When the Lord God first set man in the Garden, He did an interesting thing. He allowed the newly formed human to experience what it was like not to have a counterpart right from the beginning as all the other creatures did. It was the only thing in the whole of creation that God said was “not good.” Why did the Lord follow this plan? Why did He not establish man and woman at the same time, and give them to one another in the fullness of intimacy that He intended humans to experience together?
Was there something churning in God’s heart that could only be understood by Adam through the sense of being incomplete, knowing first-hand the experience of loneliness and deprivation? Why the man’s sense of exhilaration and wonder at the completeness he realized only when the woman came on the scene? Surely from his observation of the animal realm, he sensed there was something “wrong,” something “missing,” and yet how could that be, since Adam had known no other existence? How can one long for something that does not exist?
C.S. Lewis wrote that the fact that a man is hungry does not ensure that he will be fed, but it certainly indicates that somewhere there is food designed to meet his need. In the same way, the fact that Adam knew he was incomplete demanded the existence of a fulfilling reality. Adam’s longing had to have its root somewhere other than in his own experience.
And what of the strange idea that a man must therefore leave father and mother, and cling to his wife? Adam left no one to cling to Eve. Was this merely the starting point for future reference, or was there already a reference point in place, one that stretched backward beyond the boundaries of time? The understanding comes much later through the writings of Paul the apostle. In Ephesians 5, he quotes some of the same phrases as the basis for commitment in human marriage, then shows us that the reference point for these ideas is none other than Christ and the Church. The statement about leaving and cleaving was an early reflection of God’s plan for Jesus to come in the flesh, leaving the heavenly home of the Father to cling to a human Bride.
Adam’s longing, his sense of being unfulfilled, his exhilaration at the discovery of his counterpart, had its genesis in the heart of Christ and His desire for the Bride that was the standard before mankind was ever created! Adam’s experience of longing was, from the first moment, a reflection of the chosen longing in the heart of the Triune God to have a counterpart suitable for His beloved Son, the living Word in Whom was formed everything that exists.
The taking of the woman from the side of the man, out of his very flesh and bone, must have seemed to Adam a bizarre methodology compared with the one God employed for the rest of creation. We see it now as a picture of the Bride taken from the riven side of the crucified Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He identified permanently with her humanity without negating His divinity, thereby leaving Himself with no alternative but to exalt her to the incredible place of fellowship and partnership in the triune life of God. Truly a magnificent picture! And it’s only the beginning.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
A New Way Of Seeing
Back in the early 1980s my wife and I were privileged to be associated with John Wimber and the emerging Vineyard movement, with their emphasis on the release of a new style of intimate worship, and the release of the healing power of the Holy Spirit as normal in the Christian life.
In order for us to move freely into those kinds of experiences, we needed to make some adjustments in the way we perceived reality. We needed to have a way of seeing that made room for the incursion of the miraculous into what we called “normal” life. In short, we needed a paradigm shift, a way of re-defining normalcy that included opportunities for the power of God to invade our usual experience.
The wonderful thing was that as we developed this new perspective according to Biblical patterns, we began to experience that power more regularly and some of our experiences began to resemble the dynamic of the New Testament accounts. Through subsequent years, more and more believers began to experience new dimensions of God’s miraculous presence in their everyday lives.
I believe we need a paradigm shift once again among God’s people with regard to prayer. In the activity-addicted, performance-oriented entity that is the Church, we have largely lost sight of the experiential intimacy with Jesus to which we have been called, and we need a restoration of that understanding. The new perspective makes room for believers to define their lives before God not on the basis of what they do for Him, but on the basis of the declarations of His ravished heart as the Heavenly Bridegroom.
We need a shift in the way we read the Scriptures, with a resultant shift in our theological thinking and ultimately a shift in the way we relate to Jesus, to ourselves, and to what we do in His Name. Our experience of the Christian life needs to be deepened and changed. The path the Holy Spirit is opening into this deeper experience is the way of intimacy with Jesus as our Bridegroom. My goal in these articles is to begin building a foundation of biblical understanding that will enable believers to see with new eyes, to begin to experience the presence of the Lord in new and sweeter ways.
I readily acknowledge at the outset that this “bridal paradigm” is not a new thing. It has been a central part of biblical theology all through history, and has been preserved through the life of the Church in marvelous ways in the experiences of mystics and contemplatives, most of whom have lived within the Catholic and Orthodox expressions of Christianity. There have been, however, only a precious few saints within the Protestant ethos who have gone deep into the understanding of Jesus’ love for His Bride, and whose personal experiences of these depths have enabled them to write in helpful ways.
Like Martha of Bethany, Protestant Evangelicals have been concerned with many necessary things, to the point that we have excluded the needful thing Mary chose—sitting at the feet of the Bridegroom to hear His heart and voice. But God is changing that, and my prayer is that this little contribution to the process will be of assistance to those who read it.
Over the next weeks we will look at this theme of bridal relationship as it is presented through the Scriptures, beginning with the Old Testament record, that we might know and believe what is in His heart.
Blessings,
Gary Wiens
In order for us to move freely into those kinds of experiences, we needed to make some adjustments in the way we perceived reality. We needed to have a way of seeing that made room for the incursion of the miraculous into what we called “normal” life. In short, we needed a paradigm shift, a way of re-defining normalcy that included opportunities for the power of God to invade our usual experience.
The wonderful thing was that as we developed this new perspective according to Biblical patterns, we began to experience that power more regularly and some of our experiences began to resemble the dynamic of the New Testament accounts. Through subsequent years, more and more believers began to experience new dimensions of God’s miraculous presence in their everyday lives.
I believe we need a paradigm shift once again among God’s people with regard to prayer. In the activity-addicted, performance-oriented entity that is the Church, we have largely lost sight of the experiential intimacy with Jesus to which we have been called, and we need a restoration of that understanding. The new perspective makes room for believers to define their lives before God not on the basis of what they do for Him, but on the basis of the declarations of His ravished heart as the Heavenly Bridegroom.
We need a shift in the way we read the Scriptures, with a resultant shift in our theological thinking and ultimately a shift in the way we relate to Jesus, to ourselves, and to what we do in His Name. Our experience of the Christian life needs to be deepened and changed. The path the Holy Spirit is opening into this deeper experience is the way of intimacy with Jesus as our Bridegroom. My goal in these articles is to begin building a foundation of biblical understanding that will enable believers to see with new eyes, to begin to experience the presence of the Lord in new and sweeter ways.
I readily acknowledge at the outset that this “bridal paradigm” is not a new thing. It has been a central part of biblical theology all through history, and has been preserved through the life of the Church in marvelous ways in the experiences of mystics and contemplatives, most of whom have lived within the Catholic and Orthodox expressions of Christianity. There have been, however, only a precious few saints within the Protestant ethos who have gone deep into the understanding of Jesus’ love for His Bride, and whose personal experiences of these depths have enabled them to write in helpful ways.
Like Martha of Bethany, Protestant Evangelicals have been concerned with many necessary things, to the point that we have excluded the needful thing Mary chose—sitting at the feet of the Bridegroom to hear His heart and voice. But God is changing that, and my prayer is that this little contribution to the process will be of assistance to those who read it.
Over the next weeks we will look at this theme of bridal relationship as it is presented through the Scriptures, beginning with the Old Testament record, that we might know and believe what is in His heart.
Blessings,
Gary Wiens
Monday, October 17, 2011
Partners in Intercession
And so the Man Christ Jesus still stands in the place of intercession, ever before the Father, ever living to intercede. Assisted by the Holy Spirit, the constant posture of Jesus now is to agree with the Father concerning the position of the Bride before God. He is our Advocate, pleading our case before the Father, our just Judge. By the power of the Spirit, we are constantly being transformed into His image, becoming one with Him as a man and woman become partners in the context of intimacy in a marriage relationship.
Now and throughout eternity, we have the privilege as His bridal partners to intercede in the same way Jesus does, standing in the gap on behalf of the rest of mankind and agreeing with God’s desires. We come boldly and confidently before His presence, the throne of grace, because the way has been opened for us by the true Man, Jesus Christ, our Bridegroom. We receive His mercies afresh every day and we are empowered by His presence to walk out the new life He has given us by the blood of Christ. In that place of safety and intimacy, we take our place as His Bride and bring before Him the needs of the people around us, declaring over them the will of God by agreeing with His agenda as revealed in the Word of God.
In this process, we come to an ever-increasing awareness of His goodness and the truth of His ways. We begin to understand that the heart of God is for us and not against us, and that His purposes for the human race are more wonderful than we ever imagined. We come into glad-hearted agreement with the Son of God concerning Who He is, Who the Father is and who we are.
We are the objects of His delight, the focus of His affections, and because He speaks this to our hearts in such a personal and convincing way, we begin to comprehend that He can feel the same way about every person without leaving any individual unattended. We start to share His perspective of our cities and nations and of the situations in which our families and friends find themselves. When we experience His love poured out upon us, we become convinced of His power to set right every situation for every person. When His powerful affections touch our hearts, we realize that the true reward of prayer is not changed circumstances, but the reality of intimate experiential friendship with Jesus Christ, the Lover of our souls. In that place of intimacy, we are free to affect the world around us with the knowledge of His love.
As we come to know His heart, there is a point at which He invites us to walk the streets of the cities with Him, personally touching those who need Him—the “dimly burning candles” and “bruised reeds” of this world—until their lights burn brightly and their countenances are lifted up. The power is His. The new identity is ours. The methodology is intercession.
And so, we pray.
Now and throughout eternity, we have the privilege as His bridal partners to intercede in the same way Jesus does, standing in the gap on behalf of the rest of mankind and agreeing with God’s desires. We come boldly and confidently before His presence, the throne of grace, because the way has been opened for us by the true Man, Jesus Christ, our Bridegroom. We receive His mercies afresh every day and we are empowered by His presence to walk out the new life He has given us by the blood of Christ. In that place of safety and intimacy, we take our place as His Bride and bring before Him the needs of the people around us, declaring over them the will of God by agreeing with His agenda as revealed in the Word of God.
In this process, we come to an ever-increasing awareness of His goodness and the truth of His ways. We begin to understand that the heart of God is for us and not against us, and that His purposes for the human race are more wonderful than we ever imagined. We come into glad-hearted agreement with the Son of God concerning Who He is, Who the Father is and who we are.
We are the objects of His delight, the focus of His affections, and because He speaks this to our hearts in such a personal and convincing way, we begin to comprehend that He can feel the same way about every person without leaving any individual unattended. We start to share His perspective of our cities and nations and of the situations in which our families and friends find themselves. When we experience His love poured out upon us, we become convinced of His power to set right every situation for every person. When His powerful affections touch our hearts, we realize that the true reward of prayer is not changed circumstances, but the reality of intimate experiential friendship with Jesus Christ, the Lover of our souls. In that place of intimacy, we are free to affect the world around us with the knowledge of His love.
As we come to know His heart, there is a point at which He invites us to walk the streets of the cities with Him, personally touching those who need Him—the “dimly burning candles” and “bruised reeds” of this world—until their lights burn brightly and their countenances are lifted up. The power is His. The new identity is ours. The methodology is intercession.
And so, we pray.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Jesus: The Original Intercessor
Jesus, The Original Intercessor
The most significant intercession in history is the work Jesus accomplished on the cross of Calvary. The only adequate ransom to purchase the Bride back from sin’s captivation was a perfectly obedient Man—since in God’s economy only a flawless Intercessor could “stand in the gap” on behalf of the guilty.
Because of God’s great goodness, His own Son became a human being, forever joining humanity with the true divine nature. Jesus walked out a life of perfect human obedience to the will of God and took His place on the cross, that the judgments of God might be poured out where they belonged—on the ultimate Intercessor. God provided Himself as the required sacrifice, the Lamb. In doing so, through Jesus He restored to the human race the position of righteousness that a relationship with God requires, and with it, all the promises and intentions that were in His heart from the beginning. The intercession was complete.
The stunning thing about this historical occurrence is that God had made provision for it before He ever began the process of creating. Before creation was established, God the Father and God the Son instituted an eternal agreement that God Himself, in the Person of Jesus Christ, would become the one true Man who would stand as Intercessor between the Father and the human race.
Revelation 13:8 informs us that the Lamb was “slain from the foundation of the world,” establishing our redemption before the first sin was ever committed! From eternity past He stood in our place, the true Adam, perfectly agreeing with the Father’s will where the earthly Adam did not, and taking upon Himself the just and right judgment of death for the sin of all humans. From eternity, long before the incarnation, He was pouring Himself out that we might live through His life—the ultimate picture of intercession.
Jesus’ Continuing Intercession
In His bodily resurrection, Jesus, the eternal Bridegroom, released to us the power to become the children of God, and now lives in the presence of the Father to sustain us in that relationship by His constant intercession. Through the power of Christ’s resurrection, we stand even now in that place of intimate authority, anticipating the full realization of our identity as the Bride, which is the corporate identity of all who accept His invitation to the ultimate wedding feast at the end of the ages.
Even as the wrath of God was poured out upon the perfect Intercessor, so the pleasure of God is now poured out on the Bridegroom, and righteousness is imputed to His yet imperfect Bride. He is gathering to Himself all who will respond, so that when the time comes, a holy and blameless Bride might be called forward to reign with Him. The need of this hour in history is for the people of God, those called to become His Bride, to take their place as Jesus' partners in intercession, to bring about His purposes on the earth.
You will be blessed as you align yourself with His purpose.
Gary Wiens
The most significant intercession in history is the work Jesus accomplished on the cross of Calvary. The only adequate ransom to purchase the Bride back from sin’s captivation was a perfectly obedient Man—since in God’s economy only a flawless Intercessor could “stand in the gap” on behalf of the guilty.
Because of God’s great goodness, His own Son became a human being, forever joining humanity with the true divine nature. Jesus walked out a life of perfect human obedience to the will of God and took His place on the cross, that the judgments of God might be poured out where they belonged—on the ultimate Intercessor. God provided Himself as the required sacrifice, the Lamb. In doing so, through Jesus He restored to the human race the position of righteousness that a relationship with God requires, and with it, all the promises and intentions that were in His heart from the beginning. The intercession was complete.
The stunning thing about this historical occurrence is that God had made provision for it before He ever began the process of creating. Before creation was established, God the Father and God the Son instituted an eternal agreement that God Himself, in the Person of Jesus Christ, would become the one true Man who would stand as Intercessor between the Father and the human race.
Revelation 13:8 informs us that the Lamb was “slain from the foundation of the world,” establishing our redemption before the first sin was ever committed! From eternity past He stood in our place, the true Adam, perfectly agreeing with the Father’s will where the earthly Adam did not, and taking upon Himself the just and right judgment of death for the sin of all humans. From eternity, long before the incarnation, He was pouring Himself out that we might live through His life—the ultimate picture of intercession.
Jesus’ Continuing Intercession
In His bodily resurrection, Jesus, the eternal Bridegroom, released to us the power to become the children of God, and now lives in the presence of the Father to sustain us in that relationship by His constant intercession. Through the power of Christ’s resurrection, we stand even now in that place of intimate authority, anticipating the full realization of our identity as the Bride, which is the corporate identity of all who accept His invitation to the ultimate wedding feast at the end of the ages.
Even as the wrath of God was poured out upon the perfect Intercessor, so the pleasure of God is now poured out on the Bridegroom, and righteousness is imputed to His yet imperfect Bride. He is gathering to Himself all who will respond, so that when the time comes, a holy and blameless Bride might be called forward to reign with Him. The need of this hour in history is for the people of God, those called to become His Bride, to take their place as Jesus' partners in intercession, to bring about His purposes on the earth.
You will be blessed as you align yourself with His purpose.
Gary Wiens
Monday, October 3, 2011
Prayer: The Great Romance
PRAYER: THE GREAT ROMANCE
Since the focus of God’s heart from the beginning of time has been preparing a Bride for His Son, He has always desired an intimate relationship with His people. And so He has spoken to us in various ways, with the consistent goal of engaging us in a dialogue about life in relationship with Him. This dialogue is called prayer, and its primary purpose is that we might come to know the heart of the One Who loves us and understands who we are and what we will become.
He alone knows my true identity, and His words empower me to live in that identity. What could be more helpful, more healing than listening to Him? What could be more beneficial than speaking with Him in loving dialogue? Out of His heart of love, He draws us to the place of prayer, that He might communicate His intentions.
As we listen, the Spirit of God works within our hearts and convinces us that God loves us and that we are indeed His children, called according to His purposes. He speaks to us about His plans for us, just as He spoke to Jeremiah in the Old Testament:
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:11
He knows the plans He has for us and He’s in the mood to talk about them! God is a communicator. He has romance on His mind, He is preparing us for an eternal relationship of joy and gladness with His Son Jesus Christ and He longs to speak with us about it.
As He speaks and we listen, we come to agree with His agenda for ourselves and for the rest of the human race. Because God is a lover, His strategy is not simply to invade the earth with overwhelming power and authority, but to woo and win a Bride through gentle persuasion. He wants voluntary lovers who become convinced of His honorable intentions. From that place of confidence, we become partners in accomplishing His purposes, first in personal matters, then in the redemption of all mankind and the restoration of the created order, and finally in a place of shared rulership for eternity over His ever-increasing Kingdom .
This partnership is realized through intercessory prayer. We begin to say back to God that we agree with His agenda and His strategies, not only for ourselves and the things that concern us, but for every situation outside ourselves for which He gives us the strength to pray. In doing so, we stand alongside the Man Christ Jesus before God as heirs of His Kingdom. As we begin to agree with Him, He begins to release more and more of His influence, until at the end of the age all things are conformed to His pleasure and will. Those who have come into agreement with His assessment of reality will stand together with His Son Jesus Christ, the Lord of all that is, as His royal Bride and ruling partner.
Since the focus of God’s heart from the beginning of time has been preparing a Bride for His Son, He has always desired an intimate relationship with His people. And so He has spoken to us in various ways, with the consistent goal of engaging us in a dialogue about life in relationship with Him. This dialogue is called prayer, and its primary purpose is that we might come to know the heart of the One Who loves us and understands who we are and what we will become.
He alone knows my true identity, and His words empower me to live in that identity. What could be more helpful, more healing than listening to Him? What could be more beneficial than speaking with Him in loving dialogue? Out of His heart of love, He draws us to the place of prayer, that He might communicate His intentions.
As we listen, the Spirit of God works within our hearts and convinces us that God loves us and that we are indeed His children, called according to His purposes. He speaks to us about His plans for us, just as He spoke to Jeremiah in the Old Testament:
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:11
He knows the plans He has for us and He’s in the mood to talk about them! God is a communicator. He has romance on His mind, He is preparing us for an eternal relationship of joy and gladness with His Son Jesus Christ and He longs to speak with us about it.
As He speaks and we listen, we come to agree with His agenda for ourselves and for the rest of the human race. Because God is a lover, His strategy is not simply to invade the earth with overwhelming power and authority, but to woo and win a Bride through gentle persuasion. He wants voluntary lovers who become convinced of His honorable intentions. From that place of confidence, we become partners in accomplishing His purposes, first in personal matters, then in the redemption of all mankind and the restoration of the created order, and finally in a place of shared rulership for eternity over His ever-increasing Kingdom .
This partnership is realized through intercessory prayer. We begin to say back to God that we agree with His agenda and His strategies, not only for ourselves and the things that concern us, but for every situation outside ourselves for which He gives us the strength to pray. In doing so, we stand alongside the Man Christ Jesus before God as heirs of His Kingdom. As we begin to agree with Him, He begins to release more and more of His influence, until at the end of the age all things are conformed to His pleasure and will. Those who have come into agreement with His assessment of reality will stand together with His Son Jesus Christ, the Lord of all that is, as His royal Bride and ruling partner.
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