Word of the Week

So often our greatest failures are on the heels of our greatest victories. Even those who have a sincere heart toward God can forget for a moment the immovability of His Holiness. Caught up in our human emotion, we forget that He is always God and He will not be compromised even in our excitement or depression or anger.

Sessions in Pain pg. 99

 

Author’s Comments: I heard someone say once, “Whatever inspires you will control you. If your emotions inspire you they will control, but if the Holy Spirit inspires you then He will control you”.

“Looking away from all that will distract us and focusing our eyes on Jesus, who is the Author and Perfecter of faith [the first incentive for our belief and the One who brings our faith to maturity], who for the joy [of accomplishing the goal] set before Him endured the cross, disregarding the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [revealing His deity, His authority, and the completion of His work]”  (Hebrews 12:2 AMP).

{ 0 comments }

Leaving Babylon pgs. 71-72

As educated and knowledgeable as the apostle Paul was in the Holy Scriptures and other areas of living, he realized he had to see everything he knew of life through the eyes of Jesus Christ. This renewal would take a complete submission to God. He had to clothe himself in humility if he were to be cleansed from the mind-set of Babylon. He could not become clean through human wisdom, because it is full of contaminants, only through the purity of the Holy Spirit. You cannot clean anything in dirty water, and all that we have as human beings is dirty. I must concede that God must do the cleansing, for I know nothing about this cleansing. He must do the work, and it begins with humility.

… so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom and rhetoric of men, but on the power of God (1 Cor.2:5).

{ 0 comments }

Jesus in the Garden, “Choosing to Love”

One major reason to worship God in your pain is because He is Sovereign. He has the final say in the lives of every living thing on the planet. God does what He does without the need to explain Himself to you or me. He chooses to love us. He chooses to care for us and sustain our existence. All things exist because of His will. “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and were created” (Revelation 4:11).

Sessions in Pain pg. 92

Author’s Comments:                                                                                                  Even the angels find it a mystery how much God loves us. Why would He send His Son, the Christ, the Darling of Heaven, to suffer and die for you and for me? This is confounding to all who see it. The only answer to this mystery is that He chooses to love us!

“Into these things even the angels long to look.” 1 Peter 1:12b

{ 0 comments }

Finally, we must turn the eyes of truth toward the church of God. How comfortable have we become in Babylon? How often are we choosing her pleasures over the call of sacrifice for the purposes of God? Yes, even the people of God have become inebriated by her pleasures. We wear the label, but our lives tell the story of where we stand. What is your decision? Will you allow Christ to “gather” you out of Babylon? Will you answer the call as Moses did? Do you have the courage to stand for the ways of God in this corrupt age? Will you leave Babylon or remain trapped and addicted to her pleasures?

All it takes is a decision on your part and submission to the Holy Spirit. He will guide and lead you out. He will lead you to the place of being in the world, but not of the world. Christ still cries out to Jerusalem, the holy city:

O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, but you were not willing! (Luke 13:34, nkjv)

Jesus was talking to the chosen people of God—the ones who knew the words of His Father and proclaim Him as their God. The ones who went into God’s temple regularly to worship, grieved the heart of the Son of God with their deliberate deafness to His voice.

I believe the day is coming when God’s people will become sober in their choices. We will choose to worship and work in churches and organizations that are solid and enduring and have stood the tests of time and battle. We will choose churches where prayer is paramount and the people seek the face of God (His presence) over His hand (His presents). There will be a hunger for churches where service to God is dictated by the Holy Spirit and not by the latest ideas or trends. We will forego all of the bells and whistles to hear His still small voice. Christ is calling and gathering the hearts of all who will hear Him in this day and age, because even among “believers,” all that can be shaken will be shaken.

{ 0 comments }

Beloved, God loves you too much to leave you infected; He is determined to pursue your healing. The God we serve is Holy and He will stand for nothing less than your complete healing before Him. He will bring us to the place of cleansing those wounds, even when we would rather deny the truth of our wounds. He is relentless in bringing us to deliverance.

Sessions in Pain pg. 218

Author’s Comments: To live healed is a process that begins from the inside and grows to the outside. True healing occurs when you invite Christ into your spirit, then He overflows into your soul and finally your body (your countenance) changes. Living healed depends only on you and your Lord.

…and by His wounds we are healed.  Isa.53:5 

{ 0 comments }

Leaving Babylon pgs. 123-124

Competition becomes irrelevant in Christ because Jesus holds our treasures. He knows that our bodies are weak and perishing, yet He chooses to dole out His light, His knowledge, to us. He died so that you could have all that the Father has for you. When He died, the veil separating the holy of holies from the rest of the temple of God was torn in two, and you were invited in into His presence to receive directly from Him and to live in true freedom and according to His purposes. No one can have your purpose. God designed it and keeps it just for you (2 Cor. 4:1, 7).

In the other system, Babylon would make you scratch,struggle, and compete to receive good things. The problem is magnified by the fact that our bodies are decaying more every day. Each day we grow older and weaker, but the battle remains just as intense, or even more intense than the day before. Logic dictates that without help, you and I will one day lose the battle in Babylon. Someday someone will be better, stronger, and faster than you. It is just a matter of time. There is no game plan you can create that will keep you on top in this world’s system. When you are used up, she will retire you or toss you aside for the younger model. Remember, she is all about profit for herself, and if someone else has a better plan for her to gain more, she will replace you. There is no loyalty in her ranks.

In deepest contrast is the plan of God for you. He calls you to His great purpose, and as you grow older, you grow stronger in Him. As you walk with God through life each day, you become more sound and mature in His Spirit. When it is time to leave a work, you will leave fulfilled and ready to move on to the next work, or even to your heavenly home. You will be able to claim the same words as the apostle when his life was coming to a close, I fought a good fight, I finished my course, and I kept the faith! (2 Tim. 4:7).

{ 0 comments }

STANDING!

Job declared in chapter 23 that, “He knows the way that I take; When He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold” (verse 10). There is a place where God tries you and tests you so that He can bring the impurities in your soul to the surface in order to deal with them.

Sessions in Pain pg. 165 When He has tested me.

 Author’s Comments: How well do you stand up under testing? A friend once told me, “If you’re squeezed and lemon juice comes out you must accept the fact that you are a lemon!” I found that God will allow squeezing in your life to show you yourself.   Not to shame you, but to bring  you to a place of allowing  Him to work in you.

“Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Phil. 1:6 NKJV

{ 0 comments }

According to Genesis 3:17–18, that day in Eden, our planet changed and, with it, our lifestyle. The earth was cursed along with Adam. It is important to group the changes on planet earth with the changes in the way of life for humanity, as these changes go hand in hand.

Before, we were kings and queens who walked the earth free of stress and toil. Our food was made available to us by God, freely. God gave man work to do, but it was stress-free, peaceful work. He was to care for a beautiful garden. Springs of water came up from the earth and watered the vegetation for there was no rain. Man’s work was enjoyable (Gen. 2:5–6). There was no need for clothing or shelter, for we were clothed in the glory of God. The earth’s climate was perfect for human life. Humanity was created to live stress- and worry-free.

We should not be surprised at all of the human ailments that are related to stress. In medicine, there is a whole category of disorders call psychosomatic illnesses. These are illnesses that cause physical symptoms and diseases but have their origins in mental stressors. From heart disease and obesity (the two major killers in the United States) to headaches, ulcers, many types of psychiatric disorders—all have been found to be related to stress in our lives.

After our choice to sin, the planet was changed and, with it, our way of life—from peace to pressure.

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:57). (ADDED 1.29.16)

{ 0 comments }

BUY BOOK: LEAVING BABYLON

Leaving Babylon pgs. 131-132

In addition to the issue of her lost beauty, Eve pines for the attention and love of Adam. After the curse, her eyes were turned from God to Adam. “Yet your desire and craving will be for your husband, and he will rule over you” (Genesis 3:16b, amp). She longs for him to notice her and for him to tell her she is beautiful. Eve competes with her sisters for his attention. They all pine after Adam and fight as the spirit of insecurity dictates to their hearts. She longs for him, desperately, although he is imperfect and will eventually hurt her. He rules over her with flaws. Adam does not always hurt Eve intentionally; he will hurt her because he, too, is cursed. He must work by the sweat of his brow to provide for Eve and his family, but the provisions will elude him, for the world is fallen. What was given to him in the garden must now be worked for. We will explore his curse later.

Previously, Eve was infused with the Holy Spirit, and, therefore, she had all of the perfect attributes of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22–23). She was balanced in her love for Adam, because her first love was God, and she believed in His perfect love for her. She loved Adam through the love of God, peacefully and fulfilled. She put no pressure on him, because God was her source of provision and security.

In Babylon, Adam is burdened with trying to please Eve who is never satisfied. Eve is ever nagging him to do better and to perform for her, to love her better, to protect her better, and to make her more secure. Adam tries, but he can never fulfill the longing in Eve that was once met by God in the garden.

Sometimes, Eve becomes bitter because Adam has disappointed and hurt her too many times. In Babylon, she learns to resent and sometimes hate Adam. She continues to pine for Adam, but she is afraid of him and, therefore, walls herself in to protect herself.

Now as Eve lives afraid and walled in, Babylon offers her ways to control her life and the people around her. As her heart craves the imperfect and fallible Adam, she learns to lie and manipulate him, believing this will help her feel safe as the spirit of insecurity is her constant companion.

{ 0 comments }