What AA gives, actually takes away.
God grants us a better covenant with better promises through His Son Jesus!
We do not need a different set of rules for us to try to be OK with God.
God comes to live in us and through us because of all that His Son did, and does for us:
"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? 33Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 34Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." (Romans 8: 31-34)
What has taken place over the last few days has been nothing short of extraordinary.
For so long, I felt compelled to put out every fire, control every bad thought, fight this fight on my own.
Yet what are we supposed to be fighting, anyway?
"18This charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went before on thee, that thou by them mightest war a good warfare; 19Holding faith, and a good conscience; which some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck: 20Of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander; whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme." (1 Timpthy 1:18-20)
and then
"Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses." (1 Timothy 6: 12)
This is a fight of faith. A fight over what Jesus did at the Cross, that because of all that Jesus did at the Cross and now does for us at the right hand of God the Father, and that He now lives through us and for us:
"20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2 :20-21)
This faith is Jesus' faith in us, a faith based on the full payment of our sin and His life in us.
We must also fight for the truth, that in Christ are conscience is perfected, a good conscience:
"For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins." (Hebrews 10: 2)
followed by:
"For by one offering he [Jesus] hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." (Hebrews 10: 14)
and
"Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ." (1 Peter 3: 16)
"I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:" (2 Timothy 4: 7)
This is fight which we win by staying true to the Gospel of Grace (Galatians 1: 6), a fight which Jude exhorts us all of us to keep:
"3Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 4For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ." (Jude 3-4)
This new faith speaks of our new standing in Him, that old things have passed away, and we are a new creation in Christ:
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5: 17)
Since we are a new creation, there is no reason to identify with the old man, in Adam (Romans 5: 15-17)
"20But ye have not so learned Christ; 21If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: 22That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; 23And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness." (Ephesians 4: 20-24)
"But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 9Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: 11Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all." (Colossians 3: 9-11)
Old things have passed away, and thus there is no reason to identify oneself with who we were (1 Corinthians 6).
This has taken me a little longer, since there have been so many things which I thought and did which I had identified with.
Bob George writes in Classic Christianity that so many of us walk around in guilt and frustration, that we become accustomed to it. That describes me all to well.
Today, by the grace of God, I am glad to break away from what I was, seeing that who I am is nothing as what I had believed before.
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Thursday, August 28, 2014
Death and Life in the Tongue (AA Preaches Death)
"You will have what you say" was a key sermon preached by Kenneth Hagin.
Contrary to the distorted understanding of those how discredit faith and want to stand in their own strength, Hagin never taught people to speak for any fleshy or material interest.
It was all about claiming all that God's Word has promised for us.
The Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, dividing soul from spirit, and granting us revelation of all that God has blessed us (Ephesians 1: 3) as opposed to the fleshy demands which can never be satisfied:
"1From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. " (James 4: 1-3)
Death and life are in our mouths, in what we say:
"A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." (Proverbs 18: 20-21)
When I was meditating on this passage, I realized another evil reason why the AA cult has infiltrated members' minds and frustrates their capacities to break away.
The constant repetition of mantras, and deeper than that, the false identity which the program imposes on people
"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change."
Excuse me? God's grace is superabounding in our lives. Where do we get the idea that we cannot pray to God in desperate times, and He will move mountains for us?
Joshua told the sun and moon to stop, and they stopped.
Moses held out his rod, and the Red Sea parted.
God is not interested in us enduring all our circumstances. He is interested in us seeing how He has overcome and surrounded all circumstances:
"The courage to change the things I can."
There is more to life than changing things in our own strength. Much of the time, God wants us to change our focus on our efforts, to seeing what He is doing.
God is more than a help-meet, but the Helper, whom we receive through His Spirit.
No one will ever hear this in an AA meeting.
What else do members in AA hear over and over?
"I am an alcoholic."
That is an evil and false statement. There is no identity in what we do, and there is no identity even in our sins, for which Jesus died, all of them.
"We are like men who have lost their legs. We don't grow new ones."
Wow! Can you imagine sitting in meeting after meeting and hearing all this empty drudgery?
"I am an alcoholic."
Identity is a crucial aspect of a person, one which informs what they think and feel.
This mantra is poisonous.
Indeed, death and life are in the tongue, and AA teaches people to preach death and thus many members eat the fruit thereof: they binge on other things (eating, smoking, sex) or they take this speech to its fullest extent: death.
Contrary to the distorted understanding of those how discredit faith and want to stand in their own strength, Hagin never taught people to speak for any fleshy or material interest.
It was all about claiming all that God's Word has promised for us.
The Word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, dividing soul from spirit, and granting us revelation of all that God has blessed us (Ephesians 1: 3) as opposed to the fleshy demands which can never be satisfied:
"1From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. " (James 4: 1-3)
Death and life are in our mouths, in what we say:
"A man's belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled. Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof." (Proverbs 18: 20-21)
When I was meditating on this passage, I realized another evil reason why the AA cult has infiltrated members' minds and frustrates their capacities to break away.
The constant repetition of mantras, and deeper than that, the false identity which the program imposes on people
"God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change."
Excuse me? God's grace is superabounding in our lives. Where do we get the idea that we cannot pray to God in desperate times, and He will move mountains for us?
Joshua told the sun and moon to stop, and they stopped.
Moses held out his rod, and the Red Sea parted.
God is not interested in us enduring all our circumstances. He is interested in us seeing how He has overcome and surrounded all circumstances:
"The courage to change the things I can."
There is more to life than changing things in our own strength. Much of the time, God wants us to change our focus on our efforts, to seeing what He is doing.
God is more than a help-meet, but the Helper, whom we receive through His Spirit.
No one will ever hear this in an AA meeting.
What else do members in AA hear over and over?
"I am an alcoholic."
That is an evil and false statement. There is no identity in what we do, and there is no identity even in our sins, for which Jesus died, all of them.
"We are like men who have lost their legs. We don't grow new ones."
Wow! Can you imagine sitting in meeting after meeting and hearing all this empty drudgery?
"I am an alcoholic."
Identity is a crucial aspect of a person, one which informs what they think and feel.
This mantra is poisonous.
Indeed, death and life are in the tongue, and AA teaches people to preach death and thus many members eat the fruit thereof: they binge on other things (eating, smoking, sex) or they take this speech to its fullest extent: death.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Dependence on His Spirit, Not Man
Alcoholics Anonymous teaches people to be dependent on other people.
Because the members of AA are insane, have no capacity to think for themselves, have lost their legs and cannot grow new ones, the cult teaches adherents that they have to run their lives by other people.
The sponsors in AA meetings tend to be the most arrogant of religionists, convinced that they have the answers to all of man's problems.
There is no hope in this life when we believe that we cannot make decisions, have choices, and make direction for ourselves.
Something I have learned recently, too, is that for the longest time I was expecting other people to make the decisions for me.
I did not trust my capacity to think of believe.
Having read the Bible with a different Spirit, that is the Spirit of the Living God revealing the Son, I find that indeed the Bible has all the answers that we need.
I have had so many mixed-up messages in my life.
I made some really bad decisions, driven by so much fear and frustration.
Because my mother was a stepper Mom, she took the program to an extreme which had crippled me terribly.
My conception of God was her conception of God, but if we want to know Him, we meet Him through His Word.
How true it -- "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32)
AA is not the truth, but an amalgam of lies, distortions, and half-truths, as all cults have a little be true to make the blatantly false more palatable.
Not any more.
We are not called to run to other people for our answers.
We have His Spirit, the Spirit of grace born in our lives through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ:
"1My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2: 1-2)
I wonder how many Christians actually believe the above statement?
Do you believe that you are a dear child of God? Do you believe that Jesus is your advocate when you sin (not when you confess). Do you believe that Jesus is not just the active mercy seat for your sins, but the sins of the entire world (including abusive parents, co-workers, bosses, enemies of the neighborhood, the state etc)?
AA sure doesn't believe this, and like many religious programs, at its core AA is anti-Christ.
When we are born again, we receive His Spirit, the spirit of adoption which moves within us to cry out "Abba, Father" or "Daddy!" (Romans 8: 15)
The same spirit gives us sonship before God the Father and kinship with Jesus.
The same spirit gives us all knowledge:
"But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. 21I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth." (1 John 2: 20-21)
As we see more of Jesus, we find that His spirit within us directs us to things that He wants us to do, because that is what He has been doing all this time (Philippians 2: 12-13; Colossians 1: 27-29)
Because of this anointing, we can allow the Spirit of God to speak to us regarding all things:
"27But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." (1 John 2: 27)
Even when I was going to groups like Celebrate Recovery, I found that people wanted to tell me what to do, or at the very least they spent so much time listening to my fears and complaints rather than revealing to me the wisdom of God's Word, that His Spirit was communicating to me all things.
Identity in Christ leads to activity through Christ and thus prosperity because of Christ.
While man-centered religion wants man to be dependent on other men. In Christ, we are called to rest in Him and be guided by His Spirit.
Because the members of AA are insane, have no capacity to think for themselves, have lost their legs and cannot grow new ones, the cult teaches adherents that they have to run their lives by other people.
The sponsors in AA meetings tend to be the most arrogant of religionists, convinced that they have the answers to all of man's problems.
There is no hope in this life when we believe that we cannot make decisions, have choices, and make direction for ourselves.
Something I have learned recently, too, is that for the longest time I was expecting other people to make the decisions for me.
I did not trust my capacity to think of believe.
Having read the Bible with a different Spirit, that is the Spirit of the Living God revealing the Son, I find that indeed the Bible has all the answers that we need.
I have had so many mixed-up messages in my life.
I made some really bad decisions, driven by so much fear and frustration.
Because my mother was a stepper Mom, she took the program to an extreme which had crippled me terribly.
My conception of God was her conception of God, but if we want to know Him, we meet Him through His Word.
How true it -- "Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8:32)
AA is not the truth, but an amalgam of lies, distortions, and half-truths, as all cults have a little be true to make the blatantly false more palatable.
Not any more.
We are not called to run to other people for our answers.
We have His Spirit, the Spirit of grace born in our lives through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ:
"1My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2: 1-2)
I wonder how many Christians actually believe the above statement?
Do you believe that you are a dear child of God? Do you believe that Jesus is your advocate when you sin (not when you confess). Do you believe that Jesus is not just the active mercy seat for your sins, but the sins of the entire world (including abusive parents, co-workers, bosses, enemies of the neighborhood, the state etc)?
AA sure doesn't believe this, and like many religious programs, at its core AA is anti-Christ.
When we are born again, we receive His Spirit, the spirit of adoption which moves within us to cry out "Abba, Father" or "Daddy!" (Romans 8: 15)
The same spirit gives us sonship before God the Father and kinship with Jesus.
The same spirit gives us all knowledge:
"But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know all things. 21I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth." (1 John 2: 20-21)
As we see more of Jesus, we find that His spirit within us directs us to things that He wants us to do, because that is what He has been doing all this time (Philippians 2: 12-13; Colossians 1: 27-29)
Because of this anointing, we can allow the Spirit of God to speak to us regarding all things:
"27But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him." (1 John 2: 27)
Even when I was going to groups like Celebrate Recovery, I found that people wanted to tell me what to do, or at the very least they spent so much time listening to my fears and complaints rather than revealing to me the wisdom of God's Word, that His Spirit was communicating to me all things.
Identity in Christ leads to activity through Christ and thus prosperity because of Christ.
While man-centered religion wants man to be dependent on other men. In Christ, we are called to rest in Him and be guided by His Spirit.
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Fighting With Feelings -- Now Resting in Faith
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26: 3)
Our mind is at peace, resting in God, because we trust Him. We can trust Him because of all that He did at the Cross through His Son Jesus.
"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." (Galatians 5: 16)
When I read this a few years ago, I had believed that walking in the Spirit meant that I had to do something.
If we read a few chapters prior in the same Epistle, we find the following:
"For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. 20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2: 19-21)
Christ lives in us, and we live through Him, not through our efforts:
"For 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. " (Colossians 1:16-18)
then
"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 He wills in us all that He wants us to (Philippians 2: 12-13)
His life and power will not flow in our lives, however, if we are trying in our own efforts to live this life.
For so long, I lived in chronic fear about controlling my thoughts and feelings. I feared meeting certain people or doing certain things because of how I would feel.
Today, I recognize that how "I felt" was not me in the first place.
Furthermore, He is keeping me in perfect peace not because of how I feel or what I am thinking.
I can rest in His faith, and thus the thinking and the feeling follow.
Our mind is at peace, resting in God, because we trust Him. We can trust Him because of all that He did at the Cross through His Son Jesus.
"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." (Galatians 5: 16)
When I read this a few years ago, I had believed that walking in the Spirit meant that I had to do something.
If we read a few chapters prior in the same Epistle, we find the following:
"For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. 20I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain." (Galatians 2: 19-21)
Christ lives in us, and we live through Him, not through our efforts:
"For 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. " (Colossians 1:16-18)
then
"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 He wills in us all that He wants us to (Philippians 2: 12-13)
His life and power will not flow in our lives, however, if we are trying in our own efforts to live this life.
For so long, I lived in chronic fear about controlling my thoughts and feelings. I feared meeting certain people or doing certain things because of how I would feel.
Today, I recognize that how "I felt" was not me in the first place.
Furthermore, He is keeping me in perfect peace not because of how I feel or what I am thinking.
I can rest in His faith, and thus the thinking and the feeling follow.
Why I Still Felt Guilty
I had no idea about the grace of God, and I had no understanding of the meaning of righteousness by faith.
I really did not understand any of this at all.
Even though I read my Bible every day, I was also reading self-help books.
Either we receive the grace of God, or we do not. There is no trusting in any of our efforts.
None at all.
Yet for a long time, that is exactly what I was doing.
Trying to perfect oneself instead of resting in the Perfect Work of Christ, I found myself increasingly empty and frustrated in my life.
There were still deep sins in my life, and I did not know what to do about any of them.
For so long, I would take my inventory, confess sins over and over, doing whatever I could to break free.
Never did I understand that God gave us His grace, that He would live through us.
Our feelings mean nothing more than a register of what we are thinking.
Jesus Christ is holding everything together in this life. And He is my life.
He is Life, and if we want to live, we can only live in His life.
It is that simple, yet for our flesh, for sin, we have to die to ourselves, or rather recognize that we are dead in ourselves, and need His life.
For a long time, I still felt guilty, so full of shame and frustration.
I was convinced that because I felt bad, then I was guilty.
Yet before God, He does not remember my sins anymore:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
I really did not understand any of this at all.
Even though I read my Bible every day, I was also reading self-help books.
Either we receive the grace of God, or we do not. There is no trusting in any of our efforts.
None at all.
Yet for a long time, that is exactly what I was doing.
Trying to perfect oneself instead of resting in the Perfect Work of Christ, I found myself increasingly empty and frustrated in my life.
There were still deep sins in my life, and I did not know what to do about any of them.
For so long, I would take my inventory, confess sins over and over, doing whatever I could to break free.
Never did I understand that God gave us His grace, that He would live through us.
Our feelings mean nothing more than a register of what we are thinking.
Jesus Christ is holding everything together in this life. And He is my life.
He is Life, and if we want to live, we can only live in His life.
It is that simple, yet for our flesh, for sin, we have to die to ourselves, or rather recognize that we are dead in ourselves, and need His life.
For a long time, I still felt guilty, so full of shame and frustration.
I was convinced that because I felt bad, then I was guilty.
Yet before God, He does not remember my sins anymore:
"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
For a long time, I knew that this life was never supposed to be a struggle.
As long as we feel guilty, however, as long as we believe that we have to feel saved, we will find ourselves trapped going around and around in circles.
I struggled with guilt only because I believed that the feelings had to go away so that I could do anything.
Yet apart from Jesus, we can do nothing. It has nothing to do with what we feel.
So, for a long time, I was so worried about getting fearful or angry.
Today, I am not afraid of how I may feel, for I recognize that in Christ, I am a New Creation (2 Corinthians 2: 17)
How can we not give God all the glory, for He only can do the work in us, through us, and for us.
Saved By Grace Through Faith (With or Without Feelings)
For a long time, I had tied my standing before God to how I felt.
I was so attached to my feelings.
Whether I like it or not, I had based my sense of peace and good standing before God based on what I was thinking or feeling.
Feelings are just a carnal aspect of our being.
Feelings come and go, and they do not last.
Yet God's Word abides forever.
Like many people, I wanted to be saved by faith and feelings.
AA induces this perversion into people's lives, especially Christians.
Yet throughout the Big Book, such an emphasis is placed not just on how a person feels, but how these feelings can block us from God.
Nothing, nothing at all can separate us from the love of God.
At all.
This revelation has instilled good news for me.
This good news has spilled over time for me.
For so long, people in my life were dedicated to trying to make me feel better.
As though feeling bad means that I am bad.
Not the case at all.
We are accepted before God the Father not because of how we feel, or what we do, but because of all that Jesus has done.
I used to believe that God would come or go depending on how I felt.
I had to make sure that my feelings were in line a certain way, or I would not be able to do anything.
What bondage, what frustration, what fruitless effort.
It took me a long time to learn about the flesh, and the spirit, and that in Christ my spirit is brought to life, and the inner man is renewed every day.
For a long time, I actually believed that how I felt determined whether God was with me, whether physically or morally.
This confusion brought me into great bondage.
Where did these errors come from? From Alcoholics Anonymous.
We are not based, nor is our standard before God based on us.
Our standing before God is based on Jesus:
"3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1: 3-6)
In the second chapter, Paul writes about how we are saved:
"8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. " (Ephesians 2: 8-9)
We are saved by grace through faith, not by feelings.
We have been made a new creation, regardless of how we may feel. Thank God for the new life, the new birth, that in Christ we are made a new creation (2 Corinthians 5: 17-21)
A few years ago, I had begun to claim my standing of righteousness in Christ, which we read in 2 Corinthians.
Unfortunately, no one had told me about the flesh, no one had told me that I am a new creation in my spirit, yet there is still the flesh, there is still the self-principle of Adam.
Yet Hallelujah for the grace and peace of Christ Jesus, today I understand that righteousness has nothing to do with how I feel or what I think. Furthermore, the Accuser of the Brethren is still out and about seeking to devour whomever he can induce into condemnation (1 Peter 5: 6-8).
Today, I understand that there is no condemnation in Christ, and that no matter what feelings may raise, I have been made the righteousness of God in Christ.
However, if you are raised in a mixed system, where you believe that you are definitely going to heaven, but you are on your own on this earth, you will struggle and find yourself bringing forth the death and sin which God has delivered you from through His Son.
The law entered that sin may abound (Romans 5: 20), and so there is no way that we can come to God based on what we do.
To live under law is to fall from grace (Galatians 5: 4), and it is the grace of God which teaches us to say "No!" to sin and "Yes!" to godliness (Titus 2: 11-14)
We are saved by grace, and we live by grace, too (1 Corinthians 15: 10)
I was so attached to my feelings.
Whether I like it or not, I had based my sense of peace and good standing before God based on what I was thinking or feeling.
Feelings are just a carnal aspect of our being.
Feelings come and go, and they do not last.
Yet God's Word abides forever.
Like many people, I wanted to be saved by faith and feelings.
AA induces this perversion into people's lives, especially Christians.
Yet throughout the Big Book, such an emphasis is placed not just on how a person feels, but how these feelings can block us from God.
Nothing, nothing at all can separate us from the love of God.
At all.
This revelation has instilled good news for me.
This good news has spilled over time for me.
For so long, people in my life were dedicated to trying to make me feel better.
As though feeling bad means that I am bad.
Not the case at all.
We are accepted before God the Father not because of how we feel, or what we do, but because of all that Jesus has done.
I used to believe that God would come or go depending on how I felt.
I had to make sure that my feelings were in line a certain way, or I would not be able to do anything.
What bondage, what frustration, what fruitless effort.
It took me a long time to learn about the flesh, and the spirit, and that in Christ my spirit is brought to life, and the inner man is renewed every day.
For a long time, I actually believed that how I felt determined whether God was with me, whether physically or morally.
This confusion brought me into great bondage.
Where did these errors come from? From Alcoholics Anonymous.
We are not based, nor is our standard before God based on us.
Our standing before God is based on Jesus:
"3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1: 3-6)
In the second chapter, Paul writes about how we are saved:
"8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. " (Ephesians 2: 8-9)
We are saved by grace through faith, not by feelings.
We have been made a new creation, regardless of how we may feel. Thank God for the new life, the new birth, that in Christ we are made a new creation (2 Corinthians 5: 17-21)
A few years ago, I had begun to claim my standing of righteousness in Christ, which we read in 2 Corinthians.
Unfortunately, no one had told me about the flesh, no one had told me that I am a new creation in my spirit, yet there is still the flesh, there is still the self-principle of Adam.
Yet Hallelujah for the grace and peace of Christ Jesus, today I understand that righteousness has nothing to do with how I feel or what I think. Furthermore, the Accuser of the Brethren is still out and about seeking to devour whomever he can induce into condemnation (1 Peter 5: 6-8).
Today, I understand that there is no condemnation in Christ, and that no matter what feelings may raise, I have been made the righteousness of God in Christ.
However, if you are raised in a mixed system, where you believe that you are definitely going to heaven, but you are on your own on this earth, you will struggle and find yourself bringing forth the death and sin which God has delivered you from through His Son.
The law entered that sin may abound (Romans 5: 20), and so there is no way that we can come to God based on what we do.
To live under law is to fall from grace (Galatians 5: 4), and it is the grace of God which teaches us to say "No!" to sin and "Yes!" to godliness (Titus 2: 11-14)
We are saved by grace, and we live by grace, too (1 Corinthians 15: 10)
Monday, August 25, 2014
Christ Heals Us In Every Place
Christ Jesus has healed us in every place.
We are not forgiven based on our understanding of our sin, but on God's understanding.
No man can understand his own faults, which scripture speaks to time again.
There is no simply no escaping this reality.
We do not need any religious bondage in our lives.
We do not need more rules which we cannot keep.
We need to know the Ruler who keeps us and heals us in every place.
We are not forgiven based on our understanding of our sin, but on God's understanding.
No man can understand his own faults, which scripture speaks to time again.
There is no simply no escaping this reality.
We do not need any religious bondage in our lives.
We do not need more rules which we cannot keep.
We need to know the Ruler who keeps us and heals us in every place.
Our Soul is Already Prospering
AA is mind control.
I have written about this at length for quite some time.
We have to watch our thoughts, catch to make sure that we do not get angry, according to the AA program.
I have paid more attention to this facet of this evil cult, yet now more than ever I understand why it is so disturbing and dangerous.
Man does not live in his head, but his life comes through the Spirit of God.
Our minds, our thinking, our reason are all a result of what we see and believe. Yet our knowledge base by its very nature will always be limited. There is still so much to know, and so much to learn.
For decades, men and women of medical science believed that the appendix was a vestigial organ, yet recently studies had discovered that the appendix secretes a vital enzyme for digestion.
True, men and women can live without their appendix, yet the argument that that part of our bodies is unnecessary or serves no purpose is no longer true.
When it comes to God, when it comes to His greatness in our lives, we cannot settle with our own conception of God. He is far greater than anything we know or can know. One of the last prayers in the New Testament, from the second Epistle of Peter, encourages us to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord (2 Peter 3: 18)
Looking back over a great degree of struggle and pain in my life, I notice that time and again it all ha to do with trying to control what I was thinking.
More importantly, it all had to do with the lie that everything depended on me.
Such thinking is inevitable if you operate according to a conception of God, rather than resting in the truth of a creator who holds everything together, regardless of what you are thinking or feeling.
AA is evil mind control.
Today, I was thinking about a great verse, a prayer which reveals the heart of Our Heavenly Father:
"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." (3 John 2)
I used to read "as your soul prospers" to mean that you cannot have bad thoughts and feelings.
You should never be angry. You should never be sad, and you should never hold a grudge against anyone.
Yet what does the rest of the letter reveal regarding this matter?
"3For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. 4I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." (3 John 3-4)
When we read about the truth here in this passage, John is not writing about telling the truth and not telling lies.
He talks about truth as a noun, and as something that you walk in.
Now, John is an apostle to the Jews, and in his writings appear Hebrew concepts, which include "walk", which all speak of identity, not activity.
To walk in the truth is therefore to identify with the truth.
What is the truth, then, in this context?
Let us go to the Gospel of John for starters:
"Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth." (John 5: 33)
Who did John testify of? Jesus, of course, but what specifically?
"The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1: 29)
Before this announcement, John writes in the first chapter of John:
"14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)
In Christ, we find grace and truth, and these two are inseparable in Christ:
"17For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (John 1: 17)
Grace and truth are treated as a single entity in this passage, as they are throughout the Bible.
Grace is the truth, and in Christ, we find the Truth personified:
"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)
He is the truth.
In the Bible, someone asked the question directly:
"Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all." (John 18: 38)
Pontius Pilate did not realize it at the time, but He testified of the truth, and he answered his own question:
There is no fault in Christ, and because we are in Christ, there is no condemnation for us (Romans 8: 1)
So, walking in the truth, enjoying soul prosperity, is all about walking in concert with the truth that all your sins are forgiven.
This forgiveness covers our thought life, too, and has taken us from dead in our trespasses to alive and seated in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 2:4-6)
Sin has been condemned in our flesh, and we are no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit.
We are no longer under law, but under grace, and thus sin has no power of us (Romans 6: 11-14)
Taking another look at the verse in 3 John, we find the phrase "even as your soul prospers". Your soul and mine is already prospering as we walk in the truth.
The prosperity in our souls has nothing to do with what we are thinking, but what the Spirit of God is doing in us, and the Holy Spirit witnesses of Jesus (John 15: 26) convicts us of righteousness (John 16: 8-11)
I do not have to control what I am thinking, because the prosperity in my soul has nothing to do with what I am thinking, but with what Jesus has done and is doing.
Besides, God's thoughts supersede anything that I may think or believe:
"How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!" (Psalm 139: 17)
and
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD." (Isaiah 55: 8)
Let us renew our minds to the word of God (Romans 12: 2) and let Him transform us from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3: 18)
This is such a wonderful revelation to me. I am accepted before God not because of what I am thinking or feeling, but because of Jesus.
We have the mind of Christ today, too (1 Corinthians 2: 16), and to this day, Jesus our High Priest forever justifies us (Romans 8: 31-34) and thus we do not have to worry about what we are thinking.
Our soul is already prospering, and it is all because of Jesus!
I have written about this at length for quite some time.
We have to watch our thoughts, catch to make sure that we do not get angry, according to the AA program.
I have paid more attention to this facet of this evil cult, yet now more than ever I understand why it is so disturbing and dangerous.
Man does not live in his head, but his life comes through the Spirit of God.
Our minds, our thinking, our reason are all a result of what we see and believe. Yet our knowledge base by its very nature will always be limited. There is still so much to know, and so much to learn.
For decades, men and women of medical science believed that the appendix was a vestigial organ, yet recently studies had discovered that the appendix secretes a vital enzyme for digestion.
True, men and women can live without their appendix, yet the argument that that part of our bodies is unnecessary or serves no purpose is no longer true.
When it comes to God, when it comes to His greatness in our lives, we cannot settle with our own conception of God. He is far greater than anything we know or can know. One of the last prayers in the New Testament, from the second Epistle of Peter, encourages us to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord (2 Peter 3: 18)
Looking back over a great degree of struggle and pain in my life, I notice that time and again it all ha to do with trying to control what I was thinking.
More importantly, it all had to do with the lie that everything depended on me.
Such thinking is inevitable if you operate according to a conception of God, rather than resting in the truth of a creator who holds everything together, regardless of what you are thinking or feeling.
AA is evil mind control.
Today, I was thinking about a great verse, a prayer which reveals the heart of Our Heavenly Father:
"Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." (3 John 2)
I used to read "as your soul prospers" to mean that you cannot have bad thoughts and feelings.
You should never be angry. You should never be sad, and you should never hold a grudge against anyone.
Yet what does the rest of the letter reveal regarding this matter?
"3For I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. 4I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth." (3 John 3-4)
When we read about the truth here in this passage, John is not writing about telling the truth and not telling lies.
He talks about truth as a noun, and as something that you walk in.
Now, John is an apostle to the Jews, and in his writings appear Hebrew concepts, which include "walk", which all speak of identity, not activity.
To walk in the truth is therefore to identify with the truth.
What is the truth, then, in this context?
Let us go to the Gospel of John for starters:
"Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth." (John 5: 33)
Who did John testify of? Jesus, of course, but what specifically?
"The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1: 29)
Before this announcement, John writes in the first chapter of John:
"14And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." (John 1:14)
In Christ, we find grace and truth, and these two are inseparable in Christ:
"17For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." (John 1: 17)
Grace and truth are treated as a single entity in this passage, as they are throughout the Bible.
Grace is the truth, and in Christ, we find the Truth personified:
"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)
He is the truth.
In the Bible, someone asked the question directly:
"Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all." (John 18: 38)
Pontius Pilate did not realize it at the time, but He testified of the truth, and he answered his own question:
There is no fault in Christ, and because we are in Christ, there is no condemnation for us (Romans 8: 1)
So, walking in the truth, enjoying soul prosperity, is all about walking in concert with the truth that all your sins are forgiven.
This forgiveness covers our thought life, too, and has taken us from dead in our trespasses to alive and seated in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 2:4-6)
Sin has been condemned in our flesh, and we are no longer in the flesh, but in the Spirit.
We are no longer under law, but under grace, and thus sin has no power of us (Romans 6: 11-14)
Taking another look at the verse in 3 John, we find the phrase "even as your soul prospers". Your soul and mine is already prospering as we walk in the truth.
The prosperity in our souls has nothing to do with what we are thinking, but what the Spirit of God is doing in us, and the Holy Spirit witnesses of Jesus (John 15: 26) convicts us of righteousness (John 16: 8-11)
I do not have to control what I am thinking, because the prosperity in my soul has nothing to do with what I am thinking, but with what Jesus has done and is doing.
Besides, God's thoughts supersede anything that I may think or believe:
"How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!" (Psalm 139: 17)
and
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD." (Isaiah 55: 8)
Let us renew our minds to the word of God (Romans 12: 2) and let Him transform us from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3: 18)
This is such a wonderful revelation to me. I am accepted before God not because of what I am thinking or feeling, but because of Jesus.
We have the mind of Christ today, too (1 Corinthians 2: 16), and to this day, Jesus our High Priest forever justifies us (Romans 8: 31-34) and thus we do not have to worry about what we are thinking.
Our soul is already prospering, and it is all because of Jesus!
Saturday, August 23, 2014
Everything Thought Bought and Brought
God Himself is in love with me.
What I am thinking -- is not "I am thinking."
Everyone of us walks around in a body, and we possess a soul.
But we are not our feelings at all.
How true it is.
Yet for the longest time, like Pastor Joseph Prince and many other people who have struggled under law, I believed that I had to watch the thoughts that I was thinking too.
If I was thinking or feeling wrong, then I would get into big trouble.
Like the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, I had not rested on the truth of God's Word, that He had perfected me forever before Himself in Christ Jesus.
Yet what does the Bible say about our Blessed, Beloved status before God the Father?:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1: 3-6)
We are accepted, made gracious and highly favored, in the Beloved.
That is, we are in Christ, and God sees us in Christ, and thus we are one with His Son:
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
The more that we see ourselves in Christ, which is where every believer truly is, the more that we are walking in the truth.
For so long, the pain of what was going on in my mind had been making all the trouble.
I had lived for so long trying to hold my mind in check.
When I found my mind drifting, or I found myself getting angry or hurt about what other people had done or said, then I would get angry or fearful or despairing.
Would there ever be any peace and rest for me?
I had heard Joseph Prince preach that we have to think of our minds saturated with the Finished Work of Jesus Christ:
"Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks." (Song of Songs, 4: 3)
and then
"As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks." (Song of Songs 6: 7)
Now, even when I had reads passages like this one, I was convinced that all the bad thoughts and feelings would go away.
They did not.
Today, I realize that because I am a spirit, not a soul nor a body, right away I can distinguish what I am thinking from who I am.
So it is true for all of us in the Body of Christ.
We can rest in the Finished Work of Jesus, because He has finished all things for us, He is taking care of all things for us, and He has provided all things for us.
I do not have to watch out for myself, because He is watching out for me:
"I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me." (Psalm 3: 5)
He sustains us.
His sustaining us has nothing to do with us, but with His Son:
"
What I am thinking -- is not "I am thinking."
Everyone of us walks around in a body, and we possess a soul.
But we are not our feelings at all.
How true it is.
Yet for the longest time, like Pastor Joseph Prince and many other people who have struggled under law, I believed that I had to watch the thoughts that I was thinking too.
If I was thinking or feeling wrong, then I would get into big trouble.
Like the Israelites wandering in the wilderness, I had not rested on the truth of God's Word, that He had perfected me forever before Himself in Christ Jesus.
Yet what does the Bible say about our Blessed, Beloved status before God the Father?:
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: 4According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1: 3-6)
We are accepted, made gracious and highly favored, in the Beloved.
That is, we are in Christ, and God sees us in Christ, and thus we are one with His Son:
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
The more that we see ourselves in Christ, which is where every believer truly is, the more that we are walking in the truth.
For so long, the pain of what was going on in my mind had been making all the trouble.
I had lived for so long trying to hold my mind in check.
When I found my mind drifting, or I found myself getting angry or hurt about what other people had done or said, then I would get angry or fearful or despairing.
Would there ever be any peace and rest for me?
I had heard Joseph Prince preach that we have to think of our minds saturated with the Finished Work of Jesus Christ:
"Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet, and thy speech is comely: thy temples are like a piece of a pomegranate within thy locks." (Song of Songs, 4: 3)
and then
"As a piece of a pomegranate are thy temples within thy locks." (Song of Songs 6: 7)
Now, even when I had reads passages like this one, I was convinced that all the bad thoughts and feelings would go away.
They did not.
Today, I realize that because I am a spirit, not a soul nor a body, right away I can distinguish what I am thinking from who I am.
So it is true for all of us in the Body of Christ.
We can rest in the Finished Work of Jesus, because He has finished all things for us, He is taking care of all things for us, and He has provided all things for us.
I do not have to watch out for myself, because He is watching out for me:
"I laid me down and slept; I awaked; for the LORD sustained me." (Psalm 3: 5)
He sustains us.
His sustaining us has nothing to do with us, but with His Son:
"
10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
He is our God not because of us, but because He remembers our sins no more.
He is not looking at our bad thoughts or feelings.
He is looking at His Perfect Son, and we are in Him.
Meditate on 1 John 4:17 if does not make sense.
Let me put it this way.
Every sinful thought and feeling has been bought and paid for at the Cross:
"They twisted together a crown of thorns, put it on His head, and placed a reed in His right hand. And they knelt down before Him and mocked Him: "Hail, King of the Jews!" (Matthew 27: 29)
Consider also the power in His blood:
"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1: 7)
His blood still cleanses us, including our thoughts and feelings.
We are not responsible for controlling the perverse or frustrating elements which come in and out of our minds. We do not identify with perverse thinking springing forth from our flesh, for our flesh has been condemned (Romans 8: 3)
Millions of people can walk free in the Light of God because of Jesus. There is no reason to run to a psychiatrist of counselor over the evil thinking which will flit about in our fallen minds.
We are called rather to renew our minds to the truth, which we find in God's Word (Romans 12: 1-2)
Every thought has been bought and brought . . .
Every thought has been brought into captivity to His obedience, that is the obedience of Jesus Christ at the Cross (2 Corinthians 10: 5)
Notice that the thoughts are not forever eliminated. We will still feel them. They will still come and go from time to time.
The point for us, however, is that we do not identify with what we are thinking.
We identify with Him who has been from the beginning:
"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)
That is where you and I are today, those who believe on the Lord Jesus, those who are saved.
Every thought has been bought and brought because of Him!
Friday, August 22, 2014
AA Mind Control is Evil --- Rest in His Work
I have read many times about the AA cult, that this evil system of rules and self-centered pressure is all about mind control.
Indeed it is.
Let him tell you about it: "I was much impressed with what you fellows said about alcoholism, and I frankly did not believe it would be possible for me to drink again. I rather appreciated your ideas about the subtle insanity which precedes the first drink, but I was confident it could not happen to me after what I had learned. I reasoned I was not so far advanced as most of you fellows, that I had been usually successful in licking my other personal problems, and that I would therefore be successful where you men failed. I felt I had every right to be self-confident, that it would be only a matter of exercising my will power and keeping on guard. (AA, 40)
"The subtle insanity" really speaks to the sin in on our flesh, which no man can control or fix.
However, anyone who is forced into this program will find that they must define themselves by their perversion.
One has to wonder: If you call people alcoholics, are you surprised to see that 90% + of members in the program end up failing and going back to drinking?
This program pushes a terrible mind control, one which grants nothing but relentless religious fanaticism:
It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee - Thy will (not mine) be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. (AA, 85)
Daily reprieve? Excuse me?
"Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth." (Psalm 119: 142)
and then
"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy." (Daniel 9: 24)
and
"That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5: 21)
We do not have a daily reprieve from sin, but in Christ we can rest assured that there is now no condemnation in Christ Jesus (Romans 8: 1)
Sin has been condemned in our flesh, too (Romans 8: 3), and we walk in the Light, we can rest assured that His blood continues to cleanse us from all sin (1 John 1: 7)
Today, we have the mind of Christ, too:
"For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." (1 Corinthians 2: 16)
For years, I was convinced that I had to watch what I was thinking and feeling. I had to make sure that my thoughts did not stray from God, or else God would not bless me.
This sense of bondage is not revealed in the Bible, yet in the AA cult, which I was reared on for years.
This is an evil cult, one which masquerades as a supplement to the Bible, when in fact this book is suffused with lies and distortions, along with improper uses of Scripture.
This verse now carries its full meaning to me in ways which I had never understood before:
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26: 3)
This verse really does convey perfect peace, because the entire chapter (context is always key) speaks of the Savior Jesus Christ:
"In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.
Indeed it is.
Let him tell you about it: "I was much impressed with what you fellows said about alcoholism, and I frankly did not believe it would be possible for me to drink again. I rather appreciated your ideas about the subtle insanity which precedes the first drink, but I was confident it could not happen to me after what I had learned. I reasoned I was not so far advanced as most of you fellows, that I had been usually successful in licking my other personal problems, and that I would therefore be successful where you men failed. I felt I had every right to be self-confident, that it would be only a matter of exercising my will power and keeping on guard. (AA, 40)
"The subtle insanity" really speaks to the sin in on our flesh, which no man can control or fix.
However, anyone who is forced into this program will find that they must define themselves by their perversion.
One has to wonder: If you call people alcoholics, are you surprised to see that 90% + of members in the program end up failing and going back to drinking?
This program pushes a terrible mind control, one which grants nothing but relentless religious fanaticism:
It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee - Thy will (not mine) be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. (AA, 85)
Daily reprieve? Excuse me?
"Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth." (Psalm 119: 142)
and then
"Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy." (Daniel 9: 24)
and
"That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 5: 21)
We do not have a daily reprieve from sin, but in Christ we can rest assured that there is now no condemnation in Christ Jesus (Romans 8: 1)
Sin has been condemned in our flesh, too (Romans 8: 3), and we walk in the Light, we can rest assured that His blood continues to cleanse us from all sin (1 John 1: 7)
Today, we have the mind of Christ, too:
"For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ." (1 Corinthians 2: 16)
For years, I was convinced that I had to watch what I was thinking and feeling. I had to make sure that my thoughts did not stray from God, or else God would not bless me.
This sense of bondage is not revealed in the Bible, yet in the AA cult, which I was reared on for years.
This is an evil cult, one which masquerades as a supplement to the Bible, when in fact this book is suffused with lies and distortions, along with improper uses of Scripture.
This verse now carries its full meaning to me in ways which I had never understood before:
"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee." (Isaiah 26: 3)
This verse really does convey perfect peace, because the entire chapter (context is always key) speaks of the Savior Jesus Christ:
"In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.
2Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.
3Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
4Trust ye in the LORD for ever: for in the LORD JEHOVAH is everlasting strength:" (Isaiah 26: 1-4)
I had meditated on this passage for a long time, or at least I thought that I had.
I never realized, however, that there was nothing wrong with the Word of God. There was something drastically wrong with the words, in fact lies, of Bill W and other "self-help" programs which actually make man more helpless.
He keeps us in perfect peace. He keeps us, we do not keep ourselves. Yet if we try to read the Word of God with a man-centered perspective, we actually are not reading the Bible, for This Book, the real Big Book, speaks of God, speaks of His Son, and we see Him through His Spirit.
The First verse is very clear:
"We have a strong city -- Salvation will appoint walls and bulwarks.
Salvation is Yeshua or Jesus in Hebrew. Jesus is our defense. He is our refuge. He is watching out for us at all times.
How does our mind rest in Him? Because we trust in Him. Why do we trust in God, we can we trust in Jesus? Because God gave His Word, literally:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1: 1)
and then
"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)
We trust in the LORD because Jesus is our defense. He is our perfect sacrifice, our propitiation, and our High Priest Forever.
More in Isaiah 26 bears out what Jesus has done for us:
"5For he bringeth down them that dwell on high; the lofty city, he layeth it low; he layeth it low, even to the ground; he bringeth it even to the dust.
6The foot shall tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy.
7The way of the just is uprightness: thou, most upright, dost weigh the path of the just.
8Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
9With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness." (Isaiah 26: 5-9)
Righteousness is essential for man:
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6: 33)
Now, righteousness is not something that we do, but something which we receive, a gift graced to us through the death of Jesus.
The first picture of righteousness by faith is found in Genesis:
"3And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. 4And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: 5But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. " (Genesis 4: 3-5)
Abel's sacrifice was accepted because of the shedding of blood, the only remission of sin.
"And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission." (Hebrews 9: 22)
Now, to affirm that the sacrifice accorded righteousness:
"11For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. 12Not as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother. And wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous." (1 John 3: 11-12)
Isaiah further prophesies that the righteousness which establishes us comes from Him:
"No 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: 17)
We need the righteousness of God, and we receive this gift in Christ:
"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)
and
"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 fundamental truth that I keep on receiving the gift of righteousness was a new revelation for me, as well.
Now, back to Isaiah 26: 3
He keeps our mind in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Him.
The word "samak" actually implies that He keeps us rested in Him.
In fact, that is exactly what Jesus offers to us:
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11: 28)
I kept thinking that I had to rest in Him, when in fact He causes us to rest in Him:
"2Thus saith the LORD, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness; even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest." (Jeremiah 31: 2)
We trust in Him, and thus we can rest.
Yet the revelation goes deeper:
"Samak" is the word for "stay", and its first mention speaks of God's provision supporting us:
"And Isaac answered and said unto Esau, Behold, I have made him thy lord, and all his brethren have I given to him for servants; and with corn and wine have I sustained him: and what shall I do now unto thee, my son?" (Genesis 27: 37)
This example is particularly telling, because Isaac attempted to go around God's will and bless the first-born son, even though God had prophesied in advance that the elder would serve the younger (Genesis 25: 23)
Once again, the one who stays us is not ourselves, but God.
Wow, I had brought myself into so much bondage, convinced that what I was thinking or feeling would drive God away or prevent Him from living and working in me.
Yet today we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) and we set our affections in Jesus, where we are now seated, for He is our life (Colossians 3: 1-4)
"Samak" also appears in passages where offerers rest their hands on the head of the animal taking their place:
"And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation: and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock." (Exodus 29: 10)
The animal takes away the sins of the offerer, yet today we have the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world:
"The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." (John 1: 29)
and
"1My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 2And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John 2: 1-2)
We are spirit beings, we have been brought to life, and we no longer identify with our flesh, our fallen man which will stil give off feelings of sin and frustration. Yet that is not where we live. We live in His life and His love, no longer identifying with an old man that has been crucified (Romans 7: 4-7)
We rest on the truth that He has put away our sins forever, forever, forever.
While AA induces people to keep trying to control their thoughts and feelings, what we have today in Christ is total freedom from ourselves, receiving His life and direction within us.
For so long, I had identified with my head, my thinking, and whatever I was feeling on the inside.
Today, I realize that my life is not in my head, not in my feelings, but in the Spirit of God who lives and dwells in me, who grants Christ to live in me and through me.
AA is all mind control in some creepy cult, where people have to work these awful, useless Twelve Steps which take man nowhere. Steps appeal to our flesh, yet flesh is simply not who we are.
We are Spirit, and in Christ we are alive today. Forget AA, and rest in the Alpha and Omega -- who was and is and always will be.
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Bill W.: An Anti-Christ, Pure and Simple
"And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world." (1 John 4: 3)
How dare anyone claim to offer a solution for problems in life without recognizing that Jesus overcame the greatest setback that man faces: death?
The very heresy that man can conceive of God on his own with his own impoverished knowledge is just foolishness.
Bill W. confessed that anyone could have his or her own conception of God, and that this idea of a Higher Power would grant people the capacity to overcome alcohol abuse.
The studies and the reports all confirm that this empty promise is not fulfilled.
Many people struggle to maintain sober lives.
Of the few who do get sober in AA meetings, it has nothing to do with AA, but with other elements in their upbringing, an doften times their status in the program remains there because of medications.
Dual-diagnosis is the norm among people in AA meetings who have stayed sober. The other norm includes the fact that many of these recovered alcoholics rarely ever leave the meetings, because they have no skill or will to live.
AA is not life, but a form of a death, a regimen which teaches people to identify with their flesh rather than God's Spirit.
Bill W. was an anti-Christ, one who wanted to be a mini-savior for people, when in fact he wanted to promote himself.
The legacy of this wicked man's cult will no longer remain hidden, and more people are getting away from the AA cult to find life and that more abundantly.
How dare anyone claim to offer a solution for problems in life without recognizing that Jesus overcame the greatest setback that man faces: death?
The very heresy that man can conceive of God on his own with his own impoverished knowledge is just foolishness.
Bill W. confessed that anyone could have his or her own conception of God, and that this idea of a Higher Power would grant people the capacity to overcome alcohol abuse.
The studies and the reports all confirm that this empty promise is not fulfilled.
Many people struggle to maintain sober lives.
Of the few who do get sober in AA meetings, it has nothing to do with AA, but with other elements in their upbringing, an doften times their status in the program remains there because of medications.
Dual-diagnosis is the norm among people in AA meetings who have stayed sober. The other norm includes the fact that many of these recovered alcoholics rarely ever leave the meetings, because they have no skill or will to live.
AA is not life, but a form of a death, a regimen which teaches people to identify with their flesh rather than God's Spirit.
Bill W. was an anti-Christ, one who wanted to be a mini-savior for people, when in fact he wanted to promote himself.
The legacy of this wicked man's cult will no longer remain hidden, and more people are getting away from the AA cult to find life and that more abundantly.
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Maturity: Growing in Grace, not Restraining One's Flesh
Bob George has been one of the most informative and influential Gospel teachers out there.
He awakened to me the power of God's grace, and the need for us to rest in His Spirit, rather than strive in our efforts.
Man is a spirit, from the moment God made man:
" 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)
The breath of life, the Spirit of God, defines us.
We cannot be satisfied with anything in this world, because it is not eternal, like the Spirit of God:
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." (1 John 2: 15-17)
The love of God (not for God) makes all the difference.
So, why do we see so many neuroses, so much dysfunction in the world and in the Body of Christ?
We do not understand that even though we are alive in our spirit, we still walk around in a body, and because of Adam's fall, we have inherited sin and death in our bodies.
"12Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 13(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come." (Romans 5: 12-14)
We have to stress that our bodies in and of themselves are not sinful, but in our flesh dwells sin, and the sin in our flesh remains, even for the believer, for the man and woman who have been redeemed:
"21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." (Romans 7: 21-25)
Man-centered religion and cults stress man's efforts to improve himself. There is no improving our broken selves with broken self.
We need His life, and in Christ we find not only no condemnation for sin, but His Spirit within us leading us from grace to grace as we live from faith to faith (Romans 1: 17).
Now, for years, I was convinced that I could control or limit how I feel, or that I could keep bad feelings in check so that good feelings would thrive within and lead me.
I was a carnal creature, in that I was acting from a false understanding.
No one had told me that I was born again in my spirit:
"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:" (Romans 8: 16)
and then
"And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba, Father!" (Galatians 4: 6)
Now, I was convinced that if I read my Bible enough times, or if I was listening to sermons, or if I prayed on my knees or in the spirit long enough, that I could rid of residual frustrations and setbacks which I felt in my life.
For too long, I was convinced recriminations of the past were feelings and thoughts that I was responsible for, that I have to make sure that I kept thoughts and feelings in check.
Feelings of fear and shame, I had believe, needed more learning or knowledge in order to ensure that I would never feel them again.
Today, I am learning that feelings of shame, despair, or fear are not feelings to identify with at all.
I am a spirit because of God's goodness, through all that His Son has done for me. I am not called to identify with my feelings, which oftentimes merely reflect what I am thinking.
It has been a long slog. I wanted to make sure that I never had negative feelings again. Like many Christians, I just want the bad thoughts and feelings never to pop up again.
That is not possible, as long as I walk around on this earth in this body.
For years, I would pray to God for Him to do something about these attacks of fear and frustration.
When nothing was done to stop them, I got scared and then despairing, because I had believed that God was angry with me or that He was not caring for me.
I have since learned that it is the grace of God in part that He did not answer my prayer. If He had done so, He would have had to take me off the face of the earth. He is not ready to remove me, since He is using me, as much as He works through all the members of the Body of Christ, to inform the world of His Gospel, that through Christ Jesus we are justified from all things that the law of Moses could never justify us (Acts 13: 38-39)
Yet I was raised to follow certain rules and keep myself in check. When the time came that those restraints were removed, I did pretty much whatever I wanted to. And life was very empty and unfulfilling.
Putting people under law will never grant people and growth. If we do not learn to identify and walk in the Spirit, we will find ourselves either indulging the flesh or biding our time in ascetic denial, which is not life and that more abundantly promised by Christ Jesus to all of us (John 10: 10).
We are called to walk in His Spirit, to rest in the Truth of His Word. We are called to a Person, Jesus!
Maturity is based on a proper understanding of God's righteousness, not ours:
"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: 13-14)
Righteousness is by faith in what Jesus did, not in what we do.
Period.
When we recognize righteousness as a gift, then we can grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord, since we are no longer paying time and energy toward establishing ourselves:
"
He awakened to me the power of God's grace, and the need for us to rest in His Spirit, rather than strive in our efforts.
Man is a spirit, from the moment God made man:
" 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)
The breath of life, the Spirit of God, defines us.
We cannot be satisfied with anything in this world, because it is not eternal, like the Spirit of God:
"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." (1 John 2: 15-17)
The love of God (not for God) makes all the difference.
So, why do we see so many neuroses, so much dysfunction in the world and in the Body of Christ?
We do not understand that even though we are alive in our spirit, we still walk around in a body, and because of Adam's fall, we have inherited sin and death in our bodies.
"12Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: 13(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come." (Romans 5: 12-14)
We have to stress that our bodies in and of themselves are not sinful, but in our flesh dwells sin, and the sin in our flesh remains, even for the believer, for the man and woman who have been redeemed:
"21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin." (Romans 7: 21-25)
Man-centered religion and cults stress man's efforts to improve himself. There is no improving our broken selves with broken self.
We need His life, and in Christ we find not only no condemnation for sin, but His Spirit within us leading us from grace to grace as we live from faith to faith (Romans 1: 17).
Now, for years, I was convinced that I could control or limit how I feel, or that I could keep bad feelings in check so that good feelings would thrive within and lead me.
I was a carnal creature, in that I was acting from a false understanding.
No one had told me that I was born again in my spirit:
"The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:" (Romans 8: 16)
and then
"And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba, Father!" (Galatians 4: 6)
Now, I was convinced that if I read my Bible enough times, or if I was listening to sermons, or if I prayed on my knees or in the spirit long enough, that I could rid of residual frustrations and setbacks which I felt in my life.
For too long, I was convinced recriminations of the past were feelings and thoughts that I was responsible for, that I have to make sure that I kept thoughts and feelings in check.
Feelings of fear and shame, I had believe, needed more learning or knowledge in order to ensure that I would never feel them again.
Today, I am learning that feelings of shame, despair, or fear are not feelings to identify with at all.
I am a spirit because of God's goodness, through all that His Son has done for me. I am not called to identify with my feelings, which oftentimes merely reflect what I am thinking.
It has been a long slog. I wanted to make sure that I never had negative feelings again. Like many Christians, I just want the bad thoughts and feelings never to pop up again.
That is not possible, as long as I walk around on this earth in this body.
For years, I would pray to God for Him to do something about these attacks of fear and frustration.
When nothing was done to stop them, I got scared and then despairing, because I had believed that God was angry with me or that He was not caring for me.
I have since learned that it is the grace of God in part that He did not answer my prayer. If He had done so, He would have had to take me off the face of the earth. He is not ready to remove me, since He is using me, as much as He works through all the members of the Body of Christ, to inform the world of His Gospel, that through Christ Jesus we are justified from all things that the law of Moses could never justify us (Acts 13: 38-39)
Yet I was raised to follow certain rules and keep myself in check. When the time came that those restraints were removed, I did pretty much whatever I wanted to. And life was very empty and unfulfilling.
Putting people under law will never grant people and growth. If we do not learn to identify and walk in the Spirit, we will find ourselves either indulging the flesh or biding our time in ascetic denial, which is not life and that more abundantly promised by Christ Jesus to all of us (John 10: 10).
We are called to walk in His Spirit, to rest in the Truth of His Word. We are called to a Person, Jesus!
Maturity is based on a proper understanding of God's righteousness, not ours:
"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: 13-14)
Righteousness is by faith in what Jesus did, not in what we do.
Period.
When we recognize righteousness as a gift, then we can grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord, since we are no longer paying time and energy toward establishing ourselves:
"
8In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.
9For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.
10For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.
11O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.
12And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.
13And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.
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: 8-14)
From the wrath of God put away forever, to the truth that we are established in His righteousness (Romans 5: 17), and when we understand that His wrath has been put away because of the death of His Son, then we can rest assured that we may approach Him without reservation for every need (Hebrews 4: 16)
Monday, August 18, 2014
As He Is, So Are We In This World
No, we are not alcoholics.
We are either dead in Adam, or we are alive in Christ.
We are not defined by our sins, but either by sin, or the Son.
Today, I choose to be defined by the Son.
Today, we need to reckon ourselves dead to sin, and alive in the Son.
We are not in ourselves, we are not in our sins, we are not in death and destruction, but today we have His life and His standing.
All the negative emotions and frustrations which I had contested or battled with -- today, I learn that those feelings were never me.
They were never me at all.
Who I am has nothing to do with what we feel or think.
Our standing before God has nothing to do with us at all.
Yesterday evening and this morning, I became acquainted with a powerful revelation.
Even if I feel a certain way, I am aware fully that I am in Christ, seated at the right hand of God the Father.
Everyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ is seated in Christ, at the right hand of God the Father.
We are not disciples, but sons, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ Jesus.
That is who we are.
I am not my feelings. I am not the bad memories -- or even the good memories of times past.
This life is from Him, not from me.
For years, though, I struggled with my bad feelings, thinking that how I felt was frustrating the grace of God. There is no such nonsense.
Nothing can separate us.
Yet the new mindset which is taking over is this: the rambling thoughts and feelings are not me.
All of Christ, none of us.
As Christ is, so are we in this world.
Because of evil cults and religious bondage, people still look at their thoughts and feelings, convinced that who they are is bound up in their past or present recollections, or the challenges of other people.
It was difficult for me to let go of the backstage rumblings, so to speak, since I have become so used to fighting with upsets and hurt feelings.
Now I understand why I was having a hard time discerning God's perfect will for me. I was so attuned to soul and body, but not to the Spirit. All of us are spirit, and we can neither be fed nor led by our feelings and thinking.
As Christ is, so are we in this world, and today I attest that He is working in me, both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
AA taught me to look at my thoughts and feelings. Jesus Christ through His Word and His Spirit witnesses to us that we are Spirit and that He leads us by His peace.
I am the righteousness of God in Christ. Yet for years, I was convinced that my feelings dictated whether I was OK with God or not.
Wrong. Way wrong. We take God at His Word not our feelings. I could not be simpler.
We are either dead in Adam, or we are alive in Christ.
We are not defined by our sins, but either by sin, or the Son.
Today, I choose to be defined by the Son.
Today, we need to reckon ourselves dead to sin, and alive in the Son.
We are not in ourselves, we are not in our sins, we are not in death and destruction, but today we have His life and His standing.
All the negative emotions and frustrations which I had contested or battled with -- today, I learn that those feelings were never me.
They were never me at all.
Who I am has nothing to do with what we feel or think.
Our standing before God has nothing to do with us at all.
Yesterday evening and this morning, I became acquainted with a powerful revelation.
Even if I feel a certain way, I am aware fully that I am in Christ, seated at the right hand of God the Father.
Everyone who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ is seated in Christ, at the right hand of God the Father.
We are not disciples, but sons, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ Jesus.
That is who we are.
I am not my feelings. I am not the bad memories -- or even the good memories of times past.
This life is from Him, not from me.
For years, though, I struggled with my bad feelings, thinking that how I felt was frustrating the grace of God. There is no such nonsense.
Nothing can separate us.
Yet the new mindset which is taking over is this: the rambling thoughts and feelings are not me.
All of Christ, none of us.
As Christ is, so are we in this world.
Because of evil cults and religious bondage, people still look at their thoughts and feelings, convinced that who they are is bound up in their past or present recollections, or the challenges of other people.
It was difficult for me to let go of the backstage rumblings, so to speak, since I have become so used to fighting with upsets and hurt feelings.
Now I understand why I was having a hard time discerning God's perfect will for me. I was so attuned to soul and body, but not to the Spirit. All of us are spirit, and we can neither be fed nor led by our feelings and thinking.
As Christ is, so are we in this world, and today I attest that He is working in me, both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
AA taught me to look at my thoughts and feelings. Jesus Christ through His Word and His Spirit witnesses to us that we are Spirit and that He leads us by His peace.
I am the righteousness of God in Christ. Yet for years, I was convinced that my feelings dictated whether I was OK with God or not.
Wrong. Way wrong. We take God at His Word not our feelings. I could not be simpler.
Friday, August 15, 2014
Man is a Spirit, not Soul or Sense
The AA cult is a massive failure not just because this wicked program inflicts a false identity on individuals, telling them that they are sick, insane alcoholics who must live a life of threatened high maintenance, but also because for all the talk about spirit and guidance, the program teaches people to identify and rely on their will, mind, and emotions.
Man is a spirit, an eternal creation from God:
"And 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." (Genesis 1: 26)
God intended for man, His last creation, to have dominion over everything else which God had created.
Moreover:
"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)
Even though our bodies were made from the ground, the spirit which animates us comes from God, and just as a plant cannot survive outside of the ground, nor can fish live out of the water not stars live outside of the heavens, so too many cannot have life and that more abundantly outside of God Himself.
Yet if we fall for the lie that we can submit to our own conception of God, right away we are wandering into error, for God is not something or someone which we create in our imaginations or conceive in our minds.
He is revealed to us in nature, and is made manifest to us through His Word.
Worse than that, if we are spirit, and we came from God, then we do not identify with our feelings, but with His Spirit:
"The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." (Romans 8:16)
We are not reborn from our corrupted flesh, but we are reborn in our spirit.
Another reason why the AA cult is so dangerous and bad, is that the program teaches people to identify with their flesh, rather than the Spirit of God in him:
"For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." (Romans 8: 6)
All throughout the AA book, however, there is a frequent reference to all the emotions which we have to watch out for:
Referring to our list again. Putting out of our minds the wrongs others had done, we resolutely looked for our own mistakes. Where had we been selfish, dishonest, self-seeking and frightened? Though a situation had not been entirely our fault, we tried to disregard the other person involved entirely. Where were we to blame? The inventory was ours, not the other man's. When we saw our faults we listed them. We placed them before us in black and white. We admitted our wrongs honestly and were willing to set these matters straight. (AA, 67)
and then
It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee - Thy will (not mine) be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. (AA, 85)
See the emphasis on will? We need more than a will, but the Way, who is Jesus (John 14: 6).
Man is a spirit, which is deeper than our will, mind, and emotions. We are more than our feelings, more than our thoughts, yet if we refuse to acknowledge this depth in ourselves, we should not be surprised to recognize emptiness within ourselves. We are designed for eternal things, not for temporal matters:
"15Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." (1 John 2: 15-17)
We have His eternal life in us today (John 3: 16), so there is no reason for us to look at our feelings for life or anything better than all things that we have in Christ Jesus today.
Man is a spirit, not a soul and not his body. We do not identify with our feelings, we do not identify with our pain. We live because of His life.
He is our life, and He lives in us. We do not have to ask for God's will, for God is working within us both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2: 12-13)
We do not look for life in things, we do not find life in what we do, but we find life in Him who has been from the beginning (1 John 2: 12-14)
"In him was life; and the life was the light of men." (John 1: 4)
and then
"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 also
"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)
We are not trying to be there in Christ. We are there. We are there in His Spirit.
It does not matter how you feel or what you think: you are there.
Man is a spirit, and we understand who we are in Christ as we read His Word:
"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you--they are full of the Spirit and life." (John 6: 63)
Could it be any clearer?
Man is a spirit, an eternal creation from God:
"And 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." (Genesis 1: 26)
God intended for man, His last creation, to have dominion over everything else which God had created.
Moreover:
"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)
Even though our bodies were made from the ground, the spirit which animates us comes from God, and just as a plant cannot survive outside of the ground, nor can fish live out of the water not stars live outside of the heavens, so too many cannot have life and that more abundantly outside of God Himself.
Yet if we fall for the lie that we can submit to our own conception of God, right away we are wandering into error, for God is not something or someone which we create in our imaginations or conceive in our minds.
He is revealed to us in nature, and is made manifest to us through His Word.
Worse than that, if we are spirit, and we came from God, then we do not identify with our feelings, but with His Spirit:
"The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." (Romans 8:16)
We are not reborn from our corrupted flesh, but we are reborn in our spirit.
Another reason why the AA cult is so dangerous and bad, is that the program teaches people to identify with their flesh, rather than the Spirit of God in him:
"For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace." (Romans 8: 6)
All throughout the AA book, however, there is a frequent reference to all the emotions which we have to watch out for:
Referring to our list again. Putting out of our minds the wrongs others had done, we resolutely looked for our own mistakes. Where had we been selfish, dishonest, self-seeking and frightened? Though a situation had not been entirely our fault, we tried to disregard the other person involved entirely. Where were we to blame? The inventory was ours, not the other man's. When we saw our faults we listed them. We placed them before us in black and white. We admitted our wrongs honestly and were willing to set these matters straight. (AA, 67)
and then
It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee - Thy will (not mine) be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. (AA, 85)
See the emphasis on will? We need more than a will, but the Way, who is Jesus (John 14: 6).
Man is a spirit, which is deeper than our will, mind, and emotions. We are more than our feelings, more than our thoughts, yet if we refuse to acknowledge this depth in ourselves, we should not be surprised to recognize emptiness within ourselves. We are designed for eternal things, not for temporal matters:
"15Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." (1 John 2: 15-17)
We have His eternal life in us today (John 3: 16), so there is no reason for us to look at our feelings for life or anything better than all things that we have in Christ Jesus today.
Man is a spirit, not a soul and not his body. We do not identify with our feelings, we do not identify with our pain. We live because of His life.
He is our life, and He lives in us. We do not have to ask for God's will, for God is working within us both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2: 12-13)
We do not look for life in things, we do not find life in what we do, but we find life in Him who has been from the beginning (1 John 2: 12-14)
"In him was life; and the life was the light of men." (John 1: 4)
and then
"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 also
"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)
We are not trying to be there in Christ. We are there. We are there in His Spirit.
It does not matter how you feel or what you think: you are there.
Man is a spirit, and we understand who we are in Christ as we read His Word:
"The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you--they are full of the Spirit and life." (John 6: 63)
Could it be any clearer?
Sunday, August 10, 2014
A New Creation -- Not an Old Perversion
We are hindered in our walk of faith if we do not read God's Word.
As long as we hold onto the testimonies of other people, and especially religious sects like Alcoholics Anonymous, we will be ignorant of who we are in Christ.
And we are in Christ:
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5: 17)
Why?
"For he [God the Father] hath made him [Jesus] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
We are defined by Jesus, who lives in us and moves us:
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2: 20)
and then
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
Is Jesus an alcoholic? Of course not -- so are you and I in this world!
Is Jesus sick, poor, or under the circumstances?
Of course not:
"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." (2 Corinthians 8: 9)
Today, Jesus I seated at the right hand of God the Father:
"21Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." (Ephesians 1: 21-23)
So are you and I in this world..
We are a new creation in Christ today, so do not identify with the old perversions.
As long as we hold onto the testimonies of other people, and especially religious sects like Alcoholics Anonymous, we will be ignorant of who we are in Christ.
And we are in Christ:
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5: 17)
Why?
"For he [God the Father] hath made him [Jesus] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
We are defined by Jesus, who lives in us and moves us:
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2: 20)
and then
"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
Is Jesus an alcoholic? Of course not -- so are you and I in this world!
Is Jesus sick, poor, or under the circumstances?
Of course not:
"For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." (2 Corinthians 8: 9)
Today, Jesus I seated at the right hand of God the Father:
"21Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." (Ephesians 1: 21-23)
So are you and I in this world..
We are a new creation in Christ today, so do not identify with the old perversions.
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Major Error: Ignorance of Satan
It is easy to let up on the spiritual program of action and rest on our laurels. We are headed for trouble if we do, for alcohol is a subtle foe. We are not cured of alcoholism. What we really have is a daily reprieve contingent on the maintenance of our spiritual condition. Every day is a day when we must carry the vision of God's will into all of our activities. "How can I best serve Thee - Thy will (not mine) be done." These are thoughts which must go with us constantly. We can exercise our will power along this line all we wish. It is the proper use of the will. (AA, pg 85)
This passage has brought untold numbers of people into bondage.
The lie that alcoholism is a disease, and one which men and women are never cured of, creates a lifetime of shameful bondage and frustration.
God made man a little lower than the angels, yet because of Adam's sin, man became dead in his trespasses.
"For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour." (Psalm 8: 5)
Because of Adam's sin, though, this happened:
"Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come." (Romans 5: 14)
Yet, the Second Adam, Jesus, overcame what the first Adam did:
"15But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 17For 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: 15-17)
Now, even though God has seated us in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 2: 4-6), and has invited us to walk in His light (1 John 1: 7) as dear children (Ephesians 5:1-4), there is still an enemy out there, Lucifer who became Satan, who accuses men and women in Christ that they are not good enough, that they are still under condemnation.
When Jesus died on the Cross, He also rendered inoperative the Old Covenant of law, which was good but not for man, which drove man to the end of himself that He would rest in the grace and goodness of God:
"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Romans 3: 20)
Now, God's law was the one weapon which Satan uses against us:
"1And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. 2And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? 3Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. " (Zechariah 3: 1-3)
Because Jesus has given us His righteousness (Isaiah 54:14, 2 Corinthians 5: 21), Satan cannot accuse us anymore, and moreso because the very law would could not keep, Jesus fulfilled:
"13And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." (Colossians 2: 13-15)
"Spoiled principalities" means that God disarmed those demons, and He did this by rendering inoperative the Old Testament by fulfilling through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus (Matthew 5: 17)
Now, if we do not rest in this truth, we are still susceptible to the attacks of the enemy, and we can still fall under condemnation.
The Holy Spirit invites us to stand against the enemy:
"10Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:" (Ephesians 6: 10-17)
Now, if we do not understand that there is an enemy out there trying to defeat us, then we will fall victim to every slight and every deviance, to every sense of shame and condemnation, and try to fix it.
Such is the terrible tragedy which men and women in Christ face if they insist on achieving or maintaining righteousness in their lives through their efforts, rather than standing in Christ and allowing His Finished Work at the Cross to minister to them and protect them:
"
This passage has brought untold numbers of people into bondage.
The lie that alcoholism is a disease, and one which men and women are never cured of, creates a lifetime of shameful bondage and frustration.
God made man a little lower than the angels, yet because of Adam's sin, man became dead in his trespasses.
"For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour." (Psalm 8: 5)
Because of Adam's sin, though, this happened:
"Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come." (Romans 5: 14)
Yet, the Second Adam, Jesus, overcame what the first Adam did:
"15But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. 16And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. 17For 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: 15-17)
Now, even though God has seated us in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 2: 4-6), and has invited us to walk in His light (1 John 1: 7) as dear children (Ephesians 5:1-4), there is still an enemy out there, Lucifer who became Satan, who accuses men and women in Christ that they are not good enough, that they are still under condemnation.
When Jesus died on the Cross, He also rendered inoperative the Old Covenant of law, which was good but not for man, which drove man to the end of himself that He would rest in the grace and goodness of God:
"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Romans 3: 20)
Now, God's law was the one weapon which Satan uses against us:
"1And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. 2And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? 3Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. " (Zechariah 3: 1-3)
Because Jesus has given us His righteousness (Isaiah 54:14, 2 Corinthians 5: 21), Satan cannot accuse us anymore, and moreso because the very law would could not keep, Jesus fulfilled:
"13And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; 14Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; 15And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it." (Colossians 2: 13-15)
"Spoiled principalities" means that God disarmed those demons, and He did this by rendering inoperative the Old Testament by fulfilling through the death and resurrection of His Son Jesus (Matthew 5: 17)
Now, if we do not rest in this truth, we are still susceptible to the attacks of the enemy, and we can still fall under condemnation.
The Holy Spirit invites us to stand against the enemy:
"10Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. 13Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; 15And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:" (Ephesians 6: 10-17)
Now, if we do not understand that there is an enemy out there trying to defeat us, then we will fall victim to every slight and every deviance, to every sense of shame and condemnation, and try to fix it.
Such is the terrible tragedy which men and women in Christ face if they insist on achieving or maintaining righteousness in their lives through their efforts, rather than standing in Christ and allowing His Finished Work at the Cross to minister to them and protect them:
"
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)
When we rest in His righteousness, then we can rest in the truth that no weapon will prosper against us. They will be there, the enemy will attack, but we can know that there is nothing He can do to bring us into condemnation, because we are in Christ and in Him there is no condemnation (Romans 8: 1)
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