Running From God is Not the Answer

Jonah 1:12 (KJV): “And he said to them, pick me up and throw me into the sea, then the sea will be calm for you.  For I know that this great tempest is because of me.,,vs 15: So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased its raging.”

Running from God is not the answer.  The run toward the ship to Tarshish is always avoidance of some sort.  That very ship that seems to be the answer really is a part of the problem.  Who or what is a refuge, except God?  All others, are a man-centered, works orientation.  

Jonah’s example models mankind’s avoidance pattern including his passive aggressive nap.  He did very little, yet he controlled everything…he thought.  God ultimately is in control.  The storms that threaten to destroy the “ship to Tarshish,” are there to invoke a positive response.  In this case, Jonah’s confession.  He had to admit his part in the storm’s assault on the ship.  Avoidance usually causes distress to not only self but to others.  

Jonah’s answer included facing what he feared…a lack of control.  The answer was to be cast into the ocean of God’s mercy.  A big fish swallowed him; not to do him harm, but to give him another ride to where God wanted him to go.  This big fish was under the control of the ultimate Captain for all journeys.  When the end of self is come, God’s way opens up the doors to all kinds of answers.  They are not always pleasant.  

Jonah was in that place of dying to self.  He did not know that in three days, he would be spit up on dry ground.  He did not want to go to Tarshish because these people were enemies who had probably at some point killed some of Jonah’s family.  He knew God would be merciful to them, and He did not want any part of it.  

Forgiveness and letting go are a part of the death to self.  The call of God to make disciples of all nations will include working with those who are not favorites.  The truth of this means more death to self.  Jonah’s story is a metaphor for life’s journey.  Living the disciple’s life is an opportunity to heal self and others.  It seems that Jonah was melancholy throughout this story.  Given that, he knew that God’s mercy extended even to those to whom he did not want to minister.   

Priests...Not Soldiers

Ephesians Study 

Chapter 6

Ephesians 6 is probably most known for a description of the armor of God.  It is interesting that before Paul describes the armor, he talks some more about relationships…children/parents, servants/masters.  He uses the word obedient to enlarge these relationships.  He doesn’t talk about submission as he did in Chapter 5.  I think that is significant.  Submission has a feel of something between equals of some sort.  Obedience…relationships when someone has authority over you.  Increasingly, I am seeing that authority is something to be respected as it is there to protect you when done correctly. 

Ephesians 6:6 speaks of bondservants of Christ….doing the will of God from the heart.  All of these relationship issues are a “matter of heart.”  We are to be obedient to those in authority “as to Christ.”

Paul ends Ephesians covering relationships of equals (Chapter 5) and unequals (Chapter 6).  Ephesians 6:10: “Finally my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.”  The way we can do this is given in verses 11-19.  We are told to put on the whole armor of God.  And then it is described.  Growing up in church, I remember the picture of the Roman solider outfitted in his armor as a visual aid for these verses.  That was a distorted example.  Rome was an enemy of the jews, and it was Rome that imprisoned Paul.  Paul would not have used this as his illustration in regard to the armor.  

Below is a website that is a great explanation of the armor.  Because I do not know all about Pastor Mark Blitz and what else he believes, I do not endorse anything but what he speaks in this sermon on the armor of God.  It is terrific!  It is well worth the watch, and I encourage you to get a different perspective on God’s armor…God’s dressing for His priests.  We are all called to this priesthood and this adds to our understanding.  

Paul starts out Ephesians and builds upon the theme of God’s identify and our identity in Christ.  He continues with our identity as the Body of Christ and relating to these truths as they regard others.  It seems to be very fitting that Paul ends Ephesians with a relationship reminder that we wrestle not against flesh and blood.  The armor that we need is against spiritual powers.  In the Old Testament, what seemed to be their physical battles were fought in the spiritual realm with the Ark of the Covenant and the priests going ahead of the people.  There is a real lesson here for us.  

Matthew 5:14 gives us direction on how to conduct ourselves with those who are in battle with the physical: Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.  This is a good description of what our High Priest, Jesus, did for us.  As a part of the priesthood, it is a description of how we are to battle the flesh using spiritual principles.

We are the people of God, the Body of Christ, and a royal priesthood.  The battles are spiritual.  This victories are spiritual.  Please listen to the sermon below and be blessed with the truth that continues to make us free.  His presentation is a perfect ending to our commentary on Ephesians.  It leaves us “dressed” in the armor of God.  What better way for Paul to leave God’s people and finish his ministry message to the saints of Ephesus.

Pastor Mark Blitz:   https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?p=youtube+blitz+armor+of+god&fr=ush-mailn_02&fr2=p%3Aml%2Cm%3Asb&hspart=att&hsimp=yhs-att_001&type=yahoo_pc_mailhttps:// 

Submit Yourselves

Ephesians Study

Chapter 5:19 and 20

When you think of submission or being subject to one another think of it in terms of the mutual submission that is modeled by the Godhead.  Each one has a role to fill and each one is mutually submissive and respectful of the roles of the others.  This is an example for the body of Christ…the ecclesia (the collective body or congregation).  It is an example, too, for husband and wives.  

This submission would be easier if we tried to live in the energy of Ephesians 5:19, 20:   “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,”  

One day, the Lord said to me: Linda, if you can get over yourself, no one else will bother you.  This was years ago, and the older I get, the more I see the truth of this.  I recently heard a pastor say it this way:  I cannot love you, if I do not love myself.  I cannot love myself if I do not know my value (identity) to the Lord.  If I love myself, you cannot “eat my lunch” emotionally because my self-esteem is not dependent on you or any other external.  The cross is about my value; not my sin.  It was not a second thought.  God did not get in a bind of some sort.  God so loved that He gave.

Paul has spent so much of Ephesians trying to help us see our value to God.  If you think about it, our value is equal to the blood of the Lamb.  Why?  Because we were created in His image.  What would be the worth of your children?

I used to not like the idea of submission because of childhood experiences and the modeling of bully-type adults.  I am so glad that Ephesians 5:19 and 20 precedes the submission verses.  You see, praise and thanksgiving to God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ is really the core of submission and subjecting ourselves.  We tend to think it is about us.  It’s not!  Submission is our relationship witness for God and the Son.  Everything in the Christian’s life is about that relationship…and the relationship with our fellow men.  The scripture tells us how to be with those in the church and those outside the church.  Both need the witness of love…they will know we are christians by our love.  

Jesus modeled this in His relationships with all. Those in the church may need the truth spoken in love.  Those outside the church really need a witness.

I would like to suggest that living in subjection to one another and the the Word is practice for Kingdom living.  It is practice for living with God and Christ.  Subjection or submission means to choose a higher way over our selves or our emotions.  This is the struggle of flesh and spirit.  We are cautioned not to live by flesh (fleshly lusts/wants/preferences/desires).  The reason we have this caution is because we cannot serve two masters.  As much as we would and can dress up our emotions and feelings, they are self-driven (ego - edging God out).  

The peace that we were created to have in God is an internal call from Spirit.  That peace is in conflict with emotions.  Submission to one another is a type of crucifying self.  Everything that we would defend is a place of submission.  Unless we let our emotions suffer, we will not regain peace and joy.  

Humanity and Divinity were united in Christ.  His mission from the foundation of the world was reconciliation…God to man and man to God.  It takes a Spirit-controlled will (freedom of choice) that is constantly laying down self to embrace this exquisite calling and work of God.  It all starts with submission / subjection. 

A submissive will pleases God.  It gives Him permission to hold sway over the entire man.  What a delightful way to end Chapter 5 of Ephesians…submission; it makes it possible to live out God’s goal of peace on earth, good will to men.

All Things Are New

The Ephesians Study

Ephesians 5:8 

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son that whosever believed in Him has everlasting life”  John 3:16. This thought is the golden thread that runs through every message in the Bible.  The Son was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.  Even when mankind was choosing a way the seemed right to them in the garden, the Lamb had them/us covered.   Paul has spent the better part of Ephesians telling us who we are in Christ.  We are a new creation.  We are called to the Light.  Because of Christ, we can walk in the fullness of being a new creation.  We have been restored to God’s original intent for us.  The real question that needs consideration is: Do I believe it and what application am I making of this truth?

2 Corinthians 5:17:  Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he IS a new creation; old things HAVE PASSED AWAY; behold, ALL THINGS HAVE BECOME NEW.  Notice the past tense of old things.  In Christ, we are a new creation…present tense. The truth needs to be shouted from the mountain top!  Ephesians 5:8: “For you were once darkness, but NOW you are light in the Lord.  Walk as children of light.”  At one time, we were CALLED darkness.  Now, we are light in the Lord.  What does it mean to walk as children of light, NOW.  I think it means to BE in the light and, therefore, walk in what is already true of us.  Our challenges are God’s opportunities.  Listen to the Lord’s own experience.

John 16:32-33:  “Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.”

• Have you ever been alone and felt forsaken by friend and family and God?
• The Father is always with us…even when we are all over the place in feeling abandoned.  Faith is when we move based on Him; not our feelings.
• “That you might have peace.”  Praise the Lord!  We need this kind of peace.  It is not of this world.  It lives out the “be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.”

Paul contrasts what the new creation is and what it is not.  Light and dark have no fellowship with each other.  2 Corinthians 6:14:  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?  Hear what is being said.  It is impossible to be in the Light and walk in the Light and be in darkness at the same time.  Another way of understanding Light and darkness is by contrasting FAITH versus feeling.  To rely on feeling is to walk in the darkness.  In some ways, I think it might be harder to rely on feelings than it is to trust and have faith.  Feelings leave us up and down.  Feelings are dependent on others.  Feeling good about something often depends on getting our way…usually staying within our comfort zone.  

Paul says in Philippians 3:7-12 ESV:

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 

8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 

9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—

10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 

11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Proverbs 14:12 says that there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death.  Ever since our birth, we have been educated by the world.  Even in the best attempts of our fathers and mothers to give us a spiritual upbringing, we have received much in the way of the traditions of men.  This experience is mirrored in Paul’s story.  He was raised in the religious traditions of that time.  He was so strong and set in his ways that he could justify killing others who believed differently than he believed.

At some point, he met the Savior.  He says that whatever gain he had, he counts as loss.  Have we encountered this loss?  Has what we thought we believed let us down…disappointed us…discouraged us…betrayed us?  That is really a good thing.  It does not feel so good at the present…and maybe for  a while…while we regroup.  Remember Paul’s encounter with truth and his resulting blindness.  Some truth encounters are so powerful that they cause physical symptoms.  Remember, we are not only physical creatures but emotional  and spiritual beings.  The whole is affected by the parts.  

Can we look back on this transformation caused by truth and count the past as rubbish?  Paul gave up what he thought he believed for a person…Jesus Christ (love, light, and life).  It changed who and how he was in life. 

Ephesians is talking about relationships.  The light and dark is the stuff of relationships.  It is about love that compels us to love others as ourselves.  When we have that in our hearts, the stuff identified as darkness (his lists) will be seen as relationship issues which lead to DOING things on the dark side.  He is talking to Christians.  There is a greater calling on us than on those who do not know Christ.  How will they know unless we display Him in our lives?

Remember, everything in the past is over.  Start as the new creation.  We have died to the old and been resurrected to the new.  This process does not allow for the extra baggage of life and the rubbish that Paul speaks of.   The traditions of man and “the way that seems right” can be buried with the old man.  Give up what you think you believe for the person of Jesus Christ. 

Prayer:  Psalm 141

Lord, Thank you for making haste when I cry out to you, and for hearing me when I call.  Thank you for receiving my prayer as incense set before you and as the evening sacrifice.  Thank you for setting a guard over my mouth and for keeping watch over the door to my lips.  Thank you for keeping my heart from that which is hurtful to  me.  

Psalm 139 23, 24

Thank you for searching me and knowing my heart, O God.  Thank you for trying me so I can know my anxieties and see if there is any hurtful, dysfunctional, and disobedient ways in me.  Thank you for leading me in the way everlasting. 

In Jesus name, Amen.

Empty Arguments and the Temptation

The Ephesians Study

Ephesians 5:6-7 

Amplified Bible (AMP)

Ephesian 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty arguments [that encourage you to sin], for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience [those who habitually sin]. 7 So do not participate or even associate with them [in the rebelliousness of sin]. 

The first text reminds me of the empty arguments that were of Satan in the Garden of Eden.  It also reminds me of the forty days of temptation of our Lord in the wilderness.  Again, empty arguments.  Perhaps not in the way that we generally view an argument, but a trying to persuade the Lord to that which was a violation of His TRUE identity all the while saying: "If thou be the Son of God."  

Empty arguments are so subtle.  You have to know what the Word says in order to know that these arguments are empty.  For instance.  The Lord’s temptation was so much more than food.  When He said that man should not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeded from God, He was going to the core of the argument. Basically, He was tempted to presumption.  “If you be the Son of God…”  It was always about proving himself.  Are not all arguments involving temptation really just that?  Here, at His baptism, the Father had given verbal acknowledgement that Jesus was the Son of God.  That did not stop Satan from using this taunt.  Even when Jesus hung on the cross, the words: If you be the Son of God, save yourself.  His identity as the Son of God was not to save Himself but to save us.  

Have you ever considered that perhaps the greatest hurt in the temptation was that a fallen angel was questioning His status as the Son of God.  He was basically saying that God’s Son would not be facing all this.  Unless you believed the Voice from heaven that said, “this is My Son…” you will be relying upon the evidence which Satan intimates is suspect....just as he did in the Garden of Eden.  You have to know what the Word says.  

In the temptation, we can see the foundation of all empty arguments.  

If You be the Son of God, save Yourself.  Bread has to do with appetite which Adam and Eve faced and fell.  It’s more than about food, although that is important.  There are many appetites…physical, emotional, spiritual.  Jesus said that man should not live by bread alone.  He could have quoted: The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want (be dissatisfied, be discontent, have a need, etc.)"  Before they took the fruit, whatever that was, they had a thought that they were lacking something…that God was holding out on them.  

Identity is at the core of the empty arguments.  Who you believe you are is completely tied to your doing…obedience.  When you feel you are lacking...I am not enough...you will be compelled to clothe yourself with fig leaves.  Enter all the vain, empty arguments.

The second temptation or empty argument was again prefaced by “If you be the Son of God…”  This time, we have an example of distorted scripture.  In the Garden of Eden, God’s word was distorted.  Jesus gives us an example of what to do when faced with the distortions.  You quote exactly what the scripture does say.  Jesus was being tempted to presumption…taking the Scripture out of its context.  This is huge and is so prevalent today.  Vain, empty arguments happen when God’s word is taken out of context.

The third temptation is about the love of the world.  Jesus was shown the world and all that He could have.  He had come to save the world, and He was offered an easy way…worship the Accuser.  The love of the world is very different than the “God so loved to world” that Christ fulfilled.  What are our empty arguments that play themselves out in the love of the world…making us prostitute ourselves in shortcuts?

We are given two paths.  Be sons of disobedience by being taken in by these empty arguments.  Or, avoid participating in the rebellion of sin.    That is a strong sentence.  We do not think of empty arguments as participation in rebellion, and we are told that witchcraft is the sin of rebellion.  God's word gives us all the guidance that we need.  

Empty arguments promise that “you shall be as gods.”  In this, we are participating in idolatry.  If you be the son/daughter of God…prove yourself.  Identity is so crucial…to us, to God, to squelching the rebellion.  It is not argument that we need.  It is the Word, knowing the Word, and living by that Word of truth.

Be Imitators of God

Ephesians Study

Chapter 5

Ephesians 5:1-2 Amplified Bible (AMP)

1  Therefore become imitators of God [copy Him and follow His example], as well-beloved children [imitate their father]; 2 and walk continually in love [that is, value one another—practice empathy and compassion, unselfishly seeking the best for others], just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and sacrifice to God [slain for you, so that it became] a sweet fragrance.

Paul wants us to be children that imitate the Father.  He calls it walking continually in love.  This is agape type of love…sacrificial.  A lot of people talk about love and mean living and behaving out of sentiment instead of obedience.  Feelings rather than obedience and faith drive their behavior.  It is a false god.  

John 14:21 says: “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.  The one who loves me will be loved by the Father, and I, too, will love them and show myself to them.”  He will SHOW Himself to us…that is the promise.

Be imitators of God.  We are to become a sweet fragrance.  Again, this is about God’s sacrificial love.  I am glad that Paul starts his Ephesian 5 comments with these two verses.  If we are immersed in this counsel and light, the instructional truths that follow are more clearly seen in contrast to Light and dark, Love and selfishness.  

Verse 8 For once you were darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light [live as those who are native-born to the Light] 9 (for the fruit [the effect, the result] of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth),

I like to think that “native-born to the Light” refers to how we were created.  We were created to live and be and exist in Light…”I am the Light.”  The whole truth of light and darkness is about being in that relationship with the Light to be the light of the whole world.  It is about who we are.  What we do will be effected by this truth.  Otherwise, the doing can become a bit of a burden and check list.  

Verse 13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light [of God’s precepts], for [a]it is light that makes everything visible. 

14 For this reason He says, “Awake, sleeper,  And arise from the dead,  And Christ will shine [as dawn] upon you and give you light.”

Recently, while thinking on these things, I read John 9:5: “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.”  How is Christ still in the world?  Verse 8 tells us that we are Light in the Lord.  John 8:12:  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.  

At creation, God speaks and there is light.  God spoke over the darkness again when He spoke to Mary and told her about Emanuel, God with us.  His life and His teachings vibrate with the Light that pierces the darkness…all that is against the light, truth, and way.   We are called to this higher energy/frequency so that in living in this Light we will discern between Light and dark, correct and incorrect, function and dysfunction.  From this place, there will not be heard from our lips, “I don’t see what is wrong with…”   Verses 3 through 5,  calls this darkness idolatry.  

The resonating truth is this…living in the darkness destroys our creation parameters…His original intent for each of us.  The Whole suffers when one is in darkness.  Jesus was the Shepherd who came for the one lost lamb.  Let us give God an invitation to order our days so that at the end of the day, we are content rather than dissatisfied.   It is this dissatisfaction that urges us to the darkness.

What Your Words Reveal About Your Heart

Ephesians Study
Chapter 4

Ephesians 4:29-32
Amplified Bible:

29 Do not let unwholesome [foul, profane, worthless, vulgar] words ever come out of your mouth, but only such speech as is good for building up others, according to the need and the occasion, so that it will be a blessing to those who hear [you speak]. 

30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [but seek to please Him], by whom you were sealed and marked [branded as God’s own] for the day of redemption [the final deliverance from the consequences of sin]. 

31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor [perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, fault-finding] and slander be put away from you, along with every kind of malice [all spitefulness, verbal abuse, malevolence]. 

32 Be kind and helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily and freely], just as God in Christ also forgave you.

These verses really show us a pattern:

• Words need to bless others.  They are evidence of who has our allegiance.
• They are connected to our relationship with the Holy Spirit and our calling and redemption.
• They are connected with the awareness of the oneness of everyone.  Freely we have received, freely give.

Science has now proven the effect on the body, mind, and spirit of words spoken to and by us.  Some words can be a curse.  Some words can be a blessing by building up.  Even body language speaks loudly to us for good or bad.  

“Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. “ Proverbs 18:21 KJV

Luke 6:45:  “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”  It is more than just a good idea to speak honorably; it is a cosmic law.  

We show by our words  who has our allegiance.  Our words show where our heart is.  

James 3:10 (KJV)  Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.

Taking this a step further, let us remember that before a word is spoken, it has been a thought in our mind.  The battle is for our minds…mind control.  When we find that our thoughts are not those that build up others and ourselves, then we are to take every thought captive unto the obedience of Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5).  I want to take this as a command and as a promise.  God’s bidding is His enabling.  

We are to build up others with our words.  Our words are to be a blessings to others…and even our thoughts.  A negative thought can weaken the self and the one about whom you are thinking. Here is just one website that gives some specifics of our thoughts.  There is so much information available to us, and we are blessed to know these truths.   http://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/how_negativity_affects_the_body.htmla

These verse are a great example of the scriptures ability to go deeper.  Jesus said, “You have heard it said…but I tell you.”  If we let the example of Christ witness to us, we will see that He was not just speaking of surface relationships and behaviors.  He was telling us about the spiritual implications…if you think it, you have done it.  This is exactly what science is validating.  

Paul speaks as a spiritual father.  We are standing in a place of intercession for all of us.  This is about the other and ourselves.  Our words are to build up.  That doesn’t just mean the other.  It means in building up others (obedience), we are also building up the self.   Love others as you love yourself.  The relationship with the Holy Spirit and our fellowman and ourselves is respected when we understand and apply the fullness of these scriptures.  

Prayer for the end of the year:

Holy Father in Heaven,
Your love surpasses all love and compels us to come up higher.  This agape love of wonder, worship, and sacrificial giving of Yourself invites us all into your fullness of doing and being.  As is done in Heaven, so be it on earth in each of us.  The great I AM — the always present One — is with us.  Teach us to be always present with You.  Live in us.  Love through us.  As You do so, fill us with delight to know Your will.  May our obedient witness be salt and light to all those in need, and may it speak over us of Holiness unto the Lord.  May we internalize living in the fulness of communion with you.  May we daily live by the power of Emmanuel, God with us.  In His name.  Amen.

To Catch and Stop a Thief

Ephesians Study

Chapter 4

Amplified Bible:

Ephesians 4: 28 — The thief [who has become a believer] must no longer steal, but instead he must work hard [making an honest living], producing that which is good with his own hands, so that he will have something to share with those in need. 

   

At first glance this text seems to be talking about behavior.  I want to suggest that it is about so much more than behavior.  The thief who has become a believer must not steal…we are all thieves that become believers a little at a time. We can take this literally (you have heard it said) or we can start seeing more deeply (but I tell you).

I believe that Paul is still calling us to a higher place than a mere assent to some standard of behavior.  There are many different ways of stealing.  There is a actual physical stealing of something, and there is a stealing from self and others that involves stealing identity, time, parameters, order, and harmony.  These are often passive aggressive behaviors, but they do not have to be.  There is the stealing from others because we have set a standard that is too high or inappropriate for the age and experience level…even the spiritual experience level.  

Has the feminist movement or mankind stolen from women their intuition and inner knowing of what is true and how the world should be?  We need to balance man’s knowing and doing with the intuition and ability of just being that helps women create their miracles. 

When you receive the text on this level, it has something to say to each of us…not just the literal theft of things.  A believer wants to steal no more.  The working hard, I believe, may be the deliberate and painful work that comes from an outward gaze balanced by an inward gaze.  We are looking at the behaviors that are stealing from ourselves and others, and the inward gaze asks the questions, why and how am I doing this or that?  

In Matthew 5:45- 48, we are told that God sends the sun and rain on the just and unjust.  He shows no partiality.  You cannot by your “good works” buy the rain or sunshine.  We are loved, and as a consequence the rain and sunshine is given to all.  I bring this text in because the thief has a belief in poverty, inadequacy, lack, entitlement, insecurity, and invalidation in some way.  Sometimes even our invalidation of self causes us to bring disharmony and disorder to the lives of others to be validated in that way.   It is like the child who wants attention and even bad attention is better than no attention.  It is a very subtle form of control (theft)  no matter what age we are.    We have all done it.  

The purpose of this internal gaze is so that we will produce what is good with our own hands/heart.  Instead of taking, we have something to share with the community or our sphere of influence to those in need.  We are all in need.  And as we stop thieving in these ways, the internal gaze helps us love ourselves and others.  This love is the greatest gift that can be given to all of us…including loving ourselves. Do this exercise right now:  tap on your heart, say: I’m sorry and I love you.  Do it about a dozen times.  Part of this experience is to see our connection to responsibility for everything and everyone.  We all play a part in experiencing what we experience with each other.  If we can honestly and lovingly say: I am responsible for this.  I’m sorry and I love you (self and others), we will feel a profound sense of freedom and release.  Change happens one person at a time, and it begins with you and me.   I believe it is the living out of the love that we are to give ourselves and each other about which Jesus spoke/modeled.  

How else are we thieves?  Control over life and over others is a type of theft.  It can and does move into manipulation of all kinds which is really fear.  In John 1:16: “And of His fullness we have received, and grace for grace.”  I use this verse because it reminds of what we already have, what we are seeking by our control efforts…His fullness.  We are rich if we quit comparing ourselves to a perception of others and their things and life.  The extremes of lack or arrogance is just our measurement against each other and it is perception….not truth.  The truth is in this verse that we have received of His fullness.  

Another theft we experience is to be held captive by the past…traumas, hurts, lies, hardships, wounds, emotional and spiritual inheritances…anything that steals the joy and quality of today and tomorrow.  Sometimes, we get stuck there…like an inheritance of non-joy in life because it has been received as a genetic template of sorts.  It is not really yours; it’s your ancestors.  More often than not, when you or someone else is stuck and cannot get out of the trap, it is inheritance.  
You can do all the positive affirmations and positive thinking techniques, but this stuff is not yours.  It’s hitch hiking so to speak.  

All physical, spiritual, and emotional inheritances do that you know.  While all of this may be true, the greater truth is that we have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.  To not give God the credit and honor of this deliverance is another type of theft.  One of the greater forms of theft from God is to remain a victim when He has done so much to set us free and instead of walking in faith of the freedom, we continue to walk in the senses (feelings).  In this way, the external is always controlling us…another theft that we allow.

There are the examples of studying counterfeit money or studying healthy blood cells.  They spend a great deal of time looking at the true.  They cannot look at all the false because it is always being created.  Many of us have had lives that seem to be an endless revelation of the bad stuff.  This steals our joy and, therefore, our  present and future.  We have to become more grounded in what is true of us in Jesus Christ.  That is based in fact and we walk in the faith of Jesus Christ not the feelings that are from the pit of hell.

Second Corinthians 6:1 tells us that we are God’s co-workers.  First Corinthians 12:27 says that we are members of Christ’s body.  These are some of the truths of our identity.  Do not steal from that identity and believe a lie about yourself and others.  The devil is a thief, liar, and murderer.  Stand your ground in the truth.  

How to be Angry and Sin Not

Ephesians Study

Chapter 4

Ephesians 4:26-27 Amplified Bible:

26 Be angry [at sin—at immorality, at injustice, at ungodly behavior], yet do not sin; do not let your anger [cause you shame, nor allow it to] last until the sun goes down. 

This is beautiful!  It is full of wisdom and truth.  Notice that anger is not the problem.  We can be angry about things and situations.  Yet, do not sin because your anger can push you to dysfunction.  We may observe things that upset us, but we do not want to internalize these things in our being…do not let the sun go down on anger because it becomes internalized.  Do not allow anger to have mastery…becoming its slave.  

From the place of observation to mastery, we have an opportunity for discernment.  There is nothing to take personally.  The moment we begin to take something personally, ask why.  Why has this triggered me?  It is one thing to say to not let the sun go down on our anger and another thing to discern that there is no need to internalize this anger.  How do we do this?  We have counsel in this verse.  His bidding is His enabling.  This will likely not be resolved at the intellectual level.  It will come from the Spirit.  The intellectual is defensive and argumentative.  It is too concerned about “its rights.”  Not so the Spirit.  Internalized anger leads us to the next verse.

In the beginning, God asked a simple question:  Who told you that you were naked?  I suggest that since that time, we have felt that there was something wrong with us. and we have been in defense mode.  We feel naked and inadequate.  This is not something that God did.   It came from the enemy.

27 And do not give the devil an opportunity [to lead you into sin by holding a grudge, or nurturing anger, or harboring resentment, or cultivating bitterness]. 

Here is the list of what happens when we let the sun go down on our anger.  It is an opportunity for evil.  It festers into something that holds us captive by becoming grudges, nurturing anger, resentment, bitterness.  This is a progression of pain that results in a root of bitterness.   We may pamper it by using the thoughts and words that it is not fair…that isn't right…and other judgements.  These judgements keep us captive.  They are saying that we would rather be “right” than be free / righteous.

Understand that it is the devil that is pushing the buttons on anger…that he is seeking an opportunity to enslave us.  There is nothing to take personally.  There is nothing to hold against anyone.  We wrestle not against flesh and blood.  We wrestle against powers.  The quickest way to victory is to know this.  This is a type of seeing through the lens darkly.  We may not see the whole picture, but we have The Word that gives us discernment…reading between the lines so to speak.  

When we feel anger, rage, resentment or a shutting down emotionally (even passively), remember that these senses are opposite our faith.  Our faith tells us we are a son//daughter of God.  We are a redeemed child of God.  Our feelings, when triggered, causes us to abandon the truth about who we are.  The anger is due to some perceived threat to our identity.  If our identity is in this world (people, places, things), then we are more likely to wear our feelings on our sleeve.  

It is a practical application of scripture into life that helps us come up with “How To” guidelines.   It is not that we want to make this a works orientation…that would be self-oriented.  We want to take what faith we already have and the opportunity that is threatening us and grow in faith, knowledge, and truth.  Honestly, it might seem easier just to kick into blame, shame, and guilting other people than to own up to our part in the drama.  Always ask yourself: Why does this matter to me?  You may have a really good answer, however, keep asking yourself: Why does this matter to me?  At some point, your answer will take you back to yourself and not to the “other.”

It has taken a long time to write this post because I kept wrestling with the idea of our illusions versus abundance.  The illusion is that we are lacking something or some knowledge.  That was the temptation in the Garden of Eden.  The abundance truth was that they had everything that they needed.  The lie of not having enough (as good as others or better than others) or of not knowing enough (being threatened by fear of what we do not know or knowing the correct answer) drives us to respond in anger.   It is directed outward to others when at its core, it is anger towards self for being inadequate.  

The “How To” guidelines could be a list of behavior modification steps that we have probably all seen before.  Changing the behavior does little for changing  the heart.  Living from a place of abundance covers the having, doing, and being of who were are in Christ.  We think of abundance as a measurement of prosperity.  That is not true abundance.  True abundance is gratitude in the moment.  All we really have is that…one moment at a time. 

Renewing the Mind / Rejecting the False

Ephesians Study

Chapter 4

Ephesians 4:23-25 -- Renewing the Mind /  Rejecting the False

Amplified Bible:

Verse 23 And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude],

Verse 24 And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God's image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness.

Verse 25 Therefore, rejecting all falsity and being done now with it, let everyone express the truth with his neighbor, for we are all parts of one body and members one of another. [Zech. 8:16.]

There are so many things that sound true but are not.  Paul is giving us the pathway in this scriptures:  Mind, new nature (identity), rejecting that which is false.  Science has proven this very concept…as a man thinks, so is he.  Romans 12:2 says:  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

If I had but one day to share something vital with you, it would be this.  And, we never know if this will be our last day or not.  That is sobering when you think about it.

In the community that we are in, I have seen an older couple on their walks.  He pushes her part of the way in a wheel chair.  She walks part of the way pushing the wheel chair.  You can tell that this is more than exercise; this is recovery.  I see them every morning going up the sidewalk with its slight incline.  I say a prayer for them.  I do not get the impression that they speak English as I spoke to them one day, and it was obvious that they did not know how to respond.  It reminds me of our recovery walk with Jesus…sometimes we walk, sometimes He pushes us until we can walk again.  Instead of a wheel chair, I think He just carries us. 

Paul is giving us this pathway of being made new which leads to living honestly from this place of healing and oneness.  Some of us do not know how to receive the help of the Lord in our recovery process.  Often, our sense of responsibility pushes us to do or to be without help.  Sometimes, we see receiving help as weakness.  The Lord and anyone else can only push the wheel chair for us if we allow.  

This renewing of the mind that Paul speaks of means that the lies are being released and the truth of personal identity in God as well as the truth about God are becoming flesh in us.  When it boils down to it, this truth is simple: Jesus loves me!  Knowing and feeling this love changes us.  We love because He first loved us.  Be that child again who knows how to freely give and receive as the moment demands.  In His presence, be that child who is free to love, forgive, and play.  After the tears of a hurt, the trusting child returns to play.  Beautiful and full of lessons for us.  

Victimization and its protective heart walls have left many of us in need of the spiritual wheel chair.  We need to see and know the truth that He is always there, and that He will push the chair until healing happens.  Are we learning Christ in truth that we may share with each other in the body? Paul keeps calling us to return to the truth in Christ.  

Functional Versus Dysfunctional

Ephesians Study

Chapter 4

Ephesians 4:20-22 — Functional versus Dysfunctional

Amplified Bible:

Ephesians 4:20  But you did not so learn Christ! 21 Assuming that you have really heard Him and been taught by Him, as [all] Truth is in Jesus [embodied and personified in Him], 22 Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusions

“But you have not so learned Christ.”  Verse 20 is a balancing verse.  We ended last time with a description of the unregenerate person who has not “learned” Christ. We have so much to unlearn and much to learn in Christ.  Be proactive instead of reactive.

Live life on purpose!  Live life with purpose.   Learn Christ.  There is the Truth in Jesus…in words and example.  When Christ was here, He was a living example of the call to live a renewed life.  In all He did and said, it was about leaving off the former nature and grasping the concept of identity as God had purposed it from the beginning.  

At our house, we have discovered the Mechanical Translation (MT) of the Bible and the Revised Mechanical Translation (RMT), both of which give the original Hebrew meanings.  The Revised Mechanical Translation puts the words in an order that can be understood in English.  

This is a fascinating.  Here is the website:  (http://mthb.ancient-hebrew.org) — “The meaning of a Hebrew word cannot be conveyed completely through one or two English words, each word found in the MT will be included in the dictionary located at the back of this book. This dictionary will more accurately define each word within the context of the Ancient Hebrew language and culture.  Also included at the back of this book is a concordance allowing the reader to search for each occurrence of a word within the book of Genesis.”

At “our” house (living with a son-in-law and daughter and family while I recover from Lyme Disease), we have started at the beginning of Genesis to learn the story in the original Hebrew.  We have just started, and already it has opened our eyes to some deep lessons.  We are grateful.  One of those lessons is that in the Hebrew, the Tree of Knowledge and Good and Evil was not called that.  Here is the Hebrew translation:  “and “YHWH [He exists]” of “Elohiym [Powers]” made all of the trees spring up from the ground being a craving to appearance and functional for nourishment and a tree of the life in the midst of the garden and a tree of the discernment of function and dysfunction,…”

What we all especially like is the idea that it’s “functional and dysfunctional” rather than good and evil.  That takes away the judgment and condemnation about things.  We may choose to do something that is functional for us and feels dysfunctional to others.  It is not a matter of being evil.  It is just where we are at this time. And, it is OK that others are at some different place. I so totally agree with this!  The Lord said that He did not come to condemn.  This helps you understand that better also.  

What does this have to do with this week’s scripture?  It seems to be such a good explanation of functional and dysfunctional living.  That which takes us to functional living is to know Christ. The only standard of truth is Christ.  If it is truth in Him, then others may talk of the same thoughts or ideas and it is still true whether they have encountered Christ yet or not.  That is the story of the Gentiles who did the correct (functional) things without knowing Christ at that time.  It was counted to them for righteousness.  

What Paul is saying is that we need to move from dysfunctional to functional living:

• Strip yourself of the former nature…the unrenewed self.

• Discard your previous life which is corrupted through lusts and desires that spring from delusions.  What are delusions?  Dysfunctional beliefs and patterns of living.  

Adam and Eve were living a delusion when they took the fruit.  They were looking to gain what they already had.  They thought they had some lack in their connection with God.  A delusion!  They lacked nothing.  Neither do we.  We have the fulness of the Godhead and the mind of Christ.  

Man has created God in his own image, and that is a very dysfunctional god.  He looks a lot like you and me.  Let’s go back to the beginning, and learn Christ as is stated in verses 20-21.  We absolutely need to know Him in truth so we are moving from dysfunctional to functional!

This is at odds with religion which seeks the destination of a religion’s perfection.  It endeavors to bring predictability into the life., and it is also at odds with faith.  Functional living is spiritual maturity…a growing away from dysfunction.  It is the journey to wholeness/completenes.  It is union with God now because of the answered prayer of Jesus in John 17…prayer for oneness.  

Like Adam and Eve, we already have what we are seeking.  Jesus had a way of showing us God in the disorder and imperfection all around Him.  We can do the same.  The tree of the discernment of function and dysfunction is very different than the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  That is again destination oriented instead of being about the journey out of our dysfunction and into discerning how to function.  That is what we need…discernment.  We now know way too much of the evil.  Paul is calling us to a higher standard.

Burning our Plows

Ephesians Study

Chapter 4

Ephesians 4:17-19 — Burning Our Plows

Amplified Bible:

Verse 17: So this I say and solemnly testify in [the name of] the Lord [as in His presence], that you must no longer live as the heathen (the Gentiles) do in their perverseness [in the folly, vanity, and emptiness of their souls and the futility] of their minds. 

Verse 18: Their immoral understanding is darkened and their reasoning is beclouded. [They are] alienated (estranged, self-banished) from the life of God [with no share in it; this is] because of the ignorance (the want of knowledge and perception, the willful blindness) that is deep-seated in them, due to their hardness of heart [to the insensitiveness of their moral nature].

Verse   19:  In their spiritual apathy they have become callous and past feeling and reckless and have abandoned themselves [a prey] to unbridled sensuality, eager and greedy to indulge in every form of impurity [that their depraved desires may suggest and demand].

A quote from my last post:  “Paul calls us to a higher standard of selflessness to edification of the whole body.  He starts with speaking the truth in love and ends in verse 16 with the body maturing in love. It is love that compels.  It is love that convicts and converts.  It is love that cleanses us from unrighteousness.  It is love that grows us to maturity.  When we love, we do not want to hurt the Lord and those for whom He died…”

I start with this quote because there is such a huge jump from what Paul is calling us to and to what is expressed in this week’s verses.  I have been looking at these verses since last weekend.  What amazes me about them is the depth of knowing of the human spirit that Paul has.  He is talking about other Gentiles, the unconverted, and really shows the difference between the old man of sin and the new man of recreation.  

A heathen is one who is perverse in the folly, vanity and emptiness of their souls and the futility of their minds.  Their understanding is immoral and darkened.  Their reasoning is beclouded.  They are self-banished from the life of God because of their deep-seated ignorance…due to their hardness of heart. In spiritual apathy, they have become past feeling and abandoned themselves (become a prey) to the senses.

These words leave me stunned because they are such a clear picture of the world of Paul’s time and the world of our time.  No wonder Jesus said, “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”  This is a description of those who in their spiritual apathy would not give Jesus Christ a second thought.   And, yet, it can be a description of each of us.  How often do we take communion without a heart felt understanding of rightly discerning the body and blood of Christ.  In the living of life, has spiritual apathy made is prey to the sensual...TV, movies, books, magazines, conversation, feelings, (Romans 1:32).

We can be honestly ignorant…we don’t know something or Someone. 

Or we can be ignorant because of the hardness of the heart.  Think of pharaoh.  The arrogance of ignorance.  

Are you changed  by being a Christ follower or are you not?  Have we completely transitioned from the description of this week’s verses, or, are we bringing some of it with us into Christianity.  Baptism alone does not make for this transition from old to new.  Repeating the “sinner’s prayer” does not necessarily create of new heart.  

These verses are shocking after we have read so much of what it means to be a new creature.  The beauty of Oneness with the Lord is juxtaposed with the selfish, ego-centric descriptions in these verses.  It is so easy to not see ourselves in this description.

There comes a time when, like God’s call to Abram {Genesis 12:1}, we are to leave the father’s house, our culture, who we think we are because it is not who we are called to be.  An example of this can be found in the story of Elisha who burned his plow and offered a sacrifice upon it to follow Elijah.  You might say that he burned his bridges behind him.  There was no turning back to his old ways.

This transition is costly…economically (the rich young ruler went away sorrowing).  It will cost us emotionally and in our belief system.  Enhanced vision has a way of doing that.  Are we ready, willing, and able to burn our plows?  Are we ready to “leave” our culture behind?  What about our money?  Does it stand between us and the call of God?  I do not mean that it is wrong to have money, but if it causes us to “go away sorrowing” when the Lord puts His finger on it, then that is idolatry.

It would have been so easy to write something that was all about the “other” instead of touching on these points of being “heathen.”  All that resonates with the heathen, they will recognize in those who are calling themselves Christian.  They do not see that what we believe or have makes any difference in our lives.  Often, we major in minors which have little more substance than to give us a platform for argument…pride, arrogance, ego.  It would have been easy to take these verses apart and discuss how this “heathenism” has infiltrated the church…so subtle.  And yet, the below article says a great deal about how the world measures religion...the witness of Religion.  Notice, I said religion…not Christ followers.

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0115-zuckerman-secular-parenting-20150115-story.html#page=1

Paul, in Romans 2:12-16, talks about those that are not Christian but have the law in their hearts.  His comments mirror what the above article is saying.  He is saying that Gentiles who do not know are better than the Jews with all their knowledge.  

This week, Paul calls us again to come up even higher.  This call is about being honest with ourselves…have we burned our plows and fully committed to following Christ?