Growing up as a child, I knew who Jesus was. I was blessed with the opportunity to learn about Him every day during my 12 years of Christian schooling. But, I did not truly know Him until I was 40. There is a huge difference in knowing about someone and intimately knowing them and spending time with them.
When I came into my relationship with Jesus, I did not know that I would find myself in the middle of a tug of war, or should I say, wars. But I have come to realize that these wars were all about the “old” me and how I would be broken in order to be made “new.” You can not rebuild without tearing down, and you can not heal without letting go. You can not have true freedom and eternal life without dying to your self.
So when I went through my breaking down process, I did feel like I was dying, but it wasn’t a physical death. It was most certainly a spiritual one:
I had to die to what I wanted, so I could receive what God wanted.
I had to die to my fleshly desires, so I could be lead by the Holy Spirit.
I had to die to the power and hold that Satan wanted over me, so I could be held and empowered by the Holy Spirit.
The original first tug of war, was a spiritual one that took place in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve. They knew God, they had an intimate relationship with Him, BUT, they were also influenced by Satan’s trickery. They had the free will to choose who they would follow, but just like me, they wanted what God did not want them to have. Their wrong thinking caused their flesh to desire what God did not want for them. So in one moment, they chose the power of Satan to rule over the power of God. Their relationship with God was broken, and they immediately came to realize what God meant when He said that they would know good and evil, as well as death. Talk about the extreme choices and the extreme consequences that we make for ourselves!
The spirit world is not fantasy or make believe. It is as real and as extreme today as it was in the Garden, but here is what we know today - Jesus has come to the rescue! We are blessed beyond human comprehension, for we are loved and valued by a very extreme God who sent his Son, Jesus, to die for our sins so that we could be free of that death hold that started back in the Garden!
Every day I am bombarded with all kinds of extreme choices, and I have to ask my self; how will I think, how will I feel, and how will I act? Jesus’ life here on earth was a living testimony to how He walked out the Scriptures in both the Old and New Testaments.
Last week I made reference to Ephesians 6:10–12. Every day I want to be an imitator of how Jesus walked out this Scripture. I want to be strong in God’s power and not my own. Jesus was the Son of God, and yet He knew He had to draw His power from the Father. I want to consciously dress myself in the armor of God so that I can resist the strategies and tricks of the Devil.
Consider this, Jesus was no sooner baptized and Satan tempted Him in the desert. He went there to fast for forty days and have alone time with the Father. Jesus knew the armor He had to put on to defend Himself from Satan’s schemes. The closer Jesus drew to the Father, and the more He spent time with Him, the more intensely Satan went after Him. Satan did this to Jesus, and he certainly does it to us!
Now consider this. Jesus is in the desert. The nights are cold, dark, lonely, and scary. The daytime is sunny, hot, dry, lonely, and scary. No one is there with Jesus in the flesh and blood – no human. He is the only one. But in the spirit world there is Jesus, who is also God, there is God the Father, His Holy Spirit, and Satan. There is a spiritual war going on in that desert and it is not against flesh and blood. Just like Jesus, I am not called to wrestle with flesh and blood. I am called to go against the unseen principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, and wicked spirits in the heavenly realms, meaning the skies and the air.
I am so thankful for what I have learned through my brokenness. It taught me to seek Truth and Truth that can only be found in God’s Word. You can not find it anywhere else because Truth is only what God says it is! If you are searching for power and healing in your own life, as I was in mine, then I want you to know that you do not have to go through the extreme breaking that I went through. Here is what I want to share with you that I experienced before I ever gained understanding of it in God’s Word. Satan is a false imitator of God’s light and His Word. So even though I spent quiet time with the Lord in prayer, meditated on His Word, and went to church, Satan came after me with a vengeance. He knew that he was loosing his grip on me. So he used every occult scheme that he could come up with to lure me into believing that this was the way to experience more of God, more of His power, and more of His healing. You see, at that time, I did know that mediums, numerology, palm reading, horoscopes, etc. were part of the occult. God can not be found in the occult. You will have a spiritual experience but it will be with Satan. The occult is Satan’s way of imitating God’s use of numbers, God’s revelation, and God’s prophecy. I did not know the Truth about all of this until I studied God’s Word.
In being broken, I also learned how to better care for my physical body. Through God’s Word, The Lord showed me how to love and accept my body rather than rejecting it, abusing it, or sinning against it. True power and true healing can only come through God the Father, His Son Jesus, His Holy Spirit, and being firmly grounded in His Holy Word.
Next week we will talk about how to daily dress yourself in the armor of God so that you are better equipped to shield and protect yourself from what is not the Truth of God.
March 21, 2012
March 14, 2012
Red Wednesday's Wisdom - Broken, Part One
It was like being a rubber band. I had been pulled so hard from both ends, that when there was no more to be stretched, I broke. That’s what happened to me 16 years ago. I was in a tug of war where I struggled with just about everything:
You and me
Right and wrong
Light and dark
Good and evil
Truth and lies
Needs and wants
I was scattered, lost, and out of control, and my balance was being threatened as I lived my life in extremes:
High or low
Fast or slow
Love or hate
All or nothing
Too much or too little
Too early or too late
It was not until I felt and saw the aftermath of this polarized force, that I recognized the need to confront the physical and spiritual choices that had brought me to this breaking point. I was facing the first year anniversary of my divorce, and I was still trying to figure out how to mend my broken heart. Unfortunately, that mending that I was looking for was not going to be found in the way that I was caring for myself. It is an example of one of those extremes where I was eating too little, and consuming too much - the coffee, the champagne, and the cigarettes. And then, in the midst of all the emotional loss I was going through, and the load of responsibility that was sometimes just too heavy to carry, I found myself on a very intense spiritual journey. I was reading my Bible, going to church, and praying, but I wanted more! I wanted and needed God’s healing and power so I went searching for Him in palm readers, psychics, numerology, horoscopes, tarot cards, healing touch, Eastern religion, and the array of New Age charm and attraction - but things did not get any better. In fact, they only got worse. I actually manifested the symptoms of a stroke in response to my anxiety, fear, and confusion – mouth paralysis and slurred speech. I had broken down, mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, and in all honesty, felt like I even was in the process of dying. But, keep in mind I had not been taking very good care of myself.
In the aftermath of this breaking, I gained an understanding of what is meant by the term spiritual warfare. In response to this, I clung to my Bible like I had never done before and Ephesians 6:10-12 became my battle cry. It says, “A final word; be strong with the Lord’s mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those might powers of darkness who rule this world, against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.”
Come back next week to find out how you and I can always have healing and power over being broken.
You and me
Right and wrong
Light and dark
Good and evil
Truth and lies
Needs and wants
I was scattered, lost, and out of control, and my balance was being threatened as I lived my life in extremes:
High or low
Fast or slow
Love or hate
All or nothing
Too much or too little
Too early or too late
It was not until I felt and saw the aftermath of this polarized force, that I recognized the need to confront the physical and spiritual choices that had brought me to this breaking point. I was facing the first year anniversary of my divorce, and I was still trying to figure out how to mend my broken heart. Unfortunately, that mending that I was looking for was not going to be found in the way that I was caring for myself. It is an example of one of those extremes where I was eating too little, and consuming too much - the coffee, the champagne, and the cigarettes. And then, in the midst of all the emotional loss I was going through, and the load of responsibility that was sometimes just too heavy to carry, I found myself on a very intense spiritual journey. I was reading my Bible, going to church, and praying, but I wanted more! I wanted and needed God’s healing and power so I went searching for Him in palm readers, psychics, numerology, horoscopes, tarot cards, healing touch, Eastern religion, and the array of New Age charm and attraction - but things did not get any better. In fact, they only got worse. I actually manifested the symptoms of a stroke in response to my anxiety, fear, and confusion – mouth paralysis and slurred speech. I had broken down, mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually, and in all honesty, felt like I even was in the process of dying. But, keep in mind I had not been taking very good care of myself.
In the aftermath of this breaking, I gained an understanding of what is meant by the term spiritual warfare. In response to this, I clung to my Bible like I had never done before and Ephesians 6:10-12 became my battle cry. It says, “A final word; be strong with the Lord’s mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies and tricks of the Devil. For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those might powers of darkness who rule this world, against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.”
Come back next week to find out how you and I can always have healing and power over being broken.
March 7, 2012
Red Wednesday's Wisdom - Welcoming
Having entered into this season of Lent, I often reflect on how the physical spring cleaning of my home, mirrors the never ending spiritual cleansing of my mind and heart. When I made the all important decision to welcome God’s Son Jesus into my life, I became a first hand witness to how God wanted to clean me out in regards to my cluttered relationships. Through God’s love, mercy, and forgiveness, I learned how to welcome people into my life with a new and fresh approach that was in alignment with God’s boundaries and not man’s. God’s boundaries always provide me with the protection I need to be safe and healthy.
I clearly remember one defining moment when I came to understand what welcoming meant from a much broader Biblical perspective that was based on chapter 10 in the Book of Matthew. That experience, was the result of being in a church that I had attended for many years. And even though there were beliefs and lifestyles that were totally uncomfortable for me, I came to believe that I was to accept and tolerate those situations, because after all, I was in church. I was surrounded by people who I called my friends, and some were even my family. But, after being repeatedly manipulated and accused of not being accepting and tolerant of other’s beliefs and lifestyles, I learned a very valuable lesson about what it means to be welcomed.
In Matthew 10:12-14, Jesus gave His disciples very clear instructions on who they were to reach out to and how they were to be welcomed as His followers. “When you are invited into someone’s home, give it your blessing. If it turns out to be a worthy home, let your blessing stand; if it is not, take back the blessing. If a village doesn’t welcome you or listen to you, shake off the dust of that place from your feet as you leave.”
Through these Scriptures, Jesus was telling me that there was a lack of worthiness to receive me and the blessing that I wanted to give in my church. I came to understand that my confusion about love, acceptance, and tolerance was a differentiation that I needed to make between the sinner and the sin. I was being expected to accept and tolerate the blatant sin that was taking place in our church, and equate that with loving, accepting, and tolerating the sinner. But that is not God’s thinking. God calls me always to love and accept the person, but I am never called to love, accept, or tolerate sin, mine or yours! I needed to break away from a church that wanted me to welcome that kind of thinking.
Our churches are like our families, they can take on a personality that is characteristic of the people who comprise them. Church, per se, is not a building. Hopefully, it is a place that is grounded in the Word of God and it is made up of people who welcome God’s Word, take His Word to heart, and walk His Word out. Church is not based on what man says, but what God says. I had to let go of the thinking that told me that church was equated to God. Church is where we go to worship God, and hopefully we find God there, but church can most certainly be void of His presence and His Word.
Matthew 10:16 actually gives us this warning: “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. Be as wary as snakes and harmless as doves. But beware!” The warning is there for me and for you, just as it was for the disciples. I am that sheep that needs to be cautious of the wolves that can be in my family, my church, work place, or wherever, and still love. As Matthew 10:36 declares, “Your enemies will be right in your own household.” In other words, I am to be aware of the enemies that lurk in my own family, BUT, I am still commanded to love them!
Who would ever think that we would need to be instructed on how to welcome people into our lives? But that is what Matthew 10 is all about. In fact, Matthew 10:40-41 ends with this rich and powerful summary, “Anyone who welcomes you is welcoming me, and anyone who welcomes me is welcoming the Father who sent me. If you welcome a prophet as one who speaks for God, you will receive the same reward a prophet gets. And if you welcome good and godly people because of their godliness, you will be given a reward like theirs.” These closing verses have taught me that my relationship with Jesus is crucial to me knowing who I am to be in relationship with, and who I am to keep at a distance. Some of my toughest love lessons have taught me how to love people from a distance without being intimately involved in their lives. Love does not tell me to be in relationship with every person I meet.
As I go through this Lenten season, I pray that all of us will become more discerning of who the Holy Spirit is telling us to welcome into our lives and who we are to be wary of. May our hearts and homes be a welcoming invitation to all who are meant to enter. And may we be a reflection of the One who wants to be welcomed into all of our lives!
I clearly remember one defining moment when I came to understand what welcoming meant from a much broader Biblical perspective that was based on chapter 10 in the Book of Matthew. That experience, was the result of being in a church that I had attended for many years. And even though there were beliefs and lifestyles that were totally uncomfortable for me, I came to believe that I was to accept and tolerate those situations, because after all, I was in church. I was surrounded by people who I called my friends, and some were even my family. But, after being repeatedly manipulated and accused of not being accepting and tolerant of other’s beliefs and lifestyles, I learned a very valuable lesson about what it means to be welcomed.
In Matthew 10:12-14, Jesus gave His disciples very clear instructions on who they were to reach out to and how they were to be welcomed as His followers. “When you are invited into someone’s home, give it your blessing. If it turns out to be a worthy home, let your blessing stand; if it is not, take back the blessing. If a village doesn’t welcome you or listen to you, shake off the dust of that place from your feet as you leave.”
Through these Scriptures, Jesus was telling me that there was a lack of worthiness to receive me and the blessing that I wanted to give in my church. I came to understand that my confusion about love, acceptance, and tolerance was a differentiation that I needed to make between the sinner and the sin. I was being expected to accept and tolerate the blatant sin that was taking place in our church, and equate that with loving, accepting, and tolerating the sinner. But that is not God’s thinking. God calls me always to love and accept the person, but I am never called to love, accept, or tolerate sin, mine or yours! I needed to break away from a church that wanted me to welcome that kind of thinking.
Our churches are like our families, they can take on a personality that is characteristic of the people who comprise them. Church, per se, is not a building. Hopefully, it is a place that is grounded in the Word of God and it is made up of people who welcome God’s Word, take His Word to heart, and walk His Word out. Church is not based on what man says, but what God says. I had to let go of the thinking that told me that church was equated to God. Church is where we go to worship God, and hopefully we find God there, but church can most certainly be void of His presence and His Word.
Matthew 10:16 actually gives us this warning: “Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. Be as wary as snakes and harmless as doves. But beware!” The warning is there for me and for you, just as it was for the disciples. I am that sheep that needs to be cautious of the wolves that can be in my family, my church, work place, or wherever, and still love. As Matthew 10:36 declares, “Your enemies will be right in your own household.” In other words, I am to be aware of the enemies that lurk in my own family, BUT, I am still commanded to love them!
Who would ever think that we would need to be instructed on how to welcome people into our lives? But that is what Matthew 10 is all about. In fact, Matthew 10:40-41 ends with this rich and powerful summary, “Anyone who welcomes you is welcoming me, and anyone who welcomes me is welcoming the Father who sent me. If you welcome a prophet as one who speaks for God, you will receive the same reward a prophet gets. And if you welcome good and godly people because of their godliness, you will be given a reward like theirs.” These closing verses have taught me that my relationship with Jesus is crucial to me knowing who I am to be in relationship with, and who I am to keep at a distance. Some of my toughest love lessons have taught me how to love people from a distance without being intimately involved in their lives. Love does not tell me to be in relationship with every person I meet.
As I go through this Lenten season, I pray that all of us will become more discerning of who the Holy Spirit is telling us to welcome into our lives and who we are to be wary of. May our hearts and homes be a welcoming invitation to all who are meant to enter. And may we be a reflection of the One who wants to be welcomed into all of our lives!
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