Charter 9
Reflection of the Face of God

True believers are being positioned to display the wonders of the almighty God to the world around us. The Bible actually calls us a new creation,1 a new race of people that had never existed before.2 Many of the prophecies that Jesus made concerning His church have never been fulfilled. The “greater works” of John 14:12 are yet to come upon an entire generation. But this is the hour all the prophets spoke of. Kings and prophets longed to see what we have seen. It is important that we say yes to all that has been
provided for us through the blood of Jesus. It is time for the people of God to rise as one and display the power and glory of God.

If we don’t do the works of our Father, do not believe us.

Jesus once told a crowd of people, “If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me” (John 10:37). Angels, the prophets, nature, and Scripture all testified about who Jesus was. Yet He was willing to hang the credibility of all those witnesses on one thing—the works of the Father. Without question, the works of the Father that Jesus is referring to are the miracles recorded throughout the Gospel of John.3 If Jesus didn’t do miracles, people were not required to believe. I look for the day when the church, His body, makes the same statement to the world around us: if we don’t do the works of our Father, do not believe us.

Perfect Theology

Jesus Christ is perfect theology. For anyone who wants to know the will of God, look at Jesus. He is the will of God. Some pray, “If it be Thy will,” as though God’s will is unclear. You would have to ignore the life of Christ to come to such a conclusion.

How many people came to Jesus for healing and left sick? None. How many came to Him for deliverance and left His presence still under torment? None. How many life-threatening storms did Jesus bless? None. How many times did Jesus withhold a miracle because the person who came to Him had too little faith? Never. He often addressed their small faith or unbelief, but He always left them with a miracle as a way to greater faith. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, perfectly illustrates the will of God the Father. To think otherwise is to put the Father and the Son at odds. And a house divided will fall.

Why did Jesus raise the dead? Because not everyone dies in God’s timing. We cannot have the Father choosing to do one thing and Jesus contradicting it with a miracle. Not everything that happens is God’s will. God gets blamed for so much in the name of His sovereignty. We have concealed our irresponsibility regarding the commission that Jesus gave us under the veil of God’s sovereignty for long enough. Yes, God can use tragedy for His glory. But God’s ability to rule over bad circumstances was never meant to be the evidence that those circumstances were His will. Instead it was to display that no matter what happens, He is in charge and will rework things to our advantage and to His glory. Our theology is not to be built on what God hasn’t done. It is defined by what He does and is doing. The will of God is perfectly seen in the person of Jesus Christ. No one who ever came to Him was turned away.

The Bible celebrates the man healed by the pool of Bethesda.4 If that were done today, the Christian periodicals would interview the people by the pool who were not healed. Theologians would then use the absence of a miracle for the others as a proof text, saying, “It’s not always God’s will to heal.” In the absence of experience, bad theology is formed.

Re-Presenting Jesus

Everyone who confesses to know Jesus Christ in a personal relationship is assigned the privilege of re-presenting Him. “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). The mandate is clear and strong and there are no options. Discovering who He is and what He is like is the great journey for the believer. It is an eternal quest: one that we will delight in forever. But in our discovery is the responsibility to make Him known. Do we do so by preaching the Word? Yes. But He is also to become manifest through our lives. We are to become a portrait of God. This is part of what being the body of Christ means.

We become like that which we worship. Seeing Him changes us. Worship increases our capacity to see. But if we view God through an incomplete Old Testament lens, then we are likely to try to carry a message of wrath and anger, thinking we are honoring God. It’s not that God cannot show anger. The whole point is that He wants to show mercy, and He looks for those who will intercede on behalf of those who have no hope. He is the One who said that mercy is victorious over judgment. An incomplete revelation from the old covenant cannot produce fruit of the new. Those who don’t see Him through the New Testament revelation in Scripture try to re-create who He is through human reasoning. It is usually a distorted view of an angry God. But sometimes it’s the other extreme where they preach about a God that ignores sin. Neither is correct, and both are products of the minds of those who cannot see.

“As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). The mandate is clear and strong and there are no options.

He is perfect in love, power, character, and wisdom. These are the expressions of His nature that must be seen all at once—this time, in and through us.

Love

It is an honor to love, for God loved us first.5 We only give away what we’ve received. God set the standard for giving love that demands nothing in return. He also set the standard for love that is sacrificial. “For God so loved the world, that He gave . . . ” (John 3:16). It is our privilege to give time, money, attention, friendship, and so on. Sacrificial giving is sacrificial living. While we can give without loving, we can’t love without giving. By nature love does not require anything in return, or it is not love. The real test of love is when we are able to love the unlovely, who are unable to give in return.

Many of us grew up thinking that the way we reach out to our community is to pray hard that people would attend church meetings in hopes of them being converted. It’s hard for us to be effective in demonstrating the love of God if people are required to come to us. It is in going that we are most likely to give authentically.

The story of the good Samaritan stands out as a good example of love.6 He adopted the problems of the injured stranger as his own. When he couldn’t stick around to help the man firsthand, he hired someone to do what he was unable to do. It is an amazing story of loving a total stranger.

I have heard teaching on the subject of giving to the poor and needy that emphasizes our stewardship instead of compassion. It basically means that you don’t want to give to someone who will not use what was given properly. My opinion is that there is too much concern about giving something to someone who might misuse what is given. That didn’t stop God. While we do have a responsibility for good management of what God has given us, we are not responsible for what another person does with what we’ve given them. We are responsible to love, and love requires giving. Even if a person misuses the money or gift I gave them, the message of love has been demonstrated. Giving His love away is the goal.

People who get breakthroughs in the miracle realm face a temptation: it’s easy to pursue miracles for miracles’ sake. But the greater ambition ought to be that in all we do we display the love of God.

Power

The tendency to embrace the concept of God being an angry Father is done in equal proportion to a person’s inability to demonstrate His power. There is a connection between our belief system and what actually flows through us. If we don’t see Jesus’s life as ultimate illustration of the will of God, we will continually undermine our ability to display it.

Powerlessness is such an aberration that we are either compelled to seek for a fresh baptism in the Spirit until the power that was promised becomes manifested through us, or we create doctrinal reasons to comfort ourselves in powerlessness. I don’t want comfort. I want power. It is never OK to live short of the miraculous. I am indebted to Him in this matter: He gave the example, sent the wonderful Holy Spirit, and gave us His Word in our commission. What else must He do? We owe Him miracles as a testimony that He is alive and that His face is turned toward us. The Spirit of the resurrected Christ, that same Spirit that anointed Jesus for ministry, lives within us. The Gospel makes sufficient provision for this issue to be settled for anyone who seeks His face with reckless abandon.

I’ve heard people say that if they had to choose between purity and power, they’d choose purity. That sounds good, but it’s an illegal choice. The two must not be separated. They are two sides of the same coin, and they must remain intact. I have told our church family, “I’m not impressed with anyone’s life that does not have character. But I’m not happy with that life until there is power.”

Character

Christlike character is not merely being victorious over sin issues. It is the realized effect of the life of faith, which is righteousness, peace, and joy, which is, as I have already made clear, Paul’s definition of the kingdom.7 These three things demonstrate the character of Christ in the life of a believer.

Living righteously means that I live completely for God, with no attachments to ungodly things. Living for God means I reject the inferior things that give temporary satisfaction because only the kingdom of God satisfies. Righteousness has been reduced to morality for some. Morality is essential, but it is the bottom rung of the ladder. It’s the first step. But true righteousness is demonstrated in Christlike indignation toward injustice. It seeks to vindicate mistreatment of the poor, the widow, and the unborn. It also stirs our hearts toward those who are bound by disease, for it was the sun of righteousness that rose with healing in His wings.8 Healing is an expression of His righteousness on our behalf.

It saddens me to see Christians who will not associate with unbelievers because they want to be separate from the world, yet their lifestyles are the same as unbelievers. The early church associated with unbelievers but didn’t live like them. That day is returning as the issue of character is being addressed once again, this time rightly partnered with power.

Like peace and joy, righteousness is a gift. “Those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17). The word reign in this verse means “to be king.” The imagery is strong. Righteousness enables a person to exercise dominion over their life and not live as a victim. Abraham’s nephew, Lot, fell short of this reality when the Scriptures say that he was “oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men” (2 Peter 2:7). The conduct of others affected and oppressed him. Life in God has been designed in such a way that righteousness in our lives actually affects the people around us, much the same way as a king’s reign affects everyone under his influence. This is a central theme in the subject of city transformation.

Peace is more than the absence of noise, conflict, and war. It is the presence of the One who exercises military authority over everything that is in conflict with His dominion. As we enjoy His order and calm, the powers of darkness are destroyed by His overwhelming magnificence. It is a life of rest for us but a life of terror for the powers of darkness. For this reason the Bible declares, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet” (Romans 16:20). As His peace comes upon us, our enemies are destroyed. When anxiety and fear approach, we must get back to our place of peace. It is our rightful inheritance in Christ and is the place from which we live. This attribute of heaven is the evidence of a victory that has already been won. It is this characteristic that so frustrates the devil. Our not being terrified by him because of our abiding peace actually terrifies the enemy of our soul.

Joy belongs to the believer. As I said in the previous chapter, joy is to salvation what tears are to repentance. It is one of the most essential expressions of abiding faith. Being stern and harsh is overrated. Any unbeliever can do that. Jesus was only this way toward those who rejected Him but should have known better. They called Him a drunk and glutton simply because drunks and gluttons experienced His love and acceptance. Faith believes I am accepted by God, and there is no power or authority that can take that away.

If you lack joy, there is one way you can engage in the process of gaining ever-increasing joy: learn to rejoice. A choice to rejoice cannot depend on circumstances, because it operates from the heart of faith. It lives regardless of what has happened, embracing the realities of His world that can only be accessed by trust in God and His Word. Rejoicing releases joy.

But perhaps the greatest secret regarding joy is in discovering God’s joy over us. The Bible tells us, “The joy of the LORD is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). God has joy. And it’s His joy over us that makes us strong! That truth sets us free unlike anything else. Rejoice, for He is delighted in you!

Wisdom9

Jesus is called the desire of the nations.10 To make us successful in the commission to disciple nations He chose to live inside of us. This gives us the potential of appealing to the world around us. That is far from the present experience of most of us. While sinners loved to be with Jesus, they seldom like to be with us. It is up to us to find out why and fix it. Part of the reason is because we tend to be very impractical, answering questions that few people are asking, bringing direction that no one is looking for.

Yet it is God’s time for His people to become highly esteemed by unbelievers again (we prefer to call them, “pre-believers”). Jesus has all the answers to all the world’s problems. We have legal access to the mysteries of the kingdom. His world is the answer for this one. No matter the problem, whether it is medical, political, or as simple as a traffic-flow problem in our neighborhood or a conflict on the local school board, Jesus has the answers. Not only that, but He also desires to reveal them to us and through us. His method of choice is to use His children, the descendants of the Creator, to represent Him in such matters.

It’s hard for us to bring solutions for this world’s dilemmas when our hope (end-time theology) is eagerly anticipating the destruction of the planet. Both Jesus and the apostle Paul said we inherit this world.11 Our correct stewardship should start now. To ignore this part of the commission because of the conviction that the world cannot be made perfect before Jesus’s return is very similar to ignoring the poor because Jesus said they’d always be with us. It is irresponsible stewardship of our commission and anointing.

Wisdom is the creative expression of God.12 It was a part of the creative force used in making the “all” that is. It is celebratory in nature, with a special delight in humanity.

Besides Jesus, Solomon is the one known most for extraordinary wisdom. In fact, Solomon’s wisdom was the high watermark in Israel’s history. With it he silenced the queen of Sheba when she came to sit at his feet and learn. He answered many questions about life that were puzzling to her. But when God chose to list the things that impressed her, He recorded a list that would normally be boring, that is, outside of wisdom. The Scriptures list them this way: the house that he built, the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers, and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the Lord.13 These are all everyday things. Only the creative expression of God could arrest the heart of a queen with the ordinary. She had already seen wealth and treasures. She had been exposed to great talent and even craftsmanship. But she was now looking at mundane things that had taken on meaning through the creative expression of God through a man. And it made her speechless.

It’s time for the world to become speechless again as they become aware of our approach to the simplicities of life—this time with divine wisdom.

The Renewed Mind

You know your mind is renewed when the impossible looks logical. The most consistent way to display the kingdom of God is through the renewed mind. It is much more than thinking right thoughts. It is how we think—from what perspective. Done correctly, we are to “reason” from heaven toward Earth.

Four cornerstones of thought have changed how we do life. They must become more than doctrines that we agree with. They must become perspectives that change how we approach life—attitudes that define the culture we have chosen to live in.

God is good. I often open our meetings on Sunday with this announcement: “God is in a good mood.” It shocks people. As simple as it is, it is not really believed by very many people.

But God is really secure in His sovereignty, and He rejoices in the bride of His Son. God thinks the price paid is worth what they’re getting. The ones with the angry messages from our pulpits just need to meet the Father. He is really good, all the time. He’s better than we think, so let’s change the way we think.

The most consistent way to display the kingdom of God is through the renewed mind.

“Nothing is impossible” has become a slogan that defines our approach to life. As believers we are assigned to invade what has previously been called impossible. Some Christians shy away from the pursuit of miracles because they consider them impossible. The saddest part of their story is that they think the rest of the Christian life is possible. Not so! The whole thing is impossible to the natural mind. Only God can say from experience, “Nothing is impossible.” But to give us access to a realm that only He enjoys, He added, “All things are possible for him who believes” (Mark 9:23).

We fight from the victory of Christ. We do not do warfare in order to win. Rather it is to enforce the victory that Jesus has already won on our behalf. We war from His victory toward a given situation. That changes our perspective, which is half the battle. For the believer, most closed heavens are between the ears. When we believe things are dark and feed our soul on that reality, we have a big battle to fight. Through intimidation the enemy has succeeded in putting us into a defensive posture. It’s the wrong position—we are on offense and we have the ball. We’ve had it ever since Jesus commanded us to “go into all the world” (Mark 16:15, emphasis added).

I am significant. It is easier to say that we are significant, instead of saying I am significant. Yet it is the discovery of this truth that liberates us into true humility. Anyone who speaks of his or her own significance, but goes into pride, never really got this important revelation. There is a humility that comes from seeing our past. But the greater measure of humility comes from seeing our future. What is before us is impossible without God’s favor, strength, and guidance. Dependency on Him is the result of the discovery of personal significance.

God’s Ultimate Plan

God has turned our hearts once again to seek His face. Prayer movements are springing up in most every stream of the body of Christ. What Lou Engle has done with The Call14 is literally shaping the course of history as an entire generation is being summoned by God to change a nation through prayer and intercession. In light of this shift in the Spirit, we too must embrace the call to pray. But as we do, let’s learn to pray as Jesus did.

For the believer, most closed heavens are between the ears.

There is no record of Jesus asking His Father to heal someone, nor is there record of Him crying for the Father’s deliverance in a life-threatening storm. Instead He had gained a place of authority in prayer so that He could simply bring the command and watch the will of His Father being done.

It’s time to use a good part of our prayer time to actually seek His face. The result will be clearly seen, for when we speak, things will happen—and when we touch people in ministry, we will bring them into an encounter with God that changes everything.