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Summary: This piece defines the order of operations for those seeking to pursue more, who are after the fullness of life in all things. The order matters – it sets ourselves up for success and to move in unison and finesse with Holy Spirit in the moment and with the heart of the Father in the season.
Premise: Being > Knowing > Doing. The order of operations starts with the fountain from which all things flow – being with Him. Being with God, for the sake of encountering God and communing with Him is everything, because He is our reward and inheritance. Being with Him, leading into to alignment with Him in knowing who He is, both in understanding and revelation. Both of which naturally create and inform what we do by expression of the things we are aware of. From the big to the small, all things bringing forth the revelation of God as we live in it.
Purpose: To create a desire for mindfulness and a model by which we can approach all things, being made rich in relationship, rich in presence, and therefore rich in fruit.
In the realm of mathematics there is an order of operations. The approach to any equation, whether complex or simple, is the same in PEMDAS (Parenthesis, Exponents, Multiplication, Division, Addition, Subtraction). Approach the equation with a different philosophy, you’ll produce a different result. This law reflects the reality of the Kingdom as a fundamental principle. Liken it to “Ready-set-go.” or “Ready-aim-fire.” We ready ourselves, to set ourselves, to go.
Imagine a business executive rolling out a newly developed product, shooting from the hip with the iconic “fire-ready-aim” mentality. Indeed the more iconic “disruptive” attitude of moving first and asking questions later sees results, and rightfully so. A seasoned executive is working from an overflow of context in the market, and a well-run system spirals upwards. But only when built on familiarity. Take a new executive or a new industry, hip firing will only result in failure. And systemically, it is not a way to live. Lives built on a reactive / impulsive mindset that only prioritizes action will not get anywhere meaningful. If you want to see the fullness, if you want to make a difference, to see personal growth and pursue the greatness of the Kingdom, ever-mindful intentionality is a bedrock. Bringing yourself to the situation rather than letting the situation define you.
The order of operations is a priori, a latin phrase meaning “Before all else.” The matter of highest and most importance, because it defines all things. It is the fountain from which all things flow. And it isn’t an exhaustive cognitive process. It is just the alignment with the reality that:
We can do things for God and we can be concerned with the things of God, but none of it is worth doing if it is not with God.
This defines the order of operations in each of it’s three principles: We Be with Him, to Know Him, to Do whatever with Him. This piece articulates the order and its depth, and while the applications are endless, they are not built out here. The mindfulness of this mechanic is the key.
To Be (With)
The premise of being content in coming to God for God Himself
“I am here for you.”
A defining experience between me and the Father was when He asked me to come to Him for Him. In that particular season, I was plagued with an awareness of how “messed up” I was and was constantly coming before Him in prayer to fix all the things that were wrong with me or around me. He asked that I leave it at the door when I come to Him in the secret place. It took a while to get accustomed to this, but after a while it became the rooting principle for me, “I am here for you.”
There is a personhood of God, and we ought to consider that in our attitude in how we approach Him. Yes, the clay maker is greater than the clay (Romans 9) and the master is greater than the servant (John 13), but we were made in His image and He seeks a relationship with us. Personal connection from heart to heart, requiring the presence of honesty and vulnerability. Jack Frost was a catalyst for the revelation of the Father’s heart, which is the root of it all. This is the source of great strain – knowing Him as King and not also as Shepherd, as Almighty but not also as Father. He is both.
He Is the End, Not A Means to Another End
My favorite excerpt from C.S. Lewis:
The promises of Scripture may very roughly be reduced to five heads. It is promised, firstly, that we shall be with Christ; secondly, that we shall be like Him; thirdly, that we shall have “glory”; fourthly, that we shall, in some sense, be fed or feasted or entertained; and, finally, that we shall have some sort of official position in the universe… The first question I ask about these promises is: “Why any of them except the first?” Can anything be added to the conception of being with Christ? For it must be true, as an old writer says, that he who has God and everything else has no more than he who has God only.
C.S. Lewis, Weight of Glory
Jesus came and revealed the Father to us and then destroyed the barrier between us and the Father on the cross. Tearing the temple’s veil in the Holy of Holies (Matthew 27), allowing all to enter and releasing the presence of God to all. Our communion is restored.
“If anyone loves Me, he will follow My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our dwelling with him.” (John 14)
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them.’” (Revelation 21)
This is it! The more that we seek is in Him, not in the things brought by Him. It’s not His hands, it’s not His feet, it’s not in His glory. It’s in His eyes. He is the more we seek. If you don’t feel like you have “it”, then you’ll never find “it,” because He is “it.” He is the more we seek.
Eyes Off Him Is The Beginning Of The End
Coming across Psalm 73, I realized that I had a brother in Asaph – our hearts sing the song. Asaph was a musician established by David to worship before the Lord in the tabernacle day and night, and he wrote:
But as for me, my feet came close to stumbling, My steps had almost slipped. For I was envious of the arrogant, I saw the prosperity of the wicked…
Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure And washed my hands in innocence; …
Until I entered the sanctuary of God; Then I perceived their end. …
Whom do I have in heaven but You? And with You, I desire nothing on earth. …
But as for me, the nearness of God is good for me; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, So that I may tell of all Your works.
A beautiful piece that presents how, when we focus on the me/mine and the here/now, we become corrupt, and those in the Kingdom can fall to the right hand or the left, for it is a narrow path surrounded by distraction. And this was on display in the Corinthian church! A whole culture of church plagued by corruption of the flesh and spirit. The beloved (holy ones of God), were suing each other, boasted about how they got into the Kingdom, were sexually corrupt to a degree greater than the incredibly pagan culture around them, sought power from the gifts of the Spirit, all to where they started to doubt whether the resurrection was real! The order isn’t a coincidence.
The reason why we are called to focus on the things above, not the things below (Colossians 3), is not to become aloof and full of aversion, but to be concerned with the things that matter as we are very present and fully engaged in our environment.
To Know (Align)
The premise that alignment with his heart strategically positions us to accomplish all
We Are Asked To Come And Know Him
When You said, “Seek My face,” my heart said to You, “I shall seek Your face, LORD.” (Psalm 27)
While out in the fields, David came to know God. He beheld His glory in the spirit, pursuing with complete abandon and became changed by the glory he witnessed. Knowing a good thing drives you to pursue it more, and it was David’s “one thing,” to dwell in His house all the days of his life, to gaze upon His beauty forever. Different from being, because in this sense, he is capturing everything that he is witnessing while he is being with the Lord. We are what we know, because we become changed by it.
“I am the good shepherd, and I know My own, and My own know Me, just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.” (John 10)
Just as Jesus knew the Father, we are brought to know Jesus, and just like Jesus we get to know the Father as He did. In John 5 & 7, Jesus laid down that He only did what He saw the Father doing, seeking His will and glorifying His name. As He knew the Father He was able to do (see final section).
What Knowing Is NOT
Knowledge puffs up (1 Corinthians 8) when all that you have is what you know. That’s why the order is so critical. Knowing without being makes one full of hot air, and like a hot air balloon, filled with more but tied down to nothing so its expanse floats you up and away from anything firm/real.
[There are those who are] lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness although they have denied its power; avoid such people as these. For among them are those who slip into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. (2 Timothy 3)
Those who only know are the subject of Paul’s rebuke in Romans 14. They chastise the “weaker” brother and ultimately tearing down that which Christ is actively building up. The Kingdom of Heaven is not about being “right.” It is about needing Jesus. It’s about being Jesus. It is in that spirit that one can be free to accept the bold statement by Paul:
“I know and am convinced in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself; but to the one who thinks something is unclean, to that person it is unclean… The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is the one who does not condemn himself in what he approves.” (Romans 14)
This matter of “knowing” isn’t a matter of information, it is a matter of orientation. As described before, it is knowing something to such a degree that you become changed by it. Knowing something until it grows such a mass to create an orbit. Like David, capturing the reality of God and letting it alter, adjust, and ultimately inform.
Knowledge Sets Us In His Nature
Listen to the word of the LORD, you sons of Israel, Because the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land, For there is no faithfulness, nor loyalty, Nor knowledge of God in the land… My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Since you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the Law of your God, I also will forget your children. (Hosea 4)
Hosea was speaking to a generation that was lost because it had abandoned what it knew. Proverbs is littered with calls such as, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.” That’s why it has to be an ever-present mindfulness. The truth can be experienced and then subsequently not felt, but it is no less true. And for those who encounter the truth, who encounter glory, who taste and see the goodness of God, are accountable to ourselves (for ourselves) in stewarding that truth and having it ever present with us.
To Do With (Express)
The premise that all effort/activity and doing is an expression of what we know
A Matter of Totality
The matter of the Kingdom is extreme. It requires everything. Not because it is requiring, but because it is redemption. That which is not surrendered is dead, and He is here to bring life and life in abundance. Our relationship with God informs every part of our life, smallest to largest. As small as eating a snickers bar (or not eating one), and as big as moving across states for a new job (or staying where you are). Everything.
Whatever you do in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. (Colossians 3)
Everything. That seems impossible! To be manually mindful of such things to be always bringing everything before Him, that’s exhausting! The fact that something as small as eating a snickers bar is subject to this principle, teases a scoff reaction. But that’s just it. The Kingdom of Heaven is that extreme. And the casual pushing aside of the small things reveals that the whole point is missed. It’s only exhausting when we are bringing all things before God, when we are supposed to BE with God and that’s where all things come through. Consider our hearts the soil of our garden and the seeds being truth, what comes forth are the fruits of the spirit summarized as faith, hope, and love (Galatians 5, 1 Corinthians 13). If all we are doing is pulling out weeds when we find them, that just shows we aren’t filled with something.
The greater the application of this truth, the greater the invitation to be influenced by the truth, the greater that life runs deep, the greater revelation of Christ and goodness of God in all things. Where Christ reigns over our hearts, minds, life, He reigns with peace. And I’m sure He also loves snickers, but we shouldn’t consider doing anything outside of Him.
Everything Is An Expression Of Love
The reason why, is because everything is an expression of love. Our effort/actions come from our real priorities, which come from our real goals, which come from things that we determined has value = love. I say “real” because there is a difference between what is said and what is done, and what is done reveals the honest truth of what we believe. As the core principle to the Call to More, every action is based on a truth believed. Believed, not said.
As a result, for those who pursue the fullness, it is a matter of reclaiming everything that does not bring a return that we wish to see. Efforts not in line with priorities we desire, priorities not in line with goals we seek, goals not in line with our love, and our love not placed in Him. The art of intentionality is bringing things back into focus, reclaiming things that were reactive from impulse or stemming from things not in line with the love of God, back into it. All which happen from the result of knowing, and letting it inform that action.
Tying Back to “Being”
We can’t give what we don’t have. Our focus shouldn’t be on our fruit, but where we are rooted.
Our spirit is like water and bodies of water. Fluid and flexible, rushing sounds of constant streams and large wells of refreshing life. And just like how when water stops flowing, stagnant bodies of water become murky and a breeding ground for dangerous bacteria, so happens to us when we stop flowing in life. We are walking expressions of art, made to fill space. Fear, shame, and discouragement results in foregoing our engaging in life with abandon.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2)
As free people, doing is the last pool in the fountain from which all things flow.
“I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains (abide) in Me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” (John 15)
This is a promise, not a judgement. Those who abide in the love of Christ will bear fruit. He is the source of life as the vine, and when we are connected to Him we can’t help that a natural part of the relationship is bearing fruit as an expression in our life. In order to produce fruit, we first have to be connected to the source of life itself and receive the life from it, translating it into fruit as branches bud. Abiding is such a deep and rich concept worth meditating. Over time, I’ve seen it have different seasonal applications, but it always comes back to – where are you drawing from? Where do you find yourself? Why are you about what you are about? The Psalms have many alliterations on setting our face towards God, facing Him and being pointed toward Him. It’s more than an attitude, it is a reception of heart. In order to give, we first have to receive. Our focus shouldn’t be on our fruit, but where we are rooted.
Holy Spirit is given as a promise to guide us into all truth. We have already been sealed with Him, as He is our connection point with the Father.
“I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, so that He may be with you forever; … But the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and remind you of all that I said to you. (John 14)
Other translations say “lead you/guide you into all truth.” It is our job to be sensitive and attuned to His leading. In order to dance, we have to be familiar with our dance partner. Walking with the leading of Holy Spirit is both an art and a science, requiring both understanding and intuitive familiarity. Understanding that creates models that are to be applied, and art that handles nuance and color, which can only be built as a result of intimacy. In every situation, we are well equipped to bring forth great fruit, victory, for we are never set up to fail but always to succeed. Like everything, it always tied back with seeking the face of God. (Psalm 27)
Tying Back to “Knowing”
Doing is only helpful if it is in line with the will of God. Alignment with His nature, and so consistent with His heart, and alignment with what has value in the season.
So then, be careful how you walk, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5)
There is an overall will of our Lord that remains unchanged – continuing what Jesus began, which is the revelation of the Father, in love and goodness, bringing life and light to death and darkness. Advancing the Kingdom of Heaven (the reign of Jesus Christ) in all measures and applications (mind, heart, soul, strength). There is also a seasonal application, making that mandate relevant and potent to the time. Knowing what God is doing this season, this year, this month, this week, is of the highest importance, as we co-labor with Him. Knowing what has value to Him, to where it can have value to us. This is not to be prescriptive, as the religious air tends to lean into, constantly looking over the shoulder to confirm we aren’t off the mark. It is a matter of knowledge, revelation, and awareness as we walk with Him.
A natural result of being with Him, is coming away knowing Him. You can’t not know Him if you become familiar with Him. We are asked to seek the face of God, which is translated as “surface” and “countenance,” in the dimension of understanding and familiarity. Jesus knew the Father, and was constantly aligned with the leading of Holy Spirit. He is our model, and we can likewise be intimately familiar with and also know what the Father is doing, and walk in-step.
Concluding thoughts:
Being intentional about walking in life and not reactive action requires that we apply the order of operations to everything we do. As mentioned, this isn’t meant to slow down decision making and bring a limit to what we do, but defines how we do what we do. It may only change the heart of what we are doing (how we go about work and interactions with others), or it may change what we are doing entirely (no longer leaning on emotional crutches to satisfy our need, since we are being filled with His love intimately).
There is always a well to draw from. The question is how free and deep is it? How much will it cost?
Where we draw from, shows. Bill Johnson, Nathan Sanford have both said, “You exhibit the reality you are most aware of.” When we are communing with God our being reflects His presence. Just as Moses’ face shone after being with God on the mountain (Exodus 34), and as Jesus was the only one noticed after His transfiguration (Matthew 17), so we also bring forth the glory of God as we become aware of it. For, to be, is to know. To where, abiding in the love of God at a dog park could draw the attention and conversation of others where they encounter the revelation of Jesus in you. Or it could bring forth wisdom during problem solving, shining light in darkness. It honestly doesn’t matter what the fruit ends up as. If heaven is being with Him, then the Kingdom of Heaven on earth is being with Him just the same. And we can entrust Him to lead us and guide us into all truth. For He is faithful and we are not alone.
The Call To More 