Creating Something Out of Nothing - The Creative Ways of God

"Take nothing for the journey except a staff..."  

Jesus told his disciples to take almost nothing 
with them 
when they were going to share 
the Gospel of the Kingdom 
with new towns 
and peoples.   

Matthew 6:8 

Don't know about you but, I've marveled at this.  

NOTHING?  

Nothing material that is?  

What happens when we follow the Spirit and.....

Don't book a hotel.

Don't plan out the whole day? 

Don't plan all the meetings we'll be in at churches?  

Spontaneous divine plans unfolding before us.

Basic Assumption #1  The Father is already working here

In the world of human endeavor this sounds nuts as a development model/mission model?

In the Kingdom of God it is natural and normal operations. 

Philip and the Ethiopian

26Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” 27So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian^a eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake (which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, 28and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the Book of Isaiah the prophet.29The Spirit told Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.”

30Then Philip ran up to the chariot and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked.

31“How can I,” he said, “unless someone explains it to me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

32This is the passage of Scripture the eunuch was reading:

“He was led like a sheep to the slaughter,

and as a lamb before its shearer is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

33In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.

Who can speak of his descendants?

For his life was taken from the earth.”^b

34The eunuch asked Philip, “Tell me, please, who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” 35Then Philip began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus.

36As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?” [37]^c 38And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him. 39When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.40Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.  Acts 8:26-40

When we plan it all... 

Typically we don't find the new open doors and avenues the Spirit has planned, avenues waiting to be opened for the Gospel. 

Understanding and seeing in this Way, is a fundamental and baseline reality of being sent.  Walking in the Spirit from town to town requires a whole new set of eyes. 

So, let's do some math.  

In our average day, how much time is simply set aside to wait on God's spontaneous revelation, serendipitous connections?  

In our "life plans" how much of our plan is given over to waiting on God, acting on simple leads and following spontaneously the promptings of the Holy Spirit?  

Do you see the patterns? 

Generally, if I am not intentional about being available, intentional to wait on God, and looking for him, I don't see the opportunities he presents.  He's been talking to me about this for a while now.  I find myself seeing everywhere, in my town, in my family, in my neighborhood, when I intentionally let the Spirit lead me.  Amazing things take place.   

Riding on my scooter in Bali, the Lord said to me, "What do you see?"  Later, I stood in a huge waterfall.  As it cascaded down on me, I was laughing and really enjoying it.  Unawares, the waterfall pounded out the lenses on my glasses.  Later when I put them on and assumed they were good I couldn't see correctly.  I kinda freaked out.  Thinking something was wrong with my eyes.  Rather it was the lenses in my glasses.  They were gone!  

I definitely see differently when I stay awake.  When I'm distracted, passive, just trying to get through the day, I don't see the divine doors open around me.  The pace of American life can swallow us whole.  We can easily just survive our day or our week, looking for some relief on the weekend.  Where we simply fall into another pattern of apathy and indifference.  

Awake oh sleeper! 

God's heart is beating over the world and in his sacrifice he purchase every single soul. The Cross, Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus tells the story of the Kingdom life we are invited into.  An unshakable Kingdom that never ends.  

We are helping people come home!

The math of mission and moves of God is...

Available real time x 

Sending and Kronos Kingdom Time x 

Responsive spontaneity and intentional motion x 

The voice of God and promptings of the Spirit x

the Gospel of the Kingdom in present power

Seeing Patterns in the Planing and Orchard. 

A soundcloud reflection on "seeing in the Spirit"

https://soundcloud.com/jeff-reynolds-162661331/unlock-the-doors-kingdom-keys-1 

So what are we looking for in such open times and seemingly pointless travel? 

Jesus pointed the 12 and the 72 to

Find a person of peace and lodge with them.   

I've seen this approach open up a whole group of people and months of fruitful work in the Spirit. 

In a local RV Park in which we were invited to come and share Thanksgiving meals, our person of peace ran around the whole park telling all her neighbors we were there to pray for anyone who wanted it or needed healing.  

We were there for hours praying with people and ministering as people welcomed us into their trailers or lives to pray for them for healing, restored relationships, places to live, God's encouragement.  The Holy Spirit moved in that place and there were tears, healing, hearts encouraged and a stream of salvation grew from the open doors.  

I've been Circuit Riding for 2 years now.  Not super consistent but definitely getting in the swing of things.  Purposely letting the Holy Spirit lead me through a geography has produced multiple divine appointments and connects.  This has occurred overseas and right here in America.    Everyone who welcomes us welcomes Jesus.  And he is so good and pours out grace and power on their lives in real time.  

I believe the Holy Spirit has given people sight and keys to open up whole new avenues of Kingdom grace and love, streams of salvation leading to awake and alive believers.  

So what are we really giving away? 

When we enter a very poor country most often we bring something with us to give away. 

Commendable.  We took 250 new pairs of clothing to kids in Uganda and and Orphanage in Bali.  God's heart for sure. 

Yet.

Jesus wants us to give away his Kingdom as the primary mission task.   

Can we give away nothing material and still bring the Kingdom?   

I say a resounding yes.  

Is this the only way to proceed.  Resoundingly no. 

But we could use a few more people simply carrying the Gospel of the Kingdom? 

A few more simply available to unlock new pathways in the Spirit and step into the places wide open that others don't see. 

People who front-run frontiers in the Spirit.

When we go to new cities with the Gospel, I believe,  

Jesus wants us to establish the work on the Kingdom and the truth and power of the Gospel. Not on material provision.  

In the worst form that can be bait and switch? 

So, I recognize the challenge of trying to bring to light exactly what it is we bring and carry, when we are carrying and bringing the Kingdom of God.  

Here's the message Paul brought with him....

I Corinthians 2:1-5  

And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.^a 2For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. 4My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power,5so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power.

Why?   Take Nothing? 

Few people realize that taking the Kingdom of God is more than enough. 

When we take nothing but the Kingdom we.....

Actually establish the Kingdom of God when people welcome us.

When they welcome us they welcome Jesus and the Father in the Holy Spirit. 

When they welcome us they welcome the message of the Gospel.  

Power of the Gospel of the Kingdom - It changes lives for ever.  Yes.  Eternity gets changed when people respond to the Gospel of the Kingdom and surrender to Jesus. 

So how spontaneous and Kingdom focused is your sight?  

Look forward, eyes filled with Abundance, Boundless, Victorious vision in Jesus.  

  

How's your 24?  
How's your prayer walk?  
Sowing into prayer is the greatest avenue for consistent joy in Jesus than any other thing out there.   

Take a new step into the depths and riches of knowing Jesus.  Pray. 

Start today.  5 mins listening to or reading the Scripture and Psalm 27:14 wait for the Lord.
Grab some time and steal away with Jesus.
He is remarkable to be around.
You will tap into the grace of God.
The Father sent Jesus to restore us to him and he is longing to know us in Christ.  (John 17:3)


1. 10 Keys to Praying with Power
http://jeffreynoldsonedesire.blogspot.com/2014/11/10-keys-to-praying-with-power-moving.html

2. 10 Keys to Sustaining Supernatural Life
 http://jeffreynoldsonedesire.blogspot.com/2014/12/10-keys-to-sustaining-life-in.html

3. Why is the Prayer House Empty?
http://jeffreynoldsonedesire.blogspot.com/2014/11/why-is-prayer-house-empty-or-is-it.html

4. Intimacy with Jesus Beyond Religion? 

 

Thanks for Reading!   

I love your comments. Ideas and thoughts.
Please share em.
Re-shares are great. thank U.

Here are some other blogs posts that may interest you.  

The dialogue is awesome.  Thank you. Testimonies?  Share em with me.  Re-Shares lov em.  Thank you! With much love in Jesus 

You can do this thing!  He's got you. 

Jeff Reynolds   --- 

Brother Jeff

www.jeffreynoldsministies.com 

Discovering Rest in Jesus

Abiding is 3D. 

It's more than posturing and finding a prayer time.
It is purchased for us by Jesus and empowered by love.
It is in Christ. 


It is relationship in three dimensions.



"Trust in the LORD and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness." 
Psalm 37:3

Rooted and Established

Abiding is rooted and established in the love of Jesus. 
Ephesians 3:14-21

For this reason I kneel before the Father, ¹⁵ from whom every family^[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. ¹⁶ I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Rooting goes on and on in our lives as we walk in the Spirit and abide in Jesus.  

The most important rooting is in love.  The love of Jesus, experienced and known, is the sticky honey that keeps our heart, mind, soul and spirit focused and expanding. 
Our roots grow up and fill up to the capacity of the love we know in Jesus Christ.  Real experienced and known love,  that is what abiding in Jesus is about. 

If we can grasp it, we are completely enveloped in the love of God as we move in his will.  Totally and literally surrounded in the effective love of God.  

Somehow, as we move in the Father's will, abiding becomes our habitat.  Our habitation.  

Resting in His Rest

Abiding is learning to rest in the reality of our salvation and his peace.


There is a resting place in Christ that soothes the soul, pours fresh rivers on the spirit and calls out the deepest desires of our lives in Jesus.  It is found in faith and trust.  It is a rest for the soul, always available to us in all circumstances.  It is a rest established in love (Ephesians 3:14-21) and cannot be broken by anything in creation (Romans 8:31f). 

 Jesus is jealous for us and our affections.  He deserves them all in their highest forms.  As we surrender to his affection for us we fall deeper into his rest.  It is a vast assurance and true comfort.  It is water for the soul.  It is healing for the heart.  It is knowing God (John 17:3). 

Jesus said, "It is finished" and with that he set down forever a new and living way (Hebrews 10:20).  A way,  that leads to the Father and his awesome blessings.  Those blessings are set as inheritance for the Saints.  They provide an abiding in rest that cannot be shaken once experienced.  It's as if he writes on our hearts, mind, soul and strength this rest. 

To learn to rest is to learn to trust.  To abide in the resting place with the Father is to place all cares, hopes and our very future in his hands and will.  It is in loosing our lives that we find them in the Father.

Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. ^a]

Hebrews 4:1

Activating Obeying faith

Abiding is activated by obeying His voice and touching the world.

If you love me.....Obey my commands.

 ² For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.

Hebrews 4:2

Many believers know how to position themselves in a posture of abiding.
Waiting on the Lord, praying and seeking the Lord's face regularly,
they perfect an individual experience of abiding.  
Yet in itself this is not abiding in fullness.

If you love me you will keep my commands. 

My command is this, that you love one another as I have loved you.  

Abiding empowers the action of love through Jesus in the world. 
No action. No love. 
No love.  
No abiding.
Spirit and Truth worship is abiding in the Fullness of Christ. 
We tend to take pieces as the whole.  


Abiding is 3D. 

It's not just learning to wait for the Lord.

It is waiting for the Lord in action.

It's not just learning to rest in God.  It is  waiting for his blessings and rejoicing in the intimacy we experience.  It is knowing him and seeking his face (Psalm 27).
Abiding in Jesus is a full circle journey.

Abiding is from the secret place, to the House tops, 

to the world in love.  

What is heard in secret proclaim from the roof tops


When abiding is 3D.....
It brings the power of intimacy into the open.
It refreshes those around us with the fragrance of his presence.
The Kingdom finds expression in the world we live in through remarkable simplicity.


When abiding is 2D....
Believers rejoice that God loves them and in the experience of his presence, but the world or the Saints do not "hear the word" or experience the testimony.
We find assurance for our way and rest for our souls, but we hold back the explosive quality of love, intimacy and knowing God among those where we live everyday.
This is not a 3D abiding.
It is only part of the whole picture of the Love of God.

 "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters."

I John 3:16 

Jesus' love of the Father was not 2D.   Not 1D.  

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

⁹ Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority.

John 14:8-10

Abiding in Jesus means being 3D .  Real demonstration of a real love.  
This is a love that pours out of us because it is written on us.  
Its more like fragrance than anything else. 

We are like our Master when we rest in the Trinity God.
We carry his voice and spirit everywhere, as we move around the world.

God loves making his love tangible and real. 
He is supernaturally natural at it. 
His presence is with us everywhere we go. 

So.  Will you step into his rest? 
Will you abide in his rest? 

Repent.  The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. 
Move out of pressure of a world screaming for things Jesus never asked us for and into the Kingdom of our Lord and Christ.  A place of pure rest in HIM. 




What do you think about describing abiding as 3 D?  
Does it make sense?  Move you to a go further into obedience and following your abiding into your day to day life?  

2018 - is Open Doors - Restored Paths - New Fiery heart

Transfiguration! 

Look forward, eyes filled with Abundance, Boundless, Victorious vision in Jesus.  

  

How's your 24?  
How's your prayer walk?  
Sowing into prayer is the greatest avenue for consistent joy in Jesus than any other thing out there.   

Take a new step into the depths and riches of knowing Jesus.  Pray. 

Start today.  5 mins listening to or reading the Scripture and Psalm 27:14 wait for the Lord.
Grab some time and steal away with Jesus.
He is remarkable to be around.
You will tap into the grace of God.
The Father sent Jesus to restore us to him and he is longing to know us in Christ.  (John 17:3)


1. 10 Keys to Praying with Power
http://jeffreynoldsonedesire.blogspot.com/2014/11/10-keys-to-praying-with-power-moving.html

2. 10 Keys to Sustaining Supernatural Life
 http://jeffreynoldsonedesire.blogspot.com/2014/12/10-keys-to-sustaining-life-in.html

3. Why is the Prayer House Empty?
http://jeffreynoldsonedesire.blogspot.com/2014/11/why-is-prayer-house-empty-or-is-it.html

4. Intimacy with Jesus Beyond Religion? 

 

Thanks for Reading!   

I love your comments. Ideas and thoughts.  
Please share em.
Re-shares are great. thank U.

Here are some other blogs posts that may interest you.  

The dialogue is awesome.  Thank you. Testimonies?  Share em with me.  Re-Shares lov em.  Thank you! With much love in Jesus 

You can do this thing!  He's got you. 

Jeff Reynolds   --- 

Brother Jeff

www.jeffreynoldsministies.com 

The Day Turns into the WAY. Knowing God from Every Point You Meet Him

Everyone caught up in the salvation in Jesus Christ...

Had an encounter, a Day. 

A moment.  A realization.  A prayer.  A starting point.  A beginning in Christ. 

Nearly every believer understands the importance the Day made in their eternal story. 

Equally so, most understand that being born, awakened, or to come to life in Christ is the starting point.  

The DAY.

Few believe the DAY is the end.    

That's like believing we get born and that's it.

No one in their right mind believes that newborn babies are finished; of spiritual babies, that there is nothing more to be done, just to die and go to heaven. 

There's always an eternal road out in front of the Day.  
  Isaiah 49:11

So why would we believe salvation is just about being born? 

Waiting for some far off day to step into heaven, are believers to simply live like every other person of our culture and time?   

Some believe they get a ticket on the DAY.  A sort of getting out of hell free card.  
That's it.  God stays in heaven, with nothing to do but wait for us all to arrive?

That's all that happens? 
Everyone simply goes on living however they want? 
Waiting for the day they go on into heaven.  The sweet bye and bye.  
Wow. 

Seriously?  

Yes. I've talked with people with this view.  This idea brings home the "I never knew you" phrase of Jesus.  

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’  Matthew 7:21-23

Jesus is pointing to those who don't actually know him but act like they do.  Tragedy.  
They are doing religious stuff and somehow have no connection to Jesus himself.  This can lead to a miserable life. 
"Doing good things for God"  -  Things he never asked them to do. 

"Not doing any of the things for God"--  Things he actually asks us to do. 

Seriously?

The prayers-less faith of so many...
The "no visible sign of Jesus" lives people live...
The "I prayed a prayer and I'm good" Laodacian passion... 

And we really believe the statement above from Jesus is for "other people"?


Yes. Praying a prayer works.  I've seen it on many occasions. And people grow up and follow Jesus.  

Maybe we should include in the interpretation of the DAY a "hey awesome, you prayed the prayer, now come follow me as I follow Christ."    I Corinthians 11:1

Most understand that the Day of Salvation leads to the Way of Salvation. Walking us in the Spirit into all the Ways of the Lord.  

Jesus mandated his followers with this...

"Teach them to obey all I have commanded you".    

Matthew 28:18-19

It's not a mandate of words and religion. 
It's a mandate of life and real living. 
Demonstration.  
Teach and do. 
This is the Jesus way. 

There is nothing virtual about living out our faith. 
Yet so much appears invisible.  
In our heads. 
Not on the written words of our lives. 

When you look down and see a three-year-old imitating you as you brush your teeth, you realize "teaching them" is much more than a lecture or the intake of information.  

When I noticed my three year old son brushing his teeth like me and looking up at me and doing everything I was doing.....  Fear coursed through me.  A sober awareness of my involvement in shaping this little one. 

Wow.  He sees what I do more than what I say.  That changed my whole outlook.  Parenting and giving away the life I believed I had, took on a whole new vast moment to moment responsibility.  

I don't think Jesus was saying, "please say all the things I said to them and we'll be good."  

Teaching to obey carries a real, "I am modeling and obeying Christ and this is how you do it" tangibility.  It's really hard to say that if you are not actually doing it.  And so goes so much of our witness and discipleship.  IT's Virtual.  In our heads.  Secret.  Not demonstrated.   


Somehow we have a stronghold of thought that says, "If I believe the right things and agree with all the truths about Jesus, I will be saved."  This is the massive doorway to religion.  It is simply a "work" of the intellect.   If we don't receive a direct lead to knowing Jesus (John 17:3), to follow him, to walk in the Spirit, to go with his Gospel, or disciple others, possibly it is pure religion we are peddling and receiving.  Pharisee stuff.  Blind Guides.   

This is a turning point that cannot be overlooked.  Religion is easy.  It is natural to condemn, enslave into law, judge and shame.  This is 101 flesh life.  We condemn ourselves so freely in religion.  This is not our faith.  Rooted and established in the love of Jesus and the righteousness of his Kingdom. 

More than all the above, what if we invited people to follow us as we follow Christ when they pray a get out of hell prayer? 

"Hey, come and follow Christ with me."  This is so much more than simply saying Jesus' teachings and getting a head nod of agreement.  We are invited to walk in the Spirit.  To demonstrate Christ with every step.   

Of course a brand new baby, born that DAY, does not grasp the wonders of their future or even the most basic ways of their new family.  

We fully intend to teach our kids the life we live and we do, either deliberately or by default.  There's no getting away from modeling how we live each day in Christ.  Every new family is intent on teaching their kids their ways.   That generosity and sacrifice is good grace poured out to kids and new believers.   The Ekklesia family of Jesus is no different.  We are called to entrust the Way, Truth and Life of Jesus to all who would learn.  

The DAY of our birth leads to all kinds of future DAYS in the Way of Christ. 

The Day of our salvation leads to all kinds of knowing the Ways of the Lord.  
The Day speaks to the Way. 
The DAY is not the end.  It's the beginning. 
And every new day is intended to be filled with the knowledge and spiritual life of the Day of Salvation.  

So how is it  we do not link the Day of our Salvation with the Way ahead and forward into eternal life?

 









What are your thoughts on all this? 
How do you see it? 

Comment.  

Share your ideas! 

I want to know how you see these things?  

Thank you in advance for sharing!

Prayer is the inexhaustible truth.  
United Prevailing Prayer is an indispensable weapon.  

Get these two foundations in prayer!  

How's your 24?  
How's your prayer walk?  
Sowing into prayer is the greatest avenue for consistent joy in Jesus than any other thing out there.   

Take a new step into the depths and riches of knowing Jesus.  Pray. 

Start today.  5 mins listening to or reading the Scripture and Psalm 27:14 wait for the Lord.
Grab some time and steal away with Jesus.
He is remarkable to be around.
You will tap into the grace of God.
The Father sent Jesus to restore us to him and he is longing to know us in Christ.  (John 17:3)


1. 10 Keys to Praying with Power
http://jeffreynoldsonedesire.blogspot.com/2014/11/10-keys-to-praying-with-power-moving.html

2. 10 Keys to Sustaining Supernatural Life
 http://jeffreynoldsonedesire.blogspot.com/2014/12/10-keys-to-sustaining-life-in.html

3. Why is the Prayer House Empty?
http://jeffreynoldsonedesire.blogspot.com/2014/11/why-is-prayer-house-empty-or-is-it.html

4. Intimacy with Jesus Beyond Religion? 

Transfiguration! 

www.jeffreynoldsministries.com 

Thanks for Reading!   

I love your comments. Ideas and thoughts.
Please share em.
Re-shares are great. thank U.

The dialogue is awesome.  Thank you. Testimonies?  Share em with me.   

Re-Shares love em.  Thank you! With much love in Jesus 

You can do this thing!  He's got you. 

Jeff Reynolds   --- 

Brother Jeff