More than a little love in our hearts........

Thankfully, those who are NEW CREATIONS IN CHRIST have more than a little love in their hearts.............

If God sees me as perfect forever and 100% righteous............

..................do I need to prove it? Or even try to?

Assessing guilt.........

It's high time I did a guilt assessment in my life. I find every now and again, I need to tackle guilt that has crept in to my life and pin it down permanently. So, I recently decided to re-listen to one of Rob Rufus' classic sermons on being free from guilt. (Thank you Dan for transcribing it! I highly recommend reading this sermon if you have the time, it will empower you to fight for freedom from ANY guilt in your life.) One thing Rob pointed out in this message was how a lot of Christians feel guilty that Jesus died instead of them. Isn't that so true! But NO, Jesus, for the joy set before him endured the cross!! 

Lately, I have been tempted in many areas of my life to feel guilt. Oh I wish I had spent more time with my kids in this way or that way. I wish I had learned to be more independent in this way or that long ago, so I wouldn't be struggling now. I should have done this, I should have done that. "Shoulda, coulda, woulda" - that's what my dear friend Patty says. It's all guilt! Condemnation!! And we know that there is absolutely no possibility for condemnation now that we are in Christ. NONE, ZIP, ZILCH. When we allow guilt and condemnation to enter our hearts and minds, we are rearming a disarmed foe. BUT - just in case, you are tempted to feel guilty for allowing guilt and condemnation in - STOP yourself - there is no condemnation. 

There's a line from a movie I watched as a kid, called the Labyrinth, with David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly, that I think sums up our fight against the enemies guilt tactics. Basically, David Bowie plays the evil antagonistic master of the underground and Jennifer Connelly is simply trying to rescue her brother from his clutches. Jennifer is taken through the Labyrinth which she must solve in order to save her brother. So of course she goes through with the quest and is taken on a wild journey full of risk and adventure and much turmoil thrown her way by David Bowie's character.  What I remember most about the movie, is when Jennifer's character finally realized that this evil underworld master truly had no hold over her. She declares, "You have no power over me."  Suddenly, everything returns to normal as it should be, as if it was all just a bad dream. 

I love the picture this movie presents. It's so true if we simply stop and realize that our enemy indeed - HAS NO POWER OVER US.  If he does, it's because we have let him!! 

So today I felt the strong sense I was to bring to attention the truth of Romans 8, and thrust the light on for anyone who may be struggling with guilt - the silent but deadly killer. Let's grab guilt by the throat - so we can instead be clothed by our Father's glory coat!! (as Rob would say)

Today's musings...........

I ran into a lovely woman today, I used to go to church with her. She has gone through a lot since then. Abandoned by her husband, had to get on her feet and start to fend for herself and her kids. Anyway......things are hard for her, but God is good and faithful. He is the perfect provider and husband. He is faithful, even when all those around us, even christians and the 'church', can't possibly understand what we are going through. She said, they just don't know how to help grieving people. I think it's worse than that. I think THEY expect more of people than even God does. That is called LEGALISM!!! Holding up standards above the value of a person and what they can and can't handle. I shudder......

Often the church is looking at what the picture of life 'should' look like based on biblical standards, or at least their interpretation of them, rather than meeting the 'hurting' person, or 'messy' person right where they are at.(Kind of like Jesus always did.....) It's like, "well, we have compassion for you - BUT- you should be doing it this way, or that way, and YOU still have to hold up the standards held out in God's word." 

You know what, I just don't think God is like that. I don't think he puts 'His' standards above people and where they are at, and what they have faith for. Besides, He cancelled the standards the written code, that was against us, by the way. Funny though, that christians turn the New Testament into a 'new' sort of law. What happens when that is done, is that God becomes a employer type figure. NO, NO, NO, think of the Father in the story of the prodigal son. If that is a picture of the Father's heart, then CHURCHES/CHRISTIANS everywhere are missing the reality of who God really is, and how radical His grace really is. You see genuine relationship doesn't work like that. Genuine relationship starts when we see that the Father wants us desperately regardless of our choices in life. Regardless of our behavior. When we see His love is greater than our mistakes, we will trust Him. We won't fear Him, because His love is perfect. And we know that perfect love casts out fear. 

Besides, did Jesus really die and cancel the written code, take all our sin and our sin natures on himself at the cross, raise again so he could then place a 'new' moral law and standards over us? NO, He died to replace our old adamic nature with HIS very LIFE. All we do is believe, and receive a brand new life in Christ. When we receive His very life, we enter into a union with Him that is so much more than principles, it's all about life, freedom, love and acceptance. We are given a new life and begin to learn, by relationship with Him, how to live from the inside out. In other words, we learn to walk in newness of life, His life!! We walk by the spirit, that is within us as we get to know His heart. It can't be about standards and behavior, because that will never change us on the inside. Only Christ's life that has been given to all those who believe, can change us and transform us. Then and only then we will be able to live in a way that lines up with God's character and heart for us. And you know what? That looks kind of different for everyone. There is no cookie cutter model. Sorry, there just isn't. 

The thing is, I know this woman so desperately wanted to do the right thing in her life. She wanted to live with integrity before God. Her heart was in the right place, truly I believe that. Yet, she had to struggle to do what was best for her and her kids right where she was at in life even though the church didn't agree. She was given Ephesians 5 as her advice (the part about husbands and wives), when there are so many other Scriptures to evaluate as well. Such as, "if any man is caught in sin" and how to handle that.  The reality is, we can't always choose how someone else is going to behave (like her spouse did), and situations arise that people like this woman never in a million years would have asked for, let alone lived her life to lead to that. But, nonetheless, choices were made by her spouse and she was put in a position in which she had to protect herself. (And we are talking years of trying to work things through with no headway on her spouses part.)So the end result, looked messy. Looked,  "ungodly", perhaps. Looked like she disobeyed 'scripture', perhaps. And the care she got was mixed with fear for holding up standards. 

I truly believe God is WAY kinder than we know. When life dishes you out rotten apples, you don't have to eat them. God values each one of his precious children and he will not hold a gun to our heads to stay in a hurtful harmful situation just to be a martyr, because most christians interpretation of Scripture indicates we do so. In fact we only have to be a martyr, if we have the faith to be one, because we believe we are following God's call for our life. 

God is LOVE. He will love us just as we are, and just where we are at. There is no judgement, there is NO more law over us,  and no condemnation. All things ARE lawful, but not always beneficial. He is all about mending broken hearts and giving new starts!!! And it's by His very life in us that He will always renew us day by day, as we walk in total dependence on Him! Our hope is in His life working in and through us and for us!!! 

 Galatians 6

^11-13Now, in these last sentences, I want to emphasize in the bold scrawls of my personal handwriting the immense importance of what I have written to you. These people who are attempting to force the ways of circumcision on you have only one motive: They want an easy way to look good before others, lacking the courage to live by a faith that shares Christ's suffering and death. All their talk about the law is gas. They themselves don't keep the law! And they are highly selective in the laws they do observe. They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast of their success in recruiting you to their side. That is contemptible!

 ^14-16For my part, I am going to boast about nothing but the Cross of our Master, Jesus Christ. Because of that Cross, I have been crucified in relation to the world, set free from the stifling atmosphere of pleasing others and fitting into the little patterns that they dictate. Can't you see the central issue in all this? It is not what you and I do—submit to circumcision, reject circumcision. It is what God is doing, and he is creating something totally new, a free life! All who walk by this standard are the true Israel of God—his chosen people. Peace and mercy on them!

 ¹⁷Quite frankly, I don't want to be bothered anymore by these disputes. I have far more important things to do—the serious living of this faith. I bear in my body scars from my service to Jesus.

 ¹⁸May what our Master Jesus Christ gives freely be deeply and personally yours, my friends. Oh, yes!

On celebrating 2!!!

My baby, Christian, turned 2 on Sunday!! I simply adore him so! He is one of the greatest joys of my heart! 

Psalm 127: 3-4

³ Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD,

         The fruit of the womb is a reward.

 ⁴ Like arrows in the hand of a warrior,

         So are the children of one’s youth.

On answering questions about attending/not attending church............

Every now and again I run into someone who will ask me the infamous question of, "So where are you going to church these days?" Most often it is someone with whom I used to attend the same church. I also get the question of "why don't you go to that church anymore?" The first question is easy to answer but hard to explain. The second question is hard to answer, due to the sensitive nature of not wanting to in any way criticize a church, yet to be honest, but it is easy to explain. So here goes.....

What I told a woman just today, in regards to what I am looking for in a church, is that no one is radical enough for me. She thought I meant I need them to be more into the gifts and such. A year ago, I was exploring with all of that and realized there is so much more to be experienced, but it's not through 'charismatic' church. It's through the VERY LIFE OF CHRIST THAT NOW INDWELLS ME!!

When I say radical, we have to remember the Gospel IS radical. It's foolishness, the Bible says! Most churches have not SEEN the entire radicalness of the finality of Jesus work on the cross! The truth of how not only have our sins been forgiven, but our sin natures removed, and we were plunged into Christ's death with him, and raised into newness of life with him. Most christians don't even know what it truly means to be 'born again'.  I sure didn't! 

If we have been born again, become new creations in Christ, seated in Heaven with God, why are we not talking about this AMAZING reality in church? Instead, we focus on how to live our earthly lives in our earthly bodies. Folks we are not our flesh and body. We ARE who we are in our spirit, I mean that's how God sees and identifies us. We are told to look not to the seen but to the unseen. What does that mean? Can you see your spirit? I can't! But it's in our spirit, where Christ lives. He is our very life and identity. Our spirit needs to be fed and nourished with the 'living' word. The truth of who we are now and how everything in the word points to Christ and His finished work. But the problem is, most churches are 'feeding' their people with practicals, how to's and principles to live on this earth as mere flesh and blood. When what they should be doing is fixin their eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of their faith. When our spirit is fed, our spirit breathes life through our mortal bodies and we are transformed from the inside out. We live in union with Christ. We have become divine partakers of His life and co-laborers  with him on this earth. 

So that is what I mean when I say radical. I choose to live my life from my TRUE source, JESUS. Not my flesh. Church most often feeds fleshly needs, earthly needs. And some of those earthly needs and principles are important, after all we do have to live here and relate with others. However, if we focus on the spirit, walk by the spirit, who brings freedom and life to our mortal bodies - we will be led into ALL truth. Including how to live out our life on this earth and in relationship with others. You see when you live in union, in relationship with Jesus, the WAY, the TRUTH and the LIFE, you begin to flow out of that union. You live as ONE, with Him. Just as a married couple takes on each other's traits, qualities, finish each others sentences and read each others minds, so do those who are married to Jesus grow into His image and likeness. Not because of 'doing', practicing or having convictions, but because of living in constant intimacy and relationship to Christ, to His very spirit within you. 

Most churches don't get that. What they offer is religion. Let's see what exactly religion is, I will allow Wikipedia to explain for me; 

"A religion is an organized approach to human spirituality which usually encompasses a set of narratives, symbols, beliefs and practices, often with a supernatural or transcendent quality, that give meaning to the practitioner's experiences of life through reference to a higher power, God orgods, or ultimate truth.^[1] It may be expressed through prayer, ritual, meditation, music and art, among other things. It may focus on specificsupernatural, metaphysical, and moral claims about reality (the cosmos and human nature) which may yield a set of religious laws, ethics, and a particular lifestyle. Religion also encompasses ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith andreligious experience.

The term "religion" refers to both the personal practices related to communal faith and to group rituals and communication stemming from shared conviction. "Religion" is sometimes used interchangeably with "faith" or "belief system,"^[2] but it is more socially defined than personal convictions, and it entails specific behaviors, respectively."

 After looking at that meaning, I sure don't want to get to the end of my life and say I lived by personal practices based on faith or conviction, ie; religion.  NO, I want to say I lived my life married  in union to Jesus, the author, perfector and finisher of my faith. The One who lavishly loved me and saved me to carry His very life. I lived fixed on the prize, not on my behavior or my good intentions or practices, but on HIM!! That's what it means to let Jesus be my all in all.

Simply because Jesus has chosen to dwell in me by His very Spirit, he has tabernacled with me and I have become His temple. Therefore, I am the church! He is in me and I am in Him. Church is not a place we go, it is a place Christ dwells in by His Spirit. He chooses mere man, earthen vessels to do His work, but it's only first through getting to know Him and seeing what He is doing. Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing, while He was on earth and He did that out of countless hours of intimacy with him. So we need to realize we are in a divine partnership with Christ. He chooses to move in us and through us, that is how we are the light and salt of the world, by His life within us flowing out, seasoning others by His grace in us. He doesn't need buildings and organizations to try and attempt to do, what only He can organicly do and has already done. (it's just that most believers don't know it yet.)

So to all those out there who don't understand why people leave church, and you're tempted to think they left their faith, and have run away from God, think again!! They have perhaps just run to God completely- more than you will ever know!! (unless perhaps you decide to join them......) 

He soothes me to sleep...........

It's 4 am and I toss and turn

My heart is heavy, my soul is worn

4:30 now, words no longer flow

my eyelids are heavy, to bed I must go

Those dreams I just dreamt

simply Satan's best attempt

at keeping me angry, and brewing contempt

but I will reject them and cast them away

for fear and negativity will not stay

I cannot allow them to come my way

For peace is my solace and peace is my gift

but Satan my heart will only try to sift

Jesus my Rock, my strong confidant

will save me and keep me, my enemies confront

He raises up a standard against all of those

who seek to take me down, my life they oppose

But Christ is my victor,  finalized at Calvary

He triumphed, he conquered for all the world to see

My Jesus, I thank you, you love me so dear

Your love has such power to conquer all fear

So as I attempt to rest my weary head

I remember your voice,  and the kind words you have said

You promised to not leave me, nor to forsake

My broken heart will be mended, yet some time it may take

........but Your word is a promise a bright shining truth

my wounds you long to heal, with your salve you will soothe

I'm so eternally grateful, from the bottom of my heart 

for this new thing you are doing, and a brand new start

You always redeem, 

you always save, 

you make all things new

You conquered the grave

You never give up, you never fail, 

you're always faithful, your word shall prevail..............

Recognize His life in you.........

“If you are feeling down, low, depressed . . .

 

it is NOT because you are not 'letting' Christ live in you, 

it is because YOU are not recognizing that He . . . already IS” 

~ John Fautley

What I am singing today..............

Fixin' my eyes...........

Life has been all consuming of late. My mind is bogged down with worries and concerns. I am wearing the weight of the world on my shoulders. Weary, oh so weary. I wrestle with big decisions and battered emotions. I long to rest in His peace and freedom. But my circumstances try to veer me down the path of unrest, unease. I become anxious and I 'let' my heart get troubled. Dang it. I know better than that. I know that my peace and my rest is only found in Him, and I am in Him, and He is in me. Only He can carry the load I so often try to shoulder. Only He is sufficient enough for me, and only He can carry me through life's storms. I must look straight into His eyes, or else I will falter and the waves of life will crash over me and consume me. 

His eyes. So full of compassion. So full of endless love, able to consume in one glance. Why would I ever want to look away? His eyes are the safest place in the world. They are my refuge and my solace. 

For too long now,  I have shifted my gaze and let the waves and the storm distract me. And to be honest, it's exhausting. Jesus told me, that his yoke is easy, his burden is light. He told me to rest in Him. He told me, His grace is sufficient for me, and His power is made perfect through my weakness. Am I trying to be strong? Am I trying to carry my own burdens, when he asked me to cast them upon him? 

Why do I find myself wrestling with all of this over and over? Why do I let the enemy deceive me time and time again? And why do I think some how I can do anything apart from him? 

Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing. He had to be still and listen to His voice. He was fixed on His Father's eyes. He was committed, full of trust, loyal, obedient, faithful. He wants to be all of that for me, and in me. He can do it. I cannot. 

Today, I finally remembered my gaze has not been fixed. My only hope, my only source and strength is in MY JESUS. Today, I choose to let go, releasing all my cares to Him. Not letting my circumstances dictate reality, but letting JESUS be my reality. He is my all in all. He is the TRUTH. I want truth to dictate my reality. Jesus, I surrender and I choose to look to you today. I know you will keep me, and I know by looking to you I can walk through these troubled waters.