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Persecuted Church, A Watchman’s Call

Persecuted Church, A Watchman’s Call

 

In an email exchange as I was reading about the persecution among Christians in China, it became clear the church in the United States is suffering grave persecution as well.

China

I received an email from a son of a friend who is in China and working with the underground church. He talked about the persecution that goes on. They are often under surveillance with the goal of incarceration or expulsion. Foreigners cannot legally teach any Biblical subject or evangelize the Chinese. They are being expelled left and right as they are caught doing so. They receive calls on Saturday night to tell them where church will be held on Sundays. Some of their church members have been arrested, persecuted and threatened. Several of the services were “interrupted” by the police who confiscated Bibles and personal items and threatened people to attend only the government sponsored churches. Their phones and emails are tapped.

US

In the US, the churches are suffering persecution of the truth. The truth is being water downed, twisted, and manipulated for greedy gain of money and people’s souls. Church is big business in the US. Motives have become corrupt and as a result, many souls are on a slow death track as their bread of life is being stolen, hidden, and spoiled with lies by those they trust.

Man and the church system he has created have taken the place of God in many believers’ lives. It has become their teacher, provider, salvation, and protector. Even “good” churches have subtly moved into people’s lives where God should be. The church has become what it was never intended to be. History is repeating itself. It happened in the day of the Pharisees and it is happening now.

It is no longer if you are cultivating a relationship with God, but are you in church? Are you serving the church, are you giving your money to the church? If people do these they feel good about themselves and their relationship with God. It is about outward appearances not an inner relationship. As a result of being coerced in the wrong direction, God is distant from their hearts. Matthew 7:21-23.

The Word has been pushed to the bottom of most Christian’s priority list and serving the goals, visions and will of man to the top. Works are more important than abiding. Because the praise of men is more important than doing what God asks – to abide in Him and His truth and let the works be His fruit not ours. Churches have become about self and profit all in the name of God.

Churches are full of subtle lies that the Word isn’t that important to abide in. Oh if you have time but who does? Just come to church and you’ll be fine. One problem with that thinking is that without the pure truth you have nothing to test the words of others by. So you believe what sounds good and fits your current paradigm. Not a wise choice because that makes you a prime target for deception.

Disciples are made of men and not Jesus Christ, the Word. Because it is man’s words and interpretation of truth that people listen to. People go to religious leaders to be fed, to learn about God, and to enhance their relationship with God. Few abide alone in the pure Word of God, one-on-one with His Spirit as His disciple, as His bride cultivating intimacy with her Husband. They would rather hang out with the groomsmen. There always seems to be some fallible human as a mediator between them and God and His truth.

The worst part of this persecution is that it isn’t obvious. It looks good in the eyes of most people. People are blinded and thus the perfect victim to fallen sanctuaries that have become homes to “Satan’s” lies. The music and entertainment are putting many into a deceptive sleep like Odysseus and the sirens.

The worst persecution isn’t from the outside, it is from within. The most insidious and dangerous form because it is much harder to detect and it kills the spirit not just the flesh. In the last days many will fall away, many will be deceived, and many false prophets and teachers posing as ministers of light (truth) will lead the way. Matthew 24:11, 2 Corinthians 11:13-15

We need to wake up and start watching. Luke 21:36


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Rejoice Always

Rejoice Always

Rejoice

Rejoice

This morning during my quiet time I read 1 Thessalonians 5 . . . verse 16 says rejoice always. Isn’t it amazing that our God desires us to rejoice always? How much that declaration says about His heart for us. How much it says about the life He desires for us.

The other day, my husband and I saw a child jumping around, smiling, and having a great time for no apparent reason. Just enjoying life and feeling good to be alive. Completely in the moment, not trapped in the past or concerned about the future. She was one happy kid.

My husband said, “That is what it is like to be in the spirit.” And it is so true. Children don’t worry about what others think, they aren’t judgmental, they accept others’ differences, they openly love, they are affectionate, full of happiness, trust, don’t worry, and don’t carry their past around like a ton of bricks.

God calls us to be children in His arms, trusting, resting, in the moment, full of joy, and embraced in His love. This is the life He calls us to – what a God, what a gift. Yet, we so often exchange the life and freedom He gives by getting distracted trying to do His job – fixing ourselves, fixing others, trying to control our future, healing ourselves, proving our worthiness, providing and so on.

God came to simplify our lives and give us abundant life. If we truly believe and follow Him then our lives would be simplified hundred-fold and entail those things we truly desire.

God said, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” All these things are the things that pertain to life. The things this world chases after we no longer have to because God is providing them for us. He takes care of us so we can focus on abiding with Him as His bride so that His power and glory may be shown through our lives.

A couple of years ago, I started to take this verse to heart. I worked at not working and instead at seeking and abiding. Though I still have a long way to go to be at a child-like status, I’ve let go of a lot in my life and I find I’m slowly moving to a life of trust and dependence. As a result, the changes in my life and true progress in me has been beyond what I thought possible. Once I trusted Him, then His work started to abound in me and in my life. I am fully convinced of the truth of this verse.

Most of us try to make it more complicated most of the time. We are busier than ever trying to live up to the extreme expectations this world places on us to be better, stronger and smarter. God says stop, I’ll take care of all that, just seek and abide. It isn’t giving up life; it is gaining it in abundance with freedom, rest and joy.

True, there are times we are brokenhearted like seeing the vastness of deception and death (physical and spiritual). And these heavy emotions bring us to the feet of God to cry out to Him from the depth of our souls. But He is the one to redeem, heal, and deliver. It isn’t about our strength and power but His. And His love and faithfulness infuses hope into all things. Because of Him and who He is to us we can rejoice always.

When you look at all His promises to us, there isn’t an area of our lives they don’t cover and our part in obtaining these promises is to trust and believe. Believe is our work John 6:29. And in a world that contradicts the ways of God it is indeed work. Our efforts and works have overtaken many of our beliefs. But the Christian faith is established on grace and God’s work in our lives – not ours. It is His performance, not ours.

In addition, becoming a child not only benefits our lives, but others. When we are a child, then He can truly “use” us. Because His love, power and truth move through us into the lives of others and we stop trying to force it by living out a weak copy-cat instead of the real deal. When we abide, in time His presence becomes a natural outward flow from our lives to the lives of others.

A child-like life comes from a new heart born of His Spirit. Our actions are the fruit of living with a new heart. This heart doesn’t come instantly. It starts small. It is cultivated over time as we grow in grace, knowledge and trust. If we trust Him, He will mold a child-like nature in us. He does it all. His Word is full of promises of what He will do for us. May we work to believe in them, live out the freedom they bring, and rejoice always.


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Why Bad Things Happen to Good People

Why Bad Things Happen to Good People

 

The problem with this statement is there are no good people. Therefore, goodness doesn’t protect us as this phrase implies. I think this is the lesson in the book of Job: not that bad things happen to good people, but that no one is good in the eyes of a holy God so we shouldn’t rely on our perceived goodness. Mark 10:18

In the last chapter, I think the verses Job 42:5-6 reveal what the book is about “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. 6 Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.” Why is Job repenting if he is blameless? Why does he abhor himself if he is one of the most upright men to live?

I believe he finally realized that his goodness and righteousness were nothing compared to a holy God. Instead, we are completely dependent on God’s mercy in every facet of our lives. It isn’t about our goodness because we have none. It is about God’s mercy that covers us. Psalm 33:13-22

The fact that we can never earn our goodness or be truly good is why Christ came. We need someone to stand in our place and do what we never could – fulfill the holy requirements of God. When we accept Christ we accept His life in place of ours. Then God sees us with the righteousness of Christ. It is an incredible sacrifice and amazing gift that affects every area of our lives now and for eternity.

People aren’t divided between good and bad since we all fall short whether feet, inches or centimeters. When we think of “bad” stuff happening, the division lies between those who are God’s people and those who aren’t.

Without God

For those without God in this world (Ephesians 2:12) they are susceptible to the whims of this world, a world governed by evil and death. (1 John 5:19) They suffer by the work of their own hands and by the ways of this world that breed death. Only God is life. Any life apart from Him manifests death despite people trying to convince themselves otherwise.

With God

For those with God, all that happens to them serves the purpose of drawing them closer to Him. Trials, afflictions or sufferings have the ultimate goal of moving us into a more intimate union with God built upon truth and love. God is constantly calling us deeper and deeper into Him. This is why we can sincerely praise God in our troubles, because they aren’t just fostering pain and suffering, they are bringing about newness of life that is united to Him if we are seeking God in them.

God doesn’t want us to remain in these troubled states that is why He promises deliverance from troubles, trials, and afflictions. Yet, difficult times, suffering, and afflictions, have a way of making us call out to God, to trust, to seek Him with passion and fervor in a manner we otherwise wouldn’t do. “Bad” stuff gets our attention, makes us seek, ask, and go deeper into Him and His truth where we find true freedom and deliverance. But for us the bad isn’t bad, it is good if we seek His truth in all things. (Romans 8:28) Even if we are experiencing the consequences of sin, those situations serve the purpose of motivating us to turn from our ways and to His. Only His ways bring life. Everything in our lives is a lesson and an opportunity to draw closer to God if we will seek Him and His truth.

Since God has been the center of my life, my Lord, everything that has happened has brought me closer to Him, which wasn’t the case before. Before I created paths of destruction piling up pain upon pain, now all that happens moves me further into abundant life inside out. Though difficult, hard times have a completely different meaning and purpose. Through them I learn that what I thought was life wasn’t. It was bondage. Then God brings me into true life.

This life isn’t about how good we are; it is about depending and trusting on God’s mercy alone and nothing of ourselves. When we do we will draw near to Him in truth as He desires and our lives will continue to move out from under death and destruction and into life and true abundance.


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Corporate Worship???

Corporate Worship???

 

People talk about needing to be in or part of a church for many reasons and one a often hear is so they can participate in corporate worship, something they feel God has commanded them to do. But what is it that God wants and not what has man engrained in us? I believe God desires worshippers in spirit and truth and it is no longer about a building. John 4:20-24

John 4:23-24 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

Worshippers in spirit and truth are those who have a spirit life born of God and those who seek Him to know Him and His ways so they can be united to Him and honor Him in truth.

Spirit

Worship means to bow down with affection. When we bow down before someone we are recognizing their sovereignty in our lives with adoration. Bowing down is turning over our lives to God’s reign and doing it in love. Only those born of the spirit can worship Him because only those of the spirit have surrendered (bowed down) lives to His Kingship.

Once spirit, only when we are dwelling in a spirit-mindset and not a mindset of the flesh can we worship Him. When we live in the spirit we worship Him and when we live in the flesh we don’t. Romans 1:9 The spirit is surrendered to Him; the flesh rebels against Him. Romans 8:7

Truth

Second He calls us to worship Him in truth. If we don’t exert the energy to intimately know Him and to learn His ways, then how can we worship Him? We are praising some image of Him. Our objective is to venerate Him and not our image of who we want Him to be. To suppose He is whoever we want Him to be is nonsensical, then He wouldn’t be God but we would. We all make assumptions and believe things this very moment that aren’t true about God and don’t know the things that are. We stereotype Him; we fit Him into what we can accept, what we want to believe and what fits our lifestyle. But do we accept this lack of truth or do we passionately search for all He is being mindful that there is much more to be gained?

Acts 17:24-25 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. 25 Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. 26 And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 27 so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;

God is seeking relationships not just creatures to worship Him. Coming to Him in spirit and truth is about being in a relationship with Him. He desires an intimate union with us, our heart engaged with His. When we abide in that union, we worship Him with our lives. We don’t worship by simply singing a song, but with hearts born of Him who abide with Him in truth. All we do in our spirit lives: thoughts, actions, words, songs, and prayers worship Him or not. True worship is a state of the heart. Matthew 15:8

Worship as the Body of Christ

As spirits we make up the temple of God, a temple built without hands that holds the Spirit of God. Those of the spirit are united together because we are of one spirit and our lives worship Him. Wherever we are, we are part of the true church and whatever we do in the spirit we worship God together with the rest of the spirits born of Him. Churches are full of believers and non-believers. Only those who are born of the spirit and abiding in truth can worship God so it isn’t about the physical location, it is about those united together in His spirit worshipping with our lives.

It seems that man’s definition of worship is gathering in a building and singing songs with emotion and God’s definition is coming to Him in spirit and truth as the true temple and worshiping Him with our lives, songs and all.


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What God is Offering Us

What God is Offering Us

 

Now that I am here in the midst of God’s presence enjoying His kingdom, it astounds me how deceived I was about this life and resisted it for many years. Fear kept me at an arm’s length. I thought my life would be boring, miserable and no fun. I thought I would be chained to should to’s and have to’s, and live a life of suffering, lack, discipline, regulations, because it was good for me. Therefore I wore a Christian shell. I didn’t want God that close.

Where did I get this impression? Mostly from churches and other Christians who wore a forced smile while their lives were miserable – it wasn’t very compelling. Despite what they said, I wasn’t convinced they had much to rejoice about, therefore I believed what God was offering outside of eternal salvation wasn’t that desirous. I made judgments about God based on man. Stupid and nonsensical I know, but most people, Christian and not, do the same thing.

After coming to several low points in my life, when I felt I didn’t have much to lose anyway, I decided to give God a try.  I found a life totally unexpected, nothing what I imagined and it had been waiting for me in the Word the whole time.

I had to look in the Word to find the truth, not others. Many churches and Christians portray a wanting life because they are living by manmade doctrines. Man’s ways bring death, God’s life. Just because someone says they are speaking God’s truth, doesn’t mean they are. Fear blinds us, misconceptions deceive us, and a lack of seeking keeps us in bondage.

The life He is offering to those who are willing to give up living their way and seek His is nothing but tremendous and desirous; a life of provision, protection, mercy, truth, peace, rest, joy and love. You don’t need hell to scare people into His arms. He is offering what everyone wants unconditional love. What God desires above all is love; to love us and for us to love Him. Mark 12:30 How incredible of a God is He.

Instead of hell fire that doesn’t foster love, but fear, what we need is truth about God and what He is offering us. Look at what God desires; freedom, love, rejoicing souls, overflowing joy, and sincere praise for all His goodness toward us. He doesn’t even want us to try to earn His affections with good works, but asks us to rest and trust His work in us. No other god is like Him.

Many believe this wonderful life is only on a spiritual level and in the physical realm we continue to suffer like everyone else. Believing this lie kills our witness and dishonors God’s love for us. My experiences don’t support that thinking and neither does His Word. It is replete with examples, physical examples, of how He desires to bless and does bless His people; healing sicknesses, restoring lives, delivering from fears and afflictions, providing for needs, and helping in troubles. He is all consuming. His care is very real and active in our lives, if we trust Him.

Believing God’s blessings are mainly spiritual not only kills our witness, dishonors God but also blinds us to what God wants to do in our lives. If our lives are lacking and yet we believe that is how life is then we never probe deeper. Our problems are to wake us up that something needs attending to. Manifestation of pain is the beginning to the path of freedom. Fears, troubles, and afflictions are to drive us to seek and draw near.

For example, learning His ways verses ours takes time. Often we think we are doing things His way when we are serving our manmade religion. When we serve the wrong thing we experience lack or discomfort because God is trying to get our attention that something is off.

Also, God tests us. We are going to be in situations that test what we really believe. Our finances will run low, we will struggle with an illness, and a relationship will be strained. God is asking; do you believe I am your provider, healer, and deliver? How we respond, who we go to, what we trust in will give Him our answer. Believing those things are just life, also gives Him an answer.

And then there is that a constant battle in our souls between our beautiful new spirit and our decaying flesh that gives heartache and frustration.

All these things cause discomfort, pain, and frustration but that is not were we are to stay, they are all opportunities to witness the power of God, to increase our trust in Him, and to draw near to Him in a way we couldn’t if we didn’t have them. If we accept them as life, we miss out on their purpose, to push us into the presence of God and to experience His mercy and love.

We have a constant hope which fills us with a deep lasting joy. God is on our side. When He is our trust we are victors. What gives God glory? Not defeated miserable lives, but triumphant ones and He has given us everything we need to be victorious, if we will surrender and do things His way. We are our own worst enemy, if we can learn to humble ourselves under His hand – we will find true peace and rest, then our lives will glorify Him.

For most of us, our lives aren’t reflective of the life God wants to give. The road is narrow and few find it, therefore, we can’t depend on others to show us what a life in God’s kingdom is about; we have to go to His Word, the pure Truth. When we read it with a heart to know and not prove our own philosophies or some else’s, we will discover the path of life.


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Space Suit: In God’s Presence

Space Suit: In God’s Presence

 

Have you ever had the feeling of being consumed by the presence of God? A while ago I got a strange but clarifying image that it is like being in a space suit. In a suit your life is preserved, protected, you see the world a little differently, and it goes wherever you do. Wearing it changes how you interact with your environment. If provides oxygen, the breath of life. If you take it off you lose life.

Before this unusual analogy, God’s presence seemed ethereal and hard to touch. But this image helped me to grasp how real it is and it established the solidarity of His presence in my life. It seemed a strange image but it worked. It helped me to see what it means to dwell in God’s presence, and what it means for our lives. In His presence we have protection, provision, love, mercy, grace, counsel, comfort, truth, favor, and life, everything we need. All He is surrounds us and fills us. When God consumes us, our role becomes one of rest. He does the work through us and our focus shifts from doing to being. We don’t push through life, but let God flow and work through us.

These verses give a peek into what it is like to dwell in His presence, in this space suit:

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work.

2 Corinthians 12:9 And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Psalm 37:3-5 Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness. 4 Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart. 5 Commit your way to the Lord, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.

Joshua 1:9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Philippians 4:19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Abiding in His presence is beyond amazing, wouldn’t you agree? Who wouldn’t want this life?

How do we put on this space suit and keep it on? By staying connected to the source. We stay connected by trusting and acting on our knowledge of Him, which is faith.

It all starts with what we know. We bring all that we are to our relationships. Now, a friend may not know a certain side of us, but that is just a lack of knowledge. It is the same with God. He is always there, but our experience of the various aspects of Him comes from knowing Him. This is why abiding in His Word is the foundation of experiencing His presence.

If we don’t know God, His promises and His ways then how do we know what to trust in? Without knowledge we end up trusting in our own image of Him, a false image, that is powerless, or we trust in ourselves that is just as helpless.

Abiding in the truth not only gives us knowledge but cultivates trust in that knowledge. Trust, acting on our knowledge, is how we dwell in the space suit.

How many times do we read in the Word, trust and such and such will happen? Trust manifests His presence in our lives. It makes what we learn about Him a reality. Without trust the knowledge we have would be lifeless.

We come to know and trust God like other relationships. We spend time talking, listening, learning, asking, seeking and experiencing and in the process we know and trust, trust and know. God made this dynamic to be a process that requires time and experiences that give us a deep understanding of Him, therefore His truth always coincides with mercy for His kids.

As we approach the next phase of manifesting His presence in our lives, increasing trust, it is critical to embrace this truth – ALL His paths are truth and mercy. Psalm 25:10 We are on the path of knowing and trusting we aren’t there yet. Our experience of Him isn’t dependent only on our trust, but also on His mercy. We know that we should trust, but we don’t. But as long as we are seeking Him, His mercy is more than enough to cover our lack.

Finally, to increase our trust, God brings events into our lives to test and strengthen it. God knows trusting Him is a struggle that is why He places challenges before us, to push us into deeper union with Him, otherwise we would remain at the surface of His presence instead of consumed by every part of it. If we remain as we are we miss out on experiencing all He has to give us. The purpose of these struggles is to become united to Him. 1 Peter 1:6-7

Consequently, these are the situations in which it is hardest to trust. We are experiencing the sovereign hand of God heavy upon us. Not against us though that is how it may feel, but to draw us near. Like Jacob did to become Israel, we wrestle with God through these times to become who we were created to be. These times push us into Him. We cry out to Him from the depth of our soul, ask Him to help with our unbelief and through the process we draw near to Him, our ultimate purpose. John 17:21 He expects us to doubt, struggle, and question through these times. But He wants us to keep Him by our side throughout the process. We are the caterpillar struggling to become a butterfly.

These trials are difficult to the point of breaking us, but their intensity is essential to obtain the trust we need to experience more of Him. We have to set our expectations aside of how we think things should be going, focus on abiding in His truth and trust Him that He is working everything for the purpose of being united to Him. He will give us exactly what we need to get us into a conscious awareness of that space suit, because that gives Him glory.

The secret to abiding in His presence, in the space suit, is knowing Him, so we can trust Him, then working through those tests of trust and when we do we will move deeper into His presence, the fountain of life.


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Guilty Fruit

Guilty Fruit

Guilty fruit isn’t worth much in the kingdom of God, but it is easy to get trapped into producing rotten apples. A friend asked me to join her at a prayer group. I quickly replied yes. As the day approached I realized that was a night my husband and I enjoyed watching one of our favorite television shows. That was our night. Now watch a show or go to pray? Umm, what would a good Christian do . .

I chose my husband. I love spending that time with him. But guilt started to set in for not choosing the prayer group because isn’t that what I should do? The Spirit reminded, no. It isn’t what you do but what is in your heart. The choice is between fruit of love and fruit of guilt. Which one do you think I desire?

2 Corinthians 9:7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.

Guilt came from defining my goodness by my actions. I am writing about this topic in my book and God’s Word is clear, we live by grace alone. If we try adding to it, it is to our shame. Putting trust in our works in any way creates an idol. God abhors idols. I started to step outside the complete freedom and rest I have in grace and into bondage by works like every other religion. Acting on have to’s and should do’s forfeits grace and produces rotten fruit, forced and not of love.

This topic is a slippery slope because many say they do this or that out of love for God. But we have to be diligent in examining our motives. Only God and we know our hearts and even then sometimes we get fooled. I knew mine and God knew it. 1 Corinthians 16:4 Let all that you do be done with love.

Galatians 3:2-3 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?

Examining my motives, I made the right choice, love. Love is the soil of true fruit. We need to slow down before we commit because of the constant temptation to prove, earn and work because it appeases our need to feel worthy and good. Our worth and goodness are defined solely in Christ. Our focus is to be on abiding in His truth, and fruit, sown in love, will be the natural outcome.

God did an amazing work in our marriage that night, who would have known? The fruit of love is worth a lot.

 

 


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Church Social Clubs

Church Social Clubs

 

Most of us are familiar with the social club mentality of many churches; extravagant entertainment, feel-good programs, focus on busyness, and messages that are a self-improvement book covered in Christian lingo.

Our knee jerk reaction is that being a glorified social club is wrong. However, with some further thought, I think what we all need to realize, especially if we are in a church, is that all churches are social clubs.  It is a healthier and safer viewpoint because that is the extent of what they provide; encouragement, support, connections, activities, and stimulating conversations. The problem is that people want and look to them as a source of truth, to enhance their relationship with God, to bind their wounds, to give them freedom, to bring peace, hope and rest to their lives; all the things that only truly come from cultivating intimacy with God in His truth, His Word.

However, churches appear to be gladly taking on this other role, which is outside the scope of their abilities, because when people are dependent on you it is good for business.  Even with good intentions, trying to be what they can’t misleads people and destroys souls. I was such a soul.  Our souls starve because we mistakenly rely on the wrong one for true life.  God and His Word is the fountain of truth which brings true life. Churches are a reservoir of people’s interpretations, doctrines, rules and regulations with some truth sprinkled in.  Many people end up worse off than when they started because they don’t realize they are hanging out at the wrong watering hole and thinking they have arrived at truth they stopped looking.

The majority of Christians are not living the abundant life that Jesus Christ came to give because they are relying on other broken people when they need to rely on God. People try to get out of teachers, pastors, leaders, programs, and ministries what they should be seeking from God and churches reinforce their warped dependency in what they don’t say, in what they praise and what they encourage.

As I read the New Testament, it seems clear that truth and an intimate relationship with God which brings abundant life come from time with Him in the Holy Scriptures being taught by the Spirit. (John 14:26, 1 Corinthians 2:12-13, 1 Corinthians 15:34, 1 John 2:27, 2 Timothy 2:15, 7, 2 Timothy 3: 14-15.) Yet this truth is often overlooked and people continue to give fallible humans, who are trying to figure it out just as they are, God’s role.

Churches are playing a role that they weren’t meant to play.  If we openly acknowledge and call church what it is, a social club, then maybe we will start heading in the right direction; looking to our God not man for truth and life. Even then we need to be very careful and aware of churches’ influence over our thinking, beliefs and lives.

 


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God’s Toolbox: Our Past

 God’s Toolbox: Our Past

 

Over the past couple of years, God has been unpacking my past. He has shown me the deep seeded lies I’ve lived by since childhood and the ripple affect they caused of bad decisions, poor behaviors, destructive relationships, depression, and on and on.  It is thought provoking to see how a couple of lies can create so much damage.

I have often viewed the things of my past as a bunch of screw ups and mistakes that revealed a person in need of a complete overhaul. They were things that didn’t have to happen but what was done was done and I needed God to come in and clean things up. I tried to be the sweeper but I just flung dirt around.

But the other night, my insightful husband re-framed it for me.

He said it isn’t that my past, his or anyone else’s is a big mess that would be better off voided like a bad check, but all the things we went through brought us to where we are today. Each detail served a purpose in chiseling us into who we are. We went through those things to grow and learn what we needed to learn.

I started thinking about what he said and though the things I faced were painful, hard, and sometimes pushed me to the edge of insanity, he was right. Looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing. I can’t believe I am saying that, but you know it is true. Through each experience God has taught me His wisdom that I wouldn’t have learned otherwise.

As God’s kids what we consider the wreckage of our lives are His tools to teach us what we need to learn, if we are willing. If we aren’t willing we remain on the hamster wheel running in the same destructive circles until we decide to sit up and listen.  A past unaddressed remains a controlling force in our lives. We aren’t to live in the past, but grow from it and live free.

As a good teacher, God won’t let us move on to the next level until we learn our ABCs. It is either keep running or starting listening. And the lessons are much deeper than we are a mess in need of Him. Each situation holds a deeper truth that will surprise you, as I am finding out.

This earthly existence is a training ground. It is a place where our spirits learn that our way is not the way to go and God’s is.  We are supposed to make mistakes that is how we learn that only God’s ways bring life, joy, peace, and intimacy with Him.  We start going backwards if we get wrapped up in this life and cease to realize that everything is to bring us into union with God.

Trying out many different paths that promised success and failing miserably inside and out is what brought me to my knees and when I fell before Him in every area of my life; I started to live the life I desired for the first time. So if everything I went through was to bring me closer to God and to create unity between us in purpose, will and desire – yeah it was all worth it and I am thankful for it.