A Perfect Plan

We are now into our third week of breaking down the blog posted on January 7^th.  Last week we ended our time together with our praying that God would help us trust Him as we let Him hold up a mirror before us.  We prayed;  Dear God, help us trust that as we see the truth of who we are and who our master is, you will come into us and free us from the bondage we are in.  Dear God, help us come to know the freedom of being one with you as you show us the freedom found in simply letting go.

Prior to this prayer we used John 8 to reveal a few foundational truths to this journey with God.  We came to understand that:

• The truth sets us free,
• The truth is that we impose sin upon others and upon ourselves,
• The truth is that as sure as we sin, we are in bondage,
• The truth is that by definition someone in bondage is not free, and
• Our freedom hinges on our ability to let God show us the truth of these things.

Typically when we think about our bondage to sin we turn our minds to one of three things:

• Christ going to the cross to “wash us of our sins and make us acceptable to God”,
• The observation that our sin is the proof of our bondage, or
• The observation that our bondage is the proof of our sin.

It is this third understanding that we will discuss.  Wouldn’t you agree that nothing positive comes from our sin?  Isn’t it true that when we sin things don’t go too well in our lives or the lives of others?  This is where I feel it is important to see the bondage that our sin leads to instead of simply understanding the sin being the result of being in bondage.  There is a big difference here.  The latter is true; it is how Satan uses us to impose sin upon others so that he can capture them in his web.  The thing is, if we look at that as our basis for not sinning we kind of miss the boat.  We start looking at the choice to sin or not to sin based on what is going to be good for someone else.  Should I listen to God and do what is best for the other person or listen to Satan and do what is best for me?  If on the other hand we look at the bondage that our sin leads us into we tend to see the listening to God as what is best for us, and listening to Satan as what is detrimental to our own experiences of life.  I would argue that the first example of seeing ourselves as “needing” to listen to God because it is the right thing is just one more thing that gives us the sense of being in bondage.  We can tend to feel burdened by the weight of choosing between “sacrificing for others” or “doing what is best for us”.  On the other hand, if we allow ourselves to see that living a Christ like life is actually better for us as we are no longer weighted down with the bondage that is connected to the ramifications of our sins we become free.  At this realization, the only motive to living a Godly life is the sense of freedom it provides.  This is true freedom.  The really cool thing is that as we trust God to these things and walk this out in our daily lives we discover something unexpected.  What we find is a buried treasure.  We discover that not only do we avoid the unpleasant consequences of our sin, we are actually blessed with an unexpected emotional sensation found only in the joy of selfless living.  In living this way we discover what our soul was design for; selfless by choice.  It is in this discovery that we find ourselves one with God as we begin living a life in harmony with the nature of our very creation.

As a side note, this is not to be mistaken with selfless by obligation.  Selfless by obligation is still selfish as it is done in our desire to make God pleased with us.  This is totally different than being convinced that God’s ways are simply good.  The truth is, selfless by obligation is a works based mentality that totally misses the message of the gospel.

This paves the way for today’s discussion.  What is the purpose of this life, why did God create Satan, and why all the pain and suffering?  Have you ever stopped to consider:

• If God knows all things before they happen, why did He create Satan?
• Why did He give Satan so much power and influence?
• What is the purpose of life and this existence on planet earth?
• Why did God birth us into this flesh, into this world, and into Satan’s dominion?

Going back to the previous paragraph we see that living God’s way moves us from selfish living into a life of selfless living.  In this life of selfless living we discover a hidden blessing; we discover a sense of harmony that is undeniable.  We find ourselves at inner peace as we come to realize for the first time we are living in harmony with the nature of our very creation.  If this is true, then wouldn’t it reason that living selfishly would leave us feeling disconnected from that which is within us?  Out of harmony with our own nature?  Feeling empty, void, and lost?  Wouldn’t we feel like there is something missing, something that needs to be satisfied, and something that must be fixed?

The journey doesn’t stop with selflessness.  The truth is, we are created in God’s image.  Therefore, we were designed to live in harmony with Him.  The more in harmony with Him we live, the more at peace our lives become.  So what are some of the attributes of this nature:

• Selflessness?
• Holiness?
• Humility?

I am going to focus in on the last one for a minute.  Humility.  There are so many directions I could go with this.  Let’s start with the serpent approaching Eve in the garden.  “You can be just like God”.  What did this promise hinge upon?  Wasn’t it the gaining of the knowledge of good and evil?  And just as important, what does being “just like God” mean exactly?  Let’s go back to John 8 and apply this scripture to today’s discussion.

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." 33 They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You will become free'?"

There are a few aspects of “being just like God” that we crave and desire.  The one I want to focus in on is our desire to be our own master.  Isn’t it true that the only entity that has no master is the creator Himself?  If we agree that He is omni-powerful & omni-present then we have no choice but to accept that He is the ultimate master of everything He created.  It is our pride that leads us to believe that we are free.  It is the truth of this deception that sets us free from Satan’s bondage.  In other words:

• We know that if we sin we are in bondage to Satan,
• If we re-define sin we can claim to be free even though we are not, and
• If we misinterpret the relationship we have with Christ to be one that removes His desire for us to be freed from sin we can claim to be free even though we are not.

As Satan uses tiny little lies embedded within the wonderful teachings of “religion” he feeds our flesh the one thing it desires more than anything else.  “You can be just like God; knowing the difference between good and evil will make you free”.

The truth is that knowing the difference between good and evil makes you no more free than knowing the difference between black and white.  Similarly, knowing that Christ died to set you free of Satan’s control over your life makes you no more free than any man, woman, or child who still remains unaware of that wonderful fact.  What makes us free is the life long progression of:

• Christ helping us see our sins for what they are,
• Christ helping us see the bondage our sins lead us into,
• Christ helping us see the control this gives Satan over our lives,
• Christ helping us see how Satan uses this to gain control over others, and
• Christ showing us how we are doing more for Satan’s purposes than for God’s.

This realization is our humility; it is what leads us to our brokenness and our total dying to ourselves and our flesh.  It is the realization of our addictions to the things of this world and the spiritual captivity that these addictions lead us into that God uses to bring us to the point of choosing to let Him be our master and all that He wants to show us, where He wants to lead us, and prepare us for an eternity with Him.

Without the ramifications (the pain and suffering) that our sins bring into our lives and the lives of others we simply would not be able to comprehend the depths of our own pride.  It is our pride that leads us to believe that:

• Our definition of good and evil is the same as God’s,
• We are capable of doing what is good and resisting what is evil,
• We are free and that we do not have  a master, and
• We have no need for a master because we are “just like God”.

As such, our ultimate humility leads us to realizing that:

• God will use the events of life to show us that our understanding is not the same as His,
• God will use our choices to show us that we are not capable of doing good or resisting evil,
• God will use the pain and suffering that results to soften our hearts to His voice,
• God will reveal to us that we are not free, we have never been free, and that regardless as to what we think, we are serving a master, and
• With these realizations in mind He gives us the free will choice to decide who our master will be for all of eternity.

The truth is that how we answer the last question is the only thing that really matters.  In God’s ultimate wisdom He delivered us into a world that will:

• Expose our pride,
• Show us how the evil of His creation will use our pride to take control of our lives,
• Allow us to experience the heart wrenching ramifications of what results, and
• Give us a clear picture of the contrast between an eternity bound to evil verses an eternity bound to Him.

The bottom line is this; God created Satan and this world for a very particular purpose.  He knew what would happen and the results are a part of the journey that we must endure.  The purpose of this life is very simple.  Life is a gift, it is a gift that gives our soul the opportunity to grow, learn, and choose.  This world provides the perfect setting for the observation of the truth, to see the ramifications of choosing evil over God or the blessing of choosing God over evil.  All of this was created for our spiritual transformation.  It is that simple.  Anything else we make of it simply adds confusion.  Are we capable of letting go of any other attachment to any other purpose…..can we allow God to show us that all of this is to give us the proof we need to choose Him, and the lessons required to comprehend what that really means?  Can we accept that through all the pain, trials, and tribulations it is a perfect plan created by our perfect God for us?

Dear God, please open up our hearts, minds, and souls to come to understand where we are in bondage, where we have allowed Satan to use our pride to deceive us into believing what is not true.  God help us to have the strength to trust your ways and to lean on your strength as you literally free us from the bondage of your enemy.  Dear God help us to open our hearts to the reality of our pride, how Satan uses our pride to draw us into a relationship with him, and how he is using us to lead the world away from you.  Amen.

What truth exactly?

Last week we started a multi-week break down of the blog that was posted on January 7^th.  We didn’t move real far, but what we looked at had the potential to become the foundation of a totally new way of life, a totally new way of understanding, a totally new kind of relationship between us and God and as such others. 

Today we are going to use John 8 as our basis of revelation.  In this chapter we find Christ talking with those who witnessed His handling the situation with the woman caught in adultery.  During that exchange He wrote something in the sand.  Those that were asking Him to judge the woman, to test Him, and to bring about their own purposes ultimately walked away.  We do not know what was in their hearts or how what Christ wrote impacted each of them.  What we do know is that He said "He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her." 8 Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone”.

Dear God, please open our hearts, minds, and souls to that which you are trying to reveal to us in your ultimate love of us.  Please give us the strength to approach you in a new and exciting way as we trust you with helping us answer these questions: 

1.  Why do we think the “older ones” were the first to walk away “hearing” what He wrote?
2. Have we ever thought something along the lines of “Christ will take care of them”?
3. Is there any difference between our thoughts in that last question and the attitude of the Pharisees?
4. Going back to what I prayed for your week: 
1. Were you able to let God speak to you through the conflicts of your life?
2. Were you able to “hear” what He wrote in the sand before you?
3. Were you able to hear how He was using the situations to point out to you your sin,
4. Were you able to hear how He wanted to use you to lead others, to be the “elder” more spiritually mature, and to lead those less mature away from the conflict so you could discuss what Christ showed you about YOUR sin?
5. Can we be honest with ourselves, can we see how many times in the last 7 days we let Him down, how we ignored what He wrote, how we picked up the stones, threw them, and continued on with our own agendas?

Continuing on with verses 23-35 there are a few key verses for this discussion: 

• "You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. 
• 33 They answered Him, "We are Abraham's descendants and have never yet been enslaved to anyone; how is it that You say, 'You will become free'?" 
• 34 Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. 35 "The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever.

Let's pray that God open our hearts and minds one more time as we ask the Spirit to reveal the truth of the following questions:

1. Can we accept that we are “from below” and totally of this world?
2. What was the blind spot of those that said “We are Abraham’s descendants…..”
3. What is the connection between sin and being a slave?
4. What does Christ say about remaining in the house and remaining a slave to sin?
5. Does this help us understand why Satan feeds us such a constant stream of excuses that encourage us to ignore the voice of the Spirit and not see sin as sin?
6. When Christ says “you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free”, is the “truth” simply the bible?  Or is it an understanding of “where we are from, what we are blind to, the bondage we are in, and who our master truly is”?

The simple revelation of these verses is this:  Satan wants us to remain His slave.  God wants us to be free from bondage.  Satan is perpetually attempting to convince us that our thoughts and actions are justifiable, reasonable, and in line with Christ’s teachings so that we are his for eternity.  The Spirit is perpetually attempting to convince us that our thoughts and actions are not from God but from below.  Christ is telling us that if we do not continue on a lifelong progression of seeing His truth and embracing His ways we will ultimately fail ourselves as we do not let Him free us of the bondage to Satan and his lies.  Ultimately this will force God to remove us from the house where Christ will remain forever based on our own choice to remain attached to what God is attempting to free us from.

Let's pray that God will open our hearts to these questions:

1. Being totally honest with ourselves and with God, what are the promises, pay offs, expectations, understandings, thoughts, and emotions that drive us to: 
1.  React to the storms of life as we do,
2. Make the financial decisions we make,
3. Spend our time how we spend it,
4. Work on what we working on,
5. The choices we make for entertainment, and
6. The thoughts we have when we are alone.
2. How many of those 5 questions did we answer as simply as “to understand how God is using the things of this world to show us how far from Him we truly are and who our master really is”? 

Keeping a focus that this journey is all about letting God make us, mold us, and prepare us to be the perfect bride for His son we have no choice but to make the following connections.

•  A proper bride does not entertain others, seek her own fame, or allow others to guide her way,
• If we allow Satan to seduce us into a relationship with him based on his worldly promises of fun, excitement, physical gratification, power, influence, or any other self-serving behavior we are allowing him to entertain us while in a covenant relationship with Christ,
• If we allow Satan to seduce us into a relationship with him based on his worldly promises of feelings of being right, important, or esteemed we are trading our humility to him while in a covenant relationship with Christ
• If we allow Satan to feed us the excuses that justify our walking, talking, living, or breathing anything other than Christ likeness we are allowing him to be our master while in a covenant relationship with Christ, and
• This revelation is what John 8 is all about.  God simply cannot allow anyone to remain in the house with His son if they are not totally committed, sold on, and faithful to Christ.  Understandably, this is a life long journey that is fulfilled within the heart, not action.

Can we open up our hearts and allow ourselves to be Job for a moment?  Can we picture God in the heavenly realms pointing us out to Satan?  Can we hear God saying to Satan, “look there, see my good and faithful servant ___________. “  Can we see Satan taking the bait?  “___________ isn’t committed to you.  Just watch, I’ll show you who his/her true loyalty is with”.  Can we hear God responding, “I don’t think so, take anything but his/her life and let’s see.”  Can we understand that God is doing this because He loves us?  Can we allow our focus to go out a little and come to understand that this is all a part of God’s plan of separating good from evil for all of eternity?

The evidence of where we are in that process is in the understanding of what goes on in our mind as we walk through the journey of life. 

•  What we believe determines the thoughts we have,
• The thoughts we have determine our emotional responses to what goes on,
• Our emotional responses are God’s keys to helping us see who our master is, and finally
• We cannot be one with Him if we choose to allow Satan to be our master.

Let’s take a moment and pray.  Dear God, as we move through the upcoming week help us to open up our hearts and minds to seeing and understanding our own thoughts.  Dear God, help us understand our thoughts as our emotions lead us through this upcoming week.  Dear God help us to see our emotional responses to:

1. Challenging people and difficult circumstances,
2. Our choices for entertainment and what we bring into our lives,
3. Our interactions with those we are spiritually responsible for,
4. What we decide to spend our money on or what we decide not to contribute toward, and
5. What we spend our time on or not dedicate it toward.

Dear God, help us trust you as we let you hold up a mirror before us.  Dear God, help us trust that as we see the truth of who we are and who are master is, you will come into us and free us from the bondage we are in.  Dear God, help us come to know the freedom of being one with you as you show us the freedom found in simply letting go.

When less is more

It has been an interesting week for me.  I have felt somewhat overwhelmed with this sense of weight.  I got a few responses to the latest blog.  One told me that the course of the discussion wasn’t linear and went down too many rabbit holes.  Another told me that it didn’t have the power that my typical blogs have.  As I came back to my computer to start typing I had decided my next series was going to be on the seven churches of revelation.  I was about to open my bible and begin work on the first church.  And then I opened last week’s blog.

The discussion in our home over the past several days has been, without mentioning it, all the issues discussed in this last blog.  The sermons that Robyn and I have been presented with at both churches we are attending are, in a different way, all about what was written in the last blog.  The study Robyn is doing that God has led her to presenting to SLUM, although from a different perspective, is all about the heart of this last blog.  As I shared last week, everything God has been leading me to over the past two years is contained within the context of that blog.  I can only reason that my sense of weight is that I was too close to what I was writing, that I did not allow myself to disconnect from myself, and that there was too much Jeff and not enough Spirit in last week’s blog.

Through the overwhelming parallels mentioned above, I can only discern that God wants me to go back and take Jeff out, to simplify, and to re-address.  I pray that what I am hearing is true, and that the following is good fruit.

Last week’s blog was entitled “The greatest blessing”.  The blog then went on to reveal the following:

• The greatest blessing is to be chosen to be God’s bride 
• Being God’s bride requires that He properly prepare us to be one with Him,
• A properly prepared bride embraces her unity with her husband and turns from any desire for anything less than full unity with Him.  She does this through free will, without a sense of dedication, commitment, responsibility, resentment, questioning, competition, pride, selfish motivation, or anything less than fully embracing every aspect of her husband’s character, nature, and will,
• The journey to being properly prepared cannot avoid extraordinary challenges, discomfort, pain, suffering, persecution, and “sacrifice”,
• Therefore, the extraordinary challenges, discomfort, pain, suffering, persecution, and “sacrifice” are in themselves “the greatest blessings”, and as such
• We find joy in these things as we embrace the spiritual transformation they provide as we let go of the perspective of seeing them as challenging, uncomfortable, painful, or sacrificial.  This is the true realization of the blessing; the realization of being one with Him.

This message applies to us individually at the smallest scale and to the world in general at the largest scale.  As individuals we are allowing God to lull us to Himself as we accept the journey of our own lives.  As a people we are allowing God to lull us to Himself through the global experience of His redemptive plan.  As “His People” we are to understand this plan and embrace it as righteous so that we may allow the world to experience what the world must experience to come to know Him.  The tough part is coming to understand that “The world” includes various religions, people groups, cultures, and even us. 

In other words, we must have faith in God’s plan for redeeming the world and accept that our own role is to allow ourselves to be drawn into oneness with Him.  We do this to the best of our ability as we die to our flesh and trust that we remain in God’s grace based on His work not ours.

Pulling from last week:

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD. 9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts. 10 "For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven, And do not return there without watering the earth And making it bear and sprout, And furnishing seed to the sower and bread to the eater; 11 So will My word be which goes forth from My mouth; It will not return to Me empty, Without accomplishing what I desire, And without succeeding in the matter for which I sent it.

We followed this bit of scripture with some questions.  The first two were:

• How do God’s thoughts differ from our thoughts?
• How do God’s ways differ from our ways?

At first thought these questions sound somewhat absurd.  Isn’t God clearly telling us that we don’t understand His thoughts and His ways?  Yes, that is exactly what He is saying.  But then again, it isn’t exactly “what” He is saying.  What He is saying is this; “If you try to understand Me based on your flesh based logic you never will.  This is why I have put My Spirit into you, so that you may come to know Me, understand Me, and choose to embrace all that I am”.  Isn’t it critical for a bride to come to understand the thoughts and ways of her husband?  How could we possibly support Him in all that He is doing if we don’t understand His thoughts or His ways?

These questions were asked to expose our own personal levels of spiritual development.  This one short piece of scripture sums up what this entire existence on this earth is all about……we are here to freely decide to embrace His thoughts and His ways.  If we do not allow ourselves to get to know Him, how could we possible choose to become one with Him?

Moving on to the next two questions:

• What analogy could God be making through Isaiah with the “rain and snow”?
• What analogy could God be making through Isaiah with the “seed to the sower and bread to the eater”?

When I read these two statements, I see the “rain and the snow” as the storms of life.  As for the seed, the sower, and the bread, I see truth, disciples, and spiritual food.  In other words, it is the storms of life that help us see things God’s way, we apply these things to our own lives in such a way to be transformed into His image, and through this process we grow in our ability to lead others back to Him.  This is His way.

Let’s take a moment to ask God to show us our spiritual condition.  Are we capable of asking God to help us let go of anything that stands in our way of letting Him show us His thoughts and coming to understand His ways?  Are we capable of asking God to show us how He is trying to use the circumstances of our life to reveal these things to us?  If so, let’s take a moment to pray that God will open our hearts to the following questions:

1. Have there been challenges with people or life circumstances that God is attempting to speak to us through?
2. When we think about those circumstances, what are our thoughts relative to the issues?
3. When we think about those circumstances, what feelings and emotions do we have?
4. Are we willing to see our feelings, emotions, and thoughts as flesh driven and focused on a perspective where we are at the center of what is important, right, or fair?
5. Are we willing to allow God to show us what He is attempting to reveal to us about our spiritual condition through these issues?
6. Are we willing to allow God to show us how He is attempting to transform us through these issues?
7. Are we willing to allow God to show us how He is attempting to use these issues to reveal Himself to others?

This is enough for today.  In reality, this is enough for this week.  I pray that as the week progresses you:

1. Allow God to speak to you through the storms of life,
2. You allow Him to help you let go of your thoughts so that you can hear His,
3. That you allow yourself to let go of aspects of yourself that keep you from shining with His light,
4. That you let Him show you how He is attempting to use you to reveal Himself to others, and
5. That as you live out His thoughts and His ways you feel the blessing of being one with Him