allow us to do harm or take advantage of someone.

That’s the mark of one who follows Jesus; they love well and treat others with fairness and compassion. Nothing brings greater joy to our Father.

If you haven’t gotten your copy of Just Love yet, you can now order it directly from Lifestream. We finally have books in stock. To celebrate, we’re offering it on sale for $13.99 per book. And, if you want extra books to share with friends or to start a book study, you can get them for $10.00 per book when you order in quantities of five or more.

One last note, this weekend I’ll be in the Minneapolis area with some more former 2x2ers and other friends from the area. If you want to join us, it’s not too late.

_________________________________________________________________

"Just Love" - How One Mistranslated Word Distorted the GospelJust Love:
How One Mistranslated Word Distorted the Gospel
by Wayne Jacobsen and Tobie van der Westhuizen
174 pages
Trailview Media
Available now in paperback from Lifestream for $13.99. Or, if you want to order five or more, you can get them for $10.00 each.
Or from Amazon:  in Kindle ($10.99),  paperback ($16.99), or hardcover ($24.99)

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Find Him Inside Your Pain

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Can we know God’s presence as deeply in our pain as we can when things are good?

I’ll admit it is easier to feel blessed when all is going well, but it is in the dark valleys where we need his presence most. So much bad teaching and a reliance on “cherry-picked” promises from Scripture have conspired against us knowing his love in the darkness. Our prayers go to God as we ask him to take away our trouble, anxiety, fear, grief, and pain, instead of recognizing him inside of those things with us. Recognizing God with us in such moments is how the light comes. Don’t miss that part of the journey

Here’s an email exchange I had recently with someone struggling to know they are loved while battling chronic illness and pain. These are champions of our faith. It is easy to believe when all is well. The real challenge comes when darkness settles in. Can we relax into his presence then? This is my encouragement to her, and I hope it helps some others.

Finding our way to the light may not be easy, but the process will transform us in wonderful ways.

I had long-haul COVID. I have never experienced such darkness. I never gave up on God, but I wondered often if she had given up on me.  In Jan 2023, as I was beginning to find my normal life again, I was diagnosed with breast cancer.  In April, while undergoing radiation, I was diagnosed with a lung disease, the same lung disease that I watched my mother endure for 15 years. I have struggled so much, crying out to God constantly, yet feeling a void between us.

Why did God allow all of this? How could He love me? I have cried so many tears and begged God to fix me, to speak to me, to let me find Him. I have judged Him as unfair to me. I told Him the other day that I thought I knew Him as He was, but I realize I don’t.  I was a religious woman for many, many years, and I thought I had begun to break through, but I’ve seen that just this week, I’m trying to qualify Him in circumstances, not His character. Isn’t that what religion taught me?

My response:

I’m so sorry for all the physical ailments you’ve had to battle and for the loss of your mom. It’s got to be hard navigating the same disease that your mom went through.

Your struggle could be some religious conditioning or misguided expectations about how God wants to engage you.  Suffering can throw us off-balance and leave us with unresolvable questions.

First, I don’t believe God “allowed” any of this. He didn’t cause or allow the long COVID or cancer; it’s just what life dealt out to you. We live in a fallen world, and difficult things happen to all of us, whether they are physical, relational, or emotional. If we can’t hear God say, “I’m sorry this happened to you,” because he caused or allowed it, where do we go from there?  I don’t know all the answers to how God helps us navigate our needs, but I know he is bigger than anything that happens to us.

I was diagnosed with incurable cancer eighteen months ago, but I know that didn’t change anything about God’s love for me, or that my every breath is in his hands. My life may not last as long now as I thought it might, but we really don’t know any of that, do we? I could die in an accident tomorrow, so we just don’t know. And what is death anyway, except the fulfillment of redemption I have longed for all my life? What we can do is find joy in each day we have, even as we battle the physical ailments and the mental struggles they bring to us. I promise he is with you, but this suffering will allow you to look deeper and find him in ways that will change who you are and make you more like him, much more compassionate and dependent on him.

Don’t let God’s “fixing you” become the test of his love. Just let him walk with you, through the fears, and hold you in your tears.  I imagine myself crawling on his lap sometimes, knowing he’s got me. Sometimes I feel something when that happens, and sometimes I don’t, but it’s true nonetheless. Focus less on loss, because for all of us, the outer body is wasting away, but the inner heart is being renewed day by day.  Let God be with you in this journey, whether it leads to healing or to navigating the disease with him. You’re right, he doesn’t change.

You have known him in the past; it’s just that your current circumstances have taken you beyond what your relationship with him could bear.  This is the time to deepen that relationship. Ask him, “What is it about your love, Father, that I don’t know that would let me be at rest in what’s happening?”  Don’t look for a list of lessons to learn here; just look for your awareness of him to grow so he’s greater than the losses you have suffered.  This is a process.  Change doesn’t happen quickly or easily, but there is peace for you, even in the midst of what you’re going through.

Where do you best sense his presence with you? In a walk in the woods? Sitting in a garden or a favorite chair? Listening to worship music? Find a place where you are able to be more aware of him and let that grow.

Another question: You have a cancer for which there is no cure.  I have a lung disease for which there is no cure. My lungs have been damaged; they won’t heal. I just try to keep them from worsening.  Lately, I’ve been waking up with the reality of it all.  I choose to trust God as I know Jesus walks through me in every moment and what I experience. But it’s hard experiencing my body struggling along.  I have a cough every day and will until God heals me.  How do you set your mind amidst health issues that won’t go away?

I’m listening now to your podcast, Observations from a Pit, and these words you said are sitting with me. You talked about trying to get instead of asking Jesus what He wanted to give you every day. When the thoughts come at me, I try to get out of them. I pray, I sing songs in my head—I’m trying to get. Then you talked about telling Jesus something when your pain was so great: “This is on you. I can’t handle it.” I’ve been trying to get a revelation of His love. I’ve been trying to get unblocked from whatever it is that’s keeping me from just being loved. I’ve looked for Him in all the wrong places, and I’ve expected much of myself and Him, I believe.  I just want to sit in His love, not sure how that looks though.

And then this, “Trying to pray the right prayer to get God to move,” and you talked about self-analysis. Yes, plenty of that in these last 3+ years and plenty of trying to pray the right prayer/incantation and think the right way and do the right thing to get a revelation of His love.

Thank you… I’m seeing some things here.

My response:

I’m glad you are seeing more clearly.  Learning to walk with Jesus amid pain and disappointment is not an easy task.  Our view of God is so warped toward our own comfort instead of letting him come to us in the way he desires and walk us through the tough places.  I got this from a friend last week, and loved it:

Don’t worship the mountain top! Strangely, freedom is found in the struggle leading there. The struggle that leads us to a different kind of dependency, not on ourselves but on the one who joins us in the struggle, in the valley, the dark and lonely place, the scary places.  His presence becomes our mountain top, rarely seen as it is, cherished by those who know it as they become fearless.

He gets it, and I’m glad you’re learning that too.  His love is there for you every morning, perhaps not in the package in which you’re expecting it, but he can be no less than absolute love toward you. When we don’t see that, it’s because our perception of his love needs to adjust.  He’s big enough to help you get it and find his freedom even where life hurts.

Thank you for taking the time to respond.  I’m having a very difficult time just knowing He is with me and taking care of me. I have lost sight of His love and don’t know how to get back there, quite honestly. I try to tell myself that He loves me, but I’m having difficulty at times just speaking to Him.  I am upset with myself that I can’t just “get it”…I try to cry out to Him when the scary thoughts hit, but I still get so overwhelmed. I don’t know what His love looks like when the scary thoughts and the anxieties hit me. I often wonder if something happened to my brain with Covid, as it’s often just hard to locate my beliefs and my confidence in Him and His love and care.

I’m so tired, Wayne, it’s been almost 4 years of this, and I’m weary and tired.  My counselor told me last week that I needed to give up my rights, and I have done that this week.  I will do anything to just be confident in His love for me, but I’m really struggling.  I don’t know that fear of dying as much as I fear living like this.  I just want to be at rest to dwell in His love when things hit. When another thing goes wrong with my body or the stuck fight or flight hits me or the awakenings to hard thoughts and stress, I just don’t know how to rest in His love. I don’t even know how to locate His love at these times. I don’t know how to believe and receive my way out of this mental/emotional/spiritual struggle. It’s been a very long road.

My response:

I am so sorry you’re dealing with cancer and the coughing that reminds you of it every day.  I, like you, believe in a God who heals, but I don’t think there’s anything I can do to make that happen.  I do talk to him about it, but I have not put my hope there. My hope is in him, as my Father and I know that every breath is in his hands.  I have no idea how long I’ll live, but no one really does. Someone could be in a car accident today. I have had many friends die young, who were God-loving people.  So I know God doesn’t owe me healing, nor is there anything I can do to procure it.

So, I simply live each moment in the joy of knowing I’m cared for by him.  I do not fear death; in fact, I look forward to seeing him and myself in the fullness of who I really am, and the eternal life that God has prepared for us. I look at life here as being in the lobby of a great theater, waiting for the real show to begin. Death is the door into the theater where the real stuff begins. I may be a bit weird, but every time someone I love dies, my first thought is, “I wish I knew what they know now.”

That doesn’t mean I’m trying to die. I take every precaution to embrace the life God’s given me here and those I love until the day when he invites me into the theater.  That calms and comforts me. The anticipation is like flying home to see Sara after I’ve been away on a trip for a couple of weeks.  Someday, we will get to see him face-to-face.

Paul wrote, “Though the outer body is wasting away, the inner man is being renewed day by day.”  Our physical bodies are not who we really are. They are simply a temporary dwelling for what really makes you, you. I look at my cancer as a reality that he and I get to walk with now.  As I do, I find he shapes my heart in new ways because of this challenge. I don’t believe he gave me cancer or even “allowed it.” It’s the rain that falls on the just and the unjust. Stuff happens. Life in a broken world is a struggle, and I get to live in it with him now. He can heal me any time he wants, or he can use this to invite me into the theater.  It’s in his hands, not mine, and I’m content to leave it there.

I’m coming to realize that His presence with me and his care bring comfort to my soul, but my body still feels the discomfort of what it’s dealing with, whether it’s gut issues, a difficult cough, or the dumping of hormones when the fight or flight kicks in, or just the tired, weary body. After all, people still experience chronic pain. I think I thought He would comfort my body. And when it didn’t happen well, I think I took that as some type of rejection.  But then I see that it’s not the way things work in this broken world.  We still suffer, and I’m not a great sufferer.

I’m learning (very slowly it seems) at these moments when my body is weary, I try to imagine myself being held in his arms.  It takes me back to memories with my own kids as they suffered with an earache or an illness.  I could hold them, but they still had the pain.  My holding them comforted them somehow.

This morning I woke lying in bed, talking to him about issues with my gut that I’m experiencing, and in my mind I heard “I’ve got you.  I’m in this with you.”  I’m not sure what that looks like, but I received it.

Instead of trying to pray away whatever tries to overwhelm you, look for him inside of it. That’s the best way for him to unravel its power over you and deal with it however he deems best.

_________________

For those who are in the midst of this kind of struggle yourself, consider reading He Loves Me, asking his Spirit to set you at rest in his love, and let the religious teachings of performance drain out of your body so that you can behold him inside your pain.

 

 

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The Very Same Love

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The following is an excerpt from Just Love, written by Wayne Jacobsen and Tobie van der Westhuizen:

The events at Jesus’s baptism and later at Pentecost opened the heavens so that this love could be given to all humanity. By God’s plan, Jesus became the “firstborn among many sons and daughters” (Romans 8:29). This gift was not the mere status of childhood, but a full adoption into his family.

If all of this sounds just too good to be true, consider that Jesus said it was so: “You loved Me before the foundation of the world . . . You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”

The very same love.

Thus, we enter the Kingdom the same way Jesus did—as a beloved son or daughter! Embracing that belovedness is what it means to be saved.

When the Spirit descended on Jesus at his baptism, the very nature of God was deposited into human flesh. Jesus was, in the words of the author to the Hebrews, “the exact imprint of [God’s] nature” (Hebrews 1:3). The reason for this is not that Jesus perfected the art of keeping the Law, but that God had deposited his own nature into Jesus.

Jesus had become a partaker of the divine nature—the perfect expression of love, manifesting itself as justice. He became an image bearer, carrier, and eventual distributor of that life, offering the same reality to us. The only way to do that is to receive the life-spirit of the Father.

The cross took God’s confession of love, proclaimed to his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, and offered it to the world of sinners, those traumatized by the darkness of living outside the love of the Father and committing unspeakable atrocities against one another in an attempt to overcome their emptiness. At the cross, God the Father, through Jesus the Son, gave his life to the world. Jesus did not die to satisfy what was lacking in God. He died so that the love of God could become God’s love in us, allowing us to share in his life and live by his love. The cross did not make God love us; rather, it put his love into us.

Humans struggle to wrap their minds around that. God’s love does not need to be earned! It is not a reciprocation of our love or service. Here’s how John described it: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God” (I John 4:7).

The only way humans can ever love others so as to fulfill justice is for God’s love to be in them. For God’s love to enter them, they must be born of God; that is, they must be born of the Spirit and become sons and daughters of God, sharing in his very nature. That’s why Jesus told Nicodemus he had to be born again—a spiritual rebirth inside his nature.

“What exactly should I believe in order to be saved?” We are now ready for the answer: “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us” (I John 3:16). No amount of believing in God or the historical Jesus or doctrinal creeds can do any good if it does not also include a fundamental knowing that God the Father loves me. This is the fulfillment of his justice and this alone is salvation.

Adapted from:

"Just Love" - How One Mistranslated Word Distorted the GospelJust Love:
How One Mistranslated Word Distorted the Gospel
by Wayne Jacobsen and *Tobie van der Westhuizen
174 pages
Trailview Media
Available from Amazon
in Kindle ($10.99)
or in Paperback ($16.99)

Here’s the new video we released yesterday:

 

If video doesn’t play, click here.

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The Sequel to He Loves Me

Encouragement / / , , ,

Love is not a commodity you can possess; it is a river of life, flowing from the Father in which he invites you to dwell.

It’s not just a doctrine to comfort the intellect, but a way of engaging God’s presence as you go about your day. Resting in his affection makes it easier for us to entertain his presence, and living in that flow of life will change you over time. Love will not only define how he engages you, but also how you treat others—all others, not just those who think as you do.

Those who seek to contain love in themselves will find that it will wither away like day-old manna. That’s why it wasn’t good for Adam to be alone—not because he needed a wife, per se—but because the love God poured into him needed a recipient to flow out to. God’s love is easy to preach or write about since nothing is truer in all the world than that God is love and that he deeply loves those he created. What I find troubling is that so many people who teach and write about love in the vertical sense are some of the worst practitioners when it comes to sharing that love with others. They treat others, even their own staff, with anger and impatience. They constantly push past other people to be noticed or to build a following. They can even ignore others being abused around them, because they only love certain types of people.

As you live in the love of the Father, you will notice that it cannot be apportioned out to people you like best. Love is love, and you can’t truly live in it without it changing you to be as aware of others as you are yourself.  You don’t have to try to love; it becomes part of your being.

That’s why I’m so excited that this new book is finally finished. Just Love wasn’t even in my heart fifteen months ago. But through an intriguing email, I began a relationship with Tobie van der Westhuizen from South Africa, and out of that growing friendship, the idea for this book was born. His research into a mistaken translation in the Greek captured my heart because this was what love had been teaching me throughout the three previous decades. Now, I have biblical language to make sense of it and a better understanding of what Jesus accomplished to share his love with the world through people made just by their growing trust in him.

I’ve often said that He Loves Me is the most significant book I’ll ever write. If people only read one book of mine, that’s the one I would choose for them. It represents the most poignant shift in my spiritual journey—from trying to appease God so he would love me, to discovering that he already did. I didn’t have to wake up every day trying to be loved by God, but instead woke up as his beloved. That journey for me began over thirty years ago, and it continues to bear fruit in ways I couldn’t have imagined when I started. I want everyone to go on that journey.

However, in the last few years, when I would say it was the most significant book I’ll ever right, I’d feel a nudge inside saying, “So far.” I’d chuckle and dismiss it because I couldn’t think of anything on my radar screen of future writing that would come close. Now, I wonder where those words came from. Advanced readers of Just Love tell me that this is the most important book they’ve ever read, and I don’t disagree. While He Loves Me deals with our vertical connection to the Father through the Son, Just Love couldn’t be a more appropriate sequel. It is about how love flows through us to fulfill all that Jesus hoped for in demonstrating the glory of his kingdom amid the chaos of this age.

It is about God’s hope fulfilled in his justice, not by people performing better for him, but as the inevitable byproduct of people delighting in his love. How has Christendom missed this for so long?  Because of an unfortunate mistranslation of a single word in the Scriptures took our focus off of God’s justice revealed in the world, and instead preoccupied us with sin management and personal piety. I can’t wait for you to read this book, not only how it will change your reading of Scripture to be more true to what the authors intended, but also because we outline this amazing process where love works out God’s life in us. This makes the connection between the Old Covenant law, salvation, transformation, and kingdom.

It has been an absolute delight to work with Tobie to coauthor this book, and I am excited to introduce you to him in this book and in future podcasts. I wholeheartedly embrace what he wrote in our dedication:

Whoever reads this book will soon realize it could not have been written by either of us alone. It is the shared witness of two lives who followed Christ on different continents for nearly a century between them. It reminds us that true community reaches beyond the limits of one mind or one lifetime. In these pages, two worlds merge—the world of reflection and the world of lived experience—and that meeting is no accident.

The publication date is March 3. In a few days, you’ll be able to pre-order the book on Amazon.com and have it delivered as soon as it drops. I’ll be sharing some of that content here in future blog posts, as well as the comments some of our advance readers made about this book.

Just Love completes beautifully what He Loves Me started over twenty-five years ago. I’m so glad this has come about, and can’t wait to hear what you think or take on some of your questions as you process this significant shift in our understanding of the work of salvation.

As Brad said in his endorsement above, the content of this book could really change everything.

_________

And a couple of announcements before I go.

We are updating our mailing list and have found a significant number that did not check “marketing permissions” when they signed up on our list. Yes, I know it’s crazy, but it’s a MailChimp issue. Even though you are signing up for a subscription to my blog or to The God Journey, you also need to check that box as their permission to send email on my behalf. I promise it wasn’t about including you in a lot of marketing emails. So, if you are not getting the email notices you signed up for, that may be why. Please go to your MailChimp account and update your preferences.  (If you received this blog update in your email inbox, you’re all set.)

Also, I wanted to remind you that I’ll be in Bradenton, Florida, this weekend. If you’re nearby, you can join me.  Check my travel listing for details. On Saturday, I’ll be hosting a six-hour conversation focused on It’s Time: Letters to the Bride of Christ at the end of the Age. It will be broadcast via Zoom from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. If you’d like to join in, you can use the Zoom Link here.

 

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The Unforced Rhythms of Grace

Encouragement / / , ,

I spent the weekend with people who have recently left the 2×2 congregation*. I met people of amazing courage, some who have suffered much and others who are having their eyes opened to the fact that the religious group that provided their foundation in faith wasn’t all it claimed to be.  But such moments of disillusionment open some wonderful doors into the life Jesus meant us to live inside his reality instead of following the dictates of those who pretend to be leaders.  And, that’s not just true of their group; that’s true for all of us. The life of Jesus comes from within us as we engage his presence and learn to live settled in his love.

One of the Scriptures we talked about on Sunday is the poetic descriptions of the life I want to live. In Eugene Peterson’s translation of the Bible, called The Message, there is a magnificent phrase. Matthew 11:28-30, he has Jesus saying, “Walk with me… (and) learn the unforced rhythms of grace.”  The arc of my journey over the last thirty years has increasingly led me into how restful and powerful his work is. I notice it most significantly in my prayer life. When I beg God out of anguish and desperation, my anxieties don’t diminish. I’m instead feeding them. The same is true when I beg God to take something away or to make me strong enough to overcome a challenge before me.  Why? I may appear to be giving them to God, but instead I’m focusing on my need and my own weakness, and will grow in frustration as God doesn’t answer the way I want him to.

However, when I pray out of my affection for God, and lean into my trust that he is bigger than anything I face, my heart comes to rest. I know he will have a way for me through it, even if it’s not the answer I want or think I need. In that space, my heart settles, and I find it easier to recognize what he is saying to me and how he wants to work in my circumstances. There, I find the unforced rhythms of grace. I don’t need the answer I want in the timeframe in which I think I need it. When I’m at rest in his work, trusting in his care for me, my heart opens to whatever Jesus might want to show me, and however he might want to lead me.

I now gauge so much by whether how I am responding to him leads me to greater fear or anxiety, or if it leads me to greater trust. This is where grace does its best work. It allows me to lean into him where anxieties fade, instead of focusing more on myself and what I should be able to do.  The “unforced rhythms of grace” is more than a fancy phrase; it’s a way to live restfully and fruitfully in his care.

Before I go, a lot is going on around here that I’d like to share with you:

The interview I did for Reader’s House is getting some exposure in some interesting places, like on the National Law Review and Associated Press websites, as well as others.

Sara’s ongoing recovery has opened the door for me to do a bit more travel. In two weeks, I’ll be in Bradenton, FL, for an all-day conversation on It’s Time: Letters to the Bride of Christ at the End of the Age. As excited as I am about my new book, Just Love, which should be out in a month or so, this one holds a tender place in my heart, encouraging the Bride as she prepares herself for his appearing, whenever that might be. And it isn’t about end-time stuff as much as it is how we can live in him now in whatever challenges we face. Space is limited, so if you’d like to attend in person, please sign up here: If you’re not in the area but would like to watch the Zoom broadcast online, you can register here to watch it online.

I’ll also be in Minneapolis in April, and seeing where else God might lead in the future.

Finally, my son-in-law has organized a Super Bowl Squares game to help benefit Luis’s Kids through Fighting Chance. If you’d like to join in, you can select squares here and then send $40 to the Venmo Lifestream account—@lifestreamMinistries. Half of the proceeds will go to Luis’s kids, and half will pay out the winning scores at the end of each quarter. We’re trying to fill out the whole board, so come join us.  If you’d rather just give money to Luis’s kids and not play the game, you can send it to that same Venmo account. Just designate it for Luis, and it will go to help his kids.

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*For those of you who haven’t followed a bit of this story through my podcast, 2×2 is a designation of a religious movement that began in the 1850s in Ireland and spread worldwide. It seems to have started with some genuine hunger, but the devolved as most of these groups do into the things cultic groups have in common: They are the only group that is saved and has the truth, they live by oppressive rules and enforce them with shame and excommunication, they repress women in the way they dress and how they’re regarded, and the leadership should be obeyed without question. This group began to unravel in recent years do to an FBI investigation and the discovery of significant sexual abuse of children by the workers who traveled about to encourage the congregations. Because the leadership couldn’t handle those revelations with repentance, honesty, and concern for the victims, many began to question the group as a whole and how Jesus works in the world today.

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From Despair to Fullness

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Sara and I were recently in a religious environment that pins all its hopes on miracles. And although they have the occasional story to pull out that seems to prove the point, you ignore the hundreds of other people whose needs persist despite the same kinds of prayers and devotion. So when someone experiences a miracle, it’s touted as normal, and when people struggle with sickness, trauma, or challenging circumstances, they are looked down upon.

As we were leaving one of those meetings, I turned to Sara and said, “This would not be a safe place for anyone with a  need.”

“No, it wouldn’t,” she responded with a sigh.

I used to be part of groups like that, even leading them, until love began to change my heart. God does do miracles that change people’s circumstances, but those are few and far between. Mostly, the miracle he wants is inside of us, not outside of us. Sickness, or overwhelming need, does not prove you’re unloved or that you’re not trying hard enough. It just means you are caught in the chaos of this age, often through no fault of your own, and his love in you is even more valuable in such times.

The celebration of Christmas can bring this into sharp contrast. For those whose circumstances are wonderful, it is a time of great joy. For those who have lost a loved one this past year, are battling a life-threatening illness of their own,  dealing with toxic family members, or suffering financial stress, these days can only seem more lonely and lifeless. They don’t have to be.

If you’re facing dire difficulties, just remember God is with you to reveal his glory in the midst of whatever struggle you’re facing.

Sara and I read Psalm 23 yesterday morning. It begins with the sheer beauty and joy of God leading us to green pastures and quiet waters. But it also affirms his ability to lead us through the valley of the shadow of death and to set a table before us in the presence of our enemies. No one should be made to feel unsafe because the events in their life are not easy and joyful. If God isn’t as real in our darkness and fears as he is in easy times, then we’re missing who he really is.

So, wherever you find your life this Christmas, Sara and I pray that you’ll be at rest in this simple reality: Christ dwells in you, and he alone is your hope for the glory of God to be revealed in you. And that will surely happen. If the miracle you’re praying for doesn’t come, find the miracle of his life within you. He is surely there with encouragement, hope, strength, and wisdom.

Especially for those of you in challenging times, Sara and I hope you find his sweet presence deep inside your heart. We hope that allows you to give way to the joy of Presence, instead of letting your struggles define your day. You can know sorrow, fear, and confusion, and still know his fullness growing within you.

A few years ago, I got a letter from a woman named Ruth, who is a CEO in the health industry. Here’s what she wrote:

There is always this thing that pulls me down into despair and a helpless state. My joy doesn’t last. I don’t know how to get out of this!!!!! I don’t have any more strength to go to work tomorrow. I want to rest, but there is this… I honestly don’t know what to call it—constant pain, sadness, despair, exhaustion. It sucks the life out of me and leaves me empty even when I’m holding on to my faith that God is good to me.

I can’t be alone…. I can’t stand me…. It’s been like this for years now!!!!

I realized that all my life (33 years),  I was expected to believe what others believe. I lived for what others wanted for me and expected from me; it made me stop and think! So now I think this is the cause of my problem. I always wanted to keep the peace of my surroundings just for the sake of making everybody happy, but now I realized that it is at the cost of losing what God has in me, I guess! Help.

She’s not alone. I’ve met many like her on this journey, who write me from the end of the rope.

I told her it isn’t usually helpful to resolve these questions by getting a plan in our heads and pursuing it. “I think Father’s will for us unfolds in the circumstances we are in and how he nudges us in the coming days. So don’t think you have to have a plan, or even know which way is best. The restlessness in your heart is a good sign that Father has something different for you. So, keep your eyes open. Explore. But just keep walking ahead until greater clarity comes.  He probably won’t give you a fully-formed plan, which may be preferable for a CEO, but he will give you an open door.

“You can stress too much trying to get it exactly right. Relax. God’s best isn’t a certain direction or vocation; it’s his unfolding glory in you, regardless of what circumstances you’re in.

It’s not either/or, it’s a dance. His insight in you, you responding to him, more insight, more following, and out of that beautiful dance, you’ll find yourself in the best place for you to be.  He won’t scoop you into it; you don’t have to find it on your own.”

Imagine my joy at hearing back from Ruth a couple of weeks ago:

I’ve wanted to write to you for some time to express my gratitude. A few years ago, I reached out to you, not really expecting a response, asking for guidance because I was in a season of deep distress. To my surprise and blessing, you wrote back with such love, wisdom, and heartfelt advice.

You encouraged me to rest in the love of God and to let go of the burdens of religion. That simple guidance has stayed with me and has been transformative. Slowly but surely, the Lord has been faithful in delivering me from the shackles that once weighed me down, showing me the root causes of much of my trouble, and bringing me healing and freedom.

 Today, I can truly say that I live in the peace of God that surpasses understanding and with a constant joy bubbling from within me! While true transformation can bring changes in circumstances (which it did), my transformation is mainly because I myself have changed. I am no longer tossed to and fro! I am stronger. The Lord has made me stronger, and the burden that once weighed heavily on me has truly been lifted. There is a rest in my mind that slowly grew through the renewing of my mind.

Enduring miracles happen on the inside, when we are no longer tossed to and fro in times of pain. Finding our comfort in an outside miracle will only endure until some other difficulty comes. Finding God-with-us as powerful in the presence of our enemies as in the green pastures will serve us for a lifetime. Notice it took some time for Ruth to find this transformation, as it will for you, too. But what she has discovered will last her a lifetime.

That’s our prayer for you this Christmas: that whatever difficulty you face will not beat you down. Instead, it will invite you deeper into the well of God’s life already bubbling up within you. So that in this season, your heart can be at rest in the hope that all will be well because he is with you.

As Sara and I look forward to our holiday, with all the challenges we’re in the midst of, our hope is firmly anchored in Father’s love and goodness. We are grateful for all the relationships God has given us around the world that support and encourage us. We are blessed to know that through books, podcasts, and blogs, others have been enlightened on their journey and encouraged in their faith.

With blessings and love this Christmas,

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Affection, Presence, and Fullness

1 Comment / Encouragement /

Since posting Graham Cooke’s words a few weeks ago about seeing God as our habitation, I’ve been thinking a lot about the progression of how that came to be in my own life. Three words have risen in my meditation on that, which I first shared in Greenville, SC, a few weeks ago.  They have been growing in my heart ever since, especially the last one. They are providing a valuable focus in my daily life, and I find myself grateful this Thanksgiving season for all three of these.

Affection:  Talking about God’s love is easy on the tongue, even for those who think they have to earn it by their good behavior. That’s why I like the word affection better to speak of what is in God’s heart for us. For some, love is a commitment, often bereft of feeling. But affection occupies a tender place in the heart that speaks of delight and desire. Paul writes that our engagement with him is like a young child crying out, “Abba.” he’s talking about that kind of affection a young child has for its parent. Scripture also talks about the deep affection a groom and a bride share. Ask God to reveal his affection for you so that you, too, can know how deeply loved you are by God.

Presence: God-with-me is not just a theological fact, he also wants it to be a discernible reality. Often during the day, I pause long enough to surrender my heart to that reality. I don’t control when or how he makes himself known to me, but I am constantly cultivating an awareness of presence and watching for his fingerprints. That awareness can come with waves of delight or the simple tenderness of knowing I’m not alone. I enjoy touching a presence greater than myself and surrendering to his desires. Often it comes with a word of affirmation, insight into something going on in my life, or fresh courage to stay the course. I find that connection more precious than anything I might want him to do for me.

Fullness:  It’s easy to look for fullness outside of Jesus-in-us. Most of my life, I’ve looked for it to come from my circumstances—health, friendships, provision, and pleasure. But affection and presence have changed that for me. This is the life of abundance he promised, the fullness of joy, and the peace that makes no sense to the rational mind. I notice a marked difference in my life when I am living for fullness, seeking things to make me joyful or safe, and living from fullness because I’ve found my joy and safety in him. When I need any circumstance to come out a certain way for me to be content, I know I’m seeking fullness outside of him. But when he fills me up, it doesn’t matter what else is going on around me and I can live with others in mind.

Without these, it is easy for any of us to settle for a Christian life that is made up of beliefs, programs, and ethics, instead of a real and holy connection to the transcendent God. His desire is to live in us and to interact with us as we navigate life.

Cultivating an awareness for his affection, an attraction to his presence in us, and an appreciation of his fullness allows us to live in “the glorious riches of this mystery—Christ in you, the hope of glory”  (Colossians 1:27).

 

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A Government I Can Embrace

Encouragement / / , ,

When I pray for the world and hold before God the agonies and travails of war, slavery, starvation, natural disasters, and darkness, I am usually in front of this globe in my studio. I try to see it as God sees it, in its totality first, then in specific hotspots around the world, and finally think of how God is meeting individuals who are navigating the ever-increasing horrors of our age. I often sense a bit of what God might be feeling as he sees his creation in chaos, and his joy as he pours his love and redemption into human brokenness and as he moves resolutely to bring it all to a redemptive end

These days, I’ve been praying that the words of Isaiah 9 will finally come true:

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the greatness of his government and peace
    there will be no end.

I can’t wait for the government to be on his shoulders. It seems humanity is incapable of managing a just and honest society without corruption, exploitation, and hoarding power for the elite. In time, however, he will make all things new, and he will be the one to govern humanity’s affairs in his love and his justice forever. And while I look forward to that day that happens, I get to yield to his kingdom today and live under his government in the face of the chaos in my world. That’s what love is teaching me to do, and why I wrote It’s Time: Letters to the Bride of Christ at the End of the Age.

I know people are reticent to pick up a book about the end of the age because most provoke fear, set dates that never come to pass, or twist Scripture to apply them fallaciously to current events. This isn’t that book. This is a book of hope and courage for those who want to live under his government. The creation waits for the sons and daughters of God to be revealed.

So, I’m delighted that people are responding to this book exactly as I hoped they would. Here are two emails I got this weekend, sharing how the book touched them.

Elara

“Wayne, let’s be honest, we’re all juggling a million end-of-the-world scenarios every morning, and yet here you are, calmly handing us a roadmap for courage, love, and faith without making us feel like we need to start building bunkers. That alone deserves a slow clap.

It’s Time isn’t about fear-mongering or doom scrolling through life waiting for the apocalypse. It’s a call to actually live deeply, intentionally, and with a hope so solid it could probably survive the next global crisis. I love how you take decades of pastoral insight and turn it into letters that feel like someone just sat down and said, “Hey, here’s how you can breathe again, even when the world feels upside down.”

What’s brilliant is how you make faith practical. God’s love isn’t just a headline on a Sunday, it’s a power source for real-life courage. Hope isn’t a motivational poster; it’s confidence that we can still do meaningful things today. And yes, even for those of us who sometimes confuse panic for productivity, there’s room for peace, clarity, and maybe even a little joy.

This book is a reminder that life isn’t about waiting for the end. It’s about showing up, walking in light, and loving with purpose, no matter what crazy twists history throws at us. If anyone wants a fresh wake-up call to live as if God’s Kingdom is happening right now, without freaking out, this is it.

I’m grateful for the way your words and your work draw us closer not just to clarity, but to Christ Himself. It’s rare to find someone who speaks hope without minimizing struggle, and peace without dismissing the chaos we’re all navigating. It’s Time isn’t just a book; it’s a steadying hand in a season where so many feel unanchored. I’ll be returning to its pages again when I need reminding that faith isn’t fragile, it’s fuel.

 

Kyle (No, not Rice):

I wanted to send an overdue thank you for the gift, It’s Time has been. This work has been so helpful and encouraging to me. I am grateful for the insights with which you shared a radically different view on the end of the age. Like many of your readers, I grew up in fear of the end times (and lots of other things too). Your message of hope and the enduring love of our Father in this book has made the end of the age exciting and something to look forward to rather than dread. You haven’t steered clear of the challenges of our age or whenever the final age is to come. However, you beautifully expressed love as the motive for all God is and will do.

And over the last decade, as it has become clearer we might be heading towards the end in my lifetime, I have often wondered what I should do to prepare. Your focus on strengthening the connection and relationship with Christ and others as the key was very encouraging. It was also a reminder of the simplicity of God’s way. I am now less preoccupied with doing something rather than enjoying the friendship with Papa and letting him lead each day. And I am learning that he will show me what I need to do, whether this is the end of the age or not.

Thank you for your wisdom, courage to write in this mine field of a topic, and generosity in giving it away in the blog format. In a world where people try to monetize everything, it is so refreshing to have someone share so freely.

I never felt like I wanted to be there on the morning when the new world would be revealed because I was too afraid of walking through the times that would take place before then. Your inspired writing has helped make space in my heart for a hope and desire for God to reveal that new world and to have me be a part of that transition.

Thank you, Elara and Kyle, for summing up what this book meant to you and passing it along to me. I pray that many others will find the same hope and joy in watching God bring his redemption to creation, whether it is in their lifetime or at some future date.

If you’d like a copy, you can order it here in paperback, e-book, or audio.

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Finding the Trailhead to Love

4 Comments / Encouragement /

I just returned from a weekend in the South, meeting with many people in Atlanta, GA, and Greenville, SC, who had recently left the religious group they were part of for multiple generations. What a weekend! So many amazing people who were ready to honestly process their journey and sort out what was real from their past, and what was not. I sat among them with a tender heart for what they are going through. Many of you reading this have been through it as well.

It is a journey out of fear and threat, into a life of love and peace. For most of Christian history, fear has been used to motivate people to live for God. It begins with the fear of hell, and then moves to whether or not you can do enough to maintain your salvation. Many in this sect told me that even following all the rules didn’t even guarantee your salvation; no one knows that until they stand before God.

It’s disorienting to give up a lifetime of religious lessons, even when they have failed you. What guarantee do we have that God’s love will win the day? Moving from a fear-based environment to an affection-based one, especially with the fear of hell hanging in the background. The struggle is not so difficult for those who have not been ensnared by performance-based religion. Trying to earn a love we already have. But those trails run deep in our brains, and it takes some time for God’s spirit to renew our minds to think inside his love, where we can live from fullness instead of our fears.

The path of fear does not lead us to God’s presence. Sadly, it leads us away from him. You cannot love the one you fear. Certainly, God can break through it, and he often does, but living under constant threat makes it difficult for us to recognize his love as he reveals it to us. I do realize how easy it is to miss his nudges into freedom because the fear of the eternal consequence of getting it wrong looms large. That’s why I’m blessed by people who are willing to risk a different journey. To even consider another path takes tremendous courage, especially when family and friends tell you they will lose their hope of your salvation if you take it.

Jesus offered us a different path, where God is revealed in us and we become responders to his insights and nudges. That all begins with learning to relax into his love, which can take a few months or even a couple of years. So don’t press yourself. Religious performance always begins with what we do; living by affection begins with what God does.

So, how do you find the trailhead? I encourage people to ask God every day for him to reveal his love to them. Then watch for ways he does that, not by fulfilling your desires, but by showing you that you are not alone and by revealing himself to you. That’s the trailhead. Go down that path, and he will teach you how to rely on his love, recognize how he makes himself known to you, and how to respond to him. That is the essence of what it means to follow him, not from obligation to religious activity or beliefs, but to a connection of endearment to the presence of Jesus at work in you.

I pray for them, and all of you reading this who desire a better journey. I know it is scary to leave the familiar, but if it isn’t fulfilling your hunger to know him, it is worth the risk. If you need help with this transition, please check out He Loves Me, or even make use of the Engage videos to coach you into recognizing how God wants to build a relationship with you.

Tomorrow, Sara and I are off to Tulsa for our 50th college reunion. Can you believe it? We have some great friendships that we’ve treasured over the years, and who will be there as well.  Hopefully, our flights won’t be cancelled by the crazy government shutdown over here. It worked last weekend; we are hoping it will work this weekend, too.  We’ve checked in, and so far the flight is a go!

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