The Thing is Not the Thing (part II)

When I was a child I had a problem with hard candy, I was always choking on it.  I will never forget the time my grandma had me by the ankles shaking me upside down to release a Brach’s mint from my throat.  It’s funny now, but at the time it was frightening, fighting for air, violently trying to get that thing out of me!  Hold on to that picture.

In part 1 of this post, we looked at how we view events that enter our lives.  Do we see them happening TO us or do we see ourselves above them, impervious?  I hope today I flip all your thinking on its head!   

The question IS, do you understand your purpose as a believer?  It all boils down to the fact that we as believers are called.  God called the light day and the darkness night, God called Abraham father of many nations, Jesus was called the Son of God, Jesus called His 12 disciples, Paul was called an Apostle, and we are ALL called saints.   Paul was set apart for the Gospel of God, each of us were set apart, strategically placed, and equipped to carry out God’s plan and purpose. (Rom 1:1-6)   Since part of the work of the spirit of sanctification is to mold us into Christ’s image, circumstances WILL perfect us, BUT CIRCUMSTANCES WEREN’T PURPOSED FOR US, WE WERE PURPOSED FOR THEM!

The second Christ installs His life in a believer He expects him to be ready to pick up the army manual and move out.  When we are born again it’s not in a quiet hospital room in a free country; we are born as freed citizens outside our homeland, into a corrupt kingdom ruled by a tyrant king, smack in the middle of a war.  The training happens on the move, and the war wasn’t made for you, you were made for the war!  We were never meant to live life defending ourselves; we were created to operate offensively!!!!  We are like paratroopers that were dropped in the middle of an ongoing battle, fully equipped.    Christ has freed us to engage in this battle, we are to free those in captivity and advance His kingdom, by boldly declaring Christ’s victory and authority wherever we find lawlessness and corruption. 

The idea that situations enter our lives is backward, WE ENTER SITUATIONS!  With our cover of righteousness we march boldly into the middle of spiritual lawlessness and declare victory for OUR KING.  The enemy will take the bait and foolishly attack, but will soon discover that he has bitten off more than he can chew.  We are simply standing in Christ’s victory, holding fast to His promises and His truth till the enemy is forced to admit he is operating outside his jurisdiction and lay down his weapons and leave.  We are not the focus, the world is the focus.  We are in covenant with the living God, to fulfill His purpose, we benefit because we are His!

God has always operated this way; we have just failed to see it.  In order to free us from the power and penalty of sin Christ had to infiltrate death covertly, He did this when He laid His life down at His cross.  Satan swallowed Christ whole at the cross, but soon discovered he had bitten the poisoned capsule and it was too late, he was already dead.  He writhed frantically trying to expel the Blameless, Righteous Christ, but the Holy Propitiation had already done its work; sin had lost its power, and Satan had lost his death grip on mankind.  

Christ in us is the devil’s worst nightmare.  My complete hope rests in Christ who is in me ROARING LIKE A LION!  All my boasting is in HIM!  He has made us Impermeable, Implacable, Unshakeable, we are cloaked, hidden in Christ; Satan can’t touch us, and has no authority to harm us.  We are a trap waiting to be sprung!  So the next time Satan comes at you, I expect you to look him square in the eye and say, “Bite me, and I hope you choke on it”.   

The Thing is Not the Thing (part I)

I am part of a women’s small group that meets once a week to behold Christ in the Word.  I am sure if I began a sentence with “The thing”….. The rest of the women in the group could finish the sentence, “is not the thing.”  It is a concept that God dropped in me several years ago.  It means, nothing is what is seems at first blush, look deeper and see through the eyes of faith, not flesh.  It’s so simple, yet there is absolutely no way any of us can get there on our own.  That in fact is the beauty of it because for years I did try to get there on my own, and the very thing that prevented me from getting there was that I thought the “thing” was the thing.  Confused?  I pray that the Holy Spirit gives you crystal clear understanding of what I mean.

As I’ve said before, my MAIN goal in writing this blog is that believers experience the liberty that exists only in Christ, and the victory of an effortless rested walk.   In prior posts I have reminded you of the truth of who you became when you were born again.  You are not who you were, and most importantly your actions are no longer dictated by your flesh but by His Spirit which is dominant in you, and your flesh now submits to the will of the Spirit in you. (Once in a while you need to remind it to sit down and shut up and enjoy the ride).  The real you HAS BEEN reconciled to Christ; until you awaken to that truth you will behave as an estranged child.  So stop seeing yourself as a bad little boy or girl who is continuously disappointing your Father and needs constant discipline to be kept in line.  We were broken under the incredible weight of sin that saddled us and we WERE MADE FREE when we trusted in Christ to remove that saddle of sin.   The key to victory is an accurate perspective, and the key to an accurate perspective is, assuming your proper position.  Christ did not permeate us with His victorious risen Self so we could continue to see things from a limited fleshly point of view; He positioned us high above, WITH Him so we could see things accurately from His triumphant perspective.
 

Is your focus fleshly and inward?   If so you will discern every situation that enters your little life bubble carnally.  First you will focus on how your flesh is being affected…Why is this happening to me, what have I done to cause this, and what can I do to make it stop?  Many Christians look at “events” or “trials” or whatever you want to call them and immediately the goal is to figure out how to get through it, because they see the event as happening TO them.  What if your perspective was from a higher plane, looking down, instead of identifying WITH the event.  What if we stopped categorizing everything that came into our life as either good or bad?  What if we saw our life as a mission, everything as blessing and ourselves as, implacable!  IN CHRIST this is exactly the case!  James says consider it all joy when you encounter various EXPERIMENTS!   Yes! Peirasmos is the Greek word for experiment, or proving!  When a scientist tests a hypothesis, he is proving out for all to see what he already has confidence in.  God knows His promises are solid and will hold up under grueling examination.  As believers we should not fear living under a microscope so the world can examine our lives for evidence that God’s word WORKS!  But before you can convince anyone else, YOU have to have confidence in what you are selling!
 

Does His Word work for you?  His Word is Spirit and it is life, and so are you, since Christ came to live IN YOU.  But if you see yourself as flesh, and you see your problems as physical, and you see your life as here on this earth, Spiritual food will do you no good.  In order for you to see spiritually, you must stop seeing with your limited physical eyes.  Pluck the dang things out if you need to but stop living life on a short leash, bound by fear, and lying emotions.  (Ok don’t really pluck out your eyes; just yield them, along with all your members, to righteousness)  Aren’t you tired of this constant waffling?  Questioning God at every turn…Did God inflict me with this or am I being attacked by the devil?  Is God going to deliver me or does He want to teach me something?  Did I cause this by some “un-confessed” sin in my life?  Me, me, me, I, I, I,-- STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT!  For goodness sake get over yourself.  Christ wants to live through you, so let Him.  He delivers, because HE IS a deliverer, He heals, because HE IS a healer, He provides because HE IS a provider, He Loves, because HE IS LOVE!  He acts based on who HE is.  If His reaction toward us had ANY dependence on our actions HE WOULD BE CONTINUOUSLY DISAPPOINTED IN US!!  He sanctified us and set us apart, SO HE COULD BE HIMSELF TO US AND IN US!  Stop thinking it’s all about trying to pretty up your flesh; it’s all about magnifying His Son in spite of your flesh.  

Once this concept comes alive in you, you will not live from mountaintop to mountaintop; circumstances will not dictate how things are going.  This is what Jesus meant when He said to find your life you must lose it.  Not so you could carry around a cross every day and suffer till He returns, what good is your suffering to Him?  Can it redeem ONE person?  He meant exchange that lie of a life you are living and live LIFE inhabited by the one who INVENTED LIFE!  Next post we will see what this kind of life looks like! 

To Be or Not to Be

In my last couple of posts I purposed to create an excitement in you regarding the liberty we have in Christ and the truth that; God intended for us all to live as liberated beings!  It is and will always be the knowing of the truth that makes us free. (John 8:32) This word  know  is ginosko which is to know, perceive, understand, and to become known, it is used as an idiom in the Greek for sexual intercourse, and is derived from the same word as ginomai, meaning to become.  So if we amplify the text in its context we see that it is the inward knowing of God’s truth that causes us to be in such communion with Christ (who alone is truth) that we are transformed into His image, truth.   The word free is eleutheroo, which means to set at liberty, one that is no longer under restraint, as if setting free from slavery.  And vs 36 literally translated says if the Son sets you at liberty then you are in fact free, there is an expectation that we exist in that freedom!    

So the obvious question is free from what?  Many of us would say free from religious rule keeping.   I would agree that in setting us free from the law of sin and death, the focus is no longer on improving our behavior in order to gain favor with God, and that God’s focus is His Son, who perfectly behaved and met every demand of the prior covenant so we could live free from the demands of it.   But I would contend that we are not fully experiencing freedom FROM because OUR focus is still on behavior.  God indwelt us with Christ not to make our flesh behave better but to free us from our flesh.  While many of us realize that we cannot behave better by trying harder, we still think that behaving better is the end game.   Many Christians live and die having never realized the power and purpose that is available by walking in the Spirit, which simply means refusing to walk preoccupied by the flesh. 

The bible is full of the promise of fruit to those who walk by faith in agreement with the Spirit, but many see these passages as discouraging stumbling blocks that signal they are nowhere near ready to move into God’s purpose for them.  Many assume (because we still see our flesh as something that needs dealt with) that God cannot possibly accomplish His will through us till we are free from these nasty little habits and behaviors.   Having hearts that are sincere toward God many beg and plead for God to “make me more like Christ!”  When all the while we ARE completely consumed in and by the living Christ, having BEEN given all things necessary for the task at hand.  II Peter 1:3&4 tells us that having called us, God fully supplied us through the epignosis (correct and accurate knowledge) of Christ, the purpose being that we would become partakers of HIS DIVINE NATURE, having escaped (past-tense) the hindrances of the old nature!  And this word for become in vs 4 is ginomai, which is not a gradual process of *becoming*, but signifies a change of condition, you WERE that and now you ARE this! The truth that HAS transformed us into the Righteousness of God dwells on the inside of us.  We behold it constantly before us; we have no choice but to be transformed. (2Cor 3:17 & 18)  All of 2 Corinthians 3 is telling us that the glory that comes from obedience to rules is temporary, it will not produce life. 

IN A NUTSHELL>> We are blinded to the transforming nature of Christ and a veil comes over our hearts when we behold His Word and discern imperatives to strive toward rather than the Spirit of the Lord which alone has the power to change us from Glory to Glory.   The power in the grace of God to transform will be of no effect to you if you discern demand instead of supply.(Gal 5:4)  The volume of The Book points to Christ, in whom every demand IS ALREADY MET.

You have become meet for the task you were preordained to perform and all that is necessary is your yielding to the truth of WHO YOU ARE!  Does it make any sense that God would predestine us to be conformed to the image of His will and preordain works to be done by us and not equip us for the task?  Why would He leave that to chance?  Is He a God of loose ends?  The completed work of Christ is just that, completed!  Rest in who He HAS MADE you, trust the truth of His Word.   Preoccupation with the flesh is carnality, no matter how you slice it. 

You are not your flesh, you no longer reside in your flesh you reside in the Spirit, there is work to be done, you have been equipped to do it, you now serve righteousness, simply yield to it!

Romancing the Stone Tablets

My last post, *Grace Alone (but don’t go crazy with it)*, touched on the fleshly component that accompanies the fresh revelation of Grace that Christ is breathing into the Church in these last days.  It is different than the disclaimer of old that warned against misconstruing Grace as a license to sin, but it comes from an unspoken fear that Grace alone will not produce holiness.   It is the message that God’s Grace is free, it is unmerited, but it does not free us from “obeying” (or trying to follow) the imperatives in the Bible, and the new buzz-phrase for this “there is still something you must do concept” is *Grace Driven Effort*.

Adding a “but” to Grace is not new, Paul himself dealt with it often, and in reality it is as deceptive and destructive in the body as the deceit of sin is outside the body.  The truth is, religious rule keeping and grace driven effort are not different, and the result will be the same.  The focus is still on the keeping of rules.  Somehow we have determined that since we have detached the earning of salvation from the rule keeping, we are free to strive away to achieve holiness, but now it is a grace driven striving.  If grace is driving a thing, the point at which fleshly effort begins is the point where grace stops.  Having begun in the Spirit are you now made perfect by the flesh? (Gal 3:3) Yes Paul is speaking of our righteousness, but can the flesh perfect or acheive anything lasting in its own power?   (Paul mentions 2 ways we are to labor, hard physical labor, completely abandoned to the Holy Spirit’s leading; and laboring to rest in Christ’s finished work, which is a continual refusal to trust in our flesh) 

The bible makes it clear we are to put NO confidence in the flesh, and neither the law nor imperatives, no matter how you slice it have ever produced holiness.  Romans 7: 2-5 explains the difference between the fruit produced by the letter of the Law (our dead husband) and the fruit produced by the law of the Spirit (our new husband who is very much alive).  Any union between our flesh and Mr. Letter-of-the Law, will result in miscarriage, premature birth and stillborn children, fruit unto death.(vs. 5)  Conversely, children that come from the union between our spirit and Mr. Spirit-of-Life, will be healthy children that have been carried full term and will live a long healthy life, the fruit of the Spirit.   Why do we continue to produce stillborn children with our dead husband?  Why do we continue to try and temper the freedom we have in Christ, what are we afraid of?

The problem is, those wielding the message are more confident in the arm of the flesh to lose control, than they are the spirit of Grace to restrain.  If we truly believe that right believing produces right behaving, why the big ‘ol BUT?  Let’s look at the fruit produced quite effortlessly by our flesh before we were saved.  Was there a book of imperatives that we all followed that taught us how to sin?  Romans 6:19-22 says that unrighteous deeds were produced by our flesh when we naturally obeyed unrighteousness; because we were FREE from righteousness!  We were simply lending our members to unrighteousness, and our flesh followed suit.  In fact, we often had to restrain our flesh physically so it would behave seemly for a time.  So why, now that we have been MADE righteous, and are simply asked to lend our members to righteousness and allow them to obey righteousness, do we believe there must be some effort involved.  Just as when we obeyed unrighteousness simply because we yielded to the thing that drove us, we WILL obey righteousness by simply yielding to the thing that drives our members now…RIGHTEOUSNESS!  Vs. 21 says that unrighteousness produced a fruit in us to our shame, and vs. 22 says that now we HAVE our fruit unto holiness that is produced in us because we ARE free from sin. 

There is no grace driven effort on our part, we do not need to jump start the process or prime the pump in order for God to keep it going.  He has MADE us righteous, we are called to believe what He says about Himself and about us, and then we WILL behave what we believe.  The power of God’s grace will always trump the power that sin had in our lives.  He knows grace is what restrains and empowers us in the time of greatest weakness, and so where sin abounds, His GRACE SUPERABOUNDS!

Grace Alone (but don't go crazy with it)

By now you may have heard, you may even be part of what many in the church are calling the “Gospel centered”, or “Christ centered” movement.  God is definitely on the move, and His message is always and has always been, His Son.  God has never spoken in secret, keeping His plans from His own; His desire has always been that His chosen ones would have a part in spreading the wonder of Him to a lost world. As God’s plan unfolds He is constantly revealing more and more of His agenda and His Son, to us His children, who make up His Church. In Hebrews 1:2 God tells us that in these last days He has spoken to us through His Son.  It is the mystery given to Paul, God’s plan to redeem humanity, Christ in us, beseeching the world through us, that is constantly unfolding and expanding till it comes to full manifestation at His return!  So at every turn, man has given some label to the fresh revelation uncovered for us by the Holy Spirit, as if to take ownership of it or credit somehow for its discovery. 

Part of the irony, to me, is, if this new movement is centered on Christ and His too good to be true message of salvation (which is a complete work as we have discussed in previous posts, not just a get out of hell free card) what in the WORLD were we centered on before?  But all that aside, let me present the real reason for this post.  I want to do a little autopsy on the term, discipleship. I say autopsy because the word disciple was never seen again after Acts 21:16, so to dissect it we must first exhume it.  The definition for the Greek word mathetes is a learner, pupil, disciple.  The teachings of one are passed by word of mouth, one to another.  Now at this point there are many directions we could go, we could discuss the difference between a disciple and an apostle; we could talk about the fact that the 12 apostles were directed to carry a different message to a different people group than was the Apostle Paul, and on and on.  But the focus of this post is what WE are called to.  Are we disciples? And are we instructed to go make disciples? 

Keep in mind that Paul was not taught by any man, the revelation of Christ was imparted to Paul supernaturally by the Spirit of God.  Today we are not merely adherents to the teachings of Jesus, the very Spirit of the risen Christ is imparted to us when we receive and believe His Word.  Colossians 3 says we have put on the new man which is already perfected in the knowledge of Christ.  John 14, I John 2, Romans 8, tells us that the Holy Spirit instructs our Spirit man inwardly and the Word renews (Rom 12) our mind so that we will begin to see our flesh line up with the truth of who we have become in Christ.  Paul, the Apostle that God entrusted with His message to us, never said go make disciples of all nations.   He said God is beseeching the world through us “Be Ye Reconciled to God!”   Through us, because God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself through Christ and Christ is now alive in us.  The mandate of the Gospel through Paul is not to merely be a “follower” of Christ and His teachings, the Greek word mimetes is poorly translated follower (I Cor 4:16, 11:1, Eph 5:1, Phil 3:17) and is actually the word mimic in the English.   We will be mimickers of Paul, just as he is a mimicker of Christ because The Living Word which has the power to save the world and to transform the lost into sons and daughters of God resides in us, ready to be unleashed as the Holy Spirit utters these words of life through us.   Those who receive this power are not merely disciples, they become new creatures! Partakers of the Divine nature of Christ!  

The concept of making disciples falls short of the original intent of the Gospel of God.  It also carries with it a fleshly component that ministers of the gospel seem unwilling to completely let go of.

There is an awakening to the unmerited Grace of God, but alongside there is a disclaimer that says we must temper the freedom we have in Christ with an explanation of what freedom is NOT, or all hell will break loose and grace will be the culprit.  If too much grace is to blame for licentiousness, then what a cruel tactic that grace should super abound where sin abounds.   Man, stop trusting in your ability to restrain the people and trust the power in the Grace of God.  Only when grace is PURE will it produce the fruit of righteousness that comes from an unfettered gospel. 

There is much more to be said here.  But for now let me close with this.  Whoever we may be, believer, Pastor, Evangelist, Youth leader, we do not drive the message, the message drives us.  We do not shape the message, the message shapes us.  Let’s keep a right perspective, and maybe not take ourselves so seriously.  We need only rest in the One who embodies the message, and His ability to accomplish all that He intended for His word to accomplish.  

That's My Story and I'm Sticking to It

We talk a lot about the fact that God operates according to principals that He has instituted, to counteract the principals of the corrupt system that Satan instituted.  Hopefully it is bringing clarity to your purpose as a believer and the how to of walking it out.  Knowing we not only have a role individually in God’s plan but we are part of His corporate plan “the Church” to carry out His will on the earth, keeps us focused on truth and our mission, and keeps us from getting bogged down in the world.

America has strayed far from the model that I believe was God inspired.  But God’s original intent was for the branches of government and the judicial system to mirror God’s justice system and how we are to operate here as representatives of the kingdom of God.  Isaiah 33:22 gives us some insight, it says “The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King, He will save us.  (The 3 branches of U.S. government, Judicial, Legislative, Executive) 

So here is what that looks like practically.  In the court system, you have the Judge who arbitrates and decides matters, the prosecuting attorney who brings accusation of your crime, the defense attorney who is your advocate, witnesses for the accuser and witnesses for the defense who speak on your behalf.  Then often there is a jury of 12 who hears and weighs the testimony to make a determination for or against the defendant.  The whole process is called a trial.  (Hopefully you can already see where this is going)

So let’s say the believer is faced with an accusation.  Let’s say we find ourselves in the midst of sin, or we receive a diagnosis of illness or a bad report in our life. (i.e. Job loss, whatever) That would be equivalent to being arrested by the police.  At that point most people know the rule of thumb is, “don’t talk to anyone, don’t admit anything, don’t say one word till your attorney is present".  These instructions will serve us well when dealing with one of the above situations.  When “catastrophe” strikes, we should guard our mouths and not let one admission of defeat or guilt come out of our mouth.  We should run to God’s word to find wisdom for the moment.  After one’s attorney (Christ is our advocate) arrives they talk privately with their client and develop a strategy to prove the client's innocence.

Now I want to stop here and make sure we are of one mindset before I go on because this is key.  If you have trusted in Christ as your substitute for your sin, YOU ARE INNOCENT.  No matter what the crime, even if you committed it, YOU ARE INNOCENT.  The believer is declared NOT guilty the moment he trusts in Christ to save Him.  That innocence can never be revoked!  GOT IT?  Ok, so throughout this whole trial, no matter who is deposing you (who is listening to your testimony) your testimony never changes, you are innocent.  Whether it’s some behavior, or sickness, or whatever the trial, your accuser is waiting to hear you break down on the witness stand and admit that you deserve this, you brought this on, and God is not going to deliver you.  But God’s Word says; Hold fast your confession of faith! (Heb 10:23)  What is our confession?  "I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, I am innocent"! That is your story, you are sticking to it, and don’t ever let it change! 

Now the devil is our accuser (the prosecuting attorney) and his job is to wear us down till we admit guilt.  Once we admit guilt, we allow unbelief in Christ’s accomplishment to set in.  We begin to look at our behavior, our weakness, and we wrongly accept the accusations that are thrown at us.  When that doubt and condemnation comes at you, see the devil grilling you on the witness stand.  Go to the Word and find the promises that belong to you, that are proof of who you are and proof that God has promised to deliver you from EVERY affliction.  That is the testimony that your attorney has instructed you to give, those are the pat answers that you cling to  no matter what the devil throws at you.  No matter what evidence you see that attorney pull out of his hat, no matter how surprised you are at what he has found out, your story does not change! 

Now in any trial there are witnesses that speak on our behalf to help bolster our case.  The Holy Spirit is our witness.  The Bible says that He testifies that we are sons and daughters of God.  (Rom 8:16)  That testimony alone makes it an open and shut case.  The Holy Spirit is the expert, surprise witness that the prosecutor cannot refute.  All the evidence was piling up, but at the last minute, this witness tore it all to shreds.  Maybe you have been given a report from the doctor and you see evidence that agrees with what he is telling you.  Maybe you have a wayward child and all the evidence says they will never change.  Maybe you are days away from losing your house, or car or just lost your job.  Is your marriage hopeless, are you already divorced and you can’t imagine any miracle being able to fix the horrible mess?  Hold fast to your confession, don’t change your story, don’t break down on the witness stand.  That expert witness is on His way, don’t you dare throw in the towel! 

Case Dismissed

Dear believer I pray that this Easter is unlike any other for you.  I pray that you are receiving such a revelation of Christ within you that Resurrection Sunday will burst forth on the inside of you every single day.  My heart aches for those who have come to believe that Jesus died so they could pray a prayer to go to Heaven, try not to sin anymore because it makes Jesus sad, read their bible and go to church more because it makes Jesus happy, smile more, hold the door for others, try to love others and not say any 4 letter words.  The transaction that took place at the cross is so amazing, so much more than that, not only did Christ save our life, but He saved us to have life!  To fulfill the amazing purpose that He created us for, to restore us to our original value. 

Have you ever lost something so valuable and you would give anything, pay any price to have it back?  God did.  He sewed His very likeness into us when He knit us together, lovingly carefully; He crowned us with His own glory.  He marveled over His creation, danced over him, loved him, related to him and thoroughly enjoyed him.  In the fall man was handed a lie and was forced to put it on and walk in it.  Christ came and offered His life to redeem us; He bought us back, removed the lie from our backs and filled us with His very being.  In that exchange I became someone else.  I am no longer who I was.  That lie, that imposter, died the instant I recognized the truth of who I was always meant to be in Christ.  And at the same instant that lie died, the truth of my original intent came to life. II Corinthians 5:17-21 is the CRUX of it ALL.  The old me has been replaced with the Spirit of the risen Christ, He is exploding on the inside of me with life.  My death, behind me, I have stepped into eternal life, never to die again.  He stepped into my crucified flesh and gave it new life; there is not one ounce of the old me anywhere to be found!

Is there a “but” on the tip of your tongue?  Why?  What are you thinking right now?  Are you thinking about your imperfect behavior, your habits?  WHY?  That has NOTHING to do with WHO you are.  Your flesh is along for the ride and it is being renewed daily by Christ’s Spirit and His Word.  Look at vs. 17 and 18 again.  In Christ the old you have passed away!  He’s deader than a doornail.  vs. 18 all things are of God.  God’s only communication with you is His Spirit inside of you.  It is in perfect agreement with Him; there is no longer any opposition on your part because there is no OLD YOU to get in the way anymore.   He did this so we could stop being preoccupied with us and get on to the business at hand, spreading the message of reconciliation to others.  He has made us His ambassadors.  This was all perfectly legal, (remember all the conversations we have had in earlier posts, God is a law abiding God) there are no loopholes, this is a done deal, it’s all tied up very neatly in Christ, an iron clad covenant.

Yes, at one time you were legally guilty under the law and you deserved for the punishment to fit the crime.  But your case has been settled, and here is how it went down.  When you trusted Christ as your substitute, your sin (or your crime) was charged to Christ, but since there was no actual guilt in Him, there was no evidence to convict Christ of sin.  He had not committed the crime Himself.  So what you have is an innocent man being charged with your crime.  Well naturally there is no proof for the accuser (prosecuting attorney) to bring against Christ because He is innocent.  He actually disposed of the evidence of your crime at the cross when He triumphed over death hell and the grave.  So try as he might, the accuser has no evidence against you that you are a sinner so your case had to be dismissed because of lack of evidence.  So who is it who brings accusation against you?  Satan cannot, and God disposed of the evidence himself so why would He accuse you?  Why are you accusing you?

The truth is that your behavior will change as this truth, that you are as righteous as Christ, sinks deeper and deeper into you.  You will behave what you believe, as the truth of Christ transforms your flesh.  So the behavior you see is not you, (Romans 7)  it is just an indicator of how deeply you believe or disbelieve the truth of who you are in Christ.  Your behavior is not a stumbling block to Christ; don't let it be a distraction to you.  Remind yourself daily who you are.  Find proof of it in His Word and look yourself in the eye and declare that you are the righteousness of God in Christ!  This song says it all (see link below) ...enjoy!  and Happy Resurrection Sunday!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKyY8zfjBMQ&list=HL1333713494&feature=mh_lolz

 

Mr. Flesh Goes to Washington

If there is one thing that brings out the worst in people it is an election year and social issues.  It seems like we are constantly being bombarded with some cause, some reason to unite and rally against or for something.  It is hard to find an automobile that doesn’t take some stand with its bumper sticker or ribbon magnet. And we can hardly turn on the television without seeing some law-firm telling us we may be entitled. Proponents incite us with their rhetoric, we are urged to RISE UP and either be loud or be generous, or both, till this wrong is righted.  With 2012 being an election year in the United States, countless groups are lobbying to make sure their concerns are taken seriously by each candidate, as they demand to know his solution for their plight?

How should the believer respond in the midst of all this?  First of all we must ask what fellowship does light have with darkness.  Can corruption possibly spawn incorruption?  Are we to look to the world or any man to meet our needs?  As we have seen in prior posts, we wrestle not against flesh, because our needs are not fleshly!  Every issue we face, in this realm comes from the fact that there is a corrupt system in operation which opposes the truth of Christ’s kingdom.  No matter what label man assigns to the problem, the correct plan of action for the believer will NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER change; our solution lies in the wisdom of God. 

It saddens me most when I see believers caught up in the throes of some fleshly movement.  Wearing some placard, chanting some mantra, pointing fingers, making demands.  These issues are real, but the banter is nothing more than a tactic the devil uses to distract and divide.  A believer has no business touting any label other than “RIGHTEOUS”.  Your identity is not in your flesh your identity is in Christ!  Labels like  “Conservative”, Progressive”, “Minority”, “Baby Boomer”, “Flood Victim”, “Unemployed”, “Male”, “Female”, “The 99%”.   You are not oppressed, not a victim and you have no other cause than the cause of Christ.   Man does not have your answer, government does not have your answer and there is no amount of money that will solve your problem.    

Only the Gospel; the message of the accomplished mission of Christ, has the power to save mankind.  God has placed the embodiment of His Son Jesus Christ in us, the Church (the body of Christ) of which He is the head.  God is beseeching the world through us “Be reconciled to me!” (II Cor 5:20) We should stand out like stars against a dark backdrop!  Believers don’t seek the world’s “wisdom”.  Our Father is the only wise King; all that we need is in Him.  He has sent us forth to be an influence in this world and He will remove every obstacle and meet every need to accomplish His will and bring himself glory.   The same power that raised Christ from the dead is alive in us and He has given us the authority to wield it!

THIS is why it is IMPERITIVE in these last days that we learn to live by faith.  God’s intent has always been that His people be a conspicuous anomaly that defies logic.   When the world cannot find answers on its own, it should look to the Church and see a group of people who have a seemingly endless supply for every demand.   When there is tribulation and unrest, and the world is gripped with fear, the Church should be standing at the ready to receive instruction from her commander.  Where there is need, the wisdom of God provides supply.  Where there is injustice, we seek His wisdom, and prepare to act in defense of the weak.  When the Church learns to operate by faith, completely undaunted by the chaos around her, she will see God move in miraculous unexplainable ways.  What man could not accomplish with billions of dollars, endless litigation, protests, riots and wars, God can accomplish with one shepherd boy and a rock.   Does this sound far-fetched?  This is the very strategy by which Christ has always intended to lure the world to His grace, THROUGH US! (Matt 5:13-16)  But the church has become anemic because far too many believers see themselves as flesh, their problems as fleshly, and flesh as the answer to the problem.  

God has purposed each of us for an assignment, we are backed by His name (his authority) and all of Heaven is our sponsor, to enable us to accomplish the task at hand.  Why do we make statements like, “we are only human” and “we are all in the same boat”?  WE ARE NOT!  We are spirit, we should talk, think and act nothing like the world!  We serve a God who saves, and He expects us to expect Him to save.  Do we know the God we serve?  We are His representatives!  He does not ask us in our own power, with limited resources, to save the world; He asks us to represent the One who already has!

Mr. Flesh Goes to the Doctor

If you’ve been reading what I write for any length of time you know I am passionate about the believer’s freedom in Christ, and living in the fullness of what Christ accomplished through the cross. The key is knowing; and God WANTS us to know. He wants to constantly pour Himself into us in the form of His perfect wisdom. The Bible talks often of the importance of “knowing”. Paul prayed that the believers would know and grow in knowledge. When he saw believers living carnal lives, bound by the shackles of sin, he would remind them of who they were, what Christ did, and would often begin by saying “don’t you know?” As our mind is washed over and over by the life giving transforming Word of God, we WILL know! And we will act, because we know.

So you say ok, suppose I know and I act, give me a practical example of how that would look. Ok, but I want to contrast these examples with the “natural” reaction of the carnal man, because we need to keep reminding ourselves that WE ARE NOT WHO WE WERE and we do NOT act or react like the world. Let’s say Mr. Flesh goes to the doctor because of some symptoms. The doctor was his first kneejerk reaction, because he sees no alternative. After sweating over test results for several days the doctor tells him he has cancer. Mr. Flesh is gripped with fear, because he sees no alternative. In desperation he asks the doctor how he is going to go about saving his life, and agrees to go through any kind of hellish treatment, as long as it will save him…because he sees no alternative. The doctor has not only given “his disease” a label, he has given him a prognosis aka. “Here is what this disease is capable of”. The spirit of fear is now dictating Mr. Flesh’s thoughts and directing his words. Mr. Flesh goes home and testifies over and over to everyone he knows, the testimony that the spirit of fear has written for him.  

No matter what you believe regarding healing, every believer’s “reaction” should be the same. We wrestle not against flesh and blood. (Eph 6:12) Which means, we are not wrestling with our flesh, the problem is not in our flesh and the answer does not lie in flesh, plain and simple. First of all, we don’t react based on fleshly evidence. Second of all, we always consult the wisdom of God before we make a move because we are helpless (yes I said HELPLESS, seriously what do WE really know?) to know what to do without His knowledge of the situation! You have to get this! I don’t care how long that doctor went to school and how many accolades he has received! I don’t care how many studies have been done; I don’t care if everyone in your family has died from this very thing for the last 500 years. GOD IS NOT IMPRESSED!!! And neither should you be.

Mr. Born Again-Righteous-New Creation-Spirit Man-Joint Heir With Jesus-Child of God (we will call him Spirit Man for short) says, “God there is this lump I’ve noticed here, should I go have that checked or is that something you just want to take care of right now?” Then in perfect peace, he waits for an answer. If he is prompted to go to the doctor, Christ goes with him to navigate all the information the doctor gives him. If Mr. Sprit Man is waiting for test results, He continues to listen for guidance and God’s wisdom in His word. His testimony is ONLY that of the truth of God’s word, not based on any physical evidence but based on the truth of what God has said about himself. His faith is bolstered as he reads that Christ his healer resides inside of him. The peace of God rules in his heart. Peace is making decisions, not fear. Whatever that doctor’s diagnosis is whatever the prognosis, whatever the recommendation, it will not sway Mr. Spirit Man, and it will not be the basis for his decision or his outcome. He tells the doctor, “Thank you very much, I will get back to you and let you know how we wish to proceed.” The doctor stresses the urgency of treatment beginning immediately! Mr. Spirit Man calms the doctor and tells him not to worry; he will get back to him shortly.

Yes it takes practice; our flesh is used to reacting to what it sees. Don’t let it get away with that. Tell your flesh “There is a new sheriff in town and we aren’t doing things the way we used to!” And let’s get over ourselves, if God is for us who can be against us? (Rom 8:31) paraphrased: What’s the worst thing that can happen? And ask yourself, if I really live this way…what are the possibilities!

Who's Your Daddy?

As born again believers, knowing and believing that we are NO LONGER who we were is foundational and vital to our walk.  As unbelievers we had no understanding of who we were, why we were, or what we were to accomplish.  Once we are reconciled to our creator the Holy Spirit immediately begins sharing truth with us so we understand not only our purpose, but also the means by which we are to accomplish it.  If one is led to salvation in Christ, but he sees no purpose other than escaping hell, this earthly life will seem rather pointless to him.  If he understands his mandate to live a holy life and disciple other believers, but does not realize the power that is afforded him through Christ, his failure to meet the demand will leave him defeated.   The word salvation in the church is widely used, and yet we fail to take into account its FULL benefit!  Our salvation in Christ is complete!  God’s perfect plan left NOTHING undone.  Save in the Greek is the word sozo – to keep safe and sound, to keep from perishing, suffering, to heal or make well, to preserve from danger, injury or peril, to rescue from destruction.  By not understanding what Christ procured for us at the cross, are we setting a good portion of His sacrifice aside and making His grace of no effect in our lives? 

God did not just save us from, He saved us to.  Not only are we no longer who we were, our location and the rules, have changed.  In the previous posting, “Labels” I said that “we have NO RIGHT to give preeminence to any voice other than God.  His wisdom alone is perfect and His way alone is truth and His ways alone are free from corruption.  Any other “word” will be perverted to some degree because this worldly system has been corrupted by sin and is subject to death”.   God fully expects us to seek His wisdom for every situation.  This should come naturally to us; in fact it should seem foreign for us to go the world for answers.  The solution may very well come from earthly mechanisms, but He has instructed us to lean not to our own understanding, even if it seems perfectly logical.   We are no longer in agreement with the world system; we are in covenant with the Living God!  Would you go down the street and ask the neighbor’s husband to help you deal with one of your children, or to ask his opinion in buying a new appliance or moving to a new house?  NO, you would speak privately with your own husband!  

We are not of the world, our agenda is different, our views are different, our understanding is different…we are “other worldly”, our needs are other worldly.  If we think our needs are fleshly our mind is un-renewed.  Our need may be visible in this realm, but the solution will always come from the faith realm because that is the delivery system that our Father uses to meet our needs.  Yes, the supply will manifest physically, here in this world, but the source of our supply does not come from material things, faith is the substance of what we hope for.  (Do you remember the posts on the Law of Faith?)  A “need” in the life of a believer is a signal that God wants to display His power in us!  This has always been the plan.  This is why the believer has joy in every trial, because it is an opportunity for our God to show the world that salvation is found in no one else and He is ever faithful and vigilant in regard to His own!

    

Remember, the world system has been corrupted by Satan; it no longer resembles the righteous government that God intended.   Why would we, the righteousness of the Father, heirs with Christ, members of the royal family, look to this corrupt, broken, impotent system to achieve the will of the Father?  Do we know who we are?  We have been translated into the kingdom of Christ (Col 1:13).  He is our king and the supplier, of every need, remover of every obstacle!  Does it make sense that we enter into the enemy’s camp and ask him for help? Do we know who we are?  Do we know who Christ has made us?  The “wisdom” of the world is foolishness; we embody the living Christ, all wisdom and power belong to Him!  The merchandise of His wisdom is better than that of silver, or the gain of fine gold! (Prov. 3:14)

Label Me Righteous

The desire of my heart is to see believers walking in ALL the freedom that Christ procured for us at His cross.   Many believers, sincere believers, have no idea how to get out of the inconsistent walk they are now experiencing.  Joy one day, feeling hopeless the next, and having no idea what changed from one day to the next.   God withheld nothing from us to ensure that we walk in victory, our part is simply to know and believe and receive.   The reason for this “Evidence of Truth” blog is to get believers to challenge the concepts that have kept them defeated.  Walking in power and joy is simple, WE have made it difficult.

As we have been discussing, we have to live by faith in order to receive supernatural supply from Christ our leader.  Listen to what I am going to say and don’t ever forget this truth.  Believers believe FIRST and then SEE because they have believed the Word of God.  Believers DO NOT have faith in the Word of God because they have SEEN!    This is so simple but you have to let it sink into your heart.   Once it does, NOTHING will be impossible.  You will realize that when you had to see to believe, you were really limiting the possibilities and you will have more hope once you realize that anything can happen because it is NOT based on only what you have at your disposal visually, it is based on God’s unending supply of whatever we need to carry out His mission. 

The foundational truth that will change your perspective is that you are NOT who you were.  You are a new creature, you are not bound by your flesh, and you are not a “recovering sinner”.  You ARE the righteousness of God IN CHRIST JESUS!  You ARE in Him and His righteousness HAS BEEN imputed to you.  This is where living by faith begins.  When you believe it because it is truth, there will be supernatural changes in you.  Do not waste time trying to change your behavior to become what God says you already are.  It has nothing to do with the behavior; you are, because it is truth.  You will see it, when you believe this truth.  Trust me!  Don’t waste one more second doing the same thing you have done for years with little result. 

We have NO RIGHT to give preeminence to any voice other than God.  His wisdom alone is perfect and His way alone is truth and His ways alone are free from corruption.  Any other “word” will be perverted to some degree because this worldly system has been corrupted by sin and is subject to death.  Yes?  Ok, so every time we receive any type of label, other than Righteous, are we receiving truth?  Labels received, change the way we think.  That is why it is imperative that we do not receive the labels of the world, but maintain our testimony that we are righteous, blameless and loved.

So let me get real with you for a second.  And before you react, listen to the Holy Spirit inside of you that is challenging your faith to come up higher.   When you parrot some label someone has put on you, such as Impulsive, Lazy, Loudmouth, Emotional, isn’t it your testimony that you have elevated this man given label above the God given truth of who God says you are?  Let’s not stop there, what about those whose wisdom we believe we can’t question, like Doctors?  When they label us Depressed, Bi-Polar, ADD, Alcoholic, Addict; do we have to receive it?  Is it truth?  What about receiving disease labels?  Cancer, Pneumonia, Lupus, Fibro Myalgia?  Just ask yourself, how do I reconcile these labels with who God says I am? 

Don’t use what you’ve always been told or taught to explain this away.  Exercise your faith, let yourself be stretched.  Stop living safe, what if you believe and you don’t see instant results?  What if it doesn’t work for the woman down the street, what if you tried it once and saw nothing?  What if what if what if?  It doesn’t matter, believe anyway!  The evidence WILL follow.  Keep believing as if there is no alternative!  Nail that back door of unbelief shut!  Believe until!  We are not done with this, but press God on this issue, He wants you to, He wants to take you deeper, but He wants to know you will not cut and run at the first sign of disappointment.  What if you stay where you are?  Nothing will change.  But what if……..