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Hi, Cheyne here. Thanks for stopping by and listening to the Royal Awakening podcast today.
Here on the Royal Awakening podcast, we are about waking up the royal family to who they really are, unifying them as one, and partnering together with the ORIGINAL Royal Family, to see breakthrough, transformation, and restoration in hearts, minds, and lives all over.
No more living like an orphaned pauper.
You are meant to live, move, and be… a ROYAL.
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Welcome back.
First, for those who were following me in the summer, I know it’s been a minute.
I promise, I wasn’t meaning to ghost anyone… I just didn’t realize until I had only been a few weeks into this podcast that I needed to pull things back for a bit and bring some laser focus to what I was doing on my end.
Second, you can obviously see that I’ve renamed the podcast to “Royal Awakening”… sort of a “rebranding”, if you will. Maybe I’ll even add some cool music or something on the front and back (I’m a musician, so there’s probably a strong likelihood of that happening!). And who knows? Maybe we’ll even put some merch up at some point. In any case, it will definitely all be WITH purpose, because I want this podcast to be a reflection of what my overall life purpose is… awakening, unifying, and restoring.
When you talk about being engaged in an awakening… well, as the name suggests, it means that there are some people out there who need to be woken up.
There’s different ways to wake a person up...
There’s the way my mom used to do it sometimes, when trying to get me up for school. She would take a washrag, get it nice and damp with cold water (not totally soaked, though - she wasn’t THAT mean), and put it on my face. That’s not exactly a subtle approach, of course, but I was definitely up for the day at that point.
(So much for whatever awesome dream I was having before the cold rag.)
But, I’m gonna try not to do that here. In fact, I don’t think I CAN do that, really. I’ve tried doing that “off air”, and I realized, it just doesn’t work. You can’t force people to change - all you can really do is say “come, lookit! See what I found!”, and hopefully you’ll come, look, and… see what I found! LOL
I think that's part of what the Bride meant in that Old Testament book called the Song of Solomon, when she said “don’t awaken or arouse love until the “time is right”, or “until it pleases”.”
This is, first and foremost, an awakening to a Love that is beyond any other love on earth. And you can’t speed up the “love process". You know what? Let's rethink that… because to call it a process sounds like religion talking.
Love is NOT a process. It’s a relationship - and it’s meant to happen according to a graceful, unforced, rhythm.
Otherwise, well, let’s just leave it at… “it just doesn’t work”. I’ll leave you to fill in the blanks at your end.
Anyway, I’m back y’all!
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This episode is definitely, and unashamedly, oriented around spiritual stuff because that’s how I roll.
If that's not your thing, that’s ok, but if you’re still here, awesome sauce.
Now, if spiritual stuff IS your thing… buckle up friend!
I may start hitting on some stuff that makes you want to hit the brakes, or at least, the pause button on your podcasting app… but let me encourage you to keep listening.
Rest assured, I'm open to talking more over DM on Facebook or Instagram (and BTW, know that I look at you, the listener, as a fellow royal, fully empowered and capable of ruling your own roost, and you are powerful to disagree with anything I may share in this episode, but let’s talk through any concerns privately, over DM, because I believe that’s the best policy, and also because I don’t do public debates on social. (Oh, and you’re welcome to send good vibes my way, up to and including a 5-star review.
I appreciate you being a good neighbor like that… helping me to maintain a peaceful vibe here in the realm.
One of my all-time heroes, the late, great Arthur Burt, would frequently begin his chats, "test what I say". Whether it’s this or any information source, never take anything carte blanche - it is always in your court to agree or disagree with something you’ve heard or read. But I can say that, because I DID test what I heard, inviting Holy Spirit to help me understand what I had just heard or read, and then stuck with what rang true and felt peaceful in my heart, and dismissing what didn’t, I can say that I experience more and more freedom daily. Freedom from a mindset that left me stuck for years.
A mindset that had me living like a poor old pauper, surviving, scraping by, doing it all on my own as if that’s how I was meant to live, thinking that was all I could ever ask for. That is, the orphan mindset.
We are not meant to live like orphans… we are meant to live, move, and be ROYALS… children of a loving Father.
I reckon that’s probably enough introduction, so… let’s get this thing rolling…
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At the risk of being misunderstood and becoming someone else's lightning rod, I'm going to put this thought out here for consideration...
"The level of my desperation for God is linked to the level of my belief that I am separated from God."
You might be asking, “Why in the world is he bringing this up?”
Well, because I believe in a loving, creative God who genuinely desires to have relationship with human beings, each of whom I believe He created and sees as His child… a Father who longs for us to see the reality that, by the finished work of His son Jesus, we are NOT separated from Him, but rather, we ARE ONE with Him.
(There are multiple passages in the Scriptures that point to this reality, passages which have been echoed by multiple individuals in both ancient and modern church history.)
Am I saying that it's invalid to experience desperation?
(This is where I've often been misunderstood by others and accused of being out of touch with the human experience.)
NO - that's not what I'm saying.
I believe the experience of desperation opens our eyes to the reality that, without Love, as the apostle Paul indicated in his letters, our life would be without purpose.
At many times in my life, I myself have felt desperate, feeling like there was no way out.
When I say, "The level of my desperation for God is linked to the level of my belief that I am separated from God,"
What I'm saying is, I do not believe that it’s God's desire for us to walk around with a mindset that says being desperate for Him is a good thing. Put another way, I don’t believe this rolls up under "thinking on things above".
For years, certain pockets of the Western Evangelical world have propagated a sort of mantra, that to be in a place of desperation and brokenness is somehow ideal, the idea being that this somehow magnifies the effectiveness of the life of prayer for the believer.
Those who believe this, regularly practice what is known as asceticism - that is, they practice self-denial, self-mortification, and the like, because they think that by doing this, they can get God to pay attention to them and answer their prayers. There are many religions other than Christianity that have similar belief systems.
But how voluntarily living in desperation and brokenness be ideal when, according to the Scriptures, we are seated in heavenly places with the King of Kings, the pre-eminent One? And not only that, but it says that, as the King of Kings is, so are we in this world. There’s so much in that one statement, but at the very least, it means that we are royalty! And He made us to live, move, and be royals.
He didn’t give all He gave just so that we could turn around and live an impoverished, disempowered lifestyle.
Whatever happened to "the JOY of the Lord is our strength"? Or, "the kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and JOY"? He became poor so that we could be rich. He was broken for us, so that we could live in abundance and wholeness. Just crack open a Bible, and look at John 10:10, or Ephesians 2:10 to see what I’m talking about.
I was recently in a conversation with someone who disagreed with me, saying that desperation is just about a strongly felt need or desire for something. To support their point, they used the example of a father and his son, who have a close relationship, but who are separated for a period of time for whatever reason, longing to be with one another. (The same picture could work for a father and his daughter, a mother and her son, etc.)
We all can relate to this desire to be close to family. It’s a natural desire all of us have, for example, after a son or daughter has "left the nest". My wife and I definitely get this - we began experiencing it big time in our own lives shortly after we moved to Nashville, because our younger son decided to stay in Charlotte, where we had all lived for 17 years.
But I’m going to call something out here, by asking a couple questions that I want you to think about...
First, in the example my friend used, where are the parent and child relative to each other?
That’s right... they are geographically separated.
Now, for the one who loves, follows, and believes in Jesus, here’s my next question...
Is that how it really works with our HEAVENLY Father and us?
I mean, sure, we can’t see Him… but does that mean He’s not there?
Well… let’s take a look at a few verses in the Bible to help us out with this.
Paul said "the Father was pleased to reveal His Son [Jesus] IN me." (Gal 1:16 BSB)
(Some translations say "to me", but if you look at a Greek Lexicon, the preposition is, in fact, IN.
The apostle Paul spoke of the mystery of “Christ IN YOU the hope of glory”, and he spoke of it as "the mystery hidden for ages and generations." (Col 1:26,27) According to the New Testament, God revealed this mystery to Paul on the road to Damascus, back when he went by the name Saul, and while he was on his way beat up on some Jesus freaks as an enemy of the gospel.
Paul also wrote that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus (see Rom 8:39).
It also says in 1 John 4:16 that God is love.
By the way, when I connect the dots here, that’s effectively saying to me that “nothing can separate me from God Himself”.
Also, John 14:20 recorded Jesus saying this : "On that day… [that is, the day Jesus ascended into heaven and gave the Holy Spirit to the human race], on that day, you will know that I am in the Father, that you are in Me, and I am in you."
There is also this one: "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
And here’s one more important one: “I will not leave you as orphans.”
He said this when talking to them about how He was going to give them the Holy Spirit.
So, what does this mean where God the Father is concerned?
Is He somewhere far, far away?
There are many other verses and passages, which I trust Holy Spirit will help you find if you ask. That said, I believe that, because of what Jesus has done, it is true that, not only are we in Christ, but we are in God the Father as well, and that God the Father is in us.
Put another way, our HEAVENLY Father is always with us at every moment of our existence, because of the union we have with Him. Just as Jesus and the Father are one, we and the Father are ALSO ONE.
Therefore… we are NOT separated from our Heavenly Father. In fact, we can’t get any closer to Him than we already are, and it’s all because of Jesus. (To borrow a quote the 2 Pastors and a Mic podcast, “You are loved, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”)
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I can hear the objection now: "But I don't feel His presence… how can it be true if I’m not experiencing it?"
I know what you’re getting at, and I totally understand.
For years, as a worship leader in the modern worship movement, I thought I had to go somewhere people were saying they could feel His presence, so that I could feel it, too. I would go on road trips, visiting all the "Holy Spirit hot spots" as I would call them, to be with other people who, like me, were “looking for God’s presence”, and hungry for His presence.
(It was as if I was a groupie, and God was some rock star on tour who made repeat stops in certain towns like Kansas City, or Washington DC, or even lesser known places like Wilmore, Kentucky - I’ll leave you to look that one up, to see why I named that town specifically).
But here's the thing... The reason I wasn't feeling His presence right where I live wasn't because He wasn't there.
It was because I was UNAWARE that He was ALREADY PRESENT, ALL THE TIME, INSIDE OF ME.
I was unaware because I believed that, despite having prayed all those prayers, praying with large groups of people all hungry for His presence, I was still somehow separated from Him, and that I had to be somewhere geographically where there was a "portal".
As I began to trust in what He said, right there in Matthew 28:20, that He is with me ALWAYS, I became more and more aware of His ever-present presence, and that He is NEVER absent… and then I began accurately identifying His voice more and more often, to where I can now discern His voice "ON DEMAND".
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Today, I firmly and confidently believe that He who is other-centered, self-giving Love, is calling to us, to awaken us to this reality of how it is with our Heavenly Father and us.
And that, to continue believing that we are somehow separated from Him, despite overwhelming Scriptural support to the contrary, yet acknowledging that He does let us choose to keep believing that, is to lead a life in darkness that our loving Father never wished for us, because He knows that we are merely deluding ourselves with that kind of thinking. It reflects that, for whatever reason, we aren't taking Him at His word when He said, "I am with you always."
I believe that our experience of desperation is designed to bring us to the place where our eyes are opened, and we see that the very One we have longed and desired for, has been here with us, IN is, all along.
Let me also suggest this… to DESIRE a continual state of desperation for God, is to aim for a life lived in the middle of some kind of cruel joke.
A cruel joke introduced by a religious system of our own making.
A joke suggesting that it's a good thing to live with a carrot dangling in front of us, as if we were some pack mule being strung along on a long arduous journey, never truly being satisfied.
God, our Source, our Beginning and End, LOVE Himself, does not deal in cruel jokes. If anyone tells you that He does, run away fast.
(I don’t deny that there are those who’ve come to believe that He does - but that is a whole separate discussion for another time… as I believe that results from some kind of hurt or trauma which requires healing).
But I've also encountered His goodness so much to know that this is NOT who God is. God IS LOVE. And TRUE LOVE is not cruel.
And neither does He desire this kind of existence for any of us.
He longs for all His children, that is, all those He has made, to awaken to the reality of true love.
To the reality of the mystery, now revealed through the finished work of Jesus on the cross.
The mystery - IS Jesus.
Friend, I confidently believe that, despite what your life experiences up to this point may have tried to tell you, you are NOT separated from this GOOD GOD, whose goodness is beyond anything we could ever imagine… too marvelous for words.
You are IN God... You are literally inside Love itself. And Love is inside you.
I believe this is true of every person living on earth, whether they believe it or not.
And on the day when you choose to believe it…
to receive it…
to accept what has always been true OF you, it will become true TO you.
I, and many other royals who have believed, received, and accepted the truth like I have… we are all praying for you, longing right along with God, for the day when you, too…
will see Love gazing at you with a fiery affection that never goes out…
when you will behold the beauty of the face of Love…
and the amazing Dance that Love dances over you at every moment…
and when you will hear the song being sung over you, TO you.
I’m not gonna lie… it might feel intense. It might even be overwhelming. BUT THERE’s NOTHING BETTER.
We long for the day… the day of YOUR “royal awakening”.
