A Beautiful Mess

Jesus Understands

The reason I chose the homeschool curriculum I did is because it was literature based. The premise is that you can learn a lot by reading good, quality literature. It’s worked well for my family so far. In our first grade schedule, we have a book that I adore. My daughters have loved it, too; although, I don’t know that it will be a big hit with my sons since it’s appeals a bit more to the feminine mind. The name of the book is Understood Betsy. Understood Betsy is a story about an orphaned girl, Betsy, who goes to live with various family members.

In the beginning of the book, Betsy lives with a spinster aunt. This aunt has read all the books on child rearing. She repeatedly tells others how proud she is that she understands Betsy because she has all this book knowledge on child rearing and child psychology. Betsy’s life if fairly controlled with her aunt. She doesn’t get to make a lot of choices. She doesn’t really understand her own thoughts and feelings. She just accepts what her aunt tells her about her thoughts and feelings because she has heard over and over that her aunt understands. After her aunt’s elderly mother becomes ill, Betsy is sent to live with relatives who own a farm. These relatives don’t claim to understand Betsy. Instead, they simply love her and allow her to explore on her own. Their knowledge of child rearing comes from having raise children. Betsy becomes free to think her own thoughts and feel her own feelings and make her own choices. In the end, Betsy realizes that the family that actually understands her is the family that accepts her for who she is and just loves her.

I love that book because I think we all long to be understood. Not book-learning based, controlling understood where someone claims to know what’s best for us and tells us so. But really, truly understood. We long for relationship with someone who understands who we are and how we feel about things. We want someone who shares our joys and our sadness…someone who knows when we need a hug and a bowl of ice cream or when we need to just vent our anger and frustration. We long for someone who loves us in spite of all of our flaws, someone who accepts us. There are times in life when you just need a friend you can talk to about everything without having to explain what it means to you.

At various times in my life, I’ve had friends and relationships that did really well at different parts of this equation. Some friends I can go to when I’m angry, and they can listen to me rant without it affecting them. Some friends are better at comforting me when I’m sad. Some friends seem to intuitively know how to guide a conversation so that I figure out what’s really going on inside my head, and I feel clarity where before I only had a lot of confusion. Some friends are great under pressure. Some are better to rejoice with. But none of these friends truly understands me completely. There is only one friend who can do that.

Jesus understands. He knows my thoughts and my feelings. He knows what’s going on inside my head and inside my heart. He understands what I’m going through and who I am. He knows my purpose, even if I haven’t figured it out yet. He sees a bigger picture than I see, so he understands me in ways I don’t even understand myself. I don’t have to explain to Jesus what I’m thinking or feeling because He knows. There’s not one situation in life where I will find myself going to Jesus and hear Him respond with: “Wow! That’s a tough one. I’ve never been in your shoes. I have no idea what advice to give you.” It just won’t happen. I know it won’t happen because the Bible says that Jesus was tempted in every way so that He might know how to support His people (Hebrews 4:15).

That doesn’t mean Jesus agrees with everything I do. It doesn’t mean Jesus sees the world and my situation exactly the way I see it. It doesn’t mean He lets me go on and on without saying anything. It definitely doesn’t mean He makes all my choices for me and tells me how I should feel about each one. Jesus doesn’t understand me because He read some book and is super smart and knows all the right things to say. Jesus understands me both because He made me, and because He’s walked the same path through life. Jesus understands me not only because He loves me deeply, but also because He has felt what I feel and walked where I walk.

Sometimes in life we walk a path that none of our friends have walked. We experience something that others have never experienced…maybe it’s something they can’t even imagine experiencing. They have no words to comfort us. They have no advice to give. All they can do is offer love and support in the form of quietly listening to us and standing beside us, surrounding us in prayer. But Jesus understands. We don’t have to try to explain it. We don’t have to try to put it in terms of a more common experience. He’s been there. He’s felt that. He has exactly the right words of comfort. He knows exactly what to do. He can go beyond the quiet support of our friends and offer healing support. Jesus understands.

This idea became very real to me when the state removed my children. None of my friends had ever had this happen. None of them have a child with mental illness. None of them had ever been railroaded by the state. Like most people, we all believed that the system worked. If you’re innocent, you have nothing to fear. In a million years, none of us believed that the system was broken to this extent. Oh, we had heard the system was broken over and over again in various news stories, but it still felt like while a part of the system might be broken the part that determined guilt or innocence had to work. Right?! But it didn’t. It doesn’t. So in the beginning when I didn’t know what to do, my friends could do nothing but stand there and hold me as I cried and tell me that they loved me. They had no words. They didn’t understand. They couldn’t even imagine what I was going through.

But Jesus understood. He understood exactly how it feels to be innocent and charged with crimes you didn’t commit. He understood exactly how hard it is to tell the truth when it would be so much easier to tell the lie and get what you want. He understood exactly how it felt to be betrayed by people close to you, to be lied about, to bear the sense of shame. As a member of the Godhead, He knows what it’s like to lose a child. He knows what it’s like to lose your sense of identity and to question who you are, how you got here, and if this is really God’s plan. He knows what it is to cry out to God for answers about why this is the only way or why this is happening and to get no response. He’s felt all these things, and He understands.

I could pour out my heart to Jesus, and I never heard the words: “I can’t imagine what you’re going through. I just don’t have the words to say.” Jesus understood. He knew exactly what I needed. It doesn’t mean that all the words He spoke to me felt good. They didn’t. It doesn’t mean that He explained in detail what was going on and why. He didn’t. It doesn’t mean I know how this will end other than to trust that He works everything for good. I don’t. But it means that He was able to comfort me to a different degree than anyone else. There was no hurt I felt that He didn’t understand. On my hardest days, I could feel His arms wrap around me and feel Him cry with me because what breaks my heart breaks His heart, too.

What a friend we have in Jesus! All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! How often have I sang those words? But I never really put them to the test. When we need a friend, we can go to Jesus. We can pour out our hearts and receive deep, deep healing and comfort and support. Deeper than anything we can get from even our best friend here on earth. Because Jesus knows…. Because Jesus understands…..

** I encourage you to learn about the history of the hymn “What a Friend We Have in Jesus“. You can find a short video of the story on youtube in “the story behind the hymn” series. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKjUoE2fack

Spiritual Warfare

One of the fundamental practices of warfare is to learn how to anticipate an attack. If you know where your weak spots are and where your enemy is most likely to attack, you’ll spend more time and energy fortifying those areas. You’ll keep a closer watch on them to head off an attack instead of leaving yourself wide open to attack and letting the enemy do a lot of damage. The same is true in spiritual warfare. The Bible has given us a clear tactical advantage over Satan by telling us not only where he’ll attack, but also by telling us what weapons he has at his disposal. When we focus on defending this area of attack, we minimize the damage that Satan can do in our lives.

We have a real enemy, Satan. He’s been around since the beginning, trying to wreck all of God’s plans. Adam and Eve could see and hear Satan, but they didn’t know he was their enemy. We may not be able to see Satan any more, but we definitely know that he’s the enemy. Ephesians 6:12 (KJV) begins: “For we wrestle…” For some believers, they focus on the first four words, “for we wrestle not” and think that life with Jesus should never be a struggle, but the emphasis here is on “for we wrestle.” “For we wrestle….not with against flesh and blood, but against principalities….” When you were saved, you became a part of God’s army. You joined the Kingdom’s military force. Whether you realized it or not, you put yourself smack dab into the middle of a war.

It’s Satan’s forces against the army of God. It may sound scary, but God is in control. Nothing surprises Him. He knows where Satan is going to attack us. He knows the types of attacks that Satan is going to use, and He has prepared us through His Word to not only defend against those attacks, but also to go on the offensive and win back territory for the Kingdom of God. We know the ultimate outcome–God wins–and so we know the outcome we want to have for every battle–total victory. If we pay attention to what the Word says, we can have total victory in every battle we encounter.

The battle happens in our minds. We believe what we think. Thoughts lead to beliefs and then to actions. Spiritual warfare comes down to lies versus truth. God is the ultimate source of truth. At a casual glance, God’s Truth may seem limiting. It may seem like holding on to God’s Truth is going to keep us from being free, but think of it this way. Consider a skeleton. It is extremely rigid. No flexibility at all aside from the joints, and even those are limited in their range of motion. A skeleton can be limiting. After all, our skeleton restricts what we can and can’t do. At the same time, consider yourself without a skeleton. You’d be just a puddle of muscle and tissue on the ground. This limiting skeleton is actually what gives us the freedom to move the way that we do!

Lets consider some words that describe our mind: accessible, private, plausible, predictor, and overpowered by words. Our mind is accessible to us. It’s also private. I can’t read your thoughts, and you can’t read mine. Thoughts that enter our mind seem plausible, at least on the surface. The more ignorant we are of absolute Truth, the more plausible our thoughts will seem, even if they come from the enemy. The more educated and disciplined we are in the Truth, the less plausible thoughts from the enemy become. We are able to recognize those thoughts from the enemy more quickly. Meditating on God’s Word makes us quicker at identifying the enemy’s lies. Once we identify the lie, it is easier to mount a counterattack.

Our mind is a predictor of our actions. The longer a given thought is allowed to occupy our mind, the more likely it becomes that it will come out of our mouth. That thought will then become our truth and predicts our actions. Consider this: the more we think about something, the more likely we are to say what we’re thinking. Our pastor tells a story about his father that illustrates this point. His father served in WWII. All his life, he felt he was supposed to die in the war, but he had survived. Because he entertained that thought, he began to say things like: “I should have died in the war, but I’ll never live to be 50.” For as long as our pastor could remember, he would hear his father say those things. That thought became speech, which then became his truth. His father passed away at the age of 49. Speaking out a lie encourages the enemy. He knows his attack has been successful. It also makes the thought more ingrained in our process. Eventually it will become an act.

The enemy has access to our mind. He can plant thoughts there. He may do this through something we see. He may do this through something we hear. He may do this through a conversation we engage in. Almost anything can give him access to our minds. He can also speak directly to our minds. Thoughts from the enemy don’t necessarily have to originate in something from the physical realm like what we see or hear. Spirits can speak directly to our minds. BUT Satan can not read our mind. Only God can do that! Satan only knows if his attack is effective by looking for evidence. He may see evidence that his attack has hit its mark in our body language, but he can also see that it was effective by listening to our speech–what we agree with– and our actions.

When you have a troubling thought that you’re not sure what to do with, you can pray over your thought life. It can be as easy as saying, “God, I just can seem to shake this thought. What should I do about it?” If it is truly an attack from the enemy, God will remind you of a Scripture and help you stand against that wrong thought. The Word you have inside of you, even if it’s only a single verse, coupled with the Spirit of God upon it is powerful enough to destroy any weapon of the enemy. John 10:10 (NIV) says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” This is an easy test to determine if your thoughts are coming from the enemy or not. Do they steal your peace or joy? Kill off your ambition or your dreams? Speak death and destruction over your life or your family or your situation? Then they are from the enemy!

We need to immerse ourselves in God’s Word. We need to memorize it, and meditate on it. We need to chew it over. It’s kind of like when you have a worry. When something is bothering you, and you are worrying about it, you turn it over and over again in your mind. Worry is meditation gone wrong! Instead, you want to turn the Word of God over and over again in your mind, to dwell on it, and to focus on it. Reading the Bible out loud gives you more avenues for the Word to get into our souls and to renew our souls. Our spirit is not the problem. As soon as we were born again, we received a new spirit that is completely in line with God’s will. Our soul, on the other hand, is our mind, will and emotions. They aren’t automatically changed when we get saved. We have to renew our mind with the Word of God (Romans 12:2). When we read the Bible out loud, we are seeing it with our eyes; we are hearing it with our ears; and our mouth is speaking it in agreement.

We were not created for lies. We were created in God’s image, which means we were created with God’s Truth in mind. When we believe a lie, we become enslaved to that lie. Let’s look again at the first part of Ephesians 6:12: “For we wrestle…not with flesh and blood…” This means that people are not our enemies. When we wrestle with flesh and blood, we stir up arguments, strife, contention, drama, and conflict. The enemy loves to get our focus off of him and onto others. He would like nothing more than to deceive you into thinking that your neighbor is the enemy or that your friend is the enemy or that your family is the enemy or that your spouse is the enemy. If he can get you to believe the lie that your enemy is another person, then none of your weapons will hit the right target. You’ll be fighting on one side of the field, chasing down shadows, while the real battle is on the other side.

Avoiding strife does not mean you have to be a “yes man.” It doesn’t mean absolute agreement on everything. It doesn’t mean not be allowed to have your own opinion. Strife boils down to an unhealthy means of communication. Healthy communication requires wisdom, compassion, love, understanding, forebearance, longsuffering…basically it requires us to wrap our words in the Fruits of the Spirit. When we focus on the fruits of the spirit, we put an end to strife, and we don’t fall for the enemy’s schemes. It’s like a light switch. Strife turns the lights off. It leaves us trying to fight the battles in the dark. 1 John 2:11 says, “But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.” Satan has the upper hand if you allow him to turn the lights out on you! But when we operate in the fruits of the Spirit, we operate in love; and love keeps the lights on!

Let’s go back to the last quality on our list in describing the mind: overpowered by words. James tells us about the power of the tongue. In James 3:5a he says, “Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts.” He has been describing how we control a large animal like a horse with a small bit and how we can change the course of a large ship with a small rudder. Now he compares those concepts to the tongue and the damage it can do. Our words have the power to change our thoughts. Wrong thoughts are overpowered by right words. That’s why it’s so important to speak God’s Word over your life. It re-centers your mind on God’s Truth. The Hebrew word for meditate is “הָגָה” or “hagah“. It literally means to moan, to growl, to utter, to speak, or to muse. God meant for us to meditate on His Word by speaking it to ourselves!

Satan’s only weapons in this war are lies and accusations. He has no other weapons in his arsenal. He has no new methods of attack. He’s a defeated foe. He may go about as a roaring lion, but he’s a lion that has had all his teeth pulled out! On the other hand, our weapons include our spiritual armor, the Sword of the Spirit (Word of God), prayer, worship, and faith–to name a few. Pastor Dave Christian from Disciple Heart Ministries has this theory about the armor of God listed in Ephesians 6:14-17 (KJV). He believes that each piece of armor represents an area where Satan likes to attack and that the armor is listed in order of the ways that Satan will approach us to launch an attack.

Belt of Truth–corresponds to the identity of Jesus. What do we believe about who He is and what He has done for us? (Proverbs 20:27; John 16:13-14).
Breastplate of Righteousness–corresponds to our identity in Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:8)
Shoes of the readiness of the gospel of peace–corresponds to our purpose. What do we believe about our ability to be used in ministry to change the world? (Isaiah 52:7)
Shield of Faith–corresponds to our prayer life. Our convictions about prayer motivate us as we pray. Are we truly praying effective prayers of faith? (1 Peter 3:12)
Helmet of Salvation– corresponds to our redemption, specifically my health and prosperity (Romans 2:4; Psalm 35:27; 3 John 2; Ephesians 1:14).

Every time truth is challenged by a lie and you answer with the Truth, you strengthen your belief and conviction in that area. You can be persuaded. Are you going to be persuaded to believe the lies of the enemy, or are you going to be persuaded to believe God’s Truth? Train yourself to be persuaded by God’s Truth. There are levels to conviction. Perhaps you are at the lowest level, but as you respond to those challenges and lies of the enemy and strengthen your conviction, you’re going to move up to the next level. God knows what level you are at. He knows what will stretch you and grow you and what will break you. God does not send Satan after you, but we learn in Job that God watches Satan’s comings and goings and restricts what he can do. That’s why Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that we will not be tempted beyond what we can bear and that God will provide a way out.

The final piece of armor is the only offensive weapon.

Sword of the Spirit–corresponds to our effectiveness in praying for others (1 John 3:8; Isaiah 59:16-17). This is revelation, Scripture, and Truth that God has given you to speak over another person, to aide them in their battle. It allows you to speak over the situation and take authority over it.

You don’t have to agree with Pastor Christian’s interpretation of the armor of God, but it is an interesting concept to think about and study out for yourself. Ask God what He wants to tell you about the armor. Is there a piece you have neglected? Is there something you need to polish up and apply to your life? God will speak to you if you listen. You can go to Him for Truth at any time and in any place. That’s the crux of spiritual warfare, so strap on your armor and get fighting!

Godly Sorrow

2 Corinthians 7:9-10 (TLB)

Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you but because the pain turned you to God. It was a good kind of sorrow you felt, the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so that I need not come to you with harshness. For God sometimes uses sorrow in our lives to help us turn away from sin and seek eternal life. We should never regret his sending it. But the sorrow of the man who is not a Christian is not the sorrow of true repentance and does not prevent eternal death.

The truth hurts. We all know that, but the truth also heals. When a wound is present that has not been treated correctly, sometimes a doctor will need to reopen that wound in order to make sure it is properly cleaned out so that it can heal properly. The same is true with wounds in our heart. Sin sears our conscience. It creates wounds in our heart. It may seem easier to bury that sin, but God sees it. His spirit convicts us of the sin, reopening that wound. Believers recognize that,even though this process might be painful at the time, it ultimately leads to healing.

That’s what godly sorrow does. It opens up the wounds we need to take care of. It brings the sin in our lives out into the open where they can be cleaned up and dealt with. It doesn’t feel good at the time, but it makes us run to God for forgiveness and cleansing. We know that when we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive them and to cleanse us, no matter how many times it takes.

Those without faith don’t understand this. Rather than being sad at the sin or hurt by its effects, they are usually more saddened by the fact that they were caught. Unbelievers are often blinded to the effects their sin has on themselves and on others around them. They might feel pained by the damage their actions have produced, but they don’t feel the need to do anything about it. That’s not godly sorrow. Without repentance, this sorrow does nothing but make us feel bad. It doesn’t point us toward healing. It doesn’t lead to eternal life.

Father, I thank you for the Holy Spirit. I thank you that I can count on your Spirit to point out the areas of my life where I need your healing touch. Not only does your Spirit open up the wounds that others have caused me by their sin, but it also brings to light the sin in my own life that may have hurt others. I know that if I confess that sin to you, you will forgive me and cleanse me and point me toward how I can make it right to those I have hurt. I thank you that you are willing to keep forgiving me and to keep cleansing me as long as I am truly repentant and following after you. You are perfecting me day by day, changing me to be more and more like you. Thank you that even though your correction doesn’t feel good in the moment, it always leads to healing and eternal life. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

A Permanent High Priest

Hebrews 7:25-27

“Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.“

The Old Testament sacrificial system was a shadow of what Jesus offered us. The high priest would intercede for the people, making atonement for their sins once a year on the Day of Atonement. Of course, the priest would have to atone for his own sin first. The sacrifice was only good enough for a year. Sin offerings for individuals had to be repeated as often as they sinned, but corporate sin offerings for the entire nation had to be repeated once a year. The high priest was the intermediary between God and men. He was the spiritual head of the nation–responsible for making sure the people understood what God required and that God received the worship He was due.

Jesus changed the sacrificial system. His blood was enough to pay the price for sin in full. He offered atonement once for all. He does not have to continually offer sacrifice for the sins of His people. It is finished. Jesus understands our plight. He lived among us. He was tempted in every way, just as we are, but He did not sin. He is the perfect intermediary between God and man. Not only does He demonstrate what God requires, but His blood and the Holy Spirit offer us the grace to accomplish it. So Jesus is our permanent high priest. He is able to save all of us who come to Him because of His work on the cross. He is able to intercede on our behalf before the Father, and He is able to enable us to live righteous lives.

Father, I thank you that Jesus paid the price for my sin. His blood was more than enough. He didn’t just cover my sin; He covered all sin. I don’t have to sacrifice every time I sin. I don’t have to sacrifice once a year. Jesus has paid the price in full. Now I can obtain grace to help me live above sin. I can look at Jesus’ perfect example and know what God desires of me, and with Jesus’ help and the help of the Holy Spirit, I can fulfill it. Thank you that we have a high priest who intercedes for us without ceasing. We have a high priest who understands what temptations come our way. We have high priest who is able to save us and bring us to God. Thank you, God, for your Son. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

False Gods

Idolatry is a topic not often covered in today’s churches. We tend to think about idolatry in terms of bowing down to statues or sacrificing animals. We think of it in terms of Old Testament cultures and ideals. We don’t often think that we, ourselves, are guilty of idolatry. We might point our fingers at others, but do we ever think that we are guilty? What about Christians? Are Christians guilty of idolatry?

Idolatry is idol worship. When you worship an idol, you are guilty of idolatry. What is an idol? It’s anything that you put in the place of God. For some people, that’s another god, but for most of us it’s something we would never even think of as being an idol. God tells us to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. God should have first place in our life. He should be the first thing we think about in our day. Our relationship with God should take priority over our relationships with anyone else, but how often does that really happen? In today’s culture, it’s very easy to let other things take precedence over God in our lives.

Anything can be an idol. With COVID-19 shutting down much of what we consider “normal” life, it’s easier to identify our idols. When we lose the things that are important to us, it causes a lot of emotions and anxiety. Right now, we’re able to see where our priorities were before the lock downs took place. We can see where most of our time and energy was going because chances are those things are no longer available to us. With more time on our hands, we can be more intentional in how we spend that time, and that makes it easier to identify areas that take up more of our time than they should.

In America, for sure, our false gods are being exposed by corona virus. Things like employment, materialism, Facebook, TV, relationships with others, comfort, food, games, sports…all these things are at a high premium, if they’re available at all. None of these things are evil. None of them are necessarily bad. But all of them have the potential to take over first place in our lives. When we devote our lives to them and focus on these things above other things, they become gods–ruling over us and controlling our lives.

As I evaluate the things I actually do during my day, I’m easily able to see where my time is going. Before my children were placed in foster care, my days consisted of homeschooling, work, chores, Facebook and TV. We attended church four times a week (Sunday morning, Sunday evening, Wednesday evening, and Thursday morning when our homeschool classes/Women’s Ministry meetings took place). I did Bible classes with each of my children. I prayed. But as my stress level increased in response to Inara’s mental illness, I found myself needing to read my Bible on my own more and more and to start my day with Bible and prayer in order to feel like I was keeping my head above water. Even still, there were times when I fasted from Facebook because I could feel that too much of my time was being sucked up by scrolling through my newsfeed.

When the children were removed, I was faced with hours I could no longer spend on homeschooling or on chores. I had a choice in what to do with those hours. I decided to use them for Bible studies and reading faith-based books. I volunteered at church for the positions I felt God was asking me to volunteer for, but that I felt I couldn’t serve in with my children present. Satan whispered in my ear lots of times to try to dissuade me from volunteering, but I heard the Holy Spirit say, “You said you’d serve if the kids were taken care of? Did you mean that? The kids are not a factor in your life right now. What will you do?”

COVID-19 has shut most things down in our state. Many people are out of work. Kids are out of school for the remainder of the year. Only grocery stores are open. We can’t buy “non-essential” items at stores. Online purchases that are deemed non-essential can be delayed in shipping unless there’s a ship-to-store option with a local pickup location. To be sure, TV is still available..Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime, and cable. Facebook is still available. So are games on various platforms. Many people are now faced with the choices I already had to make. Where will they put their time?

If my newsfeed is anything to go by, I have a lot of friends watching hours and hours of TV. I have a lot of friends spending more hours online. I have some friends struggling to homeschool their children. I have a lot of friends who spent their time going out to eat and realizing that they don’t know how to cook. I have a lot of friends who feel untethered and at a loss as to how to use their time. Their life’s priorities are no longer options for them. You can tell a lot about where a person’s priorities were by looking at what they complain about. I have a lot of friends who don’t actually enjoy their children….or their spouse….and I have a lot of friends who miss gathering as a church congregation.

For all of us, our idols have been exposed. God has used COVID-19 to point out very clearly whether or not we have been putting His kingdom first. It can be seen in our complaints on Facebook. It can be seen in what we’re now doing with our extra time. It can be seen in our level of fear and/or panic in response to the virus. For some, it’s been a real wake up call. They’re recommitting their lives to Jesus. They’re joining online Bible study groups. They’re participating in Zoom meetings with church friends. They’re fasting and praying. They’re reassessing what’s the most important thing in their lives, and they’re reframing their lives so that God takes center stage. For others, they haven’t made that decision yet. They are still pursuing their idol of “comfort.”

Time and time again throughout the Bible, God has called out idolatry. He has used plagues and wars to demonstrate how powerless our idols are. God is doing the same thing now. If you look back over your life before COVID-19 and since, where were you spending your time? Where are you spending it now? Are you putting God and His kingdom first? Are you spending your extra time in the Word of God? Reading Christian blog posts? Reading encouraging faith-inspiring books? Are you doing Bible studies and keeping in touch with your church family in whatever way you can? Are you attending worship services online? or Are you doing your best to maintain your previous level of “comfort”? Are you filling your days with bingeing Netflix shows…playing video games….worse?

This is the time to take a good look at your priorities in life. Were they what they should have been? Now’s the time to correct them. Now’s the time to invest your time intentionally on the things that have eternal meaning. If we get our priorities in order now, it will be easier to see when idolatry rears its ugly head in our lives moving forward. As our state and country work to open back up, will we go back to worshiping at the altars of other things? The choice is ours. God promises that if we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, He will supply all our needs. We will not be without. Now is the time to trust Him and put His promises to the test. What will you do?

Root of Bitterness: Forgiveness Part 1

One of the things I struggle with is the idea of forgiveness. I think a lot of people struggle with forgiveness for various reasons. One reason is that forgiveness strikes at our sense of justice. We feel as if the other person is “getting away with it” when we forgive. Another reason is that we don’t actually understand what forgiveness is and what it is not. We may think that if we don’t feel a certain way then our forgiveness is not genuine, or we may by into the idea that we need to “forgive and forget” and since we struggle to forget we may not be really forgiving. The Bible has some clear instruction on the need for forgiveness. Forgiveness is one of our spiritual weapons against the strongholds Satan likes to form in our minds. So what is forgiveness? What happens when we don’t forgive? How do we forgive?

When it comes to forgiveness, a lot of us struggle. It’s hard, sometimes, to believe that God has truly offered forgiveness for our sins. It’s hard, sometimes, for us to receive that forgiveness. We may have a picture of God as being angry with us or as someone who offers forgiveness only one time, with no second chances. Our picture of God’s character has a lot to do with our own ideas about forgiveness. The Bible tells us to forgive because we have been forgiven, but if we have a wrong picture of what God’s forgiveness for us looks like, we’ll have a warped view of how to forgive others. Forgiveness is necessary when someone does something to us. In this case, someone sins against us. They wrong us in some way. If we hold on to the feelings of offense and the need for revenge that the world encourages us to have, we plant in our hearts a seed of unforgiveness. Unforgiveness forms roots of bitterness and resentment that can damage the condition of our hearts. Forgiveness, then, is freedom from the effects of other people’s sins against us. When we refuse to forgive, it’s like drinking poison and waiting for the other person to die. The only one hurt is ourselves.

So how does God offer forgiveness? He tells us in the Parable of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15. If you recall the basic outline of the story, the prodigal son insults his father, demands his half of the inheritance, and goes off doing his own thing. He wastes his money and ends up destitute and depressed, working as a slave for someone else. He hits the lowest point of his life and decides that he needs to go back and seek forgiveness from his father. He reasons that maybe his father will accept him back as a servant and that position would at least be better than the position he’s currently in. He returns home, where his father is overjoyed to see him. He accepts him back fully as his son and prepares a feast for him. The older brother is displeased that his father has accepted his younger brother so easily. The father explains that his brother’s return is cause for celebration and encourages the older brother to join in.

When we read this story, we often identify with the prodigal son. We recognize that we are guilty of sinning against God, and we know that we need to repent. We see the Father’s acceptance of the prodigal son as God’s acceptance of us and forgiveness of our sin. The prodigal son represents each of us when we recognize our own need for forgiveness. But we are also, at times, the older brother in the story. When we don’t think we need forgiveness or when we’re unable to forgive others, we respond as the older brother responded when the prodigal returns. But let’s look for a moment at the Father in the story. The Father wasn’t sitting on the porch, fuming about all the ways his youngest son had done him wrong. He wasn’t biding his time to judge the son and punish him. No! The Father was watching the road, hoping his son would return. He had already made the decision to forgive. Forgiveness was waiting when the prodigal son arrived home. The same is true of God. God isn’t sitting on His throne, planning out how He will punish us for our sins. No! He is watching the road, hoping we will repent (turn around and come home). Jesus didn’t die for our sins when we recognized our need for a savior. He died for our sins on the cross over 2,000 years ago. When we recognize our need for a savior, and we return to the Father for forgiveness, that forgiveness is already there waiting on us. Christ died for us while we were still sinners.

Forgiveness is a choice. It is more than the choice to perform an act or to say some words. Forgiveness, at its heart, is a choice to:

identify with what happened on Calvary on our behalf
agree with the values of the Kingdom of God
act and operate within the Kingdom of God
cooperate with God’s standards to deal with an offense

True forgiveness isn’t about our goodness. It isn’t an opportunity for us to pat ourselves on the back and say, “Look how wonderful I am! I forgave that person for wronging me.” It’s about coming into agreement with how God wants us to handle an offense. It’s based on God’s goodness. If we are forgiving so that we look good to others, we are not truly forgiving.

SOME DEFINITIONS

Webster’s Dictionary defines the verb “forgive” as: 1) to cease to feel resentment against an offender 2) to give up resentment of or claim to compensation or retaliation and 3) to grant relief from payment of a debt.

Bob Hamp, who pioneered Freedom Ministries defines forgiveness this way.

Forgiveness is a two part process where first we choose to forgive the offense and then we choose to trust the Father with the consequences of their sin and offense.

In the New Testament, the Greek word translated forgive is aphiémi, which means to send away, let go, release, permit to depart. This was seen best in the Old Testament scapegoat in Leviticus 16. On the day of atonement, Aaron was to take a bull and offer it as a sin offering for his own sin. Then, he was to take two male goats and present them before the Lord. He was to cast lots. One goat would be for the Lord, and the other goat would be the scapegoat. The goat taken for the Lord would be sacrificed as a sin offering, and its blood would be taken into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled on the atonement seat. Aaron would then place his hand on the head of the scapegoat and confess over it all the sins of Israel. The scapegoat would then be sent into the wilderness, carrying the sins of Israel with it. This was a visual representation of forgiveness for the Israelites, as their sins were sent far away from them into the wilderness.

WHAT DOES UNFORGIVENESS DO?

When we refuse to forgive, we stop the flow of grace in our lives. Grace is God’s favor, but it’s more than that as well. It’s the ability to live above sin. When God’s grace is at work in our lives, we have His supernatural favor to avoid temptation and sin. Unforgiveness stops the flow of grace in our lives. It makes us more susceptible to temptation and sin. In Hebrews 12:15-17, we get a picture of unforgiveness in the story of Jacob and Esau. We see the pattern of what unforgiveness brings in our life.

See to it that no one falls short of God’s grace; that no root of resentment springs up and causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; ¹⁶and [see to it] that no one is immoral or godless like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. ¹⁷For you know that later on, when he wanted [to regain title to] his inheritance of the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no opportunity for repentance [there was no way to repair what he had done, no chance to recall the choice he had made], even though he sought for it with [bitter] tears.
Hebrews 12:15-17 (AMP)

When we refuse to forgive, bitterness grows. That bitterness troubles us. We become defiled. We fall short of God’s grace. We become immoral or godless, meaning we have a mental life that is unclean. We despise our blessings. We try to manipulate others into seeing us a certain way or seeing the offender the way that we see them. If we want to be able to access God’s grace in our life and not fall into Satan’s trap, we have to be willing to forgive.

Bitterness doesn’t just come as a result of someone else’s sin. Bitterness can come from our own unmet expectations, even when sin is not present. Consider the story of Esau and Jacob again. When Israel gave the blessing to Jacob, Esau was angry with his father. He had bitterness and resentment toward his father for giving Jacob the blessing, but his father had not sinned. The sin was Jacob’s for deceiving Israel. We can harbor the same feelings when someone doesn’t meet our expectations. Perhaps we are passed over for a promotion, or someone turns us down when we ask them out, or maybe they don’t ask us to marry them when we thought they would….you can see there are lots of areas where we have expectations of another person, and when those expectations aren’t met, we can become bitter and resentful, even when not meeting those expectations isn’t a sin against us.

A WORD ABOUT FORGIVING GOD AND FORGIVING OURSELVES

The area of unmet expectations is generally the area where we are counseled to forgive God. We become bitter and angry toward God when He fails to meet our expectations, but God can not sin. Since he can not sin, it is not actual forgiveness that we need to offer God. Forgiveness refers only to someone’s sin against us. Instead, we need to humble ourselves and admit that our expectations were out of line with God’s will. We need to repent for the bitterness we feel because God didn’t do what we wanted Him to do. When we feel that way, we are placing ourselves above God and saying that we have the right to judge God’s actions as right or wrong. It’s idolatry, and we must repent for it.

Likewise, the concept of forgiving ourselves is not biblical. When we sin, we must repent. We sin against God, we go to Him and ask for forgiveness. When we sin against someone else, we apologize and ask for forgiveness. It’s then up to us to receive the forgiveness God offers. The rest is dealing with Satan’s lies. Satan is an accuser. He will accuse anyone he can in any way that he can. He will accuse God to you, you to God, others to you, and you to yourself. It’s our job to deal with Satan’s lies and reject them. That may feel like forgiving ourselves, but technically it isn’t forgiveness that we’re offering.

WHAT FORGIVENESS IS AND WHAT IT’S NOT

Forgiveness is NOT:

a gushy feeling of affection for the offender
justifying what the other person did
approving of what the other person did
reconciliation
ignoring or excusing what the other person did
denying or forgetting what the other person did
pretending that it doesn’t bother us anymore
trying to erase the consequences of what the other person did

Forgiveness IS:

admitting that something wrong was done to us, unless the issue falls under unmet expectations
refusing to be the one who punishes the offender
deciding to love the offender–not by feeling, but by God’s definition of what love is
a decision based on obedience and an act of our will
choosing mercy because we have received mercy
considering (making a decision to agree) that the blood of Jesus paid for that sin
declaring agreement that that sin was nailed to the cross
accepting that there are consequences to that sin and forgiving the sin and its consequences

Luke 17:1-10 give us a good explanation of forgiveness. The parable in verses 7-10 of the servant explain what God is looking for. The servant has been working in the hot field all day. He’s probably tired and hungry when he comes into the house at the end of the day. The master has probably been inside all day, relaxing in the nice air conditioning. Yet, when the servant comes in the master tells him to fix dinner. The servant probably feels “This is unfair!,” but he knows that if he wants to keep his job he will do as he is told. He will obey. When God tells us to forgive, we often feel the same way. We say, “But God, don’t you know what they did to me? Don’t you know how awful they are?” Of course, He knows, but as our master He has told us to forgive. God isn’t looking for our desire to forgive. We don’t have to feel like forgiving. God is looking for our willingness to obey. He wants us to do it out of obedience to Him.

ACTIVATION EXERCISE

*Ask God to show you something or someone you need to forgive

Lord, is there someone I need to forgive? Lord, what is the offense? What is it that I am holding against them? Show it to me, Lord.

*As God reveals an incident to you, tell God what happened to you and how bad it was. If it was a sin against you, agree with God that it was a sin. Tell God how you feel about it and what you think about it.

Lord, do I have a judgement against this person?

*pray through any judgement He shows you. Repent for judging this person. We can’t see another person’s heart. Only God can. God is the only one with the authority to judge because He sees everything. Renounce the judgement you have made against the person. Break agreement with that judgement.

*Agree with God that the price was paid at Calvary for that sin. Declare it.

*Declare your forgiveness toward that person to God.

Father, I repent for not obeying you in forgiveness. I renounce unforgiveness in Jesus name. I break my agreement with it. I choose to agree with the blood of Jesus. I choose to agree with the price paid on Calvary. I choose to forgive ______________________ and this sin against me ___________________________. Lord, are there consequences that I am dealing with in my life because of this sin against me? Are there results that have entered into my life and into my heart? Lord, I hold these things up to you, and I choose to agree with the blood of Jesus over these things that this person opened a door to. I choose to put these things also under the blood. Father, would you show me how you see these things? these consequences? I choose to agree with you, Father God.

*Ask God to take the emotions you are dealing with as a result of these things.

Father, what you would you give me to fill these places in my heart? I agree with you, Lord. I agree what you for life and for refreshing and for grace. I agree with you that in these situations, you will work all things for my good. These things do not define me, even the things that I am not able to change. I invite you to work in them and in me. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Who Are You Partnering With?

2 Corinthians 6:16-18 (MSG)

“Don’t become partners with those who reject God. How can you make a partnership out of right and wrong? That’s not partnership; that’s war. Is light best friends with dark? Does Christ go strolling with the Devil? Do trust and mistrust hold hands? Who would think of setting up pagan idols in God’s holy Temple? But that is exactly what we are, each of us a temple in whom God lives. God himself put it this way: “I’ll live in them, move into them; I’ll be their God and they’ll be my people. So leave the corruption and compromise; leave it for good,” says God. “Don’t link up with those who will pollute you. I want you all for myself. I’ll be a Father to you; you’ll be sons and daughters to me.” The Word of the Master, God.“

In life, we seem to see things in shades of grey. We justify our behavior. We view compromise as a good thing most of the time. We go along to get along. But God sees things as black and white. When we look at life as black and white, then we can see where compromise can become a problem. It’s one thing to compromise in a relationship in order to maintain peace–in the scheme of right versus wrong, where we go for dinner with our spouse is not really an issue–it’s another issue entirely to compromise our ethics or our morals to make others happy or more accepting of us.

When we compromise our morals by diluting the Word of God to fit in with the culture we live in, it’s the same as putting up idols in the temple of God. Most of us don’t think of it that way. We think we’re just being nice, or we’re just being kind. If we’re really deceived, we may fall into the trap of thinking that we’re being more like Jesus by accepting others, but Jesus didn’t compromise truth. We would never consider putting up an idol in the temple of God, but we often put up idols of compromise in our own lives. We are the temple of God, and what we allow in our lives (as well as in our bodies) is important. We need to get into a more black or white form of thinking when it comes to God’s standards of right and wrong.

Father, I thank you that you are the source of truth. Thank you for the gift of discernment. I thank you that when I need to know right from wrong, I can go to you and get an accurate determination. What you say is truth, what you say is right. You are without sin. When I follow your Word and obey you, I know that I am doing what is right and true. Help me to remember that compromising your standards is the same as idolatry. I don’t want to put idols in your temple, so I need to keep idols of compromise out of my life as well. Help me to know when to stand firm in your truth. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Children of God

1 John 3:1-3

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.“

As children, we all dream of what we will be when we grow up. The possibilities are limitless, and many of us dream as big as we can. We want to be a princess or a president. We want to be a fireman or an astronaut. As we grow, our dreams change. Eventually, we realize what our talents and abilities and interests are, and if we’re lucky, we choose a career in those areas.

As children of God, we do not know what we will ultimately become other than we will be like Christ. As our knowledge of who Christ is and who God is grows and expands, our knowledge of what we will become grows and expands too. We get a clearer picture of who Jesus is and of who we are becoming as we become like Him. That’s why John tells us that “we do not know yet what we will become.” When Jesus appears, we will know because we will see Him clearly. When we see Him clearly, our end result will be clear as well. In the meantime, it’s up to us to live up the level of revelation we have received, moving more and more to be like Him.

Father, I thank you that you loved me enough to make me your child. As I grow in my relationship with you, I learn more and more about who you are and what you are changing me to become. Open my eyes, Lord, to the wonders in your Word. Teach me more about who you are and who Jesus is, so that I can get a bigger picture of who you want me to be. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Are You Wandering?

2 John 9 (TLB)

“For if you wander beyond the teaching of Christ, you will leave God behind; while if you are loyal to Christ’s teachings, you will have God too. Then you will have both the Father and the Son.“

In this day and age, it’s easy to fall into the mindset that the Bible is a dated history book with no relevance to today. It’s easy to feel like the church’s teachings need to adapt to the current culture and climate. The arguments for bringing the church into the 21st century are compelling, but compelling arguments aren’t a substitute for the truth.

God sees time differently than we do. Nothing comes as a surprise to Him. He knows what’s going on in the world around us. He knows what path this world is on. So it should come as no surprise to us that God gave us instructions specific to our time. In this letter, John reminds us not to go beyond the teachings of Jesus. Jesus’ teachings are truth. They are relevant at all times and to all cultures.

When we hold to the teachings of Jesus, we know we are on the right path, but when we go beyond those teachings, trying to come in line with the current climate and culture around us, we risk leaving God behind. Jesus is our example. Jesus told His disciples that He did only what He saw the Father do–that is, He perfectly kept to God’s will. When we follow closely to the teachings of Jesus, we know we are carrying out God’s will as well.

Father, thank you for your living Word. Thank you that we can follow the teachings of Jesus and know that we are on the path that leads to your will for our lives. We don’t have to worry about being outside your will if we’re doing what Jesus said. Help us not to fall into the trap of believing that the Bible is old or out of date. We don’t need to ignore your teachings just because the culture around us lacks an understanding of them. It’s that mindset that takes us out of your will and off the narrow road. Help us hold fast to your Word, Lord, in every situation. It is for us today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Go After Them

James 5:19-20 (TPT)

Finally, as members of God’s beloved family, we must go after the one who wanders from the truth and bring him back. For the one who restores the sinning believer back to God from the error of his way, gives back to his soul life from the dead, and covers over countless sins by their demonstration of love!

Sometimes we think that love means we don’t point out someone else’s faults. We think that by glossing over errors or faults we are avoiding hurting the other person’s feelings. After all, love is supposed to feel good, right? It sounds good, but it’s not the truth. The truth is that love doesn’t allow another person to come to harm. If you love someone, you seek to protect them–not to protect them from the truth, but to protect them from harm.

When someone has an addiction, it is not loving to enable them to continue in their addiction. You know their addiction will cause them harm. In some cases, it may even cost them their life. The loving thing is to point out the harm they are doing and to do everything possible to help them leave their addiction and all its harm behind. The same is true with sin.

When we see another person committing sin, we know that they are being spiritually harmed by that sin. It’s up to us, then, to point out the damage their sin is causing them. Satan’s only weapon is deception. He’s a master at getting us to rationalize our sin. As a result, many of us can have huge blind spots when it comes to our own shortcomings. It takes a person who really loves us to point out that we are on the wrong path and help us get back on to the right one. As members of the same family, we are called to love each other the way God loves us. God doesn’t leave us alone in our sin. His Spirit tells us when we are wrong, convicting us of wrongdoing. To love others like God loves us means that we don’t let them continue in their sin as well without giving them the opportunity to get back on the right path.

Father, I thank you that you love us enough to keep us from harm. I thank you that your Holy Spirit speaks to us and convicts us from sin. You don’t leave us wandering down the wrong path. You want to keep us safe and in communion with you. Help me to be watchful over my brothers and sisters. Help me to have the courage and love to speak out when I see someone headed down the wrong path, but also help me to be humble about my own condition so that I don’t fall into the trap of having a judgmental spirit. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

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