Jason Clark's Blog, page 27

Time Travel and The Omnipresent Nature of Love

“While God placed us in a world defined by measurements, He breathed His Spirit, His measureless love, into us. So, while we live in the insecurities of this earth, we have been invited to live from the confidence of heaven.” (From Prone to Love)

In the year 2000, the Department of Medicine at Beilinson Campus in Petah-Tiqva Israel conducted a study “to determine whether remote…intercessory prayer, said for a group of patients with a bloodstream infection, has an effect on outcomes.”

It was a double-blind, parallel-group, randomized controlled trial of remote intervention, and it took place at the Rabin Medical Center, the university hospital.

The subjects were 3393 adult patients whose bloodstream infection was detected at the hospital.

The patients were randomly placed into a control group and an intervention group. Then a remote intercessory prayer was said for the well-being and full recovery of the intervention group members.

No prayers were said for the control group.

Don’t get mad at me, I didn’t set the study up.

There were three “main outcome” measurables for the study; they wanted to know if remote intersensory prayer would have “any effect on mortality in hospital, length of stay in the hospital, and duration of fever.”

After they had prayed for the control group, they compared the control group with the intervention group and discovered that while the mortality rate was only slightly better for the intervention group, “the length of stay in hospital and duration of fever was significantly shorter in the intervention group than in the control group.”

Here is their finding, “Remote…intercessory prayer said for a group is associated with a shorter stay in the hospital and shorter duration of fever in patients with a bloodstream infection and should be considered for use in clinical practice.”

That’s a pretty cool conclusion from a pretty awesome study.

But it’s not really all that surprising, at least, not to me. I mean, essentially, they wanted to know if prayer works.

Turns out it does. Go figure.

But if you were paying close attention, you may have noticed the ellipses…

The three dots I used when describing this study.

That’s because I withheld the most amazing part of this study for emphasis. I wanted to direct your focus to the most profoundly unique aspect of the research.

You see, this wasn’t just a study “to determine whether remote…intercessory prayer” had an impact on sick people. No, this was a study “to determine whether remote, retroactive, intercessory prayer” had any impact on sick people.

The study was done in the year 2000.

But the cases were pulled from the years 1990 through 1996.

That’s right, this study was about time travel. Yeah, you almost need a flux capacitor to understand it.

The scientists wanted to know if prayer said in the year 2000 had an effect on the health of patients 6 to 10 years earlier. This wasn’t just a study to see if a prayer said today transforms the future, this was a study to see if a prayer said today impacted the past.

And it turns out it does. Wow.

Here is the complete finding, “Remote retroactive, intercessory prayer said for a group of patients is associated with a shorter hospital stay and shorter duration of fever in patients with a bloodstream infection, even when the intervention is performed 4-10 years after the infection.”

This was a study in the time travel omnipresent nature of Love, and its findings were an invitation to rethink prayer and also, well, everything else. And for weeks I was giddy with what this study revealed. I would tell anyone who would listen about it, my family, ten times over.

I remember catching my youngest, Eva, in the kitchen one morning a few days after learning about this study and realizing she hadn’t heard yet.

So I presented her the story just as I have done with you and then said excitedly, “Can you believe it?!”

She smiled, “Yeah dad, that’s kinda cool, I guess.”

“You guess?!” I said, sarcastically. “I don’t think you understand.”

She probably did, but she was thirteen, so she couldn’t show too much excitement, that’s an unspoken rule for thirteen-year-olds. And the rule for dads of thirteen-year-olds is to get even more excited and make them stay and listen to your world-transforming explanation.

“So, Eva, God is love, right?”

“Yeah, Dad, I know,” she said rolling her eyes humorously.

I nodded and then started my preach, “Yeah! And LOVE is before the beginning and without end! And everything between! Love is infinite, has always been, and always will be. And Love wins even when Love doesn’t play the winning or losing game. And the width, length, height, and depth of love surpasses knowledge—that means we can’t come up with words or measurements to define or confine it because Love is beyond our best definitions and is immeasurable.” (See Ephesians 3;16-20).

None of this was new to Eva but I had to lay the groundwork. She nodded and gave me the thirteen-year-old ‘that’s great, Dad,’ smile.

I continued, “God, who is Love, created time and space and He is both in and outside of time and space, right?”

Eva nodded again.

“Ok, so this is what happened. There are these sick people between the years 1990 and 1996. And God is with those folks, but also with the researchers who are praying in the year 2000. And, so, God hears their prayers in 2000 and goes, “Yeah, that’s pretty cool” and then applies their prayers to the sick people in 1990-96!” I look at Eva, put both hands to my head, and then made the ‘mind blown’ action with my hands. “It’s time travel, Eva! TIME TRAVEL. That’s crazy! Right?”

Eva nodded with more excitement, my enthusiasm was catching on.

“That IS pretty cool,” she said.

Then my eyes lit up even more. “Hey, let’s try it.”

She looked at me with amusement and confusion.

Then I closed my eyes and said, “Father, I pray over my torn ACL from 5 years ago. I pray for a full recovery. I pray that you would provide both financially and relationally. I pray that event would provide a catalytic and graceful transition season that empowers us to launch A Family Story Ministries. I pray for grace and deeper trust, for provision and time to write my book, God Is Not In Control. I pray that event is reconciled and we, as a family, experience joy and life and wonder as we discoverer more who You are and grow in Your measureless love. In Jesus name, amen!”

Then I opened my eyes, looked at Eva, and did a squat. “My knee feels great!” I said and gleam in my eye. Then I picked up the book that had been on the counter, God Is Not In Control, and held it up to show her, wonder in my eyes. “It worked! I time-traveled, Eva!”

She laughed and shook her head, “Uh-huh, yeah, Dad, it worked.” Then she left the kitchen and it wasn’t just because her cousin was waiting for her to join him in their Mindcraft world, no, I knew it was also so she, like me, would further contemplate the profoundly deep revelation available from the findings of this study.

Like…

What if we have been invited to live from the measureless omnipresent love of God that dwells within us?

What if when Jesus walked the earth He redeemed our narrative so we could live in the finite from the infinite. What if Jesus was the revelation of another way of thinking and perceiving, the re-introduction to our native tongue? What if He made it possible for us to be re-born so we might re-discover?

What if today, while I write, I am also in the “cloud of witnesses” cheering on myself, my family, my friends, and the sons and daughters of God as we awaken to love? What if, while you read this, you are also seated in Christ at the right hand of my Father? (See Heb 12:1 & Eph 2:6)

What if every prayer, every promise, every dream, every hope has its beginning and end in the measureless, retroactive, proactive, reconciling, omnipresent love of God?

When I first read about the impact of remote retroactive pray I was giddy. You see, I was born to be loved and to become love, and another way of saying, I was made for time travel.

And so were you!

I wrote this story to mess with your thinking, to help you recognize your heart is burning, to remind you of your union, to further awaken you to the sacrificial resurrection authority of measureless love, to encourage you regarding what is possible as you become like Jesus.

My heart is that we would trade a finite perspective with an infinite revelation, the good news, Christ in us reconciling and restoring and healing and transforming…

Jesus prayed we would be one, just as He and the Father were one. Then He revealed that there is no darkness light can’t penetrate, no brokenness that cant be made whole, no consequence of sin that justice can’t restore.

I told Eva that day in the kitchen, “We are one with Love! Eva, we are time travelers awakening to Love’s measureless reconciling grace, hope, kindness… yesterday, today, and forever! Isn’t that incredible?”

She nodded and grinned, “Yeah, Dad, it is.”

For more on the study of the effects of remote retroactive prayer CLICK HERE

Jason Clark is a writer, producer, speaker, and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children, Madeleine, Ethan, and Eva. Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow Follow JOIN OUR MAILING LIST GIVE TO A FAMILY STORY YOU ALSO MIGHT LIKE… Intimacy is Your Inheritance

by Jason Clark | January 3, 2019 | Articles, Faith, Intimacy, Parenting | 0 Comments

I am convinced that our true inheritance as believers has nothing to do with money, land, or possessions of any kind. It’s simply our Father’s love revealed.

Does God Use Tragedy to Manipulate?

God never manipulates nor exploits a tragedy to grow faith, that’s not what a good Father does. But it is what a controlling God would do.

A good God works all things for good to those who say yes to His love. Working all things for good is what the authority of Love looks like. Jesus didn’t live on earth to reveal that God is in control; He came to reveal the authority of our Father’s always-good love. God is not in control, He is Love and Love has all authority.

To suggest that God allows evil things to happen to us for our own good is to suggest that God partners with the enemy to grow our faith. It’s ridiculous. He is either always good or He is bi-polar.

I wonder if we have such a rash of bi-polar in the western world because the church teaches a controlling God who is always good except when we make Him mad.

“I would like to suggest that many of us live a ‘mostly good’ gospel because we only know a ‘mostly good’ God.”

The church has often represented a God who is about control instead of authority, manipulation instead of freedom, shame instead of love. You just never know what you are gonna get with Him, He is high one day and low the next. I would like to suggest that many of us live a “mostly good gospel” because we know a “mostly good God.”

Often the Bible is interpreted through our experience instead of His Love. We allow our intellect, our observations, and our experience to mold our belief regarding the nature of God. But He is light; there is no darkness in Him! He is always good, regardless of our experiences. And when we live in this conviction we have the keys, the freedom to see Him as He truly is. Scripture confirms it, the life of Jesus, perfect theology, confirms it. “God is love,” “God is light and there is no darkness in Him.”

If we are not convinced that God is love and the perfection of His love is the fullness of His authority, if we aren’t convinced that God is love and His love is perfectly good, if we think God is controlling, even a little bit, then we are forced to navigate through a faith journey with a Bi-Polar God.

If we aren’t convinced of an always good and perfect Love we will read the Bible through the lens of control, we will see our relationship with God through the lens of control, our relationships, our motivations, our security will all suffer doubt and insecurity. We will be forced to partner with tragedy because it was in God’s hands.

I have heard a controlling God taught for far too long. Recently a preacher raised a question is his message that insinuated that Jesus allowed Lazarus to die in order to get the most “bang for the buck” regarding Mary and Martha’s faith. He asked a question, “What encourages your faith more, healing before you die or resurrection after you’re dead?”

When God is in control you have to ask that question, a question that at its core undermines faith. The premise behind the question is wrong. When we read our Bibles through the lens of control, we let the circumstances determine God’s nature. When this happens we will find ourselves asking questions that compromise God’s perfect love. That’s a dangerous road to travel, one that doesn’t lead to life.

Roman 8:28 says, “God works all things for the good of those who love him…” That’s not a description of what He does, it’s a description of His love nature – the power of sovereign Love.

The scripture doesn’t say God allows bad things to happen so you can have more faith. It says He is redeeming all things, even the bad things, to good. He is a relentless Redeemer.

“God can work a tragedy to our good because that’s His nature. But He doesn’t instigate or allow a tragedy in order to build our faith.”

The fact that Mary and Martha grew exponentially in faith through Lazarus’s death and resurrection was the evidence of His goodness, not the evidence of a God with a bi-polar nature; a God who partners with death in one moment only to raise the dead in the next.

God can work a tragedy to our good because that’s His nature. He is love, His love is sovereign and always good. But He doesn’t instigate or allow a tragedy in order to build our faith.

When we think God instigates and then builds our faith through tragedy, we are letting our circumstances define the nature of God. Suddenly we are forced to live in relationship with a Bi-Polar God. And a Bi-Polar God is a God who can’t be trusted. And when our trust is compromised, then intimacy with God either becomes a principle or a concept utterly rejected.

He works all things to good to those who love Him, He redeems and restores. Why? Because He is perfectly good and He can’t help but work things to good to those that say yes to His love. That’s His sovereign love nature.

Say yes to His love today.

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Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Website: www.afamilystory.org

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Published on February 06, 2019 18:14

4 Signs That You Are Growing Sure In God’s Love

I believe the gospel of Jesus is simple.

“God is love.” (1 John 4:8) and “We love because He first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

When we know His love, we can love Him with “all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. And we can also love others in the same way. (Mark 12:30)

Jesus was the perfect representation of God’s love, the true revelation. He lived, died and rose to give us full access to love—beholding and becoming. And He showed us what a life looks like when it is lived sure in love.

The Christian life is the transformative journey of a son or daughter growing sure in God’s love – that we might become like Him.

Here are four signs along this journey that you are growing sure in God’s love…

1) You Are Not Easily Offended“As you are growing sure in God’s love, you will discover that you’re not easily offended, either by wrongs done to you, or by people who are lost in their sin.”

While hanging suspended between heaven and earth, naked, bloodied, broken, and mocked; while oppressed by the weight of humanity’s sin, our sin, Jesus revealed the power of Love: “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

Love is hard to offend. “…It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.” 1 Cor 13:5

Jesus was the perfect expression of forgiveness, and when we receive the forgiveness He offers, we are set free and empowered to forgive those around us.

As you are growing sure in God’s love, you will discover that you’re not easily offended, either by wrongs done to you, or by people who are lost in their sin. Instead you will be filled with compassion, you will find that mercy and grace are close at hand, and that forgiveness has become a way of life.

2) You Are Not A Realist

Let’s call realism what it is, socially accepted pessimism, or—for the Christian—unbelief. There are only two choices for a Christian: believe or don’t.

While realism can often appear to be practical, respectable, and wise, it’s simply unbelief. A realist would see a blind man and say, “he can’t see,” end of story. But when Jesus (Love perfectly revealed) walked the earth, the blind saw, the lame walked, the deaf heard, Lazarus died twice, and Jesus told death, “Thanks, but no!”

“As you are growing sure in God’s love, you will find that you are an optimist, regardless of the circumstances.”

Jesus was an eternal optimist—a believer. Jesus revealed that love has an answer to every issue humanity faces. True Biblical faith believes with hope when the evidence is yet unseen. (Heb 11:1)

As you are growing sure in God’s love, you will find that you are an optimist, regardless of the circumstances. “Optimists”—or believers—choose to believe that love is always good and then live for the greater revelation. It’s called faith.

3) You See People As Who They Can Become In Christ

Jesus called Peter a rock upon which He would build His Church. This was before Peter denied he knew Jesus. (Matt 16:18)

Jesus saw a generous man in Zacchaeus and treated him as though he were already living generously. This perspective released grace until Zacchaeus agreed with how Jesus saw him, and became generous. (Luke 19:1-10)

“As you are growing sure in God’s love, you will begin to see and treat people as who they can become in Christ.”

Jesus forgave an adulterer and then told her to “go and sin no more.” He saw her as forgiven, and spoke that identity over her. She was no longer an adulterer. (John 8:11)

As you are growing sure in God’s love, you will begin to see and treat people as who they can become in Christ. This will release grace for them to discover the “Kindness that leads to a repentance” – a changed, or renewed, mind. (Rom 2:4)

This perspective is the invitation to be transformed through the discovery of His love.

4) You Look On The Future With Hope

When Jesus—love in human form—faced the cross, He did so “for the joy set before Him” (Heb 12:2). Even in the darkest and most hopeless moment in history, Jesus pointed to a future joy. His eyes were set on salvation and all it meant—a future where we could live sure in love, just as He had.

Jesus displayed perfect faith, the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen” (Heb 11:1).

“As you are growing sure in God’s love you will begin to see the future as full of promise.”

We are living in the future that Jesus set before Him and purchased for us. Salvation is the promise of resurrection life. The faith we have been invited into is the same faith that Jesus had at the cross when He looked towards the future with hope.

As you are growing sure in God’s love you will begin to see the future as full of promise. You will live with Biblical hope—the confident expectation of His goodness and resurrection-life being established in your own life.

“For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (Rom 8:24-25)

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Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Website: www.afamilystory.org

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Published on January 30, 2019 13:48

Your Free Ticket to a Lifetime of Contentment!

When the propane for the grill ran out, we stopped grilling.

I had personally learned how to stitch but was still down to one pair of jeans. We had sold everything that wasn’t nailed down, including all of my recording gear. Our fridge was empty, and our pantry was close behind. When the vacuum broke, I vacuumed the house on my hands and knees with a tiny Shop-Vac. “Father, do You see this?” I would ask.

However, throughout this season we knew we were blessed. And we chose to believe it. We chose to see it. Even while we experience great need in this life, we can always find something to be thankful for. Karen and I were able to see His provision in the small things. Even though we were overwhelmed, we guarded our hearts against self-pity.

“Self-pity is deadly. It will shred a hopeful believing heart in moments. But self-pity cannot exist in the presence of thankfulness.”

Self-pity is deadly. It will shred a hopeful believing heart in moments. Whenever Karen and I began to realize we were experiencing self-pity, we would decide to give thanks to God for all of His goodness, often even making a list of all He had done in and for us.

Thankfulness is the key to victory in the battle against self-pity. God is always good and when we focus on His goodness it is impossible not to believe. Looking for evidences of His goodness in our lives and then giving thanks always increases our faith.

Self-pity cannot exist in the presence of thankfulness. I have seen this firsthand with my kids…

We will be driving down the road after having gone out for pizza, after having gone to the swimming pool, after having gone to the theater, after having gone to the amusement park, after having gone jet skiing, after having flown on a space odyssey through the Dagobah system, when suddenly one of them will remember something we didn’t get to do that day. Then they will begin to complain.

It starts out with a statement like, “we never have any fun,” followed by a list of things they never get to do. As one complaint follows another, the words “never” and “always” are used more and more freely until the minivan is filled with a cloud of self-pity.

“Looking for evidences of His goodness in our lives and then giving thanks always increases our faith.”

That’s when I bark, “Quiet!” Then, “I want five things from each of you that you are grateful for. Quick!”

It starts out slowly, as they can’t seem to think of anything. So I remind them somewhat sarcastically, “Ahh, the Dagobah system?”

Eva, our youngest, likes this game and always gets there first. Finally Maddy remembers something she is grateful for. Then Ethan follows close behind. A little more time and Maddy has something else, and Ethan has found one more thing.

By now Eva has given ten things that she is grateful for. By the time the older kids get to number four, the atmosphere in the van has changed. And by the time we get to five, we just keep going until we are matching Eva. Eventually all we see is the goodness of God. There is no end of things we can be thankful for.

I told my kids the other day that joy is found in thankfulness, that contentment is discovered in gratefulness.

Karen and I are learning to practice thankfulness, even when we’re in the tough wilderness seasons—especially when we’re in the tough wilderness seasons. We are convinced that living thankful not only empowers us into joy and peace, but we reveal and empower a legacy of full life, health, and peace for our kids as well. We want to give them the road map to true happiness.

When we practice thankfulness we begin to see God as He is. We also begin to see the fullness of what He has given us. You see, we can only give what we have. While self-pity creates a perception of poverty, thankfulness increases our awareness of how good our Father is and, thus, how rich we truly are. His goodness will become so overwhelming that the desire to give, even in the midst of need, will overcome us, overflowing into radical generosity for our neighbors—because God’s goodness can’t be contained.

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Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Website: www.afamilystory.org

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Published on January 23, 2019 14:07

Ask The Question

I have three kids, Eva is my youngest and she is at an age where I am beginning to get the questions.

You know, like when I give her a bowl of soup and say “Honey do you want some crackers for your soup?”

“Why?”

“Cause these crackers taste good in soup.”

“Why?”

“Cause they are yummy soup crackers.”

“Why?”

“Because the soup cracker fairy made them yummy for soup.”

“What color is the soup cracker fairy’s dress?”

“Blue.”

“No daddy, it's pink and purple.”

If you are a parent, or ever spoken with a child, you have laughed, sighed, had your patience stretched, and your heart expanded while answering a question.

“I have learned that when it comes to a sincere question, our heavenly Father absolutely loves them. This is evidenced in the life of Jesus.”

If you are a parent, or ever spoken to a child, you also know this next statement to be true: If the question is sincere then there is no such thing as a dumb question.

Questioning is how children learn.

And as parents, or someone who has answered the question, we know that the question reveals a lot about what the child comprehends, and who they are becoming.

In this situation, you may have often responded to the child’s question with a question of your own.

We do this because our question positions our kids for the answer. It’s meant to help them learn how to process and find the answer themselves. It’s about helping them mature.

I have learned that when it comes to a sincere question, our heavenly Father absolutely loves them. This is evidenced in the life of Jesus.

Have you ever noticed that Jesus rarely answers a question directly? When He is asked questions, often His response is to either tell a story or ask His own question.

Even when He was teaching, He almost always raised questions.

“The renewed mind is the one that persists in asking honest questions, knowing that our Father has promised that the answer is soon coming.”

Jesus told Nicodemus that to enter the Kingdom of heaven he would have to be born again. Jesus told a large crowd that, unless they ate of His flesh and drank of His blood, they had no life in them. While we now know what Jesus meant, at the time, these were inconceivable thoughts that raised lots more questions.

So why did Jesus often respond to questions by raising more questions? Because questions are one of the best ways to communicate with a free people. And Jesus was absolutely intent on releasing and empowering people into greater freedom.

God loves our freedom, and when I say “loves,” I mean absolutely without even the slightest hint of deviation. He will not compromise even a fraction when it comes to protecting freedom.

Why is freedom so important to Him? Because it’s the atmosphere in which love can exist. And love is the whole point.

Our freedom was what Jesus died to protect, it’s what the cross was all about. It’s the biggest thing that’s ever existed because it’s the soil in which love can be cultivated.

Jesus doesn’t tell free people the answer; he helps them devise a better question. He tells stories and asks His own questions. Along the way He challenges how we think, and if we are hungry for an answer, we begin to re-form our questions until our mind is—in a word—renewed.

The renewed mind is the one that persists in asking honest questions, knowing that our Father has promised that the answer is soon coming.

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7)

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they shall be filled.” (Matthew 5:6)

“Every sincere question is an invitation into a transformative answer. The honest questions resonate in heaven and pull heaven to earth!”

Jesus came to reveal the Father. That was the whole purpose of His years on earth. He told us that if we have seen Him, we have seen the Father (John 14:7). To truly see Him, we simply and persistently ask the honest questions until our perspective is aligned with heavens perspective.

Every sincere question is an invitation into a transformative answer. The honest questions resonate in heaven and pull heaven to earth!

And that’s the whole point of asking questions. It’s a search for what is in heaven, what is in our Fathers heart, so that we can live out His answer here on earth.

When we ask God the authentic question, the answer comes with revelation and power. It sets us free and empowers us to know His love in greater measure.

“If you are a parent, or ever talked with a child, you are well positioned for a renewed mind, for an answered prayer, for becoming like Jesus and living in the wonder and power of heaven.”

I am a good dad. I tell my kids that all the time, and they believe me. But I don’t hold a candle to my heavenly Father. As much as I want to answer my kid’s questions, God wants to answer ours more! And He so values us that He waits until our hearts are positioned for the answer, until our question reverberates with the answer that is in His heart, until we are ready to live out the answer.

Everything in the heart of our Father wants to answer the question! He knows the answer will transform and empower, set us free and set us on fire with His love!

If you are a parent, or ever talked with a child, you are well positioned for a renewed mind, for an answered prayer, for becoming like Jesus and living in the wonder and power of heaven.

May you ask more questions then you get answers and may you be transformed along the way!

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Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Website: www.afamilystory.org

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Published on January 16, 2019 15:19

Finding Kingdom Come

If you think about it, Love walked the earth in the body of Jesus.

And while Jesus very much lived on earth, He very much lived from heaven. So everywhere Love went, heaven invaded earth. What’s astounding to me is that every need that was presented to Love was met and fully answered—physically, emotionally, and spiritually—through the power of heaven. And it often looked miraculous.

“Jesus told us that the Kingdom of heaven, the place that operates in love, is ‘at hand.’ In other words, this Kingdom is within reach—all of heaven is available to us now.”

Love trumped every need, every time. Love healed the sick, fed the hungry, and raised the dead. Love forgave the prostitute, the adulterer, the thief, and the liar. Love paid taxes, calmed the storm, and turned water into wine.

As I’ve said before, I believe the Kingdom of heaven operates from a different core value than earth. While earth revolves around the reality of need, heaven exists in the revelation of love. Everything in the Kingdom of heaven operates, hinges, and moves in that reality. Love trumps.

Need doesn’t exist in heaven. We won’t need to be healed in heaven; there is no sickness there. We won’t need to feel loved; we will know and become love. We won’t know poverty, sadness, or confusion; our Father is rich in mercy and grace. We won’t have any questions about why we exist; the manifest glory of God will make it clear.

Jesus told us that the Kingdom of heaven, the place that operates in love, is “at hand.” In other words, this Kingdom is within reach—all of heaven is available to us now.

“Earth is the only place we can love God while in need.”

I believe that we have access to the same heaven that Jesus did. He revealed that we could live in the same revelation of our Father that He lived in when He taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven” (see Matt. 6:10). I am convinced that we are here on earth to discover this truth in every area of our lives.

As a friend of mine, Andy Squyres, says, “Earth is the only place we can love God while in need.” Here and now, we have the incredible opportunity to discover that—even while need is very much a part of our lives—love always trumps. We can live and love in the same powerful, miraculous, heaven-to-earth way that Jesus lived.

This is the discovery of God’s Kingdom come!

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Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Website: www.afamilystory.org

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Published on January 09, 2019 15:56

Intimacy is Your Inheritance

I imagine that when the fellas who translated the Bible came to the story of the prodigal son, there was a debate on what to title it.

I imagine there was much prayer and dialogue that ran late into the night. Coffee was brewed, biscotti laid out, music heatedly discussed until they found consensus in Ray LaMontagne’s “Till the Sun Turns Black.” Finally they came to an agreement. Then the archbishop/apostle/ leader guy stood, and, brushing the biscotti crumbs from his beard, he made his proclamation. Standing straight, shoulders back, chin up, and in a piercing nasal voice, he declared in high English, “Let this story heretofore be known as ‘The Prodigal Son.’”

“I am convinced that our true inheritance as believers has nothing to do with money, land, or possessions of any kind. It’s simply our Father’s love revealed.”

Yeah, I have no idea how it got its title, but if I’d been there we would have listened to Bon Iver. But more to the point, I would have argued ardently and well that the story be titled, “The Good Father.”

I am not saying they got it wrong, so please don’t go telling everyone that Ray LaMontagne was a bad choice or that I think the Bible is flawed. I’m just saying I think that title is a little misleading as the story isn’t fully about either of the sons but about the father.

The fact is that every story Jesus ever told was about a good father. Jesus’s very existence, every breath He took, revealed the good Father.

I am convinced that our true inheritance as believers has nothing to do with money, land, or possessions of any kind. It’s simply our Father’s love revealed.

“I believe that it was at this moment that the younger son first truly saw his father as his dad; it was the first time the son discovered his father’s true nature—love.”

The younger son came home ready to beg for a place with the servants. Before he could even get to the front door, his dad is running out to meet him. Before he could even begin to say what he had probably rehearsed the whole way home, his dad is hugging and kissing and overwhelming him with affection.

I believe that it was at this moment that the younger son first truly saw his father as his dad; it was the first time the son discovered his father’s true nature—love. And that is the moment he actually received his inheritance. Our inheritance is only available through a revelation of our Father’s true nature. And our inheritance looks like, feels like, and in fact is intimacy.

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Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Website: www.afamilystory.org

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Published on January 02, 2019 17:48

The Power of Assurance

Jesus walked the planet the last three years of His life telling people who He was and backing it up with signs and wonders.

He actually told us we didn’t have to believe that He was the Son of God if He didn’t do miracles.

“Do not believe Me unless I do what My Father does” (John 10:37).

But for His first thirty years, Jesus—God the Father revealed, perfect theology, perfect ministry, Love in human form, the Creator of the universe—lived among humanity and only a handful of people knew it.

We might be tempted to think that Jesus’s first thirty years were not as significant as the last three simply because we have no miracles to measure Him by. However, I think those first thirty years are the reason He lived like He did the last three.

“I would like to suggest that Jesus spent those formative thirty years becoming sure in His Father’s love.”

And so we find Jesus at the age of thirty on the shores of the Jordan River where He meets John the Baptist and is submerged beneath the water. The heavens open, a dove descends, and a voice like thunder rumbles, “This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17).

And the question has to be asked. Why was the Father pleased? What had Jesus done?

And that’s just it—we don’t know. But whatever it was, it sure blessed the Father.

I would like to suggest that Jesus spent those formative thirty years becoming sure in His Father’s love. Those first thirty years were spent becoming sure in the pleasure of His Father.

For 30 years Jesus discovered His Father’s nature, and then discovered more of His Father’s nature, and then discovered more of His Father’s nature. For 360 months Jesus knew His Father’s love, and then knew more of His love, and more of His love. For 1,560 weeks Jesus grew in wisdom and favor until the absolute goodness of His Father was so deeply interwoven into His heart that it was the only reality He knew. For 10,950 days Jesus grew surer, and surer in His Father’s always-good love until He he only knew His Father’s pleasure.

And then, after all that, in the fullness of time, Jesus gets an “attaboy,” a “Well-pleased.”

Jesus got a “well pleased” before He did anything! He got a “well pleased” before He turned water into wine, before He walked on water, before He made more food out of less. He got a “well pleased” before He healed the blind eye, the deaf ear, the lame, or before He cleansed the leper. He got a “well pleased” before He cast out demons and set people free. He got a “well pleased” before He raised the dead.

He got a “well pleased” before He went into the wilderness, before He raised up world-changing disciples, before He went to the cross, before He rose, before He saved all of humanity and set us free from the slavery of need. He got a “well pleased” before He ascended and then descended in the form of the Holy Spirit to release us into a brand new, one-of-a-kind, intimate revelation of His perfect love.

“I am convinced that when we get to heaven and we get a ‘well pleased’ or ‘well done,’ it won’t be for how hard we tried, or even for what we did; it will be for how sure we became in our Father’s love. The doing will simply be the evidence that we believed He loved us.”

I believe all the beautiful works Jesus did over the last three years of His life were the evidence of the first thirty years of becoming sure in His Father’s always-good love, His Father’s pleasure.

And just before Jesus ascended to heaven, after the resurrection, He told us we would experience greater works than He did. And it wasn’t some hope for us, it was a promise. Jesus looked into the future and saw sons and daughters sure in the Fathers love, discovering His pleasure, and doing miracles that transform the world just like He did.

There is something astoundingly transformative about discovering the Fathers pleasure, His perfect love for us. For those who wish to make an impact on this world, it is the most important thing. Discovering our Fathers perfect love and good pleasure over us is what will empower us to give like Jesus gave.

“There is something astoundingly transformative about discovering the Fathers pleasure, His perfect love for us. For those who wish to make an impact on this world, it is the most important thing. Discovering our Fathers perfect love and good pleasure over us is what will empower us to give like Jesus gave.”

I am convinced our only responsibility on this earth is to grow surer in our Fathers good pleasure, His love. I am convinced that when we get to heaven and we get a “well pleased” or “well done,” it won’t be for how hard we tried, or even for what we did; it will be for how sure we became in our Father’s love. The doing will simply be the evidence that we believed He loved us.

I believe God loves us, He is pleased with us, and we are all learning to believe it, and live more sure each day, prone to love. And this is what will change the world.

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Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Website: www.afamilystory.org

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Published on December 26, 2018 17:05

God & The Polar Express

I was sitting in the theatre beside a 3-year-old boy named Ethan Wilde.

Ethan’s my son. We were about to watch “The Polar Express.” I was a little distracted because we just moved to North Carolina. We were pretty sure God had asked us to. Pretty sure. We had spent our savings and were now digging into our “good credit.” We were beyond strapped and spending eight bucks for the afternoon matinee caused that voice in my head to say: Are you crazy?

A 30-year-old man with a wife and two kids isn’t usually 100% certain of much, but I was about 97% sure I was to spend all my time and resources birthing a ministry, which I would later find out was a lifestyle. God had told me to believe, to stay the course. But as the money flew out of our bank account, I was more than worried. I was scared.

Dave Ramsey’s evaluation would have been: Uh, financial suicide. Now I know Dave Ramsey has saved many people from financial ruin. But this was between me and another Savior; it had nothing to do with financial responsibility. This was about irresponsible, unsound, downright foolish obedience. I’ll come back to this a little later…

Back to The Polar Express. If you haven’t seen it, try to; it’s wonderful. It’s about a young boy who, while growing up, loses his ability to believe in God…I mean Santa Claus. Fortunately, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God… I mean three variations of Tom Hanks, band together to guide the boy back into believing. I realize that sounds confusing, but stick with me.

It’s Christmas Eve and instead of dreaming of the best day of the year, the boy is in his bedroom agonizing over the universal question: Does God—sorry, I mean Santa Clause—really exist? He used to believe, but now in the mind of this blossoming adult, a fat bearded jolly man delivering presents to the entire world’s population in one night seems impossible. Add in flying reindeer, elves, a North Pole toy factory—it all seems completely foolish. The boy was in danger of becoming a realist.

And then a deep rumbling. It grew louder until it filled his room and even jumped out into our theatre seats. Like an earthquake, it shook and rattled his shelf of sports trophies. The boy crawls over to his window, peers out and what to his wondering eyes should appear? An enormous train decked in his front yard.

Dressed in his pajamas and rubber rain boots, he cautiously walks out to the train and meets Jesus… I’m sorry, I mean a train conductor played by Tom Hanks. The conductor says, “Well…are you coming?” That’s a question worth remembering.

This amazes the boy. He really wants to get on the train, but at the same time, the idea terrifies him. Finally, as the train begins to inch forward, his heart wins out and he takes the outstretched hand of the conductor.

And so the journey begins, a grand adventure filled with mountaintops and frozen lakes and howling wolves and dancing waiters balancing hot chocolate. It’s exciting and dangerous all at the same time. Along the way the boy meets the Holy Spirit… I’m sorry, I mean a ghost who oddly resembles Tom Hanks.

After several breathtaking moments, the train reaches its destination—the North Pole. There are elves everywhere and music, dancing and singing. It is truly a magical place. I’d like to go there some day.

Everyone is awaiting Santa’s arrival, which signals the official start of Christmas. The Elves are singing Christmas songs. Some are whispering “Is He here?” and some are yelling, “Do you see Him?” The anticipation is almost unbearable.

The reindeer harnessed to Santa’s sleigh are going wild! Their master is coming! They can sense it! The sleigh bells are ringing and all who believe in Santa can hear them, their pristine crystal tones adding to the beautiful chaotic anticipation. The children that made the journey are there too. The air is electric.

And then there is the boy. He had all but decided that Santa was not real and yet wants—with his whole heart—to be wrong. Surrounded by a sea of believers, the boy dares to hope; in fact, hope is everywhere, and it’s contagious.

A slow hush falls on the crowd, and all eyes became focused on a building at the end of the square. The doors burst open. There is a bright light, and within the doorframe, a silhouette. Suddenly the whole square erupts. “There He is!” shouts an elf. “I see Him!” says one of the girls, but the boy, pressed by the crowd, can’t see and still can’t hear the sleigh bells. Why can’t he hear? Desperate, he jumps and presses his way through the sea of elves to the front. And then, there He is, God… I’m sorry, I mean Santa Claus, who is also played by Tom Hanks.

Suddenly the boy hears everything: the bells, the worshipping elves, the celebrating kids, the dancing reindeer. And I’m sitting beside my son, and I’m trying desperately to hide my face from the little girl next to me. Why? Cause I’m balling my eyes out and whispering, I believe, I believe, I believe… I love you Lord, and I believe…

“I’m convinced that the ‘God lived life’ is one of learning how to believe. It’s learning how to cling to God and keep His promises alive in your heart.”

I’ve been given a promise from God. But sometimes holding on to it can be rather difficult. Life moves along, things happen; the world is a very busy and noisy place. It’s easy to wake up one day and find you’re just not sure anymore. Believing has become a lost art and the promise has become a mountain that seems un-scale-able. In fact, it has often seemed the harder I try to summit, the farther the peak is from me. But I’m convinced that the “God lived life” is one of learning how to believe. It’s learning how to cling to God and keep His promises alive in your heart.

In the movie it took the conductor, the ghost, and Santa working together to woo the child. One man played all three characters, a trinity working in unison, until ultimately the boy made the decision to believe. The boy’s heart had wanted to believe from the very start. And that desire was enough to push him into the perilous journey.

The little boy in The Polar Express, the one who stopped believing? I identify with him. Yeah, that was me, my story.

I chased the promise for so long, I lost sight of the Promise Giver. Somewhere along the way I had stopped believing. I became exhausted, unmotivated and unsure where once I had been positive. Life became random and dull. In one sense I still did what I thought God had created me to do but it no longer held meaning. I started filtering every experience through an attitude of hopelessness until every bump in the road was expected, while every triumph was fleeting. The fact was, I had begun living a life where the glass was neither half full nor half empty. It was just… half.

“Believing that God is good, that He is faithful, that He can be trusted, it’s really the only way to continue moving forward in my own story. It’s also the only way to experience fullness of life, immense joy and fulfillment.”

But years ago I made a decision that I am going to be a believer, whether it looks good or not, whether it feels good or not. I have made a decision to say yes. Now I’m putting all my money on the promise giver and following Him where He leads me, like moving my family to North Carolina and financially disappointing Dave Ramsey. Believing that God is good, that He is faithful, that He can be trusted, it’s really the only way to continue moving forward in my own story. It’s also the only way to experience fullness of life, immense joy and fulfillment.

Is it possible that God is asking you the same question the conductor asked the boy: Well…are you coming?

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Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Website: www.afamilystory.org

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Published on December 19, 2018 16:36

You Can't Abuse Grace

I was hanging out with a friend the other day.

He is in his mid sixties. He is coming into such a wonderful revelation regarding our Fathers love. Though he has lived much of his life laboring for the harsh master who goes by the name religion, he is beginning to discover an always good and loving Father. This beautiful revelation has entered his life in the form of Grace.

For twenty minutes he spoke excitedly about how miraculously astonishing Grace is. As he talked, I whole-heartedly encouraged and agreed with him. When he told me about the incredible freedom he was discovering through amazing Grace, I laughed with him, reveling in the wonder. When he described how Grace was empowering him to live free from sins that had haunted him his whole life, I grinned and nodded my head and said, “Grace is good like that!”

He was well into praising how Grace was changing the way he saw people when it happened. Suddenly, while describing the most beautiful revelation, and then at absolute odds with what he had been sharing, like a fist to the jaw, he got religious...

In mid sentence, speaking with more passion and freedom than I had encountered in my 18 years of knowing the man, he blurted, “But I know you can abuse grace.”

He balanced it.

I get it, Grace can feel like a scary thing, especially when you have labored under religion, especially when no one balances it. You see, I had been agreeing with him without reservation and it was too good, almost dangerously so. The ugly religion muscle spasm-ed. I could almost hear it screaming inside his head "you've gone too far!"

This grace thing was starting to sound too good to be true.

And so he balanced it.

It’s not his fault. It’s what he’s been taught by those who have a greater fear for the world we live in than revelation of the kingdom of heaven. It’s the natural response of those who have a greater focus on sin then the completed work of the cross and the power of His resurrection.

Those that teach us that we can abuse grace don’t fully know Grace. That teaching looks at Grace through the reality of need. This teaching dumbs Grace down to a commodity to be traded for freedom, or forgiveness, or favor.

“Those that teach us that we can abuse grace don’t fully know Grace.”

When life's needs become bigger than the perfection of His love, when sin is more powerful than His resurrection, Grace has to be balanced and when Grace is balanced it becomes nothing more than a cheap parlor trick - empty rhetoric.

Balanced grace is a lie that enslaves us to live in the reality of our need instead of a revelation of Love. A balanced grace is simply another form of control. If Grace can be balanced, its power is neutered. And a powerless grace is a cruelty greater than no grace at all.

Grace wont be balanced! He is too perfect, too whole, too free, too just, too pure, too kind, too strong, too wild, too holy…

Grace won’t be belittled, Grace can’t ever go bad or run out, He is the good news - always.

I would like to suggest that this journey we are on is about discovering unbalanced Grace…

After my friend’s outburst the car got quiet. For just a moment we teetered on the brink of a faith crisis. But Grace would have none of it. Right there on the verge of hopelessness, I told my friend the beautiful truth I am always growing in, “You can’t abuse Grace and you can't balance it!"

“Grace is unmerited favor. We can’t do anything to earn it and therefore it can’t be abused. Grace can’t ever go bad or run out, He is the good news - always.”

I went on to tell him that Grace isn’t too good to be true, just the opposite, it’s too good not to be true. Grace is unmerited favor. We can’t do anything to earn it and therefore it can’t be abused. It’s a gift from our Father through Jesus. It’s one of the most beautiful expressions of His always-good love for us.

As I was sharing about Grace my heavenly Father spoke to my heart. In the middle of a sentence I heard Him say “Jason, tell him how I see him.” It was a brilliant thing for my Father to say and I was overwhelmed by what it meant. I began to laugh. You see, Grace is available when we see ourselves through our Father’s eyes.

So I began to tell my friend how the Father saw him. I began to express to him how he was a son, a man after Gods own heart, an extension of the Kingdom of heaven. And as I shared the truth about how our Father saw him, Grace took over, and the dark clouds of religious oppression dispersed and my friend was empowered and transformed. Why? Because thats what a pure and unbalanced Grace does.

“Grace reveals our true identity! When we can see ourselves from our Fathers perspective, we are empowered to become how He sees us.”

Grace reveals our true identity! When we can see ourselves in Christ, from our Fathers perspective, we are empowered to become how He sees us. Grace is the gift given that we might live as saints of the highest One. Grace transforms us until we are living in the wonder of our identity as His kids.

I pray you know His Grace today in new ways!

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Jason Clark is a writer, speaker and lead communicator at A Family Story ministries. His mission is to encourage sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, to grow sure in the love of an always-good heavenly Father. He and his wife, Karen, live in North Carolina with their three children. Website: www.afamilystory.org

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Published on December 12, 2018 18:14