the church

During our Monday night Bible study, we have been studying about what the Spirit of God said to the 7 churches and how that applies to us. It has been a powerful time of "revelation" as we have seen truth for ourselves. Our last look at the churches concludes with the Sardis-a church that had a name, but was actually dead. It was a dead church in an affluenct community. And God's instruction to the church were to WAKE UP! and strengthen what has not yet died. He wants them to succeed, but that success can only come when when they remember what they have received and live in it....they have become complacent-a religious place, but not a place in relationship with Him.
Of course, we all remember Laodecia-the lukewarm church. But have we really stopped to contemplate that 2 of the last 3 churches were rebuked for apathy, complacency, religious activity or because they were so self sufficient that they didn't need God? God called this church wretched-condemned, miserable-most to be pitied, poor-beggars, blind-unable to see, naked-exposed.
I am overtaken by the address of Jesus to these....to us. 3 of the other 5 churches were rebuked for stirring up strife, immorality in the church, tolerating evil talkers and doers, losing their focus and not putting God First. Only 2 churches were even close to be acceptable-one which endured great tribulation and the other that kept the Word of God and was kept from tribulation.
As I am finishing up this study, I am wondering what God would say to us...the church? Are we apathetic, complacent-needing to wake up and gain strengthe before we are totally dead? Are we lukewarm-hypocrites, in name only, full of religious activity, having fallen away from our first love? Are we tolerates of evil, strife stirrers, wretched, miserable, poor, beggars, blind and naked? I am sure none of these are things we want to admit, but maybe it is time for us all to search our hearts and hear what the Spirit is saying to the church? That would be ME and YOU!
In my own life, I find such complacency and a need to arise....and not sleep or slumber. I see so many areas where I am apathetic and tolerate sin. I am so convicted-that as the church-I am not ready for His return and must immediately begin to turn my heart to match His.

Father, stir our hearts from the complacency and apathy. Awaken us to Your truth.
Bring us back to our passionate pursuit of you. Rescue me from the state of wretchedness, miserable, poor, blind and nakedness that I am in. Help me to keep your Word and to endure.....persevering to the end in YOUR Truth. Do not let me be a pleaser of man, but of you. May your standard be mine and may I not compromise or follow after those who are not holding that standard forth....
let it begin in me....ALL FOR YOU

Transformed into Captivation

Have you ever been captured by a word that so describes your soul that you are almost in awe of how precisely it fits how you feel?
Well, I am all about words. In fact, my office is slowly becoming my WORD wall. Words that describe the journey that the Father has me on-markers of rememberance, to help keep those things in front of my face, so I won't forget. Words like BREATHE, SIMPLIFY, GET REAL, DREAM BIG, FAITH, PRAY, BELIEVE, REMEMBER, LOVE...but today...today I have a new word. A word that has captured my heart and has sent me on the next step of my journey.
Well, let me back up, it first began with another word....the word TRANSFORM. I have been mesmorized by this word. I have become acutely aware of how overlooked this thought is in Christendom and that the call to Christ is a call to die to self and be transformed into the image of Him. Salvation is Consecration, Conformation and Transformation-all part of sanctification for a true Believer.
But today, that word came alive for me. Transformation comes about by the renewing of your mind. As we renew our minds and see God for who He truly is-it ought to CAPTIVATE us. We were once held captive in the kingdom of darkness, but we have now been transfered to the Kingdom of His beloved-not held captive, but CAPTIVATED by HIM.
Could it be that too many of us were not transformed or captivated by Him and yet think that we are safely in the Kingdom. I am coming to realize that transformation=captivation and that these are what describes true conversion. The question is not do you know Jesus. Even the demons know Him. The question is have you be transformed and are you Captivated by Him so much so that your life radically reveals your passion for Him?
I am asking for MORE transformation and captivation.
Captivate us, Lord Jesus, set our eyes on You.
Devastate with Your presence, falling down.
Rushing river, draw us nearer, holy fountain consume us with You.
Captivate us, Lord Jesus, with YOU.(hall)
ALL FOR YOU

Dead tired?

the past few days have been tough ones. Not because anything necessarily difficult has happened. It just seems that the weight of ministry, the burden of life, coupled with the fact that I have not "felt" good (been sick) have made living and moving tiresome. Whether just walking to the kitchen (which causes me to HURT all over), Counseling those in need, teaching or just dealing with life, I have struggled to put one foot in front of the other.

I am not whining or complaining, just being honest about where I am today. The strain of ministry is heavy and the burdens that we bear often weight us down. I feel DEAD tired.

Funny, as I thought about those words....the Father reminded me that Dead people don't get tired. For they are dead. It is those who are "doing the deal"/working at it in life that get tired. How is it that I forget the basic lessons of my faith and retain the tidbits of tiny details that don't really apply to life? Today, I felt like a dead man walking....and the Father....simply states that I am! I am called to die to self, to crucify flesh, to be dead-so that Christ in me can breathe life. Somewhere in the last few days, I forgot to breathe...to inhale Him. Not because I wasn't in the Word or praying....Not because I wasn't seeking. But somewhere in the journey my flesh arose and I began walking in my own "trying" ways. Trying to do everything, to be everything, to carry everything. Instead of dying to self and allow Christ in me to be, carry and do all things.

Tonight, I am dead tired....tomorrow....I will just be dead...for I WILL die to self and my trying....Good night self...Hello, dead man walking....IN YOU!
For in HIM, I live and move and have my being....may I die that you may LIVE....

ALL FOR YOU

Obedience

We must obey God rather than man. Sometimes that is a hard one. It shouldn't be, but the truth is that we often desire to please other people more than we desire to please God. Obedience comes from a heart that longs to please God ONLY. If we do not desire to obey Him in ALL things, we will certainly end up pleasing man-thus making man god in our lives for that moment.
Acts tells us that the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey. We know that the Holy Spirit is given to believers at the point of conversion. But the proof of conversion would be obedience.
I have been spending a lot of time thinking about conversion. It's picture is found in Romands 12:1-2. In view of the mercy of God-because we understand the mercy of God and all He has done for us, we lay ourselves on the altar as a Consecration offering to God-for God. He consumes all of what we are and calls us to NOT be conformed to the world but to be conformed to the image of His beloved Son. We are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, proving the will of God is good, acceptable and perfect.
Salvation is here...Isaiah 46 says. But it is not found in simple statements of faith, confessions of lips or acknowledgements of truth. For many praise Him with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him, serving Him from rote and tradition. Salvation is found in NO other. But salvation does NOT look like the easy gospel that is preached to so many, deceiving them, lulling them into a false sense of security.

Salvation (according to Scripture) is
Consecration-being set apart by God and for God and totally consumed by Him alone.
Non-conformation to the world, but conformation to Jesus and His cross.
Transformation-CHANGE through the power of the Word

All of these things are marked by OBEDIENCE.
Obedience is state of the heart, not just a way to walk. It is a heart that screams-I must obey God, rather than man! It is a heart consumed by God and the Holy Spirit, who CAUSES you to walk in HIS ways. It is being transformed into HIS likeness instead of being pressed into the mold of the world.
Salvation is here....NOW WALK in these things.


ALL FOR YOU

Circumcision

Yes, I know...that is a weird title, but stay with me long enough to see the truth that is behind it. I have been studying in Colossians and was reminded today of truth about Christ that I believe has been dismissed and neglected.
It says: (col 2:11) and IN HIM you were also circumcised with a cirumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of flesh by the circumcision of Christ.
Romans 6:6 enlightens us to this truth by stating that "our old self was crucified with Him in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin."
Deut 30:6 says the Lord you God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord Your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live!"
And Gal 5:24 says "those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires."

Circumcision is a cutting away of the flesh and in Biblical terms it is no different. Christ has removed our body of flesh. It was crucified with Him in order that our flesh might be done away with and we might walk in the Spirit of God that now lives within us, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin, but free to walk in Him. God has cut away the flesh of our hearts and Ezekiel takes it a step further to say that he removed our heart of stone and gave us a new heart. Our flesh lives no more if we have died with Him, raised to walk in new life. This means our fleshly desires and passions do not control us.
So why do we live as if they do? Because we have not "considered the members of our earthly body as dead" to these things!

God has cut away our flesh...at the cross. Old things have passed away, all things are new. He has circumcised our hearts! So quit living as if the old person is still alive.
For me, it means remembering to die everyday, every minute, that Christ in me might be glorified and exalted. I am not to be controlled by my flesh, my desires or my passions, but by the Spirit of God, by Christ Himself, living in ME! That is the mystery of this age...Christ in me, the hope of Glory!

ALL FOR YOU