Living Light

Stirring The Deep

Tag Archives: the gospel


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Words of Life

Words of life

I have many wonderful things to tell you. Some will be sweet to your soul and others stirring to conviction and repentance, but all will feed your soul to bring true life.

The lies and deception run deep through the fabric of our being causing blindness to the truth; to God and who you are in Him as His beloved child. Ears have been muted to the voice of God and tuned in to the voice of death begging for the audience of our every thought.

Yet amidst the darkness a seed of truth is planted, the Word; a flicker of light that for those who seek will lead them to truth. It’s the light that guides seekers along the narrow path of truth drawing them away from this world bound in death to a resurrected life. Matthew 7:13-14 Few find and traverse this path, will you be one?

The path leads to a life beyond your imagination, because all you’ve known prior to this search is death. The difference between life and death on the earth is the difference between living in this life I’m speaking of and the life you live now. Many have been falsely told they are spiritually alive. Yet, until now there’s only been the promise of a resurrected life.

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path

God’s love is abundant for His children, yet few have truly sought Him as He is. Most have given up their vast inheritance of true life for a morsel of bread. Genesis 25:30-34 They’ve worshiped what is dead, images masquerading as life. They’ve been captivated by lies which prohibit them from seeing the path of life, thus entering into God’s abundance. But the light is here, in the earth, to be found by you.

There is another way to live in this earthly life that leads you out of the pit of death, hell, and to live a resurrected life; a way that requires you to be a complete slave to God. It requires you to forsake your ways, you desires and pleasures, and your very words; to be replaced by what God has in store for you. Isaiah 58:13. It’s being completely governed by the Spirit of God in every possible way. Galatians 2:20 In this complete abandonment is found power, healing, peace, thanksgiving, rest, bounty, blessing, wisdom, joy, and righteous love. The abandonment comes from knowing God and as you do you are willing to give up all for what you have found, for He is life and the rest a masquerade of death.

Matthew 13:44 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

It’s a path of seeking the truth FROM God through the Bible each morning. Through intimate conversations with God, He reveals in grace the error in your life. In the awareness of the goodness of God, the error is forsaken and you turn to live as God instructs. It’s a path of the true fast that God calls His people to, a fast of the self-will, in exchange for being consumed with His spirit. Isaiah 58. Its end is far better than what we can imagine because our minds have only known death. Ephesians 3:20 God is life. Seek Him and live.

Jeremiah 19:13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.


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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.