"To you it has been granted..."

From The Parable of the Sower

Part 3
"To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God..."

We've been given permission to understand the secret things hidden in the heart of God. We have been granted to know. We have been given an invitation. We are allowed access by Jesus's own words. We've been given permission to enter in. The interesting thing is our hearts are that place of entry. Our hearts are the place of "knowing" where we receive understanding to all that Jesus is speaking to. It is the place where the kingdom becomes real and living. Our hearts are the point of entry to His Kingdom.

Imagine a gate to a city that you can't enter unless you are given permission. The gates are locked. Imagine this city is built by God and you have been given the right to go through and explore the city or kingdom within. Maybe for much of your life you've dreamed of such a place, and have seen some people enter but many you've seen unable to enter. Jesus said: "But to the rest (that haven't been granted to know mysteries of the Kingdom) it is in parables, in order that seeing they may not see and hearing they may not understand." Seeing they may not see? Hearing they may not understand? What's He talking about?

In Mathew Jesus quotes Isaiah refering to this same reality being mentioned here:

"You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; And you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive..." Why? Why? Why?
"For the heart of this people has become dull, and with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, And understand with their heart and return, and I should heal them." Mathew 13:14-

"...For the heart of this people has become dull?" There's a big piece of the problem - dullness. It's in the heart. The heart is locked up. They cannot see or hear because their hearts are insensitive to the King and His kingdom. They are not hearing His voice. They cannot see Him. All they see is locked gates even though He said your welcome to come in. All they experience is unanswered prayers. They live without vision without hearing. They are blind and deaf to the things of God. They live outside the walls. Or you could say, they live within their own walls unable to get beyond them and through to the kingdom within arms reach.

Jesus said: "The kingdom of God is at hand" It's within arms reach. But do they know that? Some do. Some figure it out. But for many as Jesus said, all they hear is a parable. They don't understand what He's really saying. It just sounds like some wise saying that is best left for someone else to figure out. It's not really spoken to me. What He's saying is for everyone. But for those who will enter in, who want to live in the kingdom it is a key to unlocking the gate. He's saying it for them who want the keys He has to give. The others have already made their choice.

So...It's our choice too. It's up to us. Even as believers, God is still seeking hearts that are like kings who want to understand and enter in. "It's the glory of God to conceal a matter, the glory of kings to search it out." God knows His sons and daughters will eventually hear Him. If not know, hopefully someday. But the issue being pointed out here is the heart. The heart needs to lose it's dullness, it's blindness, it's deafness. For without the heart, "a honest and good heart", they will find themselves unable to keep the seed given to them. It will die sooner or later. And if the seed they've been given doesn't produce because they are continueing in dullness of heart maybe that's why Jesus said: "... but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him."

We are the gate of heaven - Jesus in us (Jacob's dream). Through us the kingdom comes to the earth. Many don't think so. They think it's somewhere beyond arms reach. Miracles aren't within reach, they're somewhere else, happening for someone else. They are not here with me. They can't be. Who am I to believe such things, to believe that a miracle could happen through my life, through the words I say? It seems they are unable to find the way to Him, even though within them He resides.

They (sometimes me) walk without understanding, without wisdom because they (sometimes me) have chosen to look the other way - "they (sometimes me) have closed their eyes..." They've made a choice to harden their hearts to God and turn a blind eye away from Him. And because of that choice they do not understand with their heart and return to Him so that they may be healed.

We make choices everyday. In this situation with Sarah the gate to the kingdom is swinging wide open. It's in my heart. I have to make a choice to enter in and live in that place with Him. It's that simple sometimes, not always, but often it's that way. When I enter in with my heart... the mysteries become available to me to know. I'm given permission to explore them and come to new understandings of... well, just about everything. There is no ceiling in God's house, except the one that shelters us and covers us. But that's not a ceiling of limitation. That's a ceiling of protection.

I enter in by faith through hearing God and believing. "Faith comes by hearing." That's the way salvation started. God spoke to us, we believed and we entered in to the realm of the kingdom. As it is in salvation, so it is in each new experience and circumstance of life. The kingdom is present. It is present to explore. And there is lots of rooms to explore and spend time in. "In my Father's house there are many rooms.."

Jen and I right now in one sense are exploring the room of impossibilities and faith. It's very personal right now because it involves Sarah. We are accessing a realm in the kingdom because God said we could. Father stepped into the circumstance with Sarah opening to us His perception of things . With that comes His domain, the Kings dominion. We are now opening our eyes to see what's here. We are now opening our ears to listen to what He's saying. It feels so good to do this. Without it, we would be miserable right now.

So Jesus not only said this next statement He cried out with it. It's in the parable of the sower.

He cried out saying: "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!!!" In other words, "I'm saying something to you... listen. It'll change your life. It'll change your circumstances."

He also said in Mathew: "But blessed are your eyes because they see; and your ears, because they hear." What blesses our ears in this situation? It's not the death sentence we heard. It's not the doctor today whispering to a nurse in the hallway, "Let's wait and see" before checking the heart beat of the baby because He thinks Sarah might not be alive. What blesses our eyes? It's definately not an ultra-sound machine telling us things are wrong with our child. It's obviously none of those things. It's God. It's seeing Him. It's hearing Him. That's why our eyes are blessed right now, and our ears are blessed. It's hearing about His designs in this situation, situations we all can end up facing. He's telling us about her life that's coming. He's showing us through dreams of what her life is going to look like. Seeing and hearing... it's all in the kingdom. Enter through the gates into all that's possible for your life. That's all we are doing. We are taking the hand of Jesus and letting Him give us a tour of what's to come.

It's funny because we are living four months ahead of ourselves right now, even years ahead because He's speaking about Sarah and her life to come, which is beyond this moment. We have fixed our hope in Him with what He's seeing about her life in the future. We could have another ultra-sound right now and it might give us the same results as the earlier test did. But that wouldn't matter much. What's true is what God is seeing and saying. That's a superior reality to this earthly one. The reality of God dictates this one, it supercedes this one. That's why He told us to pray this way: "Our kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." We know this. So we are living here today, but allowing God's perspective, His kingdom perspective to fill our hearts with what His plan is for Sarah in four months from now and years from now. It's a strange way to walk through this, but it's so true. I heard Muhammad Yunus speak the other day about how banks in the west do everything upside down. So when He was questioned why he did the opposite of western banks he said (in essence): "The way western banks do business is like they are standing on their heads, so I turned it all around rightside up so that things would work properly." That's how it feels right now. God is doing that with us. In this situation we are not standing on our heads, God has us standing upright. He's flipped us around to see things the way we should. And in the meantime we can't wait to meet our little Sarah.