How Did Jesus Deal With Demons?

"But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men." - Matthew 16:23 KJV

When Jesus dealt with demons He didn't deal with them like they were people. Pride, selfishness, greed and the whole list of other negative 'emotions' are not natural. They are demonic in origin. Demons are not people. They are a 'host'. They are more like bees or ants than people. The individual has a will but it is lost in the group.

"When Jesus arrived on the other side of the lake, in the region of the Gadarenes, two men who were possessed by demons met him. They lived in a cemetery and were so violent that no one could go through that area. They began screaming at him, "Why are you interfering with us, Son of God? Have you come here to torture us before God's appointed time?" There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding in the distance. So the demons begged, "If you cast us out, send us into that herd of pigs." "All right, go!" Jesus commanded them. " - Matthew 8:28-32a NLT

If a group has a favorite place to hang out they build a sentimental attachment to that place. If they have a bad experience in that place once or a couple of times they will find some other place to hang out.

Bringing Jesus into the room gives darkness a bad experience. 

"Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord? Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak to you soft words? Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever? Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you put him on a leash for your girls? Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants? Can you fill his skin with harpoons or his head with fishing spears? Lay your hands on him; remember the battle--you will not do it again!" - Job 41:1-8 ESV

Darkness works in darkness for a reason. Leviathan (which can represent that organized darkness) is so seamless and strong that most people don't even know what they are dealing with. Demonic powers are nearly invisible to us in the natural.

"And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all [men], apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And [that] they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will." - 2 Timothy 2:24-26 KJV

Jesus always ruins darkness' day because His light exposes leviathan. He can no longer take pride in his victory in a place. He is greedy and makes reasons to move on to greener pastures.

Don't reason with the Devil. Just bring Jesus into the room and make Him the focus. Tell darkness Christ owns the place, situation and people. 

"Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." - James 4:7 KJV"

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Contend For This

"Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." - Jude 1:3-4 ESV

That word translated 'contend' is only used once in the scriptures and it basically means to go above and beyond to take possession of some object or preserve a reputation or legacy.

Verse four tells us that the fight is between freedom to indulge ourselves as being a central focus and Jesus. We are told to 'war' to keep Him and what he has accomplished central.

That is so convicting to me. Can we read the Gospels and then do anything we please? All things are lawful but not all things are profitable.

Walking with Jesus in liberty is the 'faith' that was first delivered to the Saints. Those disciples followed Him and they went where He took them. That is a walk worth fighting for.

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Impudent Prayer

This is a passage that consistently makes me want to pray more...

"And he said to them, 'Which of you who has a friend will go to him at midnight and say to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine has arrived on a journey, and I have nothing to set before him'; and he will answer from within, 'Do not bother me; the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot get up and give you anything'? I tell you, though he will not get up and give him anything because he is his friend, yet because of his impudence he will rise and give him whatever he needs. And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened." - Luke 11:5-10 ESV

Jesus is telling us to pray in a way that would be annoying to any other person. He tells us to push 'the social envelope' with God.

Yes, This passage always challenges me in a good way.

We can live hospitable lives and then bug God for the substance of our hospitality or we can play it safe and have excuses for our lack.

God make us more willing to ask and keep asking so that other travelers would get a provision along their way.

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Believing Caleb / Winning The Wolf

March 17th, 2017

Today is going to be the best day of my life. I have chosen to believe Caleb about the promised land and skip Numbers chapter 14 and all of the rest of the wanderings of that book. The Gospel gives me (us) a land overflowing with milk and honey and giants that will make a big thud when they fall.

A Rhema (divinely inspired word) for me today... We can agree with Caleb this morning when the day is fresh and new and skip to Joshua 1:2 or we can deal with Korah and Balaam for the rest of our lives.

There may be no wedding today... no babies born... no graduation planned... just the Gospel makes this potentially the best day of our lives.

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March 18th, 2017

"But David said to Saul, 'Your servant used to keep sheep for his father. And when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb from the flock, I went after him and struck him and delivered it out of his mouth. And if he arose against me, I caught him by his beard and struck him and killed him. Your servant has struck down both lions and bears...' " - 1 Samuel 17:34-36a ESV

"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them." - Isaiah 11:6 KJV

"The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD." - Isaiah 65:25 KJV

Is nature normal? Seems like an odd question. Secular science says, 'Yes, Of course it is.' but the Bible says that what we see now is not what we will see later.

Wolves don't live with lambs but they will.

Dogs are canines but they live with us they are close to wolves.

I heard an account a while back on radio about an area that had a large number of dogs go missing. One wolf would appear near a dogs yard and play with him or her. Then one day the dog would just disappear. One dog can play with one wolf but then the pack shows up and that dog has no place there. It becomes food for the pack.

"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are safe; but when one stronger than he attacks him and overcomes him, he takes away his armor in which he trusted and divides his spoil. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters." - Luke 11:21-23 ESV

Jesus is the stronger man in this picture. He enters the broken natural world that is influenced by fallen angels and He binds the strong man in his own fortress. He pulls the wild man out of the pack and makes him into something else. That man gets saved not eaten. He is transformed. He or she is made into a family member.

Fitting in (if it is even possible) only makes us vulnerable to a vicious nature. God wants to restore normality. Being with Him is normal and right. This world has been wrong for a long long time. It has been wrong for as long as anyone can remember.

Win a soul today and make it right again.

In this age this restoration is done one person at a time. Walk with the stronger man who isn't lying in wait to shed blood. He is a king who has taken on the role of a servant. He Is the royal lion uncorrupted by the world and the lamb who is no one's victim. He is the Savior and He has come into this world to seek and save the lost. He washes feet and wins hearts and minds with his gracious kindness. We can be 'about' His Father's business.

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Hannah's Problem - God's Provision

Thinking. Reading. Praying. Planning. Looking at biblical examples. Asking God how and if they fit into the circumstances I am facing now as a person. Looking at my theological framework. Reading. Praying. Wondering what I can do for people. Wondering what to even to say to some people. Time. Money. Support. Miraculous intervention. All of the above.

My mind keeps returning to Hannah (an old testament Israelite)...

"There was a certain man of Ramathaim-zophim of the hill country of Ephraim whose name was Elkanah the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, an Ephrathite. He had two wives. The name of the one was Hannah, and the name of the other, Peninnah. And Peninnah had children, but Hannah had no children. Now this man used to go up year by year from his city to worship and to sacrifice to the LORD of hosts at Shiloh, where the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests of the LORD. On the day when Elkanah sacrificed, he would give portions to Peninnah his wife and to all her sons and daughters. But to Hannah he gave a double portion, because he loved her, though the LORD had closed her womb. And her rival used to provoke her grievously to irritate her, because the LORD had closed her womb. So it went on year by year. As often as she went up to the house of the LORD, she used to provoke her. Therefore Hannah wept and would not eat." - 1 Samuel 1:1-7 ESV

This issue went on for years... years!

Her husband loved her and did what he could to help. I look at the account and see his portion in her life. It was needed. It was real. He couldn't solve her problems but he did what he could to bring her to God's provision.

"And Elkanah, her husband, said to her, "Hannah, why do you weep? And why do you not eat? And why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?" After they had eaten and drunk in Shiloh, Hannah rose. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat beside the doorpost of the temple of the LORD. She was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly. And she vowed a vow and said, "O LORD of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your servant and remember me and not forget your servant, but will give to your servant a son, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall touch his head." As she continued praying before the LORD, Eli observed her mouth. Hannah was speaking in her heart; only her lips moved, and her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli took her to be a drunken woman. And Eli said to her, "How long will you go on being drunk? Put your wine away from you." But Hannah answered, "No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD. Do not regard your servant as a worthless woman, for all along I have been speaking out of my great anxiety and vexation." Then Eli answered, "Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him." And she said, "Let your servant find favor in your eyes." Then the woman went her way and ate, and her face was no longer sad." - 1 Samuel 1:8-18 ESV

There is so much here.

Do you think that God doesn't know that leaders make stupid judgemental assumptions sometimes? God uses the partial blindness of people. Notice how Hannah found peace somehow. She prayed. That was part of it but she also interacted with Eli. God used both. God used all of it.

I sometimes look at situations and begin to judge. I see impractical decisions and even what looks to me at first glance like hyper-spiritual logic and start to judge but then I have to check myself. The situation is what it is. What are we going to do now? Prevention is great but any thoughts, or comments, of that nature are not going to be helpful.

It is a long story and I'll just say for those of you who don't know how it ends... God opens Hannah's womb and Samuel is born. He is the one these books are the Bible are named after. He becomes an important figure in Israel.

God comes through for Hannah.

My mind races and I think of a dozen people in need right now. Tears fill my eyes. If each of them cries out to God He Is going to help them. He Is going to come through for them. I don't know how He will. I don't even know my place in it.

I wonder what Eli thought when he saw little Samuel in the temple. Was he reminded of his idiotic behavior towards Hannah and think, 'I am such an idiot.'... maybe... but then standing next to her is that little miracle boy.

That idiot served a great God. God Is great in spite of his mistakes. Eli did it imperfectly and so do I. So I weep. I read. I pray. I ponder. I ask. I help where I can. Money. Time. Support. Prayer. I even rarely tell people what I think... very rarely... because this life has baffling problems that only God can solve.

This morning, as I look at my theological framework and compare it to scripture it has soundness. It is based on grace. Jesus is central. The work of salvation is finished. God loves us. In areas I have slipped I get realigned.

God will give us words when we need them. We pray looking like drunken fools and God answers in miraculous ways.

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Butter On Our Shoes

"And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ." - Ephesians 5:18-21 ESV

The Greek word translated debauchery there is Asotia (Strong's G810) it is a negation of Sozo (G4982) a word for safety or salvation. Very simply put being drunk with wine does not save a person. It does the opposite. It puts them in danger. But just as a person drinks a glass of wine and then loosens up to have another and then another God want our life to be filled with the Spirit the same way. This drink is heady drink indeed. It intoxicates a person until they are drunk with thanksgiving and reverence.

"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." - Proverbs 20:1 KJV

Wine or strong drink is a dangerous substitute. It mocks a person in it's Godless release leaving a person empty. Spirit filling does the opposite. It leaves a person full. It makes them poetic and melodic. There is an interchange of creative expression and of awe.

"And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding," - Colossians 1:9 ESV

Filled with the Spirit and filled with truth.

Here Job recounts his glory days.

"Oh, that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me, when his lamp shone upon my head, and by his light I walked through darkness, as I was in my prime, when the friendship of God was upon my tent, when the Almighty was yet with me, when my children were all around me, when my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured out for me streams of oil! When I went out to the gate of the city, when I prepared my seat in the square," - Job 29:2-7 ESV

God was bringing him to a deeper place. Job was to be a witness in the angelic contest but here we see a man who drank of God and churned the milky mixture straight from the source into butter in his thinking. His thinking would spill over into his walk like butter from the churn getting on our shoes.

We can be full of God today. We are placed in Christ at the moment of our salvation but have we opened the door for The Spirit to fill us? Are we drinking of the cup of salvation taking sip after sip until thanksgiving fills our hearts? We can. We can chew the cud of the Word of God. We can churn the butter until it gets all over our shoes and relinquish control of our lives to the Holy Spirit who thinks in love and honor towards people.

That is not dangerous it is glorious. That adds something eternal instead dissipating and dissolving. Those who are filled with the Spirit have their actions written in God's book instead of just photos with glasses lifted in smoky dark venues. It is not the raised glass that will get us through the dark times. It is the Word hidden in our heart and the butter on our shoes that directs our steps to God's safe pathway.

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Organic Understanding

The first part of Isaiah 11 verse 3 is translated in widely different ways.

"And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears" - Isaiah 11:3 KJV

"And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear" - Isaiah 11:3 ESV

That is because the Hebrew word Ruwach (Strong's H7306) is used. This word talks about recognition through the sense of smell. Delight or quick understanding that comes from instant recognition of something that has proven good and pleasurable in the past... like coming home and opening the door and smelling cookies baking in the oven or the smell of your favorite food warm and waiting for you. This knowing is an organic knowing that is instinctual.

The word we translate Spirit... ruwach (H7307)... is literally wind or breath...

Let's look at these verses again thinking in these terms. I have capitalized the words that specifically contribute to this concept.

"And the SPIRIT of the LORD shall rest upon him, the SPIRIT of wisdom and understanding, the SPIRIT of counsel and might, the SPIRIT of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of QUICK UNDERSTANDING in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the BREATH OF HIS LIPS shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins." - Isaiah 11:2-5 KJV

Wow.

What is the scent that we instinctively recognize in our human spirit? The fear of the LORD or awe of the LORD that instantly causes delight when it comes in contact with our spiritual senses... the recognition of grace... the realization that God has mercy... He had it before when we needed it and He has it now... the goodness of God... the faithfulness and consistency of God.

This is what Adam lost in the garden... what Jesus had resting upon Him all the days of his life... what we who believe in Christ's death, burial and resurrection have indwelling us, sealing us and we sense by faith surrounding us.

"But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life. Who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, like so many, peddlers of God's word, but as men of sincerity, as commissioned by God, in the sight of God we speak in Christ." - 2 Corinthians 2:14-17 ESV

"for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' " - Hebrews 13:5b ESV

This is not purely intellectual. There is an rational explanation for it but it is not going to be discovered by the mind alone. This is deeper than that on an organic level.

Grace originates from the God of all grace. That is the favorable mindset that carries the distinctive scent of divinity.

"Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!" - Psalms 34:8 ESV

Yes. God this morning we inhale and exhale mixing faith with your promises. Cause us to exhale the production of that life.

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, my rock and my redeemer." - Psalms 19:14 ESV

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Peter's Role To Reveal Grace

Reading 2 Peter chapter 1 again and again this morning. Wow. Peter knew his role. He had a measure of celebrity by the time this book was written but it never went to his head. You can see the focus in this book and chapter very clearly.

"Simeon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained a faith of equal standing with ours by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord." - 2 Peter 1:1-2 ESV

He saw everyone who believed as having equal standing.

"Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have. I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to stir you up by way of reminder," - 2 Peter 1:12-13 ESV

In essence he is saying, 'As long as I am around I am going to tell you about Jesus, what he has done and what He is doing. When you see me you will be reminded of Him.'

Do you think new Peter ever felt like old Simon? I am sure He did.

"His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall." - 2 Peter 1:3-10 ESV

But Peter knew how to be put back in the flow so nearsightedness didn't shipwreck him. He had confirmation after confirmation that rebuked those feelings. His thought life of mixing faith with truth and learning to give Himself grace (because God was giving Him nothing but grace) gave Him a momentum to live in... a river that would take Him places not by His own power but by God's power.. an identity that was not self oriented but had a consciousness of belonging.. a role to play in people's lives.

Peter was elected into His present position. There can be a lot of theological baggage that comes with this term but let's just look at it in it's pure sense.

People's names are put on a ballot for mayor or some other office. There is a process and then one day the votes are counted and the person who 'wins' now holds the office. Ta Da... they are the new mayor. Yesterday they were not the mayor... today they are. It is written in the history books. The letterhead gets changed a new name placard with the new Mayor's name is placed on the Mayor's door. Even if they are not re-elected at some later date the person becomes the 'former Mayor'. They can never go back.

Peter knew His role. Yesterday He was a fisherman. Today he is a believer. God elected Him and that was it. He might feel like old Simon but He is not old Simon and never will be again. One decision caused Simon to turn a corner and become Peter forever. He can never be taken out of office. God elected Him and God does what He does and it lasts forever.

It is so good to have a way to not be self oriented any more. To live with Jesus as our focus. To bring Jesus into focus for others by being who God has made us to be.

"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain." - 1 Corinthians 15:10a ESV

Amen. Amen.

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Faith Produced By Rhema

"So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." - Romans 10:17 KJV

This passage is so amazing when you look at the Greek. The 'Word of God' in Greek is Rhema (Strongs G4487) Theos (G2316).

In the following passage Logos (G3056) is used for word.

"Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God." - Luke 8:11 KJV

The logos is the written word or a concept that is intelligible to the understanding. The Bible is the logos of God's mind. Jesus is the Logos of God. He is what makes God understandable to us. The Logos is vital, pure and unique but it is not what produces faith. It provides a platform for faith to be produced but people can have Logos and still be as dead as a door nail.

In order for faith to be produced there must be a message that is heard but it must be a message that dawns on a person. It must connect in a deep way. The mind of God must touch the mind of man. It can't just be the persuasive argument coming from a learned person... it must be the life of God extended to the soul of a person... the mind, emotions, will, conscience and consciousness of self are all engaged. The Rhema pulls a person out of subjective living and invites them into objective reality.

This kind of hearing can produce transformation because faith is now involved. The logos comes alive. Our relationships come alive. Our purpose for living comes into focus. What God is doing and thinking becomes evident. Truth dawns on us and we are not living in the dark. We have a light.

Rhema doesn't tell you what you want to hear. It might say 'Dig ditches and God will deliver the enemy into your hands.' (2 Kings 3) and then the Rhema declares defeat in battle (1 Kings 22). People use the logos to make things come out the way they want it to. God's word is turned into a self-help manual. One of many on a shelf with all the others.

No. The word of God is more than that. Grace is the Rhema of God! Your flesh is going to die in the battle. Your Spirit will have victory. Grace unveils divine reality. The Gospel of Grace is the invitation into God's divine provision for salvation. It isn't going to save your self life. The unconditional nature of it is going to kill it. It is the love that will save your soul and illuminate your spirit. It will save you forever and moment by moment in the details of life.

Jesus did it all. That is Rhema. We can have the His righteousness placed on our account as a gift and only if we receive it as a gift. That is the provision. Then in that provision we can walk by faith into our day with a spiritual victory.

Let's walk in the Rhema that saved us. That might have happened moments ago or years ago. In that light God will give us more light... specific light for day ahead of us.

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Order We See Versus Life In Christ

"Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ." - Colossians 2:6-8 ESV

Human tradition and the elementary spirits (principles) of the world both appeal to us on some level. One is human order and the other is natural order... things people do and things we observe in nature.

People have traditions... cycles and methods they have developed. They are not spiritual though they may seem that way.

Nature reveals things about it's creator... those things don't go far enough. Nature is a creation and great to study but we must move beyond it.

Spirituality must zero in on Christ and Him alone. Communion is spirituality. Communion and fellowship... Everything else is window dressing.

"For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. " - Colossians 2:9-15 ESV

In Christ something supernatural has happened and is happening. It is not common sense oriented. Traditions give structure and nature gives patterns but resurrection gives LIFE! That is what we need and what people need. If there is no life the structure is an empty husk. If there is life then there is reproduction.

Grace can not be passed on by tradition and it is not found in nature. It is fresh and from the throne or it is not present at all. There are no substitutes. Love, if it is Love, must be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.

Today we can live in a natural way or we can live as those who are raised from the dead. We can be filled with our own thoughts or we can be filled with the Holy Spirit. We can live for ourselves or we can reckon ourselves dead and made alive in Christ. Common sense can guide our decisions or faith can give us eyes to see the invisible.

A new year is coming and perhaps we start to think about what we want that new year be like. Does this year belong to God or to us? Who do we belong to?

God, Help us. Truly... We need you. We want to see You and be led by You. Before it is even here we give 2014 to You. We are Yours in it. We know nothing as we aught to. Our sight is limited but Yours is forever. Fills us, help us and go before us.

If this year is established 'In Him' it will be a wonder filled year.

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Free From Gravity

I love verses like this... in just a few sentences they get down to the root of the issue. No muss. No Fuss.

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life - is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." 1 John 2:15-17 ESV

Bam!

Those three things are the root of everything that is wrong. Our flesh interacts with a fallen world system at these three junctures... what my fallen body wants... what my fallen mind wants... and 'the pride of life' can be translated 'the boastfulness of biological life'. These three are then broken down in different ways and categories but at the root we have these three. The need for praise, control, sensual fulfillment, riches, revenge, boasting, lying, jealousy and even our need to perform so that we can have good things to say about ourselves all narrow down to this small group.

"But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy." James 3:17 KJV

Grace gives us free interaction with God's kingdom and that interaction is pure. Shalom is fulfillment. It does not need to steal to get it. It does not rob God of glory. Peace just is. Peace dwells in love.

All of that other stuff has an expiration date. Not love. God's love never expires.

We can't disconnect ourselves from the three operations by which the world interacts with people but God has disconnected us by giving us a new nature to function in when we believe. That new nature has nothing to do with those interactions.

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you." Philippians 4:6-9 KJV

Daily death, burial and resurrection is the key to functioning in the new man and freeing us from the old one.

"For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." Romans 6:7-14 ESV

I am confident that if the Gospel of Grace lives in me then the love of the Father will be in me also. Living in love is living in freedom. Heaven is free from the gravity that holds things down in the world.

Our freedom becomes a witness. Our peace and love shine a light that comes from God. Our words can then explain to others how they can have what we have.

Full Attention

I was thinking last night of the great value of attention... real focus... taking note of what is being said or done in detail. If we are been trained in some way we apply focus to what is being taught so that it can be learned and retained but that same focus has great value in our lives in many places.

"And all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, both men and women and all who could understand what they heard, on the first day of the seventh month. And he read from it facing the square before the Water Gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law." Nehemiah 8:1-3 ESV

For many this was the first time these people heard the Bible taught in this way. The had had principles and moral-isms no doubt taught to them by their parents but now they were going to hear from the scriptures directly.

"Then he said to them, 'Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.' So the Levites calmed all the people, saying, 'Be quiet, for this day is holy; do not be grieved.' And all the people went their way to eat and drink and to send portions and to make great rejoicing, because they had understood the words that were declared to them." Nehemiah 8:10-12 ESV

They cried and then laughed because of what they heard. Suddenly their lives made sense in a way it never had before. Eternal perspective... grace perspective... had made the day a holy day.

"And they found it written in the Law that the LORD had commanded by Moses that the people of Israel should dwell in booths during the feast of the seventh month, ... So the people went out and brought them and made booths for themselves, each on his roof, and in their courts and in the courts of the house of God, and in the square at the Water Gate and in the square at the Gate of Ephraim." Nehemiah 8:14, 16 ESV

God's word revealed many things to them and they began to live in the word and what it said. It lived in them and they lived in it. That attentiveness that they brought to the scriptures because of hunger and lack of familiarity was then able to be brought to other things and circumstances.

What if a husband decided to live in the book not 'do it' but live in it so it would live in him? What if He made a decision to love his wife as Christ loves the Church and then study his wife in detail? What would he learn in those times of observance and asking questions? It would change his marriage for the better wouldn't it? By studying her inside a principle he would learn how to apply that love in new ways. God would teach him.

What if parents studied each child while the grace of God and the Bible inhabited their thinking?

What kind of neighbor would this make us? What kind of friend would we be?

Is it possible we are trapped in crystallized structures and don't even realize it? I think it is. We build social rules devoid of grace and inattentive to truth all the time unless this process is active in our hearts.

It's easy to pass judgement on the person who parks so badly that it nullifies a spacing space next to them for use or the person who jumps into the elevator before you have time to get out. We can set our attention on rudeness, it is all around us, or we can have attention on redemption.

That is the heart of a missionary really... isn't it? To go to a place and be redemption's 'man on the ground.' To be the eyes, ears and hands of Jesus in a culture or situation. To liberally spread the seed of the Gospel each place they go... having eyes open to see where to spread it next.

We can practice God's presence. God is here. His book being opened on our lap and in our mind has made today a holy day. Eat the fat and drink the sweet wine of grace. Then we look to see who is without it and go send portions to them.

God... open our eyes today so that we see. Give us questions to ask and be answered that will illuminate our circumstances and relationships. Make our life a life of prayer, praise and holy inquiry. You have answers for questions we have not thought to ask. Today is a holy day... what happened before in low living need never be repeated. We walk on a upper highway of praise. Let our perspective change our actions. Cause our cup to overflow with grace and mercy so that it pours out on others.

You are attentive to us. God, Give us that same capacity.

Going After It

A message we often hear is, 'Go after what you want.' Passivity is made out to be the greatest character flaw. If the pursuit is done in a moral way that is fine but becoming more and more optional. Nothing should stand between a person and what they want (need, love, etc...). The hero is the person that steps up and goes for it. Doing this is supposed to complete a person somehow.

The religious hero is one who puts what their God wants first. That sounds better... selfless. Several questions then arise:

Who is their God?
What does this God want?

Religion has wrong answers for one or both of these questions. It can't get them right. What people want themselves always seems to get in the way. How they think they should be or think becomes a hindrance.

"Let no one say when he is tempted, 'I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers." James 1:13-16 ESV

"But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish." Deuteronomy 30:17-18a NASB

If a person lives pursuing what they want they will be tempted and drawn away. That direction always leads to death and emptiness.

Being good doesn't help much. Trying to be good just produces evil.

"Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me." Romans 7:20-21 KJV

It is not just that I can't be good. Trying to be good is a flawed act in itself and produces flawed results.

That just brings us to religion of some kind. It is so safe. We can just honor someone else's wishes. If they are wrong for wanting what they want the blame is off of us and on them. It could be God's wishes. It could be our family's wishes. It could be our country. That way is the way of darkness.

"Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ! - assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." Ephesians 4:17-24 ESV

Take Ananias and Sapphira from Acts chapter 5. They tried to have their cake and eat it too.

"But Peter said, 'Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.' When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it." Acts 5:3-5 ESV

Here the word for Satan means adversary. What did the adversary do? He filled their heart with what they wanted and got them to commit (or conspire) to some outwardly religious act. Their lust made them blind to the real person they were lying to.

"The LORD is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance. I bless the LORD who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken." Psalms 16:5-8 ESV

What a stunningly simple passage. It is spiritual... not moral or bogged down in self. This is where joy and peace live.

God said this to David after lust had drawn him out into la la land.

"And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight?" 2 Samuel 12:8-9a KJV

The path to life is in dying to what we want and living a transparent life before God. We receive grace upon grace in freedom. What we want is dead already. We are dead already. The cross killed that life so a new person could live today.

"For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions." Romans 6:10-12 ESV

"But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Galatians 6:14 ESV

What is the true selfless act? The thing that pleases God that we all know we should be doing but can't find in morality.

"What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD, I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people." Psalms 116:12-14 ESV

It is to receive grace! Grace makes our measuring lines fall in pleasant places. Grace gives us a cup that overflows. When what Christ has done on the cross is 'always before us' and 'at our right hand' of approval then we will not be shaken.

God knows what we want and He knows what we need. He sees things in clarity. If we go after Him it will all fall into place in time.

Soulish or Spiritual

"The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned." 1 Corinthians 2:14 ESV

The word for natural here is the word Psychikos (Strongs G5591). It is better translated soulish. The soul is the whole invisible part of us. The soul is us. If the soul has no living spirit it is us without God.

"But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven." 1 Corinthians 15:46-47 ESV

This verse is talking about Adam and Christ but it is also talking about us. The soulish man is a dusty man.

It is so easy for any of us to live as the 'soulish man'... it is the most natural thing in the world in fact. We are used to that person. He might not trigger alarms like a stranger would. Our dog doesn't bark at that guy when he comes home.

"The spirit of man is the lamp of the LORD, searching all his innermost parts." Proverbs 20:27 ESV

"But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. It is not the old who are wise, nor the aged who understand what is right." Job 32:8-9 ESV

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV

A soul that is in Christ is a finished product in the sense that God has added the ingredient that will make everything right... Himself. Once in Christ that old solitary self no longer really exists. The new person who is never alone and will never be forsaken is what we are made to be. God will never leave or forsake a soul that has a spirit. He will see that individual as new and in Christ.

Just like we could not save ourselves before we knew Christ. We can not pull ourselves out of self now. God must do it.

"But the salvation of the righteous [is] of the LORD: [he is] their strength in the time of trouble." Psalms 37:39 KJV

"Our God is a God of salvation, and to GOD, the Lord, belong deliverances from death." Psalms 68:20 ESV

God must pull us out of self. We find mechanisms that allows us to become available for Him to do that.

"For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness." Romans 6:10-13 ESV

A person born from above has the right ingredients to live a spiritual life. It is proximity to God that is the issue now. We can live far away and be 'just ourselves'. Lacking and missing something that we can never find or provide... Or we can be close and aglow with the life that come from Christ who Is the Life Giver.

Draw us close today God. Make our solitary self a thing of the past. Fill us with your Spirit. We are sealed by your Spirit but fill us and light us ablaze with your life as we fix our eyes on Your graciousness.

The Decent Order of Grace - Part 10 - The Natural then the Spiritual

"But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual." 1 Cor 15:46

“And He went a little farther, and fell on His face, and prayed.” Matthew 26:39

The spiritual is a few steps beyond where the natural would ever go... could ever go. How do we get there? Faith gets us there. Christ's faith gets us there. The Spiritual life is a response to grace by faith.

Beholding may be natural but responding is spiritual.

"And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water. And he said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus." Matt 14:28-29

How rewarding is the moment when we step out and join Jesus? We marvel when Peter walked on water but is a marvel when any person takes those steps beyond to join Jesus where He is.

The natural man may try to go farther by effort. We can never get those extra steps that Jesus took by effort.

"He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, 'O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.' Then He came to the disciples and found them sleeping" Matt 26:39-40a

It is the cross! Or even more specifically the person on the cross. His mind... His life... a relationship with Him. A relationship to the Father made possible by the Son.

Let's take the extra steps of a laid down life today. Only God can beckon us out unto that water. Only Christ in us and the love of Calvary makes that sacrifice possible and meaningful.

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service." Rom 12:1

Only Jesus makes that sacrifice reasonable.