The “Tribulation” Upon Us
Mark 3:2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”
Tag Archives: Sin
A Slave or A Child
A Slave or A Child
Romans 6:16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness?
Free will – freedom of humans to make choices that are not determined by prior causes or by divine intervention
What is it to be free? What kind of freedom do you really want?
Every belief, thought, decision and action we take is influenced by many sources; our experiences, past, lies, truth, friends, culture, traditions, manipulation, media, family, teachers, knowledge or lack of. Making a free will decision isn’t realistic, many things influence us. When you boil it down, what influences us are either based on lies or the truth. Lies and truth make up our beliefs. And, we are governed by our beliefs, meaning we serve them. In other words, we are a slave to them. Thus we are either a slave to lies or to truth. Though the word “slave” has negative connotations, being a slave to what is truly good is a good thing.
In this life we have two options; we can serve the truth, God, or we can serve lies, anything that opposes God’s ways. We can be a slave to righteousness or a slave to unrighteousness/sin. This is the only real choice we have.
1 John 5:9 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.
John 8:34 Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.
Which will you serve?
The answer seems straight forward … truth. But it’s not that easy because the very nature of a lie is that you think it’s truth. If you believe it’s truth, you don’t question it, but continue to act according to it until it’s revealed for what it is. When we live according to lies, our lives produce what we don’t desire; sickness, poverty, lack, suffering, pain, anger, bitterness, envy, oppression, hardship, and afflictions. Aren’t these elements of death what we really want to be free from?
Slave to Righteousness
Romans 6:18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.
If you chose truth, then you will seek truth from the one who is truth, God. Only in seeking truth are the lies revealed for what they are. By seeking God, we see the lies for what they are and chose to believe His ways, which we learn are of peace, joy, fulfillment and love. In chosing His ways and will, we chose to believe in His words over another’s in every situation and our actions follow. James 2:20 In choosing God, we give up our ways and the ways of the world, and embrace His full governance over our lives as He deems good, because we’ve learned only He is truly good.
Because of God’s love for us, though we are heeding all His ways and thus a slave to righteousness for He is righteous, abiding in His truth is more of being a child than a slave.
God is perfect in righteous love. Therefore everything He does is for our very best and will truly satisfy us. God is the perfect Father; as it’s His will to provide, protect, care, help, nurture, comfort, lead, guide and love us. Luke 12:32 Imagine being under the care of the perfect father who had every resource at His finger tips? Being a recipient of this love is what it is to be God’s child.
As His child, you are not only governed by His perfect righteous love, but you are a part of Him. Therefore, your desires become His desires. Thus, He gives you the desires of your heart because they are His for you as well. Psalm 37:4 Like a child, 1. you abide in complete rest as God cares for all that concerns you and 2. you follow your desires. To abide in rest and live by your desires is what it means to be a slave to righteousness. Incredible truths.
The core lie that keeps people from seeking truth from God is that He’ll make our lives less somehow. That we’ll miss out. That He’ll leave us and we’ll be worse off than before. But these are all lies that keep us from obtaining the abundant peaceful and restful lives we desire.
In this choice, we are far more than a slave, because we become a part of God. (Led By Spirit of God)
Galatians 4:7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Slave to Unrighteousness
Romans 6:20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
In not choosing God, so we don’t seek Truth from God, we default to being a slave to unrighteousness and the elements of death, for God is life and anything counter is death. We become slaves to lies by believing them to be truth. By believing and thus acting on those lies, we manifest a life of things we don’t want; pain, suffering, fear, hardships and so on. We may “conquer” one issue, but the underlining belief hasn’t changed so it’s redirected and manifests in another way. We are left feeling trapped, overwhelmed, discouraged, oppressed, discontented, and wanting more.
When we serve unrighteousness, our decisions are based on the world’s messaging. We’re directed by the conglomeration of external influences, whichever messages are impressed upon us the strongest. Lies are lies. Though they take on many faces the results are the same; a spirit lacking in truth, righteous love and peace. We trust what we know, and we make choices on what we know. There is no free will, just decisions manifesting pain.
Two paths, two very different results … which will you serve?
Matthew 6:24 “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Defeating Sin
Defeating Sin
1 Thessalonians 4:3-4 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
The same power that raised Christ from the dead is at work on those who believe in God. Ephesians 1:19-20 This power enables us to be sanctified; which is to live in righteousness. It frees us from the sin/death in our lives and brings us into abundant life here on this earth. John 10:10 Sin creates hardships, afflictions, pain, addictions, and suffering in our lives. Many feel bound by sin; even many professing believers. They know they are forgiven, yet still suffer bondages to sin and its consequences. There is a way out, the full gospel.
Hebrews 4:2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
1 Thessalonians 4:7-8 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.
We are no longer have to be slaves to sin/death; Christ made a way out of this bondage. He is the way, the door, the Word of God. The path out of sin/death in our lives is the narrow path, the path of truth. Its one few find because few truly seek truth from God Himself. Matthew 7:13-14 But for those who do travel the narrow way, they seek God in truth and learn spirit to spirit, He writes His truth on their hearts and it changes them, sanctifies them, He fills them and makes them into new creations. As a new creation, they have a new mind, new desires, new thoughts, and above all desire to be totally governed by God’s Spirit inside-out. 2 Corinthians 5:17 They walk the path of life, thus experience abundant life.
The purpose of going the narrow way of truth is receiving God’s spirit, which is the gift of life, eternal life, and abundant life. When He is directing us, He leads us to the fulfillment of the desires of our hearts as He intended to fill them. We experience joy, peace, rest, blessing, comfort, and righteous love because God’s spirit resides within us manifesting Himself in our lives.
Our part is to seek. Matthew 6:33 The lies and deception of the world has filled our minds, so we must seek for the truth and as we do it sanctifies us. John 17:17
Our part also is to cultivate trust in God above all things. Luke 14:33 We do this by trusting Him to be our Teacher and Counselor. We seek and listen to His instruction, act on it, and witness His faithfulness. In time, as we learn to trust His wisdom and will, we forfeit our self-will in every way and embrace His will. On this journey of the narrow path, we let go of our self-will and desire God’s will as He shows us His righteous love and goodness. Luke 17:33
This narrow path journey has been ignored by many. Ephesians 1:4 The doctrine of grace has been misunderstood. It’s by grace that we are able to live as new creations; a life we must seek and learn from God as how to walk. As we seek, He empowers us to walk it for it’s Him making His home in us. John 14:23 When it is Him working through us, His commands aren’t burdensome, but easy, a delight, and our desire. 1 John 5:3 They are how to live and are life, so we live an abundant life. In grace, we have tremendous power working for us and freeing us from the bondage of every sin. Ephesians 3:20.
1 John 3:24 Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
Many have been taught that the resurrection of Christ is the end. It’s just the beginning. His resurrection and life and the power it demonstrated are what God pours out on us. It’s the power that moves us from the pit of sin/death and into an abundant life here and now. Yes, it’s a journey, but every seeking step brings us more into life and out of death. People aren’t living an abundant life because they are living in sin. They believe it is what it is until they die and go to heaven. Conversely, God is offering us His righteousness and His Kingship in our souls if we will seek.
Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Importance of Repentance
Importance of Repentance
Repentance is an ongoing back and forth exchange with God. It’s seeking God’s truth, learning from Him, then turning from your way of doing something to His way. It’s the path to abundant life for His ways are wisdom, life, truth, peace, and joy. It’s God’s desire to give us an abundant life, but we have to follow His instruction. So basic yet many don’t follow.
To follow His instruction you first have to be spending time each day learning from Him by the Holy Spirit through the Bible. Then listening to His promptings and instructions in the details of your life. We each have different lives and circumstances, so we have to seek His counsel for the lives He desires us to lead. His ways are not our ways. Repentance is following God in the details of our lives … and those details add up to becoming a new creation and living a blessed life.
Sticks and Stones: The Power of Words
Sticks and Stones: The Power of Words
Who do you give “authority” to?
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
Above is one of the most popular childhood rhymes that needs a little dissecting, because most of us have been corrupted, damaged, and lived a life of pain because of the words of others, words spoken by those we gave and still give “authority” to.
People speak and act according to how they are not according to the object of their words and actions. Yet, far too often we’ve internalized the damaging words and actions of others. And God wants to free us.
There are many forms of this truth, but let’s take someone lashing out at another. When someone delivers a verbal barrage of negativity, it’s about them not the recipient. The problem is most people own other people’s words when it aligns with concepts spoken to them in the past by “authorities”. When someone lashes out then the recipient thinks something is wrong with them or it’s about them, when the painful delivery has nothing to do with them. How a person acts is all about them; not the recipient. But if their actions and words line up with what an authority figure in their lives spoke, especially a parent or an influential figure of their childhood, they will believe it and internalize the other’s baggage making it a part of who they are.
For example, if someone lost the car keys … I could call them an idiot for being so careless, or not even say a word but in my mind think what an idiot for being so careless. Either way, they would feel the condemnation because people respond to what we give off, not just our words. Matt 5:28 OR I would know we all do forgetful things, help them find the keys, and develop a strategy so they won’t lose them in the future. Consider the impact of the two responses on the recipient. The first would probably make them feel bad about themselves because most people incorrectly own others negative reactions toward them, especially if it was in line with what an authority figure said. The second would be uplifting and helpful.
The greatest impact of this dynamic is with children, which we all were at one point so consider what “baggage” you’ve owned from others. With children, the parents usually have the greatest authority in their lives, what they say the children believe without question and own it as their truth. Whatever they say, the children believe and manifest in their lives. If the parents said they were a loser, then that is how they will grow up unless or until they have a higher authority tell them differently at some point. This is just what children do, they believe their parents. Children don’t have the experience to realize that how their parents speak to them is about them and not the child. They don’t have a more powerful authority in their lives to tell them otherwise. Calling a child a loser has nothing to do with himself, and everything about the parent, which at one time it had nothing to do with that parent until he heard it from his parents and so on. This is an example of how sin spreads like cancer, because most people own other people’s baggage. 2 Timothy 2:17
You see how lies are passed along. How faulty frameworks about who we are formed. We all grow up with lies by owning others’ baggage. Lies make a train wreck of our lives, but Christ came to rewrite our lives and who we are. He came to show us who we truly are; beautiful, bountiful, blissful, boundless, bold, beloved, and blessed. What we believe we manifest. Many are manifesting the pain of others because they took ownership of their pain by believing their words. Christ came to set us free. John 8:32
As we mature spiritually, we realize that God is our authority, therefore we listen to what He says. When we do listen to Him, our framework changes and we learn that all the negativity spoken to us was about the speaker’s pain and baggage, and had nothing to do with us. If they were different and didn’t have their own bondage they would have never spoken that way to others. This understanding of their bondage is key to forgiveness and love that covers a multitude of sins.
Words are incredibly powerful when they come from someone we’ve given authority to. Who we give authority to dictates our life, because authority manifests belief. What we believe in we create as our reality. If we give someone authority, then we trust what they say and make their words are truth. Consider the authorities in your life, parents, doctors, PHDs, field experts, spouses, friends, political talking heads, and religious leaders. What kind of path have they led you on? This isn’t blaming, but taking responsibility for what we hold as truth and who we’ve placed as authorities in our lives who shouldn’t be.
If you still have misplaced authorities, it’s time to dethrone them. Psalm 1:1 THE authority in our lives should be God. Others can confirm what He tells you, but He should be THE authority – because He will speak ONLY truth to you. When He is your authority, you are on the path to tremendous freedom. Freedom from all others’ judgment, opinions, comments, and actions. Thus, freedom from others’ pain and bondage. Freedom from the lies. Freedom to be who you were created to be, someone magnificent because that is the kind of creator God is. Freedom to live a new life and a new reality. We are simply covered in the mud of lies so that is all we can see of ourselves. As mud washes off, God’s truth washes us clean. Putting people as authorities in our lives is putting our lives in the wrong hands. If you truly want to live free, then your authority must be God.
Consider Jesus did anyone alter what He thought and knew about who He was? No. He knew the Truth and His authority was God.
So as long as people are putting others in authority who shouldn’t be the lies spread generation to generation. Misplaced authority manifests false beliefs, and false beliefs manifest a life of suffering and bondage. Our beliefs determine our lives.
Instead of owning the baggage and lies of others, find your identity in Christ and respond with love. In love, tell them it’s not acceptable and look beyond the surface to that bound soul from which came such anger, bitterness, resentment, pain, self-pity, blame, criticalness, and judgment. They need deliverance too. They need love. We all do.
Made in God’s Image
Made in God’s Image
What God as been teaching me lately …
We are made in God’s image. Genesis 1:26 One of the main aspects of this likeness is we create with our thoughts. It isn’t if we do or don’t, we do. Our thoughts create. What is the main difference between two people, the difference that really matters in their lives? Their thoughts based on their belief systems.
The ramifications of our thoughts are either good or evil. They either work for our and others’ benefit or destruction. Apart from God, we can’t know what is truly good in every situation for all people because we can’t see the end of the ripple effects we create. We might judge something as good that really isn’t. This lack of judgment between good and evil is a problem when you are by nature a creative entity. Adam and Eve showed us that. Further, even if we know what is good, in our own power we aren’t able to do good in every situation.
We aren’t meant to do make our own judgments or rely on our own power to perform. Yet, that is what many strive to do. God created a much better way.
To live in goodness and what is helpful, pure, truth and love for us and others, we need to give up our self-directed creative power in every area of our lives and let God’s creative power flow through us so that we are living out His will. Only God is good. Only God knows the end result of any one act. Only He is powerful and pure enough to do good every time for all people. Therefore, to live truly in all that is good and loving for all, we have to give up our self-directing creative power and gain God’s. This is the surrender He calls us to. Matthew 16:25 This surrender leads to eternal life because only what is of God lives forever.
How is this surrender manifested?
We begin by grasping two key areas of knowledge, which we do by seeking God and His truth. First is the deep understanding of the destructive nature of our self-directed creative power, and its consuming nature in every area of our lives. To understand we can’t judge on our own, and we need to operate by God’s will. When we gain this awareness, our response is to want to completely rid ourselves of our self-directing ways as we see them for what they are – paths to death. This response is a desire to “die to self”.
The second area of knowledge is to learn about God and His truth; His perfection, the power of life His truth holds, the purity of His love, and that only His ways are good. Only when we know and trust God, can we truly let go of this self-directing will. We trust what we know. In understanding these two areas and personally witnessing their truth in our lives, we will want nothing but His will. We long to be utterly consumed by His perfection and nothing of our own making apart from Him. John 15:5
In seeing our self-directed creative power for what it is and God for who He is, we are jolted to give up our destructive self-will and embrace His on every level. Only by choosing to give up our self-directed power, we are able to be filled with His. It’s one or the other.
Next, by “dying to self” and seeking the truth and ways of God with all our heart, soul and mind, God writes His truth on our hearts. By doing so, He renews us, regenerates us and makes us into new creations as He alters our very core with His love and truth. Through this process, which incorporates our circumstances, His Word, and God’s instruction, we become new creations as our deepest thoughts and belief systems are transformed. Galatians 2:20 All the old things pass away and are replaced with a mind and spirit crafted in His truth. 2 Corinthians 5:17 With a new mind, what we now create is in line with God’s will because our thoughts are governed by His thoughts.
This path of regeneration is the journey of every true believer; one in which we are made into sons and daughters of God and brothers and sisters of Christ. John 1:12
Patience is required through this process as all we are is peeled back, exposed, and renewed. Every area of our lives has been under our self-directing power. Therefore, it takes time as God’s truth penetrates our souls and purges the layers self-directing power and instills His creative spirit in their place. 1 Peter 5:10
If we chose to hold onto our self-directed creative power the end is death. Ultimately what isn’t of God dies for God is life, the life force by which all things exist. Separation from Him is death. As the perfect Father who loves His children, God is sustaining us in His mercy as we are renewed.
One note, as the Great Tribulation is upon us, this sustaining hand of God will begin to withdraw and people will be given over to what they have chosen. In following self-directed ways, those ways will consume them as an addiction. We are ensnared by the work of our own hands. It’s we who bring judgment upon ourselves as we live out what we have chosen. Again anything not of God leads to death. However, for those seeking the regeneration of their spirits by God, in these days they will continue to be transformed from glory to glory.
If you choose the latter by seeking God and letting Him create you, you will become who you’ve desired to be. This path is one of entering into God’s rest because it’s He who works in you, as you let go, seek and abide. The regeneration is His work. He tells you what He will do, does it, and you glorify Him. You let go of control and God takes over. Yes, God is that good.
Living by the creative power of God is the kingdom of God. It’s God’s Spirit filling every aspect of your unique being making you who you were created to be as His perfect creation. You are transformed by His power into the fullness of who He created you to be as a beautiful vessel powered by God. This is eternal life. This is God in us and us in Him. This is the kingdom of God. This is what Jesus came to preach and continues to as the Word of God. This is how you will do more than you ever imaged; because you are greater than you ever imagined. John 14:12-13, 14, 20, Ephesians 3:20, Matthew 4:17
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.
Circles of Life…. To be Born Again PART 1
Circles of Life….
To be Born Again PART 1
Imagine two separate circles. The smaller one represents the spirit of man and the much larger one represents the spirit of God. We are either a part of one or the other. We enter into them by being born; one by being born in the flesh through man; the other by being born in the spirit through God. John 3:1-21
The first human man to know God, Adam, was the first man into the circle of the spirit of man when he chose to go his own way. This circle encompasses man’s will fulfilling his own desires completely separate thus contrary to God. To be a part of the second circle, the spirit of God, is to be in unison with God’s will and to be one with Him. John 17:23
When we are physically born, we are born of the flesh and therefore into the spirit of man. Our spirit is easily corruptible because it’s detached from God. Further, it’s a spirit that is corrupted because it’s united to the others in the circle who are of the spirit of man and thus corrupted. 1 John 5:19
Within the individual circles everyone is connected. Everyone impacts, influences and affects each other. If we are in the circle we are a part of that circle; being shaped by those in it. Some connections are stronger than others, but all influence one another to some degree. Thus what circle we are in will determine the condition of our spirit.
Where we clearly see the impact of this connection as in the circle of the spirit of man is in families. Everyone has “issues” that has caused a whole host of problems, issues like a lack of value, rejection, neglect, perfectionism, irrational fear, jealousy, addiction, manipulation, and pride. Many of these issues often start with one’s parents, because it’s a strong connection, then those issues are fed by others in the circle. One person gets issues from their parents, which they got from their parents as so on. Issues are passed along like a disease.
When we are born into this world we are born into the spirit of man, therefore we are in bondage to corruption. Psalm 51:5 At conception, we begin to be affected by those in that circle. We are born with a self will that is detached from God and connected to this degraded spirit of man. Immediately, we started to absorb other’s issues like our parents’ issues making them our own. Imagine if we didn’t “own” them how differently our lives would have played out? But we never had a choice to receive them or not we just did because we were connected to them. This influential element is how it is in these circles; we are connected to everyone else because we share the same spirit.
Every issue I’ve had is because I’ve “owned” someone else’s issues. They modeled lack of value, so that is what I learned. They treated me poorly because their own pain, but I took it as something wrong with me. This isn’t pointing the finger – it’s acknowledging that we are all connected. (When we get older we have more of choice about how to handle our issues, though if we are in the circle of man it is just moving from one corruption to the next.) This is true for everyone. And once I owned it, which we do at a young age, it corrupted my mind sending me on a path of ill-thinking, which led to destructive mind and behaviors, thus a corrupted life.
Now you can see how that death/sin was passed along through one man, Adam. And how life is passed along through one man, Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:22 We are all connected. Flesh conceives flesh. Spirit conceives spirit. John 3:6
To be continued …
Conquering Our Soul, Undoing the Bondage
Conquering Our Soul:
Undoing the Bondage
Our soul is like a territory held in bondage by an enemy. When we are awakened to the state of our soul, then we realize our need for someone mightier (Jesus Christ) than ourselves and our enemy to deliver us from the entrapment. When we accept that Jesus is the One to deliver us, then He comes and claims the beachfront of our lives. So we are His, however, aspects of our soul are still untouched territory. As we abide in His Word and are willing and listening, bit by bit Jesus makes advances taking over the territory of our soul as King. Under His Kingship, we live free and as we were created to live. I want to explore some ways He makes those advances.
For years I experienced pain in my body in reoccurring areas. It wasn’t unbearable, but at my young age, it was far more than I should be experiencing. I knew something was way off. I tried many external remedies but nothing worked, but each “cure” presented a new hope. A friend told me about what a Cranial Sacral Therapist had done for her, so I found someone in my area. During the session, as she was working on my neck and head, she asked me if I had experienced any trauma in that area as a child. At first I thought no, but then as I laid there several experiences came to mind, but they weren’t of a physical nature but an emotional one. That thought process led me to see a deep trauma in my beliefs – that I lacked a sense of value for myself. Until that point, I never fully realized this debilitating belief. I went home knowing I had stumbled upon something significant. I realized I needed to stop looking outward for solutions and look inward.
As I brought this issue into my quiet time with God, He started unraveling it bit by bit. It ended up being a core issue that underscored many other issues (almost all of them, including my pain). I started to see the massive ripple affect of that ill-belief spreading to every area of my life. Eagerly, I prayed and listened to God’s instruction, and He started laying it all out. He showed me how most of my thoughts, actions, and decisions were tied to a lack of value for myself. He showed me where this idea started and was reinforced in childhood. As He took me back to painful memories, ones I feared to face or simply didn’t want to out of pride, I travelled with Him trusting His guidance and He covered them with His love, truth and forgiveness. As pain appeared in other areas in my body, I listened and He led me to other issues all related to my core one. He opened up each area of anger, pain, and fear, and brought in His truth. When He was done, I held an unchanging priceless value in myself as His child. However, many of my habitual ways of responding and acting were still reflective of that girl who had no value. Through awareness, abiding in His Word and prayer, those actions started to fade and were replaced by ones based on who I truly am as His unique creation and this transition is in progress today.
I share this story, because 1) it demonstrates a type of progression in how the territory of our soul is conquered by God, and 2) many people have this core issue of a lack of value (from childhood rejection, abuse, neglect, modeling of parents, and so on). Some know it and many deny it, but I see it in many people. When we lack value we spend our lives trying to prove and earn our worthiness and most of what we do is a result of this lack of value, therefore, we aren’t able to be completely surrendered to God’s will. We are more driven to prove or earn our worthiness. God calls us to be surrendered completely to Him and that surrender is a journey. For many facing core issues is a significant part of that journey. But we have to stop the madness of trying to prove and earn and abide in God’s presence and seek His deliverance. God wants us out of that bondage and will allow or do what it takes in our lives to bring us to this understanding, to healing and freedom.
The Progression of Conquering Our Soul
First, an uncomfortable situation arises in our life to get us seeking, like a physical aliment (as I had), intense trial, or difficult relationship. We live in blindness to our own soul and something has to wake us up. When all is fine, we don’t seek. But when things aren’t, it’s to push us to search from the depth of our soul. Often what starts us seeking is something that gets our full attention, and it is different for different people. How better to get our attention than with something we really care about?
Second, from seeking we get a word of truth about the state of our soul that comes to us through a dream, person, the Spirit, or God’s Word. When that word or insight resonates strongly with us, like the issue of value did for me, this is our first awareness of seeing Christ on the edge of this section of our soul ready to take it over and deliver us.
Third, through spiritual weaponry (like faith, prayer, meditating on His Word, the Bible, and /or fasting) the anchor of that stronghold is uprooted. For me the stronghold was the lie I had no value, God uprooted that ill-belief and replaced it with the truth that I have infinite unchanging value. One point on fasting, it is a tool that when God calls us to use it (He decision not ours), it can be extremely powerful. It’s an act of faith that we are completely reliant on His Word for life. Matthew 17:19-21
Fourth, once the anchor is uprooted then there is a time (usually much longer) of restructuring and rebuilding, like when a land is taken over by a new regime it has to be established on their rules. As the rebuilding occurs in this certain area, many issues may spring up that are related to that area like anger, modeling (what we learned from our parents), and unforgiveness. Each one of these has to be addressed and replaced with truth and love. This work of rebuilding is God’s. Our part is to seek His deliverance, listen to and obey His instruction, abide in His Word that cuts through our soul healing and restoring, pray, and hold onto His truth as it’s established in us.
After believing lies for so long it sometimes takes awhile for the truth to truly be ours. Because of the strong connections in our brain established from acting certain ways for so long, it sometimes takes awhile for us to act according to the deliverance that is happening in our soul. But once the anchor is uprooted, then we should see progress forward however slow. Building a new way of behaving requires great patience, trust and perseverance. It requires that we trust God who begun a good work in us will complete it (Philippians 1:6). As this area is rebuilt, God moves onto the next one to conquer. If we are diligent to heed His instruction, follow and trust in Him to do what He promises to do, we will experience true freedom in our soul. The good news is that once our core issue is addressed it resolves many other issues that came from it. Though, it may be a longer process initially, it is delivering us from many problems in our lives.
If you are struggling right now, perhaps it is the Spirit trying to get your attention. Ask and seek why you are going through what you are. Be aware of insights you have about your situation. Pray about them don’t ignore or push them to the side. Dive into them. They may be God on the forefront ready to move and waiting for you to call Him in. Deliverance requires your involvement. Let His pure Word penetrate your heart, pray, meditate on His truth daily and follow His direction and He will take over and rebuild you into the new creation you are in Him.
In my experience this process can be painful at times as our depths are unraveled and exposed and it isn’t instant by any means. It is a journey, sometimes taking years, but He is faithful to finish what He began. What are a couple of years compared to a lifetime of freedom? Most of us give up. Stop trusting. Stop seeking deliverance. Stop listening. Stop abiding in His Word. Don’t give up. Believe God is good and desires you to be free. And remember it is God who starts, directs, and completes this journey. It is by the Spirit’s lead not our own initiative.
Matthew 7:11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Snowballing Effects of the Sinful Nature
Snowballing Effects of
the Sinful Nature
I posted a couple videos on Why Bad Things Happen to Good People? On YouTube, several people mentioned horrific instances and wondered why God, who is suppose to be loving, would allow such dreadful evils? Therefore, in their judgment, God must not exist; it’s simply life and chance. One person gave a video response about the father who locked up his daughter in the basement for 24 years and had several children by her. Thinking about this horrific event – this is what came to mind . . .
The majority of us tend to think our “little” sins are no big deal because compared to others’ sins we judge them less important. For example, I may say a lie here and there, but at least I’m not murdering! However, our “little” sins have ripple effects and if those sins are left unchecked, then those “little” sins snowball. They can snowball in our own lives, but it’s the passing along to other generations and those around us that we often don’t consider. What may seem like a small thing may feed a “bigger” sin in someone else. For example, in selfish indulgence I may flirt with someone married at work. What’s the big deal? The big deal is I’m telling others with my actions that is acceptable behavior. I can reinforce thoughts of infidelity in another. Then perhaps they go and have an affair with someone else causing pain and damage. My little sin could have fed that sin, see? Obviously, I wasn’t the only cause, but I could have contributed to it because I encouraged that train of thought. Now, we have no way of knowing how our actions affect others in a particular circumstance, but my point is we are all connected. We influence each others’ lives. We don’t operate in a vacuum. Our words, our actions have power. How are your behaviors, words, beliefs affecting others really? 1 Corinthians 10:24 Each person’s choice is based upon the combination of their experiences, previous choices, family, friends, culture, genetics, and situations. And much of that is influenced by others.
Horrific evils result from an accumulation of many “little” sins not dealt with in our lives, throughout generations, and in our society. Sins excused as no big deal. Sins give a foothold to evil – and when we open the door to let it in who knows what form it will take. So who is responsible? We say we never would do that terrible of an evil – but when we don’t address our own rebellion against God we are contributing to what could become a “bigger” sin.
These horrific stories should be a powerful reminder of the effects our little sins have. We are all connected. God isn’t to blame. The answer isn’t to turn away from God – it’s to draw near – the only thing that will heal this earth.
In thinking about this snowball effect, my fallen nature, and all the snowballing I’ve done, Paul’s exclamation came to mind . . .Romans 7:24 “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Then, Christ’s magnificence filled me. He set us free from this curse. The thoughts of His deliverance from being a slave to sin, mercy for not giving me the full effects of my sin or giving it to others, complete forgiveness and moving my sins as far as the east is from the west, the healing in me and the lives I have hurt along the way, and His new spirit in me that gives me a passion for His ways and His love overflowed my soul with gratitude. . . and it made me much more attentive to the “little” sins God shows me.
Apart from God we can’t know and give true love. This is what we are learning by all the pain and damage that is created from souls separated from God. That pain is to drive us to seek God; to open our eyes to the fact that going our way apart from Him doesn’t work. But instead many blame God – they have it backwards. We are the problem, not Him. Being separated from Him is the problem.
We all have rebelled against God Isaiah 53:6. We have all caused pain, damage, and added to the sinful state of our world. When we fully understand our sinfulness, the gift of God of giving His Son’s life as payment for our sins, for His healing, and His mercy toward us, then His love overwhelms us. 1 Peter 4:8, Psalm 57:10
Only by being born of God can we know and do what is truly loving and good. We need Him. We need to be deeply connected to Him. He is life.
We are choosing that evil we hate every day when we don’t choose God and His way. Matthew 24:12
Living Light 