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Day Thirty-Two, Under-the-Influence

December 27, 2011 by insolomonsporch

Day Thirty-Two

 

Losing it — for His Sake

 

“For whoever would preserve his life and save it will lose and destroy it, but whoever loses His life for My sake, he will preserve and save it [from the penalty of eternal death].”  Ampl Lk 9:24

 

 

          Let’s face it – as a culture we are gripped with preservation.  We expend vast quantities of time and dollars to find the product that will preserve our youth!  Whether through vitamins, skin care products, or exercising we fight to hold aging at bay.  We want to go faster, higher, more completely than ever before –personally, professionally, and certainly in a spiritual sense.  But the Lord of the universe puts a different face on things.  He tells us to “lose it – for His sake”.  Not lose it as in have a melt down.  His losing is foreign, unnatural to us.  He turns our understanding upside-down.  Losing it – what does it really mean?

          Think of the Cross of Christ – what function did it perform?  Simply – it was the agent of suffering, of physical breaking, and of death in Jesus’ life.  It was, from the Roman’s perception, a torture instrument but also a platform from which to control the masses through fear. 

          On the Cross, Christ lost His life – when He surrendered it – or gave it up.  He didn’t die from the effects of the Cross.  It would have required more time for Him to expire through its impact.  He literally gave up His life before the Cross took His life.  But profoundly, He gave up His life based on the plans and dictates of the Father.  It was the Father’s will that He should go to the Cross and suffer as He did.  It was the Father’s will to bruise Him and chastise Him for our sins. Thus, Jesus was perfectly fulfilling the Father’s will in His death – even as He had in His life.

          In the same way Jesus had “The Cross” – you and me – as members of His Body – we have a cross also.  While our crosses are not constructed of wood, they are however “constructed.”  They are designed to facilitate our deaths.  Not our physical death.  They are situations where choices arise.  At the moment they arise, I can either walk out my preferences (just as Jesus could have refused the Cross), or I can do what is the Father’s will.  To do His will however, I must deny myself, disown myself, forget, lose sight of myself and my own interests, refuse and give up myself.  It is in the choice of walking out the Father’s will in daily situations that we actually find our cross.  It is when I choose to travel the course which calls me to cleave steadfastly to Jesus, to conform wholly to His example in living and if need be dying also – that I experience my cross.  This is where I feel the cost – of dying to self.

          There are moorings, little anchors deep within us, where our soul attaches to our physical body.  Where the will of the soul engages the body, or conversely where the body and its appetites dictate (if allowed) to the soul.  It is here though – at their juncture, that the Lord desires the work of His cross to penetrate.  Where the Word of God (which is alive and full of power) is sent as a two-edged sword to pierce and penetrate to the dividing line of the soul and the spirit, and even of the joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature].  It thus exposes and sifts and analyses and judges the very thoughts and purposes of our hearts (Ampl. Heb 4:12). 

Where the Word of God touches us in this way, we are quite literally “undone.” We are freed from ourselves – from being enslaved to our will, or appetites, or desires, or motives – in short, from our old nature.  In the deepest place of our being – we are freed to be conformed to Christ.  Before – we could only be ourselves.  Now we can be truly His.

In this place – of “losing it for His sake”, we may not look very attractive.  Initially, we may even put up a fight until we realize the hand that we are so violently trying to throw off – is the Master’s hand.  But if we are ever to be truly His – in the deepest sense, we must daily embrace the cross that is ours.  We must lose our lives for His sake, then He will preserve it and save it – for then it will be fully hidden in Him!

Be-loved, be-freed, be HIS!

         

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Day Thirty-One, Under-the-Influence

December 19, 2011 by insolomonsporch

Day Thirty-One

 

The Image That We Bear

 

“And just as we have borne the image [of man] of dust, so shall we and so let us also bear the image [of the Man] of heaven.”  Amplified 1Cor 15:49

 

          There is a game that I once played — a pseudo-intellectual social game, where you compare yourself to one of the four earthly elements: fire, water, wind, or earth.  You describe yourself by saying… “if I were one the elements I would be…” and you give the reasons why you are more “like” that element than another.  It’s a way of presenting yourself by a comparison – with some insight – but less threatening than doing it directly.  But in a very real sense – you testify to the elemental image that you bear resemblance to.

          Let’s take that notion a step further.  In Luke 20:24 Jesus is speaking to the chief priests and scribes who are once again seeking a way to trip Him up so they can arrest Him.  They flatter Him, “we know You speak and teach what is right, and You show no partiality to anyone…” (Lk 20:21).  Then they ask Him a question: “Is it lawful for us to give tribute to Caesar or not?” (vs. 22)  Jesus defuses their attempt to entrap Him with directness:  “Show me a denarius (a coin)! Whose image and inscription does it have?”  When the crowd answers, “Caesar’s” – then Jesus instructs them to render under Caesar what is his, and to God what is God’s.  If we only assign this passage an understanding of coinage – we have lost its greater import!

          You and I bear an image – of whose we are.  According to 1Cor 15:45-50, we first bore the image of the first Adam – who was earthly minded and made of dust.  But our destiny and calling is to bear the image of the last Adam (Christ) – Who is a spiritual life, Who is heavenly minded and “of” heaven.

          You cannot separate here the image that is born from the quality of the mindedness.  If we are have an earthly minded focus – the image we bear is the first man Adam’s.  If we possess a heavenly-minded focus – we bear the image of the last Adam, Christ.  The image is directly tied to the mind-set.  One follows the other without deviation.

          Now if we assume we bear the image of Christ – but our mindset remains earthly – we MUST ASSUME WE ARE WRONG about Who’s we truly are.  Caesar’s coinage never bore another image – but his!  The MINDET WE HAVE WILL REVEAL THE IMAGE OF WHO’S WE ARE:  either the first Adam’s or the last Adam’s.

          The truth is:  we all have assuredly borne the image of Adam.  We have all had a true natural birth.  We have a real physical body of flesh.  Now we must begin to bear the image of the Man of heaven – the last Adam – if we are His by a second birth!  So examine your mindset.  Is it always preoccupied with earthly things:  your life, what you will eat and wear and earn and do here today?  Or has Christ been allowed to give you His mindset which is occupied with the things that occupy Christ?  As we are told in Colossians, we set our minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things), not on the things that are on the earth.  We are to aim and seek the eternal treasures which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Col 3:1-2).

          Let us each now bear the image of Christ – His ownership of us!  Let Christ become to you the Life-giving Spirit that He is – restoring the dead to life.  Allow His life bring a new image to bear in you – that we all will reflect His glory, and His ownership of us – to the world who knows Him not!

          Bear His image – for His glory!  Be-loved!

         

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Day Thirty, Under-the-Influence

December 16, 2011 by insolomonsporch

Day Thirty

 

Are We a Schizophrenic Church?

 

“… Prepare in the wilderness the way of the Lord [clear away the obstacles]; make straight and smooth in the desert a highway for our God!  Every valley shall be lifted up and filled up, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked and uneven shall be made straight and level, and the rough places a plain.  And the glory (majesty and splendor) of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.”  (Amplified Is 40:3-5)

 

            It should provoke many saints to read a portrayal of the church as schizophrenic.  We should not be so!  Just as James describes a mouth from which comes blessing and cursing – it should not be so!  But as you look at the definition of schizophrenic with me – I pray you will recognize that label’s merit, though my purpose is not to label – but to shed light on our state in such a way that we may recognize our need for help in the Lord.

            Dictionary.com provides two renderings for schizophrenia:  (1) a severe mental disorder characterized by some, but not necessarily all of the following features:  emotional blunting, intellectual deterioration, social isolation, disorganized speech and behavior, delusions, and hallucinations.  (2) a state characterized by the coexistence of contradictory or incompatible elements.

            While I think the first rendering applies in part (in part because I would in no way call the Lord – Who is the head of the church “mental”), however a case could be made concerning the Body for it certainly displays various degrees of these characteristics.  Though this is a big problem – it is not the focus here.

            Instead, I would have you consider the churches’ schizophrenia as being related to this:  the word of the Scripture above (Is 40:3-5) was first heralded by Isaiah, and then again by John the Baptist; but it was accomplished and fully fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ during His lifetime on earth.  It is finished!  What is finished you ask?  Specific to this passage: the work required to lift up every valley and fill it, to make every mountain low, to make every crooked straight and level, and every rough place plain!

            Think again about the second definition of schizophrenia: a state characterized by the coexistence of contradictory or incompatible elements.  Through Jesus’ work here on the earth, every valley (every personal lack) that would preclude us from being able to receive all His grace, gifts, and provisions – whether of spirit/soul/or body has now been lifted up and filled.  Every mountain – (every aspect of ourselves) that is captive to pride or strongholds of thinking that would keep us from seeing the truth of our condition and need for Jesus has been brought low.  Now – in the place where there was a desert there is now a highway for our God.  Where my capacity to travel in His steps was previously impaired by lack, deception, or lies, now there is a straight way, cleared of obstacles.  I can now follow Christ Jesus – because He has made a way for me to do so.  That is the truth of where we are today.  But that is not our practice!  We do not see this truth in operation in the body of Christ today – in His church.

            At this point a VERY LARGE “WHY?” IS REQUIRED!  The short answer would be – we have a disconnect.  We (the Body of Christ) are living in a state internally, where things are trying to coexist that should not.  For example, faith is one of the three substances of the Kingdom of God that remain and cannot be shaken.  It is also the mechanism through which we inherit the word and the promises of God.  But what we often witness in the state of the Body (the Church) is lack, doubt, fear, faithlessness, etc. so that possession of the promises has not been possible.  Our enemy (Satan) is in overdrive using his minions to compromise our hunger for the word, our reliance on its truth, and dependence on God.  So we don’t know the things that make for victory.  We perish for lack of knowledge.  We operate as if we are still in the world, are no better off than the world, and our lives degrade and become examples of what appears to be in conflict with truth.  In other words, it appears that either God has lied, or He has not the power to perform what His word and promises say.  Yet saints, this is not so!  He has not lied, nor does He lack any power to perform His word!  We are to blame here – not God!

            The Body of Christ is locked in a schizophrenic state and knows it not.  It is locked in a state where it gives ground to the coexistence of contradictory or incompatible elements.  These incompatible elements are flesh vs. faith; man’s reasoning vs. being led by the Spirit; natural life vs. spiritual life.  Like the picture of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (in Dan 2) the feet were made of both clay and iron.  However, these substances cannot mix.  They cannot adhere together for they are not of one substance.  Molecularly – they will not stick together.

            As one body (in Christ) we must be of a substance that can adhere to Him.  There is only one nature that is Christ-like.  That nature is His nature – which He has given to us as part of the redemptive promise.  It was given so we would not live by our old nature.  But we would instead live and move and have our being in Him.  The schizophrenia of the church exists because we have not let go of and died to that old nature in preference and trust in Him.  It is not enough for just a small portion or percentage of the Body of Christ to live according to the Spirit.  It is for all of us to do so – otherwise you exclude yourself from having an inheritance in Him (Rom 8:9).

            This season, saints, look at yourself in the light of God’s word.  Allow the light of the Holy Spirit to examine you.  All that we need for victory has all ready been given.  Are you walking in it?  If not – ask Him why not?  Wait on His answer.  But do not have doubt, or fear, or wavering concerning His ability!  Not one word of His will fall to the ground – it is already settled in heaven.  This season – get a-hold of the word, and let it get a-hold of you in ways it has never before done.  When the word dwells in us richly – then we can abide in Him (in a unified state with Him) – we can then hang tough — losing the schizophrenic in favor of the authentic — Christ! 

Christmas Blessings to all – be-loved!

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Chapter 7, “The Bride says, ‘Yes, Lord!'”, Imagine … The Bride

November 5, 2011 by insolomonsporch

Chapter Seven

“The Bride says… ‘Yes Lord!’”

“For as many are the promises of God, they all find their Yes in Him [Christ]….”

Amp 2Cor 1:20

What Does It Mean To Say… “Yes”?

          Saying “Yes” to the Lord is more than merely an emotional response to a prompting or request from the Lord.  Rather, it has as its core both a level of subjection and trust in the Lord – such that the respondent is able and willing to fully obey.  It is also an utterance of praise for the Lord that will soon be followed by obedient action.  Like living faith – it has wheels – it will take action.  But this coming to “Yes” is very dependent on the heart and mind of Christ first being fully formed in us.  Just like Paul describes in Gal 4:19, His life is growing in us.  Where this life rules in us (where His Kingdom is truly ruling) – we become obedient just like Christ was obedient – because it is His life and His Spirit that then compel us.  This is what makes this saying “Yes” a manifestation of the miraculous!  Now it is no longer our old natural self life that we are living by, but it is the redemptive nature and life of Christ that are being lived and walked out in us (Gal 2:20).  To be obedient – requires our subjection to Christ and the Father.  This necessarily rules out self.  Where self has not been overturned by the Cross, we will not obey.  To be obedient, we are often called to do or say, or bear things that without His life and Spirit leading us – we would never begin to agree with let alone perform.  Saying “Yes” therefore is not only miraculous and supernatural, but it is our highest level of praise to God – “for if the heart of worship is obedience, then the greatest vocalization of praise is ‘Yes, Lord.’” (Word from the Lord – 15Oct11 @ Seville Baptist Camp, Cloudcroft, NM)  Let us explore this notion of saying “Yes” to the Lord more fully.  To do so means we must look at Christ’s obedience.  For if Christ was fully obedient, and it is His life formed in us that brings us to such obedience, than saying “Yes” must have its origin – in Christ Jesus.

                                                                                                   

Obedience of the Highest Degree

          There is a place, beyond what we can know by our natural senses, but a place that exists, in Christ, where every promise and every word of the Lord is yes and amen.  From Scripture we know that this place is a place where Christ reigns.  Psalm 103:22 refers to this as a place of His dominion.  “Bless the Lord, all His works in all places of His dominion; bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, O my soul!”  It is important to notice the worship that is evoked in this passage – He is blessed and praised here – not for His works – but as The Lord!  It is an acknowledgment of Who He is: His authority; His worthiness; His deity!

Yet before the foundation of the world, Jesus the Messiah, our Lord and Savior, was scheduled to come to earth to open a way for us to be restored in relationship to the Father.  He was crucified from the foundation of the world because in no other way could the quality of perfect obedience required to honor the Father’s perfect authority – be manifested except through God Himself.  On earth Jesus revealed to us the Father.  He manifested the Father to us.  Ultimately – He revealed the Father in the highest degree of His authority by becoming the sin offering that was needed.  Jesus became the personification of complete and total obedience in subjection to God the Father who is the pinnacle of all authority.  What we may tend to miss – is this.  Out of all requirements which Jesus walked out on this earth, the highest of them all was His subjection to the Father and His obedience to Him, even unto death.  Remember, subjection always requires the death of self to be able to obey.  So in this He not only overturned the works of the enemy (which promoted the introduction of self and rebellion), but in His perfect obedience Christ made a way now realized in His redemptive nature – that you and I can also obey.   So Jesus not only revealed through His death the supremacy of the authority of God, by Himself becoming the picture of obedience, but He made a way for you and me to also walk that way – in Him.  Jesus is … the perfect emblem of obedience!

The Beginning of “Yes Lord”

          In the Son — was the very first place where “yes Lord,” was uttered.  His “yes” was solidified “in Christ” — in Himself :), and manifested as He went to the Cross and fulfilled every term of the contractual agreement (Covenant) between He and the Father.  Because of Christ Jesus’ obedience — we can now receive every blessing prepared for us.  You and I receive these blessings when we abide and have our very being framed within Christ Jesus.  This is because:  where as many are the promises of God they all find their Yes answer in Him!   He said “Yes,” to the Father.  Now He is the very place of “Yes” for us!

The reality of this may be more complicated than we think.  However, our Lord Jesus Christ has made a way for us – where there was no way.  In His perfect obedience He has made a way for us to become obedient.  In His perfect love, worship, and honoring of the Father, He has created a redemptive life where we can “know Him in the power of His resurrection, in the fellowship of His suffering, and even in obedience unto death.” (Phil 3:10)  The entrance to that place “in Christ” is found through our surrender, with faith as the rail system for transit.  But paramount to abiding in this place of blessing – is having a heart of worship for the Lord where obedience forms its central core. The deepest and most Christ-like expression of any worship we may engage in is one where our heart vocalizes, “Yes Lord” and it then flows out of our mouth and out of our lives!

Again, beware less you think this is some ethereal, emotional, transcendent worship of the Lord – that has no practical application.  Indeed, application is both mandated and required.  We will walk out this worship of the Lord, in total obedience, every time we say in our heart and then with our lips: “Yes, Lord.”

Obedience to Also be Manifested Through the Church/Bride

          Before we begin to look more closely at the Bride, we must first understand this point.  That as Christ revealed the Father (and the Father’s Authority) through His obedience/subjection, so the Bride is charged with manifesting the authority of Christ, through her own obedience and subjection.  Christ is the Head of His Church which is His Body, His Promised Bride.  The Word says in 1Jn 4:17, “…as He is, so are we in this world.” So as He perfectly showcased the Father’s authority, so we are to do for Him, by our obedience.  However, there are issues with the Bride’s obedience (that of the Church) that must yet become captive to the obedience of Christ.

The Bride’s Readiness

          The Bride that is the Body of Christ is currently in varied states of readiness to say “yes” to her Lord.  Widely divergent beliefs, levels of faith, and most importantly obedience (or rather the lack of) within the body cause her to not yet be at the place of entering into all that the Lord has for her.  Let’s start our examination here – briefly, with divergent beliefs.

Divergent Beliefs

It’s not my goal to present a matrix cataloging all the differences in doctrines between denominations or in anyway really to discuss the differences between believers.  That is actually not the problem.  The real problem arises when, no matter what our denomination or profession, our belief or system of beliefs departs from the express truth of the word of God.  Where there is variance and actually “error” because of that departure – we block our ability to inherit the word and the promises of God.  You cannot receive what you do not believe or have faith for.  When you do not have faith – you cannot even begin to please God (Rom 8:8, Heb 11:6).  Faith is the mechanism for receiving our inheritance from God.  Romans 4:16 clearly outlines this process of inheriting.  Paul says:

“Therefore, [inheriting] the promise is the outcome of faith and depends [entirely] on faith, in order that it might be given as an act of grace (unmerited favor), to make it stable and valid and guaranteed to all his descendants – not only to the devotees and adherents of the Law, but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, who is [thus] the father of us all.”

So to inherit what God has for us – our faith must be right, but also our truth must line up with what God says.  This is foundational, because God’s truth is our bedrock to cling to.  It is the written counterpart to the One Who is all Truth, and Whose Spirit is the Spirit of Truth.  As we cling in faith to the Word of Truth – so we cling to Jesus, because our first and greatest inheritance – is the life of Christ in us which forms the “Yes” to even greater inheritance!

Levels of Faith

          Again just a brief word about levels of faith – these comments are simply preambles to what is the main point, so I don’t want to bog down in an exhaustive discussion.

Abraham had a level of faith which from the very beginning was able to compel him and move him.  He had living faith.  It caused him to so trust God that he was obedient and left his homeland of Haran under the direction of the Lord.  It later caused him to again move out under God’s injunction to offer Isaac, the son of promise, as a sacrifice upon the Mount Mariah.  It is here that we are given the very first use of worship – as Abraham tells his servants, “I and the young man will go yonder and worship and come again back to you.” (Gen 22:5)  His faith in God is fully operative – He is trusting in God and His promise that Isaac is the son through which the promise will be realized of being the father of many nations.

We look at Abraham in this situation and we might be tempted to insert ourselves – our perspective, our feelings about God’s request. Everything within us perhaps balks at such a request from God – to offer a beloved son.  How can one make sense of such a request?  We will see that one cannot.  But to stay to the point, this was not the first time that Abraham had gone through this process of obedience.  By this time he has already interceded with Jesus for the righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah. He has already seen the result of remaining in faith to receive the inheritance concerning Isaac’s miraculous conception and birth – where his “human reason for hope being gone, hoped in faith that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been promised,…”. (Amp Rom 4:18)  Hoping in faith… is not like hoping in reason at all.  One looks at things unseen, one look at what is seen.  One trusts in God.  One trusts in our own ability to reason and think.  Hoping in faith was not a new process to Abraham, though His final testing of its strength was to come through this offering of Isaac (Heb 11:17-19).

Yet even more important, it is here out of his heart of worship that Abraham is fully obedient to the instruction of the Lord.  This is not mere external obedience – but Abraham is fully vested and united in faith – in spirit, soul, and body. His highest expression of worship is seen from his spiritual posture which has said “Yes, Lord – I will do as You say.”  From the moment he was given the instruction from God, to three days later at the place of Moriah, he moved constantly towards the place of “Yes, Lord.”

Don’t miss this point!  Obedience presupposes subjection to God’s authority, just as Christ was entirely subject.  But there can be no subjection when self is still ruling.  This is one of the things Jesus came to overturn.  So we know Abraham was in that place of subjection and obedience.  We know this because he arrived and did all that the Lord required.  If at any time he had moved into, “no Lord,” he would not have arrived at Moriah – nor would he have inherited the promise given to him by God.  But he was completely obedient – and while the rest is history – it shows us that before our heart can truly worship it must first be framed in obedience.  Again, the highest utterance of that worship framed in obedience is: “Yes Lord!”

A final comment – not only was Abraham fully vested in his obedience, but he actually gained “dunamis” strength and power in his worship of God.  In his prior experience of receiving God’s promise (Isaac) as his inheritance it says Abraham “… grew strong and was empowered by faith as he gave praise and glory to God.” (Amp Rom 4:20)  The rendering on this word “strong” is derivative from dunamis which is the Holy Spirit’s wonder working power.

What is the point in all of this?  When faith is fully resting on God – believing (like Abraham) that God is willing and able to do all that He has promised, we will obey Him and our obedience will walk out robed as worship.  This is the place of entry for receiving the promises and inheritance already purchased for us by Christ, which is only available “in Christ”.

“Yes” Believes and Obeys Despite Trouble

Even Unto Death

Think back to Joseph and all his troubles.  He didn’t know he was on the fast track to promotion in Egypt to the second highest position in the realm.  It didn’t look like that at all!  Through betrayal, and beatings, persecution, imprisonment, being overlooked and forgotten by men – he was never overlooked or forgotten by God – though it looked like that for a long time.  But the Lord was securing in Joseph a heart of obedience that was constantly expressed in the worship of his heart – a “Yes Lord” response to every adversity.  As I write this, I know it sounds easy.  But I know it was anything but easy – for it involved continual death in Joseph, just like it involved a death in Abraham and even Isaac.  It involved their dying to themselves: their own desires, plans, agendas, dreams, you name it – it all had to be laid down just like Isaac, a living sacrifice – and it had to stay down.

Think of this.  Joseph – having every “right” to hold grievance and hatred toward his brothers – yet continually surrendering that right and dying to it.  Joseph – having every “reason” to be offended by what God has apparently allowed in his life – continually choosing subjection and right relationship with the Lord.  Were there days when he was upset and angry, crying out to God – fearing with despair?  Most assuredly!  But in the final outcome – Joseph’s heart of obedience prevails.  Joseph – having every “reason” to doubt God and become embittered (as the chief butler in prison is restored and fails to remember Joseph to Pharaoh as one who interprets dreams) – instead chooses to remain in faith before God, though the days draw out and his captivity seems unending.  But again, Joseph remains in faith – the rails of his faith a solid and sure vehicle for operating in obedience – but his obedience to God is so profound that he is held qualified by God to be God’s platform to display God’s grace and power (Authority) to the Egyptians and the entire world at the time.  Joseph’s heart – every fiber of his being had to be aligned with “Yes Lord.”  Thus, not only does he inherit the promises of God (presented in his earliest dreams and visions), but the prominence of these promises is such that he is a type and shadow of the very nature of the Savior of the world yet to come as Zaphenath-paneah.

Quality of Our Obedience

          If you have ever worked with furniture restoration you understand that different types of wood have different hardness qualities.  Hence, the stain you use on the wood will penetrate deeply if it’s a soft wood like pine.  But a hard wood will allow less stain to penetrate because of the cell density and hardness of the wood.  Hardwoods have to be buffed sometimes with steel wool to get the level of intensity you want in the stain.

People are similar to wood in this regard – especially concerning the quality and depth of obedience.  This has a direct bearing on our walk in Christ and inheriting His promises.  When we are hard and resistant we have not surrendered.  We are not subject.  Jesus Himself recognizes our love for Him through the lens of obedience. (Jn 21:14)  In fact He disputes love where there is no obedience. (Lk 6:46)

Jesus relates a story of two sons in Matthew 21:28-31.  The father asks each of the sons to go and work in the vineyard that day.  The first son said that he would not, but afterward changed his mind and went.  The second son was asked the same thing by the father, but after replying that he would go – he did not.  Jesus asks the people – “Which of the two did the will of the father?”  When the chief priests and elders say to him the first son did the will of the father, He tells them tax collectors and harlots will get into the kingdom of heaven before them.  This was a revealing test for the elders and chief priests.  You see, they could recognize in the story which of the sons was obedient.  Thus, they condemned themselves as disobedient – because they would not obey.

Jesus was speaking about the priests’ and elders’ hardness of heart.  They would not change their minds nor subject themselves– but rather they resisted Him and the will of the Father, just like hardwoods that have not been roughed up.  The first son changed his mind and went.  His capacity to be moved and turned by the Lord was greater than the second son.  The same question can be posed to us.  Are we able to have our heart and mind changed by the Lord?  Can He move on us in our thinking to bring a different perspective – one that is obedient to the will of God?  Is our thinking able to be brought captive to the obedience of Christ?

This question in itself is like a litmus test to our hardness or to our lack of subjection and obedience to Christ.  2Cor 10:5 instructs us to actually refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the true knowledge of God.  Many times such arguments come from outside our own thinking.  Sometimes they are aspects of our own thinking which have not been worked on by the Cross.  These things are introduced and retained by our fleshly, soulish reasoning, and by the enemy.  But they give us insight to where our perspectives are not aligned with truth.  Thus where our thinking is adversarial to the true knowledge of God, our obedience cannot be otherwise.  We will follow what we think until our thinking is overturned by truth!  May that happen with us all!

Say, “Yes” to Whatever He Says

(The Power of Agreement)

 

          Before Jesus could minister the Gospel to the Gentiles He was required to present it fully to the Jews.  It was the order of things given to Him by the Father as part of the Covenant obligations.

In Matthew 15:25 we have an amazing story of the Canaanite woman who runs after Jesus and His disciples, crying out to Him, begging for the healing of her demon possessed daughter.  When the Lord did not answer her, the disciples asked to be able to send her away.  He says to her that He is sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.  But she kneels before Him, worships, calls Him Lord and continually implores Him to help.  It is then that He speaks to her.  Jesus says, “It is not right (proper, becoming or fair) to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”  (Amp Mt 15:26)  Now something incredible happens.  Where the door on the matter seems to be closing, the faith of the women (in agreement with the Lord’s words) finds a way to squeak in her toe of faith to block that closing door.  She says to Him. “Yes Lord, yet even the little pups eat the crumbs that fall down from their master’s table.”  Jesus turns to her, commends the greatness of her faith, and concludes, “Be it done to you as you wish.”  Her daughter was healed from that moment.

This passage reveals a number of really important things.  At the moment she was petitioning the Lord – she was tacitly outside the sphere of His ministry.  Do you see this?  Anyone –has the power to turn the Lord’s Head! She was Canaanite. But it was her faith and worship which gave her access to the benefits of His Kingdom.  How could He refuse her – when her faith and worship had declared her heart as being His?  Her faith and worship gave her entrance where natural birth would have disqualified her.

This next point may be more difficult, but it concerns the power of agreement.  She did not attempt to vindicate herself, or to deny His association of her as a little dog. What is really interesting is that as I researched the usage of worship in different Scriptures, in this text, Mt 15:25, the word used for worship is Strongs# 4352.  The word is “proskuneo.” It means to kiss, like a dog licking his master’s hand; to fawn or crouch to, i.e. (lit or fig) prostrate oneself in homage (do reverence to, adore): — worship.  Here is this Canaanite woman – worshiping the Lord in just this way, and as she is engaged in worship like a little dog kissing His hand – the conversation turns to the little dogs eating the crumbs from the master’s table! Amazing – but not coincidence! May we all have such faith, and such worship springing from the posture of obedience, and such devotion which causes us to not only be completely Christ-focused, but free from any worry or issue of offense as well.

In her subjection, she leapt over the Lord’s hurdle (of her ineligibility) on the springboard of “Yes Lord.”  In Matthew 18:19-20 we see the truth of this event depicted in the word.  It says, “if two or more of you on earth (harmonize together, make a symphony together) about whatever [anything and everything] they may ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For wherever two or three are gathered (drawn together as my followers) in (into) My name, there I AM in the midst of them.”  Here the Canaanite woman was completely in agreement with the Lord.  She was drawn in as more than a casual follower – for she pursued Him as her very life depended on him. Dead to the potential insult put before her, she instead used it as a stepping stone to reach Him. Many times we quote this verse but still do not receive what we are asking for.  If we are His followers, our first order of agreement is always with Him, His Word and His nature.  It is not agreement just between two believers.  It is two believers coming to the place of agreement — in the Lord.  These are very different things.  The reason is this: every word and promise is yes and amen in Christ Jesus!  So our agreement must be founded in Him believing like Abraham, that He is willing and able to do what we ask. The Canaanite woman found her agreement in Christ – she said “Yes Lord,” I am a little dog – but I am Your little dog Lord.

When my thinking and believing are framed in agreement with truth and the fullness of Christ is formed in me – I will find entrance, and the granting of my petition, just as the Canaanite women did.  But like her, our heart must rest in faith in Him, knowing He is Lord. However, it is our faith which remains steadfast in a heart of worship — walked out as obedience which secures the promise. Before we can ever receive what the Lord says, we must meet Him in subjection with a heart of worship that says, “Yes Lord!”

So must the Bride become — so she must do!

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Day Twenty-Nine, Under-the-Influence

October 10, 2011 by insolomonsporch

Day Twenty-Nine

 

Overthrowing Your Strongholds

 

“For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds,…”

Amp 2Cor 10:4

 

 

          Have you ever seen the poles along the interstates in Montana and Wyoming used to measure snow drifts?  Sometimes I think it would help to have such a device to measure the pervasiveness of change which the Kingdom of God has made in our old patterns of thinking.  That’s a vague notion I’m sure – let me clarify.

          Simply put, the question is this – is there agreement between what I show people, what I demonstrate to be my thinking or opinions on some topic or towards some person – and what are the thoughts I allow to occupy my internal dialogue?  In other words, am I congruent?  If I harbor thoughts of dislike, distrust, jealousy, anger, rage, bitterness, etc. in my internal mind, but reframe those thoughts and actually dress them up with “pseudo-Christian fluff” that then gets projected outwardly – I am not congruent.  I am living a divided life where what I think and tolerate in my thoughts is markedly different from what I display outwardly.  This is not good.

          The Scripture says, as a man thinks in his heart – so he is.  It says out of the overflow of the heart his mouth speaks!  We think we are hiding those critical, negative attitudes of our heart.  Or at the very least we think we are dressing them up to make them more socially acceptable.  But we deceive ourselves.  They are known.  More importantly — when your secret thoughts indulge dark thinking – thoughts that are more like the enemies thoughts than a believers, when they are diametrically opposed to the heart and thoughts of God – you place yourself in a dangerous and precarious position.  When you harbor thoughts that are essentially “evil” in that they form a report that does not agree with God, His Word, or His will on the matter, you have then given the enemy a potentially evil foothold.  He cannot read your thoughts, but he can read your actions like a book.  He has studied you especially for places of weakness.  If he can use your negative thinking as a platform and base of operations where he can skew your thoughts into deeper darkness – he will indeed!  This is the zone of danger Will Robinson!

          This is why we are called to guard our hearts above all that we guard – for out of them flow the very issues of life (Prov 4:20-23).  We would seek to modify the projection of our thoughts, to make them look more kind.  We excuse them as something that we are allowed to indulge – completely oblivious to the truth that as they continue to solidify and expand their hold on us — those thoughts are what we actually are becoming!  If our eye is evil or unsound, then the very light that is in us is darkened, and how dense is that darkness (Mt 6:22-23).

          So where is the line in you that marks the level of the Lord’s rule in your life and the reign of His Kingdom.  To what depth does it extend?  Do you religiously arrange your external behavior but bring no discipline to your thought-life?  Do you still insist on harboring thoughts adversarial to His truth and His will simply because you excuse them as harmless? The Lord has given us His life in us and His word to renew our thinking to His.  Saints – use His word as a yardstick to judge the quality of your thinking and to bring truth to your inner man.  As your thinking is brought captive to the obedience of Christ Jesus, His life will expand and grow in you.  You will begin to have victory over internal struggles and external conflict like never before.  This, then, begins the overcoming life — the resurrection life, the new life in Christ being lived out in us that He came to give us.

          Be free, be one with Christ in love, be-loved!

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Spurious Record

September 30, 2011 by insolomonsporch

Spurious Records

 

A tree falls down in the forest,

Yet there is not one to see.

Has this moment then actually happened,

When no record is made for me?

 

Jesus takes our fall on a tree,

And there are many who see.

A moment that truly did happen,

Recorded for eternity.

 

Tho’ I was not there as a witness,

Nor had a breath even mine.

This event is one I am certain,

Divides more than history of time

 

So Who then establishes truth?

On Whom can we lean with our mind?

What Anchor prevails against falsehood?

Who frames the very span of time?

 

☼

 

Only One holds Words of all knowledge.

Only One laid footings for Earth.

On the day morning stars sang together,

His commands flow forth as at first.

 

©2011 Sandra Gilloth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Day Twenty-Eight, Under-The-Influence

September 30, 2011 by insolomonsporch

Day Twenty-Eight

 

He Sees Your Need!

 

“Now there is in Jerusalem a pool near the Sheep Gate.”  Jn 5:2

 

 

          Before Jesus walked the earth as man and God, and ministered to the invalid at this pool of Bethesda, He had sent down an angel at appointed times to stir the waters of the pool.  Whoever entered the waters first after the stirring – was healed!

         Now this certain invalid had laid there  waiting for healing for a very long time.  The Amplified Bible says that Jesus knew that he had already been a long time in that condition.  Jesus knows how long we’ve been in our condition too!  This invalid had suffered for thirty-eight years.  A lot of people would say that would exclude him from being healed.  After all – this infirmity was all he ever knew. 

          But it says that Jesus knew how long.  He saw how long! Jesus was aware over the seasons and years – each time He sent an Angel to stir those waters — this man was helpless.  Imagine it! After the very first water stirring, someone enters the water and is miraculously healed – people begin to understand!  “If I can get into the water first after its stirred, I can be healed!”

          They begin to watch the waters, intent, waiting expectantly.  Crowds grow.  More sick come to wait on the angel’s stirring.  It seems to take forever.  They grow weary in their waiting.  They stop watching – stop hoping. Then suddenly it happens again– the angel stirs the water – but someone else gets in before you.  Pretty soon – you move to hopelessness.  After all, there is always going to be someone who is quicker than you to enter the pool.  There’s always someone faster, brighter, more alert, stronger etc.  But that is why Jesus asked this invalid, “Do you want to become well?” He had to stir up expectancy and hope within this man to receive healing – just like He had done so many times before with the waters of the pool.

          As the invalid begins to explain his limitation and his lack of ability to get in the pool, desire and want are being quickened within him.  When Jesus says to him, “Get up! Pick up your bed and walk!” – he doesn’t have to struggle under his own effort to receive the strength to get up.  It is immediately there – Power is there at the moment Jesus speaks the word.  The power to get up is right there because the command of God empowers Him to respond and obey. Jesus supplies what we can’t!

          As I look at this pool of Bethesda, this invalid, and what Jesus does for Him – I know that it was not just for that moment in time, but the same healing is available to anyone for all time!  As believers in Jesus Christ, we have entered through the Sheep Gate into the place of blessing and promise in Christ.  We reside in the place of grace upon grace, and spiritual blessing upon blessing, even favor upon favor (Jn1:16) – that is in Christ Jesus.  Greater than the Pool of Bethesda that had a seasonal stirring for healing, we live in the very Presence of the Most High God Who has already given us all things for life and godliness.  Nothing is impossible for Him!  His arm is not shortened in any way.  

          Perhaps we have continued to focus our attention where He once moved, but is no longer moving.  Once Jesus visited this invalid at the pool do you think He would send His angel later to continue to stir the waters?  I don’t.

          The angel stirring the waters was a foretaste of God’s grace.  But when Jesus arrived on the scene – ALL GRACE HAD ARRIVED!  It would not be superseded by external waters again being stirred!  Out of His fullness we have already received one grace after another, spiritual blessing upon blessing, favor upon favor!  But if you see yourself unable to enter that, if you have grown un-expectant because of disappointment and failure and inability – look to Jesus.  Tell Him of your attempts and shortcomings.  Let hunger and hope be quickened within you again, so that when He says, “Get up,” you will be able to immediately!  It is the power of God that brings you to your feet. 

          Arise, enter in, be hopeful again, be-loved.

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Day Twenty-Seven, Under-the-Influence

September 23, 2011 by insolomonsporch

Day Twenty-Seven

 

The Bridegroom’s Voice

 

“He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the groomsman who stands by and listens to him rejoices greatly and heartily on account of the bridegroom’s voice.  This then is my pleasure and my joy, and it is now complete.”  Amp Jn 3:29

 

         

          John the Baptist is referring here to himself as the groomsman who rejoices greatly on account of the Lord’s voice.  Yet over in Matthew 11:11 Jesus told the crowds He was addressing that the “least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he.”  That is that the least saint of God, the least believer of the Body of Christ, the smallest member who helps form the Bride of Christ – that smallest member is greater that John the Baptist.  Yet John rejoiced at the Bridegroom’s voice.  The question is:  How much more so should we who are part of the Body of Christ/part of the Bride – how much more then should we rejoice daily to hear the voice of our Lord, our Beloved, The Bridegroom?

          Rejoice you say?  “I would just be happy to hear the Lord’s voice at all?”  Well then this word is for you (and continually remains for me too!)

          What is needed for us to hear the voice of the Lord – to be more conscious of His speaking?  Like John did – we must decrease, and He must increase!

          As believers it is time for our lives to be laid down as living sacrifices, holy and well-pleasing to God, which is our reasonable sacrifice and service.  (Rom 12:1)  We are called to offer ourselves to God “as though” we have been already raised from the dead to perpetual life. (Rom 6:13)  We are called to please our master in singleness of motive and with all our heart, as to Christ Himself!  We are called to do the will of God heartily with our whole soul.  (Eph 6:5-6)  So what is the problem?

          Our own consciousness of our desires and needs, our wants and dreams, our hopes and plans (our own soul) – has not been laid in the dust before the Lord as a living sacrifice.  We not only attend to all these things, we serve and indulge these things as our first priority – and we don’t even register the desires and plans or needs and wants of the Lord.  We can’t hear His voice because the voice of our own selves so fills our focus, is so quickly indulged, so thoroughly attended to, we can’t hear His voice.

          But if we are willing to lay down our own “life” like Job says: “if we lay gold in the dust, and the Gold of Ophir among the stones of the brook [considering them of little worth], and make the Almighty your gold and the Lord your precious silver treasure, then you will have delight in the Almighty, and you will lift up your face to God.”  (Job 22:24-26)

          The Gold of Ophir was considered to be of the highest quality and value.  So if we lay our Gold of Ophir down – it is laying down our very lives which we so treasure, for the Life of Christ which is of much greater value!  It is then, as we begin to let go of ourselves, forget ourselves, lose sight of ourselves – that our own voice diminishes and His voice can be heard.  It won’t happen overnight.  But as we continually make this our posture before Him, we will lose self-consciousness and the Holy Spirit will bring forth Christ-consciousness. We will then hear the voice of the Bridegroom!  In that place, you will no longer want to indulge your own self.  You will be the Bride that the Bridegroom has – and will rejoice greatly in that fact. (Jn 3:29)

          Be-less, be-Christ conscious, be-loved  — BE the BRIDE!

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The Marker

September 19, 2011 by insolomonsporch

The Marker

 

A Bookmark is a handy thing,

It shows us where we’re at.

We turn to it and see our place,

“Yes!  I remember that!”

Yet bookmarks only hold your place,

And move along with thee.

Far better is He Who took your place,

On the Cross at Calvary!

As someone turns to seek Him,

He shows them where they’re at.

And as the Spirit nudges they say,

“Oh Lord … I repent of that.”

The True Marker is the Lord!

Who holds your place… in life.

He holds it before the Father,

Within the Book of Life.

He holds your place in Heaven,

The Mansions you will see.

He went to prepare a place for you,

That where He is you’ll be.

Oh would that you might seek Him.

He stands at the door and knocks.

But warn all those who would choose Him not –

A place not held is lost!

 

©1998 Sandra Gilloth

“The Lord is my chosen and assigned portion.  My cup:  You hold and maintain my lot.” (Psalm 16:5)

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Day Twenty-Six, Under-the-Influence

September 17, 2011 by insolomonsporch

Day Twenty-Six

 

LIVE

 

“…Man shall not live and be upheld and sustained by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.”  Amp Mt 4:4

 

          It’s not the things of this world (neither bread, nor relationships, nor medicinal care, nor any other thing) which upholds and sustains our life.  That, in fact, is the sole purview of the Sovereign Authority of the Universe – God Himself!

          There is someone, however, who has drifted from God.  You have left the table of His Word.  You have turned from strong fellowship with Him.  You have allowed the place of your living to become entangled and dependent on the world – what it offers, what it believes, and you have even adopted its standards.

          There was a time you honored your parents.  But then the world presented something you wanted (which they did not feel was a healthy choice for you) you brought railing accusations against them.  You traded your obedient heart (to them and to God) for a heart of rebellion and so have now brought upon yourself the penalty of suffering for that rebellion.  Justify it as you might, unless you repent of that rebellion to parental authority, and turn your thinking and believing back to the truth, and set your heart again in dependence on the word of God (and eat at that table only) – the suffering will continue.

          Think back to Samson.  A man of great strength who was brought low when he forgot Who held his life, and when he rebelled against his parents to get the Philistine woman.  Ultimately – his life disintegrated as he was chained to the pillars of the idolatrous temple of Dagon.  At the end, he destroys the temple – pulling it down, but it takes him down as well.

          Now as you see your situation – see your past rebellion and repent of it.  Turn from past thinking and change your mind to hold God’s thinking once again. As you repent and ask forgiveness, you crumble the hold that pain and suffering have on you – just as Samson crumbled those temple pillars.  You then de-throne rebellion, and place God on the altar of your heart once again.  With that your life can be sustained not by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

          Be repentant, be restored, be-loved!

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