"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth." - 2 Timothy 2:15 ESV
If you study you will find that God approves of you. He doesn't approve of people because they study. He approves because of Jesus. Jesus IS approved and God only sees us as hidden in Christ.
Teachers who teach God disapproves of those who walk by faith in His Son will be ashamed because they didn't rightly handle the truth.
You are approved! Your past can't change that. Your present can't. Your future can't. Study and find out what grace means. Study and prove it to yourself then teach it to others.
"...Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, 'Do not fear, only believe.' " - Mark 5:36b ESV
"For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." - Romans 8:38-39 ESV
Your senses are NOT going to tell you this. It must come from the Bible. It must be experienced by being with people who have studied this out also. Forgiveness is learned. This approval is based on God's justice already being satisfied by Jesus Christ.
Shun the teacher that says you don't measure up and won't unless you do a list of things. They will be ashamed.
Believe and receive. Get a PhD in that and you will have peace in crazy times. You will know how to bounce back when others don't. You will be a 'workman' that does not work for God's approval but reveals that God has already done all the work.
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Showing posts with label Shame. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Shame. Show all posts
Thursday, August 10, 2017
Monday, June 19, 2017
Mercy For The Faulty Father
If you are a father who has messed everything up with his children... God's mercies are new every morning.
If you are a child who has been hurt by a parent... God will adopt you as His own child and be the Heavenly parent that you need.
Jesus died for deadbeat dads. Jesus was raised for children of every age.
"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." - John 14:18 ESV
"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." - Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV
Maybe your faithfulness has been lacking. Join the club. It has millions of members.
If in humility you and i will receive mercy and forgiveness then we can have the strength to make the hard choices. If you are breathing it isn't too late to initiate a relationship or a reconciliation. Pray and show love expecting nothing in return. Pray and do it at the right time. Stay built up in God's love. It isn't too late to stop hiding.
You may get rejected but at least you can stop living like a coward and face your fear. Once the fear is faced down the power it has just drains away.
Thank God for all the wonderful fathers out there that did so much for their children. God loves them and He loves you also. If His love was based on our merit we would all be in big trouble. We are loved because of Jesus. We are reconciling because of Christ.
There is new mercy today and it is powerful. It can cleanse away the deepest stain. We have a new day with fresh opportunities.
I want that mercy. Nothing can hold me for very long because of it. Thank You God for that fresh mercy!
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If you are a child who has been hurt by a parent... God will adopt you as His own child and be the Heavenly parent that you need.
Jesus died for deadbeat dads. Jesus was raised for children of every age.
"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." - John 14:18 ESV
"The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." - Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV
Maybe your faithfulness has been lacking. Join the club. It has millions of members.
If in humility you and i will receive mercy and forgiveness then we can have the strength to make the hard choices. If you are breathing it isn't too late to initiate a relationship or a reconciliation. Pray and show love expecting nothing in return. Pray and do it at the right time. Stay built up in God's love. It isn't too late to stop hiding.
You may get rejected but at least you can stop living like a coward and face your fear. Once the fear is faced down the power it has just drains away.
Thank God for all the wonderful fathers out there that did so much for their children. God loves them and He loves you also. If His love was based on our merit we would all be in big trouble. We are loved because of Jesus. We are reconciling because of Christ.
There is new mercy today and it is powerful. It can cleanse away the deepest stain. We have a new day with fresh opportunities.
I want that mercy. Nothing can hold me for very long because of it. Thank You God for that fresh mercy!
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Friday, March 3, 2017
Past The Thorny Crown
"Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him. And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe... So Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, 'Behold the man!' " - John 19:1-2, 5 ESV
"Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain." - Mark 4:7 ESV
Thorns create a barrier of painful experience and yet Jesus endured wearing them on His head in full identification with us. That crown must have made carrying the cross that much more difficult.
I think having painful thoughts is a part of our human experience. We all have them at times. Jesus knows all about that. He led a shame free and guilt free life but He knows.
He wears a different crown today.
"I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all." - Ephesians 1:16-23 ESV
He identified with us and now we identify with Him. He experienced shame and pain and we experience glory and majesty.
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus," - Philippians 2:5 NKJV
God gave us a way to handle the thorns. Jesus is the way. We think with Him. He is past the pain and He extends His hand to us to bring us past it also.
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"Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain." - Mark 4:7 ESV
Thorns create a barrier of painful experience and yet Jesus endured wearing them on His head in full identification with us. That crown must have made carrying the cross that much more difficult.
I think having painful thoughts is a part of our human experience. We all have them at times. Jesus knows all about that. He led a shame free and guilt free life but He knows.
He wears a different crown today.
"I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all." - Ephesians 1:16-23 ESV
He identified with us and now we identify with Him. He experienced shame and pain and we experience glory and majesty.
"Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus," - Philippians 2:5 NKJV
God gave us a way to handle the thorns. Jesus is the way. We think with Him. He is past the pain and He extends His hand to us to bring us past it also.
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Thursday, December 8, 2016
Filthy Language - Colossians - Part 52
The next unique word used in Colossians is the Greek word aischrologia (Strong's G148) and it used here as 'filthy language'...
"But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth." - Colossians 3:8 NKJV
It is a good translation. The word it comes from means filth related to shame. That is an interesting concept. Filth is something that is thought of as preventable so people brought up around cleanliness often associate filth with shame. Company can't come over unless the house is spotless.
Filthy language is littered with curse words and obscene ideas. Littered is the operative word. It is speech that is preventable in clean society.
Let's move to the verses that follow.
"Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." - Colossians 3:9-15 NKJV
Wow. The shame economy is gone.
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you." - John 15:1-3 ESV
We don't clean up our act. God does. That is profound.
Jesus bears fruit is us and through us. There is no division. Everyone who believes is clean. Our feet get dirty but we have been washed clean.
If we are self-regulating our words then our source of strength is our self. God will give us words if our minds are set on things that are above (see Colossians 3:1)
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"But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth." - Colossians 3:8 NKJV
It is a good translation. The word it comes from means filth related to shame. That is an interesting concept. Filth is something that is thought of as preventable so people brought up around cleanliness often associate filth with shame. Company can't come over unless the house is spotless.
Filthy language is littered with curse words and obscene ideas. Littered is the operative word. It is speech that is preventable in clean society.
Let's move to the verses that follow.
"Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful." - Colossians 3:9-15 NKJV
Wow. The shame economy is gone.
"I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you." - John 15:1-3 ESV
We don't clean up our act. God does. That is profound.
Jesus bears fruit is us and through us. There is no division. Everyone who believes is clean. Our feet get dirty but we have been washed clean.
If we are self-regulating our words then our source of strength is our self. God will give us words if our minds are set on things that are above (see Colossians 3:1)
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Tuesday, July 26, 2016
Shame And The Soul
"For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul?" - Mark 8:36-37 ESV
A good question.
Guilt is when we can't face what we have done. Shame is when we don't want to live with who we are. It is self hate.
Our soul is who we are. We are souls with bodies.
Jesus valued souls highly. What about us? Jesus continued doing what He was doing until they hung Him on a cross. Then He gave his life so our guilt and shame would be covered and blotted out.
He loves us. Our soul is precious to Him.
Today I'm going to let God love me. I don't have time for shame. I won't sell out to guilt. It is finished. The cross has paid for my soul issues.
It has also paid for your soul issues. Jesus has a way out of our love/hate relationship with ourselves. It is called the cross.
"And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, 'Who do people say that I am?' And they told him, 'John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.' And he asked them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Peter answered him, 'You are the Christ.' And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, 'Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.' And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.' " - Mark 8:27-38 ESV
Peter eventually stopped selling his soul to preserve his life. He had better things to do.
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A good question.
Guilt is when we can't face what we have done. Shame is when we don't want to live with who we are. It is self hate.
Our soul is who we are. We are souls with bodies.
Jesus valued souls highly. What about us? Jesus continued doing what He was doing until they hung Him on a cross. Then He gave his life so our guilt and shame would be covered and blotted out.
He loves us. Our soul is precious to Him.
Today I'm going to let God love me. I don't have time for shame. I won't sell out to guilt. It is finished. The cross has paid for my soul issues.
It has also paid for your soul issues. Jesus has a way out of our love/hate relationship with ourselves. It is called the cross.
"And Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, 'Who do people say that I am?' And they told him, 'John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.' And he asked them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Peter answered him, 'You are the Christ.' And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, 'Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.' And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, 'If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.' " - Mark 8:27-38 ESV
Peter eventually stopped selling his soul to preserve his life. He had better things to do.
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Friday, October 30, 2015
The Excitement Of Opening Day
We gather because we have an expectation that something is going to happen.
"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." - Hebrews 10:23-25 ESV
Let me first say that one of the things that I love about being a believer is that it renders guilt and shame oriented obligation useless. Conviction is useful but guilt is foreign and abandoned. Jesus became my guilty one. My sins were put on Him. Guilt is never a means to gather because guilt is never a means period.
If you have been part of a play or complicated dramatic production what do you do as opening day gets closer? You gather together more and more to practice and prepare. Why? Is it guilt that draws you? No. It is desire. When that curtain goes up everything you have worked for will be presented to a group of people and that is exciting and scary and wonderful all at the same time.
'The Day' this passage in the book of Hebrews is talking about is the day of God's visitation.
When that curtain goes up the people see the actors and hear the music. Props are moved on cue and the things people are doing behind the scenes become visible to the spectators. At the same time the actors feel the audience and hear their applause. Both groups are seen and experienced by each other.
The same is true on God's day of visitation. God is there observing us and we are there observing Him. All of this is happening as something prepared beforehand is unfolding before us.
I don't want to be a person that has nothing to look forward to. I want to be a person that expects God to show up. God Is faithful. Since I know that to be true I always have something to look forward to. That manifests as a general air of expectation but it also manifests in specific expectations of divine appointments in scheduled gatherings.
If you have ever experienced a visitation of God then you know what it's like but if you haven't I'm not sure if I have the words to explain it. It is the most wonderful transcendent thing.
I don't want to miss it and grace removes all the barriers from us receiving all that God Is in those times. There is no guilt or shame there. God is there and we are in the best possible place to be for that moment in time.
--
"Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." - Hebrews 10:23-25 ESV
Let me first say that one of the things that I love about being a believer is that it renders guilt and shame oriented obligation useless. Conviction is useful but guilt is foreign and abandoned. Jesus became my guilty one. My sins were put on Him. Guilt is never a means to gather because guilt is never a means period.
If you have been part of a play or complicated dramatic production what do you do as opening day gets closer? You gather together more and more to practice and prepare. Why? Is it guilt that draws you? No. It is desire. When that curtain goes up everything you have worked for will be presented to a group of people and that is exciting and scary and wonderful all at the same time.
'The Day' this passage in the book of Hebrews is talking about is the day of God's visitation.
When that curtain goes up the people see the actors and hear the music. Props are moved on cue and the things people are doing behind the scenes become visible to the spectators. At the same time the actors feel the audience and hear their applause. Both groups are seen and experienced by each other.
The same is true on God's day of visitation. God is there observing us and we are there observing Him. All of this is happening as something prepared beforehand is unfolding before us.
I don't want to be a person that has nothing to look forward to. I want to be a person that expects God to show up. God Is faithful. Since I know that to be true I always have something to look forward to. That manifests as a general air of expectation but it also manifests in specific expectations of divine appointments in scheduled gatherings.
If you have ever experienced a visitation of God then you know what it's like but if you haven't I'm not sure if I have the words to explain it. It is the most wonderful transcendent thing.
I don't want to miss it and grace removes all the barriers from us receiving all that God Is in those times. There is no guilt or shame there. God is there and we are in the best possible place to be for that moment in time.
--
Friday, June 6, 2014
No Shame. No Guilt. We Have An Anchor Inside The Veil
"We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek." - Hebrews 6:19-20 ESV
Yes. God anchors us from inside that which is eternal and that anchor holds. In storms and in great calm the anchor is there.
I was thinking yesterday of shame... when a person just can't look you in the face... not because they are oblivious or aloof but because they are looking down and inside and not liking what they see.
Guilt is hating what you do but shame is hating who you are. Here are a couple of examples in scripture that illustrate the point.
"Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame." - Psalms 22:3-5 ESV
"Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us."" - Genesis 26:10 ESV
There was a special offering for guilt.
"It is a guilt offering; he has indeed incurred guilt before the LORD."" - Leviticus 5:19 ESV
""This is the law of the guilt offering. It is most holy." - Leviticus 7:1 ESV
There was however no offering for a shame. God adopted the nation as His own and that was to cover their shame. The identity as God's chosen people was to displace hating who they were because they had an identity that was given to them.
""Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." - Isaiah 1:18 ESV
"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." - 1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV
Jesus is our anchor. He covers what we do with a once and for all offering and He gives us a clean new identity to live in.
"The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms." - Deuteronomy 33:27a ESV
Our anchor will hold no matter what we face today. No fear. No shame. No guilt. We have hope because of the One who sits in Heaven.
--
Yes. God anchors us from inside that which is eternal and that anchor holds. In storms and in great calm the anchor is there.
I was thinking yesterday of shame... when a person just can't look you in the face... not because they are oblivious or aloof but because they are looking down and inside and not liking what they see.
Guilt is hating what you do but shame is hating who you are. Here are a couple of examples in scripture that illustrate the point.
"Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. In you our fathers trusted; they trusted, and you delivered them. To you they cried and were rescued; in you they trusted and were not put to shame." - Psalms 22:3-5 ESV
"Abimelech said, "What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us."" - Genesis 26:10 ESV
There was a special offering for guilt.
"It is a guilt offering; he has indeed incurred guilt before the LORD."" - Leviticus 5:19 ESV
""This is the law of the guilt offering. It is most holy." - Leviticus 7:1 ESV
There was however no offering for a shame. God adopted the nation as His own and that was to cover their shame. The identity as God's chosen people was to displace hating who they were because they had an identity that was given to them.
""Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." - Isaiah 1:18 ESV
"But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." - 1 Peter 2:9-10 ESV
Jesus is our anchor. He covers what we do with a once and for all offering and He gives us a clean new identity to live in.
"The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms." - Deuteronomy 33:27a ESV
Our anchor will hold no matter what we face today. No fear. No shame. No guilt. We have hope because of the One who sits in Heaven.
--
Monday, January 27, 2014
Salvation That Dissolves Guilt And Shame
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God." - John 3:16-21 ESV
John 3:16 is one of the most magnificent statements ever recorded. In one sentence it reveals God's deep abiding love and plan of salvation. The greatest love by the greatest person giving the greatest gift and saving anyone from the greatest danger an individual can ever face.
Then in the verses to follow Jesus dismantles evil's most potent weapon, fear, by dealing with the twin roots of fear... guilt and shame.
Guilt is fear because of what we have done. Shame is fear because of who we are. Our works in darkness prove our love for darkness and as creations made in the image of God this love of darkness creates a conflict. Shame is the evidence that the fallen world, that lays down in wickedness, has made it's way into our self image.
God never sent light to us to condemn us. He sent Jesus to save us and part of that salvation is the rooting out of guilt and shame.
"Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him" - Hebrews 7:25a KJV
Jesus not only gives eternal life. He gives freedom. Freedom from what we have done and freedom from seeing ourselves as dark beings who do horrible, faulty broken things. The condemnation we lived in is now gone. It was put on Jesus and nailed to a cross.
"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." - 1 John 1:5-7 ESV
"But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, 'Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.' Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise," - Ephesians 5:13-15 ESV
Objective faith is what pleases God. Objective faith is walking in the light.
"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." - Hebrews 11:6 ESV
Jesus won us a great salvation. He died on a cross and now lives to hand us a gift of eternal life.. no strings attached.. no effort on our part.. a pure free gift. Salvation is a one time thing but freedom from guilt and shame is ongoing. Like Joshua we take back the land piece by piece even though before they crossed the river into the land God declared the land a 'promised land' and gave them the legal rights to it.
"Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love." - 2 John 1:3 ESV
Grace, mercy and peace are the antidotes that counteract and overrule our fallen life. God gives them in objective love and it pleases Him when we have objective faith.
Today is a new day. Shame can have us hiding and flinching at life or faith can cause us to live in the freedom of the finished work. God isn't done giving us gifts. He wants us to own our day. He wants us to live by faith in it. Let's go take what God has given us.
--
John 3:16 is one of the most magnificent statements ever recorded. In one sentence it reveals God's deep abiding love and plan of salvation. The greatest love by the greatest person giving the greatest gift and saving anyone from the greatest danger an individual can ever face.
Then in the verses to follow Jesus dismantles evil's most potent weapon, fear, by dealing with the twin roots of fear... guilt and shame.
Guilt is fear because of what we have done. Shame is fear because of who we are. Our works in darkness prove our love for darkness and as creations made in the image of God this love of darkness creates a conflict. Shame is the evidence that the fallen world, that lays down in wickedness, has made it's way into our self image.
God never sent light to us to condemn us. He sent Jesus to save us and part of that salvation is the rooting out of guilt and shame.
"Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him" - Hebrews 7:25a KJV
Jesus not only gives eternal life. He gives freedom. Freedom from what we have done and freedom from seeing ourselves as dark beings who do horrible, faulty broken things. The condemnation we lived in is now gone. It was put on Jesus and nailed to a cross.
"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." - 1 John 1:5-7 ESV
"But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, 'Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.' Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise," - Ephesians 5:13-15 ESV
Objective faith is what pleases God. Objective faith is walking in the light.
"And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." - Hebrews 11:6 ESV
Jesus won us a great salvation. He died on a cross and now lives to hand us a gift of eternal life.. no strings attached.. no effort on our part.. a pure free gift. Salvation is a one time thing but freedom from guilt and shame is ongoing. Like Joshua we take back the land piece by piece even though before they crossed the river into the land God declared the land a 'promised land' and gave them the legal rights to it.
"Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love." - 2 John 1:3 ESV
Grace, mercy and peace are the antidotes that counteract and overrule our fallen life. God gives them in objective love and it pleases Him when we have objective faith.
Today is a new day. Shame can have us hiding and flinching at life or faith can cause us to live in the freedom of the finished work. God isn't done giving us gifts. He wants us to own our day. He wants us to live by faith in it. Let's go take what God has given us.
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Thursday, October 3, 2013
The Cure For What Plagues You
"So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, 'If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.' They answered him, 'We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, 'You will become free'?' Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:31-36 ESV
Fear, guilt and shame. Individuals deal with them and they rule cultures in varying combinations. We are very naturally attracted to people who seen immune to these motivators. They appear to be the 'alpha dogs' to our fallen animal nature.
Shamelessness is anathema to the religious man but it is very attractive to the natural one. Freedom from shame seems like paradise. So does freedom from guilt and fear.
"Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, 'Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.' He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 'As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.' " Psalms 2:1-6 ESV
The King God has set on His right hand is the King of freedom. Perhaps God laughs because of the misplaced blame. Whole nations blame Him for their bondage and conspire to have Him removed from their schools and gatherings. They want to take knowledge away from their people thinking it will cure them from guilt and shame.
Empires and cultures have tried to do just this thing. They have come and gone but God remains forever.
God says to His Son...
" 'Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.' Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him." Psalms 2:8-12 ESV
"The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward." Psalms 19:9-11 KJV
Grace is a kiss. Be afraid not to live in it. Why... because of consequences? The consequences are not the guilt and shame the world projects. The clean awe of God is the beginning of wisdom. This love casts out all imitations. This fire will not burn us. It will only consume our bondage.
Once you kiss the Son He makes you free... really free. You become free of the guilt people impose on you. Free of the shame that makes you want to hide. Free of a life of avoidance.
That is what fear with torment does it makes people hide and do whatever is required to avoid pain.
"If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." 1 John 1:6-7 ESV
People have turned this verse into some works program but read it. Who hides from the light? What child skulks in the shadows and takes a long way home. A child who is avoiding someone they are afraid of.
If we face God and kiss His Son then we will soon be convinced that fear of anything is needless and obsolete. What guilt? What shame? They do not exist when standing before God... only love, acceptance and memories of God's faithfulness.
Fear, guilt and shame. Individuals deal with them and they rule cultures in varying combinations. We are very naturally attracted to people who seen immune to these motivators. They appear to be the 'alpha dogs' to our fallen animal nature.
Shamelessness is anathema to the religious man but it is very attractive to the natural one. Freedom from shame seems like paradise. So does freedom from guilt and fear.
"Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying, 'Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.' He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, 'As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill.' " Psalms 2:1-6 ESV
The King God has set on His right hand is the King of freedom. Perhaps God laughs because of the misplaced blame. Whole nations blame Him for their bondage and conspire to have Him removed from their schools and gatherings. They want to take knowledge away from their people thinking it will cure them from guilt and shame.
Empires and cultures have tried to do just this thing. They have come and gone but God remains forever.
God says to His Son...
" 'Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel.' Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him." Psalms 2:8-12 ESV
"The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward." Psalms 19:9-11 KJV
Grace is a kiss. Be afraid not to live in it. Why... because of consequences? The consequences are not the guilt and shame the world projects. The clean awe of God is the beginning of wisdom. This love casts out all imitations. This fire will not burn us. It will only consume our bondage.
Once you kiss the Son He makes you free... really free. You become free of the guilt people impose on you. Free of the shame that makes you want to hide. Free of a life of avoidance.
That is what fear with torment does it makes people hide and do whatever is required to avoid pain.
"If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." 1 John 1:6-7 ESV
People have turned this verse into some works program but read it. Who hides from the light? What child skulks in the shadows and takes a long way home. A child who is avoiding someone they are afraid of.
If we face God and kiss His Son then we will soon be convinced that fear of anything is needless and obsolete. What guilt? What shame? They do not exist when standing before God... only love, acceptance and memories of God's faithfulness.
Friday, December 7, 2012
The Place No One Wants To Go
Golgotha 'The Place of the Skull' is the haunted place. In human nature places become personifications of men's fears. It is place of aversion to the natural man. A place that signifies death.
As a child maybe you had a 'Boo Radley' type of house nearby... from To kill a Mockingbird. I did. A place that children tell stories about and those stories get passed from the older children to the younger and change over the years to form a local horror mythology. It is very common and most societies large and small have something like this going on.
Golgotha is a picture of this place in the scriptures. In Mark 5 verses 1 through 5 another place like this is described in the country of the Gadarenes across the Sea. Jesus and the disciples met a possessed man there who was cutting himself with stones and crying out in the tombs. Jesus strolled into that place and made short work of the situation. Demons did not have power over Him nor did fear.
Jesus also willfully went to Golgotha, a place of torment, of horror, of shame and judgment. He went right into the heart of the fears of all mankind on purpose. He was brought there but He also chose to go. He was the most liberated man on Earth and these are the places He chose to go.
It is healthy for any person to face fear. It demystifies it and removes it's power in that area. It is an exercise of the will that shows immediate benefits because of the release that comes afterwards. People turn it into a lifestyle actually and because of that they realize personally that man is capable of much more than it seems. It is one thing to know that on paper... it is another to know it experientially. Then there are others that hide in the shadows and are mastered by what lies just below the surface into lives of safety.
Oh, We could talk about demons here but I'm not going to. They are real but fear is fear no matter if it is true danger or imagined. Fear clouds the mind, energizes the emotions and makes options that would normally be dismissed out of hand seem plausible. A person who faces fear and lives to tell about it now has something real to say. Jesus faced fear and has demystified it by conquering it. Fear, shame, guilt, death, danger and demons are all notches on Christ's belt. Jesus spoke to His Father right in the heart of that place. Golgotha became the place of God's manifested victory.
That victory is ours now. It is a victory given to everyone who believes in Christ. Timid or brave, quiet or loud, reserved or bold... it is on your account if you are hidden in the Son of God and yours to walk in when you walk with the Son of God. It is good to exercise our will in a cross-ward direction. When free in the Spirit we have liberty to do it. It's not like we won't have "What have I gotten myself into?" moments. But, so what! We can stroll through those also.
Are you afraid of something? Maybe it is something that has been reinforced by past pain so it really causes you to wince. Christ has passed through to the other side of it already and he has shrugged off any demon associated with it. Now He passes His hand through that thing and offers it to you saying, "Take my hand and follow me. I have the keys to death and Hell." When we take His hand and go with Him, listening to His words then liberty is our companion and joy is what we end up with.
There are no haunted houses in Christ's kingdom.
"And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." Rev 12:10-11
As a child maybe you had a 'Boo Radley' type of house nearby... from To kill a Mockingbird. I did. A place that children tell stories about and those stories get passed from the older children to the younger and change over the years to form a local horror mythology. It is very common and most societies large and small have something like this going on.
Golgotha is a picture of this place in the scriptures. In Mark 5 verses 1 through 5 another place like this is described in the country of the Gadarenes across the Sea. Jesus and the disciples met a possessed man there who was cutting himself with stones and crying out in the tombs. Jesus strolled into that place and made short work of the situation. Demons did not have power over Him nor did fear.
Jesus also willfully went to Golgotha, a place of torment, of horror, of shame and judgment. He went right into the heart of the fears of all mankind on purpose. He was brought there but He also chose to go. He was the most liberated man on Earth and these are the places He chose to go.
It is healthy for any person to face fear. It demystifies it and removes it's power in that area. It is an exercise of the will that shows immediate benefits because of the release that comes afterwards. People turn it into a lifestyle actually and because of that they realize personally that man is capable of much more than it seems. It is one thing to know that on paper... it is another to know it experientially. Then there are others that hide in the shadows and are mastered by what lies just below the surface into lives of safety.
Oh, We could talk about demons here but I'm not going to. They are real but fear is fear no matter if it is true danger or imagined. Fear clouds the mind, energizes the emotions and makes options that would normally be dismissed out of hand seem plausible. A person who faces fear and lives to tell about it now has something real to say. Jesus faced fear and has demystified it by conquering it. Fear, shame, guilt, death, danger and demons are all notches on Christ's belt. Jesus spoke to His Father right in the heart of that place. Golgotha became the place of God's manifested victory.
That victory is ours now. It is a victory given to everyone who believes in Christ. Timid or brave, quiet or loud, reserved or bold... it is on your account if you are hidden in the Son of God and yours to walk in when you walk with the Son of God. It is good to exercise our will in a cross-ward direction. When free in the Spirit we have liberty to do it. It's not like we won't have "What have I gotten myself into?" moments. But, so what! We can stroll through those also.
Are you afraid of something? Maybe it is something that has been reinforced by past pain so it really causes you to wince. Christ has passed through to the other side of it already and he has shrugged off any demon associated with it. Now He passes His hand through that thing and offers it to you saying, "Take my hand and follow me. I have the keys to death and Hell." When we take His hand and go with Him, listening to His words then liberty is our companion and joy is what we end up with.
There are no haunted houses in Christ's kingdom.
"And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death." Rev 12:10-11
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