Seeing The Thin Places

The angels are bursting with the good news!

Bursting!

This is truly good news!

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14).

But who gets the peace? On whom is God’s favor resting?

Who Gets God’s Favor?

Jesus was asked how He got authority to grant God’s favor to people.

Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, 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).
When we pray the Lord’s prayer, we ask God for His will to be done on earth just like it is done in heaven. We are asking for bits of heaven on earth. We are asking for tomorrow’s bread today.

Seeing

One key to effective Kingdom work is “seeing what the Father is doing.” I used to often think, “If I only did what I see the Father doing, I wouldn’t do much.” In retrospect, maybe I should have done less. While we are very grateful for everything that went right, much of my work did not bear the fruit I was looking for. In the gospels we see Jesus frustrated or bewildered at the dullness of people. He thought they were capable of tuning in to what the Father is saying and doing. I am learning to spend more time in prayer in order to see more into the Spirit realm.

Wimber saw God’s mercy falling to earth like great drops of honey.

John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard movement, once had a vision of God’s mercy. While driving his car he saw an unusual cloud in the sky. He stopped to have a better look, and as he did so he realized it wasn’t a cloud but a honeycomb that was dripping with honey. Below it he saw people. Some were excited about the honey that rained down and they ran about collecting it and sharing it with each other. Others were irritated by the honey that dropped on them and they tried to get away from it. When John asked God what it was, God said “That’s my mercy, for some people it’s a blessing and for some people it’s not … look at it, there’s plenty for everyone.”

Let Your Mercy Fall From Heaven.

Thin Places

Celtic Christians described God’s kingdom breaking into this present age as thin places because they understood that sometimes the distance between heaven and earth is closer than others. Maybe you have experienced this at a conference or a silent retreat. We carry God’s presence with us, and God is moving all around us. Our task is to see how God is moving. With whom? Can we be helpful?

Our Adventure

God’s Kingdom is breaking in to this present age all around us. Our challenge is that we mostly are blind to what is going on. We need to learn to see and to hear. We live in 2D when 3D is available, at least sometimes. God’s plan is for a movement of Christians who are spiritually alert, awake, tuned in. The task of Christian leaders is to help their people tune in to God’s channel so they can go into the world and recognize the spiritually thin places, the places where God is close to reaching people.

We Christians are salt and light. We bring flavor, color, and vision where these are lacking. Our salt and light are more visible in worldly settings than in church, much like a flashlight is more visible in a cave than in a sunlit field.

Practice seeing/hearing God’s presence. First spend daily time with God to recharge your battery. Then let God radiate out of you wherever you are. Look for the thin places. This might be someone who talks happy but its not resonating with you. Many people are hiding pain or fear. Maybe you can be a helpful presence. This may or may not involve words. Practice letting God soak up some of their pain just with your presence. This is called empathy. Maybe you can quietly bless them, or even do something helpful. This is called compassion. Words are helpful sometimes, especially if we have equity with people. Being a healing presence will start building equity. So will hidden or visible acts of kindness.