Fallen But Filling In The Gaps Ourselves

Lies. I'm thinking about lies. Why we lie. How often we lie. Who do we lie to. All of it.

As you may have guessed I believe mankind is fallen. I didn't always believe that but I do now because the Bible states it and proves it. Anthropology also brings this out.

Lies, to me, are an evidence of the fall.

I know... people who believe in evolution or some other scenario where man is 'progressing' also have an explanation for lies and lying but 'wow'... the fall just puts it right into perspective for me.

Fallen people have gaps in knowledge and they try to fill them in ways that are beneficial. We do it to survive and to dodge guilt and shame but the thing is... we all do it. Some just make it into a lifestyle.

'Gaps' are a result of the fall.

I see three things that are just part of the human experience but to me they provide evidence that mankind is fallen and needs Heavenly intervention.
- The fact that we lie (gaps in knowledge)
- The reality that people age, get sick and then die (gaps in our biology)
- That we kill each other (gaps in love... we see the need to remove a person who would just die anyway later because it benefits us in some way)

Jesus came to deal with all of these things and He has.

The 'progression' folks have strange convoluted answers for all three of these things but just look at them. They are cracks in our existence that we all suffer from. They are downward cycles with no escape.

The liar needs a savior.

Go ahead and tell a liar that their children's, children's children are going to outgrow lies and hatred. Not only is that a lie but it is no comfort to them.

We all need a perfect person who sees us just as we are and loves us just as we are. Some one who won't lie. Some one with no gaps. Some one to give us hope.

Jesus loved His lying disciples. He embraced murderous humanity as we killed Him. He carries those who grow old and die into His bosom and makes them young again.

Jesus is the solution but many still don't want Him. His way is a narrow way. For some it will take them realizing He isn't 'a' solution. He is the only solution. Still others would rather die lying to themselves and hold on to that false control of perception until it is too late.

I love the term 'believer' to describe someone who has trusted Jesus because a believer is someone who doesn't just settle for things as they are now 'by sight'. They trust in a higher better way and you can see glimpses of that higher better way in their lives. They touch the Holy One and light shines from that Holy One into a dark world.

"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. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." - Ephesians 4:20-32 ESV

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Fluctuating In And Out Of Double-Mindedness

There is a mindset that continues to make faithless calculations...

"On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, 'Rabbi, when did you come here?' Jesus answered them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.' Then they said to him, 'What must we do, to be doing the works of God?' Jesus answered them, 'This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.' " - John 6:22-29 ESV

This is the same crowd that wanted to make Him a king the day before when God multiplied the loaves and fish to feed over 5,000 people.

"And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake." - 2 Corinthians 4:3-5 ESV

Someone who doesn't know God will live in A veiled mindset towards eternal things and someone with 'a casual relationship with truth' will toy with it and fluctuate in and out of double-mindedness. Even though proof is given more will be needed and then more and then more.

"A Song of Ascents. Of David. O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore." - Psalm 131:1-3 ESV

A weaned child has matured enough to see that there is a feeding schedule.

"Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called 'today,' that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end." - Hebrews 3:12-14 ESV

God is not a vending machine. He has given us minds and abilities to be used in life but our primary work is to 'enter into rest' about who He Is and what He Is like. Jesus is the concrete representation of that character and nature. If we walk by sight we can easily enter into double-mindedness but we are ones whow walk by faith like a weaned child. That child remains calm because they 'calm and quiet themselves' even with an empty belly because trust has formed in their little soul.

Jesus was on the other side even though they knew He didn't get there by conventional means. Only faith was going to make sense of that. Jesus Is here right now in our lives. We can't put it all together yet. We are challenged in the same way. Will we keep asking and demanding or will we just rest and receive?

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Dark Currents

Today's thoughts have some darker shades but if we discuss sunlight we must also eventually mentions the shadows. People hide in them. They can gravitate toward them.

"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. Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come. Therefore we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. I write to you, not because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because no lie is of the truth. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also. Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father." - 1 John 2:15-24 ESV

Hedonism, materialism and egotism are the downfall of men everywhere. In the shadows these currents are strong and moving people in all sorts of directions.

The Apostle John is a loving man. He has the heart of a shepherd. He speaks of one future Antichrist but he is also warning people about the little antichrists that have left his assembly. People who function in the shadows and draw others into the shadows also. These antichrists swim in unbelief because they were never converted by the truth they were exposed to.

"But the righteousness based on faith says, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?'" (that is, to bring Christ down) "or 'Who will descend into the abyss?'" (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim);" - Romans 10:6-8 ESV

I'm not saying every bitter ex-Church member was never converted. It isn't my place to say that. But a bitter person who is crusading is not one who is has a word of faith. They may be a believer who is vexed in their soul.

Either way John has some advice for his people we also need to heed. He reminds his flock to return to that first first beam of light that shined so brightly into their once dark existence. Grace is the beam that pierced the darkness. Grace always encourages faith in God and his faithfulness. If the word of grace abides then the Father and the Son abide also.

I never want to run anybody down. I don't want to function in the pettiness of running people who have left what 'I am in'. Just because someone is no longer in my group doesn't mean they have left God's group. I want to love and pray for people. At the same time I need to be aware of the shadow life of bitterness. Hedonism, materialism and egotism breed in these environments and they can ensnare our souls in unhealthy and time wasting detours from what is truly important.

The Gospel of grace is light held in a seed of words. I want to spread that seed where ever I go. I want my mind the be bathed in that light or the difficulties of living in a fallen world will exhaust me and might pull me into subtle expressions of the shadows that I had previously been released from.

God help us. There is no darkness in you. The walls between us have been removed by Your Son. Bath us in light and shine light into the hearts of the bitter people in our lives. Convert them. Revive them. Help us to be ministers of reconciliation in the places where that is possible. We love You Lord because You have been such an expert in loving us. You have made us to bear precious seed. Thank You for that privilege.

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Help Our Unbelief

"And someone from the crowd answered him, 'Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.'

And he answered them, 'O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.'

And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, 'How long has this been happening to him?'

And he said, 'From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.'

And Jesus said to him, 'If you can? All things are possible for one who believes.'

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, 'I believe; help my unbelief!' " - Mark 9:17-24 ESV

Who doesn't identify with that father? This wasn't a new problem. This was an consistant scary problem right in the center of their family that involved one of their children.

Jesus didn't call that generation poor or ignorant. He called them faithless.

He healed the child. The disciples couldn't.

"And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting." - Mark 9:29 KJV

We indulge ourselves and we have no power. While we do it we walk by sight and cease to have a deep prayer connection.

Jesus used His liberty to draw near to God.

There is no condemnation for you or for me.

Healing is sovereign. The disciples didn't help anyone. God did. We don't heal anyone... not really. We might help by removing the thing that causes injury. We might help by introducing things that assist in the healing process. God designed our bodies to heal themselves if the conditions are right.

This morning I cry out to God and say, 'I believe; help my unbelief'

God can do many things today. He often chooses to use believing people who are available. The issues people have are so deep inside them... so hidden... so impossible. Jesus is the only one who could ever walk by and actually do something.

" ' ...and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.' Amen." - Matthew 28:20b NKJV

This scripture says 'Amen' and we say, 'Amen' to what the scriptures says.

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Prayer Times

"And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint" - Luke 18:1 KJV

I remember what it was like before I came to know Christ. I didn't pray. I didn't see the value of it beyond an abstract psychological principle. I thought a God who wanted or accepted worship was an egotistical idea. I thought devout people were weak people who couldn't think for themselves. Yes, I remember scoffing the Bible and discounting it, logically ruling it out and seeing it as a book of fiction but a less attractive fiction that I was not interested in.

Getting on my knees this morning to pray I started to remember different seasons of prayer. In Bible college I used to roll out of bed unto my knees and spend time time kneeling in prayer before getting into bed at night. I spent a year in college as a prayer chaplain and many seasons during that time in a prayer room that has now been converted into something else. There are seasons where I have prayed a lot and ones where I have prayed very little. There were nights where we were up going through sheet after sheet of paper praying for people in the prayer chain. I remember Peter Merry in a sleeping bag waiting by the phone at the all night prayer times with Dick Schaffner. Singers coming from the music ministry and we would pray and then worship then pray again most of the night. Walking and praying with Dr Stevens, P Bill Cannon and others. Praying with people who are receiving Christ. Praying with people in their homes for a visit. Praying in tears and in silence. Praying and peppering God with questions. Praying for people to be healed and wondering at the ones who do get healed and the ones that don't. Standing and praying in a foreign country where I couldn't understand what the people were saying. Praying because it was my homework assignment and having to sign a piece of paper saying that I prayed and struggling to tell the truth about it when I didn't. (How would they know? But God would know.) Praying and telling God how unhappy I was and why. Praying with tears of joy streaming down my cheeks. Thanking God again and again in a seemingly endless stream and being carried away in it. Kneeling down assaulted with guilt about something terrible I had done, or though I had done, only to rise later with calm and joy in my heart. Trying to pray and then finding myself doing something else because I got distracted and midway through a sandwich before realizing and going back. Dry times of frustration where I told God, 'I just don't know what to say to You.' Urgent times in hospitals waiting with people and not knowing what would happen. Times of praying for things people have asked me to pray for. Praying with someone and wondering if I had bad breath and marveling at the stupidity of being so self conscious at a time like that. Prayer ruts where I felt like I was going through a grocery list and wondering if it was right or not. Days of scheduled prayer where I would pray at certain times for a person or a situation. Times where days and weeks would go by and the only thing I would pray for was my food if I even remembered to do that. Fasting times where I would try to pray but all I could think about was how hungry I was. Praying with religious or long winded people who could just keep talking and talking and talking and wondering if they were talking to God or themselves. Praying for those people to shut up or for the rapture to come. Praying before getting up to speak and struggling to let go of what I was planning to say and give it to God. Prayer times when the presence of God is so thick in the room and you exit taking that room with you into the rest of the day. Times where your mind says 'This is a waste of time' but a quieter part of you persists. Aggressive prayers where there is a battle to be fought and declarations need to be made out loud. 'Break their teeth' prayers. Praying for things to end and praying for things to begin. Peaceful prayers in rooms full of people. Praying in a small room with a few people while the Easter play is going on in a bigger fuller louder room.

Still, I remember when I didn't pray and could care less about praying. I had no one to pray to. I had no one that merited praise. God changed me. Grace changed me. The Gospel changed me. Jesus won me. Even now that I am His He still wins me again and again.

You don't need anything to pray. You can do it with an open Bible and that is great thing to do but it can be anywhere at anytime, silent or out loud, with people or alone. God isn't far away. I think we will see that He was always very close by.

If you feel guilty about not praying. Repent. Turn from even thinking that way. It is just a barrier set up to keep you from it. Guilt is useless and foreign. God is not angry about what you do or don't do. He poured all that anger out on the cross. God just wants to be with you. Prayer is a way to be with Him as He Is Being with you and participating in life.

"But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you." - Matthew 6:6 ESV

"In these days he went out to the mountain to pray, and all night he continued in prayer to God." - Luke 6:12 ESV

"and he said to them, 'Why are you sleeping? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation.' " - Luke 22:46 ESV

"We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you," - Colossians 1:3 ESV

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV

"I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling;" - 1 Timothy 2:8 ESV

"I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ." - Philemon 1:4-6 ESV

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