These "All for Love" posts are a series of notes I've compiled from various sources over a period of time. They are meant to encourage when discouraged, to uplift when down, to strengthen when weak, to bless faith when it is in crisis, and to create a pathway inside the heart that will allow the love of God to flow no matter the circumstances. They are meant for quiet reflection and prayer for those who are seeking the Lord, yet don't sense His presence; to reconcile the heart back to God, and to be a help for reconciling relationships.
Learning to live in the Abundant Life Christ has promised us through Him is not any easy process. It is indeed a most real and hard process. It is along journey to learn to trust God completely, to wait for God in confident peace, and to persevere through pain and suffering for Him, and in a way that grows the faith, hope and love He has given to us in Christ. My prayer is that, by the Spirit of God, the circumstances in your life will not tear down the faith, hope and love you have for Jesus in your heart. That by the Spirit of God, you will embrace the process God has put into motion for your life, which will produce trust, waiting and perseverance for Him. Let us spur one another on, by prayer, to be careful and engaged with the Lord about what He is working into us so that we can experience the Abundant Life now.
Saturday, January 27, 2018
All for Love - Part II
In most marathons you cannot see the finish line
Change happens with consistent choices not just with confession
Don't let emotion control decisions
Don't listen to everyone
Don't expect a quick fix
What are we really fighting about?
What are the real issues?
What we focus on is what we'll see.
Focus on the real issues.
We can beware when we become aware.
"I don’t feel loved, liked or respected."
To do the right thing, find out what the real problem is. Don’t focus on the things that are symptoms or distractions or hurts ( porn, anger, neglect, frustration, expectations, loss, disappointment etc)
What have I done to cause my spouse to feel unloved, disliked, disrespected?
There are 4 areas of a person's life: 1. The Open Area ( I know and others know about me), 2. The Hidden Area ( I know and others don’t know about me), 3. The Blind Side ( I don’t know but others know about me), The Unknown ( I don’t know and others don’t know about me)
Listen without defensiveness and with trust.
If it's an unknown, blind, or hidden part about me then I need someone who will not be defensive and will listen with trust and love
Have conversation with a lot of listening.
People don’t leave unless they think what they are going to is better. (Affairs)
Focus on me. Get some control on me. God begins change with me not others.
Look at physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual ( pies). Work on me on behalf of glorifying God. Not on behalf of my spouse or others.
My spouse may have needs I’m not aware of or that I don’t understand. I may have to regroup and show care and respect for the other by adapting to their needs.
Believe that change can happen in me with forgiveness, love, and trust
Write a Letter: these are the things I did not do right. Apologize once. Don’t beat myself up.
Don’t fake it ‘til you make it. Be authentic in a healthy way. If I stow it I will blow it.
Learn how to communicate hurt without hurting the other person. Communicate understanding.
Be willing to allow God to change me. Don’t pray for others to change. Pray for myself to change.
1. Discover right problem 2. Focus on me. Be the best me. 3. Get some help. The right help.
Information can be detrimental or beneficial. Go to time tested proven result information. Biblical Principals.
A PhD knows how to discern valid vs invalid information.
I could read a book on child birth but that doesn’t make me a child birth expert.
No matter what my marriage looks like right now it is no indicator of the future. What will I do to create a relationship and put action to faith?
And the sacrifice must be worked through my will before I actually perform it.
When God spoke, Abraham did not “confer with flesh and blood” (Galatians 1:16). Beware when I want to “confer with flesh and blood” or even my own thoughts, insights, or understandings— anything that is not based on my personal relationship with God. These are all things that compete with and hinder obedience to God.
Abraham did not choose what the sacrifice would be.
If God has made my cup sweet, drink it with grace; or even if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him. If the providential will of God means a hard and difficult time for me, go through it. But never decide the place of my own martyrdom, as if to say, “I will only go to there, but no farther.” God chose the test for Abraham, and Abraham neither delayed nor protested, but steadily obeyed.
I must go through the trial before I have any right to pronounce a verdict, because by going through the trial I learn to know God better. God is working in me to reach His highest goals until His purpose and my purpose become one.
The most valuable commodity I have is my time.
I’m responsible for my own choices within the court I’ve been given. Boundaries and trust.
Change happens with consistent choices not just with confession
Don't let emotion control decisions
Don't listen to everyone
Don't expect a quick fix
What are we really fighting about?
What are the real issues?
What we focus on is what we'll see.
Focus on the real issues.
We can beware when we become aware.
"I don’t feel loved, liked or respected."
To do the right thing, find out what the real problem is. Don’t focus on the things that are symptoms or distractions or hurts ( porn, anger, neglect, frustration, expectations, loss, disappointment etc)
What have I done to cause my spouse to feel unloved, disliked, disrespected?
There are 4 areas of a person's life: 1. The Open Area ( I know and others know about me), 2. The Hidden Area ( I know and others don’t know about me), 3. The Blind Side ( I don’t know but others know about me), The Unknown ( I don’t know and others don’t know about me)
Listen without defensiveness and with trust.
If it's an unknown, blind, or hidden part about me then I need someone who will not be defensive and will listen with trust and love
Have conversation with a lot of listening.
People don’t leave unless they think what they are going to is better. (Affairs)
Focus on me. Get some control on me. God begins change with me not others.
Look at physical, intellectual, emotional, and spiritual ( pies). Work on me on behalf of glorifying God. Not on behalf of my spouse or others.
My spouse may have needs I’m not aware of or that I don’t understand. I may have to regroup and show care and respect for the other by adapting to their needs.
Believe that change can happen in me with forgiveness, love, and trust
Write a Letter: these are the things I did not do right. Apologize once. Don’t beat myself up.
Don’t fake it ‘til you make it. Be authentic in a healthy way. If I stow it I will blow it.
Learn how to communicate hurt without hurting the other person. Communicate understanding.
Be willing to allow God to change me. Don’t pray for others to change. Pray for myself to change.
1. Discover right problem 2. Focus on me. Be the best me. 3. Get some help. The right help.
Information can be detrimental or beneficial. Go to time tested proven result information. Biblical Principals.
A PhD knows how to discern valid vs invalid information.
I could read a book on child birth but that doesn’t make me a child birth expert.
No matter what my marriage looks like right now it is no indicator of the future. What will I do to create a relationship and put action to faith?
And the sacrifice must be worked through my will before I actually perform it.
When God spoke, Abraham did not “confer with flesh and blood” (Galatians 1:16). Beware when I want to “confer with flesh and blood” or even my own thoughts, insights, or understandings— anything that is not based on my personal relationship with God. These are all things that compete with and hinder obedience to God.
Abraham did not choose what the sacrifice would be.
If God has made my cup sweet, drink it with grace; or even if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him. If the providential will of God means a hard and difficult time for me, go through it. But never decide the place of my own martyrdom, as if to say, “I will only go to there, but no farther.” God chose the test for Abraham, and Abraham neither delayed nor protested, but steadily obeyed.
I must go through the trial before I have any right to pronounce a verdict, because by going through the trial I learn to know God better. God is working in me to reach His highest goals until His purpose and my purpose become one.
The most valuable commodity I have is my time.
I’m responsible for my own choices within the court I’ve been given. Boundaries and trust.
All for Love - Part III
God's answer is simple, but in order for him to bring us to a place of accepting it, he must first put us through a series of courses that will exhaust us, leaving us despairing of self and others and prepared to listen to whatever God says with a believing heart. It is not until man refuses to trust himself that he will begin to trust God. Many unbelieving Christians are merely in the process of learning to give up on themselves.
Regain the lost simplicity of faith and repossess the joy that is mine in Christ.
The end result for Israel was their banishment to the wilderness where they had to learn particular lessons that would once again turn their hope and faith to God.
The ignorant, the untalented and the ungifted, and the rich and the poor are all on equal footing when it comes to living the victorious life.
All knowledge needs to move 18 inches lower than the brain into the heart!
True Christian counseling leaves the person looking to Christ, not to himself. I have always found puzzling the measure of hostility that can be raised among Christians when they hear Jesus is all we need. We are commanded to cast our anxiety on the Lord, not on psychology.
The believer who has lost his joy and victory in Christ too often looks where things appear to be clearest, not at the source of defeat. Looking in the wrong places never yields the key to success, and just because there is a measure of light, this is no reason to continue down the wrong path.
A critical spirit is born when one eats of the good side of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and then expects self and others to perform it. There is a deep blindness that comes from eating from the good side of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil... that forbidden tree.
God doesn’t want us to do good works, but what makes the work fitting is not the content but the origin; when the source of the work is faith as Christ expresses himself through us, then it is acceptable 1 Thessalonians 1:3
The deception from eating from the good side of this forbidden tree is in many ways worse than doing evil. It becomes false religion.
Witches study the evil side of the tree to gain more knowledge of evil; some so called theologians study the good side of the tree to gain more knowledge of good, but there is no lasting difference between the two. Again, the question must be asked, are today’s teaching yielding more additions to God’s standard or promoting performance that would apply equally as well to the Hindu? Are they from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or are they from the other tree, the Tree of Life?
If we are living out of his life, we need not worry; the action, no matter how insignificant in our eyes, will always be good. The source must be from Christ’s life.
This principle is at work among all legalistic teachers; the greater they place above God’s standard, the farther they fall.
The enemy loves to see us eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Just as there are levels of evil for man to commit, so there are levels of good. The Christian who gave his life to Christ strived to be a +10 on the good scale. The problem is that to the level of good one arrives, to that same level of evil he will tend to fall, so before he knows he is back down to -10.
Spirituality comes from the Spirit of Christ not from a certain set of circumstances.
A big name for eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is bipolar manic depression.
The supernatural life is manifested in the small, often unseen areas of our lives in such things as peace, mercy, and lack of condemnation when wronged.
The first few miracles Moses performed were duplicated by pharaohs magicians. In the same way, Satan can duplicate the large, spectacular signs and visions by which many judge spirituality. We must remember that we have a relationship with our God.
When we are in the perfect will of God, we hear and feel nothing. Wisdom is shown after one makes a decision. You should wait prayerfully seven days before acting, giving God a chance to close the door. He is the Creator and we are the creature. We make God much too small if we cannot trust him to direct our path.
Prayer is simple when experienced at zero. Not -10 or +10. It is more hearing and talking. The talking part comes as we let requests be known to God; the hearing comes as we rest before him very quietly, slowly reading scripture, and allowing the Holy Spirit to speak.
Let me explain that an unbelieving believer is someone who is a Christian, is born again, and will arrive in heaven; the problem is that this person has never believed in the Lord Jesus with his whole being. That is, with his mind he receives and believes all that is told him about the grace, care, concern, and love of the Lord Jesus-he is a believer. And yet at the same time, he feels that he is in charge of every aspect of this Christian life-that he must change the lives of those around him, bring transformations into his own life, and work to make himself pleasing to God. That is, in his emotions he is unbelieving.
Regain the lost simplicity of faith and repossess the joy that is mine in Christ.
The end result for Israel was their banishment to the wilderness where they had to learn particular lessons that would once again turn their hope and faith to God.
The ignorant, the untalented and the ungifted, and the rich and the poor are all on equal footing when it comes to living the victorious life.
All knowledge needs to move 18 inches lower than the brain into the heart!
True Christian counseling leaves the person looking to Christ, not to himself. I have always found puzzling the measure of hostility that can be raised among Christians when they hear Jesus is all we need. We are commanded to cast our anxiety on the Lord, not on psychology.
The believer who has lost his joy and victory in Christ too often looks where things appear to be clearest, not at the source of defeat. Looking in the wrong places never yields the key to success, and just because there is a measure of light, this is no reason to continue down the wrong path.
A critical spirit is born when one eats of the good side of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and then expects self and others to perform it. There is a deep blindness that comes from eating from the good side of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil... that forbidden tree.
God doesn’t want us to do good works, but what makes the work fitting is not the content but the origin; when the source of the work is faith as Christ expresses himself through us, then it is acceptable 1 Thessalonians 1:3
The deception from eating from the good side of this forbidden tree is in many ways worse than doing evil. It becomes false religion.
Witches study the evil side of the tree to gain more knowledge of evil; some so called theologians study the good side of the tree to gain more knowledge of good, but there is no lasting difference between the two. Again, the question must be asked, are today’s teaching yielding more additions to God’s standard or promoting performance that would apply equally as well to the Hindu? Are they from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or are they from the other tree, the Tree of Life?
If we are living out of his life, we need not worry; the action, no matter how insignificant in our eyes, will always be good. The source must be from Christ’s life.
This principle is at work among all legalistic teachers; the greater they place above God’s standard, the farther they fall.
The enemy loves to see us eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Just as there are levels of evil for man to commit, so there are levels of good. The Christian who gave his life to Christ strived to be a +10 on the good scale. The problem is that to the level of good one arrives, to that same level of evil he will tend to fall, so before he knows he is back down to -10.
Spirituality comes from the Spirit of Christ not from a certain set of circumstances.
A big name for eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is bipolar manic depression.
The supernatural life is manifested in the small, often unseen areas of our lives in such things as peace, mercy, and lack of condemnation when wronged.
The first few miracles Moses performed were duplicated by pharaohs magicians. In the same way, Satan can duplicate the large, spectacular signs and visions by which many judge spirituality. We must remember that we have a relationship with our God.
When we are in the perfect will of God, we hear and feel nothing. Wisdom is shown after one makes a decision. You should wait prayerfully seven days before acting, giving God a chance to close the door. He is the Creator and we are the creature. We make God much too small if we cannot trust him to direct our path.
Prayer is simple when experienced at zero. Not -10 or +10. It is more hearing and talking. The talking part comes as we let requests be known to God; the hearing comes as we rest before him very quietly, slowly reading scripture, and allowing the Holy Spirit to speak.
Let me explain that an unbelieving believer is someone who is a Christian, is born again, and will arrive in heaven; the problem is that this person has never believed in the Lord Jesus with his whole being. That is, with his mind he receives and believes all that is told him about the grace, care, concern, and love of the Lord Jesus-he is a believer. And yet at the same time, he feels that he is in charge of every aspect of this Christian life-that he must change the lives of those around him, bring transformations into his own life, and work to make himself pleasing to God. That is, in his emotions he is unbelieving.
All for Love - IV
I believe that heaven will be filled with people who are forgiven and born-again but never entered salvation in their daily lives. They are those who did not find Jesus as their daily Savior from vexing sins that control, the guilt that follows, and the unavoidable and escapable bondage. Being born again will get us into heaven according to John 3, but we need salvation from the things that currently oppress.
Repeating failure can cause our hearts to condemn us. We need not only forgiveness, but freedom from all that took us to the point of death.
What would be the loss to my life if I believed that salvation is only for a future time? Very great, but I would continue to suffer defeat today, looking forward to freedom in the future; when all the while I could have lived in victory had I seen the Savior as someone who delivers today and every day until the final deliverance from this body.
Salvation is to be a daily experience that must be supernatural. John 15:5 “apart from me you can do nothing.” But if we are full of unbelief, then those words will in our minds sound like a blessing, but in our emotions sound like a curse.
If, however, you are an unbelieving believer, then you have not been able to look to God to meet your deepest needs. Where have you looked to have these needs met? How are you coping with the world around you? What do you do in the midst of the severest defeat? To what are you turning when under extreme pressure? Where do you find comfort? How do you exist in a world where God is relevant only for the future to keep you out of hell? How do you live among humanity that seems to be pitted against your every move?
Whenever we are hurt, we must find some way of coping with that hurt. The thing that we run to when injured is our idol.
This man was enticed with pornography because in the past it had worked to relieve his hurts; thus, he would be susceptible to returning to it.
God will not allow any idol to meet the Christian’s needs!
It has been said that there are only four types of people in the world. The first says, “I, not Christ!“ This group includes such people as Buddhists, Hindus, Agnostics, and Atheists. The second says, “I and Christ!“ These will let Christ be fire insurance to keep them out of hell, but will take care of everything else themselves. The third type says, “Christ and I!“ These are the most miserable Christians, for they want Christ to be Lord, and yet if he does not act according to their plan when they think he should, out come the idols. The fourth kind says, “Christ, not I!" Having learned the secret of dependence upon and trust in Christ alone, they enter into God’s rest and cast all anxiety upon him.
An idol can be anything, for it is what we run to other than Christ when under pressure or pain.
There are normally two elements comprising any hurt; the first is pain and the second is rejection.
There’s only one thing readily available to purge both pain and rejection. It is quite popular because it normally cost nothing monetarily, and we are assured covertly from all sides that it will indeed heal us of our hurt. That one thing is sex.
There are easily recognizable idols that are very ugly and repulsive, which come from the evil side of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There are, however, idols that do not appear to be all that bad at first glance. These are in many ways more common because they are easily excused or accepted, or harmless or even beneficial when not used as substitutes for God. Included in this list are food, shopping, television, radio, clothes, control, lying, manipulation, withdrawing, contention, exploding, reading, slander, fantasy, and greed. A particular thing may be an idol for one person but not the next, depending on whether or not it is used to meet inner needs.
An unbelieving believer runs to their idols when under pressure. God will not allow his children to worship idols, and therefore will withhold his peace from those who do. Ezekiel 20:8 “but they rebelled against me and were not willing to listen to me; they did not cast away the detestable things of their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.”
Ezekiel was given a vision that told him to dig through a wall in the temple and describe what he saw. “So I entered and looked and behold every form of creeping thing, and beasts, and detestable thing, with all the idols of the house of Israel were carved on the wall all around”...Ezekial 8:10. In the very temple of God, Israel had hidden her idols!
Even in a heterosexual relationship, contrary to what is popularly taught, sex for the man is much more emotional than physical. When he is rejected it is a blow to his identity, not his sex drive. He feels unacceptable and worthless, then angry, depressed, and withdrawn. Hence, Paul’s command, “Stop depriving one another… “ in 1 Corinthians 7:5.
Therefore, God must do for us what he did for Israel, allowing us to wander in the wilderness to depend upon the self-made idols, which fail us over and over again until we cast them aside and once again make him the focus of our lives.
Just as then, God must put his people in one miserable situation after another until we are forced to the conclusion that God alone must receive our full trust.
What items do you run to under stress and pressure? We all have them, and, as believers, we are in the process of laying them aside.
Are you willing to give up all but the Lord Jesus Christ? If you are, then you are ready to enter into the promised land, the place of real rest, that domain where God is all in all.
Unfortunately, many today have more faith in Satan’s ability to deceive than in God’s ability to hear and act; more confidence in Satan’s proficiency in taking a believer away from God then in Christ’s capability to keep. But this is not the case; our Father in heaven is infinitely more powerful than our enemy. All we need to tap into the power of the Father is simple faith, which begins with the words in our mouths. The problem many of us have with faith is that if our experience does not immediately follow our request, then we believe God has not really heard us, and once again we offer up the prayer. Let me emphasize that the power in prayer is not in how it is said or in the person who says it; the power of prayer rests wholly in the one who hears it. And it is the Father in heaven who has commanded us to message him for one reason, that he might hear and answer.
That you may not feel God hears you means nothing. The power in prayer is that God himself hears you!
Repeating failure can cause our hearts to condemn us. We need not only forgiveness, but freedom from all that took us to the point of death.
What would be the loss to my life if I believed that salvation is only for a future time? Very great, but I would continue to suffer defeat today, looking forward to freedom in the future; when all the while I could have lived in victory had I seen the Savior as someone who delivers today and every day until the final deliverance from this body.
Salvation is to be a daily experience that must be supernatural. John 15:5 “apart from me you can do nothing.” But if we are full of unbelief, then those words will in our minds sound like a blessing, but in our emotions sound like a curse.
If, however, you are an unbelieving believer, then you have not been able to look to God to meet your deepest needs. Where have you looked to have these needs met? How are you coping with the world around you? What do you do in the midst of the severest defeat? To what are you turning when under extreme pressure? Where do you find comfort? How do you exist in a world where God is relevant only for the future to keep you out of hell? How do you live among humanity that seems to be pitted against your every move?
Whenever we are hurt, we must find some way of coping with that hurt. The thing that we run to when injured is our idol.
This man was enticed with pornography because in the past it had worked to relieve his hurts; thus, he would be susceptible to returning to it.
God will not allow any idol to meet the Christian’s needs!
It has been said that there are only four types of people in the world. The first says, “I, not Christ!“ This group includes such people as Buddhists, Hindus, Agnostics, and Atheists. The second says, “I and Christ!“ These will let Christ be fire insurance to keep them out of hell, but will take care of everything else themselves. The third type says, “Christ and I!“ These are the most miserable Christians, for they want Christ to be Lord, and yet if he does not act according to their plan when they think he should, out come the idols. The fourth kind says, “Christ, not I!" Having learned the secret of dependence upon and trust in Christ alone, they enter into God’s rest and cast all anxiety upon him.
An idol can be anything, for it is what we run to other than Christ when under pressure or pain.
There are normally two elements comprising any hurt; the first is pain and the second is rejection.
There’s only one thing readily available to purge both pain and rejection. It is quite popular because it normally cost nothing monetarily, and we are assured covertly from all sides that it will indeed heal us of our hurt. That one thing is sex.
There are easily recognizable idols that are very ugly and repulsive, which come from the evil side of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. There are, however, idols that do not appear to be all that bad at first glance. These are in many ways more common because they are easily excused or accepted, or harmless or even beneficial when not used as substitutes for God. Included in this list are food, shopping, television, radio, clothes, control, lying, manipulation, withdrawing, contention, exploding, reading, slander, fantasy, and greed. A particular thing may be an idol for one person but not the next, depending on whether or not it is used to meet inner needs.
An unbelieving believer runs to their idols when under pressure. God will not allow his children to worship idols, and therefore will withhold his peace from those who do. Ezekiel 20:8 “but they rebelled against me and were not willing to listen to me; they did not cast away the detestable things of their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.”
Ezekiel was given a vision that told him to dig through a wall in the temple and describe what he saw. “So I entered and looked and behold every form of creeping thing, and beasts, and detestable thing, with all the idols of the house of Israel were carved on the wall all around”...Ezekial 8:10. In the very temple of God, Israel had hidden her idols!
Even in a heterosexual relationship, contrary to what is popularly taught, sex for the man is much more emotional than physical. When he is rejected it is a blow to his identity, not his sex drive. He feels unacceptable and worthless, then angry, depressed, and withdrawn. Hence, Paul’s command, “Stop depriving one another… “ in 1 Corinthians 7:5.
Therefore, God must do for us what he did for Israel, allowing us to wander in the wilderness to depend upon the self-made idols, which fail us over and over again until we cast them aside and once again make him the focus of our lives.
Just as then, God must put his people in one miserable situation after another until we are forced to the conclusion that God alone must receive our full trust.
What items do you run to under stress and pressure? We all have them, and, as believers, we are in the process of laying them aside.
Are you willing to give up all but the Lord Jesus Christ? If you are, then you are ready to enter into the promised land, the place of real rest, that domain where God is all in all.
Unfortunately, many today have more faith in Satan’s ability to deceive than in God’s ability to hear and act; more confidence in Satan’s proficiency in taking a believer away from God then in Christ’s capability to keep. But this is not the case; our Father in heaven is infinitely more powerful than our enemy. All we need to tap into the power of the Father is simple faith, which begins with the words in our mouths. The problem many of us have with faith is that if our experience does not immediately follow our request, then we believe God has not really heard us, and once again we offer up the prayer. Let me emphasize that the power in prayer is not in how it is said or in the person who says it; the power of prayer rests wholly in the one who hears it. And it is the Father in heaven who has commanded us to message him for one reason, that he might hear and answer.
That you may not feel God hears you means nothing. The power in prayer is that God himself hears you!
All for Love - Part V
Let’s imagine that you signed a contract with me which states that I now own all your earthly possessions. Just because I don’t come for them tonight, doesn’t mean that I will not come at all. I simply maybe in no hurry to claim them. They may remain in your house, but they have now become my property. The same is true of the idols that we give God. They may remain in our being, but remember that God has accepted them and will take them away as he sees fit.
A Brother in Christ who once came to me for discipling had a very severe physical condition which made him quite uncomfortable. During the course of our conversation, I asked if he had given to God his desire to get well. He did not immediately understand, and I explained that he must be willing to be in that physical condition for the rest of his life. His worship and love of God could not carry any price tag, but the evidence that it did was his indignation over not being delivered. The brother became angry and left, stating that God should heal him! A few days later he returned glowing and reporting that the previous night he had lain before the Lord, given him his right to get well, and immediately was made well.
A wife does not know what she is like when her husband brings her flowers, but only when he knocks a quart of milk off the table with his elbow. A husband does not know what he is like when his wife has done all that he desires, but rather when she is 30 minutes late picking him up from work.
I have found among the defeated whom I disciple more than 90% of the time their concepts of God really describe their fathers, or if not, their mothers or some other influential figures in their lives. All we can know of authority is what we have learned from those in control around us. Does it not then makes sense that when we are commanded to call God our Father in heaven, this would stir our emotions?
I like to read through 1 Corinthians 13 with those who have an unrealistic concept of God, because if he is love, then this chapter must describe him. Any of us who are under discipline, stress, disease, or physical handicap can be assured that he is allowing it for our good.
The way out of emotional unbelief is quite simple. We need only confess as sin our wrong feelings of who God is and profess who he really is. The depth of our unbelief is truly revealed in how we respond to God when we fail. If we wallow, cut ourselves off from him, and traffic in self punishment, we reveal the dark depths of unbelief. For in all our self punishment we prove that our acceptance never rested in the Son of God, but rather on how well we could perform.
If we remain miserable with such a great God, we can blame no one but ourselves! It is a great step of faith to go against all the lying emotions you have concerning who God is, and to just open that door to his life one time, for one time is all it will take for you to discover the abundant life that you have searched so long for.
Many times we seek and do not find because we do not know what finding is. For example, there are those who will never believe God is actually near them throughout the day unless they have a predetermined stirring in their emotions. When it comes to faith the same is true; many busy themselves trying to find more faith, when they have had all they needed right along.
Faith is an organ of the Holy Spirit allowing us to receive whatever God is doing. It is like an ear or in eye. When you lay down in bed at night, your ears rest, but never sleep. If someone starts to break into your house, your ears awaken you in order that you might act! The ear does not create sound, but receives it. Faith itself, not quantity of faith, is the issue.
Faith is a wonderful thing, something that every believer possesses. It takes the pressure off us to perform and initiate his works, and places emphasis on God, the Creator of the actions.
If faith is simply receiving what God desires to do, then do you see how important your concept of God is when it comes to the issues of daily life? You have been grafted into a Vine that possesses all the life you need.
Imagine walking into a room when the Lord himself steps in behind you, turns out the lights, closes the door and locks it, and then completely removes from you the awareness of his nearness, emotional responses to him, and the consciousness that he hears you! You work and work as hard as you can to regain the awareness; there is, however, one major perplexity. As long as you work to experience his presence, you extend your time in the dark room, because it’s purpose is to teach you to walk by faith, not by sight or feeling. Oh, yes, there is one other thing. When you have tried almost everything to regain emotional awareness, the enemy slips in and says things like, “if only you had not done such and such, God would be near to you," "if only you had not moved to such and such a place, he would be with you,“ “If only you had married another person, everything would be much better. ““If only you had not filled the Lord, he would be pleased to be near you now," "if only you had prayed more and memorized more scriptures, you would sence the Lord‘s presence.“ You repent over every imaginable sin and punish yourself with the most severe forms of guilt. You want to perform in order to get God’s acceptance. Many who boast of breathtaking faith, telling magnificent stories of all they have accomplished because of their awesome belief are crushed and dismantled in this room. And why not? How long can a man who trusts in himself walk in darkness and not stumble and be overcome, broken, and humbled? Yes, here you walk in absolute darkness, one that can even be felt. This type of darkness Job knew all too well: “my face is flushed from weeping, and deep darkness is on my eyelids.“ 16:16. “He has blocked my way so that I cannot pass; and has put darkness on my paths.“ 19:8 "When I waited for light then darkness came." 30:26.
This prolonged the state of darkness will test us and reveal any unbelief that might reside with them. The longer the period of darkness and absence of emotion, the more will be revealed. We will again try series of procedures to regain our emotional standing, all of which will be telling of what we really trust in our daily lives to bring contentment, and which God, of course, will not allow to succeed. It may be revealed that we trust idols, those things in which we find some measure of comfort. Isaiah 42:17. Perhaps we trust in particular brothers or sisters who, we are sure, can get us out of our present calamity. Jeremiah 9:4; Micah 7:5, and yet we find that they have no answers.
In the midst of misfortune we do not simply remain silent and wait, but instead begin to blame God for the whole situation. We, like Job, begin to curse the day we were made and even accuse him of the grave mistake of making us. We can go so far as to become angry with God, charging him with not caring and doing nothing. You can become withdrawn. “You have said, it is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept his charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the Lord of hosts?" Malachi 3:14. We become sick of the whole situation. Blind, irrational, and void of hope, it becomes impossible any longer to see God‘s hand in this process. We must have our eyes opened!
Though Paul wrote the letter to Philemon in a prison and chained to a Roman guard he proclaimed that he was a prisoner of Jesus Christ and the Gospel!! Instead, he saw Jesus Christ! The man of faith never sees bondage to anything but God himself. You see, nothing comes into your life without first passing through the loving hands of your Father in heaven.
A Brother in Christ who once came to me for discipling had a very severe physical condition which made him quite uncomfortable. During the course of our conversation, I asked if he had given to God his desire to get well. He did not immediately understand, and I explained that he must be willing to be in that physical condition for the rest of his life. His worship and love of God could not carry any price tag, but the evidence that it did was his indignation over not being delivered. The brother became angry and left, stating that God should heal him! A few days later he returned glowing and reporting that the previous night he had lain before the Lord, given him his right to get well, and immediately was made well.
A wife does not know what she is like when her husband brings her flowers, but only when he knocks a quart of milk off the table with his elbow. A husband does not know what he is like when his wife has done all that he desires, but rather when she is 30 minutes late picking him up from work.
I have found among the defeated whom I disciple more than 90% of the time their concepts of God really describe their fathers, or if not, their mothers or some other influential figures in their lives. All we can know of authority is what we have learned from those in control around us. Does it not then makes sense that when we are commanded to call God our Father in heaven, this would stir our emotions?
I like to read through 1 Corinthians 13 with those who have an unrealistic concept of God, because if he is love, then this chapter must describe him. Any of us who are under discipline, stress, disease, or physical handicap can be assured that he is allowing it for our good.
The way out of emotional unbelief is quite simple. We need only confess as sin our wrong feelings of who God is and profess who he really is. The depth of our unbelief is truly revealed in how we respond to God when we fail. If we wallow, cut ourselves off from him, and traffic in self punishment, we reveal the dark depths of unbelief. For in all our self punishment we prove that our acceptance never rested in the Son of God, but rather on how well we could perform.
If we remain miserable with such a great God, we can blame no one but ourselves! It is a great step of faith to go against all the lying emotions you have concerning who God is, and to just open that door to his life one time, for one time is all it will take for you to discover the abundant life that you have searched so long for.
Many times we seek and do not find because we do not know what finding is. For example, there are those who will never believe God is actually near them throughout the day unless they have a predetermined stirring in their emotions. When it comes to faith the same is true; many busy themselves trying to find more faith, when they have had all they needed right along.
Faith is an organ of the Holy Spirit allowing us to receive whatever God is doing. It is like an ear or in eye. When you lay down in bed at night, your ears rest, but never sleep. If someone starts to break into your house, your ears awaken you in order that you might act! The ear does not create sound, but receives it. Faith itself, not quantity of faith, is the issue.
Faith is a wonderful thing, something that every believer possesses. It takes the pressure off us to perform and initiate his works, and places emphasis on God, the Creator of the actions.
If faith is simply receiving what God desires to do, then do you see how important your concept of God is when it comes to the issues of daily life? You have been grafted into a Vine that possesses all the life you need.
Imagine walking into a room when the Lord himself steps in behind you, turns out the lights, closes the door and locks it, and then completely removes from you the awareness of his nearness, emotional responses to him, and the consciousness that he hears you! You work and work as hard as you can to regain the awareness; there is, however, one major perplexity. As long as you work to experience his presence, you extend your time in the dark room, because it’s purpose is to teach you to walk by faith, not by sight or feeling. Oh, yes, there is one other thing. When you have tried almost everything to regain emotional awareness, the enemy slips in and says things like, “if only you had not done such and such, God would be near to you," "if only you had not moved to such and such a place, he would be with you,“ “If only you had married another person, everything would be much better. ““If only you had not filled the Lord, he would be pleased to be near you now," "if only you had prayed more and memorized more scriptures, you would sence the Lord‘s presence.“ You repent over every imaginable sin and punish yourself with the most severe forms of guilt. You want to perform in order to get God’s acceptance. Many who boast of breathtaking faith, telling magnificent stories of all they have accomplished because of their awesome belief are crushed and dismantled in this room. And why not? How long can a man who trusts in himself walk in darkness and not stumble and be overcome, broken, and humbled? Yes, here you walk in absolute darkness, one that can even be felt. This type of darkness Job knew all too well: “my face is flushed from weeping, and deep darkness is on my eyelids.“ 16:16. “He has blocked my way so that I cannot pass; and has put darkness on my paths.“ 19:8 "When I waited for light then darkness came." 30:26.
This prolonged the state of darkness will test us and reveal any unbelief that might reside with them. The longer the period of darkness and absence of emotion, the more will be revealed. We will again try series of procedures to regain our emotional standing, all of which will be telling of what we really trust in our daily lives to bring contentment, and which God, of course, will not allow to succeed. It may be revealed that we trust idols, those things in which we find some measure of comfort. Isaiah 42:17. Perhaps we trust in particular brothers or sisters who, we are sure, can get us out of our present calamity. Jeremiah 9:4; Micah 7:5, and yet we find that they have no answers.
In the midst of misfortune we do not simply remain silent and wait, but instead begin to blame God for the whole situation. We, like Job, begin to curse the day we were made and even accuse him of the grave mistake of making us. We can go so far as to become angry with God, charging him with not caring and doing nothing. You can become withdrawn. “You have said, it is vain to serve God; and what profit is it that we have kept his charge, and that we have walked in mourning before the Lord of hosts?" Malachi 3:14. We become sick of the whole situation. Blind, irrational, and void of hope, it becomes impossible any longer to see God‘s hand in this process. We must have our eyes opened!
Though Paul wrote the letter to Philemon in a prison and chained to a Roman guard he proclaimed that he was a prisoner of Jesus Christ and the Gospel!! Instead, he saw Jesus Christ! The man of faith never sees bondage to anything but God himself. You see, nothing comes into your life without first passing through the loving hands of your Father in heaven.
All for Love - Part VI
Do you see your mate, your job, your sin, failures, your circumstances? What do you see at the end of the chain that binds you? Instead, would you be willing to see Jesus Christ as the author of it, which will allow you to rest, knowing that the outcome will be for your ultimate benefit? Can you put your trust and faith into what God is doing?
We must all take this course on faith, for without it we cannot please God. The exact nature of each believers course will differ, being taylor made by a loving Father, but the results will always be the same. “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.” 2 Corinthians 4:17
The greatness of your faith is shown in portion to how long you can wait for the fulfillment of the promise. Again, greatness of faith is not proven in what is received, but in how long a person can wait without wavering to receive.
What would you think of a farmer who planted his wheat and then the following day you found him running up and down his field with the harvester? You would consider the farmer quite mad, of course, because he had not learned to wait for God to do his life sustaining transformation under the ground, out of sight of man. So it is with the promises of God. We must wait, and the greatness of faith is proven in the ability of the believer to rest until harvest, knowing all the while that the work that must be done is a supernatural one that God alone can accomplish.
It is easier to lay down one's physical life then it is to lay down the self life, but great faith is shown in the small, insignificant things of life.
The self centered man is blinded both to his condition and to the destruction that he causes, not only in his own life, but also in its wake. He will begin to experience turmoil in the personality, disturbed emotions, and sickness, followed by discord and division in his relationships with others.
I define sanity as having one’s mind, will, and emotions under the control of the Holy Spirit. Technically, sanity is being in touch with reality, and what can be more real than being in touch with God?
Even the believer who is born again and has Christ’s Spirit within the renewed inner person can erect a wall of unbelief and disallows Christ's rule over the soul; at that moment the believer, too, is quite insane.
If we have not learned to judge the source of our thoughts, it will go without saying that we are not judging our emotions, which are more deceiving and useful to the enemy. One problem is that emotions feel the same whether their source is truth or falsehood.
There are only two types of people who have anything to do with sheep: Butchers and Shepherds! The butchers voice, though it may sound like one’s own, will always be hurtful, harsh, condemning, critical, depressing, confusing, and above all else, driving. If not dealt with, it will persist until the one spoken to believes he is hearing his individual predisposition. On the other hand, the Shepherds voice is gentle, loving, and teaching; it leads, lifts one's spirit even when convicting, and brings life and freedom.
Just as we can judge thoughts and reject them, we also can determine which emotions are following the enemies lead. We were not created to live independently of Jesus; that brings insanity. It is only in humble dependence upon the Creator that mind and emotions enter into soundness and trustworthiness.
Because we are all the things that we described in our worst moment, it becomes evident that no one will accept or love us. This realization creates considerable discomfort, since acceptance and love are our deepest needs.
Therefore, the world has the benefit of knowing you in your success suit while you hop, but your family reaps the consequences of knowing the real you.
If we could destroy the identity of what we are at our worst and replace it with a new one, then daily events would not have power over us; we would have no need to become angry and rebellious, coping with our varied idols.
Imagine that when I arrive home one night, the neighbor kids playing in the yard with my children have been perfect angels. They have not thrown rocks, fought, or used bad language. Yet suppose my children did all of these things. At suppertime, who will be invited in to eat? The neighbor children or my children? Mine, of course! But the neighbor children acted better, why are they not invited in? Because they have the wrong last name and are not my children. One day there will be a great feast in heaven, and those who attend will not do so on the basis of their work, but on the basis of their birth. They must have the appropriate last name, “children of the most high God.“ Our co-crucifixion, burial, and new life in Christ (Christ’s life) afford us that privilege. We must say it again: all that is true about Christ’s life is true of the “new you.“ Do you see the importance of this? Each inner life (Adam-life) has taken it’s own peculiar form because of the events, temptations, and the sins of the past. One has become a slander, one a homosexual, another an alcoholic, another a murderer, another a bitter loner, and the list goes on. But each one has the opportunity of exchanging what he has become for what Christ has always been.
Jesus did not come, however, so we could remain the same and mearly be sinners who don’t see him. He took away the life in us that desires sin and replaced it with a heavenly one-his very life. We possess a new identity; now we are saints not sinners. Satan‘s definition of a hypocrite and God’s are totally different. Satan tells us that when we try to act holy we are hypocrites, because we are really wicked, vile sinners. On the other hand, God tells us we are hypocrites when we sin, because we are really holy saints!
Christian growth is simply accepting what we have always been from the first day we accepted Christ. We are not called to change into something, but rather to expand what we already are. We are what we are by birth, and either we are growing in bondage to Adam's life or growing in the freedom of Christ’s life.
If you were born again, your old Adam-life has been put to death and replaced with Christs very life. Does the New Testament give you commands to change or to reveal what you are? To reveal, of course. You are commanded to be holy because you are holy! Why? Christ’s life in you is holy. In all of Paul’s letters, he spends the first half telling believers who they are before he begins to tell them what to do. If we know who we are, then the doing is natural. Do you work to get God’s acceptance or work because you are accepted? Do you read your Bible and pray to get God near to you or because he is near to you? Are you working to be holy, or working because you are? As you can see, it is the difference between life and death in the Christian experience. Satan has gone to great lengths to blind Christians to the complete work of Christ. Many see him only as the sacrifice for sins; they don’t realize that in receiving his very life and the crucifixion of the old self we can be as free from sin as Christ is. This is true salvation— to be free from the old identity and unholy trinity.
We must all take this course on faith, for without it we cannot please God. The exact nature of each believers course will differ, being taylor made by a loving Father, but the results will always be the same. “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.” 2 Corinthians 4:17
The greatness of your faith is shown in portion to how long you can wait for the fulfillment of the promise. Again, greatness of faith is not proven in what is received, but in how long a person can wait without wavering to receive.
What would you think of a farmer who planted his wheat and then the following day you found him running up and down his field with the harvester? You would consider the farmer quite mad, of course, because he had not learned to wait for God to do his life sustaining transformation under the ground, out of sight of man. So it is with the promises of God. We must wait, and the greatness of faith is proven in the ability of the believer to rest until harvest, knowing all the while that the work that must be done is a supernatural one that God alone can accomplish.
It is easier to lay down one's physical life then it is to lay down the self life, but great faith is shown in the small, insignificant things of life.
The self centered man is blinded both to his condition and to the destruction that he causes, not only in his own life, but also in its wake. He will begin to experience turmoil in the personality, disturbed emotions, and sickness, followed by discord and division in his relationships with others.
I define sanity as having one’s mind, will, and emotions under the control of the Holy Spirit. Technically, sanity is being in touch with reality, and what can be more real than being in touch with God?
Even the believer who is born again and has Christ’s Spirit within the renewed inner person can erect a wall of unbelief and disallows Christ's rule over the soul; at that moment the believer, too, is quite insane.
If we have not learned to judge the source of our thoughts, it will go without saying that we are not judging our emotions, which are more deceiving and useful to the enemy. One problem is that emotions feel the same whether their source is truth or falsehood.
There are only two types of people who have anything to do with sheep: Butchers and Shepherds! The butchers voice, though it may sound like one’s own, will always be hurtful, harsh, condemning, critical, depressing, confusing, and above all else, driving. If not dealt with, it will persist until the one spoken to believes he is hearing his individual predisposition. On the other hand, the Shepherds voice is gentle, loving, and teaching; it leads, lifts one's spirit even when convicting, and brings life and freedom.
Just as we can judge thoughts and reject them, we also can determine which emotions are following the enemies lead. We were not created to live independently of Jesus; that brings insanity. It is only in humble dependence upon the Creator that mind and emotions enter into soundness and trustworthiness.
Because we are all the things that we described in our worst moment, it becomes evident that no one will accept or love us. This realization creates considerable discomfort, since acceptance and love are our deepest needs.
Therefore, the world has the benefit of knowing you in your success suit while you hop, but your family reaps the consequences of knowing the real you.
If we could destroy the identity of what we are at our worst and replace it with a new one, then daily events would not have power over us; we would have no need to become angry and rebellious, coping with our varied idols.
Imagine that when I arrive home one night, the neighbor kids playing in the yard with my children have been perfect angels. They have not thrown rocks, fought, or used bad language. Yet suppose my children did all of these things. At suppertime, who will be invited in to eat? The neighbor children or my children? Mine, of course! But the neighbor children acted better, why are they not invited in? Because they have the wrong last name and are not my children. One day there will be a great feast in heaven, and those who attend will not do so on the basis of their work, but on the basis of their birth. They must have the appropriate last name, “children of the most high God.“ Our co-crucifixion, burial, and new life in Christ (Christ’s life) afford us that privilege. We must say it again: all that is true about Christ’s life is true of the “new you.“ Do you see the importance of this? Each inner life (Adam-life) has taken it’s own peculiar form because of the events, temptations, and the sins of the past. One has become a slander, one a homosexual, another an alcoholic, another a murderer, another a bitter loner, and the list goes on. But each one has the opportunity of exchanging what he has become for what Christ has always been.
Jesus did not come, however, so we could remain the same and mearly be sinners who don’t see him. He took away the life in us that desires sin and replaced it with a heavenly one-his very life. We possess a new identity; now we are saints not sinners. Satan‘s definition of a hypocrite and God’s are totally different. Satan tells us that when we try to act holy we are hypocrites, because we are really wicked, vile sinners. On the other hand, God tells us we are hypocrites when we sin, because we are really holy saints!
Christian growth is simply accepting what we have always been from the first day we accepted Christ. We are not called to change into something, but rather to expand what we already are. We are what we are by birth, and either we are growing in bondage to Adam's life or growing in the freedom of Christ’s life.
If you were born again, your old Adam-life has been put to death and replaced with Christs very life. Does the New Testament give you commands to change or to reveal what you are? To reveal, of course. You are commanded to be holy because you are holy! Why? Christ’s life in you is holy. In all of Paul’s letters, he spends the first half telling believers who they are before he begins to tell them what to do. If we know who we are, then the doing is natural. Do you work to get God’s acceptance or work because you are accepted? Do you read your Bible and pray to get God near to you or because he is near to you? Are you working to be holy, or working because you are? As you can see, it is the difference between life and death in the Christian experience. Satan has gone to great lengths to blind Christians to the complete work of Christ. Many see him only as the sacrifice for sins; they don’t realize that in receiving his very life and the crucifixion of the old self we can be as free from sin as Christ is. This is true salvation— to be free from the old identity and unholy trinity.
All for Love - Part VII
My identity: John 3:3-7, 1 John 3:1-2, John 17:16, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:10, 2 Corinthians 6:14-15, 1 Peter 2:9
Throw away those old garments of sin, failure, and defeat, and put on Christ.
Right now your emotions may agree with Satan’s lie that you are just a sinner trying to please God-and a failure at that, but please remember what the mirror, the Bible, is telling you: you are a new creation, what is true of Christ is true of you. You can trust your Father in heaven not to give up on you until you admit you are his child in every way.
Christianity does not originate in the tree from which all other religions do; it springs from the other tree that was in the garden, the Tree of Life, rooted in the person of the Lord Jesus, and based on something much deeper than a mere struggle between good and evil. John 15. Our source of life comes from one source, Jesus Christ.
Every sin that was committed, idol trusted, and identity message received had to register in your mind, will, and emotions (your soul), and therefore, the complete history of your old nature is stored there. The baggage that was accumulated by living with the old nature for years is still stored in the mind, will and emotions. Is it any wonder that we are commanded in Romans 12:2 to renew our minds? Understanding the residue or baggage that was left by the Adam-life will help us to understand how a Christian can walk with the Lord, in the Holy Spirit, for days, weeks and even years, and in an instant find himself attracted to the old sins, idols and feelings of the past.
Imagine Christ’s life dwells in you about where your heart is, and just above that life is a door that opens and closes; we will call that door “the abiding door.” What opens the abiding door is humility and what closes it is pride. If there could be one word that describes God, it would be Love, but the one word that best describes Jesus is humility. Humility is not saying, “I am nothing”; rather, the humble man says, “I have nothing.” Jesus emptied himself, taking the form of a man; he possessed nothing, yet he was the Son of God. In divine obedience, he received moment by moment what he needed from the Father. Jesus did not walk on water because he could, but because his Father told him to.
The same Spirit of humility allows us to recognize that we have nothing, and that our very existence must be supported by the Father moment by moment. If in pride we decide that we possess resources to better deal with daily life then he, at that moment the door closes to his life, and the unholy trinity seizes the opportunity to lure us with a temptation arising from something in our past.
God will not allow the old idols of a new creation to work. They will only cause anxiety depression etc.
We must be careful not to judge Christians as not really being born again for they may only have the door to Christ's life closed. The door can open and close as fast as a thought. Many believe that it can close as fast as a wicked thought, but few know that it also will open just as fast with a repentant prayer.
If you choose to believe and walk in your co-crucifixion with Christ, life often will get worse before it gets better, with dangers increasing. For you become a threat to the enemy!
You are able to walk as Christ walked, crushing the head of the devil, who must mount an attack to persuade you that your experience, not faith in what God says, must be your measure of truth. Satan will say that reality consists of your experiences of being a failure, and being worthless, and being rejected by God because your behavior is not good enough. Satan‘s plan is very simple; he must get you out of the light! Why? For in the light is the fountain of life; in the light we see light. Psalm 36:9. Jesus makes life makes sense, and once I find myself out of his light, life has no center or meaning. Therefore, the enemy wants to draw us out of Christ’s light into his darkness. Then, ever so subtly and unbeknownst to us, the door to Christ’s life closes.
The enemy has a myriad of tricks to take us into darkness. He will try to push your button, so to speak, to drive us back to a carnal existence. There are certain buttons the enemy has pushed for years to make you ineffective; once you are living out of Christ's life, he won’t simply go away! On the contrary, he will push buttons all the more frantically to get the responses of the past. When you see this happening, do take heart, for you have truly found the answer; if you hadn’t the enemy would not be attacking you.
The more we walk in the Lord, the more our emotions are calmed.
When we begin to walk in the will of God, there will be a more steady line, for the emotions begin to respond to what is occurring in faith. Rather than in the body or circumstances.
The spiritual man must be aware of temptations that are not calculated to bring immediate defeat, but downfall years away.
God is much greater than the enemy; this we must not forget! By his own action he will reveal your condition, for God alone can break through the darkness in which Satan has the carnal Christian living.
With the light of the Holy Spirit, the deception of the enemy can be seen clearly. This no man can do; it must be the work of the Holy Spirit. Ask 11:18, 2 Timothy 2:25
When any of us realize the error of our way, the enemy steps up the attack for fear that all of his long efforts and deep deceptions might be for not. He begins to whisper in a voice that is calculated to be confused with conscience, “It has been too long; you have fallen too far and do not have the strength to return.“ “You will only be a phony if you try.“ “You are fake.“ “God has cut you off because of the length and depth of your sin.“ “You had your chance. “ “You are not saved.” “You can’t do any better.“ It is all said in hopes that we will not return and learn the true character of God.
The true depth of a person’s faith is revealed in his ability to accept forgiveness in the midst of his deepest defeat.
When you have done nothing wrong, perhaps the thought of death does not frighten you because you carry with you a nice little bag of good works with which you think the Lord will be pleased. However, failure reveals where you have really put your trust; if in its midst you shrink back in fear, you prove that your righteousness was based on what you could do, and not on what Jesus has done. Many in the midst of failure refuse forgiveness, continuing a self-inflicted punishment until they believe they have paid the price. Some are so unbelieving that they even begin to make up excuses for why God should not forgive them. The solution is repentance and pressing on.
We forget that ministry is a gift from God which is exercised as the door to his life in us is opened. If a leader sins, he must follow the prescription in the New Testament for sin and go on: James 4:7-10
If you have ever once experienced freedom from your failures, you can experience it once again for it is moment by moment. If as a believer, you have shut the door, repent, accept his forgiveness in spite of how you feel, and press on. Shortening the time span that you allow yourself to wallow after defeat will conversely give an increased time victory.
Throw away those old garments of sin, failure, and defeat, and put on Christ.
Right now your emotions may agree with Satan’s lie that you are just a sinner trying to please God-and a failure at that, but please remember what the mirror, the Bible, is telling you: you are a new creation, what is true of Christ is true of you. You can trust your Father in heaven not to give up on you until you admit you are his child in every way.
Christianity does not originate in the tree from which all other religions do; it springs from the other tree that was in the garden, the Tree of Life, rooted in the person of the Lord Jesus, and based on something much deeper than a mere struggle between good and evil. John 15. Our source of life comes from one source, Jesus Christ.
Every sin that was committed, idol trusted, and identity message received had to register in your mind, will, and emotions (your soul), and therefore, the complete history of your old nature is stored there. The baggage that was accumulated by living with the old nature for years is still stored in the mind, will and emotions. Is it any wonder that we are commanded in Romans 12:2 to renew our minds? Understanding the residue or baggage that was left by the Adam-life will help us to understand how a Christian can walk with the Lord, in the Holy Spirit, for days, weeks and even years, and in an instant find himself attracted to the old sins, idols and feelings of the past.
Imagine Christ’s life dwells in you about where your heart is, and just above that life is a door that opens and closes; we will call that door “the abiding door.” What opens the abiding door is humility and what closes it is pride. If there could be one word that describes God, it would be Love, but the one word that best describes Jesus is humility. Humility is not saying, “I am nothing”; rather, the humble man says, “I have nothing.” Jesus emptied himself, taking the form of a man; he possessed nothing, yet he was the Son of God. In divine obedience, he received moment by moment what he needed from the Father. Jesus did not walk on water because he could, but because his Father told him to.
The same Spirit of humility allows us to recognize that we have nothing, and that our very existence must be supported by the Father moment by moment. If in pride we decide that we possess resources to better deal with daily life then he, at that moment the door closes to his life, and the unholy trinity seizes the opportunity to lure us with a temptation arising from something in our past.
God will not allow the old idols of a new creation to work. They will only cause anxiety depression etc.
We must be careful not to judge Christians as not really being born again for they may only have the door to Christ's life closed. The door can open and close as fast as a thought. Many believe that it can close as fast as a wicked thought, but few know that it also will open just as fast with a repentant prayer.
If you choose to believe and walk in your co-crucifixion with Christ, life often will get worse before it gets better, with dangers increasing. For you become a threat to the enemy!
You are able to walk as Christ walked, crushing the head of the devil, who must mount an attack to persuade you that your experience, not faith in what God says, must be your measure of truth. Satan will say that reality consists of your experiences of being a failure, and being worthless, and being rejected by God because your behavior is not good enough. Satan‘s plan is very simple; he must get you out of the light! Why? For in the light is the fountain of life; in the light we see light. Psalm 36:9. Jesus makes life makes sense, and once I find myself out of his light, life has no center or meaning. Therefore, the enemy wants to draw us out of Christ’s light into his darkness. Then, ever so subtly and unbeknownst to us, the door to Christ’s life closes.
The enemy has a myriad of tricks to take us into darkness. He will try to push your button, so to speak, to drive us back to a carnal existence. There are certain buttons the enemy has pushed for years to make you ineffective; once you are living out of Christ's life, he won’t simply go away! On the contrary, he will push buttons all the more frantically to get the responses of the past. When you see this happening, do take heart, for you have truly found the answer; if you hadn’t the enemy would not be attacking you.
The more we walk in the Lord, the more our emotions are calmed.
When we begin to walk in the will of God, there will be a more steady line, for the emotions begin to respond to what is occurring in faith. Rather than in the body or circumstances.
The spiritual man must be aware of temptations that are not calculated to bring immediate defeat, but downfall years away.
God is much greater than the enemy; this we must not forget! By his own action he will reveal your condition, for God alone can break through the darkness in which Satan has the carnal Christian living.
With the light of the Holy Spirit, the deception of the enemy can be seen clearly. This no man can do; it must be the work of the Holy Spirit. Ask 11:18, 2 Timothy 2:25
When any of us realize the error of our way, the enemy steps up the attack for fear that all of his long efforts and deep deceptions might be for not. He begins to whisper in a voice that is calculated to be confused with conscience, “It has been too long; you have fallen too far and do not have the strength to return.“ “You will only be a phony if you try.“ “You are fake.“ “God has cut you off because of the length and depth of your sin.“ “You had your chance. “ “You are not saved.” “You can’t do any better.“ It is all said in hopes that we will not return and learn the true character of God.
The true depth of a person’s faith is revealed in his ability to accept forgiveness in the midst of his deepest defeat.
When you have done nothing wrong, perhaps the thought of death does not frighten you because you carry with you a nice little bag of good works with which you think the Lord will be pleased. However, failure reveals where you have really put your trust; if in its midst you shrink back in fear, you prove that your righteousness was based on what you could do, and not on what Jesus has done. Many in the midst of failure refuse forgiveness, continuing a self-inflicted punishment until they believe they have paid the price. Some are so unbelieving that they even begin to make up excuses for why God should not forgive them. The solution is repentance and pressing on.
We forget that ministry is a gift from God which is exercised as the door to his life in us is opened. If a leader sins, he must follow the prescription in the New Testament for sin and go on: James 4:7-10
If you have ever once experienced freedom from your failures, you can experience it once again for it is moment by moment. If as a believer, you have shut the door, repent, accept his forgiveness in spite of how you feel, and press on. Shortening the time span that you allow yourself to wallow after defeat will conversely give an increased time victory.
All for Love - Part VIII
The unique self created by God is distinct in each person; it includes a person's God-given talents, abilities, intellect, personality, and temperament. The unique self is like a tool. It can do nothing on its own, but derives its value from how it is used and by whom. For example, a hammer can be used by a madman to kill someone or by a generous man to build a window at home. The same is true of the unique self. The unique self cannot be changed, but its source and purpose can be exchanged. There are three unique selves.
Self # 1- The unique self under the control of the Adam-life; this self belongs to the unbeliever, or unregenerate man, producing a condition called flesh. God‘s command concerning the Self # 1 is that it be crucified in Galatians 2:20.
Self # 2- The unique self under the control of the baggage and residue of the dead and removed Adam-life and unholy trinity. This person is a born-again believer in a carnal condition. The command regarding this self is to deny it daily by the power of the cross. Luke 9:23
Self # 3- The unique self under the control of Christ’s life within. This person manifests a condition called walking in the Spirit. The commandment concerning Self #3 is that we are to love it. Matthew 19:19
Boasting must be in the Creator of the unique self. The first will be last and the last shall be first. No one creates himself. Just remember, however God is made you, enjoy yourself, love yourself, and refuse to listen to those who would intimidate by boasting of their natural abilities. Whatever measure God has given you, enjoy it.
Whenever the door just above your heart is closed to Christ’s life, the enemy tempts you to dabble again in the garbage resident in the mind, causing you to live a replica of the life you did before becoming a Christian.
Relationships ever flow; what makes them wonderful is not so much what happened in the past, but what is happening in the present moment. It doesn’t matter that you got along with your wife the first year of your marriage; what matters is how you are getting along now.
God has the aspiration to be in fellowship with us moment by moment; he also has a plan to bring about his wishes. First of all, he must destroy the old self that dwells within and replace it with the life of his Son. If this is not done, then no fellowship with him is even possible. The next thing that he does is to leave all the baggage and residue from the old man in the mind. When through unbelief a person closes the door to his life within and consequently cuts off fellowship, of necessity all the baggage, garbage, residue, lying emotions, false feelings, old idols, inaccurate identity, and every manifestation of the flesh arise. In fact, this one is now more miserable than when dwelling in the world. God will drive to build the believers awareness of a desire to be free from those miseries 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, 60 minutes an hour, 60 seconds a minute, yes, moment by moment. It is then that God can do business! You see, God structures our lives in such a way as to keep us ever near his side.
Jesus, just like the bread that fed Israel in the wilderness, is to be consumed daily, if one tries to keep what he has savored of the Lord one day for the next, it will prove to be useless. Jesus is to be partaken of each day! Exodus 16
People often tell me they simply do not understand their condition. They explain that a few years ago they came to the place of giving up on all their own resolve and methods to save themselves, and did in fact find real victory. This I do not question; they did in fact come to the end of themselves several years ago. The problem is that they haven’t come to the end of themselves in the moment in which they are talking to me. It must be firmly implanted in our minds that victory is for one moment at a time, and that in any given moment we are participating in eternal victory or eternal defeat.
Therefore, the only thing that Satan must accomplish to defeat us is to steal the moment, which he does by reminding us about the past or nudging our fears about the future!
Many Christians have allowed an incident in the past to continue to steal abundant life from them in moments that stretch into days and then years.
Many have relinquished the present moment through unforgiveness; though they took place several years ago, memorable encounters may have access into their mind at any instant, stealing peace and joy.
The carnal mind sees the progression from a life of defeat to the life of victory somewhat like a staircase. Each time he does good, he takes one step up the staircase, and each time he complies with evil, he regresses one step. But the book of Galatians teaches that our options are to walk after the flesh or in the Spirit, and there is no staircase. At any given moment one is either in the flesh or in the Spirit, tapped into eternal defeat or eternal victory. Remember that many believe that the door to Christ life can close as fast as a thought, but do not believe that it can also open as quickly with repentance. What opens the door is humility, saying that one has nothing or, “I can’t.” What closes the door is pride, which says, “I can.” God has so structured things that victory will only be moment by moment as we abide in Jesus Christ.
For some reason that we need not know, the majority of Christians are satisfied to walk away from the Lord; God allows it, but is not content until he calls them back to himself. Anyone who wants to go from the room called “Carnal“ to the suite titled “Spiritual” must take the only doorway, named “trouble, suffering, and defeat.“
The Lord spends considerable time teaching us to recognize the baggage and residue when it surfaces. Those old things (of depression, unbelief, desire to do drugs, pornography, alcohol abuse, etc) are flashing red lights informing us that the door is closed. And here is a secret: the more baggage that one has, the more flashing red lights he has, and the more he will be aware of his need to abide. The more one is aware of his need to abide, the more he will open the door, and, therefore, the more he will have Christ’s life living through him.
The more weakness, the more power released; therefore, he would be proud of his limitations. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 ; 1 Corinthians 1:25-29
Don’t lament over your past failures, hurts, and identity; they have all been crucified, and their remembrance is but God’s stronghold. Do you realize, child of God, all that Satan had planned for your destruction, God has planned for your good? Satan may taylor-make a temptation to destroy you, but God will walk by and, with the snap of his fingers, change the newly designed funeral clothes into garments of celebration. God is never, I repeat, never outdone by Satan.
Self # 1- The unique self under the control of the Adam-life; this self belongs to the unbeliever, or unregenerate man, producing a condition called flesh. God‘s command concerning the Self # 1 is that it be crucified in Galatians 2:20.
Self # 2- The unique self under the control of the baggage and residue of the dead and removed Adam-life and unholy trinity. This person is a born-again believer in a carnal condition. The command regarding this self is to deny it daily by the power of the cross. Luke 9:23
Self # 3- The unique self under the control of Christ’s life within. This person manifests a condition called walking in the Spirit. The commandment concerning Self #3 is that we are to love it. Matthew 19:19
Boasting must be in the Creator of the unique self. The first will be last and the last shall be first. No one creates himself. Just remember, however God is made you, enjoy yourself, love yourself, and refuse to listen to those who would intimidate by boasting of their natural abilities. Whatever measure God has given you, enjoy it.
Whenever the door just above your heart is closed to Christ’s life, the enemy tempts you to dabble again in the garbage resident in the mind, causing you to live a replica of the life you did before becoming a Christian.
Relationships ever flow; what makes them wonderful is not so much what happened in the past, but what is happening in the present moment. It doesn’t matter that you got along with your wife the first year of your marriage; what matters is how you are getting along now.
God has the aspiration to be in fellowship with us moment by moment; he also has a plan to bring about his wishes. First of all, he must destroy the old self that dwells within and replace it with the life of his Son. If this is not done, then no fellowship with him is even possible. The next thing that he does is to leave all the baggage and residue from the old man in the mind. When through unbelief a person closes the door to his life within and consequently cuts off fellowship, of necessity all the baggage, garbage, residue, lying emotions, false feelings, old idols, inaccurate identity, and every manifestation of the flesh arise. In fact, this one is now more miserable than when dwelling in the world. God will drive to build the believers awareness of a desire to be free from those miseries 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, 60 minutes an hour, 60 seconds a minute, yes, moment by moment. It is then that God can do business! You see, God structures our lives in such a way as to keep us ever near his side.
Jesus, just like the bread that fed Israel in the wilderness, is to be consumed daily, if one tries to keep what he has savored of the Lord one day for the next, it will prove to be useless. Jesus is to be partaken of each day! Exodus 16
People often tell me they simply do not understand their condition. They explain that a few years ago they came to the place of giving up on all their own resolve and methods to save themselves, and did in fact find real victory. This I do not question; they did in fact come to the end of themselves several years ago. The problem is that they haven’t come to the end of themselves in the moment in which they are talking to me. It must be firmly implanted in our minds that victory is for one moment at a time, and that in any given moment we are participating in eternal victory or eternal defeat.
Therefore, the only thing that Satan must accomplish to defeat us is to steal the moment, which he does by reminding us about the past or nudging our fears about the future!
Many Christians have allowed an incident in the past to continue to steal abundant life from them in moments that stretch into days and then years.
Many have relinquished the present moment through unforgiveness; though they took place several years ago, memorable encounters may have access into their mind at any instant, stealing peace and joy.
The carnal mind sees the progression from a life of defeat to the life of victory somewhat like a staircase. Each time he does good, he takes one step up the staircase, and each time he complies with evil, he regresses one step. But the book of Galatians teaches that our options are to walk after the flesh or in the Spirit, and there is no staircase. At any given moment one is either in the flesh or in the Spirit, tapped into eternal defeat or eternal victory. Remember that many believe that the door to Christ life can close as fast as a thought, but do not believe that it can also open as quickly with repentance. What opens the door is humility, saying that one has nothing or, “I can’t.” What closes the door is pride, which says, “I can.” God has so structured things that victory will only be moment by moment as we abide in Jesus Christ.
For some reason that we need not know, the majority of Christians are satisfied to walk away from the Lord; God allows it, but is not content until he calls them back to himself. Anyone who wants to go from the room called “Carnal“ to the suite titled “Spiritual” must take the only doorway, named “trouble, suffering, and defeat.“
The Lord spends considerable time teaching us to recognize the baggage and residue when it surfaces. Those old things (of depression, unbelief, desire to do drugs, pornography, alcohol abuse, etc) are flashing red lights informing us that the door is closed. And here is a secret: the more baggage that one has, the more flashing red lights he has, and the more he will be aware of his need to abide. The more one is aware of his need to abide, the more he will open the door, and, therefore, the more he will have Christ’s life living through him.
The more weakness, the more power released; therefore, he would be proud of his limitations. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 ; 1 Corinthians 1:25-29
Don’t lament over your past failures, hurts, and identity; they have all been crucified, and their remembrance is but God’s stronghold. Do you realize, child of God, all that Satan had planned for your destruction, God has planned for your good? Satan may taylor-make a temptation to destroy you, but God will walk by and, with the snap of his fingers, change the newly designed funeral clothes into garments of celebration. God is never, I repeat, never outdone by Satan.
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