5 min 20 sec: app reading time

December 22, 2024

SAYING YES TO GOD THIS CHRISTMAS

Dear Friend:

Much of life is about becoming what's required of us by family, culture, morality, and religion.

Catching the vibe of who we are meant to be by God's design is much more challenging in the hustle and bustle of what's being imposed on our psyches as the way to be than what we hear in family life, classrooms, and church. I meet many who struggle with identity because they were told who they should be or who they are by shallow views. My heart aches!

Race, gender, abilities, and mental gifts are often buried in the ground of suppressed memories. There is no one to help unbury the treasure hidden in the depths of the psyche! Often, church, culture, and religion have not only been responsible for such damage, but they disable people from growing their own potential. 

Since the day you were born, a "yes " has loomed on the horizon of your life, waiting for you to respond in wonder. It's a "yes" to all your questions and life's perplexities. It's a "yes" to all your relational conflicts and challenges you face as a human. It's not a shallow, empty "yes" repeated in a vacuum!

It's the "yes" from God who allowed you to be born to be your best self now!

That's my message in this "Chats." It doesn't matter what people, your parents, family of origin, culture, or church have told you about yourself; God is waiting to say "yes" to you!

"Yes" to belonging!

"Yes" to your identity as a unique gift to the world.

"Yes" to your troubled self because you are accepted as you are.

"Yes" to your limitations and lack of confidence.

You carry embedded in your DNA a deep yearning for love, acceptance, and belonging. God designed you that way! Your longings are known to God fully whether you succeed or fail in what people around you have set as your path. Most people I meet at the crossroads of despair feel like failures because a marriage, a business, a career, or expectations placed on them have collapsed. They long to hear a "yes" from another human before they catch God's "yes."

Your psyche, body, emotions, and longings are all connected to this yearning to belong and be accepted. Each cell of your body functions by virtue of a connectedness that communicates belonging in wholeness. The interruption of connectedness is called dis-ease. Life depends on such connectedness and a sense of mutuality.

The "yes" I am talking about in this "Chats" is the presence of God in your consciousness.

From the day you were born, God's "yes" has been set as a perpetual invitation. "Here I am!" says God. "I stand at the door of your consciousness, which is your private sacred space. I will never invade it without your permission. I knock at the door. If you hears my voice and open the door, I will come in and eat with you and you with me." (Revelation 3:20-NIV)

There is nothing more intimate than having a meal together next to the physicality of sexuality. Eating together is a symbol of belonging! That's why since we started "Life Center" in 2008, we have made a point to be a church that eats, fellowship, and studies the Word together! That's the kind of community that spread throughout the Mediterranean after Jesus departed from Palestine. The followers of the Messiah did not build churches like we know them today, but communities where belonging was the mark of God's presence in their midst. The Book of Acts reveals such communities in detail.

God's presence as a "yes" is not a doctrine that marginalizes some and chooses others.

God's "yes" is as present today in our culture as it was in ancient times to people who lived thousands of years ago, as it was when God chose to inhabit human body in Immanuel as Jesus 2,000 years ago.

It's the "yes" that whispers to you in a moment of awareness as you check out of the store and realize that the cashier who smiled at you and treated you kindly was a subtle "yes" from God.

It's the "yes" a person of a different race or gender extends to you in appreciation for affirming their identity. Along my journey as a Pastor, I have found that the very people who are demonized in Christian circles and the culture for not being enough are the ones who hurt the most. They often have said "yes" to God and turned their pain into love, kindness, and compassion.

Just two days ago, I was at a local store, and I walked by the beans of multiple grains and sampled one of them. A young man, who must have been no older than 27, approached me and said, "Sir, we don't mind you sampling from the beans. We just ask you to use the scoop." I promptly thanked him and complied. I finished my purchase, walked to the car, and something hit me. The young man who approached had been so kind. I left the groceries in the car and went back looking for him to thank him. I found him in an aisle working and thanked him for being so kind. He looked at me and, smiling, said, "No problem! I detect an accent. Where are you from?" I told him, and for 3-4 minutes, we chatted. He confided how he had been discriminated against as a kid for being African American and decided early on to extend kindness to the world. I was touched! I never told him I was a Pastor. I chose not to use religion. I looked at him and said, "You are an amazing young man! Keep loving. The world will hurt you but you will inspire many like you inspired me today!"

I believe the presence of God in my consciousness prompted me to affirm a "yes" in this young man's life. God had already done the "job" in his consciousness. My role was to affirm it and move on!

God's "yes" are the ones you experience when you see a flower on a walk, and your attention is suddenly wrapped in its beauty.

It's the "yes" of love from a child that looks at you adoringly in all its innocence.

God's "yes" is whispered throughout your entire day. You open your eyes and catch the vibe.

Jesus told his followers to go to the fields and watch the birds and the flowers when they were in trouble. "There," said Jesus, "You will hear God's 'yes' for your life." Away from the noise of culture and religion. (Matthew 6:19-34-TM) 

You must believe in the "yes" that comes back from God when you ask, “Do you love me?” You must choose this "yes" even though you do not feel it at the moment.

When you feel overwhelmed by distractions, fantasies, and the disturbing desire to throw yourself into the world of pleasure, you need a "yes" from God. You already know that you will not find a "yes" around to your most resounding question. Nor does the answer lie in rehashing old events or in guilt or shame. All of that makes you dissipate yourself and leave the treasure hidden will create more turmoil. What you repress will remain to limit your best potential. God's "yes" is meant to bring the treasure of who you are by design into the open.

When you trust God's "yes," you will blossom and burst where you are planted regardless of your past, circumstances, and the way culture, morality, and religion have wired you.

Keep saying, “God loves me, and God’s love is enough.” You must choose the solid place, that safe space of God's "yes" over and over again every day. You must return to that place after every failure. God's "yes" has no expiration date!

With you on your journey!

Pastor Harold