Jason Clark's Blog, page 29

The Philosophy Professor

I met a philosophy professor the other day.

Well, actually I see him a few times a week. He frequents the same coffee shop I do. We have often caught each other’s eye over our laptops from across the room. It was just a matter of time before we struck up a conversation. He is a very nice man and very smart, just like me. He is also writing a book and enjoys the coffee shop atmosphere.

I asked him what his book was about. He spoke for a couple minutes about other philosophers comparing his thought with theirs. I recognized a few of the names and remember hearing something about “mother issues” but I was definitely in over my head. I think he saw it on my face so he said, “Really, I am writing about the human condition.”

He then began to explain the state of mankind in such abstract terms that I was soon lost again - “which is good if you are a philosophy professor,” I thought. By the time he was finished talking, as best as I could tell, his book seemed to be about nothing. At first I was impressed because I’m pretty sure writing a book about nothing is harder than writing about something, and also, who doesn’t love Seinfeld?

While I was trying to form a question that didn’t embarrass either of us, he continued, “What is pain, what is joy, or love?” he asked. “They are just feelings, just needs – life is a random roll of the dice. Nothing in this universe is sure; everything is determined by what you feel and by what you need.”

“It really is a book about nothing,” I thought again. And also I thought about how funny Kramer looks when he bursts through Seinfeld’s door. Yeah, I was multi tasking.

He went on to say that man is the sum of what we feel, we are the sum of our needs—emotionally and physically. There is no great purpose or meaning to life and all our philosophies and theologies are simply the wild imaginings of men who need to feel a sense of purpose. In the end, life is about gratifying our senses while trying to avoid pain. Life is one big need driven experience.

“Sometimes my mouth opens and my vocal chords push words out of before my head can get involved.”

Sometimes my mouth opens and my vocal chords push words out of before my head can get involved. It can be very embarrassing, like when I confused the words Neapolitan and menopause. (No wait, that was my sister Aimee)

Oh, like when I was eating spicy chicken curry and thanked God that the Native Americans came up with this genius food.  (No, that was my brother Joel)

Oh yeah, the time I thought Sony Bono and Bono were the same person and wondered how that worked with Cher. (Nope, that wasn’t me; it was the girl I fell head over heals in love with and married)

(Oh, now I remember) There was the time I said to a philosophy professor who was writing a book -

“So, you are writing a book about nothing?”

He smiled. It was a tired smile. He didn’t seem to notice my embarrassment at my outburst or consider my question odd. In fact, I think he was very familiar with this question. “In a way, yes,” he replied.

I was at a loss for words. I couldn’t think of anything else to say about his book. I almost mentioned Seinfeld to make him feel better. “That show was about nothing and seemed to work,” I thought. But this time I was able to control my vocal chords.

It was overwhelming, the idea of writing a book about nothing. Our only common denominator was that both of us were writing books. But after that our two roads diverged. My sincerest prayer is that my book would be about something. And not just any something.

I finally asked, “So, how long have you been working on your book?”

“For almost twenty years.”

Twenty years! That broke my heart. That a man would write faithfully for twenty years is amazing. That a man can write about nothing for twenty years is excruciating. I felt sad for this tired man who seems to have been searching for some truth in a universe where he is convinced truth doesn’t exist.

I couldn’t take it anymore. I asked him the question that should never be asked of a philosophy professor. “Where does God fit in?”

I watched him physically shift into professor mode. He was both quick to acknowledge that religion plays a role in philosophy but also that religion was for weak-minded individuals.

“I hadn’t asked him about religion, I’d asked about God. He had done what many often do and confused the two as being one and the same. So I tried the same question from a different angle…”

“Good thing I didn’t tell him what I was writing about,” I thought.

But I hadn’t asked him about religion, I’d asked about God. He had done what many often do and confused the two as being one and the same. So I tried the same question from a different angle.

“Where does Love fit in?”

He looked at me – the look was one of absolute exhaustion, as if this question was just too much for him. “Love is a subjective feeling, a physiological need,” he responded.

“But what if you’re wrong, what if it isn’t?” I asked. “What if Love is the very foundation of everything? What if Love is the beginning and the end and everything in between and everything ever after? What if Love answers every question that aches in the heart of humanity? What if Love is more than a feeling? What if love meets every need?”

He looked at me, annoyed. I think this question is the one that he found embarrassing, as if I had just taken leave of my senses.

My heart broke. I could see this man had been wounded deeply at some point in his life. He clearly no longer believed in Love.

“What if Love walked the earth as a man, died, and rose again so that we could be set free, free to fully receive love and to love in return? What if Love had the power to meet every need that ever existed?”

Then I sensed his dismissal, our conversation coming to a close. But I wanted to ask him more questions. I wanted to ask him questions that if answered in Spirit and Truth would radically forever change the way this professor thinks.

What if Love created everything? What if Love saw what He had created and said, “It is good.” Which is something Love would probably say. What if Love has all authority but does not control? What if Love is about freedom? What if Love walked the earth as a man, died, and rose again so that we could be set free, free to fully receive love and to love in return? What if Love isn’t a feeling but a tangible expression of that same freedom? What if Love had the power to meet every need that ever existed?

These thoughts burst in my heart.

Love! It’s a profoundly infinite and beautiful Person, a measureless revelation. Love - the best discovery. Love - the only story worth writing about.

Another writer once put it this way. “If every one of (the things Love did) was written down, I suppose the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” (John 22:25)

If only my new Philosophy Professor friend knew this Love, well, then he could know what it is to live and write with purpose, and destiny, and legacy. He could spend the next twenty years filling the world with books about something.

Before he packed up to go, he asked what I was writing about. I told him that I was writing a book about Love. I said, “its going to be something.”

He said he would like to read it sometime.

 

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   

Heart Hungry

“Jason, how do you do that?” my friend asked.

Before I could respond, he continued. “You talk about God like He’s your best friend, like He’s in this room sitting at our table, like He is talking to you all the time.” He paused for a moment and I could see he was distressed. “I have been saved since I was five,” he continued, “and I don’t feel like I really know what you are talking about. Most days, God seems like He is a million miles away.”

This fella and I go back several years. We have had some incredible discussions about God’s love. He is a wild believer. He is a church leader. And he is a man of God. He wasn’t challenging me; he was exposing a great hunger in his heart, a hunger for a deeper relationship with Father God, for authentic encounters with Love.

Gently, I asked a question, “Bro, are you convinced, head to toes, that He is absolutely, unwaveringly, always in love with you?”

“Are you convinced, head to toes, that He is absolutely, unwaveringly, always in love with you?”

Through sudden tears, he responded, “I have been taught about God’s love. I know the Scriptures, so I am sure here.” He pointed to his head. “But the way you talk about His love, I feel like I am missing something. Honestly, I’m not always sure here,” pointing to his heart.

I don’t think my friend is alone. There is an epidemic ravaging the hearts of many believers. We are head rich and heart hungry. I have met too many Christians who’ve rarely felt intimate with the Father, who have rarely felt like His presence as though he were in the room. I have met many who are daily battling overwhelming doubts about His uncompromising, personal, one-of-a-kind love. I have met too many believers who are desperately hungry for an encounter that includes more than their intellect.

“I have met many believers who are desperately hungry for an encounter with the Father that includes more than their intellect.”

I know many who can hypothesize about Love. I know many who can debate the theology, they can tell me the Greek definitions and Hebrew pronunciations, and there is nothing wrong with that. There is true beauty in knowing and loving God with our all of our mind, but infinitely more important is knowing and loving God with all of our heart.

Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind” (Luke 10:27). There’s a reason it’s in that order. We are to be heart-first lovers.

But Jesus also tells us that we can only love because He first loved us (John 4:16).  So this Christian life is not first about doing, it’s about receiving.

“There is true beauty in knowing and loving God with our all of our mind, but infinitely more important is knowing and loving God with all of our heart.”

My Bible, and yours, tells us that God is love (1 John 4:8). I don’t know if you have ever thought of it this way, but if God is love then it make sense that His language would be love.

It’s about love, first receiving, then becoming.

So I asked my friend a question I often ask of people who feel distant from God or just want to know His presence more.

“When is the last time you felt God’s absolute joy and laughter over your life? When was the last time you knew to your very bones that He was absolutely in love with you?”

I ask that question because it sets up a person to hear and know God. You see, God is always in in the room, He will never leave or forsake us (Heb 13:5).

If you want to hear and discover God presence, it will always start with becoming sure that He is love and His love is always good. A greater encounter with His presence is about becoming fluent in His language - unhindered, unrestrained love.

“When is the last time you felt God’s absolute joy and laughter over your life? When was the last time you knew to your very bones that He was absolutely in love with you?”

God is not a million miles away, He is in the room, in fact He has never been closer. To know is to choose by faith to believe that His love is always good; that it has nothing to do with our circumstances, our behavior or our insecurity.

He will never love us more than He does right now and the key to knowing His presence starts with choosing to believe.

This is what I told my friend who wanted to know the God who is in the room.

“Decide that Gods love toward you is always good, then ask Him to reveal it. Then don’t allow teaching, circumstances, or disappointments to change your mind. It won’t be long until you begin to recognize that He is in the room.”

 

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   

You Should Write to Remember

Over the last years I have come to the belief that everyone should write, or in some form, capture the story.

Not for a book deal, though we will celebrate that if it happens, but to release a future and a hope. It’s a reminder of where you have been and how good God was while you were there, even in the hard times—especially in the hard times.

But it’s also about establishing a promise regarding where we are going. It’s about destiny and legacy, about love, about remembering so we can know breakthrough, and breaking through so our kids can remember.

“Writing is about establishing a promise regarding where we are going. It’s about destiny and legacy, about love, about remembering so we can know breakthrough, and breaking through so our kids can remember.”

I once heard a message from a pastor hero of mine, Kris Vallotton, that captured why we should all write…

At the age of eighteen having already been a King for more than half his life, Josiah sent his man, Azaliah, along with a clean up crew into the temple to tidy the place up. Israel was at this point a pagan nation. They had fallen away from God and for several hundred years, they had served other Gods and the temple had fallen into disarray.

Soon after that Azaliah came to King Josiah with a discovery. “King Josiah, while we were cleaning up we found a book. And it appears to be the book!” (Paraphrase 2 Kings 22-23)

Three hundred and twenty years before King Josiah found the book there was a prophet by the name of Jeroboam. Jeroboam prophesied to the nation of Israel about a coming King who would destroy the evil altars that Israel had set up. This King would radically restore the nation back to God. He even prophesied this Kings name.

“He cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD : “O altar, altar! This is what the LORD says: ‘A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you he will sacrifice the priests of the high places who now make offerings here…”(1 Kings 13:2)

When Josiah’s clean up crew found the book, Josiah gathered his court and had it read aloud in its entirety. Can you imagine what happened in Josiah’s heart when he heard his named mentioned? Can you imagine what kind of impact that had on him?

If you don’t know the story of King Josiah, he went on from this discovery to completely destroy every trace of evil upon the land. He was zealous in his pursuit of the promise he received nearly 400 years earlier. He was intent upon fulfilling what God gave him to do. 2 Kings 23:25 says “Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did—with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength…”

“I write to empower destiny and leave a legacy of love. It’s about becoming and empowering; it’s about chasing down, receiving, and passing on revelation for the generations today and the generations to come.”

You know why I write?

I write to capture the story for my kids, and their kids, and their kids’ kids. I want to write them a legacy of the goodness of God. I want to record for them a story about the love of our Father. I want to build them a foundation upon which they can know love and in turn love. I want to write prophetically in the timeless voice of our heavenly Father speaking into their lives: “You have a great destiny, a holy purpose, and greater works shall you do!” I write so they will become sure and radically live and expand our Father’s Kingdom.

I write to empower destiny and leave a legacy of love. It’s about becoming and empowering; it’s about chasing down, receiving, and passing on revelation for the generations today and the generations to come.

Like the apostle and writer John, I am discovering that the world can’t contain the books of His always-good love. But I plan on spending my life trying to write them...

I encourage you to do the same, not for a book deal, though we will all celebrate if that happens, but to empower destiny and expand His Kingdom.

Write on, friends.

 

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   

The Older Brother

You probably know about the prodigal son.

Jesus told the story, it's found in Luke 15. It went something like this: There was a father. He had two sons. The youngest asked for his inheritance. The father gave him a very large sum of money and the younger son left home. He then spent all he possessed in every self-centered destructive way possible. After he was broke, destitute, and desperate, he came home and begged forgiveness of his father. He was forgiven. The father had two sons…

Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. “Your brother has come,” he replied, “and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.” The older brother became angry and refused to go in.”

“So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, “Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!”

The father then says something profound and revealing.

“My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours” (Luke 15:25-31).

Essentially, “Son, why would you be out slaving for me, all I have and all I am is available to you, no slaving required. You have access to it simply because you are my son.”

"He was a slave for his father because He didn’t truly know his father’s heart toward him."

The older son’s frustrated interaction with his dad reveals that, just like his younger brother, he didn’t truly know his father’s love nature. He “slaved” in a works-based understanding instead of co-laboring in a relational, intimate revelation of his dad’s love. 

Because he didn’t truly know his dad's heart, he couldn’t truly know who he was. Because he didn't truly know who he was he couldn't understand nor join in his father's celebration of his brothers return. He essentially said, “Why on earth are you celebrating my brother? What’s he done for you lately?”

What’s alarming to me, when our relational context with God is slaving, we will actually find ourselves outside of the very house we are meant to call our home; we will actually think at odds with how He thinks. When we don't know Him as our good Father, when we aren't sure as sons and daughters, we not only miss out on our inheritance, we actually find ourselves sided against Him.

When we slave, we are unable to celebrate mercy or grace in our own lives, let alone the lives of others. The scary thing about slaving, besides the fact that it sucks, is that it will actually position us against the very Father we think we serve.

"When we misunderstand God as someone to slave for, when we don’t know Him as a good father and ourselves as sons and daughters, we not only miss out on our inheritance, we actually find ourselves sided against Him."

There are a lot of older brother rumblings coming from the church today—religious slaves seeking judgment for failed, lost, deceived, and even restored prodigals.

I would guess much of the world sees the church as the older brother, slaving for a Father while wagging our finger in judgment and condemnation at a lost, lonely, broken, and confused world.

Here’s what I believe: the desire to judge and condemn a lost sinner, a fallen or even deceived saint, is not the heart of the Father—ever.

I was in a conversation with a friend the other day and essentially said just that. He challenged me with, “So are you saying we shouldn’t confront and expose lies and immorality?”

“Only if we can do it without taking our eyes off Dad (Love),” I said.

It’s easy to become offended when you are not living in a daily revelation of love.

"Jesus didn’t come to defend a gospel; He came to reveal the perfection of our Father’s love."

When we take our eyes off our Father and His perfect love for us, we forget why we are here. We become more interested in defending a set of principles than revealing love. Jesus didn’t come to defend a gospel; He came to reveal the perfection of our Father’s love. It’s religious vanity to think we are here to do anything different.

Jesus wasn't a principle, He is an intimate of revelation of family, of the celebration of the prodigal come home. 

Sadly, much of the church is playing the part of the older brother and calling it Christianity. There are still so many who stand outside of intimacy defending their slave-based principles in direct defiance of their Father's great love. 

"If we don’t know our Dad and His always-good love, we are forced to live in the insecurity of slavery, under the weight of self help christianity, and we are compelled to defend a gospel."

Allow me to repeat: Jesus wasn’t concerned with defending a gospel. He was too busy revealing the Gospel—His Father’s always-good love. He lived miraculously, died selflessly, and rose powerfully, all so we might be restored back to our place in the family—as sons and daughters of God. All so we might freely and fully access our inheritance— the love nature of our Father.

If we don't know our Dad and His always-good love, we are forced to live in the insecurity of slavery, under the weight of self-help christianity, and we are compelled to defend a gospel. If we reject the perfection of our Father’s love, then, like the older brother, we will find ourselves in direct opposition to our Dad.

And you know what direct opposition looks like? Judgment and condemnation. But not from our heavenly Father.

The father of the older brother?

He never condemned his son.

The son condemned himself. He was his own judge, a slave cut off from intimacy.

Father, forgive us for judging when we were created to be loved and to love.

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   

How to Parent Like the Father

Eva, my youngest, was named after my grandmother.

Eva is stunning! She is a firebrand of Gods love. A couple days after her fifth birthday party, my wife, Karen, and I were lying in bed telling stories of our kids. Like all amazing parents, our amazing kids mesmerize us. We are overjoyed with how cute, and caring, and kind, and sweet, and loving, and giving, and… they are brilliant! As far as we are concerned, they are the best kids that have ever walked the planet.

While Karen was reliving an Eva moment she had earlier in the day, I realized just how much our parenting had matured over the years, especially in how we discipline. We have grown in our understanding that discipline is about revealing and releasing, and empowering identity.

For instance, if Eva lies about something, my greatest desire is not for her to learn and understand the consequences of lying. My greatest desire is for her to know that she is not a liar.

"Repentance isn’t a form of punishment, it’s a privilege."

You see, our heavenly Father doesn’t see her as a liar. He sees her as stunningly honest. So if she lies, she is not acting like how our Father sees her. As a parent, it is my privilege and charge to empower her into that truth.

It doesn’t mean we don’t teach repentance; it’s just that repentance isn’t a form of punishment, it’s a privilege. Repent simply means to change the way you think; it’s an about face. Repentance is about changing your mind until you are in agreement with Gods.

In fact, that’s what we tell our kids. When there is an issue where their hearts are self-focused, you will often hear Karen or myself say, “Change the way you think.” And because we have had the talk many times, our kids understand that what we are saying is, “start thinking about yourself like your heavenly Father thinks about you.” Here’s the thing, if we learn to agree with how our heavenly Father sees us, we will start acting like He sees us - behavior follows identity.

"If we learn to agree with how our heavenly Father sees us, we will start acting like He sees us - behavior follows identity."

So that evening while Karen and I lay in bed, she told me how Eva earlier in the day had an intentionally forgetful moment and threw a tantrum. Karen sat down on the floor with her and kindly said “Eva, change… what?” Eva, who had just been given a necklace from her Aunt Aimee that read, “I’m a world changer,” looked at her mom and with a sudden sunny attitude shift and a mischievous grin said, “the world?”

Change the world. Yep, that will work too! In fact, if you become brilliant at changing the way you think, you can’t help but change the world.

I laughed with Karen as she relived the story and then we both agreed again, our kids are brilliant! And Eva is correct; she is a world changer, that’s how her heavenly Father sees her.

I would like to suggest that’s how He sees you as well. You are prone to love, to change the world through love. The trick is simply learning to agree with Him.

Go ahead, try it, change the way you think…

 

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   

Be Loved.

I believe that Love is the point. It’s the very foundation of this world; it’s not a vague concept, it’s an encounter. We live to know Love… And to become love.

We were created to be loved and to love. These two truths are inseparable. That said, the knowing Love always comes first. Love is an encounter before it’s a decision. “We love because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Therefore our ability to love is directly connected to our awareness of His love.

Our love is a response to a revelation of His. From our encounter we can decide to love but in all honesty the decision to love is not the goal of a Christian. The goal is to know His love and to become surer each day. The incredible thing about this is that as we become sure in His love we are transformed and we are empowered to love - and it looks a lot like how Jesus loved.

"The decision to love is not the goal of a Christian. The goal is to know His love and to become surer each day."

I believe we are saved by Love so that we can truly know Love and in turn become love. It’s about transformation, its the difference between behaviour and identity. You see, if we become love, we don’t have to decide to love, its just who we are.

He loves and we are transformed – that’s the Christian identity.

Often in life, I have placed my focus on the decision to love. I have tried harder, perspired more, become more focused on doing Christian things than becoming sure in His love.  At these times I have almost elevated my decisions above the encounter with His love, my doing above my surrender.  What I have learned is that when I do this, I relegate, demote, and limit His love. A love birthed from a decision has less power to transform than a love birthed from an encounter.

From my own experience, if I stop encountering His love, my decision to love becomes sterile, forced, and powerless. In fact, loving God or others becomes an overwhelming impossibility. I have learned that I can’t fully love without first encountering His.

"From my own experience, if I stop encountering His love, my decision to love becomes sterile, forced, and powerless."

My daily prayer is that I would become more aware of my heavenly Father's Love; that He would give me a heart that knows it, eyes to see it, ears to hear it, a soul that feels it, and a mind renewed by it. I want to experience His love in every season. In fact, that’s my life’s one true ambition, to become sure in His love…

And I believe it’s yours as well.

 

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   

Where is God?

Several years ago Karen and I were assessing our finances and the fact that we were eleven months behind on our mortgage and two months behind on our utilities.

We had less than ten dollars to our name, mostly in loose change, and we had about a gallon of gas in the van. Karen is amazing, her faith stunning. She is well acquainted with our Father’s good love and made a statement that highlights it: “We have food in the fridge. We are blessed and God is so good.”

“God is good.” Sometimes it’s the most powerful sentence in the universe, a statement of profound faith.

"A need met can never be the measuring stick of our Father’s goodness, it can only be the evidence."

“God is good.” It’s true when we can pay our mortgage and when we can’t.

Karen and I are learning that a need met can never be the measuring stick of our Father’s goodness, it can only be the evidence. His goodness and His love will follow us all the days of our lives and will never be measured or determined by our circumstances. This faith is the foundational truth upon which everything else in our lives is built.

Karen and I have prayed when she starts to get a migraine: “Father, heal Karen’s migraine in Jesus’s name.” And we have thanked Him for His always-good love as the headache that typically becomes a migraine fades away.

We have also prayed against a coming migraine and watched, feeling helpless, as Karen still got the migraine. And yet we are learning, even in the pain, to hurdle the disappointment that seeks to discourage our hearts, and thank Him for His always-good love.

We trusted God absolutely, financially risking everything to start a company. Karen and I watched God come through miraculously, giving us favor and increase. We thanked Him for His goodness as our company prospered.

We trusted God completely, risking everything financially by giving the company back to Him. Karen and I believed and surrendered through the debilitating season of failed business and substantial debt. We chose to thank Him for His always-good love.

"We have met our Dad and are convinced, and we are becoming more convinced, that our circumstances don’t determine His love. He only has goodness and love for us."

We have prayed, “Lord, protect this pregnancy and our child,” when a heartbeat couldn’t be found. We celebrated days later in the doctor’s office when life was discovered and again when our first daughter Madeleine was handed into the thankful, waiting arms of a tearfully joyful new mother and father.

We have also prayed, “Lord, protect our child and this pregnancy,” when complications became obvious. And weeks later we stood in the doctor’s office, grief in our eyes, as the devastating news was gently broken. On this journey of faith, we are learning, even in the midst of heartache, to trust in our Dad’s always-good love.

Why? Because we have met our Dad and are convinced, and we are becoming more convinced, that our circumstances don’t determine His love. He only has goodness and love for us.

“God shall supply all your needs according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19 NASB). It’s in my Bible and yours. That Scripture isn’t a bumper sticker platitude or a warm feeling or a nice sentiment; it’s a promise that His love is good. It’s disappointment hurdling revelation. It’s the truth. It’s the truth even when we are facing sickness, bankruptcy, or death. It’s the truth even when everything we are experiencing screams the lie.

The Valley

David was a man after God’s own heart. He both started and finished well. His life was a study in mountaintops and valleys.

His story was one of miracles and misses, faith and failure. David experienced some crushing disappointments but somehow never suc- cumbed. He ended well—better than well—he handed increase to the next generation.

I am convinced there is only one reason David succeeded where so many before and after have failed. David did not believe his circumstances were the measuring stick of God’s love. On the contrary, he was convinced that…

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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   

More Than A Master

When he came to his senses, he said, “How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men” (Luke 15:17-19).

You know, the younger son probably never truly knew how good and loving and redeeming his father was before leaving home, but he did know him as a good master.

That limited perspective was powerful enough to invite a despairing son back home after he had desperately failed.

"If our revelation of God as a good Master doesn’t mature into a revelation of God as a good Father, we may find ourselves living like a prodigal."

My point? A good master can draw the prodigal home, but it's the good father that empowers a son.

Jesus didn’t tell us this story so we could know the good Master; He was revealing the good Father to us. Why? Because a good Master can still be slaved for, and slavery is never our Father’s heart for us.

I think this is a big deal because most of us know God as a good Master and while that is true and brilliant, if our revelation of God as a good Master doesn’t mature into a revelation of God as a good Father, we may find ourselves living like a prodigal, enslaved either to the world or even religion. The truth that God is a good Master is a wonderful starting place, but was never meant to be the final destination.

God has more names than there are ice cream flavors. He is the Creator, Shepherd, and Deliverer. He is Holy, Majestic, and Righteous. He is our Peace, Provider, Comforter, and Healer. He is Lord, King, Master, and Savior. The list goes on and on. And while Jesus certainly revealed all of these attributes, they weren’t His primary objective. He came for one reason: to reveal the Father.

"Jesus lived, breathed, laughed, talked, walked, slept… every movement, every story, and every word revealed the Father."

Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). He also said, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does” (John 5:19).

Jesus lived, breathed, laughed, talked, walked, slept… every movement, every story, and every word revealed the Father. The story of the prodigal son was no different.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.   I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe   and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger   and sandals on his feet.   Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.   For this son of mine was dead and is alive again;   he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. Luke 15:21-24

The moment the younger son truly saw his father’s nature is the moment he received his inheritance. And it’s the same for us. The moment we truly see our Heavenly Father we are set free and empowered to be His sons and daughters, and that’s where our inheritance is accessed. Our Father’s perfect love nature revealed is our inheritance.

Jesus told us this story to reveal His Father—period! He told this story so that we might live beyond the title of “slave” and grow in the freedom, power, and authority of our true inheritance, as His sons and daughters.

The journey of knowing God as more than a good Master is filled with exponential life, exponential righteousness, peace, joy, trust, power, and authority. When we know the good Father, we live in the inheritance of sons and daughters, the measureless love of heaven.

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   

The Ultimate Revelation

Jesus pressed his disciples asking, “And how about you? Who do you say I am?”

Peter said, “You’re the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus responded, “…You didn’t get that answer out of books or from teachers. My Father in heaven, God himself, let you in on this secret of who I really am.”

Can you imagine how excited Jesus was about Peter’s revelation? Everywhere Jesus went, every breath He ever took, every smile, every tear, every gesture, every word was meant to reveal the Father. He said, “If you really know me, you will know my Father as well (John 14:7),” and “I am in the Father and the Father is in me… (John 14:11)” Jesus’ life was an expression of the Fathers perfect love. But the disciples, and everyone else for that matter, never seemed able to really get it.

Then Peter has a revelation. He sees and describes Jesus, and in so doing meets His Dad!

What Jesus says next is amazing!

“And now I’m going to tell you who you are, really are.”

Don’t miss this. Peter, in relationship with Jesus, meets the Father, and then is given his identity.

"Peter, in relationship with Jesus, meets the Father, and then is given his identity."

“You are Peter, a rock. This is the rock on which I will put together my church, a church so expansive with energy that not even the gates of hell will be able to keep it out.”

Can you imagine? Peter is given a perspective of how the Father saw him, what he was created for - his life’s purpose.

Jesus wasn’t finished.

“And that’s not all. You will have complete and free access to God’s kingdom, keys to open any and every door: no more barriers between heaven and earth, earth and heaven. A ‘yes’ on earth is ‘yes’ in heaven. A ‘no’ on earth is ‘no’ in heaven.” (Matthew 16:15-19)

Not only is Peter given his identity, he is given his inheritance. “No barriers Peter, no measureable limits. You will live from the measureless revelation of heaven. You will have all the authority I have Peter.”

“Keys to open any and every door.” Or you could say it this way, “Love trumps any and every need.”

If we want to know who we are, if we want to know what we are called to, if we want to know what we have access to, all we have to do is say ‘yes’ to Jesus - the perfection of our Father’s good love.

"If we want to know who we are, if we want to know what we are called to, if we want to know what we have access to, all we have to do is say ‘yes’ to Jesus - the perfection of our Father’s good love."

One revelation of the Father brings more clarity regarding call, promise, identity, destiny, power and authority than a lifetime of anything else including Bible study and good messages – “You didn’t get this from a book or teachers… I’m not suggesting bible study and good messages aren’t valuable, I’m simply noting they should always lead to Jesus and reveal the Father.

“Who do you say that I am?” It’s an invitation to hear and know the Father and it’s an invitation to discover our identity and inheritance.

And Jesus is still asking today. 

And Jesus is still revealing the Father today. He is still releasing the keys to “any and every door.” He is still empowering sons and daughters.

Jesus, may we know You, and in knowing You know our Father, and in knowing our Father become sure as sons and daughters.

 

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   

The Day I Found Abundance in the Midst of Scarcity

"Will we be alright?"I was out for a run. I was hearing my heavenly Father's voice. I was becoming sure in love. It was glorious.

Over the last month, He was only saying one thing. It was a daily, hourly, minute-by-minute floodgate of His good pleasure, His presence.

“I love you, Jason.” God whispered to me. It was so sweet, and yet the question I'd asked Him seemed fair, “Will we be alright?”

“I love you, Jason.”

We had followed God faithfully and now we were over a year behind on our mortgage, our fridge was nearly empty, our pantry, a ghost town. The bill collectors and the lawyers left their threatening voicemails every morning, they wanted their pound of flesh.

“I love you, Jason.”

It was so sweet, and yet the question I'd asked Him seemed fair, “Will we be alright?”

I got home at dusk. There was just enough time to mow the small unruly patch of grass in our front yard. And there were still fumes in the mower, enough to accomplish the task.

I settled into the seemingly mundane routine, but my heart never left fellowship with my good Father.

“I love you, Jason.”

And I reveled in His love. It was more than enough. I was growing sure and no circumstance would change my mind. He is good. Always.

“I love you, Jason.”

I stood on the front porch in the last light of day with a suddenly new thought. It was heaven sent, it was revelatory, it was bigger, and greater, and more powerful than any other thought I’d ever had.

“It’s measureless! Your love is measureless!”

"And I reveled in His love. It was more than enough. I was growing sure and no circumstance would change my mind. He is good. Always." 

At that moment, everything in my life changed.

Of course! We would be alright!

Laughing, I went in to kiss Karen and hug the kids. Karen kissed me lightly and the kids ran away giggling. I needed a shower.

In the shower I sang, “I’m becoming like you, I’m becoming like you. Let Your love be all I know, till Your glory becomes my own.” 

I leapt from the shower, wrapped myself in a towel, ran into our bedroom, riffled through papers on Karen’s nightstand, found a pencil, then back to the bathroom dripping on the linoleum, I wrote...

I’ve been Your echo, I’ve been Your shadow
But my heart is to know You so I can be Your voice

I’ve stood on mountains, I’ve knelt in valleys
From glory to glory my heart will always be Yours

I'm becoming like You, I’m becoming like You
It's the cry of my heart my King, that I’d display Your majesty

I'm becoming like you, I'm becoming like you
Let Your love be all I know, till Your glory becomes my own

Oh, let Your glory come down
Let Your goodness surround, we’re singing
Oh, this revival sound
It's shaking the ground, it's transforming us

I have played this song over the years and many have asked about it. It’s my love song to Him, and I thought it was time to tell the story of the day I found His abundance in the midst of scarcity.

A few years ago I recorded it for an EP. You can listen at the link below.

Link to song - https://jasonclarkis.bandcamp.com/track/becoming-like-you

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