When I think about what I have overcome in Christ, when I realize all that Jesus did for me, and is still doing for me, I recollect what I have been through, the errors that I was taught, the distortions which I had believed, the misleading ideas which had led me astray.
Alcoholics Anonymous is a cult, and a dangerous cult because the program masquerades as a mainstream self-help formula.
Yet there are many people who still suffer in the rooms, who still see themselves as alcoholics, insane men and women who have lost control of their lives.
Because of the toxic frauds perpetrated by this cult, and the pervasive influence of the Twelve Steps, I was convinced that God was coming or going every day.
I did not see the Living God taking care of every moment.
When left with my own conception of God, what is left but a big world which is too scary to face.
Every day, I felt that I was on my own, that I had to make sure that I tried to keep God close to me.
Today, because I take God at His Word, rather than resisting His Word and taking men at their word on key issues, I have more peace and security.
There was nothing wrong with the Word of God - at all.
The same truth revealed in God made man had never changed, and was ever present to take me from glory to glory, as I moved from faith to faith, for "The righteous shall live by faith" (Habakkuk 2: 4; Romans 1: 17).
We grow in faith as we hear and keeping hearing the Word of Christ (Romans 10: 17)
We do not grow as we keep listening to ourselves or others, and certainly not if we keep looking at ourselves.
There is no condemnation in Christ Jesus, period. None.
If we stay for any length of time in a program which tells us to keep taking our inventory, we are contradicting God the Father and His Son, and declaring that what Jesus did at the Cross is not good enough:
"Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" (Hebrews 10: 29)
I am taking God at His Word today. He has done a perfect Work for me and the whole world at the Cross, and He is my mercy seat today and forever more. (1 John 2: 1-2)
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
A Revelation Revisited
He has taken care of everything, and the proof is in the Cross:
"1Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you: 2But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." (2 Corinthians 10: 1-5)
We have to revisit the truth that the weapons are not carnal, they are not our flesh.
They have nothing to do with our physical efforts or our feelings.
They are all based on His Spirit:
"Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts." (Zechariah 4: 6)
and
"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (John 6: 63)s
and
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3: 18)
We do not fight with the ideas of men, but the Wisdom of God:
"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:" (Ephesians 6: 17)
What had caused me so much pain, what had created so much pain for me, was the sentiment that I had to hold on by my feelings, by my thoughts, to keep Him in my life.
Today, I see that He is my life.
Yet the war does not end, the fight against our minds continues.
We are called to allow the weapons of God to bring the thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
Notice that it is not "Obedience to Christ". It's all about what Jesus has done for us:
"5Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2: 5-11)
He died on the Cross for our sins, and was raised for our justification.
Today, He is seated at the right hand of God our Father, and sits are our perfect man, our perfect representative, a High Priest Forever, forever justifying us from all our sins:
"23Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification."
Indeed, Jesus was raised for our justification, and today He sits at the right hand of God our Father:
"19And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 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: 19-23)
Guess where you and I are seated today? In Christ!
"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" (Ephesians 2: 4-8)
And also
"18That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: 19Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; 20Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec." (Hebrews 6: 18-20)
We bring our minds into captivity to the following:
Jesus died for all our sins.
He rose again from the dead for our justification -- we are declared the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
He sits at the right hand of God the Father, and we are seated in Christ at the Father's side, too.
He is our High Priest Forever, and we can rest assured that He cleanses away our sins forever:
"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)
What else has come through for me in all of this?
We are not bringing our thoughts into captivity to an idea, but to a Person, to a Real Event.
Not a figment of our imagination.
It is not true because we believe it, we believe it because it is true.
It is not true because we keep believing it. We keep believing it because it is true. That second point has still taken me some time to settle into. I am not making it true with my head, but my head rests in what He has already done for me.
"1Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you: 2But I beseech you, that I may not be bold when I am present with that confidence, wherewith I think to be bold against some, which think of us as if we walked according to the flesh. 3For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled." (2 Corinthians 10: 1-5)
We have to revisit the truth that the weapons are not carnal, they are not our flesh.
They have nothing to do with our physical efforts or our feelings.
They are all based on His Spirit:
"Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts." (Zechariah 4: 6)
and
"It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." (John 6: 63)s
and
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Corinthians 3: 18)
We do not fight with the ideas of men, but the Wisdom of God:
"And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:" (Ephesians 6: 17)
What had caused me so much pain, what had created so much pain for me, was the sentiment that I had to hold on by my feelings, by my thoughts, to keep Him in my life.
Today, I see that He is my life.
Yet the war does not end, the fight against our minds continues.
We are called to allow the weapons of God to bring the thoughts into captivity to the obedience of Christ.
Notice that it is not "Obedience to Christ". It's all about what Jesus has done for us:
"5Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 11And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2: 5-11)
He died on the Cross for our sins, and was raised for our justification.
Today, He is seated at the right hand of God our Father, and sits are our perfect man, our perfect representative, a High Priest Forever, forever justifying us from all our sins:
"23Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification."
Indeed, Jesus was raised for our justification, and today He sits at the right hand of God our Father:
"19And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, 20Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 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: 19-23)
Guess where you and I are seated today? In Christ!
"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:" (Ephesians 2: 4-8)
And also
"18That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: 19Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; 20Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec." (Hebrews 6: 18-20)
We bring our minds into captivity to the following:
Jesus died for all our sins.
He rose again from the dead for our justification -- we are declared the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5: 21)
He sits at the right hand of God the Father, and we are seated in Christ at the Father's side, too.
He is our High Priest Forever, and we can rest assured that He cleanses away our sins forever:
"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)
What else has come through for me in all of this?
We are not bringing our thoughts into captivity to an idea, but to a Person, to a Real Event.
Not a figment of our imagination.
It is not true because we believe it, we believe it because it is true.
It is not true because we keep believing it. We keep believing it because it is true. That second point has still taken me some time to settle into. I am not making it true with my head, but my head rests in what He has already done for me.
Monday, March 16, 2015
Revelation
Another thing that I realize today.
I have been so busy holding onto God, or trying to hold onto Him, that I have never appreciated all that He is doing, is committing to doing for me.
He promised to freely give us all things with His Son, did He not? (Romans 8: 32)
It's about time that you and I started to believe Him when He said that!
He has everything already prepared.
I do not have to worry about tomorrow, because His blood cleanses forever and ever.
He is my High Priest forever, too.
I have the testimony of His Word that all things are taken care of.
No longer distracted about the future, wondering if something bad may happen to me, I trust today in the full measure of all that Jesus did at the Cross.
I know that we are going to make it over to the other side.
More importantly, though, I know that I will make it over to the other side because He is bringing me over.
What has really change for me, though, is that I have the full knowledge of Revelation of Jesus as the Real Person.
The Book of Revelation, too, outlines the final end of all things, that we are in full glory and victory with Him. We have more than victory by the Blood of the Lamb.
Not a figment nor a fragment, but a real person, He who lives and reigns forever.
I have read the Book, and those who believe on Him come out on top, for we are already in Christ, and God our Father sees us in Hiim:
"Herein is love perfected among us, that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
These revelations are a matter of truth and acceptance.
I had harped for the longest time on the need for recognition of confirmation before my eyes.
When I realized that there was plenty of evidence, just a desire for fleshy confirmation alone, I then realized that it was not going to cut it
We are so caught up in our feelings. We want to feel, when the truth is that God cannot physically die for our sins a second time.
He can't. Jesus lives in a perfect body, after the power of an endless life.
He cannot die again. He cannot shed his blood a second time.
Such is what faith is all about.
More importantly, though, we are believing something which has happened, not waiting for something to happen.
That is a revelation in itself, not that we are waiting for something to show itself, but that what matters has already happened.
I have been so busy holding onto God, or trying to hold onto Him, that I have never appreciated all that He is doing, is committing to doing for me.
He promised to freely give us all things with His Son, did He not? (Romans 8: 32)
It's about time that you and I started to believe Him when He said that!
He has everything already prepared.
I do not have to worry about tomorrow, because His blood cleanses forever and ever.
He is my High Priest forever, too.
I have the testimony of His Word that all things are taken care of.
No longer distracted about the future, wondering if something bad may happen to me, I trust today in the full measure of all that Jesus did at the Cross.
I know that we are going to make it over to the other side.
More importantly, though, I know that I will make it over to the other side because He is bringing me over.
What has really change for me, though, is that I have the full knowledge of Revelation of Jesus as the Real Person.
The Book of Revelation, too, outlines the final end of all things, that we are in full glory and victory with Him. We have more than victory by the Blood of the Lamb.
Not a figment nor a fragment, but a real person, He who lives and reigns forever.
I have read the Book, and those who believe on Him come out on top, for we are already in Christ, and God our Father sees us in Hiim:
"Herein is love perfected among us, that we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4: 17)
These revelations are a matter of truth and acceptance.
I had harped for the longest time on the need for recognition of confirmation before my eyes.
When I realized that there was plenty of evidence, just a desire for fleshy confirmation alone, I then realized that it was not going to cut it
We are so caught up in our feelings. We want to feel, when the truth is that God cannot physically die for our sins a second time.
He can't. Jesus lives in a perfect body, after the power of an endless life.
He cannot die again. He cannot shed his blood a second time.
Such is what faith is all about.
More importantly, though, we are believing something which has happened, not waiting for something to happen.
That is a revelation in itself, not that we are waiting for something to show itself, but that what matters has already happened.
The Grace of God: More Than a Baseball Game
One pastor explained our walk like a baseball game.
"Jesus has already hit the home run. All you have to do is hit the home bases."
At first, this view on the Gospel sounded good.
Then I found myself facing more bondage.
How should I run the bases? Should I be doing what I am doing? Am I missing the bases?
Right away, the moment that someone, anyone adds: "All you have to do. . .".
We do not add one thing to all that Jesus has done:
"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. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2: 8-10)
We cannot run anything without Christ Jesus.
Apart from Him, we can do nothing, no thing, not one thing (John 15: 5)
All of this talk about "He does His part, and you do your part."
People, we don't have a part, and when we accept that part, then we have played the best part we can play.
All of Christ. None of us.
The game has been played, the war has been won, and He lives in us.
We live in Him today, and we reign in His life.
This is not a life of winning a game.
It is a life of having won, and receiving a greater revelation of all that we have received.
The grace of God is not a baseball game which He has set up for us.
The grace of God is a certainty, and a message we send to all others, that they can stop trying to win what Jesus has already more than won for us.
That message from that preacher did not help me as much as confuse me.
If Jesus has taken care of everything, then what am I supposed to be doing?
Such confusion reigned in me, and confused me.
I understood that I am the righteousness of God in Christ, but no one had explained to me that He is committed to living in me.
Not a figment of our imagination, or a fragment of our understanding, He lives in us and through us.
He has provided all things, and has destined us to reign in life, in His life.
For the longest time, I was just confused about what the goals, the steps, the point was.
I had no understanding of the New Covenant, and all the promises which God my Daddy (He's my Daddy!) has provided for me.
The intimacy of Himself, His life and love, were not revealed to me.
Like many Christians, I went back to self, to efforts, to the law.
No one had told me how alive He is, and for the longest time, I spent my energies trying to keep Him in my life, rather that letting his life keep me and grant me energy.
All of this is so obvious, but the pain I had dealt with for so long focused me on the pain, rather than His gain. The baseball game, in itself, can be a distraction, even if someone has told you the game is already won.
If you still think that you have a part to play, you will play yourself out trying to fulfill the part.
Life is not a game, nor a journey, or a destination.
Life is Revelation, a Person named Jesus, and His resource and blessings are never-ending.
"Jesus has already hit the home run. All you have to do is hit the home bases."
At first, this view on the Gospel sounded good.
Then I found myself facing more bondage.
How should I run the bases? Should I be doing what I am doing? Am I missing the bases?
Right away, the moment that someone, anyone adds: "All you have to do. . .".
We do not add one thing to all that Jesus has done:
"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. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2: 8-10)
We cannot run anything without Christ Jesus.
Apart from Him, we can do nothing, no thing, not one thing (John 15: 5)
All of this talk about "He does His part, and you do your part."
People, we don't have a part, and when we accept that part, then we have played the best part we can play.
All of Christ. None of us.
The game has been played, the war has been won, and He lives in us.
We live in Him today, and we reign in His life.
This is not a life of winning a game.
It is a life of having won, and receiving a greater revelation of all that we have received.
The grace of God is not a baseball game which He has set up for us.
The grace of God is a certainty, and a message we send to all others, that they can stop trying to win what Jesus has already more than won for us.
That message from that preacher did not help me as much as confuse me.
If Jesus has taken care of everything, then what am I supposed to be doing?
Such confusion reigned in me, and confused me.
I understood that I am the righteousness of God in Christ, but no one had explained to me that He is committed to living in me.
Not a figment of our imagination, or a fragment of our understanding, He lives in us and through us.
He has provided all things, and has destined us to reign in life, in His life.
For the longest time, I was just confused about what the goals, the steps, the point was.
I had no understanding of the New Covenant, and all the promises which God my Daddy (He's my Daddy!) has provided for me.
The intimacy of Himself, His life and love, were not revealed to me.
Like many Christians, I went back to self, to efforts, to the law.
No one had told me how alive He is, and for the longest time, I spent my energies trying to keep Him in my life, rather that letting his life keep me and grant me energy.
All of this is so obvious, but the pain I had dealt with for so long focused me on the pain, rather than His gain. The baseball game, in itself, can be a distraction, even if someone has told you the game is already won.
If you still think that you have a part to play, you will play yourself out trying to fulfill the part.
Life is not a game, nor a journey, or a destination.
Life is Revelation, a Person named Jesus, and His resource and blessings are never-ending.
Sunday, March 15, 2015
The Cross Is Real, the Promise is Real, Christ Jesus is Real
Yes, I know that I have been harping on this revelation for a long time.
Forgive me, but I love to talk about the forgiveness of sins in Christ Jesus, and how active and alive He is in us because of all that He has done for us at the Cross.
This sacrifice which Jesus accomplished for us, this sacrifice is never ending.
One of the greatest revelations I have had lately is that the truth of who Christ Jesus is, and what He did at the Cross, none of it depends on my thinking it or believing it.
These things are not true in our lives because we believe them. We believe them because they are true:
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8: 32)
Know the truth, or otherwise we have nothing to believe in.
The Cross is a real event, not something that I have to imagine or conjure up to make real.
It does not have force in my life because I believe in it. I believe in the Cross, because the event happened, and everything that it means, too!
The blood of Jesus cleanses, whether we think about it or not.
Not tied to our thinking, but His ministry:
"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)
The blood has nothing to do with us. It is cleansing now and forever. Not based on our recognition, but His redemption
Consider also this passage:
"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)
He is the payment, the mercy seat, for all the sins of all the world. If we sin, we have Jesus our Righteousness, our Advocate!
The Cross is real, the Promise of His life is real, and Jesus is real, seated (not standing) at the right hand of God the Father!
Forgive me, but I love to talk about the forgiveness of sins in Christ Jesus, and how active and alive He is in us because of all that He has done for us at the Cross.
This sacrifice which Jesus accomplished for us, this sacrifice is never ending.
One of the greatest revelations I have had lately is that the truth of who Christ Jesus is, and what He did at the Cross, none of it depends on my thinking it or believing it.
These things are not true in our lives because we believe them. We believe them because they are true:
"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." (John 8: 32)
Know the truth, or otherwise we have nothing to believe in.
The Cross is a real event, not something that I have to imagine or conjure up to make real.
It does not have force in my life because I believe in it. I believe in the Cross, because the event happened, and everything that it means, too!
The blood of Jesus cleanses, whether we think about it or not.
Not tied to our thinking, but His ministry:
"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)
The blood has nothing to do with us. It is cleansing now and forever. Not based on our recognition, but His redemption
Consider also this passage:
"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)
He is the payment, the mercy seat, for all the sins of all the world. If we sin, we have Jesus our Righteousness, our Advocate!
The Cross is real, the Promise of His life is real, and Jesus is real, seated (not standing) at the right hand of God the Father!
I Can Ask Him for Help
I have been so used to trying to help myself.
If I was angry or afraid, the first thing that I was taught to do was to find a way to help myself.
"God helps those who help themselves."
That passage is nowhere in the Bible, but the distorted invention of a crank "enlightened" thinker.
We need a living Savior to help us in our times of need, not just from death to life, but even today in our walk on this earth.
This has been the hardest part for me.
I still want to know what the future holds.
Today, because I have read the Word of God, because I recognize the full testimony of Revelation, I understand now not only that He will never leave us nor forsake us, but that I have nothing but a bright future ahead of me.
The issue, then, is not about the future. We all know that nothing but good awaits us who believe on Him.
The issue is: will He be there for me during the rough times?
The Cross sends the clear signal once, for all, and forever: "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
That is a double negative, just as "There is now no condemnation in Christ Jesus" is a double negative.
The issue, then, is the lie that I had believed for so long.
That how I felt determined how close He was to me or far away.
The same way that the disciples wondered if Jesus cared about them during the storm on the sea of Galilee.
He was there in the boat, and He was asleep, undisturbed by the storm.
The issue was not whether they would get to the other side.
The issue was "Don't you care?!"
Yes, He does!
Today, I understand that He cares, and I can ask Him for help in all matters.
If I was angry or afraid, the first thing that I was taught to do was to find a way to help myself.
"God helps those who help themselves."
That passage is nowhere in the Bible, but the distorted invention of a crank "enlightened" thinker.
We need a living Savior to help us in our times of need, not just from death to life, but even today in our walk on this earth.
This has been the hardest part for me.
I still want to know what the future holds.
Today, because I have read the Word of God, because I recognize the full testimony of Revelation, I understand now not only that He will never leave us nor forsake us, but that I have nothing but a bright future ahead of me.
The issue, then, is not about the future. We all know that nothing but good awaits us who believe on Him.
The issue is: will He be there for me during the rough times?
The Cross sends the clear signal once, for all, and forever: "I will never leave you nor forsake you."
That is a double negative, just as "There is now no condemnation in Christ Jesus" is a double negative.
The issue, then, is the lie that I had believed for so long.
That how I felt determined how close He was to me or far away.
The same way that the disciples wondered if Jesus cared about them during the storm on the sea of Galilee.
He was there in the boat, and He was asleep, undisturbed by the storm.
The issue was not whether they would get to the other side.
The issue was "Don't you care?!"
Yes, He does!
Today, I understand that He cares, and I can ask Him for help in all matters.
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Not Used to Sitting Down -- But Getting There
For the longest time, I was plagued, obsessed even with knowing what was going to happen tomorrow.
If I did not have some idea, some complacent sense of what was manageable, then I wouldn't venture to do. . .anything.
That kind of frustration and pain defined my daily life.
Every day, I was going out into the world, not sure of what I was going to find.
I had no assurance from day to day that Daddy God was watching out for me.
None.
There is still a great temptation in my life, wanting to know how things will turn out.
Then I read this powerful passage in the Gospel of Mark:
"35And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. 36And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. 37And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. 38And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? 39And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? 41And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" (Mark 4: 35-41)
Jesus did tell the disciples that they would cross over to the other side. Yet that calm assurance never gave me peace, and it certainly did not help the disciples. When the storms raged, and water rolled into the boat, they got scared, and even questioned Jesus as they yelled at him: "Don't you care?"
They were probably very afraid, too.
Yet when Jesus rebuked the storm, they were MORE afraid.
It is not enough for us to know the future. It is not enough for us to know where we are going.
We need to know that He is there with us and for us!
In other words, we need to know that He is no longer angry with us, and He is on our side.
I believe that He is on my side, and the proof is the Cross:
"5Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
If I did not have some idea, some complacent sense of what was manageable, then I wouldn't venture to do. . .anything.
That kind of frustration and pain defined my daily life.
Every day, I was going out into the world, not sure of what I was going to find.
I had no assurance from day to day that Daddy God was watching out for me.
None.
There is still a great temptation in my life, wanting to know how things will turn out.
Then I read this powerful passage in the Gospel of Mark:
"35And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side. 36And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. 37And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. 38And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? 39And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith? 41And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" (Mark 4: 35-41)
Jesus did tell the disciples that they would cross over to the other side. Yet that calm assurance never gave me peace, and it certainly did not help the disciples. When the storms raged, and water rolled into the boat, they got scared, and even questioned Jesus as they yelled at him: "Don't you care?"
They were probably very afraid, too.
Yet when Jesus rebuked the storm, they were MORE afraid.
It is not enough for us to know the future. It is not enough for us to know where we are going.
We need to know that He is there with us and for us!
In other words, we need to know that He is no longer angry with us, and He is on our side.
I believe that He is on my side, and the proof is the Cross:
"5Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
"6So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me." (Hebrews 13:5-6)
I will never leave you nor forsake you. Could it be any clearer?
Today, I admit that I am still getting used to sitting down, just as Jesus has already sat down, and I am seated with Him (Ephesians 2: 4-6)
No one had ever told me this before. I wish that I had learned about it before. I wish that I had known that He had taken care of everything.
Today, though, I can look over all the yesterdays, all the setbacks, and realize that there is nothing wrong with me, because Jesus paid for all the wrongs.
I am not used to being seated. This morning, even, the first temptation is to "do something" about something else. Then I look to the Cross, and I remember, that and event, not a mindset, set me free.
Not our minds, but His death and resurrection, brings us the truth who sets us free!
Something else comes to mind: we do indeed know how everything is going to turn out:
"20He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
Not our minds, but His death and resurrection, brings us the truth who sets us free!
Something else comes to mind: we do indeed know how everything is going to turn out:
"20He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
21The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. {THE END.} (Revelation 22: 20-21)
Even Romans 5:17 tells us what we are destined for:
"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)
It speaks of our future, in Christ Jesus -- we shall reign in life by One!
We do not reign in life, until we understand that He is our life (Colossians 3: 1-4), and we cannot receive His life if we do not understand His death, where we have eternal everlasting righteousness accorded to us (Daniel 9: 24), established (Isaiah 54: 14) through Jesus, our Great High Priest forever (Hebrews 7: 17).
He sat down (Hebrews 1:3), and I am learning that I am seated, too.
That's what growing in grace is all about!
Rest In Jesus, not Unrest in Bill
Alcoholics Anonymous is dedicated to one thing:
Unrest.
The whole cult is built up on a fraud of keeping people busy with a sense of shame and unfinished business.
Because the cult defines people as sick alcoholics who cannot trust their own thinking, who depend on a god who comes and goes depending on our feelings, the result is a group of people who are chronically looking to someone else, waiting for the next meeting, hoping for the thirty minutes to one hour when they can sit down and share their fears and woes.
The whole thing is a scam and a fraud.
I am just getting in touch with how busy and frenetic the whole affair becomes.
Everyone has to get busy staying one step ahead of their perversion, or else.
This is insanity.
Today, I am starting to realize why there was such a sense of unrest in my life
No one had ever told me that the work was Finished.
I never believed it, because I had been raised to adhere to a nasty cult.
It was up to me to hold onto God, and I had to keep my feelings in line, my thoughts in line.
So much focusing on what we must do, we miss out on everything that He has done.
"When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." (John 19: 30)
Such a waste of time and energy. The issue is never intellect or the lack thereof. The conflict comes down to why are we using up so much of our time and energy for purposes which do not matter, or which do not make a difference?
There is not one thing that you and I can bring to all that Jesus did for us.
Not one thing:
"Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2: 5-10)
By grace you are saved. By grace you are saved; not of works, but the gift of God.
Get it?
Many Christians still do not get it. Yet the answer is not despair and condemnation. It is all about growing in grace, understanding that Jesus did so much, and yet more than we can know in a finite time, at the Cross.
"For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." (1 John 2: 2)
Why are why worrying about tomorrow, when we have the eternal sacrifice of Jesus, who was and is and is to come, our High Priest forever?
We are called to rest in Jesus, who is our Perfect Representative.
What did Bill Wilson try to do? Make himself a guru, a Christ-figure, trying to making himself a savior, and instead he created nothing but pain, failure, and death. He died a miserable death, which he deserved, for having misled so many people.
There is nothing but unrest in Alcoholics Anonymous. Unrest is the rule, not the exception, with the sense that everyone of us is just one day ahead, one drink ahead of stupor and death.
No. We are more than conquerors in Christ! (Romans 8: 37)
We are not trying to win, we have already won! It's time to rest. It's to let Him live in us:
"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)
Unrest.
The whole cult is built up on a fraud of keeping people busy with a sense of shame and unfinished business.
Because the cult defines people as sick alcoholics who cannot trust their own thinking, who depend on a god who comes and goes depending on our feelings, the result is a group of people who are chronically looking to someone else, waiting for the next meeting, hoping for the thirty minutes to one hour when they can sit down and share their fears and woes.
The whole thing is a scam and a fraud.
I am just getting in touch with how busy and frenetic the whole affair becomes.
Everyone has to get busy staying one step ahead of their perversion, or else.
This is insanity.
Today, I am starting to realize why there was such a sense of unrest in my life
No one had ever told me that the work was Finished.
I never believed it, because I had been raised to adhere to a nasty cult.
It was up to me to hold onto God, and I had to keep my feelings in line, my thoughts in line.
So much focusing on what we must do, we miss out on everything that He has done.
"When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." (John 19: 30)
Such a waste of time and energy. The issue is never intellect or the lack thereof. The conflict comes down to why are we using up so much of our time and energy for purposes which do not matter, or which do not make a difference?
There is not one thing that you and I can bring to all that Jesus did for us.
Not one thing:
"Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2: 5-10)
By grace you are saved. By grace you are saved; not of works, but the gift of God.
Get it?
Many Christians still do not get it. Yet the answer is not despair and condemnation. It is all about growing in grace, understanding that Jesus did so much, and yet more than we can know in a finite time, at the Cross.
"For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." (1 John 2: 2)
Why are why worrying about tomorrow, when we have the eternal sacrifice of Jesus, who was and is and is to come, our High Priest forever?
We are called to rest in Jesus, who is our Perfect Representative.
What did Bill Wilson try to do? Make himself a guru, a Christ-figure, trying to making himself a savior, and instead he created nothing but pain, failure, and death. He died a miserable death, which he deserved, for having misled so many people.
There is nothing but unrest in Alcoholics Anonymous. Unrest is the rule, not the exception, with the sense that everyone of us is just one day ahead, one drink ahead of stupor and death.
No. We are more than conquerors in Christ! (Romans 8: 37)
We are not trying to win, we have already won! It's time to rest. It's to let Him live in us:
"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)
Friday, March 13, 2015
So Used to Hurting
"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." (John 3:19)
What is it about our deeds being evil, that causes us to run from the light?
We do not want to be condemned for our evil deeds.
When we understand that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, and maintains our righteousness before God, then we have nothing to fear about the light:
"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)
The darkness does not have to scare us anymore, because Jesus the Light of the World (John 8: 12) preserves us from the condemnation.
For the longest time, though, I have been so used to playing catch-up with hurt feelings.
All the time.
It was just such a custom in my life.
The pain is subsiding, but now I am understanding the cause with greater revelation.
It's not a mind game. It's not about visualizing our peace.
He is our peace, and His peace is one aspect of the fruit of His Spirit working within us.
I was listening to one preacher today talk about how hard we hold on.
There is no desire to let go.
Lord, today I am telling you: I want to let go.
I do not want to get accustomed to my hurt. I do not want to be used to the life of comfort measures.
Thank you, for caring for me in all things, today!
What is it about our deeds being evil, that causes us to run from the light?
We do not want to be condemned for our evil deeds.
When we understand that the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, and maintains our righteousness before God, then we have nothing to fear about the light:
"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)
The darkness does not have to scare us anymore, because Jesus the Light of the World (John 8: 12) preserves us from the condemnation.
For the longest time, though, I have been so used to playing catch-up with hurt feelings.
All the time.
It was just such a custom in my life.
The pain is subsiding, but now I am understanding the cause with greater revelation.
It's not a mind game. It's not about visualizing our peace.
He is our peace, and His peace is one aspect of the fruit of His Spirit working within us.
I was listening to one preacher today talk about how hard we hold on.
There is no desire to let go.
Lord, today I am telling you: I want to let go.
I do not want to get accustomed to my hurt. I do not want to be used to the life of comfort measures.
Thank you, for caring for me in all things, today!
Not So Hard on Ourselves Anymore
Why are we hard on ourselves?
Because if I don't do it, then it won't get done!
Hold on a second.
Did He not promise to take care of everything for us?
Yes, God our Father did!
"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:
Because if I don't do it, then it won't get done!
Hold on a second.
Did He not promise to take care of everything for us?
Yes, God our Father did!
"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 promised it -- now start believing it!
Today, believing it does not mean feeling or not feeling a certain way.
It is a simple recognition of all that Jesus accomplished at the Cross.
It is not something that I try to generate through thoughts and feelings.
Faith really is simple.
The problem is all the Judaizing that runs amok in churches. All the going back to the law, trying in our efforts to obey, when in truth we need Him working in us.
This is all so new, and so wonderful.
I am learning so much about Jesus, and how alive He is!
We do not have to be hard on ourselves, because He is bearing the brunt of the hard work in our lives!
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11: 28)
and also
"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)
He is committed to provide us - you and me - all things.
Today, I am getting into the better swing of things about this!
Cool!
Why We Don't Quit -- and Why We Can
The reason why we do not give up.
The reason why we keep on trying to fix our lives is. .
We do not see a living Savior who is at work taking care of all things for us.
If like me you had believed that everything in this life depended on you and your own actions, there is never a chance to stop and rest, to let Him take care of all things.
The reason why I often felt that He was far away, was that what I was believing, what I was thinking had taken precedence over what His Word had to say to me.
The dialogue that was going on in my head for the longest time stressed the idea that He was not taking care of everything, or anything.
I often heard from people close to me: "You have to live the Christian life."
Soren Kierkegaard was the most man-centered religionist I have ever read, and he would write:
"Live what you believe."
He died at the age of 42, still not recognizing that none of us can live, but rather we are called to believe, to believe on Him who has been from the beginning (1 John 2: 14-15)
If we do not believe in a living Savior, we will be stuck trying to save ourselves.
As long as we keep thinking that there is something left for us to do, we will find ourselves left to frustration and difficulties in our lives.
The more that I think about this, the more that I realize how many of the "church people" in my life have been obsessed with striving, with writhing in their self-efforts.
Then came the really frustrating, offensive statement:
"I am so tired of these Christians. They don't live it!"
Live what? No one can live this life. No one:
"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 is why believing on Him is so important. There is no other way to live but by faith, His faith in us!
The more that Pharisee types want to thump their chests and say "You have to live it!" the angrier I get.
No one can live it, because without Christ living in us, no one is alive!
Where do these individuals get the idea that we can create, that we can generate this life?
It is a gift, which receive through the gift of righteousness:
"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5: 17)
This is not a game. This is not a joke.
It is killing people, to put all this pressure on them to create life, when we have nothing but death in our members.
I got angry, took exception to these points.
He started to shut me down: "Now. Now! I don't want to argue about it!"
At this point, there is no letting it go. If men and women in the Body of Christ do not want to believe the truth, we have to hold them accountable for it.
For all the pain and headaches I have experienced in my life, I realize today why I was feeling the way that I felt.
I was convinced that I had to create, that I had to generate this life on my own.
No one can. I was constantly terrified about tomorrow. How was I going to get through the day?
Today, I have the witness of the Cross, and everything which it represents. The event, the death, the reality, not some idea, not a fantasy, speaks today as much as it did years ago.
Why don't we quit? Because we do not believe that the work is done. We do not see or understand the fullness of the grace of God at work in our lives.
Still we wake up convinced that the world would not turn, the sun would not rise without us.
Give me a break! The world is still turning, and the earth still hangs on nothing. Most importantly, though, He is holding you and me with both hands.
Why we can (and must) quit: no flesh will glory in God's presence.
No flesh, then there's glory, because of Him who lives in us.
I pushed back, my friend of a friend got angry. I then declared that there are a lot of people dying, frustrated in their walk. He got even more upset, asked me if I wanted him to leave. I shrugged my shoulders, did not really care, and he stormed off.
I actually felt pretty good about punching back.
There is no life in ourselves.
Jesus, He is our life. He is alive, and He is living in us, working in us, too.
We don't quit because we do not see Him alive in us. We can quit when we understand that He is alive and living in us. Even the most traditional of church services pay lip service to that reality: through Him, with Him, in Him!
Yet still they had nothing to show for everything that they were doing.
No wonder I have found myself pushing away a lot of church people in recent days.
There is so much emphasis on "What are you doing for Jesus?"
When are we going to take Jesus at His own word?
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15: 5)
Still we don't quit. We want to be the branches through our efforts. Yet there would not even be a branch, you or me, without the Vine, and that Vine is Jesus.
Cool!
I remember one church guy, a friend of a friend. He and I were often missing each other when trying to get together.
Finally, we sat down for breakfast again.
He was going off about a shared friend of ours, how he was suffering in his body, his health declining.
Right away, he was thumping his chest, talking about what a great job he had done staying away from smoking and drinking.
"I don't smoke, I don't chew, and I don't run with girls who do!"
This self-righteousness has no bearing on life or right living.
We are not saved by our efforts, and we do not remain sanctified through the same, either.
Right away, I pressed him: "Why didn't you help him? Why didn't you talk to him about the dangers of drinking?"
The funny thing about the drinking remark: my friend was not a heavy drinker at all. Even if someone has a drinking problem, the problem really isn't the drinking.
An empty life, full of strife and vanity -- that will lead anyone to drink. Welcome Ecclesiastes, who was frustrated with life, seeing how full of grasping of the wind it can become.
The reason why we keep on trying to fix our lives is. .
We do not see a living Savior who is at work taking care of all things for us.
If like me you had believed that everything in this life depended on you and your own actions, there is never a chance to stop and rest, to let Him take care of all things.
The reason why I often felt that He was far away, was that what I was believing, what I was thinking had taken precedence over what His Word had to say to me.
The dialogue that was going on in my head for the longest time stressed the idea that He was not taking care of everything, or anything.
I often heard from people close to me: "You have to live the Christian life."
Soren Kierkegaard was the most man-centered religionist I have ever read, and he would write:
"Live what you believe."
He died at the age of 42, still not recognizing that none of us can live, but rather we are called to believe, to believe on Him who has been from the beginning (1 John 2: 14-15)
If we do not believe in a living Savior, we will be stuck trying to save ourselves.
As long as we keep thinking that there is something left for us to do, we will find ourselves left to frustration and difficulties in our lives.
The more that I think about this, the more that I realize how many of the "church people" in my life have been obsessed with striving, with writhing in their self-efforts.
Then came the really frustrating, offensive statement:
"I am so tired of these Christians. They don't live it!"
Live what? No one can live this life. No one:
"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 is why believing on Him is so important. There is no other way to live but by faith, His faith in us!
The more that Pharisee types want to thump their chests and say "You have to live it!" the angrier I get.
No one can live it, because without Christ living in us, no one is alive!
Where do these individuals get the idea that we can create, that we can generate this life?
It is a gift, which receive through the gift of righteousness:
"For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ." (Romans 5: 17)
This is not a game. This is not a joke.
It is killing people, to put all this pressure on them to create life, when we have nothing but death in our members.
I got angry, took exception to these points.
He started to shut me down: "Now. Now! I don't want to argue about it!"
At this point, there is no letting it go. If men and women in the Body of Christ do not want to believe the truth, we have to hold them accountable for it.
For all the pain and headaches I have experienced in my life, I realize today why I was feeling the way that I felt.
I was convinced that I had to create, that I had to generate this life on my own.
No one can. I was constantly terrified about tomorrow. How was I going to get through the day?
Today, I have the witness of the Cross, and everything which it represents. The event, the death, the reality, not some idea, not a fantasy, speaks today as much as it did years ago.
Why don't we quit? Because we do not believe that the work is done. We do not see or understand the fullness of the grace of God at work in our lives.
Still we wake up convinced that the world would not turn, the sun would not rise without us.
Give me a break! The world is still turning, and the earth still hangs on nothing. Most importantly, though, He is holding you and me with both hands.
Why we can (and must) quit: no flesh will glory in God's presence.
No flesh, then there's glory, because of Him who lives in us.
I pushed back, my friend of a friend got angry. I then declared that there are a lot of people dying, frustrated in their walk. He got even more upset, asked me if I wanted him to leave. I shrugged my shoulders, did not really care, and he stormed off.
I actually felt pretty good about punching back.
There is no life in ourselves.
Jesus, He is our life. He is alive, and He is living in us, working in us, too.
We don't quit because we do not see Him alive in us. We can quit when we understand that He is alive and living in us. Even the most traditional of church services pay lip service to that reality: through Him, with Him, in Him!
Yet still they had nothing to show for everything that they were doing.
No wonder I have found myself pushing away a lot of church people in recent days.
There is so much emphasis on "What are you doing for Jesus?"
When are we going to take Jesus at His own word?
"I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing." (John 15: 5)
Still we don't quit. We want to be the branches through our efforts. Yet there would not even be a branch, you or me, without the Vine, and that Vine is Jesus.
Cool!
I remember one church guy, a friend of a friend. He and I were often missing each other when trying to get together.
Finally, we sat down for breakfast again.
He was going off about a shared friend of ours, how he was suffering in his body, his health declining.
Right away, he was thumping his chest, talking about what a great job he had done staying away from smoking and drinking.
"I don't smoke, I don't chew, and I don't run with girls who do!"
This self-righteousness has no bearing on life or right living.
We are not saved by our efforts, and we do not remain sanctified through the same, either.
Right away, I pressed him: "Why didn't you help him? Why didn't you talk to him about the dangers of drinking?"
The funny thing about the drinking remark: my friend was not a heavy drinker at all. Even if someone has a drinking problem, the problem really isn't the drinking.
An empty life, full of strife and vanity -- that will lead anyone to drink. Welcome Ecclesiastes, who was frustrated with life, seeing how full of grasping of the wind it can become.
Saturday, March 7, 2015
Even if You Get Angry, God Will Never Get Angry with You
It is plain that a life which includes deep resentment leads only to futility and unhappiness. To the precise extent that we permit these, do we squander the hours that might have been worth while. But with the alcoholic, whose hope is the maintenance and growth of a spiritual experience, this business of resentment is infinitely grave. We found that it is fatal. For when harboring such feelings we shut ourselves off from the sunlight of the Spirit. The insanity of alcohol returns and we drink again. And with us, to drink is to die. (AA, pg 66)
I am revisiting this passage from the AA cult handbook once again.
For the past few days, I have been recalling someone close to me who ultimately took her life.
This program works if you work it, claim the AA adherents.
Yet no one can work this "simple program", because it is a falsehood full of distortions and inconsistencies, all based on making people dependent on a support group of like-minded dependents who do not like themselves.
A program which claims that self is our biggest problem teaches people to keep looking at themselves, including their thoughts and feelings, and try to improve themselves.
This AA cult is a perversion of the truth, a unredeemable, unredeeming program of man-centered folly.
The biggest indictment today which I have against AA: this program teaches people that if they feel angry, they got cut off from God.
That is evil, and it is wrong.
This falsehood teaches people to avoid conflict, to run from anger, and to avoid being angry.
In fact, there is a passage in the earlier part of the book which teaches new prospects to be free from anger.
For years, I have struggled with my feelings. I was running away from being angry all the time. I also was taught that I had no power over other people, and that I was destined to live a life of reacting to other people's behavior, whether blessing or curse, beneficial or abusive.
The last words I heard from that close person was lamentation: "I have let everyone get away with abusing me!"
Where did this come from? Why did she believe this?
The AA cult teaches people that they are powerless, that there is nothing they can do about abusive people, that everyone of us is destined to submit to hurtful people and be easily hurt, no matter what we do.
Worst of all, our standing before God, and His peace in our lives, is based on how we feel. If we feel bad, if we get angry, then He leaves us.
That is garbage!
There is nothing wrong with getting angry:
"Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:" (Ephesians 4: 26)
Anger and wrath are two different words. There are times when we should get angry. There is nothing wrong with expecting people to behave themselves, and there is also nothing wrong with getting angry when people are not behaving themselves in a right spirit.
For many of us, though, who were reared in this poisonous cult, we believed that if we got angry, we had to struggle our way out of it in order to get right with God again.
What!?
Yes. Exactly that.
It's time for us to put away the traditions of men, and stop believing the lies of broken Pharisees looking to force a yoke a bondage on the sons of God, who have received a new spirit.
"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)
We have already been blessed. We have already been accepted in Christ Jesus, the Beloved Son of God.
What are we worried about?
If we get angry, let us rest in the truth that the blood of Jesus cleanses (present tense) us from all sins (1 John 1:7).
God is not dependent or contingent on our moods, people!
I am revisiting this passage from the AA cult handbook once again.
For the past few days, I have been recalling someone close to me who ultimately took her life.
This program works if you work it, claim the AA adherents.
Yet no one can work this "simple program", because it is a falsehood full of distortions and inconsistencies, all based on making people dependent on a support group of like-minded dependents who do not like themselves.
A program which claims that self is our biggest problem teaches people to keep looking at themselves, including their thoughts and feelings, and try to improve themselves.
This AA cult is a perversion of the truth, a unredeemable, unredeeming program of man-centered folly.
The biggest indictment today which I have against AA: this program teaches people that if they feel angry, they got cut off from God.
That is evil, and it is wrong.
This falsehood teaches people to avoid conflict, to run from anger, and to avoid being angry.
In fact, there is a passage in the earlier part of the book which teaches new prospects to be free from anger.
For years, I have struggled with my feelings. I was running away from being angry all the time. I also was taught that I had no power over other people, and that I was destined to live a life of reacting to other people's behavior, whether blessing or curse, beneficial or abusive.
The last words I heard from that close person was lamentation: "I have let everyone get away with abusing me!"
Where did this come from? Why did she believe this?
The AA cult teaches people that they are powerless, that there is nothing they can do about abusive people, that everyone of us is destined to submit to hurtful people and be easily hurt, no matter what we do.
Worst of all, our standing before God, and His peace in our lives, is based on how we feel. If we feel bad, if we get angry, then He leaves us.
That is garbage!
There is nothing wrong with getting angry:
"Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:" (Ephesians 4: 26)
Anger and wrath are two different words. There are times when we should get angry. There is nothing wrong with expecting people to behave themselves, and there is also nothing wrong with getting angry when people are not behaving themselves in a right spirit.
For many of us, though, who were reared in this poisonous cult, we believed that if we got angry, we had to struggle our way out of it in order to get right with God again.
What!?
Yes. Exactly that.
It's time for us to put away the traditions of men, and stop believing the lies of broken Pharisees looking to force a yoke a bondage on the sons of God, who have received a new spirit.
"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)
We have already been blessed. We have already been accepted in Christ Jesus, the Beloved Son of God.
What are we worried about?
If we get angry, let us rest in the truth that the blood of Jesus cleanses (present tense) us from all sins (1 John 1:7).
God is not dependent or contingent on our moods, people!
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