Tag Archives: Jesus Christ

Faith

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

Who is the Church? – Part II


2 Timothy 3:1-5a. “But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness denying its power.”

If you glossed over the above scripture, please go back and read it for comprehension sake. I’ll wait.

Now, stop and look around you at the world we live in. Does the list of things in those verses sound like today’s society? You have read in the papers about all the incredibly evil things people are doing to each other. You have seen on the news (For what the news is worth) how evil is triumphed, and those who cry out for good are called evil.

Did you know that Paul was warning Timothy about the false preachers who, in the last days, infiltrate the churches? The warning was there because of the doctrines of the false servants of God would be borne out in the followers of the false teachings. That warning is: They will produce fruit after their own kind. He was not warning Timothy of the sinners who walked around outside the church, he was talking about the church itself.

The same thing happened to Israel.

Isaiah 5:20-23 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and, and valiant men at in mixing strong drink, who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!”

False doctrines and falsehoods were dragged into Israel, and condoned by the High Priests. They took bribes to look the other way, they were drunkards, they pronounced that the things of God are bad, and the things that are evil are good.

Just like in the book of Timothy.

These warnings and the subsequent judgments were not against people who do not know God. They are directed at people who claim they do. Israel was appointed by the Living God to be a light unto the world, that all nations will know there is a God, and He created them all. God’s efforts at redemption are illustrated all throughout the Bible.

In Timothy’s time, the doctrines of Grace, Mercy and Love, filling you by the Spirit of the Living God, based on the believers confession of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, was being diluted.

The people who diluted the Gospel were people who appeared pious, said all the right words, and smoothly talked their way into the congregation. Once they were in, they slowly diverted the Gospel of Jesus Christ for another Gospel. They turned people, slowly from the things of God, to other things. Just like in the days of Israel, when Isaiah gave all those “woes”.

Sinners are going to be sinners. They are the ones we, as Christians, are sent in to the world to reach, love, show mercy, grace, and heal their hurts. But the worst kind of sin, one that God does not tolerate, is when HIS congregation, His “called out” ones, sit idly by and let the congregation of deceivers turn people away from the simple gospel, to some sort of psychobabble, “New Aged”ideology.

Many churches, today, endorse evil, and say that if you cannot embrace that evil, you are a hater, and not a “child of God”. They say this because their view of God is that He is a kindly grandfather that endorses everything you do, simply because he “loves” you enough not to discipline you.

Every generation, every nation, every church, every tribe that has known the Living God, then thrown off His ways was destroyed.

Look around you. America is in deep trouble. Here we are within the worlds largest field, needing harvest, and we ourselves have no idea what to do about it. We are so afraid we will “offend” someone, that we do not tell the truth. We bow to laws that call for us to disobey God, hoping that God will see we are just trying to get along with every one. We fear for our jobs more than we fear disobeying God.

Jesus promised : “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake, and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the son of man be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels? Mark 8:35-38 CEV

The time for compromise has ended. Jesus assured us that we WILL offend people. That all people want to hear is what they want to hear, so they will feel good about the sin they commit.

If we genuinely want revival in the land, it starts with individual repentance. There is no such thing as “corporate” salvation. There is only individual salvation. The whole congregation will not be there for you when you see God on judgment day. If you will bend your knee, confess your sin, and let the Spirit of God remove all the lusts of your heart, and all your pride, and all your lying, and any other road blocks you have placed between you and a walk with the Lord, if you will repent, and be cleansed, you can be the one person who can start this revival in our land.

When you draw other “believers” to repentance, you will have a congregation of believers who have been cleaned again, and are willing to risk it all for the gospel. When you have that, my brothers and sisters, you have a real assembly of believers. If you have a real assembly of believers, forgiven, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, who was given to you when you first believed, and through the knowledge of the word, you will be a formidable force for the sake of the Gospel.

You can feel it in your bones that time is running out. The age of church complacency is over. The age of our willful ignorance os over. The age of denying the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is over. If you want to see all your lost friends and neighbors saved, let it begin in YOUR heart. Do business with God, and watch what business He will do through you.

You do not need permission from ANYONE to obey God. Jesus gave it to you the instant you believed in Him.

“If we have died with him, we will also live with him; if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; (even) if we are faithless, HE remains faithful – for He cannot deny Himself.” 2 Timothy 2:11b-13

In my lifetime I have seen Jesus kicked out of Schools, public discourse, and now the Military.  In some towns and cities IN THIS COUNTRY, it is illegal to share the gospel. “The Religion of Peace” will cut your head off for sharing Jesus. Sharia law is creeping its’ way in to our laws, even as you read this.

When the congregation of believers gave up their right to do the will of Christ in their communities, then the government, who has proven to be evil to the very core, has taken them over. And when you dance with the devil, you way his price.

God destroys every nation that denounces Him. We, as a collective, have denounced God, or, out of fear for our own well being, have stood by and let it happen. I have repented of this sin, and challenge you, the individual, and the church, to do the same.

You can change what is about to befall this country when you can change your heart. And you can bring others to Christ while you can, and are willing.

Start with your church, because, if you have read the book of Revelation, you have read what Christ has to say to the Church at Laodicea. They are the archetype, we are the type. Time to get in shape and finish this fight.

I beg you, as a brother in Christ, to do what I had to do.

Repent, stop making excuses for not serving the Gospel, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Learn to pray again. Learn to read the scriptures again. Find others who have done this same thing. Be the light of the world. If you are saved, then you ARE the image of Christ. Change how you act, change how your churches act, and you will see a change in our beloved nation.

Nothing short of an act of God can turn our country around.

We are out of time, so let’s be about it.

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Faith

I Renamed My Lawnmower


I am not playing the sympathy card, here, but I have really bad lung problems.

The problem is SO bad that if the local humidity gets above 50%, I start having problems breathing.  When it gets above 60%, I am virtually a prisoner in my own home.  My lungs are bad because of all the times I have had pneumonia, and have been exposed to really corrosive chemicals.

To make matters worse, I am allergic to almost every thing that exists in Missouri.   I live in Missouri. If I were sitting in my favorite cafe, in the mountains of Montana, sipping a good hot tea, and my wonderful wife, Sandy, were to sit down next to me, holding a package just shipped up from Missouri, I would probably have a collapsed lung, right there. I hope God smiles on me soon and allows me to move to the Mountains.  I can breathe there, and enjoy the great outdoors with no hindrances.

I think I am allergic as a judgement.  See, I used to make fun of my First Wife (Let’s call her Cinnamon).  She has allergies that can, sometimes, be pretty bad.  I used to tease her incessantly.  Not only was that an unkind act, in and of itself, and I am genuinely sorry for that, but it was cruel.  This is when I first realized that “You reap what you sew.”

So, here I am, in Missouri, allergic to every organic object that exists, and it is hot and very humid here.  Grass grows in my yard.  It wouldn’t be a problem if I could hire Skippy McDork to come out and mow my lawn, but I cannot.  SO, I mow the yard.

Today, it is hot and humid.  I can barely breathe.  So I get really exhausted pretty fast.   When it is this bad, I fade between seeing and graying out.  I wanted to get this over with.

But, as I mowed, I was able to overcome these obstacles.  And I remembered:

“The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.”  Psalm 118:14

Remembering that verse lifted my heart, and I swear I felt a cool breeze go right through me.  It felt good, and I kept mowing.

As I got fatigued, I noticed that I had left a few patches.  I was tired, and didn’t feel like going back for the patches I missed.

Then I remembered:

“What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?”  Luke 15:4

and THAT made me think of Christ dragging his beam to the hill of Golgotha.  He was tired beyond reason.  He had been beaten nearly to death.  Because HE was a workman worthy of His hire, he completed all the things God set before him to do.

And I also remembered that God intends us to harvest until he returns, and the even the corners will be harvested.

So, I did the whole Job.  I know mowing isn’t one of the “High Spiritual Callings” but if I am to believe the word of God, I need to develop the habit of practicing it.  And the word says:   “And whatsoever ye do, do [it] heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;” Colossians 3:23   

Jesus didn’t die for only a few of our sins.  He died for all of them.  He didn’t cut corners.  He drank deep of the cup God had served  Him.

“And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud [one] sat like unto the Son of man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle.  And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe.  And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.””  Revelation 14:14-16

The fields are ripe for the harvest.  I was reminded that, because of the Grace of God, I am still here to reap.  I remembered all this while I mowed and wanted to quit.  When we are faithful in these little things, God will trust you with bigger ones.  I have only recently returned to God, through Jesus Christ, but I have no intention of getting it wrong this time.

I have renamed my Mower “Grace” so every time I mow, and struggle to breathe, and get fatigued, and want to lay down and die, I will remember why I am still here.

“To live is Christ, to die is gain.” – The Apostle Paul

 

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Faith, Uncategorized

The Jewels in Your Crown: Forgiveness, Part 2


“and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Matt 6:12 – Part of “The Lord’s Prayer” given by Jesus Christ

“For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”  Matt 6:15-16 – Spoken by Jesus Christ

I apologize for the inevitable length of this installment.  I am doing my best to condense this without leaving out the important stuff.  There will be other parts following this one, but this part will help complete the groundwork of the battlefield of life where Forgiveness is our greatest weapon.

A great deal of this depends on you.  It depends on the state of your heart, and your willingness to genuinely forgive.  I will be covering this in this installment.  I appreciate your patience and indulgence with the length of this article.

In part one I covered a few of the stumbling blocks in our daily walk in Christ, where it comes to forgiveness.

1. Being willing and desiring to forgive.  It is MY WILL that is forgiving or unforgiving.

2. Rehearsing over and over again the litany of wrongs done to you.

3. Pride – the belief that the person who offended you ought to know you are offended and ought to come to you to ask for forgiveness, that YOU shouldn’t have to go to them.  (This one is a whopper, as Jesus himself went to the people who needed forgiveness instead of the other way around.)

4. Fear – Fear of being taken advantage of, Fear of rejection, fear of being misunderstood.

Most of our unforgiveness toward others can be boiled down to these 4 things.  I have no doubt you can come up with more than this list, but I think these are the roots of unforgiveness.

Sometimes these stumbling blocks hang around, impeding your walk for various reasons.  Perhaps you have to continue to forgive someone who insists on hurting you.  Perhaps you are angry at them, or angry for some other reason.  Perhaps you harbor anger and don’t even know it.

Before anyone decides I should walk in their shoes, let me tell you.  I have been hurt deeply by people I love completely.   The details are none of your business, but I genuinely do understand the intense pain of betrayal, of intentional deception, of abandonment by brothers in the Lord.  I have been disowned, cursed, gossiped about, lied to, and some have done far worse things than this to me.  So believe me when I tell you, I understand the pain of the deep hurt by loved ones.

When this type of hurt happens, you feel as if you are in an explosion.  Nothing is the same again, ever.  It takes time even to realize how real this situation is.  It takes time to regain your bearings from the intensity of this sudden hurt.  Your friends may abandon or betray you, your loved ones will offer you anything but hope and mercy and grace.  Those closest to you will judge you.

These are hurts that take time to get over.  The hard part about this hurt is, if you are not careful, you will let anger and bitterness grow roots and take over your heart and mind.  When this happens, your ability to love and trust and commune with the Living God is impeded by the bitterness that flows in your veins.

I am begging you today, if this is you, find a way to stop yourself from getting deeper involved in the anger and bitterness.  The last 20 years of my life are the result of me losing my bearings, and taking matters in my own hands.

When Jesus was instructing the disciples on how to pray, He included this phrase, “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.” Matt 6:12.  After that, He continued to instruct his disciples saying, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”  Matt 6:15-16

You will know when you have unforgiveness because your joy in the lord is diminished, your communion with Him feels incomplete.  You have a stumbling block keeping your walk from being joyous,, fulfilling and growing.  You are at a standstill with God.

Listen to these hints from the Spirit of God.  If there is unforgiveness between you and God, it is likely because you have unforgiveness between you and someone else.  Or unconfessed sin. God will wait right there with you, as long as it takes until you take care of your business.  The good news is that God will be with you because He always empowers obedience to Him.

If God acted in any other way toward you, while you hold bitterness and unforgiveness and anger in your heart, then He would be contradicting His own nature.  He would be condoning sin.

Jesus taught that we reap what we sow.  An unforgiving spirit affects every aspect of your life.  It will come back to you with interest.  When it does, this is when anger and bitterness can set root.

An unforgiving spirit will generate in you a critical spirit.  Unforgiveness is detrimental and destructive, and will influence everything else you try to do.  If you find yourself being overly critical or overly cynical, there is a chance you are harboring unforgiveness, that has given root to bitterness.

When Jesus was teaching the disciples about forgiveness, Peter (A man I can clearly identify with), asked Jesus:  “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?”

“Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” Matt 18:21-22

Was Jesus telling Peter you have to forgive someone 490 times, then all bets are off?  No.  Forgiveness takes practice, and Jesus was telling Peter you must forgive repeatedly.  The good news is that, the more you do it, the better you get at doing it.

In other words, Jesus was telling Peter, and the others, that there is no measuring rod.  I can tell you that, by the time you get in to the habit of forgiving, you actually lose count.  We do not return insult for insult, but we bless those who curse us, and pray for those who despitefully use us.  When you get in this habit of this kind of Grace and Mercy, forgiveness will grow in your heart until you have a joy about forgiving.  In other words, When you can learn to forgive, you will find there is NO LIMIT on forgiveness.

Forgiveness comes from your heart, not your lips.  How many times has someone said or done something to offend you, and immediately they said “I’m Sorry”, and you said “I forgive you”.  Then after they left, you couldn’t wait to tell everyone you know how you were wronged?

So the burning question here is, since Jesus has forgiven you ALL you have done against God, how many times and things will you forgive others?

Unless forgiveness comes from the heart, it is not forgiveness. You don’t really have to forget, either.  If it is genuine forgiveness, when it comes to your mind later on, it will be in the form of lessons learned.

To not forgive means you would rather wear the chains of slavery to anger and bitterness.  Some people actually fall in love with their anger and bitterness.  It gives them something to wallow in as an excuse to not do business with God.  It feeds our vanity to be this way.  We get to present ourselves as the wronged ones, and try to illicit sympathy form others, so you can look like you are really suffering for your faith.

THIS is really a faithless act, and is sin, too.  It is pride and fear that keeps you in chains.

Who are you angry with?  What did they say or do that means they can never be forgiven?  What have you said or done that means God can never forgive you?  Do you want differential treatment over this issue?  In order to be forgiven, you have to forgive.  You cannot get rid of this anger or hurt by running away from it.  You have to put your offering down and go deal with it.  You have to let the Holy Spirit deal through you for healing to really happen.

Hurt is hard, Especially when it is repeated hurt, willful hurt, intentional hurt.  No person who deeply loves can just switch off the hurt. It is a process.  It may not come instantly.

Here is the process that leads to forgiveness.  You may have to do this every 5 minutes, or every day, or as often as it takes until the Spirit of God has worked in you to forgive.

STEP 1:  ANGER  You have to acknowledge your anger.  Confess it before the Lord.  Lay it at His feet.  He loves you and cares for you.

Make this confession after you have asked forgiveness for sin and anger: “Because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ, I have experienced God’s total forgiveness in my life”.  “I have been saved by his grace, His love, and His mercy.”  “All of my forgiveness has come from God.”

FORGIVENESS is one of the very first gifts God gives you.  Forgiveness is ongoing in your life, because you are human, and make mistakes.  But God is HAPPY and DESIRING to forgive.  It is His joy to do this in your heart.  He will show you, that the forgiveness that began at the Cross, is still going on today, in you, in your life.  He will give you the gift of forgiveness.  Do business with God first.  Forgiveness is a gift that will grow in your heart the more of it you give away.  God has been doing this for you every day of your whole life.

Make this confession:  “I AM FORGIVEN!”  Keep doing this until it becomes real to you.  It is oftentimes a process.  But the anger has to go away.

STEP 2:  BE WILLING. Be willing to confess your anger, hostility, rage, resentment, and whatever feelings you have toward that person.  Ask God to forgive your anger and hurt for that person.  BE SPECIFIC.  When you are specific, it breaks the bondage.  You must be willing to deal with it specifically and personally.  If you are genuinely confessing something, you have to deal with it.  God will wait for you to do this, and He will empower your obedience.

STEP 3:   THE WORD.  Learn that your unforgiveness is a violation of the word of God.  If I have an unforgiving spirit, I have sinned against God and others.  Know what the Bible has to say about forgiveness and unforgiveness.  Look it up in your Bible index.  You have to know the word, confess the word, and recognize this in your heart.  Out of the overflow of your heart, comes the issue of your lips.

STEP 4:  ASK GOD to forgive you.  Be specific about what you have said, or done, or felt in your heart against the person who hurt you.  God will take that and relieve you of it.   Confess all of it.  You may have to do this a few times as things float to the surface.

There is nothing in the scriptures about CONDITIONAL forgiveness.  The Bible doesn’t say, “Ask your brother to forgive you UNLESS…he rejects you, misunderstands you, or it is just too painful for you.”  You will not find that in the Bible.

We are to forgive no matter what.  No matter the outcome.  No matter the consequences.  Even if that person doubles up on your pain, forgive anyway.

So, here we are dealing with the root of the problem.  It is an act of will that you forgive.  It was an act of will that Jesus died for you.  Jesus prayed at the garden, “Not MY will, father, but thine.”  God helped Jesus align Jesus will with the father’s will.  In the same manner, God will empower you to align your will with His if you ask from deep in your heart.  You have to be willing.

You may have to go to that brother and ask him or her to forgive you for your unforgiveness toward him or her.  You have an attitude in your heart. You have judged him unworthy of forgiveness.  Even IF he has wronged you, you still need to go to that person and ask him to forgive you of your attitude for him.

Pray this:  “By an act of MY will, Father, and by the power of the Holy spirit that lives within me, Father, I lay down my anger, my bitterness, my ‘right’ to be offended, my hurt.  I lay them all down at your feet,.”

This stops being about your feelings when you do this.  It becomes an act of your will.  Say, “I choose to lay it down”.  You will that God takes it from you.  If you leave this at the Father’s feet, God will remove the hurt from your life.  Acknowledge His forgiveness as you lay down your anger.  There may be MANY people you are angry with. Be willing to do this for each and every one of them.

It is a process.

God will let you know if you need to go to that person or not.  God will strengthen you to admit and gracefully confess to that person the conflict, as you seek forgiveness from that person about your attitude toward him.

If God sends you to that person, and you talk to him, DON’T ENUMERATE THE LIST OF THINGS DONE WRONG AGAINST YOU.  Remember what it says in II Corinthians that Love does not keep an accounting of the wrongs done against it.  God is Love, and His Spirit abides in you.  You don’t need to rehearse all the wrongs done against you to that person.  It will only make things worse.   Confess the attitude you have had toward that person, ask his forgiveness for your attitude, and leave it at that.  God will do the rest.

Genuine forgiveness does not build up a legal case, or a defense for your hurt, and say, “I will forgive you BUT.”  There are no buts to forgiveness.  You either forgive or you don’t.  Forgiveness is an act of grace, mercy, and unconditional love.  Forgiveness is given with no limitations or demands.

Don’t front-load your imagination about forgiveness.  In other words, don’t try to predict what his reaction will be.  You may be surprised at his reaction.

When you genuinely forgive others, not only do you set yourself free of the chains that bind your walk with God, but in the act of forgiving, you also set that person free of those same chains.

There is a true and genuine feeling of freedom when you allow God to work in you to remove the stumbling blocks of unforgiveness and anger.  I know this because I have been doing this.  The more I do this, the more free I feel in my heart and soul.  Anger becomes a last resort for me, instead of a first reaction.

BUT SUPPOSE THEY LIVE 1000 MILES AWAY, OR ARE ALREADY DEAD?

Ask yourself, “Is the unforgiveness still in my heart?”  If the answer is “yes” then you have a stumbling block.  Forgive them anyway.

PRACTICAL APPLICATION:  Get two chairs.  Set them 2 feet apart facing each other.  You sit in one, and and you imagine that that person is sitting in the other one.  Tell that person exactly what you would say if they were really sitting in that chair.  Confess your attitude.  Ask forgiveness.  Chances are, if that person were a real difficulty in your life, you will have to do this several times before it gets real, and you forgive.  Just do it.  Ask their forgiveness for your attitude.   (I got this exercise from Charles Stanley).

Once you deal with that issue, claim the forgiveness by faith.  then tell yourself, “That is the end of THAT!”  If it turns out that it is not the end of that, do it again until it is.  I promise you, one day, you will get up from that chair, and you will be genuinely free of unforgiveness.

HOW Will I KNOW WHEN I HAVE REALLY FORGIVEN THEM?

I’ll tell you how you will know.  And I have experienced this repeatedly, so I know this is a fact.

The next time you think about them, there will not be any “static” in your heart toward them.  You will have a sense of freedom from that burden.  The harsh feelings are gone.  You will feel compassion for them and hope the best for them.  Somehow, you will be able to accept them as they are.  If the grievance is over a terrible wrong this person has done, let God have His way with that person.  It is not your place to hold unforgiveness.

When you are really and truly set free, you will be able to say in your heart, “Thank you God for teaching me about your grace.  Thank you for this lesson I would have not have learned if you had not brought me through this.  You have genuinely turned my curse into a blessing.”

This is not a one time thing.  You will have to forgive over and over in your walk.  How many times?  70 X 7.

I love you in the Lord.

Let me know if you need prayer for anything.

I am your little brother in Christ Jesus.

David G. Perkins

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Faith

FAITH TO BE RECKLESS


“FAITH IS NOT BELIEF WITHOUT PROOF, BUT TRUST WITHOUT RESERVATION.” – Anon

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Heb 11:1 – ESV

FACTOID: “The assurance of things hoped for (elpizomenōn hupostasis). Hupostasis is a very common word from Aristotle on and comes from huphistēmi (hupo, under, histēmi, intransitive), what stands under anything (a building, a contract, a promise). ” From Robertson’s Word Pictures

In this case, it is used as a contract of deed. Faith is the TITLE-DEED of things hoped for. It is the document that states clearly that you can have confidence in God‘s promises.

 FIRST THINGS FIRST

Faith is the Title Deed That says, “Because you have believed in Jesus Christ, you have inherited eternal life.” Almost everyone knows John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” That is the language of the Title-Deed.

The details of that title deed are detailed in the verses that follow:

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” John 3:16-18 – ESV

Here you can see that there is spelled out a distinction between who inherits and who doesn’t inherit. Because you have believed, your first inheritance is Eternal Life. Those words are from Christ Himself. You can rest assured of your salvation, which is the language of the second half of the verse: “the conviction of things not seen.” Heb 11:1 – ESV

The number of Humans who have been to Heaven and returned to tell about it are few and far between. Chances are that you and I are not in that group. Because we hold the title deed to an eternal life, we can hold to the conviction that it has already been granted to us. You don’t have to stop what you are doing and go see the real estate. It is already your inheritance. Nothing in the world can take your inheritance away because it was signed over to you in the blood of the one who promised it to you.

BUT WHAT ELSE?

THAT is the bazillion dollar question!

The reason we were not raptured the second we accepted Christ as our Saviour and Lord is because he has a work for us to do here. Jesus has given you the authority to do those things. Jesus said to the Disciples: “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” John 14:12 NASB

Anyone with one eye and half a brain can tell things are going terribly wrong on this planet. THe reason we are still here is so we can bring the gospel to anyone who will listen. We have been given the authority to do that by Jesus Himself. You do NOT need your church’s permission to obey Christ. You do not need anything but a solid understanding of the scripture and faith. And Jesus has guaranteed that you will have all the tools He had at your disposal, PLUS more.

These facts are in the Title-Deed of our inheritance. While we are still here on this planet, we have the promise of salvation, and the promise that, if we believe, and obey, we are empowered to do all that Jesus Himself did to bring others to Himself.

BUT IT IS HARD!

Yes. It is hard. And most likely, people will think you are insane. People will hate you. People will run from you. People will lie about you, try to trip you up, and basically call you nuts…and it may begin with your family.

I can attest before God, I have, on more than one occasion, seen people try to kill me for the sake of the Gospel, but God always delivers. In fact, one of the would be assassins became a Christian, and later his wife became a Christian. Today, they live in California, and have a pretty good church going out there. They reach people that most ordinary Christians would run in fear from.

These things can be done because FAITH is your Title-Deed that assures you that whatever you ask in Jesus name will be done for you, if you are praying in God’s will. This assurance is the conviction of the thing hoped for.

“Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven. “ – Mat 18:19 NASB

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” – Mat 7:7

“For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.” – Mat 7:8

BE RECKLESS ABOUT IT, TOO.

My favorite devotional is written by the daughter of Oswald Chambers. Chambers was the Chaplain for the British Airmen during WWI, while they were stationed in the Saudi deserts. Chambers wrote a diary that later became the famous devotional book called “My Utmost For His Highest”.

In several of the devotionals, Chambers describes this faith, this assurance, this conviction of things hoped for, as something we have to throw ourselves into with “reckless abandon”. Have no thought for yourself image, for your safety, for anything other than being willing to take that one step off the cliff, knowing that God is there to see you through to a path of His design.

There is a child like freedom in this kind of faith. When my daughter was a toddler, she had no problem or hesitation about running as fast as she could and jumping into my arms. She knew without hesitation that I would catch her. We have to put aside our practical worldliness. We have to put aside all concerns for how we will look to others. We just have to have the Joy of our salvation, and the faith that whatever it is that God asked you to do, you can do it with out fear or concern. Jesus promised you that you have eternity as your reward, and all the power in the Kingdom of Heaven to accomplish what God has asked you to do.

Do we really want revival? Start with yourself. Be recklessly abandoned to the assurance of the things hoped for, and stand on the conviction of the things not seen.

We need revival in this land. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to do that thing that God has asked us to do. We can do this because we have our salvation. We have our salvation because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. The fields are ripe for harvest. Let’s be about it.

 

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Faith

The Ethics of Hell


[NOTE: I have kept a copy of this article preserved and encrypted in the event that it is somehow altered by a person or persons other than me.]

“Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. “Ecc 3:16 -17

THE SETTING:

Ray Charles can see that the Government of the United States has abandoned all that is holy, moral, legal and right. Oftentimes, I stand in stupefied wonder that “We the People” have let this happen.

The condition we are in today didn’t happen overnight, either. I remember vividly, in the 1960’s, when God was being kicked out of school. Today, there is a concerted and overt effort to remove Christianity from the common arena.

What dumbfounds me is that:

A: What passes for a representative republic openly demonstrates, with great pride, every effort it can to destroy all that was considered good, all that was considered right, all that is constitutional, all references to the Living God, and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

B: What passes for government today openly calls Christians, and tea party members “terrorists” while giving a free pass to the people who want to kill us.

And

C: We are tolerating this behavior.

MY REACTION

I have no doubt you are aware of the same things I am.  This has been a real struggle for me. I was raised in the South where being an American is just as important as being a Christian. In fact, a lack of patriotism usually meant that your neighbors will question your salvation.

I was raised to believe that we are a Constitutional Republic, not a democracy. That the Constitution IS the baseline by which all laws are measured, and no law will exist that takes away from the constitution, in any form, shape or deed.

I was raised to believe it is honorable to die for your country, that the flag will not be desecrated under ANY circumstances, and that this nation exists because of the Living God.

Now that we have kicked God out of our lives, our nation has fallen to a very dark place.

So, my gut reaction is to be angry at the Government. My gut reaction, my real heartfelt reaction, is to take matters in my own hands. That is my gut reaction. I have this reaction because, in the 1980’s I swore an oath that includes this phrase:

“I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God.” 

That oath keep crashing against the shores of my conscience, and I am overwhelmed with the desire to keep that oath.

There’s just one problem with that…..

THE ETHICS OF HELL

“The thief (Lucifer, Satan) comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I (Jesus) came that they (you and me) may have life and have it abundantly.” Joh 10:10

This part took me a while to see.  Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am very patriotic, that I am very willing to risk my life for my oath, that I have been harboring deep hatred and resentment in both the government for all of its blatant display of corruption, and a nation that tolerates it.

But I took my anger to God.

And I prayed.

And prayed.

All this time, God listened to me rant and rave. My anger had been kindled, I wanted to pour out MY wrath on these people.

This is when God reminded me of the ethics of hell.

The enemy of God doesn’t care where fear, anger, confusion, distrust, and treachery comes from, AS LONG AS IT IS THERE. I might feel perfectly righteous being angry, but my anger tempts me to run into sin, and not wait on the Lord. No other patriot would blame me for my feelings, either.

This scripture came to my mind: “A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” Pro 25:28

Anyone of us can justify our patriotism. We can even look down our noses at anyone who doesn’t feel the same hatred and indignation of our corrupted government.

God showed me that my anger is misdirected and I was sinning in my heart by the things I imagined should be done to fix our government.

The ethics of hell means that you will be tempted to sin, and you will be able to justify it in ways that hardly anyone else could condemn.

My willingness to lose self control opened a chink in my armor. My anger was not God’s anger. My desires for action were not Gods desires for me. And no matter how well I could justify my attitude, all I did was open a door that allowed the enemy to breach the walls of my heart. And thoughts of evil piled on top of thoughts of evil, until all I became was an animal waiting to be unleashed to his prey.

Satan does not care how much you read the bible, pray, sing in the choir, as long as you are willing to be angry and sin. As long as you give harbor to fear and confusion, as long as you take your eyes off Christ, and look at the waves you are walking on.

Satan is the author of confusion. Satan speaks death in to everything he touches. Satan divides. Satan destroys. And he is especially happy when he can distract Christians away from God. Satan knows that if we ever stop being willing to sin, if we ever approach God and confirm God’s will on our lives, and if we ever remember that our first call is Love, then Satan loses this skirmish.

MY RESPONSE

“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” Isa 1:18

“Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good”. – Rom 12:17 – 21

After praying, and God pointing out that my fleshly response will not please Him, I asked, “Then what should I do?”

God laid it on my heart that my anger does not serve the kingdom. That taking matters in my own hands is not the will of God. God reminded me of my calling, and the fundamentals of all of our calling. Those of us who seek the Lord with all our hearts, who know that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God, and have accepted that free gift of salvation, know deep down that God’s ways are not our ways.

It is the ethics of Hell that demands you take matters in to your own hands. It is the Ethics of Heaven that reminds us:

“For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Eph 6:12

In God’s army, our battles always begins on our knees before Him. We are to listen to Him, and obey whatever he leads us to do, no matter how contrary it may be to our human reasoning. The mightiest weapons we have in God’s army is prayer and praise.

God reminded me of the battle in II Chronicles 20 (A good read), where the battle was not won with swords, but with praise. This is where we become the most effective in the service of God’s army. Praise and prayer will bring the changes we need in our nation. Unrighteous anger just adds to the overwhelming noise that exists on this planet. But prayer and praise are inhabited by the Living God.

Knowing this, then, here is what I did.

I prayed for the Salvation of Obama. I prayed to God, and the more I prayed, the more it made sense to love my enemy. I prayed for the House and the Senate, as well as the Judiciary. I prayed that the Spirit of God descend on them, and everyone in Washington D.C. that they will be convicted of their sin and accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. That the powers that be have the courage to face the consequences of their actions, and to confess to the Lord, who will be faithful to forgive them.

I prayed this prayer, and it was one of the hardest things to do to say that I genuinely love Obama and care about his eternal soul.

It is not my place to attack anyone in the government. Not even in my prayers. As a warrior of God’s army, my battle begins with me getting out of the way of the will of God, and praying for my enemies in a way that is pleasing to God.

It is the will of God that no man should perish.

But for the most part, I needed help from the Holy Spirit to teach me how to pray for people that I so sincerely despise. It is written:

“Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.” Rom 8:26

and

“For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside.” 1Co 5:12-13a

Do I want my sense of vengeance, or do I want revival in the land? I want revival.

Revival will begin when I pray that God forgive my attitude, and when I ask God to fill me with HIS desire for our nation. If we pray for the tyrants who rule over us, we will see a revival in our nation. But this revival must first begin when we, as warriors to God, start the battle on our knees.

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