I do not need to feel better.
No one does.
How any of us feel all depends on who we trust in, not what we do with our feelings.
No wonder so many of us do not grow in our lives.
We spend more time trying to feel better, rather than seeking a greater recognition of the Truth, and the Truth is found in a Person: Jesus!
Think about the issue from this perspective.
If a child is struggling to read or do math, it would be a very poor teacher indeed who seeks to succor a child's frustration with candy or treats, when the child is angry because he or she cannot accomplish a skill.
Teachers are called on to teach students, not placate their feelings.
In the same manner, good parents should not seek to remove their children's frustrations and discomforts, but rather point them to the very person whose answers can more than fulfill every need: Jesus!
How many of us are still convinced that the life we live, we live in our own strength?
To the degree that we still trust in ourselves rather than rest in His life, to that degree men and women run to programs and gurus for help on living, when Life Himself is present within every believer/
We do not need to fix our feelings, but rather our hearts on Him who has been from the beginning.
We need to understand the truth, and the truth then sets us free, including our feelings.
Sunday, February 23, 2014
Not Feel Better, But See More of Him
After all these years, I have begun to understand where so much of the pain comes from in our lives.
We are living in our efforts, striving in the flesh, rather than trusting that He who has been from the beginning is also been there for us, from the beginning.
As long as a person sees his circumstances from his own limited perspective, he will feel despondent and lost.
Once again, there is nothing but pain and frustration awaiting every person who relies on his or her conception of God rather than trusting the Almighty Yahweh, who has revealed himself in the Word of God, through His Son.
As we see more of Him, we are transformed from glory to glory.
Why, then, do we feel bad? We are trying to fill the infinite within us through finite means, and such efforts will leave nothing but frustration and emptiness.
Not feel better, but receive life and that more abundantly -- there we find the answers to every need.
When I learned that it made no difference how I felt, my standing before God, and His grace in my life cannot be affected.
This new revelation has taken a great deal of time for me, since for so long I have been taught that what I was thinking or feeling made all the difference.
No.
Who we are has nothing to do with us and everything to do with what He has done for us.
Why did I not believe this? Why do so many other people not believe this? Because we have received a mixed message, that God loves us unconditionally if. . .
IF!
For me, the brutal element was "if I work the Twelve Steps." Later on, the punishing element has been "if you do your part."
Jesus was not mincing words when He shared with His disciples (just before His arrest and crucifixion, no less):
"1I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. " (John 15:1-5)
Jesus is not just someone who helps us once in a while. He is the vine, and we are branches which cannot thrive, unless we rest in the Vine. We are called not to strive and survive, but to revive in Himself and thrive through His life flowing through us.
Why do we feel bad, oftentimes? We want to be saved, successful, and certain through our feelings.
Yet we are not saved by feelings, and God's blessings in our lives do not depend on feelings, ours or other people's, either.
Instead of trying to make people feel better, the focus needs to be on seeing Him who has been from the beginning, that no matter how we may feel, we can both know and believe (and the feeling will follow) in His love, and that in His love perfect in us, we can see that as He is, so are we in this world. This love perfected then casts out all fear, removing ourselves in the flesh from frustrating God's grace in our lives.
We are living in our efforts, striving in the flesh, rather than trusting that He who has been from the beginning is also been there for us, from the beginning.
As long as a person sees his circumstances from his own limited perspective, he will feel despondent and lost.
Once again, there is nothing but pain and frustration awaiting every person who relies on his or her conception of God rather than trusting the Almighty Yahweh, who has revealed himself in the Word of God, through His Son.
As we see more of Him, we are transformed from glory to glory.
Why, then, do we feel bad? We are trying to fill the infinite within us through finite means, and such efforts will leave nothing but frustration and emptiness.
Not feel better, but receive life and that more abundantly -- there we find the answers to every need.
When I learned that it made no difference how I felt, my standing before God, and His grace in my life cannot be affected.
This new revelation has taken a great deal of time for me, since for so long I have been taught that what I was thinking or feeling made all the difference.
No.
Who we are has nothing to do with us and everything to do with what He has done for us.
Why did I not believe this? Why do so many other people not believe this? Because we have received a mixed message, that God loves us unconditionally if. . .
IF!
For me, the brutal element was "if I work the Twelve Steps." Later on, the punishing element has been "if you do your part."
Jesus was not mincing words when He shared with His disciples (just before His arrest and crucifixion, no less):
"1I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. 2Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. 3Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. 4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. " (John 15:1-5)
Jesus is not just someone who helps us once in a while. He is the vine, and we are branches which cannot thrive, unless we rest in the Vine. We are called not to strive and survive, but to revive in Himself and thrive through His life flowing through us.
Why do we feel bad, oftentimes? We want to be saved, successful, and certain through our feelings.
Yet we are not saved by feelings, and God's blessings in our lives do not depend on feelings, ours or other people's, either.
Instead of trying to make people feel better, the focus needs to be on seeing Him who has been from the beginning, that no matter how we may feel, we can both know and believe (and the feeling will follow) in His love, and that in His love perfect in us, we can see that as He is, so are we in this world. This love perfected then casts out all fear, removing ourselves in the flesh from frustrating God's grace in our lives.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Jesus -- Not Twelve Steps
I admonish every pastor, every leader, every counselor in the Body of Christ.
We do not need one more person in our lives telling us what we need to do.
We do not need any more practitioners of "counseling" and assistance to point us to ourselves, or to keep us dependent on running to them for help.
It is an untenable and painful outrage that so many parents, teachers, and pastors teach their children or their young charges to keep running to them for peace in their hearts.
Where do we find peace? In Christ!
"1Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me." (John 14: 1)
God Bless the ministry of Joseph Prince -- no one can "let not" for you. Why? Because no one can believe for you.
If you do not want your heart to be troubled, then believe in Jesus, who is God, and who has been with God since the beginning (John 1: 1-2)
He grants us peace because of all that He did on the Cross:
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:" (Romans 5: 1)
and
"For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." (Romans 14: 17)
This peace is connected with the gift of righteousness, a gift which He invites us to receive every day!
"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5: 17)
and
"For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;" (Ephesians 2: 14)
We need to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus (2 Peter 3: 18), and not work empty steps which take us nowhere.
We do not need one more person in our lives telling us what we need to do.
We do not need any more practitioners of "counseling" and assistance to point us to ourselves, or to keep us dependent on running to them for help.
It is an untenable and painful outrage that so many parents, teachers, and pastors teach their children or their young charges to keep running to them for peace in their hearts.
Where do we find peace? In Christ!
"1Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me." (John 14: 1)
God Bless the ministry of Joseph Prince -- no one can "let not" for you. Why? Because no one can believe for you.
If you do not want your heart to be troubled, then believe in Jesus, who is God, and who has been with God since the beginning (John 1: 1-2)
He grants us peace because of all that He did on the Cross:
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:" (Romans 5: 1)
and
"For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." (Romans 14: 17)
This peace is connected with the gift of righteousness, a gift which He invites us to receive every day!
"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5: 17)
and
"For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;" (Ephesians 2: 14)
We need to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus (2 Peter 3: 18), and not work empty steps which take us nowhere.
He Heals Us -- Not A Program
We are not healed by running over our feelings and thoughts all the time.
We are not set from free from our fears and hurts with counseling, psychotherapy, or anything else.
We are set free through the Spirit of God, by the power of the Cross.
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4: 18)
We are not called to live any kind of life filled with fear.
Yet this fear cannot be driven out by calling people, talking to them, crying on their shoulder about our circumstances.
We are set free as we look on Jesus, who died on the Cross to set us free, that He may minister on our behalf by the power of an endless life.
He heals us, even our hurts and our pains.
Yet for years, I believed that every time I was angry, fearful, or hurt, I had to run to someone else, and get that person to take away my fears.
It never worked. It never works.
Jesus Christ is bigger than our times, our troubles, or tales, or trials.
He is bigger than all of it, because He has been since the beginning (1 John 2: 12-14)
I write this post with a great deal of anger and dismay. For so many years, I was taught to fight and fix my feelings, when instead I need to fix my heart on Himself.
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is watching out for us, and living in and through us.
We cannot conceive how Great He is. We must receive this revelation through the Word of God.
He heals us, and He repairs us:
"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:" (Philippians 1: 6)
and
"6That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus." (Philemon 1: 6)
and
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3: 18)
We are not set from free from our fears and hurts with counseling, psychotherapy, or anything else.
We are set free through the Spirit of God, by the power of the Cross.
"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4: 18)
We are not called to live any kind of life filled with fear.
Yet this fear cannot be driven out by calling people, talking to them, crying on their shoulder about our circumstances.
We are set free as we look on Jesus, who died on the Cross to set us free, that He may minister on our behalf by the power of an endless life.
He heals us, even our hurts and our pains.
Yet for years, I believed that every time I was angry, fearful, or hurt, I had to run to someone else, and get that person to take away my fears.
It never worked. It never works.
Jesus Christ is bigger than our times, our troubles, or tales, or trials.
He is bigger than all of it, because He has been since the beginning (1 John 2: 12-14)
I write this post with a great deal of anger and dismay. For so many years, I was taught to fight and fix my feelings, when instead I need to fix my heart on Himself.
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is watching out for us, and living in and through us.
We cannot conceive how Great He is. We must receive this revelation through the Word of God.
He heals us, and He repairs us:
"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:" (Philippians 1: 6)
and
"6That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus." (Philemon 1: 6)
and
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3: 18)
AA Makes You Run From God
This revelation cannot be ignored, either.
You want to know why many people are lonely, fearful, and down-right anxious about the future?
They are looking to man, or to themselves for help, instead of trusting in God, the greater Creator and Redeemer of the universe.
I lived in a home where so many people spent more time running to each other or to friends or to comfort measures for help.
We cannot find the grace and peace for our lives in other people.
We simply can't.
Men and women, flesh and blood, cannot meet the need of man's spirit.
We are intended to be new creations (2 Corinthian 5: 17), filled with God's spirit within us.
"Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD." (Jeremiah 17: 5)
"Cursed" can also mean "made bitter" -- for every time that we trust in other people instead of Almighty God, we will find ourselves embittered and hindered in our lives.
Who can fill us to the fullest, apart from God Almighty? No one person can meet the whole need of man, for we need life and that more abundantly, and apart from Him, from Jesus Christ, we can do nothing (John 15: 5)
Yet for years, I was taught that every time I was afraid, or angry, or had any other frustrations and hurt in my life, I needed to run to someone else.
I need to pour out my feelings and thoughts to someone else.
I cannot believe that I lived in such bondage for so long.
Yet that's what I was taught all my life.
Today, I have learned the following:
"2Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." (3 John 2)
Our souls is prospered, which occurs as we rest in the Finished Work of Jesus' death on the Cross, the truth which sets us free (John 8: 32)
AA makes people run away from God, forcing them to seek someone else to deal with the person's fears and pains.
The bondage of resting, or rather depending on someone else to alleviate every fear -- such bad teaching and training created too many problems in my life.
Emotional independence is crucial for every one of us. If we trust in man, in Adam, for our peace, we will find ourselves frustrated at every turn.
I got really angry when I realized that I was taught about God, but that He was not someone who could help through every difficult situation I was facing in my life.
You want to know why many people are lonely, fearful, and down-right anxious about the future?
They are looking to man, or to themselves for help, instead of trusting in God, the greater Creator and Redeemer of the universe.
I lived in a home where so many people spent more time running to each other or to friends or to comfort measures for help.
We cannot find the grace and peace for our lives in other people.
We simply can't.
Men and women, flesh and blood, cannot meet the need of man's spirit.
We are intended to be new creations (2 Corinthian 5: 17), filled with God's spirit within us.
"Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD." (Jeremiah 17: 5)
"Cursed" can also mean "made bitter" -- for every time that we trust in other people instead of Almighty God, we will find ourselves embittered and hindered in our lives.
Who can fill us to the fullest, apart from God Almighty? No one person can meet the whole need of man, for we need life and that more abundantly, and apart from Him, from Jesus Christ, we can do nothing (John 15: 5)
Yet for years, I was taught that every time I was afraid, or angry, or had any other frustrations and hurt in my life, I needed to run to someone else.
I need to pour out my feelings and thoughts to someone else.
I cannot believe that I lived in such bondage for so long.
Yet that's what I was taught all my life.
Today, I have learned the following:
"2Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." (3 John 2)
Our souls is prospered, which occurs as we rest in the Finished Work of Jesus' death on the Cross, the truth which sets us free (John 8: 32)
AA makes people run away from God, forcing them to seek someone else to deal with the person's fears and pains.
The bondage of resting, or rather depending on someone else to alleviate every fear -- such bad teaching and training created too many problems in my life.
Emotional independence is crucial for every one of us. If we trust in man, in Adam, for our peace, we will find ourselves frustrated at every turn.
I got really angry when I realized that I was taught about God, but that He was not someone who could help through every difficult situation I was facing in my life.
Self is the Source of Pain -- AA Makes it Worse
There is indeed some truth to the point that self is the biggest problem in our lives.
Yet to inform people that they are their biggest problem does very little to solve the real problem:
Sin.
We are dead in our trespasses, not just bad.
We need life, and that more abundantly, and to the degree that we seek life in our own efforts, we find ourselves merely reduplicating death, emptiness and frustration.
Ourselves, our thoughts and feelings, the notion that life revolves around us, or that life depends on us, and what we do -- this focus does indeed create great pain.
Thank God for the Gospel. Thank you Jesus for granting us life and that more abundantly.
This life is not found in ourselves, and certainly not in any thing that we do.
This life is found in a complete deliverance out of our old man Adam and into the new man: Jesus!
Anything that brings the focus back to ourselves, will bind us once again to ourselves.
Ultimately, that is exactly what AA does to every person who joins the program.
No matter how many times the steps, the book, or the people in the meetings tell us that we need a power greater than ourselves, ultimately the power falls right back onto ourselves.
We choose the conception of God.
We work the program.
We have to takes steps.
We have to reach out to other people.
The whole scam is still rooted in self, focused on self, and grants no deliverance from self.
Self is the source of pain -- but why? It's not enough for us to say "I am the problem".
How do I get rid of myself? By death.
Yet instead of focusing on getting this termination through our efforts, we find a source of greater release through Jesus!
"Now if we are dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:" (Romans 6: 8)
and also
"Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." (Romans 7: 4)
and then
"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." (2 Corinthians 5: 14-15)
and furthermore:
"Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Colossians 2: 20)
Then Paul writes:
"1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3: 1-4)
Through Jesus' death on the Cross, we are released from our old, dead selves; and through Jesus; resurrection, we are granted new and everlasting life in Him.
Yet to inform people that they are their biggest problem does very little to solve the real problem:
Sin.
We are dead in our trespasses, not just bad.
We need life, and that more abundantly, and to the degree that we seek life in our own efforts, we find ourselves merely reduplicating death, emptiness and frustration.
Ourselves, our thoughts and feelings, the notion that life revolves around us, or that life depends on us, and what we do -- this focus does indeed create great pain.
Thank God for the Gospel. Thank you Jesus for granting us life and that more abundantly.
This life is not found in ourselves, and certainly not in any thing that we do.
This life is found in a complete deliverance out of our old man Adam and into the new man: Jesus!
Anything that brings the focus back to ourselves, will bind us once again to ourselves.
Ultimately, that is exactly what AA does to every person who joins the program.
No matter how many times the steps, the book, or the people in the meetings tell us that we need a power greater than ourselves, ultimately the power falls right back onto ourselves.
We choose the conception of God.
We work the program.
We have to takes steps.
We have to reach out to other people.
The whole scam is still rooted in self, focused on self, and grants no deliverance from self.
Self is the source of pain -- but why? It's not enough for us to say "I am the problem".
How do I get rid of myself? By death.
Yet instead of focusing on getting this termination through our efforts, we find a source of greater release through Jesus!
"Now if we are dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:" (Romans 6: 8)
and also
"Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." (Romans 7: 4)
and then
"For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." (2 Corinthians 5: 14-15)
and furthermore:
"Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Colossians 2: 20)
Then Paul writes:
"1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3: 1-4)
Through Jesus' death on the Cross, we are released from our old, dead selves; and through Jesus; resurrection, we are granted new and everlasting life in Him.
Monday, February 17, 2014
Just Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
Any teaching, any frame of mind or thought which teaches people that they have to feel a certain way in order to be at peace - that very teaching will bring people into bondage.
We do not need to feel better.
We need to be set from the bondage of ourselves.
More specifically, though, we need to be set free from the bondage of our flesh and our old man, which we inherited from Adam.
Life and that more abundantly - this is the double-fold, untold gift which we receive from Jesus, the Author and Finisher of Faith!
God is greater than our minds, greater than our circumstances, and greater than anyone or anything that man or woman would try to put in His way.
The journey for me has required me to see that He is really all in all, and that we cannot put him to the side in any way, shape, or form.
We cannot be set free from frustration and fears in our lives if we continue to believe that a life of struggle and strife is the only way to accomplish anything.
We are not living this life in our strength. We live because He lives.
When we struggle in some way, we are struggling because we are viewing life from our limited, flawed perspective, instead of seeking to see things from His.
From His perspective, then, we stop seeing things about ourselves, or in ourselves.
That's life!
So, the one thing that we have to do, then, is to let not our hearts be troubled.
Our hearts are not troubled when we see Him, when we believe on Him (John 6: 29).
Yet if you are convinced that this life is not about knowing Him, but trying to do more, then we will find ourselves going in circles, never getting anywhere or anything, for we have forgotten that we can do nothing, not one thing, apart from Him (John 15: 5)
Let not your heart be troubled, because He has given you a new heart, and a new spirit (Hebrews 8: 10-12), and now His spirit and His grace leads you.
We do not need to feel better.
We need to be set from the bondage of ourselves.
More specifically, though, we need to be set free from the bondage of our flesh and our old man, which we inherited from Adam.
Life and that more abundantly - this is the double-fold, untold gift which we receive from Jesus, the Author and Finisher of Faith!
God is greater than our minds, greater than our circumstances, and greater than anyone or anything that man or woman would try to put in His way.
The journey for me has required me to see that He is really all in all, and that we cannot put him to the side in any way, shape, or form.
We cannot be set free from frustration and fears in our lives if we continue to believe that a life of struggle and strife is the only way to accomplish anything.
We are not living this life in our strength. We live because He lives.
When we struggle in some way, we are struggling because we are viewing life from our limited, flawed perspective, instead of seeking to see things from His.
From His perspective, then, we stop seeing things about ourselves, or in ourselves.
That's life!
So, the one thing that we have to do, then, is to let not our hearts be troubled.
Our hearts are not troubled when we see Him, when we believe on Him (John 6: 29).
Yet if you are convinced that this life is not about knowing Him, but trying to do more, then we will find ourselves going in circles, never getting anywhere or anything, for we have forgotten that we can do nothing, not one thing, apart from Him (John 15: 5)
Let not your heart be troubled, because He has given you a new heart, and a new spirit (Hebrews 8: 10-12), and now His spirit and His grace leads you.
Sunday, February 16, 2014
The World Hangs on Nothing -- He Holds Onto You
The World Hangs on Nothing -- He Holds Onto You (Decemeber 14, 2013)
I published this post on my devotional, "As He Is, So Are We" Ministries.
I think that this truth bears repeating, meditating, and immersing for us.
As long as we insist on seeing ourselves in this world, and resist accepting that Christ has taken care off all things for us, we frustrate His grace in our lives and struggle.
We are not called to struggle, but rather to rest and let Him live through us:
"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." (1 John 4: 9)
Here is the post in its fullest:
God hangs the world on nothing, yet He gave everything for you. Let Him be the Everything who holds onto you.
Growing in grace is about receiving more faith, and faith is nothing more, and nothing less, than seeing more of Him who has been from the beginning: Jesus (1 John 2: 12-14)
I published this post on my devotional, "As He Is, So Are We" Ministries.
I think that this truth bears repeating, meditating, and immersing for us.
As long as we insist on seeing ourselves in this world, and resist accepting that Christ has taken care off all things for us, we frustrate His grace in our lives and struggle.
We are not called to struggle, but rather to rest and let Him live through us:
"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." (1 John 4: 9)
Here is the post in its fullest:
"He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." (Job 26: 7)
God is everything, and this "everything" is expressed in His Son Jesus:
"Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." (Colossians 1: 15-20)
God is everything, and the world we walk in hangs on nothing, or in nothingness.
If this whole world depends on nothing, then it certainly does not depend on us, and we certainly should not feel as if everything does depend on us.
Instead, God invites us to depend on Him, and let everything depend on Him:
"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." (John 10: 28-29)
and
""Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." (1 Peter 5: 6-7)
Jesus Christ holds onto us, and the whole universe is held together by Him.
What makes you think, then, that you have to hold onto everything?
Thus Jesus offers to us:
"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" ({Matthew 6: 25)
and
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Mathew 6: 33)
God is everything, and this "everything" is expressed in His Son Jesus:
"Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven." (Colossians 1: 15-20)
God is everything, and the world we walk in hangs on nothing, or in nothingness.
If this whole world depends on nothing, then it certainly does not depend on us, and we certainly should not feel as if everything does depend on us.
Instead, God invites us to depend on Him, and let everything depend on Him:
"And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." (John 10: 28-29)
and
""Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you." (1 Peter 5: 6-7)
Jesus Christ holds onto us, and the whole universe is held together by Him.
What makes you think, then, that you have to hold onto everything?
Thus Jesus offers to us:
"Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?" ({Matthew 6: 25)
and
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Mathew 6: 33)
God hangs the world on nothing, yet He gave everything for you. Let Him be the Everything who holds onto you.
Now that I have reposted this reading, I have to asks this question:
Why do we simply refuse to believe that He holds the world together in His hands?
We have not learned to be established in righteousness, and we have made more of our senses than His truth.
We prize our experience over His wisdom, every time.
One example of this is Alcoholics Anonymous. Because we do not believe that He took care of everything at the Cross, including our sin in the flesh, people still try to fix their feelings and thoughts through their actions, through religious programs, none of which can improve the inner bankruptcy of man, nor supply him with life and that more abundantly: man's greatest need.
The world hangs on nothing, yet God our Father holds onto everyone of us. I did not believe this, as for so many years I was taught that I had to strive and struggle on my own.
This orphan spirit, this broken heart in so many Christians cannot be ignored. Like many Christians, I never realized that I was called to walk by faith every day in all that Jesus has done for me, not just trust in Him for a seat in heaven when I die, but that I am citizen of His Kingdom here and now forever!
I will never forget the abusive nonsense I heard from someone:
"You have to look out for yourself.
No, we do not look out for ourselves. We need to rest in the truth that He is looking out for us, and taking care of us in all things.
Why did the people I knew and learned with not believe this? Because like many people in the Body of Christ, we still believe that we can many things, just not the miracles. We still eat from the knowledge of good, even if we have sworn off the evil. We do not understand that apart from Christ, we can do NOTHING -- not just the big things, but even the little things.
I was brought up to believe that Jesus died for me. That was it. Never did anyone tell me that He died for all my sins, past, present, future. No one told me that He lives under the power of an endless life to make a difference in every aspect of my life. No one told me that walking by faith has nothing to do with feeling or thinking within ourselves, but rather has everything to do with taking God at His Word, that He has been from the beginning, that in Him we live and move and have our being, that we are called to live through Him, too.
No human program can grant this grace to us. The revelation of God the Father and His Son is granted to us through His Holy Spirit!
Growing in grace is about receiving more faith, and faith is nothing more, and nothing less, than seeing more of Him who has been from the beginning: Jesus (1 John 2: 12-14)
Saturday, February 15, 2014
See Him Who has Been From the Beginning
"12I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. 13I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father. 14I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning. I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one." (1 John 2: 12-14)
Fatherhood in Jesus is not about how much you do, but how much of Him that you see.
The more that you see Jesus, all that He is, all that He has, all that He is doing and wants to do, the more that you grow, specifically grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus (2 Peter 3: 18)
If we are looking at ourselves, trying to work a program to make ourselves better, we will find ourselves never ending in our struggles, trying to perfect something which we cannot perfect, yet at the same time missing out on the truth that He has perfected us forever in Himself, specifically His Son (Hebrews 10: 14)
As long as men and women are still trying to earn God's anything, they are still operating in dead-in-trespasses Adam.
No wonder so many people, whether in AA or other religious groups, find themselves struggling in their bodies and minds, and even when they abstain from one perversion, alcohol, they invest themselves in other shameful behaviors, never resting in His grace to break free from such empty pursuits.
Man needs life, and if you are dead in your flesh, then there is no life which one can create in one's own efforts.
As long as we treat God as so small that He cannot help, no, lead in our every day lives, then there is no point in resting in Him for all things.
Every man made system which makes something of us makes something less of God, and to the degree that we make ourselves large, to that degree we struggle and suffer:
"The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing." (Psalm 34: 10)
Young lions speak of people who trust in their flesh, in their pride, in their own strength. We have no strength apart from Jesus, and He has been from the beginning (John 1:1), so that for anyone to assume that He does not have what we need, or that he cannot overcome whatever lack we have, is operating in blinded arrogance.
That includes those people who insist on working the Twelve Steps, or relying on the "advice" of their parents, or who trust their own thinking, their own understanding, instead of seeing Him who has been from the beginning and allowing His Holy Spirit to transform them from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3: 18)
Bill W. was a cursed man who wanted to play God, and in the end, he drove many people to despair. But there is a growing movement to reveal the fullness of Christ and Him Crucified, and more people will walk out of the rewmz, never to return.
That's the way it was meant to be, from the beginning, that we would receive all things from Him who has been from the beginning: Jesus!
Fatherhood in Jesus is not about how much you do, but how much of Him that you see.
The more that you see Jesus, all that He is, all that He has, all that He is doing and wants to do, the more that you grow, specifically grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus (2 Peter 3: 18)
If we are looking at ourselves, trying to work a program to make ourselves better, we will find ourselves never ending in our struggles, trying to perfect something which we cannot perfect, yet at the same time missing out on the truth that He has perfected us forever in Himself, specifically His Son (Hebrews 10: 14)
As long as men and women are still trying to earn God's anything, they are still operating in dead-in-trespasses Adam.
No wonder so many people, whether in AA or other religious groups, find themselves struggling in their bodies and minds, and even when they abstain from one perversion, alcohol, they invest themselves in other shameful behaviors, never resting in His grace to break free from such empty pursuits.
Man needs life, and if you are dead in your flesh, then there is no life which one can create in one's own efforts.
As long as we treat God as so small that He cannot help, no, lead in our every day lives, then there is no point in resting in Him for all things.
Every man made system which makes something of us makes something less of God, and to the degree that we make ourselves large, to that degree we struggle and suffer:
"The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing." (Psalm 34: 10)
Young lions speak of people who trust in their flesh, in their pride, in their own strength. We have no strength apart from Jesus, and He has been from the beginning (John 1:1), so that for anyone to assume that He does not have what we need, or that he cannot overcome whatever lack we have, is operating in blinded arrogance.
That includes those people who insist on working the Twelve Steps, or relying on the "advice" of their parents, or who trust their own thinking, their own understanding, instead of seeing Him who has been from the beginning and allowing His Holy Spirit to transform them from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3: 18)
Bill W. was a cursed man who wanted to play God, and in the end, he drove many people to despair. But there is a growing movement to reveal the fullness of Christ and Him Crucified, and more people will walk out of the rewmz, never to return.
That's the way it was meant to be, from the beginning, that we would receive all things from Him who has been from the beginning: Jesus!
Evil AA
I grew up for a long time believing that everything depended on me.
Such is the essence of self-centeredness.
From the moment that Adam and Eve ate from the Tree not intended for them, they looked at themselves, and the strived in their own efforts to make themselves OK, relying on their own understanding, intellect, and everything else.
To this day, men and women in the churches, and throughout the world, are still eating from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, convinced that as long as they keep relying on their efforts, on their capacities to do the best that they can in their own efforts, then they will be rewarded for their efforts.
We need life, and His life specifically.
AA is the worst example of man striving in his efforts, instead of allowing His life to flow through us.
This revelation is the greatest yet for me to receive.
And this revelation does not come to us as we work a program, and certainly not through trying to keep rules and regulations which amplify our dead flesh instead of allowing His living Spirit to flow through us.
AA is an evil cult, one which masquerades as a simple addition, or assistance for men and women who want to perfect their actions, instead of allowing Him who has perfected us forever to live through us.
Such is the essence of self-centeredness.
From the moment that Adam and Eve ate from the Tree not intended for them, they looked at themselves, and the strived in their own efforts to make themselves OK, relying on their own understanding, intellect, and everything else.
To this day, men and women in the churches, and throughout the world, are still eating from the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil, convinced that as long as they keep relying on their efforts, on their capacities to do the best that they can in their own efforts, then they will be rewarded for their efforts.
We need life, and His life specifically.
AA is the worst example of man striving in his efforts, instead of allowing His life to flow through us.
This revelation is the greatest yet for me to receive.
And this revelation does not come to us as we work a program, and certainly not through trying to keep rules and regulations which amplify our dead flesh instead of allowing His living Spirit to flow through us.
AA is an evil cult, one which masquerades as a simple addition, or assistance for men and women who want to perfect their actions, instead of allowing Him who has perfected us forever to live through us.
Thursday, February 13, 2014
Jesus is Already At Work
I am not bringing Him into play in my life.
He is my life, and He is free to be at play.
It's just that simple.
Cannot conceive it, must believe it and receive it.
Thanks for letting me share!
He is my life, and He is free to be at play.
It's just that simple.
Cannot conceive it, must believe it and receive it.
Thanks for letting me share!
Why I Worried, and Why I No Longer Worry
Worry for me was not about feelings, after all.
Wow!
Crazy but foolish, yet when considering what I had believed it all makes sense.
I tried to fix the feelings, tried to hype up my sentiments. Tried to fix my feelings.
The wrong belief about God, creates erroneous thoughts about God, and thus we end up in fearful panic.
I spent so much time dealing with the feelings.
That's a waste of time.
Where did I get this wrong idea from, anyway?
Alcoholics Anonymous. Hardly a spiritual program, AA is totally carnal, focused on only our minds and feelings.
We are spirit first, for God breathed man into existence with His breath.
Not our thinking or feeling. He is working. He is working.
I worried not because I did not believe that He was working.
I believed that I had to work, too, that He could not work unless I was doing something.
No.
"27To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 28Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: 29Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily." (Colossians 1: 27-29)
He lives in us, He works in us, and when we accept that we can do nothing without Him, then we receive His help fully and perfectly.
This is the meaning of "growing in grace", people!
I worried not because I believed that I had to work for Him to work. Wrong. I worried also because I believed that He was not big enough, or not willing, to help.
We will worry if we rely only on our mind's capacity to understand Him.
For this reason, Paul would write:
"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12: 2)
Wow!
Crazy but foolish, yet when considering what I had believed it all makes sense.
I tried to fix the feelings, tried to hype up my sentiments. Tried to fix my feelings.
The wrong belief about God, creates erroneous thoughts about God, and thus we end up in fearful panic.
I spent so much time dealing with the feelings.
That's a waste of time.
Where did I get this wrong idea from, anyway?
Alcoholics Anonymous. Hardly a spiritual program, AA is totally carnal, focused on only our minds and feelings.
We are spirit first, for God breathed man into existence with His breath.
Not our thinking or feeling. He is working. He is working.
I worried not because I did not believe that He was working.
I believed that I had to work, too, that He could not work unless I was doing something.
No.
"27To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: 28Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: 29Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily." (Colossians 1: 27-29)
He lives in us, He works in us, and when we accept that we can do nothing without Him, then we receive His help fully and perfectly.
This is the meaning of "growing in grace", people!
I worried not because I believed that I had to work for Him to work. Wrong. I worried also because I believed that He was not big enough, or not willing, to help.
We will worry if we rely only on our mind's capacity to understand Him.
For this reason, Paul would write:
"And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." (Romans 12: 2)
Wrong Conception Created Wrong Results
How true it is. We must repent and believe the Gospel, not repent and plow through Twelve Steps.
I was operating from the wrong premise for so so so long.
Jesus died on the Cross and gave me His Life, and I can reign in this life because of His Life.
No one, not one person, ever told me that.
The crux of the matter is life, not doing good or bad.
The Cross is the matter which grants me life, His life, and through me Christ does better than good, and helps me and all who trust in Him to overcome the bad.
I still remember that funny pastor from West Virginia, when he shared about the wonderful revelation about life, not good and evil, as the full purpose of Jesus living for us, dying for us, and serving us forevermore at the right hand of God the Father.
As long as I held onto the idea that Jesus was doing His part, but I had to do my part, then He could not do His part through me.
He is everything for us:
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15: 5)
A wrong conception of God makes it all too easy to make wrong decisions and take wrong actions.
Even when I look back on all the years that I spent operating under a wrong view of Himself, as though He was not there, taking care of me, I now realize that He was taking are of me.
This revelation brings the "Footprints" Poster into greater focus for me.
He carries us all the time, though, not just when times are tough. Oftentimes, I believe that as we allow the Holy Spirit to change how we see Him and ourselves, our attitude changes, our understanding of how great He is grows, and we find that instead of distrust, we grow in greater trust of Him who has been from the beginning.
The true premise, the righteous starting point, is not going from bad to good, but going from death to life. How do we pass from death to life? With the Twelve Steps?
"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." (John 13: 34)
Now, do not read this passage, and then assume that you need to love your brethren in order to pass from death to life. Just meditating on that idea should dispute it right away. If you are dead, you need life, so that you can do anything, including love others.
Let us look in the beginning of Chapter 3:
"1Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (1 John 3: 1-3)
We are made sons of God by adoption through His Holy Spirit (Romans 8: 15).
We are not reborn by acknowledging that we are sinners, or declare ourselves powerless over alcohol. We are reborn by the blood of Jesus, shed at the Cross, which sent His Holy Spirit to live in us forever.
As long as I was holding to a cult, as long as I was trying to work by hollow precepts, then I could never believe, then I could never race, and I could never see Him as He is, for as long as I do not see myself in Christ, the proper identity for every believer, we will struggle as we act out of a false identity. Wrong conception, wrong results.
I was operating from the wrong premise for so so so long.
Jesus died on the Cross and gave me His Life, and I can reign in this life because of His Life.
No one, not one person, ever told me that.
The crux of the matter is life, not doing good or bad.
The Cross is the matter which grants me life, His life, and through me Christ does better than good, and helps me and all who trust in Him to overcome the bad.
I still remember that funny pastor from West Virginia, when he shared about the wonderful revelation about life, not good and evil, as the full purpose of Jesus living for us, dying for us, and serving us forevermore at the right hand of God the Father.
As long as I held onto the idea that Jesus was doing His part, but I had to do my part, then He could not do His part through me.
He is everything for us:
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15: 5)
A wrong conception of God makes it all too easy to make wrong decisions and take wrong actions.
Even when I look back on all the years that I spent operating under a wrong view of Himself, as though He was not there, taking care of me, I now realize that He was taking are of me.
This revelation brings the "Footprints" Poster into greater focus for me.
He carries us all the time, though, not just when times are tough. Oftentimes, I believe that as we allow the Holy Spirit to change how we see Him and ourselves, our attitude changes, our understanding of how great He is grows, and we find that instead of distrust, we grow in greater trust of Him who has been from the beginning.
The true premise, the righteous starting point, is not going from bad to good, but going from death to life. How do we pass from death to life? With the Twelve Steps?
"We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." (John 13: 34)
Now, do not read this passage, and then assume that you need to love your brethren in order to pass from death to life. Just meditating on that idea should dispute it right away. If you are dead, you need life, so that you can do anything, including love others.
Let us look in the beginning of Chapter 3:
"1Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (1 John 3: 1-3)
We are made sons of God by adoption through His Holy Spirit (Romans 8: 15).
We are not reborn by acknowledging that we are sinners, or declare ourselves powerless over alcohol. We are reborn by the blood of Jesus, shed at the Cross, which sent His Holy Spirit to live in us forever.
As long as I was holding to a cult, as long as I was trying to work by hollow precepts, then I could never believe, then I could never race, and I could never see Him as He is, for as long as I do not see myself in Christ, the proper identity for every believer, we will struggle as we act out of a false identity. Wrong conception, wrong results.
We Are Spirit, Not Just Mind
Man is a spirit, posssess a soul, lives in a body.
As long as man ignores his spirit, he is left with trying to please his soul and his body.
Yet the fears and frustrations of this life cannot be put away with more efforts, reading, or thinking.
We need to appreciate life and that more abundantly through the Spirit, and this Spirit we receive through God's Word, and this Spirit, the Holy Spirit, witnesses of Jesus Christ!
I have written at length about the disturbing fraud endemic in AA, part of which induces people to enter into a spiritual program by choosing their own conception of God.
I do not want a God in my head. I need the God who made the heavens and the earth, who is greater than our thoughts and feelings, and who loves us and cares for us, no matter what we are thinking and feeling.
Any program, any train of thought which brings you back to yourself, will end up creating deepened bondage.
If God is no bigger than my head, then my belief about him will be distorted by my faulty, limited experiences, as opposed to the Truth of who He is, as declared in His Word!
I do not want a projection of myself. I cannot save myself. I need the Savior, not just a Master and Teacher, and definitely not a fraudulent guru like Bill W.
Man is spirit, and our spirit comes from God:
"26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." (Genesis 1: 26-27)
and then
"7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2: 7)
Our life is from God Himself, and He sent His Son, that we would receive His life living in and through us:
"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10: 10)
and then
"1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3: 1-4)
Our life is not in us, and definitely not in our minds. In His Spirit, we have life, and we find this life in His Word:
"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (John 6: 63)
Not a manmade cult, but God in the Flesh grants us life, and that more abundantly, for we are spirit, and cannot be fulfilled with fleshy things of the mind or our body.
This lesson has taken me some time to receive, but I am no sadder for the amount of time needed.
Thank you, Jesus!
As long as man ignores his spirit, he is left with trying to please his soul and his body.
Yet the fears and frustrations of this life cannot be put away with more efforts, reading, or thinking.
We need to appreciate life and that more abundantly through the Spirit, and this Spirit we receive through God's Word, and this Spirit, the Holy Spirit, witnesses of Jesus Christ!
I have written at length about the disturbing fraud endemic in AA, part of which induces people to enter into a spiritual program by choosing their own conception of God.
I do not want a God in my head. I need the God who made the heavens and the earth, who is greater than our thoughts and feelings, and who loves us and cares for us, no matter what we are thinking and feeling.
Any program, any train of thought which brings you back to yourself, will end up creating deepened bondage.
If God is no bigger than my head, then my belief about him will be distorted by my faulty, limited experiences, as opposed to the Truth of who He is, as declared in His Word!
I do not want a projection of myself. I cannot save myself. I need the Savior, not just a Master and Teacher, and definitely not a fraudulent guru like Bill W.
Man is spirit, and our spirit comes from God:
"26And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them." (Genesis 1: 26-27)
and then
"7And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Genesis 2: 7)
Our life is from God Himself, and He sent His Son, that we would receive His life living in and through us:
"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10: 10)
and then
"1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3: 1-4)
Our life is not in us, and definitely not in our minds. In His Spirit, we have life, and we find this life in His Word:
"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (John 6: 63)
Not a manmade cult, but God in the Flesh grants us life, and that more abundantly, for we are spirit, and cannot be fulfilled with fleshy things of the mind or our body.
This lesson has taken me some time to receive, but I am no sadder for the amount of time needed.
Thank you, Jesus!
Wednesday, February 12, 2014
Heart Established by His Grace, Not A Program
No matter what I may be feeling or thinking I need to know that God is not just watching out for me, that He is not just looking out for me, but that He is living in me and through me, that He is taking care of me.
For years, I was so afraid to venture out, to try something new and different. Instead, I found myself doing what I knew, and not much different in my life.
My understanding of God was too small.
I knew that He was out there, but I had no idea that He lives and works in me.
Such is the painful deceit which overtakes us, if we insist on relying on the counsel of the ungodly (Psalm 1: 1), which includes Alcoholics Anonymous.
Because the Twelve Step programs lead men and women to look at their feelings, the sense of fear and dread which overtakes us can impose on us the sense that He is not with us, or working in our lives.
He is caring for us in every way.
As long as we see Him as smaller than our problems, though, then we will feel nothing but fear, frustration, anger, pain.
I could not get any sense of peace of protection together in this life, because I did not trust Him.
And we cannot say that we trust Him if we do not believe on Him for the most important gift which He has given us, righteousness:
"14In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee." (Isaiah 54: 14)
Righteousness is a gift:
"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5: 17)
This gift we receive because of what Jesus Christ did for us at the Cross:
"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
Jesus did teach on the Sermon on the Mount:
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6: 33)
We receive both as gifts and results of believing on Jesus Christ as our perfect substitute (Colossians 1: 13)
Our heart, then, is not established on what we do, or what we have done, but on all that He has done for us:
"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6: 29)
The problem for too many of us, however, is that we do not see Him big enough. We do not act as if He has enough strength and power to overcome every trouble we face.
I am learning that He is big enough to carry me, and therefore big enough to care for and carry any problems which I am facing:
"A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want." (Psalm 23: 1)
In the Gospel of Luke, we read:
"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? 5And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing." (Luke 15: 4-5)
And in case we miss the truth that Jesus is our Shepherd, John writes:
"I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." (John 10: 11)
and then
"I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine." (John 10: 14)
Notice that He knows us first, then we know Him.
Peter also writes:
"For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." (1 Peter 2: 25)
We are established by grace, His grace, not by working a program. As long as we insist on relying on our efforts, we will find ourselves led astray. His peace does a better job in leading us as opposed to anything that we do.
Instead of a hollow program which deceives and misleads, let us rather trust that Jesus did it all, and therefore we can rest in His grace and let His labor work within us (Colossians 1: 29)
For years, I was so afraid to venture out, to try something new and different. Instead, I found myself doing what I knew, and not much different in my life.
My understanding of God was too small.
I knew that He was out there, but I had no idea that He lives and works in me.
Such is the painful deceit which overtakes us, if we insist on relying on the counsel of the ungodly (Psalm 1: 1), which includes Alcoholics Anonymous.
Because the Twelve Step programs lead men and women to look at their feelings, the sense of fear and dread which overtakes us can impose on us the sense that He is not with us, or working in our lives.
He is caring for us in every way.
As long as we see Him as smaller than our problems, though, then we will feel nothing but fear, frustration, anger, pain.
I could not get any sense of peace of protection together in this life, because I did not trust Him.
And we cannot say that we trust Him if we do not believe on Him for the most important gift which He has given us, righteousness:
"14In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee." (Isaiah 54: 14)
Righteousness is a gift:
"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5: 17)
This gift we receive because of what Jesus Christ did for us at the Cross:
"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
Jesus did teach on the Sermon on the Mount:
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6: 33)
We receive both as gifts and results of believing on Jesus Christ as our perfect substitute (Colossians 1: 13)
Our heart, then, is not established on what we do, or what we have done, but on all that He has done for us:
"Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." (John 6: 29)
The problem for too many of us, however, is that we do not see Him big enough. We do not act as if He has enough strength and power to overcome every trouble we face.
I am learning that He is big enough to carry me, and therefore big enough to care for and carry any problems which I am facing:
"A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want." (Psalm 23: 1)
In the Gospel of Luke, we read:
"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? 5And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing." (Luke 15: 4-5)
And in case we miss the truth that Jesus is our Shepherd, John writes:
"I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep." (John 10: 11)
and then
"I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine." (John 10: 14)
Notice that He knows us first, then we know Him.
Peter also writes:
"For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." (1 Peter 2: 25)
We are established by grace, His grace, not by working a program. As long as we insist on relying on our efforts, we will find ourselves led astray. His peace does a better job in leading us as opposed to anything that we do.
Instead of a hollow program which deceives and misleads, let us rather trust that Jesus did it all, and therefore we can rest in His grace and let His labor work within us (Colossians 1: 29)
Monday, February 10, 2014
AA Demands -- Jesus Supplies
Another problem with Alcoholics Anonymous, which no one can deny (How about that, the word denial!)
While the program claims to offer people power to deal with life's problems, the truth is that men and women are still operating out of their own lack, their own finite resources, even if they do end up quitting alcohol abuse.
Frankly, I need to know that the God who cares for me, still cares for me even when I fail.
I do not see any value on believing that God, no matter how one may understand him, can be blocked or removed from us by how we feel.
A life of looking at and guarding one's feelings causes nothing but pain and frustration.
Not only that, but all the distractions taken up with ourselves take us away from Himself, and His great supply for all things:
"31What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8: 31-32)
Let us not forget this promise:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1: 6)
Later in the same letter, Paul writes:
"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" (Ephesians 2: 4-8)
and in Philippians:
"13I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. " (Philippians 4: 13)
followed by
"19But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 20Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen." (Philippians 4: 19-20)
I do not want to waste one more minute missing out on all the goodness that is in Christ:
"8Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:" (Colossians 2: 8-10)
While AA demands that members work a bankrupted program which aggravates man's sinful weaknesses, Jesus Christ supplies grace and righteousness as gifts through Himself (Romans 5: 17), that we may reign in His Life.
I am grateful to the growing revelation of all that I can be, have, and do because He is my life (Colossians 3: 4) as opposed to an empty humanistic cult which masquerades as a real solution to man's deepest need.
While the program claims to offer people power to deal with life's problems, the truth is that men and women are still operating out of their own lack, their own finite resources, even if they do end up quitting alcohol abuse.
Frankly, I need to know that the God who cares for me, still cares for me even when I fail.
I do not see any value on believing that God, no matter how one may understand him, can be blocked or removed from us by how we feel.
A life of looking at and guarding one's feelings causes nothing but pain and frustration.
Not only that, but all the distractions taken up with ourselves take us away from Himself, and His great supply for all things:
"31What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8: 31-32)
Let us not forget this promise:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1: 6)
Later in the same letter, Paul writes:
"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" (Ephesians 2: 4-8)
and in Philippians:
"13I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. " (Philippians 4: 13)
followed by
"19But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 20Now unto God and our Father be glory for ever and ever. Amen." (Philippians 4: 19-20)
I do not want to waste one more minute missing out on all the goodness that is in Christ:
"8Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:" (Colossians 2: 8-10)
While AA demands that members work a bankrupted program which aggravates man's sinful weaknesses, Jesus Christ supplies grace and righteousness as gifts through Himself (Romans 5: 17), that we may reign in His Life.
I am grateful to the growing revelation of all that I can be, have, and do because He is my life (Colossians 3: 4) as opposed to an empty humanistic cult which masquerades as a real solution to man's deepest need.
Your Own Conception = Great Deception
From the beginning of man's fall to the present day, Satan's greatest trick has been to make man believe that God's way is not as good as his own.
Instead of trusting in God, the Creator and Redeemer, men and women who seek help believe that with their own efforts, they can overcome any hardships in their lives.
Part of Alcoholics Anoymous' brilliant yet evil deception rests in allowing members to choose their own conception of God.
While the idea sounds wise and effective in getting people to stop looking at themselves and look outside for assistance.
Yet any man's conception of God will merely reflect an amalgam of ideas and experiences which are not commensurate with the Truth, as revealed in the Bible.
The grace of God is a supernatural, unnatural reality, yet the very thing which God delights in:
"For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." (Hosea 6: 6)
Jesus quoted this statement to rebuke the Pharisees:
"But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Mattherw 9: 13)
Man in conscience of lack, loss, scarcity, shame, reproach, and difficulty.
Man is more aware of what is wrong with this world, and with his own knowledge, cannot reconcile a Good God with a dark and evil world.
The Bible more than answers this problem.
The LORD is a good Creator and Redeemer, seeking to make up for the lack and emptiness caused by the first man, Adam, by sending the second Adam, Jesus, to live for us, to die for us, and to minister on our behalf at the right hand of God the Father.
The Good News has been so distorted or limited. In many churches, people still think that they live their lives on this earth in their own efforts. Yet God did not send His Son to give us skills for living a better life. He sent His Son so that we would not perish, but through Christ receive His everlasting life (John 3: 16), and that more abundantly (John 10: 10).
If we settle on our own impoverished conception of God, we will find that we cannot comprehend the greatest of the LORD, who is outside of time, outside of space, and outside of every challenge, lack, need, want, and through whom we can receive all things (Romans 8: 31-32).
I cannot understand how good God is.
Yet if I insist on plugging my life and work the Twelve Step program, I am bringing down God's goodness to nothing. What's more, I am putting faith in my flesh, in my self-efforts. Here is God's take on our flesh, on our efforts:
"27But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29That no flesh should glory in his presence. " (1 Corinthians 1: 27-29)
and
"For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." (Philippians 3: 3)
For years, I was convinced that I had to rely on my efforts to be obedient to God, that I had to figure everything out in this life on my own.
When I learned that Christ is my life (Colossians 3: 3-4), that this life is all about seeing Him take up everything that we need, and that we have all things through Him, so much began to make sense.
I have since learned that I struggled so much in this life because I believed that I was all alone, or that I could not be sure that He was looking out for me.
In effort, I did not believe that He was big enough to take care of me and everything in this life.
Why did I doubt His power and presence in my life? Because my conception, yes conception of Him, was too small, unduly influence by the AA cult and the adherent who had imposed this evil nonsense in my life.
Instead of trusting in God, the Creator and Redeemer, men and women who seek help believe that with their own efforts, they can overcome any hardships in their lives.
Part of Alcoholics Anoymous' brilliant yet evil deception rests in allowing members to choose their own conception of God.
While the idea sounds wise and effective in getting people to stop looking at themselves and look outside for assistance.
Yet any man's conception of God will merely reflect an amalgam of ideas and experiences which are not commensurate with the Truth, as revealed in the Bible.
The grace of God is a supernatural, unnatural reality, yet the very thing which God delights in:
"For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." (Hosea 6: 6)
Jesus quoted this statement to rebuke the Pharisees:
"But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Mattherw 9: 13)
Man in conscience of lack, loss, scarcity, shame, reproach, and difficulty.
Man is more aware of what is wrong with this world, and with his own knowledge, cannot reconcile a Good God with a dark and evil world.
The Bible more than answers this problem.
The LORD is a good Creator and Redeemer, seeking to make up for the lack and emptiness caused by the first man, Adam, by sending the second Adam, Jesus, to live for us, to die for us, and to minister on our behalf at the right hand of God the Father.
The Good News has been so distorted or limited. In many churches, people still think that they live their lives on this earth in their own efforts. Yet God did not send His Son to give us skills for living a better life. He sent His Son so that we would not perish, but through Christ receive His everlasting life (John 3: 16), and that more abundantly (John 10: 10).
If we settle on our own impoverished conception of God, we will find that we cannot comprehend the greatest of the LORD, who is outside of time, outside of space, and outside of every challenge, lack, need, want, and through whom we can receive all things (Romans 8: 31-32).
I cannot understand how good God is.
Yet if I insist on plugging my life and work the Twelve Step program, I am bringing down God's goodness to nothing. What's more, I am putting faith in my flesh, in my self-efforts. Here is God's take on our flesh, on our efforts:
"27But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; 28And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29That no flesh should glory in his presence. " (1 Corinthians 1: 27-29)
and
"For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." (Philippians 3: 3)
For years, I was convinced that I had to rely on my efforts to be obedient to God, that I had to figure everything out in this life on my own.
When I learned that Christ is my life (Colossians 3: 3-4), that this life is all about seeing Him take up everything that we need, and that we have all things through Him, so much began to make sense.
I have since learned that I struggled so much in this life because I believed that I was all alone, or that I could not be sure that He was looking out for me.
In effort, I did not believe that He was big enough to take care of me and everything in this life.
Why did I doubt His power and presence in my life? Because my conception, yes conception of Him, was too small, unduly influence by the AA cult and the adherent who had imposed this evil nonsense in my life.
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Removing the Lies (and Self-Righteousness) Over Time
"12Thou shalt have a place also without the camp, whither thou shalt go forth abroad: 13And thou shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou wilt ease thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and cover that which cometh from thee: 14For the LORD thy God walketh in the midst of thy camp, to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee; therefore shall thy camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and turn away from thee." (Deuteronomy 23: 12-14)
In this obscure chapter in Deuteronomy, we find a number of judgments from God, from the exclusion of certain tribes until the tenth generation, and then certain groups which can enter upon the third generation, and including judgments about uncleanness.
The passage above speaks about defecating outside the camp. In this judgment, like every verse in the Bible, we find a picture of Christ and Him Crucified.
First of all, Jesus died for us outside of Jerusalem, a picture of the curse and shame which He bore for us, and He left Jerusalem through the dung gate.
Moreover, dung in our lives represents our self-righteousness, or our efforts to achieve right standing before God, instead of receiving it as a gift:
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64: 6)
When Jesus prophesied against the religious leaders of His day, He was hoping that they would give up their religious pretensions:
"6He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. 7Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? 8And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: 9And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down." (Luke 13: 6-9)
While many of the religious leaders held onto the traditions of men rather than receive and rest in the Truth of the Gospel, one Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, received, and cast away his former self-righteousness:
"Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ," (Philippians 3: 8)
Now, the metaphor of easing oneself also speaks of our rest from ourselves and our works, which in turn removes our effort and allows His life to flow in us:
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: yashab
Phonetic Spelling: (yaw-shab')
Short Definition: inhabitants
As we abide in Christ, less of our dead selves obstruct His life in us.
Furthermore, a sense of urgency takes hold of us when we give up more of ourselves and receive more of Himself.
Our mess, our stinky self-righteousness, comes out of us, and then we use the paddle on our weapon to cover up the mess.
This speaks of our death and baptism in Christ.
The root of the word "paddle" are the pegs of the tabernacle, which also speaks of the Cross, specifically that Jesus was nailed to the tree for our sins, and for the sin in our flesh, that we may be made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
Just as we eliminate from our walk with Christ the lies and distortions of religion, law, tradition, and personal experience, so too over time I have cast away the terrible teachings of the AA cult, to feel the full release and relief of Christ's life in me!
For every child of God out there who has fled from the AA cult, rest assured that as you see more of Jesus, you will be transformed from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18), and all that is of the flesh, of your old man will be taken away (Romans 6: 6; Galatians 2: 20-21; Ephesians 4: 22; Colossians 3: 1-9)
In this obscure chapter in Deuteronomy, we find a number of judgments from God, from the exclusion of certain tribes until the tenth generation, and then certain groups which can enter upon the third generation, and including judgments about uncleanness.
The passage above speaks about defecating outside the camp. In this judgment, like every verse in the Bible, we find a picture of Christ and Him Crucified.
First of all, Jesus died for us outside of Jerusalem, a picture of the curse and shame which He bore for us, and He left Jerusalem through the dung gate.
Moreover, dung in our lives represents our self-righteousness, or our efforts to achieve right standing before God, instead of receiving it as a gift:
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away." (Isaiah 64: 6)
When Jesus prophesied against the religious leaders of His day, He was hoping that they would give up their religious pretensions:
"6He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. 7Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? 8And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it: 9And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down." (Luke 13: 6-9)
While many of the religious leaders held onto the traditions of men rather than receive and rest in the Truth of the Gospel, one Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, received, and cast away his former self-righteousness:
"Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ," (Philippians 3: 8)
Now, the metaphor of easing oneself also speaks of our rest from ourselves and our works, which in turn removes our effort and allows His life to flow in us:
yashab: to sit, remain, dwell
Original Word: ×™ָשַׁבPart of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: yashab
Phonetic Spelling: (yaw-shab')
Short Definition: inhabitants
As we abide in Christ, less of our dead selves obstruct His life in us.
Furthermore, a sense of urgency takes hold of us when we give up more of ourselves and receive more of Himself.
Our mess, our stinky self-righteousness, comes out of us, and then we use the paddle on our weapon to cover up the mess.
This speaks of our death and baptism in Christ.
The root of the word "paddle" are the pegs of the tabernacle, which also speaks of the Cross, specifically that Jesus was nailed to the tree for our sins, and for the sin in our flesh, that we may be made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
Just as we eliminate from our walk with Christ the lies and distortions of religion, law, tradition, and personal experience, so too over time I have cast away the terrible teachings of the AA cult, to feel the full release and relief of Christ's life in me!
For every child of God out there who has fled from the AA cult, rest assured that as you see more of Jesus, you will be transformed from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18), and all that is of the flesh, of your old man will be taken away (Romans 6: 6; Galatians 2: 20-21; Ephesians 4: 22; Colossians 3: 1-9)
You are Not Your Feelings (And He Still Loves You!)
We are not our feelings.
We do not define ourselves by our thoughts, resentments, or hurts, and certainly not our destructive habits.
We do not have to be afraid of our feelings, at all.
Now, let me switch the register.
I am not my feelings. Not at all.
"Herein is love perfected among us, that we have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
Freedom from self is found in the new an perfect self, Jesus!
As He is now, not just as He was when ministering during his earthly humiliation, so are we in this world.
For everyone of us who believe on Him, we enter into His glory.
Jesus is not under condemnation, and neither are we.
God's love for us is not based on what we feel, but what He did for us at the Cross.
Wow, I was in great bondage for so long. I was convinced that God loved or did not love me based on how I felt.
Isn't that ridiculous?
"37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:37-39)
So, if nothing can separate me from God's love, then why did I have such a hard time receiving all that He promises?
I did not know how to rightly divide the Word.
I had no knowledge that He is living in us, and that He is working in us.
My understanding of how great He is was just too small. So small, that I was convinced that the only if I was doing something, anything, could I be sure that God would, or could work in my life.
The pain of the flesh, the lack of understanding about the Word of God, the poverty of knowledge about the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus: all of these issues occluded a proper understanding of all that Jesus is.
The lies, the distortions, the bad teachings which I had received: all of that had created serious problems for me..
I was reading the Scripture to see myself, when I needed to see Himself.
And when you see Himself (not feel or think about), then you find yourself, because:
"As He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
And when you understand who (because whose) you are, then you are gaining a greater understanding of His perfected love for you!
We do not define ourselves by our thoughts, resentments, or hurts, and certainly not our destructive habits.
We do not have to be afraid of our feelings, at all.
Now, let me switch the register.
I am not my feelings. Not at all.
"Herein is love perfected among us, that we have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
Freedom from self is found in the new an perfect self, Jesus!
As He is now, not just as He was when ministering during his earthly humiliation, so are we in this world.
For everyone of us who believe on Him, we enter into His glory.
Jesus is not under condemnation, and neither are we.
God's love for us is not based on what we feel, but what He did for us at the Cross.
Wow, I was in great bondage for so long. I was convinced that God loved or did not love me based on how I felt.
Isn't that ridiculous?
"37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:37-39)
So, if nothing can separate me from God's love, then why did I have such a hard time receiving all that He promises?
I did not know how to rightly divide the Word.
I had no knowledge that He is living in us, and that He is working in us.
My understanding of how great He is was just too small. So small, that I was convinced that the only if I was doing something, anything, could I be sure that God would, or could work in my life.
The pain of the flesh, the lack of understanding about the Word of God, the poverty of knowledge about the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus: all of these issues occluded a proper understanding of all that Jesus is.
The lies, the distortions, the bad teachings which I had received: all of that had created serious problems for me..
I was reading the Scripture to see myself, when I needed to see Himself.
And when you see Himself (not feel or think about), then you find yourself, because:
"As He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
And when you understand who (because whose) you are, then you are gaining a greater understanding of His perfected love for you!
Friday, February 7, 2014
There's No One Else to (Have to) Run to
I cannot write about this enough.
The rest that I have in Christ, that I do not have to run to someone else to feel good or bad.
I do not have to resolve my feelings in any way, shape, or form so that God my Daddy is with me and works in my life.
I really lost my temper today.
I snapped at a courtesy clerk at a local supermarket.
I work as a courtesy clerk at another local supermarket, too!
Can you believe it?
Yet even after I lost my temper, I did not feel bad. I remembered that I am righteousness because of all that Jesus has done, and what he continues to do for me at the right hand of God the Father.
It was strange, but so true, nonetheless. Even when I fail, I know that my Father loves me, and He loves everyone of us who believe on His Son!
We are not saved by right feeling, but by right believing, that we believe the truth of the Gospel.
Now, there have been times when I would feel fearful or on edge.
I was consumed with guilt and shame at one time, so afraid that people would find out the things which I have said or done. I was so consumed with the lie that I had to feel forgiven in order to be forgiven.
Not true at all. Who are we to put our feelings above all that Christ has done for us at the Cross?
When I read Psalm 4: 8, then I saw the importance that there can be no peace apart from Himself, that it simply cannot be any other way:
"I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety." (Psalm 4: 8)
God has also revealed to me that there are many people who have done terrible things, yet they do not fall into the false bondage that some day, someone is going to get them.
Yet for so long, when I felt afraid, I was convinced that I had to do something about that fear, that I had to psych myself out of the fear.
Perfect love casts out fear, and this perfect love is found in God, who is love (1 John 4: 16-19)
Besides, the blood speaks better things than the blood of Abel, everyone, and it keeps speaking on our behalf!
But why did I have a hard time accepting this wonderful truth?
One person had thrust the AA cult onto me for so long, that I was convinced that I had to keep working steps to be A-OK with God.
The other person had a perception of God which was too small. Too small, as though God the Father has indeed died for our sins, but that we are on our own for everything else.
That is just not true. Both ideas about God are not true.
We do not need to do more, but rather we need to see more of Him, and how great He is!
And there is no one else to run to, because we cannot run from Him (Psalm 139) and He lives in us (Colossians 1: 27; Galatians 2: 20-12)
The rest that I have in Christ, that I do not have to run to someone else to feel good or bad.
I do not have to resolve my feelings in any way, shape, or form so that God my Daddy is with me and works in my life.
I really lost my temper today.
I snapped at a courtesy clerk at a local supermarket.
I work as a courtesy clerk at another local supermarket, too!
Can you believe it?
Yet even after I lost my temper, I did not feel bad. I remembered that I am righteousness because of all that Jesus has done, and what he continues to do for me at the right hand of God the Father.
It was strange, but so true, nonetheless. Even when I fail, I know that my Father loves me, and He loves everyone of us who believe on His Son!
We are not saved by right feeling, but by right believing, that we believe the truth of the Gospel.
Now, there have been times when I would feel fearful or on edge.
I was consumed with guilt and shame at one time, so afraid that people would find out the things which I have said or done. I was so consumed with the lie that I had to feel forgiven in order to be forgiven.
Not true at all. Who are we to put our feelings above all that Christ has done for us at the Cross?
When I read Psalm 4: 8, then I saw the importance that there can be no peace apart from Himself, that it simply cannot be any other way:
"I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety." (Psalm 4: 8)
God has also revealed to me that there are many people who have done terrible things, yet they do not fall into the false bondage that some day, someone is going to get them.
Yet for so long, when I felt afraid, I was convinced that I had to do something about that fear, that I had to psych myself out of the fear.
Perfect love casts out fear, and this perfect love is found in God, who is love (1 John 4: 16-19)
Besides, the blood speaks better things than the blood of Abel, everyone, and it keeps speaking on our behalf!
But why did I have a hard time accepting this wonderful truth?
One person had thrust the AA cult onto me for so long, that I was convinced that I had to keep working steps to be A-OK with God.
The other person had a perception of God which was too small. Too small, as though God the Father has indeed died for our sins, but that we are on our own for everything else.
That is just not true. Both ideas about God are not true.
We do not need to do more, but rather we need to see more of Him, and how great He is!
And there is no one else to run to, because we cannot run from Him (Psalm 139) and He lives in us (Colossians 1: 27; Galatians 2: 20-12)
The More that I See of Him. . .
Just the past few days, the growing revelation is too much for me not to talk about.
For so long, I was possessed with fear about being afraid, or fearful of toxic emotions and thoughts taking over in my life, preventing me from walking in peace and victory.
All of this fell from a wrong idea about God and His love for me.
I really believed that how I felt, or what I thought, could separate me from God.
The Bible could not be clearer, though:
"37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8: 37-39)
Yet why did I, and perhaps why do so many others, struggle?
We are trying to be saved by faith and feelings.
That's exactly it. The AA cult is obsessed with making people feel a certain way, that we have to live our lives free of anger.
For years, for too long a time, I was convinced that if I felt a certain way, I was blocking God's power and love from flowing in my life.
I really believed this nonsense.
How could I not, since I was born and raised in the AA cult?
We need to see more of Himself, not look at ourselves. We should not be surprised about how we feel, or what we have fallen into, or what we are going through. The greater our understanding of much God has sent us free from all sin, and that He is our life for all our needs.
For me, the problem was not the God was not good, but that He was not big enough. The more that I see of Him, the greater that He truly is, and that no matter what I may feel, or what I am going through, He is not going away, and I cannot drive Him away.
Thank you, Jesus!
The source of bondage for me, for a long time, though, was that every time I got angry or hurt, or when I had painful memories, the memories were painful because of the fear and shame attached to them, that they were separating me from God the Father.
Yet nothing, not one thing, can separate me from the God the Father, and God is greater than our yesterdays, todays, and our forevers. He is moving in us, and is not dependent on our working a program, or following certain steps.
For so long, I was possessed with fear about being afraid, or fearful of toxic emotions and thoughts taking over in my life, preventing me from walking in peace and victory.
All of this fell from a wrong idea about God and His love for me.
I really believed that how I felt, or what I thought, could separate me from God.
The Bible could not be clearer, though:
"37Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8: 37-39)
Yet why did I, and perhaps why do so many others, struggle?
We are trying to be saved by faith and feelings.
That's exactly it. The AA cult is obsessed with making people feel a certain way, that we have to live our lives free of anger.
For years, for too long a time, I was convinced that if I felt a certain way, I was blocking God's power and love from flowing in my life.
I really believed this nonsense.
How could I not, since I was born and raised in the AA cult?
We need to see more of Himself, not look at ourselves. We should not be surprised about how we feel, or what we have fallen into, or what we are going through. The greater our understanding of much God has sent us free from all sin, and that He is our life for all our needs.
For me, the problem was not the God was not good, but that He was not big enough. The more that I see of Him, the greater that He truly is, and that no matter what I may feel, or what I am going through, He is not going away, and I cannot drive Him away.
Thank you, Jesus!
The source of bondage for me, for a long time, though, was that every time I got angry or hurt, or when I had painful memories, the memories were painful because of the fear and shame attached to them, that they were separating me from God the Father.
Yet nothing, not one thing, can separate me from the God the Father, and God is greater than our yesterdays, todays, and our forevers. He is moving in us, and is not dependent on our working a program, or following certain steps.
Nor Sit in the Seat of the Scornful
"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." (Psalm 1: 1)
I was surprised by the full translation of the word "scornful" in the original Hebrew:
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: luts
Phonetic Spelling: (loots)
Short Definition: ambassador
Imagine that. The concept of mockery or scorn carries with it a sense of separation, of distance.
When people shame us, they give off the impression that we are separated, that we cannot understand them, or that they cannot understand us.
The truth is, furthermore, that people today who claim that we cannot receive God's grace and presence in our lives without them is also mocking us, as well as God Himself, for He now lives in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Alcoholics Anonymous, like many cults, and all too many traditional churches, has communicated the evil lie that men and women still must go through a church official, a priest, or someone who has more knowledge of the Bible than other people.
That was precisely the scam which the Pharisees had been perpetrating against the Jewish people during Jesus' day:
"47Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. 48If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. " (John 11: 47-48)
How evil is that?! The religious leaders of Jesus's day wanted to keep God in the Temple, in the Holy of Holies, while God in the Flesh went about doing good and healing all those who were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10: 38)
When I took another look at this verse, I began to realize that I endured a great deal of mockery in my life, in that I kept thinking that I had to go through someone else, in many cases my own mother, in order to get to God, in order that nothing would prevent me from Him.
Alcoholics Anonymous blocks people from the gracious truth of God in Christ by slamming on members a false identity. How can anyone come boldly to the throne of grace if they believe that they have to work Twelve Steps in order to maintain themselves in spiritual fitness?
I was surprised by the full translation of the word "scornful" in the original Hebrew:
luts: ambassador, have in derision, interpreter, make a mock, mocker
Original Word: לִ×™×¥Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: luts
Phonetic Spelling: (loots)
Short Definition: ambassador
Imagine that. The concept of mockery or scorn carries with it a sense of separation, of distance.
When people shame us, they give off the impression that we are separated, that we cannot understand them, or that they cannot understand us.
The truth is, furthermore, that people today who claim that we cannot receive God's grace and presence in our lives without them is also mocking us, as well as God Himself, for He now lives in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Alcoholics Anonymous, like many cults, and all too many traditional churches, has communicated the evil lie that men and women still must go through a church official, a priest, or someone who has more knowledge of the Bible than other people.
That was precisely the scam which the Pharisees had been perpetrating against the Jewish people during Jesus' day:
"47Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. 48If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. " (John 11: 47-48)
How evil is that?! The religious leaders of Jesus's day wanted to keep God in the Temple, in the Holy of Holies, while God in the Flesh went about doing good and healing all those who were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10: 38)
When I took another look at this verse, I began to realize that I endured a great deal of mockery in my life, in that I kept thinking that I had to go through someone else, in many cases my own mother, in order to get to God, in order that nothing would prevent me from Him.
Alcoholics Anonymous blocks people from the gracious truth of God in Christ by slamming on members a false identity. How can anyone come boldly to the throne of grace if they believe that they have to work Twelve Steps in order to maintain themselves in spiritual fitness?
Self-Righteousness in Every Form -- Lack of Life in Christ
There is so much talk about ego, self, self-centeredness in Alcoholics Anonymous.
Yes, it's true, self without any boundaries is the source of the greatest pain in our lives.
Selfishness - self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt. (AA, pg 62)
One of the most painful aspects of most cults, like AA, is that the incorporate some truths, some truth, some proper insight.
Yes, life which we try to produce in ourselves will never be enough. Never.
Still, the AA program actually magnifies self, rather than breaking us free from dead in our trespasses Adam
"I" unchecked can cause us to check into hospitals, or to check out of this life. Yet a program which claims "we" still brings us back to ourselves.
In ever meeting, men and women will say "My name is X, and I am an alcoholic."
There's that "I" once again.
As I have written before, many members of the program will proudly share "This is a selfish program." Exactly. But I thought that self manifested in various forms was the problem?
Once again, AA like many cults, does not resolve the problem of self.
And our modern times have made the path of freedom from ourselves, or more specifically our flesh, all the more difficult by dismissing any need for God, for Christ, for His life which makes everything abundant and worthwhile in our lives.
How can we not focus on ourselves, unless we believe that God has pledged, through His Son, that He is taking care of all things for us? I have pondered this issue at length. Even when I realized, as do many, that living in ourselves and for ourselves is never enough, yet if we do not understand and receive that He is our life, then we have no choice but to resort back to ourselves.
Now we step into AA. What do we find? The most mixed of mixed messages. Yes, we need to reborn, but as an alcoholic, which is just Adam of a different kind. We need power, but at the same time people have to work Twelve Steps every day. In other words, this power comes from us.
We are supposed to turn our will and lives over to God the Father, yet at the same time, we have no life to give, but rather we need life, and that more abundantly. To me, that is the greatest falsehood, and the biggest problem with Twelve Steps sits on that outrageous third step.
We are supposed to turn our will and lives over to a Higher Power, a Higher Power which we have conceived in our minds. Really? Does anyone see how crazy this is?
Yet for me, for years, and for many people who still go to the AA meeting rooms, they have this idea that they can work this program, then trust some God to see them through al the challenges in their life.
The struggle to understand the loving, living Almighty God living in and through me never made any sense. How could I believe that He was taking care of everything for me, when the god I understood was just a projection of what someone else told me.
And what's worse, our feelings and our thoughts do not go away, right away. The more that we try to live and strive in our efforts, the more we find that we cannot get away from ourselves or our feelings.
The worst part for me, and for many Christians I fear, is that we do not see how big, how powerful, how wonderful, He is, and that He wants us to receive from Him, since of ourselves we have nothing can do nothing:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3: 16)
and then
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15: 5)
and
1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3: 1-4)
and how about this?
"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." (1 John 4: 9)
So, what is self-righteousness, really? It's so much more than thinking highly of ourselves at the expense of other people. It's also thinking that the most important things that we must do depend on us, or that apart from major miracles, we can do most other things in our own efforts.
Self-righteousness is more than doing bad things, but doing good things in our strength, and believing that what we are doing is enough. When we feel bad, we think that we have to do something about it. When we feel good, we think that we have something to do with that, too.
Wrong.
The truth is that the Tree of Life is what everyone of us, you, me, everyone else, needs. We need life, and that more abundantly, which we receive and keep receiving in Christ Jesus. It's all about His goodness and grace, not our own.
To receive His life, we need to receive His righteousness:
"And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." (Romans 8: 10)
and before this, Paul writes:
"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)" (Romans 5: 17)
The dichotomy is death and life, and with life God grants to us the gift of righteousness and the abundance of grace. Righteousness is the key element, and not our own, but His:
"14In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.
We give up our righteousness, all filthy rags (Isaiah 64: 6) and so we readily receives His righteousness, and thy we reign in life through His life!
Yes, it's true, self without any boundaries is the source of the greatest pain in our lives.
Selfishness - self-centeredness! That, we think, is the root of our troubles. Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity, we step on the toes of our fellows and they retaliate. Sometimes they hurt us, seemingly without provocation, but we invariably find that at some time in the past we have made decisions based on self which later placed us in a position to be hurt. (AA, pg 62)
One of the most painful aspects of most cults, like AA, is that the incorporate some truths, some truth, some proper insight.
Yes, life which we try to produce in ourselves will never be enough. Never.
Still, the AA program actually magnifies self, rather than breaking us free from dead in our trespasses Adam
"I" unchecked can cause us to check into hospitals, or to check out of this life. Yet a program which claims "we" still brings us back to ourselves.
In ever meeting, men and women will say "My name is X, and I am an alcoholic."
There's that "I" once again.
As I have written before, many members of the program will proudly share "This is a selfish program." Exactly. But I thought that self manifested in various forms was the problem?
Once again, AA like many cults, does not resolve the problem of self.
And our modern times have made the path of freedom from ourselves, or more specifically our flesh, all the more difficult by dismissing any need for God, for Christ, for His life which makes everything abundant and worthwhile in our lives.
How can we not focus on ourselves, unless we believe that God has pledged, through His Son, that He is taking care of all things for us? I have pondered this issue at length. Even when I realized, as do many, that living in ourselves and for ourselves is never enough, yet if we do not understand and receive that He is our life, then we have no choice but to resort back to ourselves.
Now we step into AA. What do we find? The most mixed of mixed messages. Yes, we need to reborn, but as an alcoholic, which is just Adam of a different kind. We need power, but at the same time people have to work Twelve Steps every day. In other words, this power comes from us.
We are supposed to turn our will and lives over to God the Father, yet at the same time, we have no life to give, but rather we need life, and that more abundantly. To me, that is the greatest falsehood, and the biggest problem with Twelve Steps sits on that outrageous third step.
We are supposed to turn our will and lives over to a Higher Power, a Higher Power which we have conceived in our minds. Really? Does anyone see how crazy this is?
Yet for me, for years, and for many people who still go to the AA meeting rooms, they have this idea that they can work this program, then trust some God to see them through al the challenges in their life.
The struggle to understand the loving, living Almighty God living in and through me never made any sense. How could I believe that He was taking care of everything for me, when the god I understood was just a projection of what someone else told me.
And what's worse, our feelings and our thoughts do not go away, right away. The more that we try to live and strive in our efforts, the more we find that we cannot get away from ourselves or our feelings.
The worst part for me, and for many Christians I fear, is that we do not see how big, how powerful, how wonderful, He is, and that He wants us to receive from Him, since of ourselves we have nothing can do nothing:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3: 16)
and then
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15: 5)
and
1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3: 1-4)
and how about this?
"In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him." (1 John 4: 9)
So, what is self-righteousness, really? It's so much more than thinking highly of ourselves at the expense of other people. It's also thinking that the most important things that we must do depend on us, or that apart from major miracles, we can do most other things in our own efforts.
Self-righteousness is more than doing bad things, but doing good things in our strength, and believing that what we are doing is enough. When we feel bad, we think that we have to do something about it. When we feel good, we think that we have something to do with that, too.
Wrong.
The truth is that the Tree of Life is what everyone of us, you, me, everyone else, needs. We need life, and that more abundantly, which we receive and keep receiving in Christ Jesus. It's all about His goodness and grace, not our own.
To receive His life, we need to receive His righteousness:
"And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." (Romans 8: 10)
and before this, Paul writes:
"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)" (Romans 5: 17)
The dichotomy is death and life, and with life God grants to us the gift of righteousness and the abundance of grace. Righteousness is the key element, and not our own, but His:
"14In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.
"15Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake.
"16Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy.
"17No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD." (Isaiah 54: 14-17)
We give up our righteousness, all filthy rags (Isaiah 64: 6) and so we readily receives His righteousness, and thy we reign in life through His life!
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Emotional Dependence Cripples People
I was so dependent on the thoughts and feelings of other people.
Growing up, we need to wean ourselves from other people.
There has to be emotional independence, that is, we stop depending on other people to make us feel bad, good, or anything else.
Through Scripture, we find that milk is for little children, and real meat is for adults.
Milk is for believers who are not trained in righteousness by faith:
"12For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." (Hebrews 5: 12-14)
This passage also outlines that we need to depend on a God who is greater than our understanding, and just about everything else:
"I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety." (Psalm 4: 8)
This passage has made a great difference in my understanding. I have begun to learn why there were so many struggles in my life.
For too long, I was running to someone else to make all my decisions, to give me a sense of peace and safety in my life.
If I was afraid, I would run to someone. If I was angry, or sad, or anything else, I lived my life from the perspective that I had to do something about how I felt in order to thrive and be safe.
Such emotional dependence is quite crippling, and such emotional dependence is inevitable in Alcoholics Anonymous.
How can it be otherwise, with or without abusive parents, sponsors, or even the best group which encourages independence and grace?
A program which claims that you can choose your own conception of God, yet at the same time tells you that you are insane, an alcoholic, and that "your best thinking brought you" to the rewmz, is hardly a recipe for critical thinking and emotional independence.
A life in which one must continue to watch for self-centeredness, resentment, fear, and all the rest becomes a life of frustration, pain, and never-ending self-centeredness, filled with resentment and fear.
I cannot tell you how long I lived in pain, trying to get someone else to comfort me, because I had been deceived so much into thinking that I could not think, that I could not trust what I was feeling or not feeling.
I look back on the last five to six years, and just marvel at God's grace, in spite of all the nonsense, the distortions, the mixture of law and grace, and every other unsightly lie which I had succumbed to in my life.
Emotional dependence cripples people and very badly, but thanks be to God and His Son Jesus, that the truth sets me free!
We have to be free of anger, resentment, fear, and all other emotions. We try to seek emotional balanced
Growing up, we need to wean ourselves from other people.
There has to be emotional independence, that is, we stop depending on other people to make us feel bad, good, or anything else.
Through Scripture, we find that milk is for little children, and real meat is for adults.
Milk is for believers who are not trained in righteousness by faith:
"12For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. 14But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." (Hebrews 5: 12-14)
This passage also outlines that we need to depend on a God who is greater than our understanding, and just about everything else:
"I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety." (Psalm 4: 8)
This passage has made a great difference in my understanding. I have begun to learn why there were so many struggles in my life.
For too long, I was running to someone else to make all my decisions, to give me a sense of peace and safety in my life.
If I was afraid, I would run to someone. If I was angry, or sad, or anything else, I lived my life from the perspective that I had to do something about how I felt in order to thrive and be safe.
Such emotional dependence is quite crippling, and such emotional dependence is inevitable in Alcoholics Anonymous.
How can it be otherwise, with or without abusive parents, sponsors, or even the best group which encourages independence and grace?
A program which claims that you can choose your own conception of God, yet at the same time tells you that you are insane, an alcoholic, and that "your best thinking brought you" to the rewmz, is hardly a recipe for critical thinking and emotional independence.
A life in which one must continue to watch for self-centeredness, resentment, fear, and all the rest becomes a life of frustration, pain, and never-ending self-centeredness, filled with resentment and fear.
I cannot tell you how long I lived in pain, trying to get someone else to comfort me, because I had been deceived so much into thinking that I could not think, that I could not trust what I was feeling or not feeling.
I look back on the last five to six years, and just marvel at God's grace, in spite of all the nonsense, the distortions, the mixture of law and grace, and every other unsightly lie which I had succumbed to in my life.
Emotional dependence cripples people and very badly, but thanks be to God and His Son Jesus, that the truth sets me free!
We have to be free of anger, resentment, fear, and all other emotions. We try to seek emotional balanced
The Tragedy of Psychotherapy in Modern Times
Since when did anyone get the idea that they were supposed to be happy?
More importantly, since when did anyone get the idea that anything in this life can grant us life, joy, peace?
I blame the modern Enlightenment, which aside from the physical sciences, did not enlighten man's understanding of the truth or the universe, but rather occluded it.
Modern thinkers, whether Kant, Hume, or even the Physiocrats of the Romantic era until the end of the nineteenth century, placed a greater premium on man's feelings and understanding of the universe, as opposed to starting from the proper foundation: God.
When we attempt to understand anything from our limited perspective, we create pain and frustration for ourselves. The world does not revolve around us. It can't, since the world has been around long before we were born, and will remain here even after we die.
There are limitations to our knowledge, to our awareness. We may feel or think certain prejudices, yet the results and consequences which play out in our lives do not measure up right away with what we are thinking.
Yet from the modern Enlightenment of the late eighteenth century until today, we have taken the initial point of knowledge away from Him who has been from the Beginning, and replaced knowledge and understanding with what we know as true.
Anything which runs against our current understanding, we reject or attack vehemently.
Happiness and mental well-being has become a greater problem in our culture, not because of a growing supply of knowledge, but rather the humanistic basis of ourselves and our experience as the final arbiter of anything true or worthwhile.
We were created by God, our loving Father, and He has demonstrated His love for us through His Son, and His death on the Cross.
This love, this grace, this wonderful joy, is greater than human feelings and hopes. We need the Divine in our lives to make up for the lack in our flesh and in our present times.
Yet if we discontinue Christ and Him Crucified, if we dispute the truth of God and His wonder in this world, then we will always face a gnawing emptiness in our experience. We were made for high and holy things, not for crude elements and matters of little value.
We were not made for this fallen world, but for something far greater, infinite.
As long as men and women continue to look to their efforts, their hopes, and their small dreams.
In modern times, since man presumes himself sufficient unto himself, he has turned away from the one source of life and peace, and instead embraced what he or other people can come up with, or create.
Man is now greatly unhappy, restless, irritable, discontented, because he wants to create life, joy, and peace through his own limit means, yet finds that no matter what he does, it's not good enough.
It's never going to be good enough.
Jesus has come, and serves us evermore, as a High Priest Forever, that we may have his life, and that more abundantly.
He did not come to please our empty flesh, in which we can find no good thing, in which we can find no rest or solace. He is our life, and in Christ we can reign in life, as opposed to deign in death.
Yet to this day, people seek self-improvement. They want to rely on their efforts, instead of receiving His grace. How can they, if they do not believe in God, or in the God of the Bible, one who cares about us more than we care about ourselves?
And so, church-going folks go to counselors and psychiatrists, looking for answers, hoping for something better to bring some joy and worth into their miserable lives. We have made our happiness the most important value, yet never realize that we cannot earn or fight for it, but rather we receive it, along with all other things, as a gift which God our Father gives us through His Son.
It's so difficult for us to rest and receive from Him. I am admitting this truth even now, having grown up in a religious home where forms and traditions took greater precedent over knowing Him in the Scriptures. I went to the counselors, the therapists, the psychiatrists, convinced that whatever was bothering me was something that I could fix with the right amount of Bible reading and thinking and doing.
No!
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3: 18)
This lesson has been one of the most difficult. Rest and receive His grace, which shapes me to be more like Him, and this through His Holy Spirit and as I behold Jesus -- Savior and Friend -- in the Bible!
Wow! So easy, and yet for someone like me and many others, who have been raised in the modern therapy self-help culture, we still think that the imperfections in our lives can be changed or reduced or fixed with some effort on our part.
Thank you, Jesus, for revealing to me the power of this wonderful verse in 3 John:
"Beloved, I wish above al things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy sol prospereth." (3 John 2)
How about that! God wants us to prosper more than we do! I am still trying to get my head around this wonderful truth.
What has taken me so long? Self-righteousness, born of the notion not that I think that I am just wonderful compared to others, but that I can make myself better through my own efforts.
Give me a break! You might be thinking.
I would agree with you, except that I was raised in the AA cult, which taught me to look to myself and rely on my efforts not to be bored, frustrated, resentful, et cetera.
AA is one example of the tragedy of psychotherapy in our modern times, where many people have fooled themselves into thinking that they can understand God from their perspective, make sense of the hardships and pains in their lives, and thus rely on their efforts to do well.
If I felt bad, I needed to do something about it, rather than rest and let His supply flow. I am so grateful for the Gospel of Grace revolution touching every corner of the globe. His greater glory is to found in our doing more, but our seeing more of Him.
And seeing more of Him who has been from the beginning has nothing to do with how we feel, but how much of Him we see by grace through faith.
This lesson has been easy and difficult at the same time, but I thank God for the times and tragedies nonetheless which have taught me the importance of taking everything easy, because He is taking everything on His shoulders.
Thanks for reading, everyone, who has found this blog useful and helpful. There is the Best Way, not just a better way, in all that Christ Jesus has done. Do not settle for what little you know in your experience, but trust in His fullness to see you through all things.
Keep coming to the Word of God. He works, if you let Him!
More importantly, since when did anyone get the idea that anything in this life can grant us life, joy, peace?
I blame the modern Enlightenment, which aside from the physical sciences, did not enlighten man's understanding of the truth or the universe, but rather occluded it.
Modern thinkers, whether Kant, Hume, or even the Physiocrats of the Romantic era until the end of the nineteenth century, placed a greater premium on man's feelings and understanding of the universe, as opposed to starting from the proper foundation: God.
When we attempt to understand anything from our limited perspective, we create pain and frustration for ourselves. The world does not revolve around us. It can't, since the world has been around long before we were born, and will remain here even after we die.
There are limitations to our knowledge, to our awareness. We may feel or think certain prejudices, yet the results and consequences which play out in our lives do not measure up right away with what we are thinking.
Yet from the modern Enlightenment of the late eighteenth century until today, we have taken the initial point of knowledge away from Him who has been from the Beginning, and replaced knowledge and understanding with what we know as true.
Anything which runs against our current understanding, we reject or attack vehemently.
Happiness and mental well-being has become a greater problem in our culture, not because of a growing supply of knowledge, but rather the humanistic basis of ourselves and our experience as the final arbiter of anything true or worthwhile.
We were created by God, our loving Father, and He has demonstrated His love for us through His Son, and His death on the Cross.
This love, this grace, this wonderful joy, is greater than human feelings and hopes. We need the Divine in our lives to make up for the lack in our flesh and in our present times.
Yet if we discontinue Christ and Him Crucified, if we dispute the truth of God and His wonder in this world, then we will always face a gnawing emptiness in our experience. We were made for high and holy things, not for crude elements and matters of little value.
We were not made for this fallen world, but for something far greater, infinite.
As long as men and women continue to look to their efforts, their hopes, and their small dreams.
In modern times, since man presumes himself sufficient unto himself, he has turned away from the one source of life and peace, and instead embraced what he or other people can come up with, or create.
Man is now greatly unhappy, restless, irritable, discontented, because he wants to create life, joy, and peace through his own limit means, yet finds that no matter what he does, it's not good enough.
It's never going to be good enough.
Jesus has come, and serves us evermore, as a High Priest Forever, that we may have his life, and that more abundantly.
He did not come to please our empty flesh, in which we can find no good thing, in which we can find no rest or solace. He is our life, and in Christ we can reign in life, as opposed to deign in death.
Yet to this day, people seek self-improvement. They want to rely on their efforts, instead of receiving His grace. How can they, if they do not believe in God, or in the God of the Bible, one who cares about us more than we care about ourselves?
And so, church-going folks go to counselors and psychiatrists, looking for answers, hoping for something better to bring some joy and worth into their miserable lives. We have made our happiness the most important value, yet never realize that we cannot earn or fight for it, but rather we receive it, along with all other things, as a gift which God our Father gives us through His Son.
It's so difficult for us to rest and receive from Him. I am admitting this truth even now, having grown up in a religious home where forms and traditions took greater precedent over knowing Him in the Scriptures. I went to the counselors, the therapists, the psychiatrists, convinced that whatever was bothering me was something that I could fix with the right amount of Bible reading and thinking and doing.
No!
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3: 18)
This lesson has been one of the most difficult. Rest and receive His grace, which shapes me to be more like Him, and this through His Holy Spirit and as I behold Jesus -- Savior and Friend -- in the Bible!
Wow! So easy, and yet for someone like me and many others, who have been raised in the modern therapy self-help culture, we still think that the imperfections in our lives can be changed or reduced or fixed with some effort on our part.
Thank you, Jesus, for revealing to me the power of this wonderful verse in 3 John:
"Beloved, I wish above al things that thou mayest prosper and be in health even as thy sol prospereth." (3 John 2)
How about that! God wants us to prosper more than we do! I am still trying to get my head around this wonderful truth.
What has taken me so long? Self-righteousness, born of the notion not that I think that I am just wonderful compared to others, but that I can make myself better through my own efforts.
Give me a break! You might be thinking.
I would agree with you, except that I was raised in the AA cult, which taught me to look to myself and rely on my efforts not to be bored, frustrated, resentful, et cetera.
AA is one example of the tragedy of psychotherapy in our modern times, where many people have fooled themselves into thinking that they can understand God from their perspective, make sense of the hardships and pains in their lives, and thus rely on their efforts to do well.
If I felt bad, I needed to do something about it, rather than rest and let His supply flow. I am so grateful for the Gospel of Grace revolution touching every corner of the globe. His greater glory is to found in our doing more, but our seeing more of Him.
And seeing more of Him who has been from the beginning has nothing to do with how we feel, but how much of Him we see by grace through faith.
This lesson has been easy and difficult at the same time, but I thank God for the times and tragedies nonetheless which have taught me the importance of taking everything easy, because He is taking everything on His shoulders.
Thanks for reading, everyone, who has found this blog useful and helpful. There is the Best Way, not just a better way, in all that Christ Jesus has done. Do not settle for what little you know in your experience, but trust in His fullness to see you through all things.
Keep coming to the Word of God. He works, if you let Him!
We Are Not Alone in This Life -- He is Our Life
We are not alone in this life. This life is not something which we strive to live in our own efforts.
This life is all about a Person who loves us, and loves us perfectly and passionately. This Person, Jesus Christ, not only gave Himself on the Cross to die for us, but also gives of Himself every day that we may live through Him (1 John 4: 9)
The hardship for me for so long, was this idea that I had to do everything, have everything, be everything, figure everything out.
The whole word, so it seemed, rested on my shoulders. I had no idea, none whatsoever, that Jesus Christ did not merely come to break me free of my sins, but of sin in the flesh, and moreover to live out his life in my flesh. These are different dynamics entirely, many of which I had not known, and which created for me untold frustration and pain.
Every day, I was trying to fix my thinking and feeling in such a fashion, so that I would know and believe that God would be working in my life. I was trying in my own efforts to do everything myself. There can be no hope of joy when we do not know whether He is going to be there to catch us, to hold us, to see us through or not.
And how carnal I was, too. I believed that I had to feel a certain way so that I knew that He was there for me. What bondage that created.
The pain of going around and around to keep myself in line. The need to feel a certain way to do anything: all of it was just unbearable.
The pain of living, and the reason why the wisest of men, Solomon, ended up hating life, is that they were trying to find life in themselves, when nothing good dwells in our flesh (Romans 7:18)
We need life, and that more abundantly, all of which are loving Father provides freely or us through His Son and the Holy Spirit to live and thrive in us.
We are not alone in this life, and this loneliness in our lives will not go away if we try to find life in anything besides life Himself: Jesus!
We cannot work Twelve Steps to find the fun and frolic of His love working in and through us. There is just no other way. None.
I grieve for the many who insist on the way of Cain, who want to improve themselves through their efforts, including the Twelve Steps, believing that Jesus' Work on the Cross was enough to save them from death to life, and yet is not enough to save them from day to day every day of our walk on this earth.
The more that we accet that we can do nothing without Him, the more that we will experience peace in our lives. And the more that we will know and believe that we are not alone in this life, because this life is not ours, but His, and a gift which He keeps giving us, too!
This life is all about a Person who loves us, and loves us perfectly and passionately. This Person, Jesus Christ, not only gave Himself on the Cross to die for us, but also gives of Himself every day that we may live through Him (1 John 4: 9)
The hardship for me for so long, was this idea that I had to do everything, have everything, be everything, figure everything out.
The whole word, so it seemed, rested on my shoulders. I had no idea, none whatsoever, that Jesus Christ did not merely come to break me free of my sins, but of sin in the flesh, and moreover to live out his life in my flesh. These are different dynamics entirely, many of which I had not known, and which created for me untold frustration and pain.
Every day, I was trying to fix my thinking and feeling in such a fashion, so that I would know and believe that God would be working in my life. I was trying in my own efforts to do everything myself. There can be no hope of joy when we do not know whether He is going to be there to catch us, to hold us, to see us through or not.
And how carnal I was, too. I believed that I had to feel a certain way so that I knew that He was there for me. What bondage that created.
The pain of going around and around to keep myself in line. The need to feel a certain way to do anything: all of it was just unbearable.
The pain of living, and the reason why the wisest of men, Solomon, ended up hating life, is that they were trying to find life in themselves, when nothing good dwells in our flesh (Romans 7:18)
We need life, and that more abundantly, all of which are loving Father provides freely or us through His Son and the Holy Spirit to live and thrive in us.
We are not alone in this life, and this loneliness in our lives will not go away if we try to find life in anything besides life Himself: Jesus!
We cannot work Twelve Steps to find the fun and frolic of His love working in and through us. There is just no other way. None.
I grieve for the many who insist on the way of Cain, who want to improve themselves through their efforts, including the Twelve Steps, believing that Jesus' Work on the Cross was enough to save them from death to life, and yet is not enough to save them from day to day every day of our walk on this earth.
The more that we accet that we can do nothing without Him, the more that we will experience peace in our lives. And the more that we will know and believe that we are not alone in this life, because this life is not ours, but His, and a gift which He keeps giving us, too!
AA "Works" Only To Do Worse
First of all, I am not contradicting prior posts.
Alcoholics Anonymous does not work. The failure rate is staggering, disappointing, and disturbing. Teaching people to identify with their failings, then switching them to a program of religious fanaticism is not recovery. To walk around with shame and frustration about one's past, and a present fear of slipping back into bad habits and thinking, is not life and that more abundantly.
Yet there is that three-to-five percent group who do get sober in AA, in that they stop drinking. And there are those people who hang on for a year or two, only to get drunk again. And don't get me started on the many people who slip a drink or two, but continue to attend meetings and claim continuous sobriety notwithstanding.
So, what about those people who do get sober? Doesn't that prove that the program works?
Not really.
Man has a greater need than not behaving badly. He needs life, and that more abundantly (John 10: 10)
He certainly does need deliverance from self, or more specifically, his flesh:
"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." (Romans 7: 18)
And yet what does AA do? Teach people to identify with their flesh ("I am an alcoholic"), and then try to keep it in check. Never can work, or can work only if people switch to another addiction.
You see, Adam and Eve at from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good as well as evil. Alcoholism is a picture of the evil, but then people give up the overt perversions in their lives, only to start eating from the good, and still they are dead, still they fail, and still they produce sin and death in their lives.
So, even though we stop doing bad things, we are not free from the sin in our flesh by trying to do good. We need to receive His life and His grace in our lives. We need to be delivered from self, yes, but more importantly we need something, or rather, Someone better: Jesus!
Yes, AA does have a record that AA "works", in that a few people stop drinking. But even members who insist on sitting and wasting their time in the rewmz will admit that people have living problems, not just drinking problems. We have to go further. We need Life, and that Life is a Person: Jesus!
AA may help some peope to stop frinking, but the bitterness and emptiness in people's lives do not go away. Men and women still find that there is nothing to propel them through from day to day. In meetings, you will meet bitter people who are still angry about what their parents did to them, about the jobs they have to work. I remember one woman sharing that she would walk into a room full of glass, and break everything just to get over some rage in her life. This is not healthy, this is not good, this is not life, and that is not recovery in any way, shape, or form. "White knuckling" is all too prominent in AA meetings. How is this life? How is all this embittered self-centeredness of any value?
It's not enough to stop eating evil. We also need to get away from the good, that is the lie that there is any good in our efforts, in ourselves, in our flesh. Christ is all in all, and we are called to rest in Himself and His Goodness.
Any conception of God merely projects our weakness into Him.
Let God through Christ take you (and al of us) up in His loving arms and live and bless us in all things.
Alcoholics Anonymous does not work. The failure rate is staggering, disappointing, and disturbing. Teaching people to identify with their failings, then switching them to a program of religious fanaticism is not recovery. To walk around with shame and frustration about one's past, and a present fear of slipping back into bad habits and thinking, is not life and that more abundantly.
Yet there is that three-to-five percent group who do get sober in AA, in that they stop drinking. And there are those people who hang on for a year or two, only to get drunk again. And don't get me started on the many people who slip a drink or two, but continue to attend meetings and claim continuous sobriety notwithstanding.
So, what about those people who do get sober? Doesn't that prove that the program works?
Not really.
Man has a greater need than not behaving badly. He needs life, and that more abundantly (John 10: 10)
He certainly does need deliverance from self, or more specifically, his flesh:
"For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." (Romans 7: 18)
And yet what does AA do? Teach people to identify with their flesh ("I am an alcoholic"), and then try to keep it in check. Never can work, or can work only if people switch to another addiction.
You see, Adam and Eve at from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good as well as evil. Alcoholism is a picture of the evil, but then people give up the overt perversions in their lives, only to start eating from the good, and still they are dead, still they fail, and still they produce sin and death in their lives.
So, even though we stop doing bad things, we are not free from the sin in our flesh by trying to do good. We need to receive His life and His grace in our lives. We need to be delivered from self, yes, but more importantly we need something, or rather, Someone better: Jesus!
Yes, AA does have a record that AA "works", in that a few people stop drinking. But even members who insist on sitting and wasting their time in the rewmz will admit that people have living problems, not just drinking problems. We have to go further. We need Life, and that Life is a Person: Jesus!
AA may help some peope to stop frinking, but the bitterness and emptiness in people's lives do not go away. Men and women still find that there is nothing to propel them through from day to day. In meetings, you will meet bitter people who are still angry about what their parents did to them, about the jobs they have to work. I remember one woman sharing that she would walk into a room full of glass, and break everything just to get over some rage in her life. This is not healthy, this is not good, this is not life, and that is not recovery in any way, shape, or form. "White knuckling" is all too prominent in AA meetings. How is this life? How is all this embittered self-centeredness of any value?
It's not enough to stop eating evil. We also need to get away from the good, that is the lie that there is any good in our efforts, in ourselves, in our flesh. Christ is all in all, and we are called to rest in Himself and His Goodness.
Any conception of God merely projects our weakness into Him.
Let God through Christ take you (and al of us) up in His loving arms and live and bless us in all things.
A Great Concern for the Body of Christ
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| AA cannot complement Alpha and Omega |
Contrary to the AA Book's assertion that the Twelve Steps is a simple program, nothing could more wrong.
In fact, the Twelve Steps creates complications and difficulties, as well as bringing men and women into bondage to the rudimentary elements of the world:
"8Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2: 8-9)
and
"1Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. 2For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." (2 Corinthians 11: 1-3)
The serpent deceived Eve and then Adam by giving them the impression that God was holding out on them, and that their understanding of their needs and power was more important that God's take on everything.
The Devil diminished God's goodness, then lied to the first man and woman by making them believe that their understanding, their conception of God is right, and that they needed to know right and wrong for themselves.
So, we find that the basic premises of the Twelve Step program is a total fraud. The teaching of AA run so contrary to the truth who sets us free, that we should not compromise and permit Alcoholics Anonymous or the heinous teachings connected with this terrible program in churches.
Yet in many churches, pastors and preachers have no problem with Twelve Step support groups meeting on their campuses. This is a great evil, and a terrible wrong.
I have to ask this question: why is this happening? Why is it that we find so many churches, many church people permitting this cult in their churches?
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| Christ Jesus: The Way, the Truth, the Life And all that We Need, and All that Is! |
People have not reckoned themselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ (Romans 6:11)
They still think that they can, or that they must live this life in their own strength.
What did Jesus say to His disciples:
"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10: 10)
and
"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14: 6)
and
"4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15: 4-5)
Jesus was not splitting hairs or waxing metaphorical. We need life, ever since Adam ate from the forbidden tree, and thus brought sin and death into the human race:
"15And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. 16And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." (Genesis 2: 15-17)
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| Bill W. should have been placed in a jail cell |
Yet with that choice, came man's decision to disobey:
"6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." (Genesis 3: 6-7)
Notice that they did not physically die, right away. Their eyes were opened to themselves, and they immediately saw lack, shame, and reproach which had to be covered. As long as we continue to look to ourselves, even though we acknowledge God as our salvation from death to life; yet as long as we look to ourselves to live this life on earth in ourselves, we will find ourselves looking at ourselves, and finding that we never measure up. A life of trying to fix or perfect ourselves does not end.
Many people in churches have been told that they are dead in Christ, and alive in Christ, seated at the Father's right hand (Ephesians 2:4-6). We do not need a better start to run a race in our strength. We need a growing revelation of God's grace in our lives, that He is living, not us, and that He is performing great works of grace and peace in our lives, and that He wants us to walk in His work (Ephesians 2: 10)
I have a growing concern for the Body of Christ today, because too many pastors are giving the impression that they are called to live obedient lives in their own efforts. They bring back the Ten Commandments, with the false notion that those laws were designed for us to live by. They are a ministration of death and condemnation. If we do not want to sin, we need to receive His grace, His favor in our lives, not more rules and regulations, or Twelve Steps, to make ourselves better.
Too many people in the Body of Christ simply do not understand that they are in Christ. They believe that they are supposed to live this life in their efforts. That they must establish how they think and feel, that they must get some idea in their own thinking and feeling to figure out what to do.
This is wrong. Yet if Christians do not understand the fullness of Christ, they will inevitably look for steps, programs, ideas, people, places, things to help them improve their flesh, their status, their dead bodies, when only the Spirit can quicken us.
I write this once again: Twelve Steps, Alcoholics Anonymous, and Celebrate Recovery have no place in the Body of Christ, and churches which proclaim with boldness the truth of God's Word should not allow self-help programs on their premises. Cast out the bondwoman, pastors, and Bill W.'s false cult! Christ and Him Crucified is all we need!
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