The Fullness of God Expressed in Jesus
I don’t know about you, but I’m an ideas person. I really like to think about things, deeply. Every time a good idea comes to me, or every time I have a revelation about something, I go directly to my journal or my notebook, and I write it down. What I’ve learned, through songwriting, is that ideas are elusive. One minute, you’ve stumbled across the perfect melody or the perfect hook; the next minute, it’s gone - lost somewhere in the recesses of your think-space, a casualty of distraction.
So, safe to say, I’ve become a little over-protective of my ideas. I’m always afraid that I’m going to miss out on what I was meant to understand or discover. And I’ll admit, these ideas - even God-ideas - have become an idol. As soon as I stumble across one, I write it down, quickly - and then it’s on to the next. “Okay, next question? What’s the deeper significance to this?”
Recently, the Lord convicted me about this. Even though it would seem “spiritual” and “God honoring” to an outsider, what I really have been doing is trying to string together the best ideas I can find, about God, and attempt to relate to God inside of this framework of things I think I understand about Him - instead of just being in the wonder of the revelation of the moment.
Why do I need to write it down? Maybe, if I engaged with the revelation - if I engaged with the Presence of God around me - I wouldn’t need to write it down. Maybe, that blessed presence of Emmanuel, “God With Us,” would, itself, be enough to imprint on my soul, so that the revelation would become part of me. Because we’re not just talking about revelation, we’re talking about The Revelation. Jesus is The Revelation. He is not a means to an end. He is the end. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the point. Many people get that wrong, when they read Revelation. The full title of the book is, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” Revelation is not just a revelation about what is going to happen, but about Who is revealed, in all the Fullness of the Glory of God. Jesus is the thing that all the best ideas point to, but will never fully capture. Jesus is the thing that starts it all off. Jesus is the Conclusion at the end of the story. Jesus is the Goal, Jesus is the Prize. Only in Jesus, can we ever come to truly understand those things.
How many times do we go off searching for God, and end up so far from our goal? Maybe because we weren’t searching for God at all. Maybe we were searching for what we expected God to be like, or something that He could give us (or should give us - Lord, forgive us). Maybe we were, like I have often done, trying to string together a series of ideas about aspects of God, but not seeking to experience His fullness? Jesus is the fullness of the Father, expressed. As Colossians says, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross,” (Colossians 1:19-20, NIV).
How does this relate to fasting, you may ask? I think, sometimes, we go into fasting with a list of areas in our life that we would like to see breakthrough in. Let me just affirm, it’s not wrong to do that! I think having a list of things we are committed to crying out to God for is helpful, and is a powerful tool when praying and engaging in spiritual warfare. I just wonder, if we set down our lists - and didn’t write any ideas down - would being with Jesus be enough? Would the ministry and communion with the Holy Spirit - where I am fully aware and fully engaged in being with the Lord, with wanting to be with the Lord - simply because my heart yearns to respond to Him on His terms - would the experience of God on God’s terms - expressed in Jesus, revealed by the Holy Spirit - be enough for me? Would it be enough for you?
I’m praying for you as we begin our fast. I’m praying you would have the bold faith to put the list down. To be still. And to be in the presence of the Lord. To allow that precious communion to be enough. My prayer is that we would not miss a God who is right in front of us. My prayer is that we would not miss Jesus, who is always with us, and who is the fulfillment, and answer, and power, and healing, and hope for every single need. My prayer is that the presence of Jesus would be better than any idea I ever could discover about Him. My prayer is that we would not build our own way to meet with God, but that we would put our way aside, and have a powerful, continual encounter with God, God’s way - through the Revelation of Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit. Amen.
by Kaitlyn Faraghan
Kaitlyn leads worship at our Cherry Hill location. She is passionate about writing and recording music, and has been a part of numerous recording projects; she has released one album and is now working on her second album! In her spare time, you will find her scouting out the best coffee and donuts in South Jersey and the Greater Philadelphia area.
So, safe to say, I’ve become a little over-protective of my ideas. I’m always afraid that I’m going to miss out on what I was meant to understand or discover. And I’ll admit, these ideas - even God-ideas - have become an idol. As soon as I stumble across one, I write it down, quickly - and then it’s on to the next. “Okay, next question? What’s the deeper significance to this?”
Recently, the Lord convicted me about this. Even though it would seem “spiritual” and “God honoring” to an outsider, what I really have been doing is trying to string together the best ideas I can find, about God, and attempt to relate to God inside of this framework of things I think I understand about Him - instead of just being in the wonder of the revelation of the moment.
Why do I need to write it down? Maybe, if I engaged with the revelation - if I engaged with the Presence of God around me - I wouldn’t need to write it down. Maybe, that blessed presence of Emmanuel, “God With Us,” would, itself, be enough to imprint on my soul, so that the revelation would become part of me. Because we’re not just talking about revelation, we’re talking about The Revelation. Jesus is The Revelation. He is not a means to an end. He is the end. He is the Alpha and the Omega. He is the point. Many people get that wrong, when they read Revelation. The full title of the book is, “The Revelation of Jesus Christ.” Revelation is not just a revelation about what is going to happen, but about Who is revealed, in all the Fullness of the Glory of God. Jesus is the thing that all the best ideas point to, but will never fully capture. Jesus is the thing that starts it all off. Jesus is the Conclusion at the end of the story. Jesus is the Goal, Jesus is the Prize. Only in Jesus, can we ever come to truly understand those things.
How many times do we go off searching for God, and end up so far from our goal? Maybe because we weren’t searching for God at all. Maybe we were searching for what we expected God to be like, or something that He could give us (or should give us - Lord, forgive us). Maybe we were, like I have often done, trying to string together a series of ideas about aspects of God, but not seeking to experience His fullness? Jesus is the fullness of the Father, expressed. As Colossians says, “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross,” (Colossians 1:19-20, NIV).
How does this relate to fasting, you may ask? I think, sometimes, we go into fasting with a list of areas in our life that we would like to see breakthrough in. Let me just affirm, it’s not wrong to do that! I think having a list of things we are committed to crying out to God for is helpful, and is a powerful tool when praying and engaging in spiritual warfare. I just wonder, if we set down our lists - and didn’t write any ideas down - would being with Jesus be enough? Would the ministry and communion with the Holy Spirit - where I am fully aware and fully engaged in being with the Lord, with wanting to be with the Lord - simply because my heart yearns to respond to Him on His terms - would the experience of God on God’s terms - expressed in Jesus, revealed by the Holy Spirit - be enough for me? Would it be enough for you?
I’m praying for you as we begin our fast. I’m praying you would have the bold faith to put the list down. To be still. And to be in the presence of the Lord. To allow that precious communion to be enough. My prayer is that we would not miss a God who is right in front of us. My prayer is that we would not miss Jesus, who is always with us, and who is the fulfillment, and answer, and power, and healing, and hope for every single need. My prayer is that the presence of Jesus would be better than any idea I ever could discover about Him. My prayer is that we would not build our own way to meet with God, but that we would put our way aside, and have a powerful, continual encounter with God, God’s way - through the Revelation of Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit. Amen.
by Kaitlyn Faraghan
Kaitlyn leads worship at our Cherry Hill location. She is passionate about writing and recording music, and has been a part of numerous recording projects; she has released one album and is now working on her second album! In her spare time, you will find her scouting out the best coffee and donuts in South Jersey and the Greater Philadelphia area.
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