Two videos that you need in your life.

I was going to write on Philippians, Heidi Baker did so in a way more spirit-led form thoroughness than I was ever going to, so watch. She touches far too much to describe the video beyond that,  but from the moment you press ply you’ll feel the presence man!

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfayw-vE318

Bill Johnson on mistaken definitions of grace, the gospel and sexual immorality. Killed it. Dug it back up. And killed it again.

 

Put aside time over the next few days to watch these. They are SO edifying.

Off to a Christian retreat for the weekend and going to do my best to surgically remove myself from my phone. Those who know me will appreciate the difficulty.

 

I cannot stress how beneficial these talks are, and will be to others if you share that blessing around.

 

God bless and keep you always x

Not My Portion, Isaiah 41:10

Isaiah 41:10 : “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

I don’t feel like sugar coating or playing down the element of the supernatural today. People were raised from the dead, demons were exorcised from people’s bodies and a number of challenges in the life of the Christian come from the enemy. Simple. Don’t try and replace cases of such for alternative arguments.

As people grow in Christ they can feel increasingly tested, even at the early stage when people accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour they can feel like they’re not worthy. This is not of our God, He wants us!

Think of it in this way. My aim is to stop you from knowing and living with God for eternity. I don’t have much power beyond trying to trick you into sin, into distancing yourself from Him. This takes effort so I’d much rather knock you off of your path before you’ve got confidence in God and His Grace, it would save me a lot of work. Should you grow in confidence, my job won’t be done and dammit I will keep trying.

Sometimes when we work to strengthen our resolve not to do particular sins our progress can feel like it hits a bit of a wall. Take sexual immorality (because its a simple one to illustrate). You and your partner could have agreed to wait until marriage, a month or so later your resolve is still high but your girlfriend/boyfriend starts saying “this wasn’t what she/he signed up for” or “you’re being selfish depriving her/him of what’s theirs(!)” You know that abstaining is what your God wants yet you feel like perhaps you are being too cautious. You begin to doubt that what you’re doing is right…

The Bible warns us of the overwhelming power of doubt. Remember James 1:6, “a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind”. Doubt is debilitating to the life of the Christian which is a life led by faith and obedience. When we doubt our God our actions may not seem to make sense. When we start to question things, cracks will form and make our very structure precarious.

God says do not be “dismayed”, “I will uphold you with my righteous right hand”. The enemy knows that when we lean on God He will revive us, He will comfort us and envelope us in His “unfailing love” (ps 5:8). God will get us through everything, even when we don’t ask Him to, God hears the cries and groans of our hearts ! Even when you can’t word your cry out for help, He will be there ready to comfort you. He is our “refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (ps 46:1).

The enemy (I refuse capitalisation, he doesn’t impress me) wants you to wallow in condemnation and dismay because it will make you self impose distance between you and the Father. Spiritual warfare is real yo. It is real and at times it is really tiring. But the God you belong to is one who will use such episodes to help shape your faith and resolve to achieve the you that He intended you to be. Through Jesus you already have the victory so those attempts to make you doubt, to make you afraid and weak in spirit can only ever be just that: attempts.

Get out your boxing gloves and fight because fear, distance and doubt are not of the God you belong to, who reigns inside of you. Don’t have it ! Pray against it, seek counsel from friends and remind yourself who it is you belong to; He isn’t ever going to abandon you. Moses was a murderer, Paul a persecutor, King David an adulterer and murderer – there is nothing you can do to take you out of God’s love forevermore, He is there for us always.

God bless x

Reality Check, Titus 1:15-16

“Everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure. But nothing is pure to those who are corrupt and unbelieving, because their minds and consciences are defiled. Such people claim they know God, but they deny him by the way they live. They are despicable and disobedient, worthless for doing anything good.” (Titus 1:15-16)

Paul is blunt. Should you read any of the Epistles, you will realise he isn’t one for mollycoddling, but everything said is said in love. This is only my intention with what shall follow. If your pride is going to cause you to feel anger towards evaluating your behaviour in the light of Christ, you may want to pray about that. I’m quite serious. There’s no place for self or pride in Christianity, none of us are perfect nor are we expected to be.

Titus was an assistant of Paul’s, left to steward a young church on the island of Crete. As news of public discord in the church spread, Paul advised Titus on the selection of elders, teaching of doctrines, ideal christian characteristics and the significance of leading a Christian life in the world around us. The book of Titus is three chapters so I’d recommend you just read all of it in one go and meditate on the messages of “self-control” (2:1), “love and patience” (2:2).

When Paul says “everything is pure to those whose hearts are pure” (1:15), he isn’t saying only the perfect are going to lead good lives. Far from that, in Romans 7 & 8 Paul laments his imperfections “It seems to be a fact of life that when I want to do right, I inevitably do what is wrong” (Romans 7:21-25). But as Paul exhorts “Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord.” When we know and love and live in Jesus Christ, God sees us through Jesus’ purity and unless we consciously turn our hearts back to sin, to evil and a life lesser than that of the Christian, we will always be pure in heart, hiccups or otherwise.

Paul, understandably, is angry with the church of Crete. They “rebel”, “engage in useless talk and deceive people” (1:10). The problem with this is that being church leaders they misuse and dishonour their authority, “They must be silenced. By their wrong teaching, they have already turned whole families away from the truth” (1:11). You may know God, go to church on a Sunday, you may even go to two services, sing in the worship band and give all your money away but what do your actions really say? Did you come to church having “spent the night at your boyfriends”, perhaps you’re economical with the truth or only tolerate and accept people whose opinions are in line with yours? Does this sound like the life of freedom your God has given you through Jesus Christ? Don’t deny God “by the way you live” (1:16). Beyond taking the concept of repentance for granted, you’re kidding yourself if you think your entry into heaven will still be guaranteed off of your church attendance or some good deeds. Ask yourself and you’ll find that you know better.

The concept of repentance is one of full and complete transformation towards something so much better, it is impossible to turn to a complete life of God and still actively live in habitual sin. Do you think God wants half your attention or that until you give Him your all your relationship is going to be strained? As I said no one is perfect, even people who habitually sin can be trying to pray against it but there is a difference between that and the person who continues on in justification of what they’re doing, things that the Lord their God has communicated they ought not to do. What’s so great about earthly pleasures when through Christ we get God? We actually get to live and buss jokes and debate and hold and see our Creator, but you’d put a barrier between that by not waiting until marriage for sex?

Evaluate guys. The feelings we get of conviction are only ever there to lead to repentance. Any time you feel a prolonged sense of “ah man I messed up” and that feeling just can’t be shaken and leads to further despair, that isn’t of God. Conviction, good; condemnation, bad. No one wants that – not God, not the apostles, not your family, but if people really love you they have a responsibility to “rebuke them as sternly as necessary to make them strong in the faith” (1:13). God gives us ways to live because those allow us to get the most our lives have to offer, not because He felt like just listing off some rules. Read the word, meditate on it and live it.

 

God bless x