I Won the Lottery, by not Playing, by David Roberts

I Won the Lottery, by not Playing, by David Roberts

Even while the world is drunk on the blood of the saints, waging war on the Lamb, as they unite their power and authority, our God has overcome! And we, His chosen, have also overcome! I love how His long-suffering reveals His goodness to those waging war against Him and us- He’s so sneaky like that! I write this so you will not be alarmed at the cost of laying your hands to the plow. The cost is high, but the promise is so much higher.

All our lives, we’ve heard statements like “I can’t win if I don’t play the game”. Lotteries have made fortunes selling that message and if we’re honest, we are probably led by this type of logic, in our daily decision making.

As long as we’re being honest, seldom do we hear or speak of the promise that will set us free, “I won’t know I’ve already won until I’ve ceased from playing the game”.

We may often become disappointed or let down when striving to see what we have clearly heard promised, but He promises if we can have only the smallest amount of faith, we can speak to mountains, and they will move. Believe there is no separation between you and God… and to believe this is a way the weight of this promise outweighs every fear our daily lives present.

“It was because of your lack of faith. I promise you, if you have faith inside of you no bigger than the size of a small mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move away from here and go over there‘, and you will see it move! There is nothing you couldn’t do!” Mat17:20 (The Passion)

Let’s say you just discovered you won the lottery. I’m sure we’d all be happy for you, but the process of appropriating any fortune takes time as we enter into any new reality, even if it were already true.

Be patient with yourself and others- He is patient with us as we change our thinking away from Him being separated from us. If we don’t yet know His presence, in a way that’s real and tangible (this is often me), then maybe we should explore the literalness that He is our daily bread, as He leads us beside still waters, even in the midst of our enemies.

“You need the strength of endurance to reveal the poetry of God’s will and then you receive the promise in full.” Heb10:36 (The Passion)

• When you perceive you’ve played the game so poorly that there’s space between you and God, you are not denied His goodness or presence. His love for you is everlasting.
• When you are so off track that you piously believe playing the game well was a factor in being received by God, His love is everlasting for you too!

We had nothing to do with His Love for us.

We have won the lottery, because He is good, and we matured in His riches as we stopped playing the game! It’s established that new believers do the most soul winning. They will win people over to God, by simply being authentic and vulnerable. It seems the more “mature” (so-called mature) we get, the less effective we can be. What’s happening is we’re becoming more religious, believing more in what seen. In this light, His grace is so great it can even reach a preacher. What men call “seasoned” does not carry weight in the kingdom of God.

We are all surrounded by messages enticing us to “play the game”, so we can win, which seems to validate our worldly suspicions, since the same message plays over and over, in our minds. Believing this lie is the culprit of why God hasn’t poured out new wine in us, or maybe He has poured it out and we’re being washed in His Word, so we can be His noncompetitive and willing habitation. Our old wine skins can’t hold new wine until they’re washed continually in Living Water, to be made new.

Distractions in being human make us the perfect vessel to reveal His goodness!

Maybe you’re reading this and some people come to mind who you believe are playing games, yet you don’t perceive yourself as one of them. I’m sorry to break it to you but we’re all human and live in the same type earthen vessels.

Our bodies were literally made of the very same dust satan was once ruler.

Have you ever thought about that?

Have you ever considered the Love He has for us is proof the ruler of this dark earth was overthrown, or are you watching the news, waiting for Him to straighten all this out?

God uses what was once satan’s and now He dwells in our earthen vessels. The dead and foolish logic of what seems right to us never has had any real power or authority worth boasting about. It was all smoke and mirrors, designed to allow us the opportunity and great fortune to be wooed by our Creator, then free to reciprocate out of faith or not.

Our Jesus put to shame the foolish logic of the world and continues confounding the wisdom of it.

For many years we spent our time attempting to be more spiritual, but I think we’ve entered a new age, where we’re appreciative enough of the gifts He’s given us, to open them. Being vulnerable is beautiful even though it’s not demonstrated by fearful people, living as incarcerated.

While many are looking for a miracle, don’t forget you are a miracle, called and chosen by God.

Notwithstanding you are a miracle, called and chosen by God, I’d like to mention there’s a possible error in our judgment: what we have often understood as leaving the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, to feed on the Tree of Life, may be more like teenagers who think they’re grown, swinging from one branch to another, while remaining on the same tree! Our efforts and goals may be in the right place but if we don’t address something deep within, we’ll be winners of the lottery but never able to be a recipient because we weren’t quiet, where we could hear how to open the safe.

There is no figuring out the combination to the safe. The only choice in proceeding with Him is by His Spirit leading you into all Truth. Since His mercies are new every day, are we still in awe regularly?

Too many of our leaders are scribes pulling wonderful truth from their barn but have nothing new for today.

“… every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things that are new and fresh and things that are old and familiar.” Mat13:52(amp)

Most times when Jesus used the term “scribe”, it wasn’t exactly meant affectionately, since He was pointing out they were stuck in the familiar. Many of us are scribes, but few of us are scribes who are disciples of the kingdom of heaven. Only scribes who are disciples of the kingdom of heaven can pour both new and old treasures from within. We’re all experts in scribing whatever old and familiar truth we’ve been entrusted, but are we being formed into Christ’s image, being set free from the cycle of what’s familiar, to be able to pour new wine as well?

You have the right to be sons, that is to whoever He’s called, but because you have the right doesn’t mean you’ll exercise this right of sonship.

Breaking free of what’s familiar is quite offensive to those in our hometowns, or at least it was for Jesus…

• “isn’t He the carpenter’s son?”
• “isn’t Mary his mother?”

These are just a couple of the types of resistance He/we receive, as familiar-itus strikes again, seeking to kill anything that isn’t just like it’s offspring.

There is no shortage of worldly reasons the world will try to disqualify you, but only you can choose to buy into what God has shown you or not. Only you can decide if today is the day you’ll trust Him again. I hear it quite often, someone telling me they can’t do this or can’t do that. What they’re really describing is a consequence someone may exercise if they do this thing. They’re telling us where they stopped trusting God, fearing for their own life.

Several years ago, life’s circumstances had closed some doors to previous works of ministry. I found myself unfamiliar with the local community because we’d just moved. With a great storehouse of love and faith, I had nowhere to put it. I addressed this dilemma by offering our local school system my services of driving a school bus:

The other day, a third-grade boy had listened to my conversation with some of the older children. The conversation was about finishing school, graduating, and finding their place in the world. A few minutes later, as we sat waiting to drive to the elementary school, I overheard him tell other children he was ready to graduate. I loved hearing his sincerity and passion to graduate but it did open the door for a dialogue that was quite beneficial to us all. I asked him about next year and if he thought skipping next year, and then the next… and subsequently, all the years, until he graduated, sounded like a good plan. I asked him about me, if he’d miss me, since he’d be skipping ahead and missing all our time together. And what about his sister who will graduate soon and may move away, and he’d miss all this time with her, and his friends… I asked him about all those friends he wouldn’t know and enjoy spending time with over the next 9 years. We also spoke of the higher levels of curriculum, like math, English, etc, but he (like us all) doesn’t know what he’s missing if he’s never known it.

He, just like many of us are eager to show off our homemade graduation certificates, while we may really be still in school… or, at least we should be continuing to produce new treasures from within. Skipping ahead isn’t possible because the lessons and power are built into the life we’re living. Nothing is wasted and what seems like interruptions are typically Spirit rerouting us to a new destination.

Since we’re talking about rerouting, I drive the same routine over and over, day after day, morning, or afternoon. It rarely changes. The few times I need to approach a home from the reverse direction, I can always sense my brain struggling to connect approaching each child’s home, from this unfamiliar direction. Even though I’ve driven the same routine for years, it only takes a few repetitions for our brains to find a pattern and put us in autopilot. I suppose our egos love sightseeing. Reversing the route always gives me trouble recognizing stops, even though I am quite familiar with the families and their homes.

We’re all familiar with all the options of approaching our own homes; it’s our anchor point to the one safe place many of us can identify. We gather with family there and we can decorate with our taste. We hide inside when we need alone time. We cuddle with our significant other. We vent as we let our guard down when there isn’t a reason to impress anyone.

What’s not to like!

Our brains believe this comfort is peace, but we know better. The peace from familiarity does not surpass our understanding.

No matter where we are, we have ideas and options for our unique path, but do we give that kind of acceptance to those around us, who are on their own paths? They’re standing in front of us and might as well be trees if we can’t bring ‘home’ with us, and invite them into our world, which is His world. While thinking about this the other week, I began to appreciate all the diverseness we have, as we’re all living our lives, and no one really knows where we are. This is why it’s so important to be present and open.

Children sometimes ask if they can move from their assigned seat. Sometimes I allow it and other times I say I’d rather you sit in your seat. If they’re persistent, asking again and again… I tell them they’re free to sit anywhere they desire if they were willing to accept the consequences. I tell them I can’t make them do anything and it’s their choice to sit where I said I’d rather they sit or not. I love using this method of teaching! We used it when bringing men into our after-care facility, as they were transitioning from prison to society.

If you’ve used GPS while driving very much, you’ll know what if feels like to turn it off. We all love and appreciate how it’s kind of like God, recalculating to get you to the proper destination, anytime we make a wrong turn.

Are we in tune with the moments or are we driving the same routines, day in and day out?

Children in schools take tests and they do this quite often. From an early age, we learn to exercise reasoning skills and sound judgement to accomplish goals of known and namable finish lines. It would be easy to blur the signposts and shadows of having a school, with the overall goal of sending the child off to be equipped. If not mindfully overseen by those faithful to the proper kingdom, these systems will be created with the intention that they are within themselves all powerful… their whole world.

What’s new: For those who are chosen, we’re given multiple-choice tests, and these tests are overseen by Spirit, taken in our daily experiences, and this be done as testing through fire, where we choose “none of the above”, acknowledging our invisible God instead of all the world’s power… even though it’s collectively combining to yield it’s power and authority against you (the student). Anyone who leads you to believe you won’t have times where you’ll struggle to let go of something seen, hasn’t finished their course. Even Jesus said He didn’t want to go, but it was more expedient for us that He do, so the Comfortor could be one with us, as He was with Him. It would be easier for us to believe we could fly before believing in an invisible answer but that is what anyone exercising our right to become a son of God looks like. All who are called have the right to become sons, but all won’t exercise their right because they’ll be dropouts and probably attend an alternative school.

Our humanity needs to see God, yet He’s invisible, so what if we introduce a new variable?

What if we were commissioned to give Him clothes:

• We are His clothes–
  • Even though our humanness often wants to disconnect from our neighbors, the intention of God has never been to kill, steal or destroy His lost children. His intention is to overcome darkness by shining light. Breaking the connection with our neighbors only breaks the cycle and purpose we were placed in our unique worlds.

If you’re struggling with all this, don’t worry. Your identity has not been stolen, but your processor may still be hacked! There’s certainly a lot to learn, but the reason we need the Church is just as much to help us un-learn what we’ve accepted as stable to walk and build upon.

Maybe you know someone who’s been a target of identity theft and I get it… it sure feels like our identities were stolen but that’s not even possible. You’re still you even if someone took all your information and pretended to be you… no matter what, you’re still you!

Please don’t take offense; Truth is, by Adam, all humanity was hacked, like a computer virus that sent incorrect information to the mainframe. By the second Adam, we were set free, but that doesn’t mean you and I won’t go through a process as we appropriate what’s already true. We’ve won the lottery but if we stop here all we have is the down payment… and if we through wild parties over receiving the downpayment, we’d show ourselves to be wise fools.

“What’s next?” I suppose that would be the right question to ask, if this writing were an attempt to answer that, which it isn’t. We may have shed some light on our inquisitive natures, in a way that satisfies us, but please understand my purpose for writing the within; it isn’t to establish an all-inclusive, rock-solid case for anything. My intension is to stimulate our minds, to allow ourselves to peel back the layers of why we don’t believe, instead of leading you in a chant that we do believe. I’ve never really understood why the masses seem upset at taking things like, “In God We Trust” off our money. Maybe some of us trust Him but as a nation, I have more issue with claiming we do trust Him, when we don’t, than never making the false statement in the first place. The statement of faith is confession that I do not trust God. If you can trust Him enough to confess when you aren’t, then we are getting somewhere. Lord, help our unbelief!

Certainly, those who may read these words are probably believers, but I am not interested in helping our faith, except to increase it and I can’t do that without exposing where we fail to accept/believe.

Stewardship is an interesting word to me. In my mind, it literally means to steward-a-ship… said differently, to supervise and manage whatever we trust. Any time we exercise ‘stewardship’ we have some core value (whether we’re cognitive of this or not) which we are tethered:

The hacked human doubles down on being human by making sure we get ‘the best deal’, ‘lowest price’, or we’re left with a certain ‘reputation’. Being confused comes with the territory of misunderstanding what was hidden in us or in others. Our ideas of stewardship are often confused with our command to be good stewards, until we simply believe what we hear within/Spirit.

David Roberts is set to serve by helping others enter and occupy the rest he’s been given. He’s honored to oversee all things media and technology for Dr. Mark Hanby and is also Executive Director of Restoration House Ministries. Located in northeastern Alabama, he and his wife Candace reside and own Sparkleberry Farm. Candace is overseer of a thriving oncology/hematology clinic. They are spiritual son and daughter of Dr. Mark Hanby.

The best ways to contact David or Candace is through their contact form located on their website (Restoration House Ministries).