The Law of our Hearts

“What’s your view on homosexuality?”

It came out of nowhere… a random question in the middle of the day. I looked at my friend – a thoughtful guy with some sort of Sunday School background and leftist persuasions - and quickly realised that no matter how articulate my answer it was bound to be misunderstood.

So instead of starting an eloquent monologue on the theology of natural law, biblical hermeneutics and the ethics of love, I answered with another question: “How do you determine what is right and wrong; what is ‘good’ behaviour and what is not?”

The conversation moved from ethics to philosophy to the notion of absolute truth – “there is some truth out there, but we haven’t found it yet.” And then, “Christianity is just a bunch of rules anyway.”

In the end our conversation never really addressed the issue of homosexuality. It ended with my comment; “Oh if you really knew God and how fantastic he was, you would really like him. You’ve just been around some really bad advertising.”

A lot of people have. Why is it that Christianity is known as ‘a bunch of rules’ when we are the only world religion which has grace at it’s a core? Where the punishment that we deserve for our wrong has been taken by someone else simply because we are loved? Why are we known for judgmentalism* when our own judgment has been removed?

Jesus said the whole law is summed up in two things. Love God and love people. These ‘laws’ are now written on our hearts rather than on ‘tablets of stone’ (2 Corinthians 3:3). In place of a long list of external rules is the person of the Holy Spirit who inspires us to act out of love. We live for others not because anyone is telling us too, but because we want to. It’s a new heart that transforms us and motivates us to walk in grace.

Where the Spirit is absent, we need laws. We revert to hard legalism. We head back to the pre-Pentecost days where rules were needed to regulate behavior. But a quick overview of the Old Testament reminds us that it never worked then. So why do we think it will work now? We were promised something better.

We should be known as the most loving, gracious, non-judgmental people on earth. People who love unconditionally and refuse to throw stones at the guilty; who humbly walk in the Spirit and live undeniably holy lives set apart for his glory. People who love others with such passion and unconditionality that people are drawn – to like our God - and perhaps even to love him.

You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. (2 Cor. 3:3)

*See the research findings of David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyon’s book, UnChristian.

Why does God Show us the Future?

God showed me the house I am living in now a year before I moved in. The job I am doing today I saw years ago. Some of the people I currently work with, God spoke about before I met them.

We were promised this. When Jesus returned to heaven, he sent his Holy Spirit that we would see the world through his eyes. We would all be able to prophesy and have dreams and visions (Acts 2:16). That means occasionally God will show us glimpses of the future. He will tell us “great and unsearchable things we do not know” (Jer.33:3). This is the privilege of every New Covenant Christian.

But seeing the future is not just to satiate our curiosity for what is around the corner. There are good reasons for why God shows us what he does…

1. So we get to know his heart
When God gives us a glimpse of his plans, it provides something far more than a crystal ball experience. It is an expression of his desires and his will; the things he intends and longs for. When he reveals the future, it is a statement of his purpose: I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please. (Is. 46:10)

2. So we can co-operate with what we see
Having a vision of the future is a thrilling experience. It gives us hope and encouragement for a better future (Jer. 29:11).

But sometimes we assume that the picture we see is a fait accompli. We adopt a fatalistic stance: a kind of “if it is God it will happen” approach. Yet a quick overview of the Bible shows us that not everything God revealed actually happened. Moses didn’t enter the Promised Land; Saul did not retain his kingdom - and many of the Israelites died in exile.

One of the main reasons for God’s acts of revelation is so that we co-operate with what we see. We partner with God to bring “his will to earth as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). That usually means action of some sort; an agreement with him in word and deed. Faith and obedience now needs to kick in.

3. So we know it's him when it comes to pass
Skeptics I know will often claim answers to prayer as mere coincidences. Things just happened to ‘work out’; the universe came to equilibrium; circumstances turned around ‘fortuitously’.

When God speaks the future and it then unfolds before us, there can be no doubt of his hand. Those who have heard him speak beforehand get a bird’s eye view – a front-row seat to his sovereign ways. There is nothing like it! As witnesses of his glory, we can only worship...

Which of them foretold this and proclaimed to us the former things? …"You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor will there be one after me. (Isaiah 43:9-11)

Stairway to Heaven

He was a young man of great potential. With the legacy of his famous forefathers and a powerful destiny on his life, his future was bright. But a life of deception and family dysfunction leaves him confused and desperate, fleeing a murderous brother and exiled from his homeland with only a stone for a pillow.

Jacob was the second-born son of Isaac and Rebekah and inheritor of the great Abrahamic promises, but he had never personally experienced the transformational encounter of his father’s God or embraced the holy lifestyle required of a great leader.

It all changed in one night. For the first time Jacob encounters the presence of God. And it happens in a dream.


He sees the skies opening before him. Angels climb a stairway that reaches far into the heavens. He hears a voice speaking to him; calling him to his future. These were not second-hand promises passed on from his father, but a direct invitation to divine relationship – a gateway to the presence of God.


The dream changes Jacob’s life. He had gone to sleep feeling lost and alone; alienated from God. He wakes up knowing God’s presence and seeing past the natural circumstances. Surely the Lord was in this place and I did not know it (Genesis 28:16). For the first time, he makes a genuine commitment to follow God and takes the first steps towards his destiny. He meets God in a dream!

Tertullian one of the early church theologians of the 2nd and 3rd centuries (AD.160-230) – the man famous for his writings on the Trinity – made this statement: “Nearly everyone on earth knows that God reveals himself to people most often in dreams.”

So is the potential of our dreams. Jacob’s dream revealed a gateway to heaven and a meeting place with Almighty God. The dream rolled back the curtain separating the natural world and unveiling the spiritual realm. Today God still wants to reveal himself to us. Like Jacob he wants to show us our futures, give us vision beyond our current circumstances and call to us personally in the midst of our everyday lives. Let's be people that are awake to these life-changing revelations of the night!

God is Better than Santa

At one of many Christmas parties this past season, I heard a great story told by a local Preschool teacher. One of their end-of-year activities was to write letters to Santa asking for what they wanted for Christmas. A new Cinderella doll… A puppy dog to play with. The teacher modelled the exercise by writing her own Christmas letter... “Dear Santa, for Christmas I would like a beautiful diamond ring.” They signed off their letters, drew pictures of their gifts and carefully pinned them to the display wall for all to see.

On the final day of Preschool, one of the parents presented a small parcel to the teacher in appreciation for all her hard work and dedication. The teacher thanked the mother, happy to add another gift to her growing pile of chocolates and body lotions. But this gift was unlike the others. It shocked her to the core. There in the carefully wrapped box was a diamond ring, a perfect gold-set solitaire of the highest quality. 'Santa' had granted her wish!

The story got me thinking. The teacher received because she asked. If she had not asked, there would be no diamond ring gracing her finger.

It reminded me of one of Jesus’ more radical statements. “You do not have, because you do not ask God…” (James 4:2)

He gives us what we ask for. Why? Simply because that’s what loving fathers do. Ask any parent. Knowing their child’s heart, they search the department stores for the right gift; the one thing that will make their child’s face light up with joy. How much more the Father-heart of God?

Last year I asked God if I could have more outdoor adventures. Not long after I was paid to go skiing and hiking. At 17 I asked God if I could return to Switzerland one day. Years later, it was the scene of my first ministry trip. More recently I asked God if I could have a home with a bay window. The next day a friend received a prophetic dream of my future home. The key feature: a bay window.

The only qualifier to this outlandish statement of Jesus’ is that we ask with the right motives (James 4:3). So… is my heart aligned to kingdom purpose? Am I willing to use my gifts to bless others? Am I open to him saying 'no' or 'wait' for reasons that are for good, even if I don’t know what they are right now?

So with our motives in place, ASK away!!! As we begin a new year; as we dream and plan for 2010, I encourage you… Dig deep into your imagination, search the pool of your desires and ask! Ask your loving Father for what you need… and for what you want. God is so much better than Santa.

How did he know it was God?

… An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him." So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt. (Matthew 2:13-14)

It looks so easy. Joseph falls asleep one night, has a dream and hears God telling him to leave… Yes that’s right, pack up the manger, wrap up the newborn and take your wife on another long donkey ride to a land on the other side of the desert.

So next morning he gets up, tells Mary over breakfast and heads off to Egypt... Just like that.

Easy. Joseph hears from God and catastrophe is averted. Because of this little episode, our Christmas cards show Jesus alive in Mary’s arms and we sing songs heralding his birth. Christmas pans out the way it was supposed to.

But here’s a simple question. How did Joseph know the dream was from God? How did he know it wasn’t just something sparked by his vivid imagination as he slept; a crazy apparition brought on by the stench of strange animals at his bedside… a paranoid idea because of the spicy lentils he ate the night before? There were no logical reasons for the radical departure; no tangible signs indicating danger. Yet Joseph confidently follows this strange voice of the night and baby Jesus escapes the murderous hand of King Herod.

Would it be that easy?

Have you ever heard one of those stories about someone who thought they heard from God, but they actually didn’t? Then there is all the damage and fallout from that. Or perhaps you’ve been one of them! You’ve thought you heard from God, you’ve made steps of faith and then the circumstances backfire. How do we know if we are hearing from God or not?

It’s comforting to know that this is not a new question. The ancients themselves had the same problem and the good news is that God anticipated we would ask it: You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?’ (Deuteronomy 18:21)

God has answers for our concern. His promise that we will be able to recognise his voice… Like sheep who know the voice of their shepherd, we can discern his voice and follow it. Listen to Signed, Sealed and Delivered on the CD Series: “God’s Curtain Calls” to find out more. You can purchase it here. A great Christmas idea!

The Dreamers of Christmas

It was late in the afternoon when they arrived at the outskirts of the crowded city. Their sandaled feet were dusty and swollen from long days walking through an endless wilderness. The young couple glanced about searching for a place to enquire for lodging. Unfamiliar sounds and foreign tongues added to their disorientation. A restless baby cried hungry for milk while his mother rummaged through their hastily packed belongings. The anxious expression on their weary faces hinted at their concerns: How long would they be here for? When would they return to their homeland?

I imagine the small talk as the weary travelers were introduced:
           “Greetings! You’ve come a long way. Where are you from?”
           “From our home in the land of Israel.”

           “Whose family are you of?”

           “The tribe of Judah.”
           “And what brings you here to Egypt?”

Have you ever wondered about the locals’ reaction to Mary and Joseph’s story? One mysterious dream led them to completely relocate to a foreign country. In the Greco-Roman world of the first century, it wasn’t unusual for gods to speak in dreams. This was nothing particularly out of the ordinary.

Like Mary and Joseph, it was a God-dream that led me to move to an unknown city some years ago. At the time I found it exciting. God was speaking so clearly and specifically! But when I began to share my story with others, eyebrows were raised and brows furrowed with concern. I realized I had been quickly labeled; placed in that box where all fringy mystical types go…

So I stopped telling people the real reason why I was moving. They didn’t seem to get it.

God-given dreams are found all the way through the Christmas story. The gospel writer Matthew records five of them. Apart from a dream, the baby Jesus would have been murdered! In fact, some of the most pivotal moments in biblical history began in the middle of the night while someone was sleeping.

So why the negative response to a contemporary parallel of Mary and Joseph’s experience? Why the gap between a beloved biblical story and our own spiritual reality?


A look back over our shoulder tells us why. At one time in history hearing from God through dreams was the norm. The prophets of the Old Testament heard from God through dreams regularly. The early church valued them for direction and revelation and the early church fathers all wrote of their dream experiences.

Then came the Enlightenment. A new emphasis on intellectual rationalism led church leaders to relegate dreams and visions to the archives of library shelves. Translators even left out references to dreams and visions made by the early church fathers in their English editions!

To our modern Western ears, talk of dreamers and dream interpreters seems to fall perilously close to New Age practises. But our fear of being deceived or getting it wrong has led us to abandon one of the most popular forms of God’s communication. In fact the ability to hear from God through dreams and visions is one of the key distinctives of the new covenant (Acts 2:17)!

There is no doubt hearing from God through dreams has its risks. But God has given us his Word, the Holy Spirit and his church as safety nets for us. With the right tests and accountability, we can experience the transforming and powerful dynamic of hearing God’s voice speaking into the very details of our lives through dreams. This is our inheritance as new covenant Christians. Are you ready to hear from him? Be ready for him to surprise you with his creative messages of the night!

Your Two Stories

There are two stories being written over our lives. The story everyone sees and the story only you and God see.

The story that everyone sees is the one that is written on bios and resumes. It’s the one we tell at parties and interviews. She planted a church, worked in missions, has a Masters level qualification, speaks in churches around the world…

But there is another story. One that is equally dramatic, but far more hidden. One that is rarely told on stages or recorded on public memos. One that is usually only whispered in quiet moments, revealed in tucked away café corners and sometimes never told even to ourselves.

Yet it is the one that matters most.

It’s the story of our dreams, our fears and our unspoken struggles. The internal journey of our thoughts and prayers. A plot line that is often more difficult to write, but which defines who we are and all that we do. If we ignore it, it will soon write its own story… and ultimately it will be the story that everybody else sees.

It was the story beneath Joseph’s life that really mattered. His rollercoaster ride of failure and promotion from slave to Prime Minister would make headlines, but it was the internal drama of faith and loyalty that wrote the final climax.

The successes of Abraham’s life may be loudly acclaimed around the world, but it was the long painful tale of five altars atop a lonely mountain that would produce them.

I may have made some significant achievements in my life, but it has been the God-moments of revelation and conviction with God that have defined them.

What story are you writing today? Are you more concerned with the outer story of achievement and performance and image? The outer story can masquerade and embellish, but the inner one never can. The inner story always tells the truth and will pen the final story in the end.

Let’s be people that give more attention to our inner story. This is the one that is of greatest concern to God and it is the only one that matters.

 Three Inner Story Questions to Ask Yourself:

1. What area of my life do I need to be honest with myself right now?
2. What is God speaking to me about?
3. What accountability partners am I able to entrust my inner story to?