God Is Good

God Is Good.

Dear friends, I was encouraged by my wife to start my very own blog, Ta-Da! I guess it’s another way to express the hope I’m feeling for 2014 and to also celebrate the change God has brought into my life. To give those of you who don’t know me the quick version. God saved me. I was a drug addict for 18 years, Almost died a bunch of times, I’ve travelled the world, played in rock bands and I’ve also climbed the corporate ladder. But the only thing that has been truly significant is the pure grace by which I was saved. I struggle to find someone who deserves Gods love less than me. But here I am, alive and kicking and pursuing a life in Christ. I am based in Mozambique, I have a beautiful wife and we are in the process of adopting our precious little Mozambican jungle boy, Elijah. As we head into 2014 I look back at the year gone bye and see great battles fought and won but also, I carry some pretty serious wounds.

I’m compelled to start off with this statement. ‘If we truly believe that God is good then all our problems would be solved.’ Bold statement I know, but if you feel doubt about this statement in any way ( I know I did ), I would just like to declare as we head into 2014 and If you remember anything from this gigantic first blog post I pray that you walk away with this deeply rooted in your heart. ‘God is good and God can always be trusted.’ Just think about this: In Gods unlimited and infinite imagination, and out of all the things that God could have created to bring Himself pleasure, He created beautiful and precious you. He created us so that He could spend time with us for His pleasure.
Friends we can get to a place where we can be so intimate with Him and full of truth and love that everything we do is worship towards God as we feel and are driven by His pleasure over us. That is what we were created for, to bring Him pleasure and to simply enjoy His presence. Once this truth lands and takes root in our hearts, everything else seems to just fall into place. I pray that 2014 will be the year His pleasure crashes down upon us as we draw near to Him in deeper and more intimate way. Holy Spirit please guide us and teach us.

Ok, before we move on I feel I need to emphasize a very special and powerful truth about the Kingdom of God that will give us reason to believe that hope is always near, and that is that God relentlessly and furiously targets and destroys darkness and oppression in all areas of our lives, but only if we take His hand and seek after His presence do we stand the best chance for victories and lasting fruit. Friends God does not run away from our darkness or oppression. God is not shaken by our mistakes or illnesses but rather, passionately moves towards us and our dark areas and destroys them for our freedom sake, but friends, we have to grab onto His outstretched Hand and we cannot shy away from the dark places in this world because that, is where God is relentlessly moving towards. Light shines brightest in the dark places. I pray that 2014 will be a year of illumination. Darkness will flee like never before as God raises the standard for 2014.

Jesus came to earth with unprecedented power and glory but friends, don’t be deceived, it is possible for us to make all of what Jesus did for us completely useless in our lives.
Gal 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
Mar 7:13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
I know that we don’t intentionally want to stop Jesus from working in our lives but it is certainly possible to make Jesus have no effect in our lives. Because we are human, the reality is that despite being saved, we still have the capacity to host idols and believe and go along with Satan’s lies. Unless, right now and for 2014 we say NO MORE LIES! As we head into 2014 I pray that all saints will make the Gospel truths to be true wealth in our hearts. Holy Spirit purify our hearts from idols so we may never hinder your work in this world.

Next, let’s stand together and come against the Idol of Self preservation and Reputation, in Jesus name. There are many times where I am guilty of forgetting my frail humanity because of an Idol in my life and you know what? I become harsh, dogmatic and unforgiving towards my wife, my son and others because an idol of Self-preservation and Reputation had formed in my heart and was hindering the Kingdom of God from flowing out of me. With this idol poisoning my heart I felt no peace, no joy and no righteousness. I became reluctant to make myself vulnerable and I wanted to appear as though I was strong and perfect because I wanted people to pat me on the back, and if I’m honest, I even performed to promote ministry support. Friends my heart quickly became hard as a rock and I felt no joy, I had no peace and didn’t feel any righteousness. My lifeline to God became blocked up with the idol of self-preservation and reputation. I was unable to love my wife, the children or the village they was I know God intended. I was crying out to God for about a week for change, I didn’t know what to do to get out of this rut. All I could do was spend every moment I had with God and one day I just realized something, I was professing to trust God for everything yet I was performing dead works which undermine my trust in God. I realized I was chasing after the idol of self-preservation and reputation and I was shocked that my potential for self-deception was so real and I was humbled by how utterly broken I still was in many areas of life. Holy Spirit began to pour out healing into my life and re-connected me to my frail humanity by revealing Jesus to me. Ah! it was awesome! I felt alive again. I wasn’t being sin conscious, I was being Cross conscious. The Cross of Christ made me very aware of my humanity and my righteousness at the same time. I became very aware of what I have been forgiven for. I became hungry for Jesus. Yes! We need Jesus! Save us Jesus! We are weak but You are so strong Lord! We are all at the foot of Your Cross. I realised it’s not me who has to appear good but rather it is God that is always good regardless of my ability. Compassion began to flow out of me towards myself, my wife, the children and the village. I became hungry and had compassion to love the lost and broken. I wasn’t scared of the dark places and I wasn’t scared to be vulnerable about my struggles while being a missionary in Mozambique, even if I risked having people’s confidence in me undermined. I have been so blessed by friends and family and leaders who have become vulnerable and shared their life stories and struggles with me.
Rev 12:11 They won the victory over him because of the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. They didn't love their life so much that they refused to give it up.

Friends if we are truly honest with ourselves, we are all walking in a measure of darkness in some or other way and we all desperately need each other’s support, we constantly need to be sharing our struggles and victories with each other so we can learn. We need Jesus to constantly help us and deliver us from dark areas in our lives day by day. Nobody walks in full divine revelation no matter how many books we have written or read and no matter how perfect that person may appear to be and no matter what your ministry status might be. Nobody is ever better than another. There is no other religion or project or mission we can be involved in that will qualify us before God, on what Jesus has done qualifies us. We need to draw near to God and go where He goes for His Kingdom sake. Only the pierced hands of Jesus makes us a good Christian. Friends we are rejecting this idol as we go into 2014.
Even Paul, who wrote a third of the New Testament said in 1Cor13:12, that he doesn’t even fully know everything, but will one day know in full as he is fully known by God. Friends, we cannot just live past and ignore the fact that despite being saved by God, we still don’t actually walk in full divine revelation and we all humbly seek after clarity and desperately need Jesus every moment of each day. Can I be bold and say that if this rubs you the wrong way then you can be sure there is a false Idol in your heart. Lord, for 2014, for all of us, I pray that we will open our hearts and draw near to the Holy Spirit to work on and tend to the ‘Garden of our hearts.’ I pray that all saints will stand together and press into God together for healing, while we remain in an equal place of compassion as we minister together and encourage one other in this Christian walk. When your pastor invites people for prayer RUN! and seek after healing. We all need it. In 2014 Lord we pray that all the saints will remain in a vulnerable and open place where grace flows thick and true reliance on God is made real. Lord we are expectant and excited to know that one day our faith will be transformed into perfect vision and we will gladly share the visions we receive from Heaven but at the same time we want to remain humble and deeply aware of our own brokenness and our destructive potential to believe Satan’s lies here on earth. Lord as you smash the idol of self-preservation and reputation in our lives help us to never become hard, distant and cold. Lord we want to be soft, present and warm with strong arms and soft hands as we make mistakes and learn this beautiful dance of love. Lord we want to be your hands and feet, Lord we want to be your voice to those who are saved and to those who are perishing. Lord melt us, mould us and fill us and use us to be the fragrance of Jesus, the Saviour of man. Saints we are more than His child, we are His lover and His friend. We are a counterpart in all things to the end. So for 2014 we must be careful not to let the idol of self-preservation and reputations poison our hearts. The fruits of this idol are usually performance, the appearance of perfection, isolation and harshness towards people and dark places and imperialistic top-down relational dynamics.

God began to break down these things in my life and that was when I started learning how to walk as a son. Once I realised that I had made reputation and self-preservation an Idol. This Idol was hindering the work of God in my life; I stopped relying on my ability to be good and placed my focus on His ability. I made many mistakes but also began to learn how to lay down my life just like my Saviour did for us, but in small measures, day by day. It’s not because we are good, but it’s all because He is good. Once this idol was exposed in my life, I stopped taking other peoples fruit to hang on my own little shrivelled up branch. I felt compelled to spend more quality time with the true King. At first, I was bombarding Him with my insecure requests and needs, but then eventually I simply started enjoying Him and His pleasure over me. I just enjoyed walking and talking with Him alongside the rivers, and lay with Him in green pastures. A funny thing started happening, instead of running to God to try and get Him to solve all my problems, authority and sonship came over me and I started telling all my problems about my Big awesome Daddy God. And there it was, my own tiny little sapling with an even smaller little fruit growing from it, and you know what, it was small but it was powerful and it was my own little fruit that I get to lay down at my Jesus’s feet.

So, what does this all mean? Is God re-defining our understanding of what a Christian is? He surely is for me. What is it to be a Christian? Is it even possible to BE a Christian? See that’s the thing with having a perfect Saviour, is that He’s done it all perfectly and nothing can be added or taken away from It. I guess for me being a Christian is like being a wounded healer, someone who is deeply aware of his/her brokenness and constant need for a Saviour but in the same breath someone who is a tender loving compassionate son of God that will rather be on the front line getting smashed from all directions, than be found in the back waisting their life. Someone who is completely dependent on God like a baby to its mother, like a branch attached to a tree. I guess a Christian is someone who keeps themselves close to the Holy Spirit. Maybe it someone who is on a humble journey toward spiritual and character transformations towards Christlikeness where there is endless grace to make mistakes and learn. What makes us Christian is nothing that we can do or suffer be but rather what Jesus has done and suffered. Friends right now, we all are moving into and towards full revelation but there is also the reality that we are also walking in a measure of darkness. We cannot ignore these two realities. So, as we are filled with the Gospel truth and as we press into Jesus, the lies and idols get pressed out of us and we move into greater measures of freedom and love as we become more and more like Jesus. One day our faith will literally be transformed into crystal clear Heavenly reality. In other words, one day we will be physically living with the realities in Heaven, which we believed on earth for.

So let your heart be filled with hope right now! If you believe a lie whether you know it or not, if you hold onto God, The Kingdom of God is with you and is for you, relentlessly hunting down darkness and oppression in our lives. God is good and He will abolish all darkness and oppression because that is God’s love and His heart for all His children. He deeply desires for us to be full of joy and freedom. If we have faith that God is good and He is always fighting for our freedom, we can weather anything the world can throw at us for 2014 and beyond. Let your heart be filled with hope this year. Friends, when we fall into a dark place, let us be vulnerable and reach out for help. We must choose to have hope and know that God is coming to abolish all our darkness with His power, and when we feel trapped, we draw near to Jesus and rest assured that God is coming to destroy whatever it is that is keeping us trapped.

It is a good and responsible practice to minister the Gospel truths to ourselves first. I believe the best way to minister to people is to let the Gospel truths settle and take root in our own hearts first. By the power of the Holy Spirit we will change the atmosphere wherever we go. I have been impacted more by people who carry a safe and comforting atmosphere, than people who have a head full of cool stuff to flaunt. People will always remember how you made them feel over what you said. Friends there are great battles ahead of us for this new year. 2014 will be a year of deep intimacy with God where the mind-set of the saints will be one of great hope and trust and expectation for the move of the Holy Spirit. The best is yet to come. Friends if we simply draw near to God, we will do more good things by accident staying close to God, than we’ll ever do on purpose, away from Him.

The Claassen family would like to wish all our amazing friends and family the best for 2014. Thank you for those who have been our support during those dark times, you know who you are. We call upon all the saints to press into God and to keep your hearts near to Him. 2014 will be the year we experience the Fathers pleasure like never before. Keep up the good fight. Get behind and support anything that compels you. Remember, If you can stand not doing anything about it, then rather don’t, but if you can’t stand not doing anything, then Isa 60:1 Arise! Shine! Your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has dawned. Jesus was moved with compassion and walked in the fullness of the Fathers pleasure. He is love and He is in us, therefore now, we can love. So roll up your sleeves and get busy lovin. Let’s stand together and see God rock 2014!

Col 1:27 God wanted his people throughout the world to know the glorious riches of this mystery-which is Christ living in you, giving you the hope of glory.

Lord Bless!
The Claassen family.
Theoclaassen77@gmail.com
FB Group: Painting The Village Red