Listen to Partnering with Papa by Pete Scheller

Pete Scheller (0:01)

Introduction Inside out, upside down, and back to front. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. Isaiah 55 verse 8 I'm excited. This is the book I have wanted to write all along. I wanted to write it before all of my four previous books, and I wanted to write it more than any of those books. But I couldn't. I wasn't ready to write it. I didn't yet have language to articulate what I wanted to say, what the Father had begun to reveal to me.

And I needed to lay a foundation with the previous two books in the Wisdom and Revelation Series. Dancing with Wisdom, From the Shackles of Religion to the Freedom of Faith, which speaks about the renewing of the mind. Walking with Vulnerability, Rediscovering the Heart of God, which speaks about the healing of the heart. In Partnering with Papa, Learning to Live from the Heart, I share some insights into living as a son or daughter after your mind has begun to be renewed and your heart has begun to be healed. One of my biggest challenges in writing this book is that everything as a son or daughter works differently from what we have been taught or had modeled. It is inside out, upside down and back to front. We are not climbing up to God. We are welcoming the Father who reaches down to us. We receive rather than strive. We live from the inside out rather than the outside in. We become more like a farm than a factory. Life is organic, not manufactured or forced. We bear fruit more than we do works. Maturing means becoming like the Father rather than just obeying him. Being conformed to his image, not just becoming competent in our gifts or ministries. We are learning to receive Revelation rather than just gain knowledge, to experience the truth, not just believe it. Not many Christians will argue when someone says, God is good, or God is love, or God is Father. We have all heard that over and over, but unpack what that means and you will hear all kinds of objections, caveats and concerns. This is because we are familiar with the language but unfamiliar with the realities it describes. So we may think we have understood when we really don't. So I echo the prayer of the Apostle Paul from Ephesians 1 verses 17 to 19 for you as you read.

May the Father give you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation so that you may know him better. May the eyes of your heart be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people and his incomparably great power for us who believe. Amen.

Pete Scheller, Madison, Wisconsin, February 2025

Chapter 1 The Heart of the Matter And I will give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you, and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. Ezekiel 36, verses 26 and 27

A long time ago, in a faraway place, my wife Ali and I had an interesting encounter with a boy called Taon. We were visiting Thailand in the early 1990s and were handing out flyers for an open air gathering later that day. Along with our team, we planned to share music, drama and testimonies. To our surprise, Taon grabbed a stack of flyers and began to help us pass them out. For the next several days, he came to see us as much as he could, hanging out at the church where we were staying or tagging along as we held events around the city. He became quite attached to us and we became quite attached to him. Suddenly, a couple of weeks later, he stopped showing up. We were a little concerned but had no way of contacting him. Then, after about a week, he reappeared. Working through a translator, we asked him what had happened and why he hadn't come to see us.

He told us that one of his friends had said that our team had left the city and gone home and he had been too sad to check. But later, he discovered that his friend had been wrong. Excitedly, Taon told us about a dream that he had during the days he was gone. He said to us, in the dream, I saw seven black hearts.

He explained that there were seven people in his family. Jesus came to us and asked us to give him our hearts. As we did so, he washed them and made them clean. Then he gave them back.