Do Not Submit

After reading an amazing article, I've been pondering what it means to be free to put my sanctification in God's hands.  For many years, I have been under a religious spirit of "Having begun by the Spirit, [I am] now being perfected by the flesh" (Galatians 3:3).  I've thought a lot about what it means to continually put myself under the waterfall of grace and be washed with the water of His word to be sanctified instead of trying harder and doing better.  God put Christ on the cross a little less than 2000 years ago fully knowing every sin that I would commit.  For me to expect perfection for my life is absurd.  For me to expect never to sin again and beat the mess out of myself each and every time that I do is insane.  It's for freedom that He set me free (Galatians 5:1).  God sees me as a finished product.  When He looks at me, He sees Jesus.  He says I am part of His royal priesthood (1 Peter 3:9).  He knows I will fail and still accepts me.  He knows I will be miserably rebellious and still calls me beloved.  I don't have to get better in my strength!  He started the work.  He will finish it!  HE will make me better.  I don't have to submit again to the religious yoke of slavery.  I can freely submit to the freeing yoke of righteousness (Romans 6:18).  Over and over again, Paul empowers people to walk in the grace of God.  He knows the pain.  He knows the sin.  He knows the destruction.  My crying out for change is evidence that He is working.  He hears my prayers and responds to them.  He works them out in his timing.  He is faithful to finish the work that He started.  "Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!" (Romans 11:33).

Power in Weakness

So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
 -2 Corinthians 12:7-10

I have been dwelling a lot lately on the objective truth that I am not God.  Reread that last sentence.  “I am not God”.  Genesis 3:5 is the ultimate temptation for all of us.  The serpent tempts with whatever “fruit” that looks pleasing to me and tells me that I can be God if I eat the “fruit”.  This can be a literal piece of fruit or something far from actual food.  The “fruit” can be lust, greed, pride, etc.  It works like this: “Is God really for you?  Are His commands really what is best for your life?  Did He really say, ‘Do not eat of this tree’?”  So the mind starts to question.  It starts to wade through the knowledge that I have about the world.  It starts to go back to the subjective truths that have been cultivated from a very young age.  It starts to justify and move toward lies instead of the truth of God’s commands and revelation of Himself through the Holy Spirit in the person of Jesus Christ.  When the subjectivity comes to a head, the “fruit” looks pleasing to the eye.  I eat it, and then give it to those around me.  It’s the original sin.  I want to be God.  I think I know what is best for me, so I eat.  I gorge myself.  I get sick from eating too much bad “fruit”.

After Christ was crucified, died, was buried, and was resurrected to defeat sin and death forever, however, God says I am free (Galatians 5:1).  God says my flesh has been crucified (Romans 6:6).  God says that I am His adopted son (Ephesians 1:5).  So what do I do with my weaknesses?  How do I reconcile the fact that I continue to fall?  That I continue to eat fruit that makes me sick?  That I war against an enemy that disguises himself as an angel of light (2 Corinthians 11:14)? 

I have thought a lot about how my brain works.  When I was in school (and even now), repetition is normally the best way to really learn something.  Whatever concept I am trying to master is solidified by my hearing it, seeing, doing it, etc.  Wash.  Rinse.  Repeat until it is solidified.  I do the same thing with lies from the enemy.  “You can be God by pridefully exalting yourself so that people like you.”  Wash.  Rinse.  Repeat.  “You can be God by lusting after a woman that is not your spouse.”  Wash.  Rinse.  Repeat.  “You can be God by creating in your mind a world that is more custom fit for you than the one that God has placed you in.  He is not for you.  He is not for you.  He is not for you.”  Wash.  Rinse.  Repeat.

I wonder what my brain is doing all day.  It is always thinking or analyzing something.  What anatomical connections am I making and solidifying all day?  Are they words of truth?  Are they words of Christ’s great sacrifice?  Are they guided by the Holy Spirit?  Do they glorify the Father?  Am I resting in the objective truth that the Spirit of Christ, my hope of glory, resides inside of me and empowers me to do as the Father commands?  Do I rejoice in my weakness so God gets the glory in working to overcome them?  Or am I pridefully masking them and covering them up so that I can be presentable to my friends?    Do I want to be God so that I get the glory?  Or do I want God to be God so that He gets the glory?

The truth is that God knows you better than anyone else.  He knit you together in your mother’s womb.  He searches and knows you.  He knows your faults, your fears, your inadequacies, the lies that you believe, the thoughts that you have, and every sin that you will ever commit (Psalm 139:1-24).  Your life is a custom fit for God’s ultimate goal: to restore you to the image in which you were created, namely His (Genesis 1:26).  It is God’s mercy that He give you a thorn in the flesh.  He is made much of when you are weak.  He is made much of when you cry out “Abba!  Father!”.  May His power rest upon you in your weakness, for then you are strong.

How to Own Your Bible Reading Plan

1. Purchase an audio bible.
2. Put it into iTunes.
3. Select all audio bible files.
4. Right click and select "Get Info".
5. Find the "Kind" option.
6. Change to podcast.
7. Download new Bible podcasts to iPhone (or other device that allows double speed playing).
8. Listen in double time by selecting the "2X" as seen in the screen shot above.
9. Own your Bible reading plan by listening to twice as much Bible.

One of the helpful things that I did was create folders for playlists of each book.  This way I could navigate to each section of the Bible instead of going one podcast at a time to find my preferred book.  I'm listening to the Bible straight through from beginning to end so this made sense for me.  You might find it more helpful to create playlists based on your particular plan.

Asia Recap 7

The Sunday prior to my return to the United States was a long one.  I woke up this morning to go to a church service with my friends.  It was interesting to say the least.  Without going into too many details about what happened, there were some serious theological issues that had crept into this church.  The implications were a bit scary.  Essentially, there is no theological training in the country.  When different organizations come in and attempt to help the country does not have a good filter for which organizations come in and which do not.  For the believers that do live here have very little training in discerning what is from the Lord and what is not.  The organization that was supposed to be helping my friends was of the "health, wealth, and prosperity" type.  This was quite disheartening.  This message is being heralded in the United States where our culture is quite prosperous.  Now it is being proclaimed where the prosperity is minimal.  The potential for sweeping people into a false gospel is very high.  When you tell people that are poor and uneducated that all things material can be theirs, you can seriously damage their world view and expectations of God.  God does desire for us to prosperous, but not in the material sense that this message proclaims.  This can certainly happen, but God is far more interested in us becoming like His Son than giving us fancy cars and nice houses.  

Knowing that this message was being proclaimed, I could not idly sit by and allow the flock to be swayed by every wind of doctrine.  I had some lengthy conversations over the course of Sunday night and all day Monday about what the Bible says about these particular issues.  It was so good to sit down with fellow believers and work through a difficult topic prayerfully.  These men are so hungry for the Truth that they were willing to listen to anyone with an inkling more of knowledge than they.  I am not theologically trained or even a scholar by any means, so it made me incredibly grateful for the solid teaching under which I have been shepherded the past four years.  It made me incredibly grateful for salvation and the heart of service for these people that the Lord has cultivated in me over the past five and half years since coming to know the Lord.  It made me incredibly grateful to know that the Lord was directing my steps to these men, putting me in front of them with the right knowledge at the right time, and guiding me to the specific passages they need to prayerfully consider before making a decision.  I was amazed at how providential it was that I was there to help them work through these circumstances when the message that came had been delivered (and was continuing to be delivered) just two weeks before I got there.  As I was packing my bags, a false gospel was creeping in.  God's timing is indeed far better than mine.

Early Tuesday morning, I got on a plane to return to City #1 and bid farewell to some friends before flying back to the United States.  I originally intended on taking a train, but thirty hours was daunting.  I bought a plane ticket last minute and flew back.  I spent the afternoon with Wayne to find out that his girlfriend Lois was cancer-free.  She had an appointment earlier that day during which the doctor gave her the good news.  It was a time of rejoicing for Wayne and I at dinner.  He was not entirely sold on the idea that God had healed her, but I did try to guide our conversation that way.  I long for him to know the God that heals through the supernatural as well as physical means.  I long for him to know the God that comes to meet with him even when he wants nothing to do with Him.  Oh that he would know a love that saves.

All in all, the trip was successful.  I managed to navigate a foreign country, by God’s grace and provision, by myself.  I was able to see three entirely different cities.  I was able to meet with locals, missionaries, and ministry leaders.  I was able to eat food that I normally would not prefer.  I was stretched in ways that I cannot possibly expound in blog posts.  The Lord was so gracious, gentle, patient, merciful, and relentless in His pursuit of me while following him to the other side of the world.  He remains this way and desires it for you also.  His love is greater, stronger, and more fulfilling than the trivial pursuits of this world.  My hope is that as you have read through my recap, God touched your heart in some way.  He longs for relationship with you.  Come away with Him.