What are you thinking?

Talk: 

There are so many self help books around now a days; even inside Christian book stores. How to overcome addictions, how to do spiritual warfare, how to raise a family, how to, how to, how to… Some of them better then others, and some extremely good and useful. However, they almost all seem to present the same basic idea or structure; determine what the problem is and focus on it (whether by solving it or battling it) with steps, programs, routines, quotes, and reciting scriptures. This of course has its place and usefulness, but it goes both against scriptures and what any good psychologist would say; in fact, a lot of these books say the exact opposite to what the Bible says.

I remember being taught once an idea; it was asked of me, “How did you end up forgetting your grade nine science? (or any piece of information you’ve forgotten). Most people say, “they don’t know, they just stopped thinking about it.” You don’t have to spend days reminding yourself to not think of biology, math, or whatever it was; or reciting steps and saying, “I will no longer remember photosynthesis” ten times every hour.

Psychology tells us the same thing; how do we stop an addiction? Not by saying, “I’m going to no longer do such and such and see where it is so I can avoid it.”, but by replacing it with something else and focusing in on that new thing.

So much energy is put on our minds trying to avoid our issue or trying to not think about it; which is funny because what we are really saying is, “I’m going to think really hard about not thinking about that issue.”; which of course forces us to remember the issue we are trying not to remember.

The Israelites in the Bible had the same issue going on in their heads. Psalm 106:6-7 reads, “We have sinned with our fathers… [because]…they did not remember the multitude of your mercies.” They did relatively the same thing. They weren’t necessarily trying to avoid sin in this case; but their focus was on the wrong thing; which got them into trouble.

Now before you read on, I want you to note we are going to be taking a look at the idea of a battle (or a garden in a later illustration) in our mind; BUT, I am NOT talking about “the power of your mind”, “Mind over matter”, or “if you just think a certain way”, it goes much deeper then that and much simpler then that.

Walk:

Psalm 106:6-7 gives us a warning, “we have sinned with our fathers… They did not remember the multitude of your [God] mercies…” Our mind is where the battle begins.

Jesus gave an illustration in Matthew 13:1-23 (also Mark 4:8) of the seeds on different soils; some did well and others quickly faded. Romans 7:15-20 shows Paul’s own battle in his mind between what he wants to do verses what he doesn’t want to do. He warns later in Romans 12:2 “do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Which, by the way, will shed light for you on Psalm 37:4)

So, going on the theme of Jesus and the seeds; Romans illustrates 4 principles of the mind (or laws in the KVJ) Also note that God’s laws (Romans 7:22) is referring to the 613 Old Testament laws; which is not to be confused with the 4 laws of the mind, hence the use of principles for this illustration.

1) Mind principle (which is our will)              Romans 7:23

This is where all the battles take place. The enemy can never make you do anything; but he can push and lie and trick us. We also have our own fallen nature (Gen 3).

2) Law of sin and death                                  Romans 7:23

This is what has come into us at the fall (separation from God) and we are now under the enemies lies and therefore also our own corrupt nature. This includes “good” things done on our own (Is 64:6 “our best is as filthy rags when in the flesh”).

3) Law of life in Christ                                                Romans 8:2

This is the salvation in Christ. Before this we didn’t even have an option to be able to do good.

4) Law of faith                                                 Romans 3:27-28

This is the Holy Spirit in us enabling us to actually do “good”. It is His protection, leading, and watering. Ephesians 6:16 (armor of God); John 15:5 (Jesus as the vine and without Him we can do nothing); Isaiah 58:11 (In Him you shall be like a watered garden).

This is why we are warned to remember; Heb 3:12-19, “Beware… Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion (those wandering in Egypt for 40 years)… they would not enter His rest.” If we do not walk in the law of faith we will continue to battle (as in Rom 7:15) between the law of sin/death and the law of Christ.

Romans 7:25-8:6. Walk according to the Spirit; not the flesh. “For carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace”. (Also Gal 6:8) This spiritual mindedness needs to be prompted for us since we are still in the world and yet to not be of it. We are still bound by our physical bodies.

2 Cor 10:4-6 tells us of this battle and commanded to, “bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…” This again illustrates that it isn’t us commanding our minds (as in mind over matter or just think good thoughts), but is about surrendering these thoughts to the command of Christ (Our 4^th law or principle)

Live:

So you want freedom? You want to get over that thing that is always on your mind? Are you exhausted, burnt out, tired of fighting the same battle over and over again?

Perhaps Remember the warning in Psalm 106:6-7, “We have sinned with our fathers… [because] they did not remember the multitudes of your mercies.”

What are you focusing on? Are you focusing on the problem or solution? Are you focusing on the little bad thing or the bigness of God?

Remember though it isn’t about just thinking good things; that will only get you so far and you will likely fall back into the same old traps this way. It is about truly knowing God and trusting Him.

To close, I want to leave you with 2 quotes that I enjoyed and hope they speak to you further.

“Your mind is the greatest gift God has given you and ought to be devoted entirely to Him. You should seek to be ‘bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…” (2 Cor 10:5). This will be one of the greatest assets of your faith when a time of trial comes, because then your faith and the Spirit of God will work together. When you have thoughts and ideas that are worthy of credit to God, learn to compare and associate them with all that happens… You will begin to see that your thoughts are from God as well, and your mind will no longer be at the mercy of your impulsive thinking, but will always be used in service to God.

We have sinned with our fathers… (and)… did not remember…” (Psalm 106:6-7) Then prod your memory and wake up immediately. Don’t say to yourself, “But God is not talking to me right now.” He ought to be. Remember whose you are and whom you serve. Encourage yourself to remember, and your affection for God will increase tenfold. Your mind will no longer be starved, but will be quick and enthusiastic, and your hope will be inexpressibly bright.”
My Utmost For His Highest- Oswald Chambers

“Inner stillness is essential for Spiritual attentiveness but it is the means, not the end. Contemplative prayer is not a strategy for stress management of a form of relaxation. Because it is prayer, it involves a relationship. It is being with and being drawn closer to God.

The goal of contemplative prayer is not to try and make yourself still. This is both impossible and misses the point that prayer is an encounter with God, not a spiritual self-improvement technique or a stress-management strategy. The goal of stillness before God is to be totally open to God and, in the words of Cynthia Bourgeault, to “consent to the presence and action of God within us whatever form it comes.” The purpose of stillness is to enable us to attend to God and to be fully and without distraction with God. It is to know God in the way that is only possible in stillness. Recall the remarkable words of Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.” Stillness is a form of spiritual perception. In stillness we can encounter God, and God us, in ways that are impossible under any other conditions…

…Silence and stillness offer us the same opportunity for intimate encounter with God. In stillness we can hear God’s word. Contemplation on works of art (or scriptures, creation/nature, His dealings in our lives)… may superficially appear to be the external focus of our attention, but in reality, if we are seeking God, they are not simply an aesthetic experience; as well sit before them in prayer and become a means to open ourselves to God. They are not the object of prayer, but an aid to prayer. Stillness and attentiveness are the means through which symbols speak their meaning to mind and spirit, and God’s Word is spoken into our hearts.”
Juliet Benner Contemplative Vision (InterVarsity Press 2011)

Did God Answer? (Part 3 of 3)

TALK:      

            The original title of this topic was going to be DID GOD HEAR ME?, but that really isn’t the question; everyone knows He hears our prayers; the real question is whether or not He answers us? This question is argued and debated amongst believers and philosophers from all sorts of life. Answers from everything from “Yes” all the time, to “No” never, and everything in between including conditional answers, have I prayed enough, gotten enough people to pray for me, been good enough and so on in order to earn an answer.

            Before all this though, lets take a quick look at a few verses to create a foundation for this topic. Jeremiah 19:11 read, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Or, from the New testament, Ephesians 1:3, “Who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.” Jesus in the book of Matthew 7:7 takes this further with, “Ask and it will be given to you.”, or Philippians 4:19, “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” These verses, plus an abundance of others, illustrate that God does answer, supplies and gives freely.

            So if God does answer, why do so many of our prayers go seemingly unanswered? For this, let’s take a look at both the “walk” and “live” portions of this topic. I do ask you read both of those sections before coming to a conclusion, as they are both important, and balance in this area is going to be vital in understanding what God is saying.

                       

WALK:

Luke 11:1, “Lord, teach us to pray.” The disciples of Jesus asked Him how to pray and He gives them an answer. (Which is explained in the previous two postings); and He further explains this in John 16:24 with a response of, “Ask, and you will receive.” Notice how He says, “ask.” We often complain before God and sometimes are apologetic or indifferent to Him, but we actually ask for very few things. The problem is that we don’t usually ask God anything until we are at our wits end. It is only at this point do we ever get in touch with truth and reality of God Himself. As long as you think you are self-sufficient you do not need to ask.

So have you truly asked? Or have you simply complained, vented and presented facts?

As in the previous two postings, prayer isn’t about informing God because He might have been unaware; it is about being in a relationship with Him. As a parent, we do and want the same thing God does with us. We could jump up and meet our kids every need before they ask but this teaches them nothing (except for self-centeredness). With prayer we often hear people say a person’s life will suffer if they don’t pray, but I question that. Perhaps what will suffer is the life of God in that person, which is nourished not by food but by prayer, and therefore the person will be left with only themselves. Just like the child, if I meet every need before they ask they may become physically healthy, but emotionally, psychologically, and relationally they learn nothing. It isn’t prayer that changes things but changes me and then I change things. Prayer isn’t a matter of changing things externally, but of miracles in the inner nature of people. In other words, prayer lines me up with what God is doing. Some of these things do appear as “miraculous” answers to prayer (Things that only God Himself can do by breaking into the laws of the universe) and other times God reveals what I must do to change things. (Please also remember God called us to be care takers of this world and our lives, this hasn’t changed and we hold a lot of responsibility to do our part.) We often think of God answering our prayers to mean He’ll do all the work while I sit back and relax; which is something we all struggle with thinking, but will often leave us disappointed because it isn’t the ‘normal’ way of God working in scriptures.

So with this in mind, remembering that God’s answer may be direction, discernment or guidance and not necessarily a magical genie fix all the time, try asking before the wit’s end moments of desperation; but begin to ask now. You may be surprised at what God reveals when you spend that time asking (and listening). Maybe the biggest road block you are facing right now isn’t your unanswered prayer but your one that is unasked. Just like back in school, the only wrong question is one not asked.

LIVE:

     

            This now brings us into the living portion of the question. We looked already at Jeremiah 29:11 and God’s plan to prosper us; but you need to have a balance of scripture. Jeremiah 30:11 goes on to add, “I will not make a complete end of you. But will correct you in Justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished.” Please note, this punishment can be similar to the type of correction in Hebrews 12:7 where God chastens, corrects, punishes, disciplines and TEACHES right from wrong. It isn’t necessarily that you have done something wrong, but perhaps the omission of doing what is right, or very often to simply strengthen a teaching to ensure you get it.

            This can take us all the way back to Genesis 12:2-3 and God’s call to Abraham, “Get out of your country, from your family and your father’s house, to a land I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you.” If you notice, in order for Abraham to obtain this blessing he had to first get up and leave; an action was required on Abraham’s part. We similarly, whether physically or other, need to leave our old ways in order to get into the new. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.” This is also reflected in Galatians 5:19-25 where it discusses that the old nature of who we are must be crucified and done away with in order for the new nature of Christ to live in us. Romans 6:6-7 summarizes nicely with, “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin.” 1 Peter 1:16 quotes, “Be holy, for I am holy.” To be new, to move into a new land, to become holy, you first need to get rid of the old, leave the old country and leave the old things that are unholy. Mark 11:23-26 gives a nice illustration of what God was talking about. We are told in this story that we can command a mountain to move into a lake and it will be done. It says ask of God and you will receive; but there is a catch. The very next verse tells us we need to forgive others before we begin to pray. This helps to point out that we need to change ourselves first before the blessing can come. Sometimes this is easy and other times very difficult all depending on the circumstances. This may be forgiveness, it may be an attitude change like Job, it may be changing a life style, or any number of things.

            Overall, the point is that ultimately prayer is about God and His will. Philippians 2:13, “for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” As we walk with God we begin to change who we are and become like Him, as this happens our prayers should change and we begin to stop praying for our own desires (living in our old country) and begin to pray what He is telling us to pray (living in the new country). Psalm 37:4-5 reads, “Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.” So often we put this verse backwards and want God to give us the desires of our hearts and then we will delight in Him; but that isn’t what the verse actually says. Matthew 16:24-25 (Denying ones-self) or Proverbs 16:3, “Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.” In other words, when you give yourself to God, He will begin to show you how you should be thinking and therefore change the way you pray to match what His will is in any given situation. This is why God chastens us as in Hebrew 12:5-11. This correction of sorts helps point us in the proper direction. James 4:3-4 gives us another summary of all this, “You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures…Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?” This is the challenge we all end up facing, even when we do “Christian” things (prayer, ministry etc.), the underlying motive is ourselves and not God. Job faced this challenge, as we all do, to determine whether we are praying God’s will or our own. We look upon prayer simply as a means of getting things for ourselves, but the biblical purpose of prayer is that we get to know God Himself.

            For many people this is going to be difficult to hear and hard to swallow. But Jesus warns of this as well in Matthew 11:6, “And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me (Jesus Himself and His teachings). And Hebrews 3:14-15, “We have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence (Christ and His teachings) steadfast to the end, while it is said, ‘today, if you hear my voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion’.”

            Of course this is all easier said than done, which is why we hear so many Christians claiming it from the mountain tops and then disappear in the valleys. The realities of life scoff at believing God can do something when we feel down and out. I personally believe God supplies all our need; but the real test of faith begins when times are dry. When I am blind, will I endure until the end or turn and run in defeat? Faith therefore, must be tested, because it can only become our intimate possession through conflict. (Matthew 11:6 again). These trials and challenges in prayer and life will either prove or kill your faith.

            So for those of you who may be in question as to the practicality of this I have a personal testimony to add. For years (about 15 years) I had struggled with an addiction. I battled, prayed, read scriptures and pleaded with God to take away the desire for this particular addiction. I did all the Christian things, prayed without ceasing and truly thought via scriptures that God would want me freed from this addiction; and yet my freedom never came. The funny thing was, is that, yes, God did want me free from the addiction, but I didn’t want to face the consequences of the actions it caused. I wanted God to free me on my terms not His; get me out of trouble without really learning from any of my mistakes. I wanted the mountain top experience, not the valleys of trouble and challenges. Ultimately, a few years ago, I was finally obedient to what He was asking me (and I leave out the details as they are specific to each person and situation and I don’t want anyone to get caught up in formulas) even though it was the hardest thing for me to do. This forced me to leave the old nature, previous country, or dying to myself and moving into the new. The real kick in the pants is I got my freedom about two years ago, but the last year has caused a new set of circumstances to occur that have caused that freedom to be tested. Would I turn back to my old ways, or allow the trials, fire, God’s seemingly unanswered prayers to make  my faith more personal, real and solidified.

            John 11:6, “So, when He heard that he (Lazarus) was sick, He (Jesus) stayed two more days in the place He was.” This made no sense. Someone was sick and yet Jesus waited two more days before He left to go to His friend. Jesus understood prayer and understood that His life was not His own but belonged to God. Jesus stayed put until God led Him to do otherwise; He did God’s will and not His own. In the end, Jesus got to heal a dead man instead of just a sick man. Romans 8:26-27, “likewise the Spirit also helps in our weakness. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groaning which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” God’s will will be done. We have the option of either listening to His Spirit and actively being a part of it or not. 1 Corinthians 6:19, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” and Mark 11:16-17, “He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple…my house shall be called a house of prayer…you have made it a den of thieves.” As we mentioned throughout, God will not allow you to be your old self when you become His house. We cannot pray with our junk and allow our bodies to be used for our own convenience no matter how spiritual it may seem. Jesus ruthlessly cast out everyone who bought and sold in the temple. God does the same to our old nature when we become His; He throws out the old garbage to make room for the new good stuff. Romans 12:2, “be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” The renewal will show us what God is really wanting to do.

            We can all see God in exceptional things, but it requires growth of spiritual discipline to see Him in every detail. We miss so many of God’s answers because of this. We think or even want God to act in the outstanding showy way that we often miss His simple answers. We then fall back and try to come up with excuses (which often destroy people’s faith) like I didn’t pray enough, didn’t say the right words, didn’t get enough other people to pray for me and so on (which every single one of these are lies). We need to beware of being obsessed with consistency to your own convictions instead of being devoted to God. If you are a saint and say, “I will never do this or that,” in all probability this will be exactly what God will require of you. There was never a more inconsistent being on this earth than our Lord, but He was never inconsistent with His Father. The important consistency in a saint is not to a principle but to the divine life. It is the divine life that continually makes more and more discoveries about the divine mind. It is easier to be an excessive fanatic than it is to be consistently faithful, because God causes an amazing humbling of our religious conceit when we are faithful to Him.

(There are several quotes from “My Utmost For His Highest” by Oswald Chambers throughout this post. I have intentionally paraphrased them and left them unmarked for a specific reason; that of what was summarized in the last paragraph. I am attempting to prevent people from taking a few lines from either what I’ve posted, from scripture, or from what is in Oswald’s book, and simply basing their walk with God on that. My hope is that people will dive further into the sources and go into further depth.)

Talk with God not at God (Part 2 of 3)

TALK:      

            In part 1 we looked at how God is with us and in us (John 14:16-17 and Ephesians 3:16-17 as an example) as those who are following Him and wants to be with those who haven’t yet met Him. From this stepping stone, I want to emphasize that God wants to be with, and in, everyone; not because of what we’ve done or who we are, but because God passionately loves us. The Bible contains a section called Song of Solomon (Song of Songs in some translations) which is a set of love poems between an engaged couple who are desperately in love with each other. God uses this illustration to help show how much He loves His people (which is all people); He also uses the illustration of a parent to child relationship to help illustrate His compassion, concern, and protection of His people, but let’s stick with the passionate, loving, heart of God for now in the illustration of a loving couple. Song of Songs 4:9 reads, “You have ravished my heart…my spouse; You have ravished my heart with one look of your eyes”. The word ravished is speaking of stirring ones heart with affection. So the groom’s heart is stirred with affection just by looking at his bride which is exactly what happens to God when He looks at His people; We stir Gods heart with affection!

            Another illustration can be found in the first Chapter of Esther when King Ahasuerus throws a huge banquet and wants his queen to join him. Jesus Himself echoes this banquet and wedding illustrations throughout the New Testament with His own use of the wedding feasts and marriage ceremonies to show His desire to be with us in intimacy together. (Matthew 22:2, and Matthew 25:10). Of course it isn’t a flawless illustration as the relationship between a human and God is different than a man and woman, and it is difficult to explain the depth of intimacy God wants with His people.

            Now let’s change gears for a moment; We all have different people in our lives, some we are close or intimate with and some we are not. However, we can end up spending a lot of time with both engaging in “conversation”. Lets look at an example of one of these dialogues:

            Person 1: “Did you hear what I did last night?”

            Person 2: “No, Why don’t...”

            Person 1: “Well, I got to go out to my favorite restaurant and they had my favorite dish on sale.”

            Person 2: “That’s…”

            Person 1: “I sure love the food there. What’s your favorite food?”

            Person 2: “I really…”

            Person 1: “Oh, you really have to check out my new pair of shoes. They are fantastic! I got them at the store down the street, you know, the one next to that new set of apartments coming in.”

            Person 2: “Well…”

            Person 1: “What do you think? They suit me well don’t they? The color and I think they are the newest fashion out of Paris. Which I’d really love to go to some time. The price is outrageous though for the airfare. Must have something to do with the rising gas prices…”

            I’m sure as you were reading this someone came to mind; Someone who talks AT you and not with you. This could be a friend, co-worker, boss, or even a spouse. They can spend hours talking about everything and they wouldn’t miss a word even if you weren’t actually there.

            Then we have those in our lives where a conversation is actually double sided. One person says something, the second engages and responds, and the first responds back and so on. This is talking WITH someone, not at them. These are the relationships that gain depth, meaning and you begin to look forward to having. They aren’t draining like the first example and you leave the conversation having expressed yourself and gaining some new information about the other.

            So what does this have to do with prayer or God? Well, since God passionately loves us He wants us to engage with Him in prayer; not the praying AT Him style, but the praying WITH Him style.

            There are two good examples of this in the Bible. A man named Job in the book of Job, and a man named David in the book of Psalms. Both of these men loved God and ended up with similar cries or prayers out to God and yet God responds to them differently. Here are their prayers:

            Job: “Why do you hide your face, and regard me as your enemy?” (Job 13:24)

            David: “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?” (Psalm 13:1)

            First off, there are two main differences between the two men. David, who has a history of murder, lust, adultery, poor judgment and several other faults and Job who was considered blameless (Job 1:1). The second is that David brought some of the problems he was facing upon himself, where as Job was technically innocent in the disasters that came upon him (They weren’t a “natural” consequence of any poor choices he made.) So you may think it is obvious how God responds to them, who God is going to rebuke and who God is going to comfort; but you may have guessed wrong.

            Job is the one who gets the rebuke and David the one who gets comfort. God rebukes Job for 4 chapters starting in Job 38:2-3, “Who is this who darkens counsel. By words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.” And David gets guidance and help.

            So why the difference? They both prayed didn’t they? Yes and No. They both said words to God, but Job talk AT God, while David talked WITH God. An example of this is seen in Job 27:5-6 or Job 13:15 where Job says, “Far be it from me that I should say you are right; Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me. My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go…” and, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.” Versus David in Psalm 13:3,5-6, reads, “Consider and hear me…Enlighten my eyes, Lest I sleep the sleep of death…But I have trusted in your mercy; My heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, Because He has dealt bountifully with me.” Job is talking AT God while David is talking WITH God. Job just wants to tell God what is going on and get an answer from Him; whereas David wants to share with God what is going on and receive guidance from Him.

            Jesus Himself again does the same thing; and not just once but twice. Matthew 26:39 and 42. Jesus is in the garden praying, about to die the worst possible death (He knew it was coming), asking God to do something about it if possible and yet still says twice, “not as I will, but as you will.” Jesus cries out his concern and hope for a different scenario; yet He is sharing, not defending His own way. Jesus, as was David, was trying to be intimate with God; just as God wants to be intimate with us.

                       

WALK:

Intimate, talking with God, is much different then what most people probably think or have seen from what they may have heard spoken by many Christians. Sadly, I admit (even to this day), there are times when I am guilty of many talking at God prayers. Don’t get me wrong, many of these prayers that end up being talking at God prayers, do come from the heart and are well intended and it is wonderful to know that God see’s what’s in the heart and doesn’t stop at just the surface words (Matt 23:14 and 1 Sam. 16:7). However, there are times when what comes out of our mouth shows the true nature of our heart (Matt. 12:34) as was seen with Job. Our prayers become either a “spiritual” covering for trying to get away with gossip or, like Job, a way of trying to prove your way before God or, as though God was unaware, giving God a list of what is going on. How many prayers of your own or from what you’ve heard from others, goes something like this:

“Dear Lord, just wanted to let you know that so-and-so, on this date, at this location, had this thing happen to them.” Or, “Dear Lord, so-and-so is getting into this kind of trouble and doing this wrong thing.”

God is not shocked, surprised, unaware or in need of a reminder. He’s not sitting up in heaven while you are praying flipping through His book of history/events trying to recall what you are talking about. He is however excited to be hearing from you if you are sharing this information with Him, not at Him.

Romans 12:15 reads, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.” God takes His own advice, whether we do or not, and wants to do the same with us. He wants your good, bad, ugly and messy prayers, not as a list, but as an open, honest sharing of thoughts and heart.

This may come as a shock to many, including those in the church or who call themselves Christians, God doesn’t just want your polished, praising God, everything-is-peachy-keen prayers; He wants the prayers of hurt, pain, teed-off, no-holds-bar prayers. I’ve spent a number of times in prayers before God using words that you only find in R-rated movies, being completely mad at God, but in my heart it was a sharing with God and I was willing to listen to Him during and after. Same as in a marriage, if you’ve never had a disagreement, argument, or butt heads, then you are either still in the honeymoon period (and it will end) or you are full of it and someone is lying. Often these moments with God, or even with our spouse, can become the most open, heart revealing, and healing moments we may ever experience!

So here is my challenge to you and me; are you willing to start being honest with God in your prayers (good or bad) and pray in a way that is praying with God, not at Him?

LIVE:

      Prayer at times sucks, talking to anyone at certain times sucks; it’s hard to come up with the right words to get our message across, it can be painful, humbling, dangerous, and often requires us to see the other persons point of view even when we completely disagree with them. There are times when we can carry on a conversation WITH someone and yet still go away defensive, unfulfilled, hurt, disappointed and even angrier then when we first started the conversation. These feelings are also intensified when they occur with someone who is close to us; a best friend, spouse, parent, child, or sibling; which may explain why our prayers with God can be so painful and difficult at times.

            Genesis 2:24 states, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Bringing this verse further than its obvious sexual reference we can become emotionally and spiritually connected to someone as if that person were our own self. As mentioned earlier, God Himself wants to become one flesh with us, He wants to be “married” to us, dwell in us, and love us even more intimately then a husband and wife. If this be the case, then of course our prayers are going to hurt at times, intimacy hurts and takes work.

            Genesis goes even further in verse 25 saying, “And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.” Later in chapter 3:7 and 8, after they sin, they end up covering themselves up and hiding from each other and God. So again, this verse refers to more then the physical or sexual aspect, but can refer to an emotional, spiritual and psychological connection. We were meant to be completely transparent and revealing to each other and God Himself.

            Jesus fixed this problem upon the cross, John 3:16, so we can once again become naked before God without fear. When God sees us, He sees the original us, the real us, the full potential of what we are going to grow into; not the false person we’ve created to cover up our pains, hurts and short comings (real or perceived). So we no longer have to be fearful when we talk to God for we aren’t that old person anymore when in Christ.

            So what are our prayers going to be like? How are we going to talk with God? We need to be naked and transparent before Him; which includes being transparent with ourselves. Are you going to be so set in your ways like Job, or ready to allow God to be one flesh with us like David and Jesus were?

            Remember, relationships aren’t easy, conversations are difficult, and intimacy is dangerous. In order to make these things easier, whether with God or other people, we need a sense of security and authentic love in order to open up; This is what Christianity, a walk with God, is really about. I could list off verse after verse about God’s love, but He doesn’t want that kind of relationship based on head knowledge. God wants us to experience His love in a growing relationship, just like a couple dating, it starts off small and grows in depth and intimacy as you experience each other, not as you fulfill a check list of things you know about a person.

            I want to close off with a challenge to begin to get transparent with God; let Him begin to see the real you, which will also involve you being real with you. Allow God to love you one step closer then you have before and see where the relationship goes. One last point to remember for those who may have tried this before; God is not religion, God is not denominations, and God is not the experience of any other person. God is personal and relates to everyone in an intimate way that may or may not be the same as the person next to you. Let God love you personally.

(This is the second topic of three on prayer. The next topic, “Did God hear me?”, is meant to grow from this topic. We’ll begin to explore more of the intimacy in prayer and what it is we are hearing or not in return.)

Stop Praying And Pray (part 1 of 3)

TALK:      

            STOP PRAYING! This is a phrase you probably never expected to see on a Christian page; but, I really do want everyone to stop praying and pray. C.S. Lewis wrote two books (Screwtape Letters and Screwtape Proposes a Toast) in which he illustrates a conversation between Satan and a demon who has been sent out to hinder a person named Christian from growing in his walk with God. The following is a paraphrase of one of those conversations:

Wormwood: “Satan, I have good news, Christian has fallen asleep while he was saying his evening prayers!”

Satan: “WHAT?! That is NOT good news! Go quickly and wake Christian up! Remind him to finish praying!”

Wormwood responds bewildered and confused: “Why would you want Christian to wake up and pray?!”

Satan: “Let me explain; If Christian wakes up now and remembers to pray he will repeat the same prayer he has always said for the last several years. There will be no depth, thought, heart or reality behind Christian’s pray. The prayer will be the same old meaningless words. BUT, if Christian wakes up in the morning, he will realize he forgot to pray and turn back to God in authentic repentance. Christian will say an authentic, heart felt prayer and grow in his relationship with God and begin to have depth and meaning to what he is praying!”

           

            (Some of the following points are borrowed, adapted, and inspired from what God showed me through a video, “ Prayer: Remix” by Louie Giglio)

In our lives we repeat so many of our prayers or recite the half a dozen ones we’ve grown up with for years. So often these prayers fall into a similar pattern across the board and probably sound something similar to this:

            Dear Lord, Thank you for this day.

            Be with/bless me/us/this event.

            Forgive us our many sins.

            Be with so and so

            AMEN.

            PLEASE NOTE: I am NOT saying these prayers are necessarily wrong or bad! As we go through this topic, I am not suggesting to become prayer police and rip apart anyone who repeats a prayer, writes one down on paper, or uses any of the above phrases. To many people, including myself, these prayers can be meaningful, heartfelt, and passionate! My goal is to challenge us at what these phrases can often mean when they do become simple phrases we say.

            So lets take a quick look at what the above prayer can often become.

“Dear Lord, Thank you for this day”: It’s usually a freebie to get us started. We aren’t very comfortable with silences so instead we fill it with words. Often times we believe there is a pressure to have words to say when we pray, so we create this line, whether we mean it or not, to fill in that space. This can become a time for us to think of our next line and believe it is better then saying, “Ya God, I’m not really here right now.”

“Be/Bless me/us/this event”: Which usually means we are about to do something, go into a meeting, give a speech, write an exam and haven’t actually asked God’s opinion of it in the first place; and yet we are still going to go ahead and do it, right or wrong, but it makes us feel better thinking we have God’s stamp of approval on it.

“Forgive us our many sins”: So often we don’t even know what these are. We simply know that somewhere in the bible it says we are sinners and need to ask for forgiveness. It’s a phrase that is a vague covering and makes us feel better or makes us feel as though we can move on in life without any real change. Kind of like a kid who has gotten into trouble and says sorry not because they are sorry for what they’ve done, but to get the parent to leave them alone so they can go back to playing with their toys.

“Be with so and so”: This tends to be a bonus section for many of us. We can’t quite finish off a prayer being selfish, so we toss out a few prayers for others. We don’t actually know any of the details but it is a religious box we can check off. This can often be similar to when we greet people in church and say “I’ll be praying for you” and never do. It becomes a religious slogan and makes us feel better about our selves.

“Amen”: You might be thinking how can there ever be an issue with this phrase, isn’t this how we are suppose to end prayer? But let me challenge you that this phrase can often have the meaning of “hey God, I am out of here!”, “See ya tomorrow”, “I have left the building”, or CLICK I’ve just hung up the phone, please don’t bother me until I talk to you again tomorrow for the next 30 second prayer.

            In Matthew 6:7-13, Jesus tells us not to use vain repetitions and then shows us how to pray by giving us the Lord’s Prayer. Notice though, Jesus uses the phrase “In this MANNER, pray:”, not pray this. Jesus is actually trying to get two points across; firstly that we don’t need to say repetitive prayers to get God’s attention and secondly (which is the one I would like to focus in on) that God wants us to put some thought into our prayers.

            I would like to take a look a the phrase “BE WITH ME” as I think once we grasp this phrase the other phrases will begin to change.

            The Old Testament is loaded with times when God is with His people. Exodus 3:11-12, Joshua 1:5, Isaiah 43:1-2 are just a sampling of God actually saying “I will be with you”. This is then expanded in the New Testament with the arrival of Jesus, Immanuel, which means “God with us”. Matthew 18:20 and 28:20 state that Jesus/God will be with his people even until the end.

            So shouldn’t we pray then that God should be with us? John 14:16-17 tells us this isn’t necessary, “He will give you another helper, that He may abide with you forever- the Spirit of truth,…but you know Him, for He dwells WITH you and will be IN you.” Also found in Colossians 1:26-27. Jesus gave us the Holy Spirit and said He would be with us and IN US always! Ephesians 3:17-19 also reminds us that the Holy Spirit is not a low grade replacement to Jesus but the fullness of God Himself.

            Now someone may be asking, “What about James 4:8” which states, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you”? Is this not a form of James telling us to get close to God or asking God to get close to us? Let me ask then, would James contradict the rest of the Bible, and Jesus Himself, saying God is already with us and in us? James uses the words “drawing near” which in Greek has the meaning of to worship God with a pious heart. Perhaps James is talking about awareness and not proximity. Draw near to God could almost be rephrased to say, as you surrender your life and attention to God, He will make Himself more known to you. Psalm 139 7-10 describes how we can never be away from God no matter where we are physically or spiritually; that God is always there, we (as James is indicating) might not remember that or be aware of His presence until we turn our attention back to Him. It is about opening our eyes to His presence that is already there.

            When we pray something like “God be with me/us/this event”, what do we really mean? Are you asking God to be with you in proximity or to make you aware of His presence that is already there? What do you really mean when you pray this phrase? Or, as we looked at earlier, does this phrase really have no meaning other then “please put your stamp of approval on this so I feel better about myself for ignoring you in the first place God.”?

            God wants us to stop praying the meaningless prayers that are just words. Once we begin to recognize that God is already with us and in us, via His Holy Spirit, our prayers should begin to change. They may still include some common, well known prayers, written prayers, prayers we’ve made up on our own or prayers we’ve learned from our parents that we repeat often, but they will include our hearts and minds as well.

           

WALK:

At some point in our life we’ve picked up a view of prayer and relationship with God from somewhere; This may be our church, parents, media, movies, friends and a number of other places and these are often a mix of both positive and negative points; but which ever they may be, these views have left a mark on our lives. What happens then is we tend to put God at a certain point somewhere in front of us down the road. So either as a Christian, or someone trying to discover God, we try to get to Him by going down that path to where we think He is. The problem that we all run into and need to come to grips with is we’ve put our upbringing (views we’ve believed) blindfolds on and try to walk to that point in which we’ve placed God at in order to get to Him. We then run into the hurt and pain when we can never seem to get close enough to Him, never get our prayers answered and left feeling like we haven’t quite gotten to Him.

Part of the good news of the Bible is that Jesus came to remove those blind folds and point out to us that God isn’t down the road but next to us wanting to get in (Rev. 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”), or to those who have already chosen Jesus as their savior, that God is already in you. So you no longer need to pray “God be with me” in the sense of proximity, but can change that prayer to begin a conversation with God in a living, breathing, real sense.

If you have a spouse, friend, or even a guest in your home, you wouldn’t keep asking them to be with you once they are at your house. You would change the conversation to include at that moment dialogue. As an example, if you wanted to have your friend help you prepare dinner, you wouldn’t say “be with me”, you might say “can you help me prepare dinner”, which would expand even more with things like, “can you get me a bowl, set the table, stir this pot”. If you continued to ask them to be with you, it would be unproductive and causing the other person to respond, “um, you already said that and yes I am already here, now what!?”

I challenge you to recognize that the same goes with God, He is already there, so what are you really asking Him? As a first step start with the “be with me” phrase and rethink what you are saying to God. Talk to Him like you would with anyone who is already right there with you. Then I want to challenge you with the next set of phrases, let those prayers expand/change to what you really mean or want to say. Remember, it isn’t about being self conscious about praying, but simply being aware that God is present and being aware of what you really are saying.

LIVE:

This is the hard challenge; to wake up! Wake up our prayers! Wake up our minds! Wake up our hearts! Knowing now that God is present in our lives and we should be changing those prayers we’ve always said to say what we really mean.

How often do you say the same things over and over again to a co-worker, spouse, your kids, your parents that have lost all meaning? “I love you”, “Sorry”, “I’ll do that”, “I promise”, “I’ll pray for you”, “I’ll call you.” And many others become phrases we just say out of habit. We may have said these to others, or know of people who say this to us, but we know it wasn’t really meant; it was just said because it was the “correct” response. These relationships then begin to break down and slowly but surely we loose touch, stop calling, file for divorce, and children leave home. There is a phrase I heard years ago, “You either start living or start dying”, the same goes for relationships. They are either growing together or apart; and please don’t deceive yourself into thinking that there is a middle ground, or even worse, that faking it counts as growing.

Well, the same can happen between people and God. The positive point, is that God is ALWAYS waiting, present, and ready to interact. It is ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS us that leaves, stops trying, back slides, or just says words.

I want all of us to begin to say what we mean and engage with God. This is a double sided challenge; I want you to firstly start praying what you really want to say, and to stop saying things you don’t really mean.

Again, you may be wanting to challenge this way of praying with, “Do you realize what you are asking? I have some not so nice things I want to present to God.” Well good! It’s about time! God doesn’t just want the good stuff, He wants your pain, anger, disappointment, hurts and all the depths of your sorrows. Look at Moses, King David, the prophets, the disciples and even Jesus; they all presented to God their joys and pains.

So I leave you now to try this; Stop praying and pray!

(Please note: this is part one of three on this topic of prayer. Part two “Talk with God, not at God” will include some discussion on praying to God about our pains or what is often viewed as “hush hush don’t talk about that” sort of prayers.)

Sin of Sin

TALK:      

            The sin of sin, or the sin of religious standards, questioning the whole what is right or what is wrong. Have I done too many bad things or not enough good things? “How good is good enough?” (which is also the title of a good book if anyone is interested) has been an ongoing topic for thousands of years. As of recently there have been several books on this discussion and from a biblical perspective bringing this question back to “what did Jesus really preach?” Biblically, as Christians we are to be like Him and this is a great topic to look at; what did Jesus really preach? Now let me challenge anyone who wishes to stop there; if your understanding of Christianity stops at what Jesus taught, even if you follow His teachings to the tee, you are still in danger of sinning with sin. Your focus will be on what is right or wrong, acceptable or not. These points of course have their value and can help one grow, mature and please God (there is a difference between pleasing God versus His loving you) but they will never hit the real point of who Jesus really was and why He came.

            The Old Testament Pentateuch, contains 613 commandments which can be divided into 248 positive “thou shalt…” perform duties and 365 negative “thou shalt not…” or abstain from commands. Deut. 5:6-21 gives us a starting point with the 10 commandments, and Lev. 23 with several feasts we are to perform. Deut. 6:5, and Jesus picking up on it in Mt. 22:37, that the ultimate command is to love God with all that you are (and all the other commands stem from this). There has even been debates that after Jesus died on the cross that these commands are all voided, have no value, or even that Jesus is showing a more evolved way of living in the sense that the laws were of less evolved status. I suppose in some sense the last point may hold validity if the laws are viewed as a starting point; not creating a new set and throwing out the old. Jesus Himself said in Mt 5:17-18 that He “didn’t come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it.” He even goes on to challenge in Mt 5:20 that you need to be even more perfect then the Pharisees (who were near perfect at following all 613 laws) to enter into the kingdom of God. Jesus then adds over the next few verses (to verse 44) depth and expansion (not reducing or taking away) by saying several times, “you have heard …(insert a law), but I say to you… (adding depth).” He takes the laws and forces them to inward character, motivations, and heart conditions, not just outward actions. Jesus makes the laws harder not easier. Mt 7:21-23 has followers of His coming to Him and He turns to them and says, “I never knew you; depart from me.” They were following His teachings to the law and Jesus points out their sin of sin. In Mt. 7:14 Jesus warns us that “narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

            So how does one enter? The laws are increased, standards raised and narrow is the gate! One can analyze, study and practice all of what Jesus taught and still miss the point. Jesus’ life wasn’t the point (as great and useful as it was); it was His death and resurrection that truly matters for us.

            Rom. 7:1-4 illustrates a legal standing with the law; we belong to the law until we die, then we are free and can move into something new. We can’t be in a relationship with God while bound to the law, as we are not perfect and God is (oil and water can’t be mixed.) Jn. 1:12-13 and 2 Cor. 5:17 tells us we need to die to the law and live again anew in Christ. God isn’t reforming our life; He must have a brand new person born of God. Therefore it isn’t about good or bad, but are you human needing Jesus as a sacrifice. The law requires death to occur to be freed from it. The law still holds relevance and is completely useful (Rom 6:1-7), but the penalty of it is paid for (death/blood). The law, after Jesus, is like knowing what pleases a spouse or what will make them upset. You do or don’t do those things because you love them, not because you have to. Rom. 6:6-8 and 1 Pt. 1:23 describes that we have died with Christ and will be raised again anew in Him. Rom 7:1-4 explains this legal union as a marriage. Before Christ, we were married to the law and death; but once death occurs we can be married and live in Christ. Jn 3:5-6 says, “unless one is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.”, and “that which is born of flesh is flesh and that which is born of spirit is spirit.” So again, it doesn’t matter if you are good or bad, but are you flesh or spirit; part of the law or life in Christ?

            Jn 3:16 says, “for whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life” and Rom. 5:8-10 explains that those who believe in Jesus have shared in His death and share in His new life. So the real standard of sin has little to do with right or wrong, but with do you have Jesus or not? John 3:18-19 says, “He who believes in Him is not condemned, but he who doesn’t believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God and this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men(people) loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil.”

            The real sin is picking yourself over Jesus as ruler of your life. Jn.14:23-24, Jn. 3:20-21, Jn. 12:44-50, Jn. 5:24, and 1 Jn. 5:11-12, all state that if you pick Jesus you’ve picked God and life; if you refuse Jesus, you’ve picked yourself, the law, and death. In other words, are you god, or is God god? This was the same challenge facing Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. Verse 5 has the snake tempting them with “you will be like God.” The sin was picking their way over God’s, or in other words making themselves god over God Himself.

            The term in John 3:16 of ‘believe’ in Jesus, is more then just mental assent to something. It is one thing to believe there is a parachute next to you on a plane versus actually putting on that parachute, clipping it on, trusting in it and jumping out of that plane. James 2:19 says, “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe and tremble.” The verses surrounding verse 19 puts this into context with belief versus actions and life style. Verse 26 says, “Faith without works is dead”, or faith without lifestyle is just mental assent. Mt 5:20 showed Jesus explaining this is what the Pharisees had; mental assent and no real relationship. A bunch of laws, viewing sin as a bunch or right and wrongs; and Jesus said you’ll have to follow the laws even more perfectly then the Pharisees (which was another way of saying it isn’t going to happen.) Rom. 4:16-21 illustrates that faith produces works, not works produces faith. It is belief, in Christ as ruler over your life, that produces works, not works that gets you into a relationship with Christ.

            Mark 16:16 uses the same ‘belief’ word as in John 3:16. The term is ‘Pisteuo’ which means to commit or trust in God as opposed to one’s self. So Mark 16:16 reads, “He who believes will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.” Gal. 3:11 explains why, “No one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith.” And as we just saw, faith is belief in Christ and making Him ruler over us. So if you have chosen the sin of sin, or trying to work out your own walk with God by your own ways, by what is right or wrong, then you’ve missed the point. Hab. 2:4 shows that pride and faith are opposite. “Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by faith.” Unbelief is just camouflaged pride. Rom. 1:16-17, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation…for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘the just shall live by faith.”

            You are either choosing yourself or God; everything else that comes along in your life falls under one category or the other. This could be choosing religion (whether as the title ‘Christian’, some other form of spirituality, or various forms of atheism, which is still a belief system/religion) and laws to earn your way, or picking God; there are no in-betweens.

           

WALK:

I would now like to challenge everyone at their attempts to come to God, or your avoidance all together, and have they been hindered by a view taught or perceived that it is all about laws, rules and what is right or wrong? Has someone sucked you in or tricked you into falling into the sin of sin? If this is the case, don’t let pride get in your way, whether because you want to do things your own way, or pride because you don’t want anyone to know you were tricked into believing it was all about rules, but free yourself by simply beginning to talk with God or searching out the true reality of who He is beyond rules and regulations. Over the next few topics that are coming up, I hope to introduce you to a God that will hopefully blow your mind and current understandings of who the God of the Bible is. Before this though, let me remind you that no matter where you are in life, GOD WANTS YOU! Eph. 2:8 says, “for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God.” God has chosen you, saved you, brought you into a relationship with Him entirely of His own doing, not your own. It is a gift freely given; not earned. Rom. 5:8 explains, “But God demonstrates His own love towards us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” It isn’t our obedience to the law, how good we were, or any other standard, that God gave His son to save us; it was when we were at our worst, most disgusting and wretched that He loved us. The only thing holding you back is you yourself; the gift is there, you just need to pick it up and put it on; just like the parachute.

LIVE:

There is a common phrase, “I’m a sinner saved by grace.”, but I want to challenge part of this. Yes, this WAS true; but we are now something new as believers in Christ. We are a new creation; a new seed planted in our nature (and Yes, there is still a battle raging inside, which Paul discusses in his letters, and Yes, I may/will sin, but my nature is new non the less), so I would like to rephrase the above statement to something more like, “I WAS a sinner saved by grace.”. I could go into more detail on this; but for now I want to emphasize that sometimes getting stuck in the original version can often trick people into falling back into the thinking that they still need to earn something to stay in a relationship with God, to earn a place, a standing before Him. These people try to maintain righteousness by following the law for the sake of works as opposed to the law being a guide to God’s heart. This would be like a husband, knowing his wife likes flowers, and not buying her some (or perhaps even more serious a spouse having an affair), and then trying to get back into the relationship by going out and buying an engagement ring, having a wedding, and getting remarried all over again. This isn’t necessary, you are already married, your marriage may have issues but it isn’t necessary to get married again when you already are. As Christians we are always telling non-Christians that God will forgive them of any sin if they repent and turn to God; yet we often change that standard once we become a Christian, placing legality, judgment, and works as the new standard back onto ourselves and even worse, other Christians. They have exchanged grace and mercy for conditional standards. Romans 3:20  says, “therefore, by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight.” And Galatians 3:3 says, “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” Our entire relationship with God, His loving us (again different from our depth of relationship or closeness of intimacy with Him) is only dependent on grace, not works! Galatians 5:4 warns, “you have become estranged from Christ, you who are attempting to be justified by law, you have fallen from grace.” Let me remind you, and may God free you as you understand this, that your standing or marriage to God can not change when you are in that relationship with Him. Begin to live in that freedom, live in that relationship, live in that loving marriage! The laws are guides to growth and depth in the relationship, just like saying ‘I love you’, buying flowers, or spending time with a spouse grow a relationship (and avoiding adultery, abuse etc., prevent it from falling apart), not for ‘keeping’ you in that relationship.

View of Father

TALK:      

I’ve debated and prayed over how to begin introducing this journey. I had thought of beginning with the traditional “Jesus loves you” message or how God sent His son to bring us back to Him because He loves us so much; but then it struck me, we’ve all heard messages, sermons, and stories of Gods’ love towards us, to some degree or another; but what of those who don’t even want God’s love, who don’t trust the idea of God, or have been hurt by those who “represent” God’s love in some church or religious group. I’m sure this group would even include some who go to church every Sunday. Back to what I was saying; to this group I wish to address and think that many long standing Christians may benefit from this as well (as I have and continue to).

            The bible and preachers alike use a variety of terms and illustrations when describing how God, through Jesus, loves us or wants to be in a relationship with us. The most common is that of a loving father (Is. 9:6, Matt. 6:9) or similarly a loving parent and us as His children. There are also other instances, especially in reference to Jesus Christ himself, describing the relationship as a unified ‘body’(1 Cor. 12:27), as friends (John 15:14-15), or even more intimate as a bride and groom engaged to be married (Matt 15:1). We’ve also all had people in our lives who represented authority and/or intimate partnership of some kind, whether ‘Christian’ or not is irrelevant at this point, and may include a parental figure (as already mentioned) biological or not, perhaps a grandparent, other care giver, as well as friends, spouses, and pastors. In each of these relationships, throughout our lives, we’ve gained experiences and perspectives when we hear certain terms, names, or images that could be both positive and/or negative. Take for example that of a parent: One may have grown up with great memories, with ‘near perfect’, open and caring relationships; or the opposite in an uncaring, maladaptive, and even harmful (physically or other) relationship. There may even be a third group dealing with an absent parent relationship. These factors place a perspective or interpretation when you think of a parent. Some others may be relating more to those who represent Christianity and these relationships may have influenced their perspectives. This ‘churchgoer’ may have been to one side, kind and ‘grace and mercy’ all the way or to the other ‘fire and brimstone’, aggressive and closed to ideas or questions.

Some may know this already, but I am not trying to trick anyone or use great speech, flashy images or any such thing to get one into a relationship with God. It was once said to me, “If I can persuade you one way with fancy words and ideas, there will eventually be someone else who comes along with fancier words and ideas to persuade you in another.” Which is also a biblical warning to not be tossed around with random ideas (Eph. 4:14) or things that tickle your ears (2 Tim. 4:3). So please be open to listening and also discerning to whether what is said is truthful or even relevant to you. God is looking for our relationship, however, I will NOT tell you that coming to God or allowing Him into your life will be cotton candy and simple. As in any relationship there will be challenges and growing pains that will develop into great moments of peace, joy and excitement along the way.

            With all these ideas, let me simply suggest that perhaps God is different than any of our current experiences, expectations or perceptions when it comes to relationship with Him. The bible suggests this same idea when we read, “His [God] ways are not man’s ways.” (Is. 55:8), “He has plans to prosper us.” (Jer. 29:11), or “If an evil man can give good gifts, how much more a good God.” (Matt. 7:7-11).

WALK:

So I ask you to walk with me please for another moment. The bible talks about Jesus coming to set us free; so if, whether to grow closer to God, or just for your own freedom, let me challenge you with a question, and please be honest with yourself: Good, bad, or ugly list three things that immediately come to mind when you think of your own biological father? (Let’s use the image of “father” as it is common in the bible.)

            [please take a moment to do this for nothing that follows will be relevant or as impactful if you don’t]

            What did you come up with? Was your dad always there to answer questions and fix a problem you may have? Was your dad abusive (in what ever form) or make you think you were of lesser value then you really are? Or perhaps “absent” comes to mind? For some this question may be easy, for others more challenging and possibly very emotional.

Now let me ask you one final question or challenge to ponder. When you think or hear of “God as your Father”, do you apply any of your previous answers about your biological dad to your view of God? If so, what is the impact?

LIVE:

As was mentioned earlier, Jesus came to set us free (John 8:36), so whether you accept Him in all He is offering, or to gain clarification and understanding of your own thoughts, what are you going to do with this step in the journey? The obvious question that comes to mind is, is your view of God limited, distorted or causing you frustration because of your applied view of your own dad to God (no matter what stage you are in your walk with or without God)? What are you expecting of or from God? Do these match up with the authentic, undistorted, unreligious, biblical descriptions of God?

            A similar question could be asked; does your view of your biological dad effect your other relationships?  Perhaps with a friend, spouse, coworker, or even church members or pastors? If you’ve said yes to any of these questions maybe it is time for a change? Whether you’ve had good, bad, or indifferent experiences with your biological dad, or others in your life, why not allow yourself to be set free instead of carrying baggage that may or may not even be your own. Jesus says that His yoke (luggage) is light (an illustration again to try and explain He wants to free us into a living inheritance. Matt 11:29). This freedom may be allowing yourself to see a bigger picture of who God is. Or maybe you aren’t at a point of accepting God or Jesus, but want some freedom in your relationships with others, and to see those flourish?

             A lot of pains, with God or others, can begin to heal with forgiveness, ‘letting go’, and allowing others to no longer ‘influence’ you in ways that are hurting or hindering you (Acts 26:18). Finally, forgiveness (not necessarily meaning forgetting at this point) can mean two things: forgiving others, and forgiving yourself.

            I pray and hope that this step in the journey has been enlightening and that you will chew on this for a while to see how it tastes. Please remember, as I’m sure we’ve all heard as kids with certain veggies, “It may not taste great, but it is good for you.”

Welcome

I would like to welcome everyone and thank you for joining me for a while. This is a blog which I would like to share with you about a journey I’ve been on over the last while. However, it is going to be less about me and more about what God has brought me through and who He is and is not.

The title, Living Inheritance, has three meanings behind it. Firstly ‘Living’, was chosen because God is about relationship living, not religious duties. I can’t emphasize enough that anything you may read after this point is about moving into and living a relationship with God; not religion. Sometimes this line may be hard to see, especially as I am writing these words and unable to talk to you directly, therefore please feel free to challenge or call me out if you feel otherwise about anything written.

The second meaning behind ‘Living’ is that our relationship with God is now. Throughout the bible one hears the words “Kingdom of God/Heaven” or from one of the most well know verses John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have ever lasting life”. These various words have often be restricted to something to look forward to. This is partially true, yet should also include the present! There are a number of references to the kingdom, God, our relationship, and inheritance as being lived out now. Matthew 6:10 (Lord’s Prayer) is a great example where Jesus Himself says, “Thy kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven”, or else where “The kingdom of God has come upon you.” (Mt. 12:28). This is not to be confused with the future renewal of all things (2 Pt. 3:13 or Rev. 21:1-27) but there is something right now as well.

So that takes care of ‘Living’, so what about ‘Inheritance’? This kind of ties in again with the previous idea; Yes, there is a full future inheritance and there is something right now! Philippians 1:21 says, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain”. There is something right now and a fullness to come. Matthew 19:29; 25:34; Heb 9:15 and others, talk about an eternal inheritance. This mixed with Jesus telling us the kingdom is here and now helps illustrate that this living relationship to God and the inheritance with Him is to at least start now and grow and fully develop into the future. It is similar (and the bible uses this illustration as well) to that of being engaged. The engagement of a bride and groom is a real living relationship. They may not be fully married, with all the benefits and privileges there in, but they are still in a close and intimate relationship that takes place in the present; and yet there is still a future hope of something even more amazing to look forward to without diminishing the present wonder of engagement.

So Living Inheritance is something I’d love to share with you about my relationship with God and His desire to have a relationship with everyone. Please remember my goal is to share a few ideas and possibly present a few challenges to you; you may choose to do what ever you wish with what you read.

Enjoy and God bless.