A Humble King

"He gave up his place with God & made himself nothing. He was born as a man & became like a servant. When He was living as a man, he humbled himself & was fully obedient to God, even when that caused his death-death on a cross. So God raised him to the highest place. God made his name greater than every other name." Philippians 2:7-9

Of all of the attributes of God that I cherish the most, one of my favorites has to be His humility. No doubt we can praise God for His all-knowing & ever-present nature with us, or His creative ability & His absolute sovereignty. But to praise Him for His humility is to see Him as the King Above All. Jesus had no reason to cling to the status that His Divine Nature carried with it, but He had every reason to give it up. Through His coming to us as a dependent human child, He bridged the gap that only He could fill. He came as King while also coming as a servant. That is no task that can be accomplished by a mere mortal. By putting Himself in our world & under its laws of physics & flesh, He shows that He stands above everything else. Undaunted by the pressures & restrictions of a flesh &blood existence, He pressed through to do what only He could do. And by His dying in our place, we are raised to stand with Him in His place. Let this holiday season be a time of celebration of all that Christ makes possible to us & for us. Celebrate Him as Divine King & as Divine Servant. As He served those who could not help themselves, we learn to follow His example & do the same. Meet a neighbor you've been ignoring, serve a meal to the homeless, give of your time & Self; all the while knowing that He did the same.

The Ultimate Weapon

"We are born into a world at war" CS Lewis reminds us. A lot has been said about Spiritual Warfare and who the real Enemies are and where the real battlefields lie. But if we are not careful we will get so caught up in the combat and forget that Connection is Father's ultimate weapon in our fight against our Poser Flesh, the World System and Satan. Belts of Truth, Shields of Faith, Helmets of Salvation, even Swords of Truth aren't greater than our intended connectedness that God designed us to live in. The great and powerful weapon of Intimacy with Father is what ultimately vanishes the hold of all our Enemies' influence on our lives. The Poser Flesh that emerges from our False Heart of woundedness has no secure standing in a Life that has found its real place of meaning in connection with Father. All of the temptations the World's
System sets before us find no hold of satisfaction in a Life satisfied with a Father's great Love. And our defeated foe, Satan, the great serpent of old, cannot connive us with His deception when our hearts are connected with the Truth of who we are and whose we are in Christ Jesus. The great weapon of Intimacy trumps all other attempts to draw us away from our real source of Life.

But the question still remains: "Will we continue in a connected state or will we set out on our own to find our own meager means of making a Life on our own. Will we humble the Self we call ours in sweet surrender to Father's heart for us? Will we engage or will we disengage for the Life we were made for?

All of our Life depends upon how we answer these questions.

Summer is officially here and that means plenty to do around Westwood and Living Hope Retreat. We have a full schedule this Summer for our minister's kids with Soul Pursuit and of course a couple of encounters offered through The Potters Institute. Jenny and I are adjusting to life back on campus, which has both its positives & negatives, but all in all we have enjoyed it. We have definitely both felt a stepped up spiritual assault on us as we have moved onto campus. We know that Father has His action and the enemy has his reaction and that its all part of being in the middle of what God is doing. Through that we are starting to learn to battle better and remember to fight the right battles. Pray for us during this time. It is widely apparent to us that God is doing something great and there are forces that do not like it. Ethan is doing great and continually reminds us how easy we have it with him as our son. He has started giving hugs which definitely has a way of melting a heart and is on the verge of walking. Darn that long torso and legs! Thank you for your prayers and continued support.

Needing A Quiet Place To Rest?

Westwood Ministries offers sabbatical rest opportunities through Living hope retreat in Ingram, TX. If you are a kingdom leader needing rest or a Christian family needing an affordable vacation spot, lhr may be the place for you.
Call to make reservations: (830) 367-5600
Or make them online:www.livinghoperetreat.com

Our Heart...His Home

"When your joined with me and I with you, the relation Intimate and organic…"
John 15:5 (The Message)

If you are anything like me, you have a hard time believing that your heart can be FATHER's home. Maybe we've heard that our "heart is deceitful" just one too many times. Maybe we look at the current condition of our heart and think, "There's no way that could look anything like Him." Who knows, it may be any of these or a whole multitude of other reasons that have crept in and caused us to believe the lie instead of the Truth. The Truth is our heart is His home. God steps out of Heaven and steps into our hearts. Our hearts were meant to be joined with His. Ever since He formed Adam and God breathed Life into our lungs mankind has soared in connection with Him or fallen because of our disconnection.

Our lives were meant for intimacy with Him and made to be a reflection of His image. That means our heart as well. God's choice to make His home in our hearts changes everything. Our sacred heart is His Home. That's why safeguarding it is so vitally important. We will thrive when we're connected in an intimate, organic way and struggle when we keep our relation with Him mechanical and "automatic".

So, what is He saying to you about your heart? What's He saying about His home? Have you tended His home well, or is a ramshackled place. Only FATHER can shape a heart and make it suitable for Himself, but its here He gives us a part to play. Make time this week and month to do a bit of housekeeping so that your heart can truly be His home.

The Answer Is In Your Hand

"He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each give as he purposes in his heart." 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 NKJV

I don't know many folks who don't worry. Of the folks I know who worry, I don't know any who don't worry about money. Isn't it interesting that one of the things we choose to worry about just happens to be one of the things that Jesus chose to speak about when talking about things in the Kingdom. He talks about the "Lost Coin", "The Wise Servant" who knows the value of investment, he talks about treasures in Heaven versus treasures laid up here on Earth, and so on. But the most interesting thing Jesus (The Word who is One with God) says comes long before He walks on Earth. In Ecclesiates 11, Solomon is passing on wisdom and he talks about the farmer who stands with seed in hand waiting for the weather to be just right before he sows it. The lesson He speaks to me through that: "I'll take care of the weather, you take care of the seed!" If we invest in Kingdom ministry according how good or bad the clouds may appear, we will never cast the seed. Anxiety will push us to grip and grasp what's in our hand; but Faith, Trust and Risk will push us to let it go and grow.

Times are hard for many right now, and know that God is not oblivious to that. But even when the clouds roll in and swirl all around us, God still holds it all in the palm of His hand. He holds the weather in hand, while we hold the seed in ours. The question is what will we do with it.

Mark & Jenny Johnson
www.westwoodministries.org
markj@westwoodministries.org
jennyj@westwoodministries.org