Tag Archives: HolySpirit

Faith, Observations

Albert Einstein

“You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.”

― Albert Einstein

Adversity Happens.

What you do with adversity will greatly affect how your life will turn out.

Adversity can be brought on by ignorance, evil, selfishness, bad judgement, or simply by circumstance.  If the same adversity happens repeatedly in your life, the chances are great that you are the cause of your pain.

Psalm 119:67 ESV

Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.

Chances are that the problems that plague you are because you keep repeating the same old habits, hoping for a different result.  It may be that you are repeating them without even understanding that that is what you are doing.  However it happened, here is hope:

You recognize that you are afflicted.

You know that you brought this on yourself.

You understand that something must change in order to get out of this destructive cycle.  One of the earliest mistakes I make when I really reap what I sow is, over analyzing the past.  The more you study your past, the more you will defeat yourself on the memories of all your failures.  Look at your past if you can learn from it.  But you have to come to terms with the fact that:

“You can never solve a problem on the level on which it was created.” – Einstein.

There is an old saying that goes something like this:  “If you always do what you’ve always done, then you’ll always get what you have always got.”  (Apologies to my English teacher.)

So, you may be asking yourself, “How do I change this mess?”

Here you go:

1. Let go of your past.  You are a new creation (II Corinthians 5:17).   The OLD you is DEAD.  Let go of your old evil self.  That person is dead.  He or She dies the second you confessed with your mouth that Jesus Christ died of your sin and rose from the dead..  You cannot solve your problems by doing the same thing over and over again.

2. Do away with your old patterns of thinking.  Change what you believe about yourself, and understand how God views you now that you are in Christ, and you have HIS MIND. (Bible Verses About Our Identity in Christ: God’s View of Us)

3. Take Responsibility for your every thought.  God did not invent a bunch of brain dead, mind washed robots.  He gave you the ability to think for yourself.  But choose your thoughts wisely.  Whatever you believe is true about yourself WILL be the life you create for yourself.  We gained this autonomy from God Himself, BEFORE THE FALL, and His Gifts are without repentance.  It IS written, For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he… Proverbs 23:7 KJV

4. Watch your mouth.  This follows from #3 – The things you say are born in your heart.  “A good man produces good out of the good storeroom of his heart. An evil man produces evil out of the evil storeroom, for his mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart. “  – Jesus – Luke 6:45 HCSB  The best way to learn to do this is by thinking about what is good, right and pleasing to the Lord.  It is written:  Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. Philippians 4:8 NASB  

5. Speak new truths about yourself.  Your mind is your greatest enemy or your best asset.  Speak what you believe.  Speak it.  When you do, you will discover if you believe it or not.  If you don’t believe it, stop lying.  Gain an understanding about how God sees you, and understand that He has not destined you for failure,. but success .  When you speak it, feel it all the way into your bones, deep in your heart, see it in your mind’s eye.  Know that it is true.  Changing the pattern of what you believe about life, the world, others and yourself will dramatically change your life.  We have the power of life and death in our tongues.  Just be aware that the life you bless or curse is you own.  You will affect the rest of the world according to what you believe is true about yourself.  HERE is what the Bible says about SUCCESS.

When you change your view of yourself, by learning and believing what God says about you (Bible Verses About Our Identity in Christ: God’s View of Us), you will develop the mind of Christ, and THEN IF you do these things, you will know success.

Taking these steps takes discipline, and does not necessarily happen overnight.  A great many successful people have built their successes on their heaping pile of failures.

God made you for a purpose.  If you want to find that real, authentic you, that he purposefully created for this time, this life, this moment in history, step away from your old self, and see how God views you.

Then act on it.

“Let’s Be About It!”

I love you.

David G. Perkins

sammy.snardfarkle@gmail.com

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Change Your Life

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Faith, Observations

Growing Pains – Lessons From The Kindergarten of God – Part III – Well Intentioned Dragons


“the more i sing and play my music in front of people, the more advice i get. it’s well-meant, coming from people who care about me, but it’s all conflicting. b. says i should play acoustic more. r. says i should rock harder. c. says i sing too loud. k. says i sing too loud too (ok, maybe i sing too loud). but the point is, who do i listen to?”

When dealing with yourself, use your mind. When dealing with others, use your heart. John Maxwell

And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:

 And after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah?  I Kings 19:11-13

“Jesus asked, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?”(Matthew 7:3 NIV). Christians seem to be uncontrollably motivated by some deep need to “take the dog by the ears.” (See Proverbs 26:17.) They are always meddling in other people’s stuff. This is one of the main reasons the world hates the church. We have declared ourselves to be the world’s police force. We are the self-proclaimed militant army that is here to police and judge the world, when we should be a loving family who brings hurting people into the family circle by adoption! Our concept of presenting what we mistakenly call the Gospel is to let people know they are sinners so they will realize their need for Jesus. This erroneous concept leads the Christian to think that the best way to let people know they are sinners is to point out their faults-that is, to find the speck in their eye.

Your Heart Dictates How You See

The way we view something is the product of our heart. If we have a critical eye, it is because we have a critical heart. The Bible says, He that hath a froward heart findeth no good” (Proverbs 17:20). A ‘froward heart”is a crooked heart. It is a heart that has been reshaped through the pressures of sin, legalism, religion, or life circumstances. It is a heart that sees only the bad; it cannot find the good. Some people seem to have mistaken criticism for discernment. Criticism is not a gift of the Holy Spirit; it is the product of a corrupt heart. Religion has forged the church into a critical, reactionary society not much different than that of the Pharisees in Jesus’ day.”   James B. Richards. How to Stop the Pain. Kindle Edition.

WELL INTENTIONED DRAGONS

As a New Creation, I sometimes look to other, wiser, Christians for sound advice.  There are some, I have learned through experience, who see through my questions, and hear what my heart is actually asking.  This is a gift of discernment I find most mature Christians have.

There are new Christians, like me, who need to spend much more time in the Bible and Prayer, so we can develop a finely tuned sense of God’s Voice, and God’s Will.

Then there are the well-intentioned dragons.  These are the ones who genuinely love God, and are saved through the blood of Jesus Christ, and even know scripture very well, but something about them sets my teeth on edge.  Figuring out what that something is has taken me some time.  I took that time to look for patterns, and build a baseline that demonstrates the difference between what I hear them say, and the way they say it, against what and how Jesus spoke to people.

THAT IS WHEN I FOUND IT!

Jesus, being God, and unchangeable (YHWH), speaks, and when He speaks…

He doesn’t change, but loves eternally, speaks gracefully, and uses the truth to heal, not hurt.

He is Lord of Lords, meaning His word is the first one, and the last one, because His judgement is true.

He is the Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit, as these three are one…when He speaks, all have spoken, they are their own witness, and need no outside verification.

He is the Lord Most High, sitting eternally on the throne…and because we have accepted his free gift of life, we sit next to him, as he is our brother, and GOd is our Father.  THere is none beside him, and no one higher in authority than him.

His word and will is our provision.  He meets all our needs, to grow, to love, to show mercy, to be graceful, because when he became all sin in our place, he gave us all that he is in exchange.

His word smites sin.  No other has this authority.  All other judgement is accusation and comes from the father of lies and his children.  God’s judgement is true, and he deals mercifully with us, as he destroys sin, in us, and in the world.

He is the one and only one who sanctifies us.  His death on the cross paid for your fall, and his resurrection gave us new life…if we will accept this free gift.  He alone is what sanctifies us.

He is the one who marks us with his banner and ensign.  We are his, paid for with His blood.  Our mission in life is to become like Him so that when people see us, they see Him only.  We are his banner, and he is ours.

His blood, and his word heals us.  All he gives us in His love, grace and mercy.  He will do us no harm.  He is not mad at us.  He heals us by the stripes he bore.

He is my ever-present shepherd.  He guides me in the midst of trouble, and leads me to his peace, even in the midst of the storm.  Even His rebuke of me brings me hope and life and health.  No other has this ability, or authority.  He keeps watch over me day and night.

Well intentioned dragons will use the scriptures and their overrated opinion and religion to criticize, destroy, rob you of peace, take your joy.  THe well-intentioned dragons are the first to point out what you did wrong.  Why you should have done it better/different/ or not at all.

Well intentioned dragons have no faith in the genuine work of the cross because they are too busy being religious.  That is why, when GOd sends you to do a thing, they rail against it, they fail to see your vision, they try to improve you so that you will better resemble their opinion of the truth, and fail to comprehend what real truth actually is.

Well intentioned dragons do not feel ok until they have spoken their judgement over you, and “improved” you, and judged you inadequate.  They did this to Jesus, and they will do the same to you.

IF YOU LISTEN

If you listen to the dragons, you will end up worse than they are.

If you listen to the still small voice of the Lord, you will know joy, peace, healing, direction, purpose, strength, courage, and you will know HIM.

IT IS ALL A CHOICE OF WHOM YOU CHOOSE TO BELIEVE.

Do as he sends you to do, even if it makes no sense, and seems crazy, and no one else trusts you, believes you, understands what and how you are doing it.  You were sent by God, not by well-intentioned dragons.

His presence will calm you and empower you through even the hardest trials and storms.

This is the God I serve.  This is the God I choose to obey.  No matter what it will cost, I have no desire to give ear to the dragons.  I will wait for the still small voice.

I love you,

David Perkins

sammy.snardfarkle@gmail.com

Let’s be about it.

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Faith, Observations

The Looking Glass


In my dreams. Photo by E. Tom Hussey

In my dreams. Photo by E. Tom Hussey

JAMES 1:23-24 – For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.

We interrupt this series on values to bring you this message.

I Corinthians 15:49 – Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

A few days ago, I was talking to a friend about how our perception of ourselves affects what we believe is true about ourselves.  For example, I have this self-image of me from when I was in peak athletic condition.

In my minds mirror, I see me as still being fit, muscular, coordinated, strong, with real strength, not bottled strength.  In my minds mirror, I still have long, curly blackish/brown hair, full of waves and curls.  In my mind’s eye, I am still wearing 32 inch waist pants.

What the mirror in my mind ells me.

What the mirror in my mind tells me.

The mind can be a tricky thing, and can lead me to many false assumptions based on what I think is true.  Often, my warped ego guides me to many fallacies and false assumptions.

The other day, I did something I honestly RARELY ever do.  I looked at myself in the mirror.  My first impression was, “Hey!  That’s my Dad!  I thought I buried HIM in 2005!”  But when I moved, so did the man in the mirror.  Then it dawned on my conscious mind, and my ego mind, that is not my dad, but ME!!

It was then I realized why I don’t look in mirrors.  I am not that guy my ego told me I am.  I am the very image of my Dad.

IN THE BEGINNING

When God created us, we were made in the image of God, meaning we looked like he looks.  We were also made in the likeness of God, meaning we used to act as He acted because we saw what he did.

AFTER THE FALL

After the fall, we lost touch with God, and lost what was His likeness.  We were not able to return to our glorified state.  No work we could expend any effort on would make us righteous in God’s eyes, even though we became self-righteous in our own eyes.  The ego can really fool a person.

THEN CAME JESUS

Yes, Jesus is the Son of God.  God said so rather loudly at Jesus’ baptism.  But it was the Son of Man that faced temptation.  It was the Son of Man that asked God to take away the cup.  It was the Son of Man that faced God’s wrath.  It was the Son of Man that rose from the dead to prove he is the Son of God, too.

The Image of Christ

We are asked to be like Christ, but we, on our own are not capable.  The best we can do is try, but we eventually fail.  But the scripture says we need to become like Christ.  Peter was the first person to prove that, if you don’t keep your eyes on Christ, you will fail in your effort to be just like Jesus.  The labor into the rest of Christ likeness was that all Peter had to do was keep his eyes, and faith, on Jesus, and he would have walked on the water, by faith, as he was already doing.

In the Garden of Eden, the wind and waves Adam and Eve faced was the lie that doing something else will make you just like God.  They then doubted they were already like God.  They took their eyes off the facts, and the truth, and considered a lie, and a false premise based on circumstances.  Forbidden Fruit.

THE EXCHANGE

If you will consider this, instead, and accept it as fact, instead of believing what you think you apparently see, you will learn that you are already like Christ, if you have accepted His death and resurrection.  When Jesus became all your sin, you received, in exchange, all that Jesus is.

“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

II Corinthians 3:18

It is all a matter of what we focus on.

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Philippians 2:5-8  

Just like Jesus died of our sins, voluntarily, we are able to die to ourselves, voluntarily, as we labor into the rest of accepting that, all that Jesus was, we inherited when He arose from the dead.  When we keep our understanding on this truth, when we comprehend this exchange, and when we accept it in faith, no matter what we think we look like, you will look to God, like His Son, Jesus, and you will eventually appear to others to have the likeness of Christ, too.

After all, that is why you weren’t raptured the second you believed.  You are the only Jesus people will see.  When they see Jesus in you, they will want to know what happened to make you this way.

We are transformed in to the image of Christ

We are transformed in to the image of Christ

Let’s Be About It!

I love you in the Name of Jesus

David G. Perkins

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Faith

Transition States: Serving Man Is To Serve Christ


"I AM the bread of life" - Jesus

“I AM the bread of life” – Jesus

For I have come down from heaven,not to do My will, but the will of Him who sent Me. – John 6:38 HCSB

Do I understand that, for Jesus to make that statement, He had to be completely emptied of His Heavenly place of honor, leave His throne, and become one of us?  He humbled Himself and served God’s will by serving man.  Jesus left His own personal will behind, was filled with the Spirit of God at His baptism, and served God’s Will.  Not out of law, compulsion, or as a slave, but out of Love for His Father.  Jesus served God by serving man.  And He did it by the power of the Holy Spirit that had filled Him.

I grew up believing that if I sang in the church choir, went to all the youth rallies, worked in the annual church “revival”, attended the Summer Camps, and basically behaved myself, I would be a good christian.

When I became an adult (Not to be confused with growing up), I attended church because I wanted to please God.  I confused the scripture that says, “Hebrews 10:25 – KJV – Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”  Again, I saw a lot of “activity” and heard a great deal about God and Jesus, but it came across as a knowledge gained through consensus, a creating God out of parts of scripture that appealed to the idea of what I want God to be, rather than learn what the Bible actually says about God, His will, and Jesus, the Lord.

Let me be clear, and I will probably be pilloried over this, but you can research this yourselves.  The “Church” is the ekklesia…the body that consists of those who genuinely believe.  The “Church” is NOT the building you go to and socialize in.  These edifices are full of people who have no real belief or understanding of the scriptures.  They gather to serve themselves.  The “Church” was never called to serve itself, glorify itself, or do its own will, expecting God to approve its’ own agenda.  When we are filled with our own purposes, we have immediately forsaken the will of God.    Today’s churches have become irrelevant for this very reason.  It is a fortress that expects the sinner to come to it for help, and offering only trite messages, based on the popular psychology of the day, and “supported” by whatever scripture they can find to support that view-point.  They are the “Hucksters of the Gospel” you read about in the New Testament.   Having a form of Godliness, but denying the power thereof.

Christ’s church, His ekklesia, consists of those who have believed in  their hearts that Jesus died for and became their sin.  That Jesus became every sin that ever was and ever will be, and died and went to hell, a sinner, for our sake.  Christs church understands that, while Jesus was dead in Hell, cut off from God, but receiving the complete and full wrath of God, God reached into Hell and brought Jesus back to life.  Jesus, having been restored, preached freedom to the captives in Hell and took the captives and freed them.  Then Jesus rose from the dead to prove that He has the right to be called “Christ the Lord”.  Jesus did for us what we cannot do for ourselves.  He put all sin and death away for our sakes.  If you accept this simple truth in your heart, and declare with your mouth that Jesus did all this and rose from the dead, YOU HAVE SALVATION.  THAT is all there is to it.

Those are the people who are the ekklesia, the church.  And believing these things, are sold out, in faith, and grace, and have determined to follow their Lord.  These are the people who need to stick together.  These are the people who need to support each other.  Wherever two believers are gathered, Jesus is in their midst.  It is there they can support, exhort, teach and worship together.  You will not find that in the established church.  If this were not true, the established church would have no idea what religious dogma is, nor would they be trying to force their own agenda down the throat of the Living God.

Results matter, and what has become the modern church is proof that they have abandoned their first love, and taken upon themselves the idea that they know God’s will better than God does.

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:5 ESV

I cannot do what Christ wants me to do.  Not if I intend to do it on my own power.  The only way I can “walk after the lord” is to rest in what HE accomplished on my behalf.  The minute I abandon the power and will and faith of Christ, and attempt to do His will on my own, I have abandoned the very thing Christ has asked us to do…ABIDE IN HIM.  Abiding means to rest, pitch your tent, make Him your home.  Know Him through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  It is what every New Believer experiences.  Unfortunately, because discipleship is a lost art, that new Christian becomes a blown out candle.  Then when he asks his pastor, or some other respected elder why has the joy left, that respected adviser usually tells them, “Well, this is all part of maturing . ”  God worked in you because you were a baby christian, but we all have to grow up, and do for ourselves.  We have to obey God through our effort”.  I actually was told that at Seminary.  We were taught that we must abide, but we were taught that it is an effort to do so, and we just have to work hard to get ourselves to abide.  I actually believed that, and the result was, I became as bad a sinner as I was before I was saved.  I didn’t understand what abide really meant.

Abide is a very intimate term.  Get to know Him through spending time with Him.  This starts with reading the word and prayer.  The Spirit of God that raised Jesus from the dead is the same spirit that now lives in you.  As long as you abide, you grow, and produce fruit.  But is done by resting in Him.  Believe as simply as you did when you were first saved.  Trust that He will guide you, teach you, uphold you, love you, and instruct you.  Give up your ideas of God’s will, and learn what His will actually is.  Rest in Him.  You cannot do this by your own strength.  You are already forgiven.  You are already His child.  You are already adopted into the Kingdom of God.  When you learn to relax and trust this truth, you will abide in Him.  When you do this, you will be shown how things look from God’s point of view.  You will, out of love for Christ, WANT to please him.  This is not something you can ever do on the power of your flesh.  It is only when you abide in the rest of the Lord that HE will guide you and teach you.  Your desire will be to do as Christ leads you.  He will make sure you have all you need to do His will.

John … said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name; and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow along with us.”  But Jesus said to him, “Do not hinder him; for he who is not against you is for you.” – Luke 9:49-50 NASB

You do not need “The Church’s” permission to serve Christ.  You already are a co-heir to the throne of Christ.  You have within you all the same power that God used, through Jesus, to create the heavens and earth.  The kingdom of God dwells in you.  You are now His child.  God is not sitting “way up there, in the distant by and by, sitting on a throne, unapproachable”.  He dwells in you.  His kingdom is in you.  You have all the power and authority and grace and love of God.  You are Saved and belong to Him as if you were Jesus Himself.  When He sees you, He sees his beloved child.

That “someone” who was casting out demons in Jesus’ name, was obeying the will of God because it became his heart to do so.  He did not need the permission of the disciples because he already had the kingdom of God in his heart.  He had a change of heart.  He learned a new thought.  Repent simply means to think again.  The disciples were already jockeying for position of authority, and desired to rule over others since they were the “First Disciples”.  This may be why Jesus chose Paul to do what others refused to do.

It is as simple as understanding that the price Jesus paid on the cross, in hell, and through His resurrection, Jesus gave you, the believer this free gift, that you are also the adopted son of God.  You have God’s permission to rest in Him and watch him use you as he moves you in your heart.  No church, ever, was able to do this for you.  It is simply and ONLY the completed work of Jesus Christ.  It is a free gift.  It goes beyond eternal life.  It goes beyond your resources, your thinking, your will, and your ability.

Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour.  And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple;  Who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms.  And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.   And he gave heed unto them, expecting to receive something of them.  Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.  And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. – Acts 3:1-7 KJV

All of what I have written is because I am going through a transition state of understanding what Jesus actually gave himself for.  It was not a religion.  It is so that we can be restored to the place we were before the fall of man.

Peter and John were on their way to the church (Synagogue) to pray.  They were obeying the edict of the assembly.  But on their way, Christ showed them an opportunity to do the will of God.  This is because the Holy Spirit had taught them the Mind of Christ (Read the first few chapters of Acts).

Interestingly enough, it was the established church of their day that had a huge problem with this behavior.  They, however, had the joy of the Lord in them, even under persecution, because they had obeyed their Lord.

They didn’t have permission from the local church to obey Christ.  They simply were moved in their hearts and minds because it is what moves Christ.  Serving man is more important than serving your church.  Giving freely of all you were given by Christ is true obedience.

SILVER AND GOLD HAVE I NONE

The transition state I am going through is a real object lesson.  All I ever had, believed or possessed has been taken away from me.  I own nothing, I have nothing but my clothes, a wife who loves me unconditionally, and a wonderful family.  We live in a basement.  But we are discovering a joy that we would never have understood had this not happened.  We are learning that, out of our need, we give, we serve, and we obey.  We do this, not because we are trying to please God.  We please God because, when He moves us to be like His son, and we follow that lead, we get to see Christ at work.  We are finding that you do not have to have a lot of resources to give.  You do not need things to serve.  You start with what you do have, and let God guide you.  You do this because you are abiding in Christ.  You learn to hear his voice.  Our joy has multiplied because of this transition.  We are being remade into the image of Christ through resting in Him and knowing His word.

Where others have disassociated from us, where finances have fled from us, where all we ever thought important has been lost, we find that we have been given a new heart, a new mind, and a living Holy Spirit.

I do not need things to serve man.  I just need the same Love in my heart that drove Jesus to do for me.  I did not have to follow any rituals, or attend a church to get this knowledge or understanding.  My heart didn’t change from some church activity or program.  My thinking was renewed into the will of God by trusting that what Christ said he did, He did.  And trusting that what Christ said he will do through His Spirit in me, HE will do.  I can do nothing of my self.  I can only be useful to God if I let Christ make me into something completely new and different from all that I was.

I have learned that it is better to abandon my religion and pursue Christ.  I am inviting you to do the same thing.

Let’s be about it.

I Love You

David G. Perkins

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Faith

Growing In Christ – Dealing With Your Past


English: Broken Heart symbol

English: Broken Heart symbol (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This tome is written to men and women who, like me, strayed from the Love of God and the Joy of Salvation, and lived a life that you’d rather forget ever happened.  I am writing this to you.  I am writing this from a lesson I am going through as we speak.

I want to try to prepare you that this is coming.  I knew in my heart of hearts that, eventually, the Lord will deal with this issue in my life, but was still blindsided by the intensity of it.  Not every act of obedience will bring immediate joy, but it will eventually lead you to a joy that you will never understand until you grow in Christ.

God’s discipline is a good thing, even if it doesn’t feel like it at the time.  Remember, God disciplines the ones He loves. When He disciplines you, it is in love, not wrath.  Jesus already took on the wrath of your sin.  What God is doing is a gift of the Holy Spirit, so that you will grow to be like Christ in all things.

The hard work of the walk is, after redemption, you still have to deal with the mess you made in the wake of your fallen state.  You will have to deal with the forgiveness and contempt you hold for yourself.  You will have to deal with the anger and unforgiveness of others.  You will get to learn what grace feels like when others forgive you, and mean it from their hearts.

God wants to take you from where you are positionally in Him, forgiven and complete, to where His view of you in Christ is materially obvious to others, so that, when you live, you will live in the image of Jesus Christ.  There are still lost souls out there who need to know that it is possible to get from where they are to where God is.

First, I need to define some very real truths:

1.  Accusation is from Satan.  When the enemy (Satan, the World, etc) decides to point out your flaws, you will feel condemned, unworthy of the love of God, and basically, despair.  The accusations of Satan are like tormenting fires.  His accusations are arrows that hit you and burn you.  The goal of Satan is to get your eyes off the work the Spirit of God is doing in your heart.  The goal of Satan is to get you to take your eyes off Jesus.  The goal of Satan is that you forget the joy of your salvation.

2.  God is Love.  God, in His love of you, disciplines you.  He does not condemn.  Your condemnation was taken care of on the Cross of Christ.  If you have accepted the Salvation of Jesus Christ, then your sin is forgiven.  The Bible makes it clear that there is no longer any condemnation for those who are in Jesus Christ.  You are not going to Hell.  You are saved.  Nothing can take that away from you.

3. We have to grow up, sometime.  God insists you grow up in all ways to be like His Son, Jesus Christ.  You were not raptured the second you believed because God intends to use you in His service.  He wants to make you into something beautiful so that others will be drawn to the saving glory of Jesus Christ.  He will not allow you to be comfortable in your old habits.  However, this, too is optional.  You will grow into Christ likeness only as you are willing to grow, and eager to surrender your old ways to His new ways.

THE SUBJECT AT HAND

The groundwork is laid, and I hope you got it.  I am deeply sorry if I have done an inadequate job of not making the above clear.  But if this is you, you will know it.  If this is not for you, please pray for the person that is going through this.

A: The Unforgiveness and contempt you hold for yourself.

This is a tough one.  The more tender-hearted you become, the more you realize what a large swath of pain and confusion and anger you have left in your wake.  This is, perhaps, the strongest shock to your system you will face.  This is where you have to learn some important lessons.

LESSON 1:  You are Forgiven. 

Where did your salvation come from?  It came from the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on the cross.  The perfect human took on all our imperfections and our sin and was nailed to the Cross and died for them.  In His dying, Jesus absorbed and accepted all the complete wrath of God.  “For the wages of sin is death.”  And Jesus paid that wage for you.  When you realized that you were in sin, and you were led to the Cross of Christ, and confessed your sin, you immediately felt the forgiveness of God, and His cleansing Breath (Ruach Ha’Kodesh – The Holy Spirit) enter you and cleanse you of the stain of your sin.  You are forgiven.

LESSON 2:  Forgive Yourself.

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I John 1:9

It is hard to look at the destruction our pre-Christian lives left behind.  And if you took the time and diligence, as I did, to make a thorough mess, there will be more to face and deal with.  Sometimes you just have to take things one at a time.  Sometimes, you will have to face it over and over.

Sometimes Satan, the World, and others, will not let you forget what you have done.  This feeds the fire of your unforgiveness of yourself   Here you have to cling to the truth that God has forgiven you.  He has cast your sin as far away from Himself as the East is from the West.  God has chosen to forget your sin.  When God sees you, He sees His beloved Child, covered in the blood of Christ, who died for that very sin you are beating yourself up over.  When others want to rehearse your sin, when YOU want to rehearse that sin, you have to return to what you know.

You know that you are forgiven.

WHAT ABOUT THE PAIN?

The grief you feel is the grief God felt when you did all that destruction.  It is actually healthy.  Before you were saved, you may have felt a bit guilty, or not.  You probably went along justifying your actions, like I did.  Eventually, you built up a wall around yourself so that other’s couldn’t bother your conscience.   The thing about walls, while they effectively keep others out, they also keep you imprisoned in your own world.  You become unapproachable, unteachable, unassailable, and unwelcome.

There will be some measure of pain when this wall is torn down.  The reason you feel this pain is because you finally have a conscience.  Embrace the pain, and take it to God.  Don’t deny the pain you feel.  It is normal.  It is what remorse is supposed to feel like.  You feel remorse because God intends to grow you up, and teach you how to deal with your messes.  Learn from this remorse, and see what God wants you to do with it.

The Evangelism of today teaches something quite different.  It teaches you that you can just walk away from all your past without a second thought of the harm you have done to others.  This is an ungodly teaching.  Modern Evangelism teaches that there is no need to repent of sin, or regret your sin, that that is an unhealthy emotion that is bad for your self-esteem.

The Good news of being a Child of God is, you are no longer the sinful you.  It stops being about you.  It starts being about being remade into the image of Christ.  In that rebuilding process, you will find freedom and joy.   To assume there is nothing to go back and make right is one of the most self-indulgent things you can ever believe.

The pain of seeing, finally, what you have done to others is healthy.  It is so that you will be able to see outside of your own self-interest and see what others had to endure because of your sin.  This pain is actually the road to your freedom, as it drives you to obey God and make things as right as you possibly can.  How rich and joyful is the Grace of God, and His mercy.  What a sense of freedom you will know when you obey God, and do His will.

Part of the pain is that the old self just doesn’t want to die, and the new self doesn’t need all that baggage your old self left at the door.  The New Self, the new creation, has to deal with this.  The new self can deal with it because Christ makes you able.  In Him is your strength.  You can do all things through Christ.

You will have to deal with the anger and/OR unforgiveness of others.

This is where you get to have YOUR grace and mercy tested.  WHere it is at all possible, find the people you caused harm to, find the people you lied to, the people you used, the people you led into sin.  Confess what you have done.  Seek their forgiveness.

What you will discover:

1.  Some people have already forgotten it.

2. Some people remember it, but don’t care.

3. Some people remember it and forgive you anyway.

4. Some people remember and will not forgive you.

5. Some people remember it, will not forgive you, and want you to suffer for it.

6. Some will say they forgive, but the anger that shows in their eyes tell you other wise.

I can go on and on, here.  I know about this because in my efforts to make restitution, I have faced everything from happy tears to death threats.  And I am not making that up.  I have tried my best to exclude exaggeration in my discourse, unless I am trying to emphasize a very obvious point.

SO WHAT DO YOU DO WITH THESE PEOPLE?

To those who have genuinely forgiven you, and have shared the fellowship of Joy in the Lord, you have gained a brother.

To those who forgot, you still seek forgiveness, but don’t rehearse the issue.  Let it go.

To those who say they have forgiven you, but the look in their eyes tells you otherwise, all you can do is ask their forgiveness.  You probably have given them a good reason to write you off, but you cannot beat yourself up over it anymore.  You can pray for them.  Their anger is their poison.  Your prayers are the antidote.  Leave it at God’s feet.

This is especially hard when you encounter this attitude with people you genuinely love, and want to have fellowship with.  Some hurts never heal.  Some people will never like you, or accept you.  That is the hard part.  But you need to take it to God.  And you need to leave it with God.

HERE’S THE GOOD STUFF:  You will get to learn what grace feels like when others forgive you, and mean it from their hearts.

This is definitely the good stuff.  How sweet it feels when a brother genuinely forgives you and shows it.  It is a wonderful thing to gain a brother.  It is good that you have a new friend in Christ.

Being shown Grace is powerful.  It is the genuine reflection of Christ in others.  It teaches you that Grace is obtainable.  It teaches you that you can do the same thing.  Grace is a gift, and when you receive it, and you give it, it multiplies.

How sweet are the tears that forgiveness brings.  How deep is the laughter and joy when you are clean of this sin.

This is what really makes it worth it, from a human stand point.

Being shown grace does wonders for you.  It gives you hope, and teaches you that YOU TOO can be Christ like.  A living example of a brother showing the character of Christ is good medicine.

It is true that some people are just plain weary of dealing with you.  But it is a genuine joy when you encounter real grace.

SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET:

Now that you have reconciled with Christ, all the skeletons get to come out of the closet.  As scary as this sounds, this is a good thing.  God will take your past and turn it into a blessing.  If you have told God you want Him to make you into the image of Christ, and into His Character, then all the closets, both obvious and secret, will eventually have to be dealt with.

Don’t be afraid of the skeletons.  They are dead.  If you are in Christ Jesus, you are a new creation.  Let love have her perfect work.

Let’s Be About It.

I Love You

David G. Perkins

sammy.snardfarkle@gmail.com

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Me? PERFECT????


Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. II Timothy 2:15 KJV 

I almost titled this “War Of The Words”.  If you are here for some homiletic inspiration, you will be disappointed.  This is a class room, today.

A long time ago, I worked for an engineer who is from Cambridge, England.  We discovered that it was not the Atlantic that divided us, it was our common language.  Tom lacked a fully developed comprehension of North Louisiana colloquialisms.  Sometimes, the results of us both using the same exact words in the same exact sentences led to completely opposite results.

I also had a friend, at that time, who was from North Beirut.  He was working very hard to understand Louisianian.  In those parts of Louisiana, if you wanted someone to roll down a car window, you would say, “Hey, crack the window.”  Both Tom and my friend from Lebanon had a bit of turmoil when I would say, “Crack the window”.   My Lebanese friend would ask, “Why cracking the window?  It is perfectly good!”  And he would stare at me as if I had lost my mind.  So, I would use common English and say, OK, ROLL down the window.”  Again, he would stare at me as if I had just grown an extra head.  He would say, frantically with frustration, “Window is GLASS, Dawid, one cannot roll glass like it is a sheet!”   My Lebanese buddy was a near genius, he had a 4.o in college, had earned SEVERAL undergraduate engineering degrees and a couple of Masters degrees in the same amount of time I attempted to make it through ANY type of degree.

Either way, Tom or Lebanese friend, I would go through the illustrative mechanics of rolling down a window, while I highlight the virtue of the Louisiana brevity and colloquial meaning.

After about a year, Tom and I were finally on the same page.  My Lebanese buddy was continuously surprised by words that sound exactly like Lebanese, but were English, and the meanings were vastly different.

Did you know that in India, cow has around 50 + definitions?  It all boils down to how you say it, your inflection, where it lay in the sentence, and the verbs, adverbs and other modifiers that surround it.  You may think you are calling a woman beautiful there, but actually be insulting her in ways that would cost you your life.

Why all this palaver over words?  Because, unless you actually read Koine Greek, and Hebrew, you can get lost over what something means.   The good news is, with all our modern study tools, books, and the internet, you can become aware of what each and every word in the entire Bible means.

I talk to Athiests, Christians, Hebrew, Arabic speaking peoples, people from the Philippines, and parts of Europe.  I have to be very careful that when I say something, I know, in their vernacular, what it is I am actually saying.

One big issue I run in to constantly is a lack of understanding of the word “perfect”.

A good example is ” Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Matthiew 5:48

By commonly accepted definition, we typically understand that perfect means that it has no flaws, whatsoever.  We also know that NOTHING on this planet, created or constructed is exactly perfect.  Not even the Pyramids, which are off by a very tiny margin of error.  No computer can create anything completely perfect, either.  It can come incredibly close, but at some point, on some level, a flaw can be found.  Genuine perfect means utterly and completely flawless. That is how we understand the word “perfect”.

So, is Jesus telling us to do something that is impossible?  NO.  What is impossible is our understanding of the words that were used to translate the scriptures into something you can actually read.  Unfortunately, translations, transliterations and interpretive bibles are flawed, and inaccurate.  Some can come incredibly close, but still, most languages lack the precision of being able to show mood, intent, flavor, idea and place in a simple word or description.

So, when most translations say Perfect, we think of an unattainable idea and give up.  A friend wrote me and told me that we cannot be perfect, that only God is perfect.  So WE try OUR best.

That simple statement is so inaccurate I can write a book on it.  We cannot do ANYTHING to make our life perfect before God.  Only the Spirit of God working in a submitted heart can work Anything in us.

Because I will be writing on the topics centered around the Lordship of Christ, and how that actually defines what a real Christian actually is, I will have to define terms, on occasion.  This is one of them.

Below is every use of the concept ‘perfect” used in the New Testament.  Read it carefully.  There are scripture references attached to each definition.

One thing I will add:  Any of the qualities of Christ, that we are told to have, always begin when you are saved.  That is the point at which the Spirit of God comes to you to BEGIN something in you.  After that, your growth TOWARD that thing is determined by how well you submit to the will of God.  The reason you weren’t raptured when you were saved is so the rest of this planet can watch you grow in Christ.  That is so that some others may be saved.  You will be the only gospel some people ever see and hear.  We are called to walk like Christ and be just like Jesus.  We also sin.  So, the world will be watching to see how you handle your sin.  Will you repent and grow, or will you try to justify it, or will you try to rationalize your sin to God and others, or will you lie, further betraying your relationship with Jesus.  You cannot do any of this on your own power or will.  Only God can do this in you as you submit to Him.  The third thing that the Character of Christ is, it’s complete before God.  When He sees you, he sees you are covered in the blood of Christ, and he declares you are complete, perfect, and whole.   So, even though, in this world, and on this earth, you are still growing into the character of Christ to the day you die, God already sees you as perfect.  You must keep growing so that your life becomes a living testimony to others about why you are a Christian.

Part of growing up is being able to read the bible for all it is worth.  You have to know what it says, why it says it, and what was really meant when it said it.  The Holy Spirit can lead you to the Bible, but He cannot make you drink deep of it.

Please look at these definitions of “perfect”.  Look up the reference verses.  You will see that your understanding of the word is vastly incomplete when you compare it to what it really means.  And this is only ONE of the many character traits of Christ we are to grow into.  Just remember, you cannot do this on your own power or will.  Only a heart submitted to the Holy Spirit can make these changes in you.

A-1

Adjective

Strong’s Number: g5046

Greek: teleios

Perfect (Adjective and Verb), Perfectly:

signifies “having reached its end” (telos), “finished, complete, perfect.” It is used

(I) of persons,

(a) primarily of physical development, then, with ethical import, “fully grown, mature,” 1Cr 2:6; 14:20 (“men;” marg., “of full age”); Eph 4:13;Phl 3:15; Col 1:28; 4:12; in Hbr 5:14, RV, “fullgrown” (marg., “perfect”), AV, “of full age” (marg., “perfect”);

(b) “complete,” conveying the idea of goodness without necessary reference to maturity or what is expressed under (a), Mat 5:48; 19:21; Jam 1:4 (2nd part); 3:2. It is used thus of God in Mat 5:48;

(II) of “things, complete, perfect,” Rom 12:2; 1Cr 13:10 (referring to the complete revelation of God’s will and ways, whether in the completed Scriptures or in the hereafter); Jam 1:4 (of the work of patience); Jam 1:25;1Jo 4:18.

A-2

Adjective

Strong’s Number: g5046

Greek: teleioteros

Perfect (Adjective and Verb), Perfectly:

the comparative degree of No. 1, is used in Hbr 9:11, of the very presence of God.

A-3

Adjective

Strong’s Number: g739

Greek: artios

Perfect (Adjective and Verb), Perfectly:

is translated “perfect” in 2Ti 3:17: see COMPLETE, B.

B-1

Verb

Strong’s Number: g5048

Greek: teleioo

Perfect (Adjective and Verb), Perfectly:

“to bring to an end by completing or perfecting,” is used

(I) of “accomplishing” (see FINISH, FULFILL);

(II) of “bringing to completeness,”

(a) of persons: of Christ’s assured completion of His earthly course, in the accomplishment of the Father’s will, the successive stages culminating in His death, Luk 13:32; Hbr 2:10, to make Him “perfect,” legally and officially, for all that He would be to His people on the ground of His sacrifice; cp. 5:9; 7:28, RV, “perfected” (AV, “consecrated”); of His saints,Jhn 17:23, RV, “perfected” (AV, “made perfect”); Phl 3:12; Hbr 10:14;11:40 (of resurrection glory); 12:23 (of the departed saints); 1Jo 4:18; of former priests (negatively), Hbr 9:9; similarly of Israelites under the Aaronic priesthood, Hbr 10:1;

(b) of things, Hbr 7:19 (of the ineffectiveness of the Law); Jam 2:22 (of faith made “perfect” by works); 1Jo 2:5, of the love of God operating through him who keeps His word; 1Jo 4:12, of the love of God in the case of those who love one another; 1Jo 4:17, of the love of God as “made perfect with” (RV) those who abide in God, giving them to be possessed of the very character of God, by reason of which “as He is, even so are they in this world.”

B-2

Verb

Strong’s Number: g2005

Greek: epiteleo

Perfect (Adjective and Verb), Perfectly:

“to bring through to the end” (epi, intensive, in the sense of “fully,” and teleo, “to complete”), is used in the Middle Voice in Gal 3:3, “are ye (now) perfected,” continuous present tense, indicating a process, lit., “are ye now perfecting yourselves;” in 2Cr 7:1, “perfecting (holiness);” in Phl 1:6, RV, “will perfect (it),” AV, “will perform.”
See ACCOMPLISH, No. 4.

B-3

Verb

Strong’s Number: g2675

Greek: katartizo

Perfect (Adjective and Verb), Perfectly:

“to render fit, complete” (artios), “is used of mending nets, Mat 4:21;Mar 1:19, and is translated ‘restore’ in Gal 6:1. It does not necessarily imply, however, that that to which it is applied has been damaged, though it may do so, as in these passages; it signifies, rather, right ordering and arrangement,Hbr 11:3, ‘framed;” it points out the path of progress, as in Mat 21:16;Luk 6:40; cp. 2Cr 13:9; Eph 4:12, where corresponding nouns occur. It indicates the close relationship between character and destiny, Rom 9:22, ‘fitted.’ It expresses the pastor’s desire for the flock, in prayer, Hbr 13:21, and in exhortation, 1Cr 1:10, RV, ‘perfected’ (AV, ‘perfectly joined’); 2Cr 13:11, as well as his conviction of God’s purpose for them, 1Pe 5:10. It is used of the Incarnation of the Word in Hbr 10:5, ‘prepare,’ quoted from Psa 40:6 (Sept.), where it is apparently intended to describe the unique creative act involved in the Virgin Birth, Luk 1:35. In 1Th 3:10 it means to supply what is necessary, as the succeeding words show.”*
[* From Notes on Thessalonians by Hogg and Vine, p. 101.]
See FIT, B, No. 3.

Note: Cp. exartizo, rendered “furnished completely,” in 2Ti 3:17, RV; seeACCOMPLISH, No. 1.

C-1

Adverb

Strong’s Number: g199

Greek: akribos

Perfect (Adjective and Verb), Perfectly:

accurately, is translated “perfectly” in 1Th 5:2, where it suggests that Paul and his companions were careful ministers of the Word.
See ACCURATELY, and see Note (2) below.

C-2

Adverb

Strong’s Number: g197

Greek: akribesteron

Perfect (Adjective and Verb), Perfectly:

the comparative degree of No. 1, Act 18:26; 23:15: see CAREFULLY, EXACTLY.

C-3

Adverb

Strong’s Number: g5046

Greek: teleios

Perfect (Adjective and Verb), Perfectly:

“perfectly,” is so translated in 1Pe 1:13, RV (AV, “to the end”), of setting one’s hope on coming grace.
See END.

Notes:

(1) In Rev 3:2, AV, pleroo, “to fulfill,” is translated “perfect” (RV, “fulfilled”).

(2) For the adverb akribos in Luk 1:3, AV, see ACCURATELY; in Act 24:22, AV, see EXACT.

(3) For the noun akribeia in Act 22:3, see MANNER.

Vine, W. E. “Perfect (Adjective and Verb), Perfectly”, Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. Blue Letter Bible. 1940. 24 June, 1996 12 Jul 2013.
<http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/Dictionary/viewTopic.cfm?
type=GetTopic&Topic=Perfect+(Adjective+and+Verb),+Perfectly&
DictList=9#Vine’s>

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Me and My Big Mouth – Part III


This is from my personal journal, “Lessons From a Broken Heart.”

My definition of “Broken” is,  sometimes God has to break a man in order to make him teachable.  I am one of those men.  My personal journal records the lessons I have learned through the process of being broken, and subsequently healed by the Lord.

He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck,  will suddenly be broken beyond healing. Proverbs 29:1 ESV

Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid. Proverbs 12:1 ESV

If Discipleship were easy, everyone would be doing it, and it wouldn’t require discipline.  It would have an “Easy Button”, and at one click, we could all be wise.    I guess that would make it Easyship, instead of Discipleship.   Unfortunately, discipleship is hard.

Discipleship is hard because what the Holy Spirit is trying to teach me is completely contrary to my flesh, and my natural mind.  I have prayed to be possessed of the Mind of Christ, yet have spent the majority of my life doing things my way.   I was not willing to give up my character in return for the character of Christ.  But I still insisted that God deal with me.  I could have avoided all the pain of being broken had I either submitted in the first place, or admitted that I wanted to practice a counterfeit Christianity.

God disciplines the son he loves.

Instead of admitting I was faking my Christianity, and had no real relationship to the Lord, Jesus Christ, I kept asking God to make me like Christ.  None-the-less, I refused to submit to the will of God; To be made in the image of Jesus Christ.  I didn’t think it was all that important that I read the bible, pray, fellowship with other believers who are also being disciplined, etc.  I wanted to go on doing “My Thing”.

The reason I did that is because I didn’t know the difference between the personality that makes me David, and the Character that would make me Christlike.  I figured my fleshly character was fine.  “If you didn’t like it, stuff it.”  What I didn’t want to see was that I had to get out of the way, and let the Holy Spirit build in me the Character of Christ.  We were originally created in the likeness of the Living God, but our sin separated us from Him, and we forfeited His character for a fallen, sinful nature.

The rebellion cry of the fallen is , “I am me, you have to like me on my terms, and if you don’t then **** you!!!”  I have heard this a lot, recently from several people I correspond with.  But the prayer of the Saved is that we be remade into the image of Jesus.  The rebellious cry, “I am doing it my way!!!”  Sadly, so is much of Christendom.  The ones who have a shallow and cheap grace, believe that they can go right on ignoring the call to Christlikeness

We all have a personality.  Our personality is one of the unique things that makes us identifiable as individuals.  God didn’t mass produce a bunch of “I Robot” machines.  We are individual notes in a symphony of unimaginable beauty.  What makes our individual note sour and out of tune is the character of sin.  That is all we have to offer.  I am fearfully and wonderfully made, but, without Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord, I am just my personality full of lousy character.

You never lose what makes you unique, but you gain what makes you acceptable to God.  We are all called to submit to the discipline of the Holy Spirit.  The Spirit does not deal in accusation and shame.  That is what Satan Does.  The Spirit of God convicts, but never condemns.  You are already redeemed.  And u=in God’s eyes, you are complete in Christ, because of Christ.

SO!  What’s the big deal?  Here is the Big deal.  I lived most of my life insisting that God has to accept me as I am, period.  But I was not raptured the second I believed.  So, while you are still here on Earth, God wants to take you through the process of being remade in the likeness of Christ.  Your flesh will rebel every step of the way, but, you can overcome simply by submitting to the will of the Lord.  You have to lose your own life to gain His life in you.  You have to let the Holy Spirit take apart your character and replace it with His.  The reason for this is so you can be a living testimony of Jesus.

My misadventures in to all the dark places I have been were hell’s of my own making.  I never had to go there.  All I had to do was obey, and submit.  I could have avoided all that misery, had I just given my entire life over to Him in the first place.

But now I am finally there.  I have given up.  The strangest thing for a warrior of God to so is first surrender to God.  But you cannot, and will not serve God if you are stiff necked, arrogant, full of your own knowledge but devoid of the Knowledge of the Holy.

If you can read a Bible, open it with the desire to hear from God.  You cannot teach the Bible, it already knows more than you ever will.  But you can learn from it.  You cannot do that unless you have surrendered your way to God, and allow the Holy Spirit to lead you into His righteousness.

I have joy to day because God broke me.  I have peace, I know love, REAL love.  I am being prepared for His service.  I no longer have that fire of hate and anger in me.  The Spirit of God is putting the light of His fire in me.

I grew weary of being stupid.  And it is a stupid man who claims he serves Christ bur refuses to learn wisdom.  This lesson came hard to me because I fought against God’s wisdom.  He let me wander around in my own filth.  No one saw Jesus when they saw me.

I can now say, with confidence, with the Apostle Paul, I am confident that He who began a good work in me, will be faithful to complete it untill the day of our Lord Jesus.  That is when I will perfectly reflect His image.  In the mean time, I choose to grow.  I choose to know the word.  I choose life over death.  It is only cheap grace and rebellion that says all you have to do is claim youare saved simply because you acknowledge Christ.  You will be part of the great falling away, because, when the storm blows, you will not have th edeep roots to withstand the tempest.

I was just like that, and every wind that blew, blew me off track, because I insisted that even the Almighty God has to accept me without changing me.  And I had the stones to ask God why nothing went right in my life.  A fool’s way will lead to death.  But the heart of the wise is ever learning.

Dear God,

Thank you that you love me enough to discipline me.  Thank you that you never gave up on me and kept at the art of breaking my will.  I surrender to you, My God.  I surrender to you because of the shed blood of Jesus the Messiah.  I pray you continue to fill me with YOUR spirit, as you remove my fallen character and make me in the image of your precious and only Son, Jesus Christ, My Lord.

I love you God.  I praise you God.  You are my delight and joy.  To you I give my heart.  Amen

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;  

a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.  

Psalm 51:17 ESV

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Me And My Big Mouth – Part II


This is from my personal journal, “Lessons From a Broken Heart.”

“The vexation of a fool is known at once, but the prudent ignores an insult.”  Proverbs 12:16

When I pray to be like Christ, I have to be willing to sacrifice my opinion and passions to Him, too.  Do I shoot first and ask questions later?  Even today, I must be aware of what flies out of my mouth.  Have I surrendered my thoughts, my mind, my opinions to God, through the inner working of the Holy Spirit?

I have asked to be like Christ.  When the Holy Spirit begins to work in my heart about minding my manners, minding my opinions, minding my tongue, do I have the courage, will and discipline to submit to the Lord’s will, or do I still shoot off my mouth.

God intends that, if I belong to Him because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, I will be remade in the likeness of Jesus.   When I submit to the will and leading of God, the Holy Spirit, I am telling Him that I no longer am lord over my mouth, that I want wisdom.  I can learn by the gentle guidance of the Spirit of God, or I can learn through the foolishness of my uncontrolled passions. My over-quick desire to give the world my own opinion, instead of keeping silent, and waiting for the Spirit of God to give me wise words can be the same lesson.  One method is followed by people who are ready to learn wisdom.  The other method, the Spirit of God will use to teach a fool who wants to stop being one.

Everything I do reflects on my relationship to Jesus Christ.  Have I asked to be like Jesus, but refuse to surrender to His will?  Then I am indeed a fool.

“A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back.”  Proverbs 29:11  ESV

I have a lot to learn.

Dear God,

I pray in the name of Jesus Christ, my Savior AND Lord, that you continue to teach me wisdom in a way that I don’t have to relearn a thing the hard way.  My heart’s desire is to be just like Your Son, Jesus Christ.

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Me and My Big Mouth


If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man’s religion is worthless . James 1:26

This is a tough topic.  I want to tell you a story.  Before I do, though, I want to say something from my heart.  

The subject of controlling the tongue is difficult for me.  My passions run very deep.  When I experience a thing, I tend to experience it all the way down to my toes, and deep in my soul.  I am only just now learning the discipline of the tongue.  I am not like Christ in this regard.  I am swift to speak, and slow to listen.  So, my writing about this topic is from fresh experience.  I am guilty of the very thing that I despise about religious people. Religious people lack self-control. They do not allow  God guide their tongue in love and wisdom, instead of in haste, which leads to harm.  I cannot throw stones when I am as guilty as those who do not belong to God.  If I am to grow to be like Christ, I must submit my passions and my tongue to His lordship.  It is only by the power of the Holy Spirit that a person can overcome the evil the tongue can generate.  If we are to be like Christ, and want to tell others we are the Children of God, then we must be willing to submit even our favorite sin to God.  This i snot something we can do for ourselves.

For all those whose bodies lay on the ground in my quest for self righteousness, please forgive me for being a fool.  God is not interested in my self-righteousness.  He is interested in me having His righteousness.

“A tale bearer reveals secrets, but he who is of a faithful spirit conceals a matter.” Proverbs 11:13

I know a man who used to live one county away from where I live.  He had a walk with the Lord, but life got in the way, and he didn’t submit to the will of God, and he did things his own way.  The end result is, he sinned against his own family.  He knew after the fact that he had sinned.  He called it sin.  He confessed this sin.  He grieved for his sin.

The people who he knew, who were sincere in their faith, who went to church, who prayed, who tithed, who spoke often of the love of God, and His grace, who were worship leaders and preachers and deacons, these people shunned him, and hated him because they genuinely loved his family, and hated what he had done.  He wanted to talk to someone, anyone, about this, and how to return to God, to seek forgiveness, to know the joy of fellowship.  He couldn’t find any one in his town who would help him, and counsel him, and lead him back to the grace of God.  He became the target of their hate, instead.  This didn’t need to happen.  But it happened because one of the fellowship could not wait to spread this juicy bit of gossip to the other believers, who also loved this man’s family.

In their fervor to be supportive of this man’s family, the spoke curses on this man, they openly held him in contempt.  They advised his wife to abandon him.  The pronounced he was not worthy of their fellowship.

Eventually, because of the loose tongues of two of his wife’s relatives, the entire community had heard about it.  The story was repeated with all the vileness of the sin glorified, and with all the righteousness as if they were God.

This man felt alone and hopeless, by this time.  No one would befriend him.  He found a couple of Christian men he thought he could befriend, but eventually, the wagging tongues of the “faithful” reached these men’s ears, and they decided it would be best to not be friends after all.

By this time, he felt that, if so many Christians were condemning him, then so must God be condemning him.   he wondered how he will ever return to God, if he is being so rejected by people who represent Him.

His hopes were raised, one day, when he found someone who would actually pray with him.  He finally had made a friend.  But before two days had passed, this new friend had his ears bent by one of the Christians who hated him.  That new friend told him that he was no longer welcome to come see him.

Rejected again by Christians, he believed he was beyond redemption.  He took up drinking with a commitment.  He knew this, too, was wrong, but he felt that he was too far gone from God to be redeemed.  After all, most of the Christians he knew were telling him that.

He gave up.  He withdrew his heart completely.  People would not hire him anymore, so he kept having to go from job to job.  He would be at a job for a while, but, eventually, his employer heard about what a terrible man he was, and found a way to let him go.  By this time, the sin he had committed had been embellished.  Over time, it took on the landscape of more than what had actually happened.  He heard many terrible things that were being said about him.  The hate the Christians showed him merely amplified with every retelling of this sin, that, by this time, had happened Severn years ago.  It grew like a cancer.

Every now and then, he would try to talk to these believers about what to do to return.  Their contempt had grown to the point that they told him he would be better off dead.  these people kept trying to break up the marriage.  They kept telling him he needs to get out-of-town, and never return. They were speaking death into his life, and into his marriage.  It got so that, they damage they were doing was far worse than the damage he had done in the first place.  These people wouldn’t leave his wife alone about it, and continuously discouraged her attempts to heal her home.  They almost caved in to the wagging tongues of these people, but somehow, they continued to work through all the noise and despair these people were encouraging in his wife.

Today, they are healed, and healing.  But it was not because of any effort of the believers who kept wagging their tongues, keeping the pain stirred up.  The were actually not happy that she had the strength and courage to work at this relationship with him.  All they wanted was vengeance.  All they wanted was their sense of justice.  And they wouldn’t let up on her, even though healing had begun in her home.

I got to watch all this, and I had several long talks with this man.  He was in a very dark place.  His wife was torn between taking the advice of this fellowship of Christians, or standing her ground and continue to fight for a promise she believed in .  The spoke death to her, but her faith in God spoke life.  She persevered through all the darkness and difficulty, and saw God do a wondrous work in this man’s life.  Yes they still spoke death.  He drew near to the Lord, and let the Lord deal with him and his sin.  Yet they spoke death.  They preached about a grace they did not practice.  they spoke about a love they refused to show.  They spoke about forgiveness, but didn’t forgive what they had already condemned.

Today, this man is becoming a powerful Christian.  he has given his heart, Mind, Soul, Strength to the Living God.  he often asks me what it will take before these other believers will stop gossiping about him, and start rejoicing that he is genuinely saved, and that God is working a wonder in his life.

I told him I had no idea.  It is hard to tell with people who love to hate, and love to spread death with their mouths.  I told him that, all he could do was keep obeying God, and stop worrying about all these well-intentioned dragons.  This is hard.  I even wanted to hate these people, but I don’t.  I love them.  I could see that this man loved them too, with a deep abiding love.  Only God could do this to a man like him.

I felt a searing pain in my own heart.  How many times has my tongue led me to cause harm?  How often have I been so self-righteous that all I could speak is distension and hate?  I cannot throw stones at those Christians who continuously showed such a lack of understanding of the will of God.  How often had I been so in love with my opinion that I didn’t take the time to see what God and His word had to say about it?  When did I forget that, for the grace of God, there go I.  I get religious just like everyone else, on occasion.  It is only when I am sensitive to the will and voice of God, that I remember that He showed me love and mercy and grace when I least deserved it.  I could easily plead that “That is just how I am!”.  But that is no excuse to the Living God.  We are born with a personality and a character.  Our character reflects who we live for.  Our character is expressed through our personality.  When the Holy Spirit comes in to you, He will replace your Character with God’s, as you submit to Him.  We are created in His image (We look like him) and in His likeness (We were supposed to act like him).  When sin became our inheritance, we lost God’s character and traded it for a cheap imitation.  When we believed in Jesus Christ as both Savior and Lord, then the Spirit of God moved in to make us in the likeness of Jesus, as we allow him to.  You will receive the Character of God, expressed in your unique personality.  And your personality becomes under control by the discipline of the Spirit of God.

The tongue has the power to heal, and the power to destroy.  The way it is used reveals who our master really is.  Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy.  But Christ gives us life. love, mercy and joy.  Those who have been touched by this love do not see the importance of gossip.  They only desire to be like their Lord, Jesus Christ.

“Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”  Proverbs 12:18  KJV

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Alright, people, this is  a LONG one.  Go get something to drink, and maybe a snack.

“He saved us —not by works of righteousness that we had done,  but according to His mercy—  through the washing of regeneration  and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” Titus 3:5 HOL

Leaving the Military Base for good didn’t really come as a surprise to me.  I actually knew I would be leaving last November, 2012.   What I didn’t know then is the manner I would be leaving it.   Sometimes God has to give you a nudge to get your attention.

Here’s the deal.  I realized what had gone wrong with my walk with God, some 20 years ago.  I was doing it all on my own effort.  I had fallen for a cheap grace;  I knew in my heart that the call God placed on my heart a long time ago (1986 or 7), was the kind of call that means committing myself to that call.

Here is what I mean by that:  At the on-set, I knew that what God had called me to was the kind of thing that takes total commitment.  It was the type of calling that I could not, and would not do on my own.  Not having the patience to grow up, I took matters in my own hands, ran WAY ahead of God’s will for me, and attempted to do it all on my own.  My walk WAS pretty effective at first, but after a while, I grew fatigued.  When I grew fatigued, and because I was doing this ahead of the will of God, I didn’t have the power to sustain what I was doing.

Instead of going back to where I should have been, and taking the time to grow up, and finding the time and wherewithal to go through the disciplines of spiritual growth,  I gave up on God, and I gave up on everything else that relates to Christ.

I learned a few things over these last several years about that.  One thing I learned was that I had to get back to the very basics.  I had to be re-grounded.   In 2007, I began searching for God, again.  I didn’t know, at that time, that I had not left His hands.  It just felt that way.  The loneliness and desolation I felt was an isolation of my own creation.  I learned this from being a daddy.  Sometimes, you just have to let your kid alone with their thoughts, let them be mad at you, and let them struggle with the issue at hand.  Eventually, if you have been doing your job as a parent, that kid will come back, and peace will be made between you.  Hopefully, we both learned wisdom in that process.

God, however, does not need to learn anything.  So, if I had a problem with God, Christ, religion, etc, then it was not God that was wrong, it was my perception, or understanding of God that got in the way.  God is not going to let us play with strange fire, any more than you will let your child play in the middle of the Highway at rush hour.

It took me from 2007 to the present to learn what I am going to share with you.  And this is fundamental to understanding what it means to be a Christian.

Salvation is a work of God.

Humans are not capable of saving themselves.  Humans do not think they need saving. Despite of the ever present hole we feel in our heart that tells us something is missing, that something is wrong, it does’t occur to us that we are separated from God.  Nothing fills that hole either.  Trust me, I have tried.  There is not enough adventure to satisfy that missing piece.   There isn’t enough sex, food, money, material belongings, or vacations that can touch that hole in our soul.  Still, we go out of our way to fill it, thinking that the next adventure will do the trick.  We become objective junkies of whatever it is we pursue to fill that hole; yet nothing satisfies.

Somehow, someway, because it is not God’s will that anyone should perish, you hear the gospel message.  You learn that we are sinful creatures.  You learn that your best efforts will never please God.  You learn that the wages of sin is death.  But, while you were still enemies of God, He sent Jesus as His only begotten Son, to die in your place for that sin.  And if you believe in your heart that Jesus did this for you, and if you confess with your mouth that his resurrection was proof that he has the right and authority to bring the dead to life, then you are saved.

Before, you were already dead because of sin.  Now, you have eternal life  because of Christ Jesus.

You didn’t do this by your own power.  You were going along, pursuing anything that would fill that hole in your soul.  It was God that drew you to the right place at the right time.   There really was NOTHING AT ALL you could have done on your own to get to this place. (Titus 3:5).  God draws us to Himself.  Humans have no desire to be there.  All we know is that something is missing, and it takes God to show you what it is.

What you received is faith, so that you can believe.  That too is a gift from God, and not something you already have (Ephesians 2:1-5, 8).   And here is where I get back on track.

REAL faith , saving faith, is neither defective or short-lived.  REAL FAITH endures forever (Phil 1:6 & Hebrews 11).  God gave you that gift of real faith.  It never dies if it is real.

I had to ask myself a LOT of questions at this point.  I will cut to the chase, though and go to the answers.  The questions are self evident.

There is a gospel being taught in America. This gospel is NOT being taught anywhere else.  Friends of mine, from all around the world, have talked to me about this gospel.

My friends live in a world where merely mentioning Jesus Christ in public is the death penalty.  Or, they may go to jail.  It is risky business being a believer in those countries.   The Faith and Grace and commitment they have is genuine, real, forever, and powerful.  It gets tested every moment of every day.

My friends talk to me about our cheap grace.

American churches have gotten to the point that they teach that, all you have to do is give some sort of mental assent to the fact  that Jesus lived, and you are saved.  There is no need to see a change in your daily life.  You can go on and do whatever it was that you were doing.

American churches have stopped teaching that it is sin that separates us from eternity, and fellowship with God.   It is this cheap grace that has allowed the Roman Catholic Church to say to the Moslems, your path to God is equal to our path to God.  After all, there is plenty in the Koran and the Hadith that teaches that the historical Jesus existed.  By the logic of cheap grace, that makes the Moslems Christians, and the Christians Moslems.

Cheap grace teaches that it is not necessary to do anything other than give some mental assent to Jesus.  That you are saved if you do this.  But this is NOT what the scriptures teach.  (I recommend two outstanding books by John MacArthur, “The Gospel According to Jesus“,  and “FAITH WORKS – The Gospel According to the Apostles” for a really deep discussion on this topic).

Where I went wrong in my earlier walk was that I only acknowledged God, and only acknowledged Jesus, and decided I had better get busy “doing” what “Christians” do.  And it fell flat on its face.  Because I did not have a complete understanding of the effective work of God in my life, I was not able to sustain a relationship with God.

If you are simply going around acknowledging that Jesus existed, then, you are not saved.  SATAN knew Jesus existed, and HE is not saved either.  There is coming, in our lifetime, a falling away from the Church.  That will happen when those who say they belong to Christ are given a choice to serve Christ, or serve something that will cause less stress in their life.  Humans always chose the easy path.  It takes the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the acknowledgement of Jesus as Lord, and the faith that God gave you to stand up to the pressure.  Those who live by cheap grace will discover that they are willing to sell their soul than acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Lord and the Savior.

The closest I ever got to what my friends overseas face was right after I was saved.  I was with one of my Moslem friends.  He had bought a new gun, and he wanted me to go shooting with him.  I took my gun, and we went.  I couldn’t shut up about Jesus.  He pointed his gun at my temple and said that if I mention Jesus again, he will kill me.  I mentioned Jesus.  He pulled the trigger, and the gun jammed.  God always protects children and fools.  It is foolish to commit yourself completely to Jesus as your lord.  It takes time, effort, and gets in the way of all your fun.  But if you are saved, you will know in your heart that serving God is better than anything else you could possibly ever want to do.  There is no cheap grace when you are on the firing line.  Another Moslem threatened to storm in to my home, tie me up, rape my wife in front of me, cut her throat, and then see if I will still be a Christian.  This is is actually what they do overseas to Christians.  I told him that neither my wife, or I will ever denounce our faith.  Fortunately, another friend from Lebanon stopped that guy.

In Ephesians 2:10, we learn that we are saved and fully justified BEFORE our faith ever produces a single righteous work.  It is never the other way around.  You are incapable of doing ANYTHING righteous until after you are saved and fully justified.  Then you cannot produce on your own, but only produce by the will of the Holy Spirit working in you.

This gets us to the Object of our Salvation.  The object of faith.  The object in our faith is first, last, and always Jesus Christ HIMSELF.  A creed, acknowledgment, or some sort of promise is NOT salvation.  Faith in Jesus Christ as Lord AND Savior IS salvation.  It is impossible to separate the two; Lordship and Salvation.   It is impossible to please God without it, either.  You can go and do all the works you want, but if it was not driven by the Holy Spirit, out of your love for Jesus Christ, you just wasted your time thinking that you have curried favor with God.

FAITH involves a personal commitment to Christ.  (II Corinthians 5:15).  Merely acknowledging that Christ exists is not being saved.  Going to a church does not mean you will be saved, either.  Being a deacon or a Sunday school teacher does not mean you are saved.  Saved people will do these things, but we know that it is because the Lord has driven us to do it, and we have responded out of our love of Christ to get it done.  We acknowledge that we do not have the power to do this on our own, but that God gives us the power to do it.

Works will happen if you are committed to Christ as your lord.  If you have given your being to serve Christ.  Works, however do not make you saved.

Now, here is where I get LOTS of lovely email.  Go ahead and write.  I love hearing from you.

All true believers follow Jesus.

“My sheep hear My voice, I know them, and they follow Me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish — ever! No one will snatch them out of My hand.” John 3:27-28

Simply acknowledging Jesus doesn’t get you saved.  To repent because of your sin IS to have a change of heart.  Faith and Repentance are concurrent. (Acts 2:38; 17:30; 20:21; 2 Peter 3:9)  You do not see the need to repent until God has drawn you in, and until you receive the faith to see the need for repentance.  The two happen at the same time.  So check if you have ever repented.  That is your first clue.

Repentance is not a work, either.  It is an act of GRACE.  It is by the grace of God that you are drawn to Jesus.  It is by the grace of god that you realize the weight of your sin against God.  It is an act of Grace that you are able to see what Jesus did on your behalf to take away your sin.  It is an act of the grace of God that led you to repent, to turn around and follow Christ.

You will hear Jesus’s voice IF this is what has happened to you, and in you.  You WILL follow Jesus Christ out of your love for him.  Salvation is an act of Grace, and committing to Christ is not something you can do on your own, but only through the Grace of God.  (Acts 11:18; 2 Timothy 2:25)

Repentance will change your heart.  Repentance will change the way you behave. Repentance will change your priorities.  Repentance will lead you to a strong desire to please the Lord, Jesus Christ.  Repentance, genuine repentance, means you will no longer desire to do the things you used to do.  (Luke 3:8, Acts 26:18-20).  Repentance is turning from sin. (Acts 3:19;  Luke 24:47).

SALVATION IS NOT JUST A TICKET TO HEAVEN!

We read in Romans 6:23 that eternal life is the “gift of God”.  This gift also includes everything that it means to be a Christian.  It means to stop what you are doing and serve Him.  It includes every aspect of your life.  It includes all that is considered godly.  (2 Peter 1:3;  Romans 6:23; Romans 8:32)

Everything I have written above pertains to the struggle I went through from 2007 to now.  I knew that my days were numbered at the Base, long before it happened.  I knew this because I finally understood that I cannot merely acknowledge the historical fact of Jesus, and give only head knowledge for what he did.  I needed Christ to become completely and irreversibly part of my very being.

I also knew, the minute I understood all of the above, that this will call for a change in my life.  A radical change.  God brought me to faith.  There was noting I could do or read that would do it for me.  Only God.  I had to face my sin and depravity and see what that looks like to God.  It is a state of being that deserves God’s judgement of death.  But, in His mercy, he bestowed on me the faith to see that Jesus died on the cross for me, and the faith to accept that, because Christ has risen from the dead, I too will have eternal life if I believe in Him.

I knew that this will take a commitment.  Anyone who knows me well knows my passions run deep, and when I commit, I really commit.  But this commitment is not one of my own doing.  It has deeper passions, a stronger love than I have ever imagined, and a purpose that makes all my former plans and schemes look meaningless.  And the real evidence that this change is real, is the evidence of real change in my life.

The people who have taken the time to get to know me, have seen this change.  It is not fake.  I do not have to pretend to love or care.  I do not have to try to love Christ, I simply LOVE Christ, and I desire with all my heart to follow him.  I hear his voice.

I knew I would have to accept whatever change God brings to my life.  But I knew for sure, my old life was over and done with.

Cheap grace does not bring you to this point.  Cheap salvation cannot create in you the desire to follow Jesus.  Cheap grace does not change you like the real Grace God bestows on you.  Cheap grace says it is OK to keep on sinning, and you don’t really have to change anything about yourself to be saved.

Real salvation teaches you that, as long as you are human, you will still sin, but you will not pursue sin.  You will hear Jesus’ voice and you will follow him.  And when you do sin, you will feel its weight on your soul, and the interference it brings to your relationship with God.  And you will repent of that sin.  The JOY of your salvation will be restored.  Real salvation means that it will be your hearts desire to please God, and follow Christ wherever he leads you.

I am unemployed in the sense that I have not had an income since April 10th, 2013.  But that does not mean I do not work.  I witness for Christ because I love Him.  I write about the things of God because I am called to do this, and I LOVE doing this.  This is not labor.  Earthly labor saps you of your strength.  Obedience out of Love for Jesus gives you more strength, more joy, more grace, more courage, more love.

I have been writing a lot about the Church.  I have been accused of being an angry Christian.  Of that, I am guilty.  I am angry that we have sold our birthright for a cheap or alien gospel.  We are the only country on earth that has people who think they are Christians simply because they go to church, or give some kind of mental assent to the fact of the historical Jesus.  We have let other forces, spiritual forces, take over every aspect of our lives because we have been deceived into believing we are saved, when the evidence of salvation simply does not exist.

I was one of those “Cheap Grace” Christians.  Except for one thing.  I actually read the Bible.  I have seen that what the Bible says is not what is taught in our Churches.  Real salvation means a changed life.

I knew when I realized this, that the only answer for me was to surrender it ALL to His will.  I have no idea where this will lead, but I do know I am obeying.

My challenge to you is to have the stones to examine your life, like I had to examine mine.  See if your life is one that pleases God.  See if your life is one of submission to Jesus Christ as Savior AND Lord.  You either genuinely believe, or you don’t.  You are genuinely saved or you aren’t, and the fruit of your walk will be the evidence of it, and it will exist, not because YOU did it, but because, when you submitted to Jesus, HE brought forth fruit out of your walk.

Want salvation?  Let’s do what my friends overseas risk their lives for everyday.  Get real salvation.  Get real.

Now, go be about it.

I love you.

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Who Are Called….


I”If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”  – II Chronicles 7:14 KJV

Today, I asked God, “What should I write, today?”  See, I had this really neat thing all outlined and ready to be fleshed out.  I was excited that I had finished my homework ahead of time.

I arrived at the library, ready to write.  I always pray before I write, because the last thing I want my meager tomes to be is an insult to God and his doctrine.

The next thing I know, I am putting away my outline, to be used for later.  I am compelled to write today, the following, instead:

“If MY people, who are called by may name…”

I see this verse constantly posted on FB, and other places.  It seems like a drive by shooting.  It is just there, with no possibility for clarity.  If you are His people, you already know this.  If you are merely playing churchianity, then you may have heard this verse, but not comprehend what it means.  If you do not belong to the Living God through Christ, then this is just all noise and no signal.

I beg your indulgence while I try, in my own way, to give this drive my verse meaning.  I can only do this because this is the very thing I have been dealing with for these past 7 years.  And IF you have been reading my other blogs, you know that I have written about the process with out calling it out in a single verse.

In a couple of my recent posts, we looked at who are God’s called out ones when we looked at “Who Is The Church?”  (Parts I & II).  And if you read yesterday’s post, “With God, All Things Are Possible”, you can see how God is dealing with me, specifically, in order to be made fit for His service.

You are “called out” if you were drawn to Jesus Christ.  If you accepted the free gift of eternal life because He died in your place for the sin of the world.  If you know you have been driven into His service.

The ekklesia, the called out ones, the gathering of believers, both individually, and corporately ARE the called out ones.  We are the Body of Christ.

TO THE CALLED OUT ONES

Read the paper, look at the news (If you have a great B.S. filter, and a lot of discernment). search the web, and you can see that our nation is being remade in the image of evil.  We are no longer a Godly nation.  We no longer turn to the authority of God as our Sovereign leader, and His word as the baseline for all our moral judgement.

It is the “Called Out Ones” who have let this happen, and need to stop what they are doing and do what the verse above says.  I, you, WE, need to individually and corporately fall on our face, fast in grief over our falling asleep  at the wheel, and repent for being so careless with the Word of God.  We have allowed ourselves to be distracted by people who have invaded our churches and gently led us away from the basic truths of the Doctrines of God.

We, the “called out ones” have given up on our responsibility to remain faithful to Christ, to endure to the bitter end, to serve selflessly.  We have abdicated our responsibilities to others.  WE are the ones to feed the poor, clothe the naked, give shelter to the homeless, visit the prisoners.  We are called to be  the light of the World.  When Jesus ascended, He didn’t strike camp and leave us without equipping us.  We are His children.  We have been given the authority, by Jesus Christ Himself to go in to all the WORLD, teaching the world all that Jesus has commanded.

We have chased after political correctness.  We have bowed to a lesser god for the sake of our convenience.  We tolerate preaching that appeals to our carnal selves, and we reject the teaching that is Given by the Word of God, and by our own Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I can say this because, for the last 20 years, I was very guilty of this, and more.  Wake up believers.  This land is going to recieve the Judgement of the Living God.  NO nation has ever remained standing after throwing off the Sovereignty of God.  We have gone from acknowledging that He alone is God, to claiming that WE ourselves are little Gods.  Decide today what you will believe.  There cannot be an autonomous Man and a Sovereign God.  Will you be your own God, or will you return to the Living God?

We all, I me and US, need to humble ourselves.  We need to repent of our individual sin.  We need to return to the word as it is given, and not try to make it fit what we wish it said.

Are you the called out one?  Ask yourself.  Are you too afraid to mention Jesus Christ at your work?  Jesus said that if you are ashamed of Him, he will be ashamed of you on the day of judgement.  Are you afraid your life will be inconvienced, or disturbed, or even ruined if you literally obey Christ?  Then you are not worthy of being His disciple.  Get over yourselves.  Repent.  Obey the Lord.

We have become so vile that the Church of Laodicea looks like a Billy Graham Evnangelical event.

WAKE UP CALLED ONES.  Do your job.

TO THE ONES PLAYING CHURCH.

If what I have written above offends you, GOOD.  Do you say you are a Christian?  Just because you go to a Church, doesn’t mean you are any more saved than, if you go to a Burger King you are a Whopper.  If you are going “because it is good for the kids”, or “It looks good socially”, or “I make a lot more contacts there than I do anywhere else, and that is just good business”, then you are blaspheming the entire meaning of what it means to be a called out one.

Here’s the deal.  You will know if you are called out.  Here’s how.  If you realized the depth and depravity of your sin, and saw that Jesus Christ was beaten and nailed to a Roman Cross, and took on the very wrath of the Living God, IN YOUR PLACE, and if this brought you to repentance, and you confessed that Jesus Christ IS the Son of God, and confessed it with your mouth, THEN you are called out.  You have been given new life, and separated from your old life.

If you have not experienced this, then you are just playing Church.

You are no different from any ordinary sinner who goes to a strip joint instead of a church, except that person is being honest.  You, friend are being a liar.  Stop playing Church.

People, our nation has rejected God.  Our nation has condoned lawlessness.  Our nation has thrown off the Sovereignty of the Living God to pursue it’s own sovereignty.  Our nation has condoned the brutal murders of our unborn children.  Are we the worshipers of MOLECH, now?  Do we sacrifice our children to a being that is NOT God?

We have played right into Satan’s hands.  And we are, at best indifferent.  At worst, a participant in our own damnation.

To the ones who work tirelessly, I pray the blessings of the living God on you.  I pray the protection of the Holy Spirit on you.  Do not tire of these things, as your reward in Heaven will be great.  i ask that you pray for US, the called out ones who have traded our inheritance for a bowl of stew.

Forgive us God.  I pray in the Name of JEsus Christ, the Only Begotten Son of God.

David Perkins

sammy.snardfarkle@gmail.com

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Faith

The Return to God, Part II: God Will Then Let You Know He Is Aware of Your Situation


Part II: God will then let you know he is aware of your situation.

(All Bible quotes used herein are from the ESV, by means of the excellent software: e-Sword. )

I think the thing that slowed my return to God was me…my thoughts, my fears, the dread of being judged as irredeemable.

I was in the way of my own redemption. I had strayed pretty far. I didn’t know how to return to where I was. I didn’t know the way back. I could recall the day of my Salvation. But it seemed a lifetime ago, and I had done SO many things, much of it on purpose, to anger the Living God. I figured I had become irredeemable. Incurable. Incapable of being acceptable to God. Chances are you might feel that way too.

I had completely forgotten what Jesus said about any who are saved.

John 6:37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

John 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

Do you remember the day you were saved? Maybe it was a long time ago, and you have not lived the “victorious life”.  Maybe the burden of separation from God seems like it is too much for you.

But take it from me, one who recently returned, Jesus meant it when He said: I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. And: whoever comes to me I will never cast out.

I had forgotten this. I can remember the day of my salvation. But I had forgotten the above. When I recalled these verses, and finally realized what these verses mean, I realized that A: When Jesus said, ” and no one will snatch them out of my hand. ” He also meant that I myself cannot snatch ME out of His hand.  Jesus said repeatedly throughout His ministry that we can curse and blaspheme God and Jesus, and do all manner of wickedness, and be forgiven, as long as we have not blasphemed the Holy Spirit.  I knew I was saved. My doubts of being able to be forgiven was standing in the way of my redemption to God from my sins.

This Psalm describes how I was feeling:

Psalm 42:1- 2: As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

I missed God. I missed serving Christ. I knew I was lost, and thirsty for the sweet presence of God in my life. I had to get out of my way. and that is when the changes started to happen.

First, I prayed:

Psalm 5:1-2: Give ear to my words, O LORD; consider my groaning. Give attention to the sound of my cry, my King and my God, for to you do I pray.

AND

From Psalm 51: Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you.

This is what I discovered:

Psalm 145:8 – 9: The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

So I unloaded everything on God:

Psalm 55:22 – Cast your burden on the LORD, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.

And, Psalm 57:2 – I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me.

I have to confess. I mean I was prepared to hear Him tell me to go to hell. And I felt I deserved it. But God let me know he has been aware of what I had been up to all along, that he had never taken His eyes off me. And He didn’t do it in a way that was accusative. He did it in a way that let me know I can stop it now, and be forgiven. He knew anyway.

Psalm 44:20-21 If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god, would not God discover this? For he knows the secrets of the heart.

And:

Psalm 138:8 The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me; your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever. Do not forsake the work of your hands.

Psalm 145:8 The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Psalm 145:9 The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.

Because you were saved, and because of the Blood of Christ you can rest assured:

1John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

You will suddenly know: Psalm 40:1- 3 I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.

God knows you are in a plight. He always knew. He quietly intervened on your behalf, in ways you will discover after your return to Him. He led you to the point where you understood how far you strayed. No one who belongs to Him is irredeemable.

You discover: Lamentations 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Understand this, when you began to feel the weight of your guilt for leaving God, it was God making you aware he knows what plight you are in. It was God drawing you back to Him. It was the Holy Spirit convicting you of your need to return. He was letting you know that He knows. That you were the only thing standing in your way.

God gives you the strength and courage to confess, to return, to repent. You have earned this right because you were and are saved by the blood of Christ Jesus. Jesus has made it possible for you to go before God and do business with Him:

Hebrews 10:19-21 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Christ prayed for you. That you will never be snatched out of His hand. He came after you because of His love for you. The fact that you began to miss God, and desired to return to Him is a sure sign that the Spirit of God was at work in your heart. HE KNEW your plight and came after you.

Matthew 18:12-13 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray.

You are home now. God went out of his way to find you, and heaven itself rejoiced over your return to Him.

THIS is where things get really interesting.

Stay tuned for Part III: God has made you exactly the way you are, so that you can do exactly what He intends for you to do.

If you would like prayer, please write me at: sammysnardfarkle@gmail.com

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