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Tag Archives: Christ’s righteousness


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The Choice

The Choice
Whom Will We Serve

 

2 Chronicles 15:12-13 – and whoever would not seek the LORD God of Israel was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.

Luke 14:26-27 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. 27 And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.

Luke 14:33 “So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

Some powerful verses, aren’t they?

The Choice

We have a choice to make; a choice between God’s will and our will. Are we going to follow our way and what we think is best or are we going to follow God? Which we choose will determine if we enter into the kingdom of God.

We can only choose if we know what our choice is. Therefore, we have to learn who God TRULY is and who we TRULY are. Only then can we decide. Otherwise we may be choosing ourselves and not realize it or choosing a false image of God, not God.

This choice is the one Adam had to make. He chose himself when he chose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He decided he could choose what was right, good and best in his life. Like Adam, we all have this choice to make, our way or God’s. But first we have to see God and see ourselves.

Born into Self-Will (sin)

We are born in this world following our self (sin) – like the fallen Adam. Bound to this self will, we learn to trust our pride, strength, intellect, ideas of what good is, and goodness. Our trust is in us. What we trust is our idol/god. We experience life with us at the helm. We see what it manifests. We have no idea that there is another option because it is all we know. We are blinded to God’s way. We haven’t learned of it therefore can’t chose Him or walk in it. We will do what we know. What we know we trust.

Then something in our spirit awakens. We become aware that there is another way; to trust God instead of us. This first awakening is what people acknowledge with the “sinner’s prayer” – it’s simply awareness. This awareness plays out in four ways as in the parable of the sower of the field. Matthew 13 Only the seed, the Word, that falls on good soil continues on and prospers. Good soil is the soul nourished with the spirit and truth. Though many have awareness only a fraction choose God.

Seeking God to Choose Him

Until we seek God grounded in the Bible with the instruction of the Holy Spirit, we don’t have the information to make the choice of truly denying ourselves to follow God. John 6:45 One, we aren’t fully aware of the self that is contrary to God (sin is a symptom of self, it’s self, the source, we are to repent, turn from) second we don’t know God deeply enough to trust Him with our lives. How do you really trust what you don’t know?

At this awakening, we can choose to pursue God or not. Pursuing God means seeking Him with all our hearts to know Him deeply and personally. It isn’t easy. It takes commitment to diligently seek. We need to get to know God amidst all the deception that fills our lives, which keeps us from this very act. Lies like you don’t need to seek, you don’t need to read the Bible, you just need to do be a good person, and you are too busy. There are many counterfeit substitutes within spirituality to keep us from digging deeper so we can truly make a choice for God and believe.

If you believe there is gold in your backyard what will you do? Go dig. If you believe God is your God what will you do? Go dig. If you believe only God is righteous and you aren’t therefore you don’t know what is truly good, then you will seek God and His ways and truth because you are clueless. You’ll desire to draw near and know Him. Faith without works is dead. Faith is believing and trusting in God and His ways. You can’t follow what you don’t know. To truly know God as He is and not some image concocted by you or this world, you have to get to intimately know Him. You have to get to know God and His ways in order to follow them. You don’t choose what you don’t know and trust. Believe is a loaded word.

This need to seek is why the path is narrow to life and few find it. Matthew 7:13-14 It takes commitment and diligence in seeking God. This is why many are called few are chosen. Matthew 22:14 Of the called, few choose to seek out God and get to know Him as He is. For those who truly seek God, they are able to choose between themselves and God because they understand what the choice entails.

Christian Image – False Security

One of the greatest distractions from seeking is buying into the image of a follower of God. Once you think you’ve found, you stop seeking.

This “image of a Christian” keeps people from seeking. (One who lives the manufactured Christian lifestyle) This manufactured image misleads people into thinking they made a choice when they haven’t. This “image” has a fundamental trait – no real necessity to seek God to get to know Him. It deludes people into thinking they have God when they don’t because outwardly they’ve changed their actions. They have only heard the call but they haven’t sought to really be able to make the choice. They are still following self.

In Matthew 7:22-23, people were doing great acts in God’s name. But they were doing what they thought best, thus living by their righteousness and not God’s. They never spent time to really get to know God. They lived the image of a Christian but were far from truly being a Christian.

This is why God says to seek Him. Amos 5:4 In seeking, you get to see who He truly is and who you truly are. In that awareness, you are able to choose between Him and you. Choosing Him is believing in Him. Believing means He is Lord in word and action. This is true faith.


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Perspective Adjustments

Perspective Adjustments

 

Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and HIS righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

This past week God adjusted my perspective in two significant ways.

Years ago, God opened my eyes to the powerful truth of Matthew 6:33. If I simply focused on seeking Him and His righteousness, then He would take care of the rest. I lived by this truth and put all aside and sought Him. The freedom was remarkable, and He did take care of everything else. My focus would wane here and there, but for the most part it was on seeking His kingdom and His righteousness.

But lately my perspective started to alter and stay in that altered state. As God exposed my heart this past week, it unveiled the two areas that had slipped to the top of my seeking heart instead of His kingdom and His righteousness.

Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

First, I started putting seeking my life purpose above seeking His kingdom (His presence) in my life. I was getting too wrapped up and anxious about the next steps. God reminded me that seeking Him comes first, then all else follows. When we seek Him, we are able to trust Him with the rest. We are able to let go and know He is leading and guiding us in the perfect way right now.

When we seek God’s kingdom, our focus is on His love among His other characteristics. We can let go and trust God with areas of our lives, like our life purpose, when we trust in His love toward us. If we deeply believe in His love, then we would never worry or be anxious for anything. We would pray and trust all to His care. We would let go of all concern, trust He is working it out in our lives, and fall into His arms, free without holding onto anything.

However, when we doubt His love, we hold onto our ways and expectations of how our life should be playing out. We get nervous, anxious, and doubt He is in the midst of our situation. We question if He is helping us or wants to. We aren’t able to trust in His ways, which are very different from our own. We aren’t able to fully trust He will fulfill our desires like living a purposeful and meaningful life, good health, fulfilling relationships, emotional deliverance, and provision. Therefore, we try to take control, push forward and hold onto our methods and ideas because we think life isn’t playing out as it should if He was helping us. We intervene trying to make our life fit how we think it should be moving forward.

God reminded me that all is secondary to seeking His Kingdom. If we seek Him then the rest follows as it should. When we seek His kingdom, our focus is on Him and all that He is.

Joel 2:13b And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful , slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

This morning God impressed this verse upon me. Do I really trust in His great kindness, mercy, grace, and patience in my life? If I do, why am I worried or anxious about anything? When we seek and focus on God, our trust grows in His immense love and we are able to let go of what we are holding onto other than Him because we know He has us in His protective embrace.

God tells us He is a good Father and knows our needs and will provide for them. We are to put everything in His trust and focus on seeking a deep relationship with Him. Matthew 6:24-32, Matthew 7:11

Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and HIS righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Second, in seeking for healing in a particular area, my focus moved from being on God’s righteousness to my own. My obedience was about my righteousness, not love. My healing was about my righteousness, not His love. If I obeyed God near perfectly in a particular area, then I’ll be healed – was what I thought. By focusing on my obedience as the solution to being healed, my thoughts were about my righteousness not His.

Now, sin can be connected to health issues. Sin corrupts, destroys, decays. And when we are walking in sin then our bodies can suffer for it. Sometimes we suffer in our bodies to draw attention to a sin we are living in that we need to repent of and seek deliverance from. Sin hurts us and others. God doesn’t want us living in it blindly as we sometimes do. Physical aliments can be a way to get our attention that something is amiss in our spirit. However, healing comes from the acceptance of God’s love and mercy toward us, nothing that we do. We trust in His mercy alone, in Christ’s righteousness that covers us for healing. When it was about me walking in “perfect” obedience for healing, it became about my righteousness. God doesn’t want us to be slaves of righteousness, but sons of righteousness – (meaning we are righteous because we are born of Him)

God also reminded me that all I do is to be driven by love. 1 Corinthians 16:14 We are to be obedient to His Word, but the motive of the heart is love nothing else – like punishment and reward. I needed to let go of the punishment and reward focus in this area and let my attention rest on letting His love flow through me for what He was asking me to do. Obedience is about love. John 14:23 We do what we do because we love God.

Instead of trusting in my obedience (my righteousness) for healing, I needed trust in Christ’s righteousness, and then walk according to His ways out of love not punishment and reward.

With these two adjustments of focusing on seeking His kingdom and His righteousness, incredible burdens were lifted. I had no idea now much I was carrying. I’m so thankful for the Spirit’s instruction in these areas – truly an incredible week.

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Hypocrisy vs Immature Spirits

Hypocrisy vs Immature Spirits

 

Hypocrisy, saying one thing and doing another, is one complaint I hear more than most about Christians.

In their brethrens defense, Christians often reply with a chuckle that is why they are in church, they need it!

Hypocrisy on any level shouldn’t be tolerated. Jesus didn’t tolerate it and neither should we among each other. (Matthew 23:28-29, Romans 12:9. James 3:17) Yet, I feel too often we overlook it. We will whisper behind Susie’s back about what she is doing and wonder how she can claim to be a “good Christian” . . . but to her face in private exhorting her in truth and love? We don’t see this accountability very often and possibly because of the fear of appearing self-righteous. It isn’t self-righteous it is love, and we should expect Susie to hold us accountable as well.

However, what I think happens more often than not is what non-believers are witnessing are immature spirits more so than hypocrisy. Immature spirits live mostly in their flesh lives and not of their spirits. And with the mistaken identity of “goodness” hanging over Christians’ heads when others see us not acting in the expected manner then we are called hypocrites. If we don’t claim to be good then we aren’t hypocrites. People misunderstand what authentic Christianity (not the copycat religion of Christianity of following rules, trying to be a good person, and following a strict code of behavior) means; we have to share with them the truth.

1. It is a huge fallacy that being a Christian means you are good. Conversely, it means you realize you aren’t good and never will be and therefore need the goodness of Christ so you can intimately abide in the presence of a Holy God.

2.  Authentic Christianity entails becoming a new creation by having a new spirit born within and from that spirit true life blossoms. The new spirit is born small and needs proper nourishment to grow and mature. When the new spirit grows then it desires to do the will of God. It isn’t a forced obedience but a natural desire. However, because the new spirit co-exists with our old, we will never perfectly do the will of God that is faultless and good, but hopefully we become more inline with it.

3. Christianity isn’t a performance based religion of good works like every other religion. It is a union with God that is made possible when we become a living spirit as He is spirit. The world and religious Christianity imposes rules and behaviors on us, but true Christianity isn’t about rules but being connected to God, us in Him and Him in us. As a result, good things may come from us, but is has nothing to do with us. It is the fruit of God’s Spirit flowing through us because we are connected to Him.

4. This flowing fruit that comes as we surrender our will to His isn’t instant. It takes years of abiding in God’s truth, learning, growing. And even then our flesh is a strong contender to our spirits’ wills. In my experience to live as a new creation is a long process that I imagine will last a lifetime.

5. Authentic Christianity teaches people have no goodness of their own. No one is good but God. Matthew 19:17 The key to understanding this truth is how we define goodness and how God does is different. His goodness is defined by His omniscience, pure love and complete truth – three things no human has. Therefore only He is truly good. The rest of us have warped versions and ideas of goodness. Christians who praise, claim, or try to be good don’t get this truth. They have a copycat religion of because we can’t have our own goodness.

We, Christians, need to be comfortable with who we are and who we are not, and stop claiming, giving and accepting the praise from others that we are good. We all have a desire to be good that is why there are so many performance based religions but that desire is to draw us to God’s goodness not our own. We need to stop focusing on goodness like every other religion and put our energy into cultivating a relationship with God, what the gospel is all about.

Our response to the accusers shouldn’t be to excuse our brethren, but to say to you are right, hypocrisy is wrong and educate them on who we truly are – we aren’t about goodness we are about abiding in a relationship with God and if good flows from that then give credit where credit is due.

Psalm 71:16 I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.