Regardless of the outcome, if this is pronounced the Year of the Bible or not, it is always the Year of the Bible because God’s Word prevails. God is God even if people don’t believe He is. His truth is the Truth, even if people don’t believe it. It is the Year of the Bible in every country always. God is sovereign. His plans for this world, found in His Word, are working out according to His will regardless if we recognize Him or not. Somehow we think if we acknowledge God as God that makes Him God. He is God. What we do or don’t do doesn’t change that fact, though often we act like it does. It is like the ants in my backyard telling me I don’t exist. Well the fact is I do and they are crawling around my yard. I can let them wander around or I can spray them with Home Defense – the choice is mine.
Regardless if they say it is or isn’t the Year of the Bible – the truth is it always is.
“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
Author, Poet and Philosopher, Henry David Thoreau
To be able to see what is true and real far exceeds physical sight. There are multiple things that fog our vision like faulty cognitive filters, false beliefs, and deceptive people. Because the factors, which fog our vision, started in childhood rarely are we aware that our vision is anything but okay. But for all of us, it is way off and the decisions of our lives, troubles, pains, conflicts, and so on tell just how off it is.
So how does someone who has foggy vision and doesn’t realize it ever see reality? The only way is to gain another set of eyes. When God’s spirit dwells within us as part of our new life in Christ, we get another pair of eyes searching the depths of our souls. As we nurture our relationship with God and draw near to Him strengthening His Spirit within us our sight comes more into focus and we begin to see things as they truly are.
The closer I draw near to God, the clearer I see myself, others and all the things around me. As I gain my new sight, it astounds me how blind I’ve been in my life. I have made many many poor decisions from not seeing clearly. And my greatest blindness has been about myself – which I think is true of everyone. We have always lived with our frame of mind and perspective. Until we have someone separate from ourselves, who is as close to our soul as we are, and who is nothing but truth then we will always be blind to some degree.
To see clearly we need God. We need to be in a relationship with Him and growing in truth. Otherwise we will continue to live and make decisions as we always have based on lies about us, others and this world. As a result, we and our loved ones suffer for it. The ripple effect of not seeing clearly is tremendous.
But once we begin to see, the freedom we experience is remarkable. Blindness is a thief to true life and a destroyer of life. The truth does set us free, but we need the eyes to see it.
For years I would repeat the “sinner’s prayer” over and over just in case it didn’t stick the previous times. I wanted to believe those preachers who said if I just said a prayer I was saved, but deep down I knew something was off. So, how do you know you are saved?
Saved means we are no longer simply flesh human beings but spirit as God is spirit. That spirit is eternal. It is a part of God like our flesh is a part of our parents. 2 Peter 1:4 Its life comes from being connected to God. John 15:5
The way that we are able to enter into this spirit life is through the sacrifice of Christ Jesus. To abide as spirits with a holy God, we need to be pure and holy. Jesus is holy and our sacrifice. He paid the price for our sins, which is death. As our Savior AND Lord, He took our place so we can take on new eternal spirit life. Because of what He did for us, we are resurrected into new life as He was, and a life that is perfect, eternal, and holy. 1 Peter 2:24, John 10:10
I believe God saves. We didn’t choose Him. He chose us. Just as we didn’t choose to be physically born we don’t choose to be spiritually born. Someone who is spiritually dead can’t choose life. Romans 8:29-30, Ephesians 1:5, Ephesians 1:11
And when God saves us, His Spirit makes it home in ours. John 14:23 Therefore, some proof of that spirit life are the following:
Our spirits:
1. Know God as our Father
2. Long to draw near to Him in truth and love
3. Want to know Him
4. Desire to be like Him
First, our new spirits identify with God as our Father. Galatians 4:6John 10:4 Just as a child knows his dad because he is a part of him and has a relationship with him. We connect with God in a similar way.
Second, our spirits long to draw near to Him because He will draw near to us. James 4:8 Children desire to be with their dads because they love them and want their love. We want to and do abide in His truth and His love.
Third, we want to know Him. 1 John 2:5 Children, especially when they are older, want to know their fathers. We want to spend time in His Word getting to know Him and learning of His ways. We keep His Word close to our hearts and fill our minds with His truth because it is the words of our Father.
Fourth, our spirits desire to be like Him. 1 John 2:15, John 14:24 Children want to be like their fathers, we desire to be like our Heavenly Father. When we walk outside of His will we feel convicted of that sin (anything not God’s way) and want to leave our ways (repent) and walk in His paths. There is a desire to leave our old ways and not simply because we should or have to.
A spirit born of Him is growing into these four points and it starts with a desire to draw near to Him.
The underlining factor to each of these and defining factor of whether we are saved or not is an action packed desire to be in a relationship with God. If we are cultivating a relationship with God, one-on-one like someone we love, then I think it is proof we are His. Anything else, confession, going to church, or trying to be good can be easily motivated by other things like guilt and pride. But to spend our time with no one watching to abide, to seek His face and sit at His feet with a heart to know and cultivate intimacy can only really be done from the desire of being a part of Him. Not to be a scholar, but a bride who is passionate about her bridegroom. When we are God’s, we hunger to know Him, to draw near to Him, to spend time in His Word getting to know Him as He is.
Looking back, when I said the sinner’s prayer it was out of fear not going to heaven. True Christianity is about being a loving bride not a scared rule bound convert. Christianity is living as an eternal spirit who is of God and therefore longs to be close to Him. It is about being united to God like someone we deeply love.
People fascinate me. I enjoy learning why people do what they do and that is why I got a masters degree in Psychology. Psychology, the study of human behavior, offers many interesting theories and paradigms to people’s behavior so they can predict behavior as well as alter it. However, where it fails is to truly change people.
The world pushes us to become our own gods. We create our destinies, shape our futures, determine the outcomes, overcome our weaknesses, fix our problems, and are in control. We are who we are because of our decisions, our choices, our strengths, and so on. Therefore, become better, stronger, and smarter is the message of today. And with this philosophy, psychological frameworks have become a major force in helping us get there.
However, this philosophy is a lie. It is an endless run on the hamster wheel going no where. Having studied it in depth, psychology with all its answers and solutions is not the answer. It can tell us something is wrong, it can help us understand why we did what we did as mere men 1 Corinthians 3:3, but it is not the solution.
We are the problem. The problem can’t fix itself. All psychology and worldly wisdom can offer is band aids to the problems which weary us. They offer temporary moments of hope followed by despair.
The only answer is God, our Creator.
For the first 30 years of my life I acted like the creator taking on the philosophy of the world trying to shape myself into who I wanted to be. My goal was to move as far away as possible from the weak, pathetic, and broken person who caused so much pain and destruction. And these psychological philosophies promised the change I was looking for. But all they did was lead me further down a path of bondage and spiritual death. Sure there were moments I thought I was going somewhere, but when I stepped back, the things that really mattered got worse because I got worse.
A mind not taken captive by God’s word is a mind captive to death. 1 John 5:19
After all my efforts, nothing changed for the better. I was broken and need of someone much bigger to recreate me. In addition, I carried a tremendous burden because the repair work was all up to me, someone who in the stillness of my mind I knew didn’t have the power or strength to make me who I wanted to be.
If you are a self-help junky you will always be. Like a drug, you constantly need more books, tapes, and seminars to keep the high going and to convince yourself that you have found the answer. We hang on to the hope that the next page, book, or insight will be the final fix.
The day I threw away every self-help book and self-improvement tape and put my life completely in the hands of God trusting His work in me and the power of His Word was the day my life truly started to change because the new spirit in me started to grow. I will be honest, it was very difficult. I wanted to hold on to at least some books. They had been my hope for so long, even if they were an empty hope, it was hope.
Trusting God alone is completely counter to this world’s philosophies but it is the only true solution as I have discovered. Throwing out those false securities and trusting only in God and the power of His Word was one of the best decisions I ever made. I let go of the flesh and embraced the new life born of Him in me. And that life lives by faith, trust in His Word alone, and has no confidence in the flesh. This new life holds the characterstics that we all desire. Before I was running in circles, but since the Word became my source of truth, wisdom and life I have done nothing but moved forward. And it is a great feeling. Finally!
But these improvement offerings are so enticing for what they promise, a better life, a better you and all you have to is step 1, 2, 3. Its so easy!! But it doesn’t work. Not really. Not in the way we are seeking. It doesn’t bring what we all desire in life – unshakable value, meaning, purpose, satisfaction, peace, love, happiness and joy.
But the pull on us is like a tractor trailer. This past week a friend asked if I wanted to go to a class basically about being a better you. As I was getting lured in, I felt a hesitation in my spirit. Why are you going down that road again? You have travelled both paths and you know the only path to life is to completely trust God in this area. It was leaving that all behind when you started to find what you truly desired. What are you thinking?
You are right! What was I thinking? The wisdom of the world is foolishness. Many of the things this class promised were things that I strove to achieve and create in my life for years – purpose, meaning, right thoughts, and a better life. For the first time, these past couple of years all these have become a part of me and it is because all I did was abide in your Word and trust your work in me, not me. When I finally found the right path why would I want to stop and change direction? Thanks from keeping me from walking down that path again.
With this new year upon us, as we set high aspirations to become better and stronger all for God’s glory of course – let’s not forget how we are called to walk – in His wisdom not the world’s. And His wisdom says trust His work in you, abide in His Word, His truth sets you free, He works in your weaknesses, He is your healer, deliverer, power, and strength. He is the answer not the world’s psychology and wisdom. And the best part is He produces real lasting results and because it is His works and not yours He carries the burden. Our part; trust, rest and abide.
Here is the choice; work, strive and push for no true results, or trust, rest and abide for real lasting results?
Psalm 1:1-3 Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night 3 He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.
Recently I read in Plain Truth Magazine an interesting article, Jesus Christ – God Incarnate. It mentioned how originally December 25 was a pagan festival commemorating the birthday of a false sun god. It is believed, the church intentionally selected this day to celebrate Jesus’ birth to counteract the pagan feast of the sun god and turn people to the Son of God. Instead of Christianizing a pagan festival the church established the celebration of Jesus’ birth as a revival celebration.
And who do people remember today, Jesus or this sun-god? Seemed their plan worked.
Yet, interestingly after all this time we still have dual celebrations. One is a secular celebration with Santa Claus, Christmas trees, decorations, giving gifts, etc. The other is the celebration of Jesus’ birth.
I knew about the sun-god, that Jesus wasn’t born on December 25th, and the pagan origin of many of the secular festivities and for awhile these facts put a hiccup in my enjoyment of the season. If there was one thing that God didn’t like, it was His people taking on pagan practices as their own because it could lead them to sin. To top it off the description in Jeremiah 10:2-5 sounded like a Christmas tree to me. Whatever happened to being in the world but not of it?
What struck me in this article was the intention of the church – to have a revival celebration not to “Christianize” the pagan festival. What mindset do we hold today as Christians? For years, like most people I saw it as Christianizing something pagan. Therefore, it seemed silly, compromising, not what we should do as a people set apart, and it felt disloyal somehow. So I disengaged to a certain extent from the secular fanfare. (more on this later)
But with this deeper understanding that the intention was a revival celebration . . . my view has started to change. This new awareness infused a new profound joy into everything about the season – it wasn’t about compromise, it was about revival. Compromise dishonors. Revival honors.
Revival is why we celebrate Christ. The word revival suggests new life, new birth, renewal, bring to life someone who once dead. We celebrate His birth and what His birth was the forerunner of, our spiritual birth. Jesus’ birth paints a picture of ours – as He was born of flesh and spirit, we are born of flesh and spirit. Once we are born of the spirit, His life of peace, power, strength, love, mercy, truth, and joy lives in us and gives new life to our mortal bodies. Romans 8:11 We are no longer one of the walking dead, but have become eternal beings experiencing true life. We no longer are who we were; we are free from our past destructive lives and all the pain, sorrow and trouble they manifested. We are no longer mere men but spirit beings having a human experience. 1 Corinthians 3:3
This true life that lives within us is the revival that we bring to each day and what we celebrate this time of year.
As for the pagan festivities. . . as I was praying over this situation I “accidently” read 1 Corinthians 8 when my next reading was 2 Corinthians 8 and it spoke right to my heart. Everything in itself is pure. Romans 14:20 . . . we live with an incredible liberty that the Old Testament folks didn’t have because we have the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth. They needed all sorts of rules because they didn’t have the spirit of truth and discernment guiding them like we do. Without this spirit it was easy for them to take on pagan beliefs, so they had to stay away completely.
Pagan artifacts become harmful when people attribute power to them however small. Otherwise they are just a tree or a piece of wood – God’s creation. The pagans put up greenery in their homes this time of year, winter solstice, to protect them from death. They attributed a false saving power to it and that is what is harmful. If I put up greenery in my house – I do it because I think it is something beautiful of God’s creation, nothing more. Nothing is harmful in itself it is what we attribute to it – and from His Word, I believe that is what God doesn’t like.
Most of us don’t attribute power to decorations – that is silly, but what about the gifts we give. If we give gifts to show our “goodness” or to prove our goodness, then we are attributing something more to that act than we should. Or what if we give certain gifts out of pride. All we do should be in love, not for self-glory. Or what if we get caught up in envy and want? Then we are not trusting in God’s perfect provision and we are intermingling with pagan thought practices (thoughts against His will). There are plenty of things during this season to lead us astray in our hearts . . . as with every day. If in our hearts attribute more than we should to things or activities then we are setting them up as idols, otherwise we are free to enjoy. This is one of His many gifts of freedom and joy to us in Christ. 1 Corinthians 6:12
This is a wonderful and joyous time of year where we take time to celebrate Christ and the new life He came to give. I encourage you to infuse a spirit of revival with each gift you give, each family encounter, each party you attend and each decoration you hang. Live in the freedom and newness of life and share that life with others by loving them with His love.
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.
One of the most difficult areas for me to learn to trust in God has been internal change. I am bit of a perfectionist . . . and when I don’t like something about myself I try my best to fix it. Before God became the center of my life, I was a slave to self-improvement. I tried endlessly to be a better and stronger person prompted from a past that left me passive, withdrawn, defensive and closed off.
I can fix me. How hard can it be? Isn’t that the one thing we do control? Isn’t that what the billion dollar industry of self-help is all about? In my stubbornness and impatience of wanting to be different right now, for years I carried the burden of trying to change and never sought God’s help. The uncertainty of His timing and if He would help at all was too great a risk. Sure, I would superficially ask for His help, but I continued to hold on to and trust my latest instant gratification scheme. We either trust Him or ourselves. Blindly, I opted for me because I didn’t know Him enough to trust Him.
As the years passed, I set out to know Him. Then one day the power of these verses drew me in and set me free from the endless unsuccessful attempts to inner transformations.
Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Psalm 29:1-2a Give unto the Lord, O you mighty ones, Give unto the Lord glory and strength. 2 Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name;
God showed me how tightly I was holding onto my power to change and not attributing power to Him. He was the one to work in me and I needed to trust in His power to do so and stop trying to develop my own strength and glory. With this new awareness and finally admitting my efforts had been in vain, I vowed to stop. I started to sincerely ask for His help.
Surrendering to His timing and His methods wasn’t easy. It felt like letting go of a steering wheel going 60 miles an hour and trusting someone you can’t see to grab a hold. But I got rid of all my books, stopped trying to do it myself and let Him take the wheel. He probed into the depths of my soul and traversed places I didn’t know existed. He went to my core and worked outward. In time, I started to change for the first time, one layer at a time. My soul has become a fountain of praise for all the afflictions He has healed. Once I saw His work in a few areas it became easier to trust Him with the rest.
We, the problem, can’t fix ourselves because we are the problem. We can masquerade temporary alterations, but true change is only possible by someone outside ourselves who is bigger and more powerful working in us. We go to the symptoms and God goes to the core, a core whose details we are rarely consciously aware of until He shows us. With new awareness, I stepped aside and started giving God strength in my life by believing He would and could work in me in all areas. That journey set me on the path to freedom and continues today.
I still have to remind myself when things come up to leave the work to Him. And today I write to remind myself to let go. He works in me. It is His job. Mine is to trust in His work, rest in His promises, follow Him His lead, surrender to His timing and be still and know He is MY God.
God loves us more than we can comprehend. He doesn’t want us trapped in afflictions and states of mind that bind us. Afflictions are to motivate us to search for Him and His ways that are perfect in love and truth and set us free. He wants us to be free, healthy and thriving. But He is the one to take us there. He is the only one who can. I have pushed, tried and work long and hard enough to know my efforts are fruitless and in vain.
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.
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.
Most of us at some point have had a boyfriend, girlfriend or spouse who acted in a manner toward the opposite sex that was only appropriate for us. When it happens the pain cuts deep. Looking back on my past experiences, I couldn’t understand logically why it hurt so much?
I asked God about these experiences and this is what He told me.
It isn’t just your pain you feel but a taste of mine that is why it is so intense.
I have taught you how the relationship between a man and a woman is symbolic of my relationship with you. It is only a shadow pointing to something much deeper. I am your husband and you are my bride. I use your relationships to show you how I feel. Becoming one with me means feeling what I feel.
When you feel the pain of a loved one giving affections to another that was meant for you it is similar to how I feel when my people look to others, trust them, go to them for truth, rely on them and not me.
And in these days my people are breaking my heart.
They trust in their pastors, teachers and leaders and look to them for truth and not me. Their priorities are upside down and as a result they are being led away from me. They go to them and not my Word as I have instructed them. They seek first the voice of man instead of my voice. They don’t believe me because they don’t follow me. They follow their man made rules and codes of Christian behavior and all the while ignore me when all I want is to be with them. I want them to come to me, know me, talk with me, put me first, trust me, rely on me, and love me above all others like they would a husband. I desire a relationship not man-made religion. They have fooled themselves to thinking they are aligned with my will with their “good works”, but I see into their hearts, and I am not first. And that is what matters. Matthew 7:22-23
I have called them to love me as they would a husband, but most have turned their eyes to other concerns. They have left their first love. Revelation 2:3-4 I am a God who feels, cares and loves, but I will not let this situation continue on. The time is short. Judgment is upon my people. Today is the day to decide who they will follow; me and my truth or someone else’s interpretation of it. They are relying on the wrong thing, man instead of Me, and it will be their downfall.
Living Light 