Ten Paradox’s in Unhealthy Religious Bodies

Jesus taught us that “the Kingdom of God is within YOU!” He taught us to look inside for our answers. He abolished the “law” so men and women would cease to look outward for God and begin to look inward- the place where we are most afraid to look.

I have personally experienced all in the following list. The sad part about these subtle and not-so-subtle contradictions, is they create a dishonest person. Most members see these things, but fear and insecurity cause them to turn a blind eye. They are told their heart is honest because they listen and obey their message, all the while, leveraging the fear of “disobedience and rejection of God,” they create inward conflict and dishonesty to their own conscience.

1. An unhealthy religious body will applaud your personal reasoning as long as you are listening to, and agreeing with their message, but they will question your reasoning if you are looking elsewhere.
2. When tragedy happens to a member of an unhealthy religious body, it is a gift from God to help them grow. When tragedy happens to someone outside their group, it is a punishment or consequence of sin.
3. A “message” is judged good or bad according to whom delivers it rather than on it’s soundness.
4. Breaking a church rule is like breaking the fellowship, unless you are a long-stander or high-tither.
5. “Right” or “wrong” is nebulous, shifting from pastor to pastor, member to member, and congregation to congregation.
6. Answered prayer is from God when among members, but from Satan when among outsiders.
7. Their church has been in existence since the time of Christ, but “so-and-so” brought it back to light in more recent years.
8. Jesus Christ is the head of the church body, but you need the pastors permission to before making any moves.
9. The building is not the church, just a convenient place to gather- but don’t you dare gather together anywhere else- unless its with them of course.
10. To destroy someones reputation is like murder-  except for the reputations of those who have left.

Don’t be afraid to listen within to what your heart is trying to tell you- even if it is direct opposition to what is being taught to you from without.

My child, pay attention to what I say.
Listen carefully to my words.
Don’t lose sight of them.
Let them penetrate deep into your heart,
for they bring life to those who find them,
and healing to their whole body.
Guard your heart above all else,
for it determines the course of your life.
Avoid all perverse talk;
stay away from corrupt speech.

~Proverbs 4:20-24

(NLT)

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Give Thanks

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. (Colossians 3:16)

Each holiday season has its joys for some and its sorrows for others. Not everyone looks forward with joyful anticipation of the holidays. For far too many, the holidays heighten the heartaches that many are fighting desperately to subdue so that they can face their day to day life. When the holidays come with their cheery songs of family and love and happiness, instead of a repose, it only serves to mock them and magnify the intensity of the pain the wound has left in their lives. Amid families happily making their get together plans, suicide skyrockets. Drunkeness and drugs use increases along with the fatalities they impose on society.

As Thanks Giving is upon us, I am reminded of my own griefs, losses and heartaches. But the Spirit of Christ within me moves me and I also am reminded to give thanks. I take time to grieve the loss. I process and cry through and validate how I am feeling. That is okay. But now it is time to wipe away my tears. For there is also so much to be thankful for. And for each blessing ~ for my health, for my family that remains, for the shelter I enjoy, the food on my table, the freedoms God has blessed me with, the clothing on my back, yes, even for the gift of another day of life ~ For all these I will celebrate Thanks Giving! For the men who are protecting my country and their families I will celebrate. That I can hear, see and walk, I will celebrate. CELEBRATE! Not just be thankful, but CELEBRATE!!! I will wipe away my tears, put on a happy song; I will laugh, play, dance and sing! And above all, I will give thanks, to my GOD above.

Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart
Give Thanks to the Holy one
Give Thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ
His Son,

And Now, Let the weak say I am strong
Let the poor say I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done
for us!

Give Thanks, He forgave my sins
Give Thanks, For I have peace within
Give Thanks, Because I’ve found blessed liberty,
I’m Free!

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A Spoonful of Sugar

In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun
You find the fun and snap, the job’s a game
And every task you undertake becomes a piece of cake
A lark, a spree, it’s very clear to see
Just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down
In a most delightful way

~Marry Poppins

The morning was chilly as I poured a steamy hot cup of coffee before I sat down to read my bible and pray. I breathed in its aroma- mmm . . . and took a small sip. It was slightly bitter. For a moment I thought I would add my vanilla flavored stevia to sweeten it just a bit and then I just decided not to and headed for the lounge chair. But the Lord stopped me for an opportune object lesson that was to extend throughout my weekend.
“Liz, why not add that stevia to your coffee? The coffee is bitter. The stevia will sweeten it up a bit. There are no calories in it- nothing unhealthy about it. Go ahead. Add a little sweetness to your morning cup of coffee.”

So I went back and added a few drops to sweeten my coffee.

Recently, my youngest daughter and I watched “Marry Poppins” and so the song “Just a Spoonful of Sugar” came to my mind and I smiled to myself as God’s loving light began to spread its warmth throughout my soul once again.

In the past couple months, the course of my life has majorly shifted. My spiritual foundations have been broken. This has been a very emotionally difficult process. It as if God took pruning shears and pruned my spiritual life-tree back to the stump and I am in the winter waiting for the new growth. Needless to say, it is a painful time in my life, but full of hope and anticipation.

So throughout this weekend God spoke to me about the “spoonful of sugar” many times over again. I have had to pray much to keep my emotions in check and I have been praying about the restoration of the Joy of the Lord into my heart and many other burdens. That little bit of sugar that began in my morning cup of coffee, started popping up all throughout the day as God opened my eyes to the “spoonfuls of sugar” he gives us everyday.

It could be a sunrise, a cool morning breeze, a flock of geese flying overhead, beautiful billowly clouds shimmering in artistic majesty as we drive along the highway. The golden sunsets. A word of encouragement from one dear friend. Really they are innumerable. There really are bowlfuls of sugar all around us. But we need only to take a few spoonfuls to make a difference in the flavor of life.

“You see Liz, the sweetness is always there. Just like the stevia was there all along for your coffee. But you had a choice. You could drink your coffee bitter, or you could partake of the sweetness and add it to the coffee and when you did, it made the bitter sweet.”

Yes, life has much bitterness, much heartache, much woe and care. But all along the way are spoon-fulls of sugar, that if we keep our eyes open to, we can add them into our cup and it will help the medicine go down, in the most delightful way!

“The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord”

Psalms 33:5

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For Christ’s Sake

Matthew 18:

21 Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”

22 “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!

23 “Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven can be compared to a king who decided to bring his accounts up to date with servants who had borrowed money from him. 24 In the process, one of his debtors was brought in who owed him millions of dollars.  25 He couldn’t pay, so his master ordered that he be sold—along with his wife, his children, and everything he owned—to pay the debt.

26 “But the man fell down before his master and begged him, ‘Please, be patient with me, and I will pay it all.’ 27 Then his master was filled with pity for him, and he released him and forgave his debt.

28 “But when the man left the king, he went to a fellow servant who owed him a few thousand dollars.  He grabbed him by the throat and demanded instant payment.

29 “His fellow servant fell down before him and begged for a little more time. ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it,’ he pleaded. 30 But his creditor wouldn’t wait. He had the man arrested and put in prison until the debt could be paid in full.

31 “When some of the other servants saw this, they were very upset. They went to the king and told him everything that had happened. 32 Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. 33 Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ 34 Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.

35 “That’s what my heavenly Father will do to you if you refuse to forgive your brothers and sisters from your heart.”

I have written in my Bible, next to this passage of scripture: “WARNING: DO NOT HOLD GRUDGES – YOU WON’T MAKE IT TO HEAVEN!”

In the “Vines Complete Expository Dictionary” forgiveness is defined as to release, to completely cancel, remission of the punishment due to sinful conduct, complete removal of the cause of offense.

Forgiveness is a hot topic of debate- how and when  and under what conditions it should be applied. But one thing is for certain. Forgiveness is the single most powerful action that if applied in its purest form can change the world. Forgiveness has the power not only to absolve someone of guilt and punishment, forgiveness can renew lives, tender hardened hearts, rebuild shattered relationships and bring hope back into hopeless situations. Forgiveness sets people free. Not just the people who are guilty, but the ones who carry the hurt and animosity.

However, forgiveness, like any other precious treasures, does not always come easy. Our human heart that has been injured, sometimes severely, does not always just pick up and go on. And depending upon how deep and severe the injury, sometimes a person has to work through the hurt.

Christ offers forgiveness to all, but that forgiveness does have some conditions upon it. The conditions are confession and repentance. (Matt, 18:15-17) Why would Christ expect us to uphold a higher standard than himself? We can have a ready heart to forgive someone for an offense, and even go to that person as Christ admonished us to do, but if they will not own up to their wrong and repent- be sorry for the harm they have done to us, what are we to do with our forgiveness?

I recall that when Christ was on the cross, there were with him two criminals, but only to one of them was forgiven of sins and admission into heaven promised. It was to the contrite thief.  The one who railed on him lost out. Yet Christ did not retaliate. He left the judgement in God’s hands.

But then too, I also recall that as he hung there, completely and humiliatingly naked . . .

as he writhed in suffering and agony while men gaped upon him and mocked at him with no sense of pity or compassion for his very life being unjustly stripped from him, he cried out these words, “FATHER, FORGIVE THEM, FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO.”

So the other day as I was struggling with forgiveness for a certain individual who has done much harm to me and has cause me life-long emotional pain and scars, I was praying and asking God to help me with forgiveness within my heart. I think I have this forgiveness thing settled and then the memories come up or the offense is there and the unacknowledged wrongs done to me are still there. My mind then began to turn to this individuals own life and I began to sympathize and feel sorry for this individual; this is the pattern I often turn to in my mind to “help me forgive.” But this time God stopped me. This time God spoke to me and said, “Liz, the only way you can do this is to set your eyes on JESUS! You must LOOK at the CROSS of CHRIST And when you forgive, forgive not because you feel sorry for what the individual has gone through. That is like trying to find a reason that they deserve forgiveness. You don’t need a reason. Forgive for CHRIST’S sake. Look upon HIM who loved YOU and gave HIMSELF for YOU! And for HIS SAKE!  forgive!.”

And suddenly, GRACE! AMAZING, BEAUTIFUL, PEACEFUL, WONDERFUL, HEARTFELT, GRACE! Came pouring into my soul and filled me with all the love and forgiveness I could ever need or want or hold and it was not anything from myself. It was all because of CHRIST. The beautiful sacrifice of Calvary. The glorious, victorious, Lord and savior of the world.

Christ taught us to forgive seventy times seven in just one day. Sometimes the offenses can come at us just that many times. Especially when whole groups of people are raised up against you as they were in the case of Christ and Stephen. And sometimes you can be misjudged by the multitudes and nothing you do or say is right in their eyes and seventy times seven times a day thoughts of these misjudgments come to rankle within your heart and pierce your heart like a million knives being stabbed into you. And you wrestle against the tide of bitterness that wants to overwhelm your soul and the enemy is ever watching your every move so he can have occasion to accuse you and say, “AHA!”

And so God says, “turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in his wonderful face; and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace.”

We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne. 3 Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up.4 After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin.  (Hebrews 12:2-3)

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Let Us Reason Together

Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD .  .  .

Isaiah 1:18

Yesterday in my Psychology class we were discussing nonscientific sources of data- information that has no sound basis to build on or to make concrete decisions or come to absolute conclusions upon. There were three sources that were mentioned:

1. Method of Tenacity– holding firmly onto something such as a superstition or belief even though it has been proven to be inaccurate or untrue. This sort of tenacity is strong in family traditions and religious sects.
2. Method of intuition– believing something is true just because you have a “feeling.”
3. Method of authority– Getting information from an “expert.”

The third reason particularly caught my attention because of the reasons he brought to light about why this is not a secure source of scientific data. The reasons he gave caused me to think about authority figures in dogmatic church systems. First he said authorities can be biased. Second, authorities may reflect personal opinions. Third, authorities may not have the necessary credentials; They may not truly be an expert in the particular field that you are seeking help in. Just because they are an “authority” does not mean they know everything and can help with every situation. And the fourth really stuck out to me;  People may accept what authorities say without evidence.  Wow! How true that last statement is! How powerful! How careful we must be.

When we look back on history, do we not see untold, catastrophic and horrific atrocities that have been done by multitudes of people that were swayed by those in “authority”- just accepting what they said about others without evidence? And we still see it going on today. Men and women in authority are very accountable for how they sway the people. They will give an account for souls that have been wrongly vilified in the minds of people.

With every passing year we see knowledge abounding. Christ said it would be so in the last days. Christ gave us his word and his Spirit to guide us. He told us;

But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.  Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.  Matt. 23: 8-10

When we cease to seek Christ for ourselves each day and to listen for Gods still small voice within our heart, we will do one of two things; we will either go back to sinful ways or we will default to religious practices. We will go to church and simply “obey all the commands of those in authority,” believing that is our proof of salvation.  But our true connection will be gone and we will fall into a spiritual slumber.

One night I was driving home from a friends house. It was very late, past midnight, and I was following my husband who had come later in his truck. I was so tired I was not paying attention. I trusted my husbands lead and blindly followed him down the roads. suddenly I was jerked out of my sleepy stupor by several vehicle headlights coming straight towards me. My husband had made a left turn right into oncoming traffic and I blindly followed him into it. Luckily I was able to jump the island to the right side of the road and we made it out safely. But I never forgot how God spoke to my heart that night:

“Remember Liz, don’t ever just follow anybody blindly. Stay awake. Listen to my Holy Spirit. Follow me. I am the LORD!”

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The Strong Hold’s of Idols

Yesterday as I sat in a doctors office waiting for an appointment, directly across from me stood a two foot, beautiful carved wooden Native American woman. Her eyes seemed to pierce right through my soul and my imagination got the best of me. The artwork so cunningly worked, I had to avert my eyes away and I shifted in my seat, feeling uncomfortable beneath her constant stare. Curiostiy pulled my attention back to her again and these scriptures came to my mind:

“He that is so impoverished that he hath no oblation chooseth a tree that will not rot; he seeketh unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved. “ (Is. 40)

“Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing? .  .  .   He heweth him down cedars, and taketh the cypress and the oak, which he strengtheneth for himself among the trees of the forest: he planteth an ash, and the rain doth nourish it.  Then shall it be for a man to burn: for he will take thereof, and warm himself; yea, he kindleth it, and baketh bread; yea, he maketh a god, and worshippeth it; he maketh it a graven image, and falleth down thereto.  He burneth part thereof in the fire; with part thereof he eateth flesh; he roasteth roast, and is satisfied: yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire:  And the residue thereof he maketh a god, even his graven image: he falleth down unto it, and worshippeth it, and prayeth unto it, and saith, Deliver me; for thou art my god.  (Is. 44)

I have never been exposed to an idol worshipping religion and so reading these scriptures in the past and thinking about people worshiping carved images has always seemed like such foolishness to me.  But now, as I sat here  in the office under the realistic and intense glare of this artistically crafted wooden woman an understanding came into my heart that had not been there before; And I always praise my Jesus for these precious moments of insight, for the door of understanding is a door of freedom and growth, first for oneself, and then to share with others.

I began to feel the strong hold that such an idol could take on a people who did not know the one and only true God. It has been said that the imagination is the stongest nation and that is why the apostle Paul warns us in 2 Corinthians 10: 4 & 5  when he says, “(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; “

But even beyond that, another lesson came through to my heart. The Lord spoke to me clearly and said that if a wooden idol could have such a pull and quickly take such a strong hold of fear on the imagination of a vulnerable soul, how much more a man or woman that has life energy flowing out of them. When they stand behind a pulpit, high above the rest of the people and take an “authorative” position, how great an influence does that have on vulnerable souls? Now add to that, a man or woman that shouts, gets angry, pounds on the pulpit or stomps; What an impact!

You see, life is a mystery and the imagination and fear are very powerful. All through history we have untold accounts of brutal genocides all done in the name of “beliefs” or “God’s” or some powerful man that got behind some form of a pulpit and began swaying massive amounts of people. And just like that wooden woman, the people are drawn in, because they are not listening to the true God- the God of love, peace, joy, humbleness, meekness, goodness, mercy, etc… They are unsure of themselves, and unsure of life. This unsurity and insecurity in man leaves him vulnerable to be taken captive by whatever comes along claiming to be the “authority of God.”

One thing I am learning- truth will produce something inside your heart. If you are sinning, it will produce conviction. There may be some fear that you are missing the mark with God. But truth will also produce abundance of mercy. It will pave a beautiful road right to the cross of Christ to have those sins forgiven, removed and cast into the depths of the sea.

Truth will produce love. Truth will produce peace and joy. Truth will set you FREE! Free from the corruption of sin and all its ugly vices. Free from religious forms and rituals. Free to be a child of God and all He created you to be. Free to grow in Christ. Free to have His spirit in your heart teaching you and leading you. Free from all the opinions of men. You now have Christ alone as your head and your advocate.

But if your “faith” is filling you with fears, doubt, confusion, hatred for certain groups of people, if it is drawing you into men causing you to obey voices outside rather than instilling the voice of the Holy Spirit within and helping you to trust and follow that voice, it may very well be you have an earthly idol set up somewhere. It may be a religious system. Religious systems will either cause you to be zealous in a wrong way- usually for their system,  or it will sap you of your spiritual zeal. It may be a pastor- you may be idolizing, worshipping, obeying a pastor or some man that you hold up as a “man of God.” The bible teaches us that in Christ, we are all priests. None of us is above another. Pastors are there for our service and help alone. They are not our rulers nor dictators.  It may be your own life- things you know that God is not pleased with but you are not willing to give up.  God knows and an all loving God can help you understand and conquer it in Christs name.

You see, idols can take an extremely strong hold in our life. I know. I have been battling many of them in my own life, and by the grace of God, He is helping me conquer them. That is how I am getting these lessons- through experience. And let me tell you, “the FEAR of man brings a snare.” Many so called “heathen” people have been mocked and laughed at over their intense fear of wooden idols but so much more do we have to battle the intense fear we ALL have of the fear of men. When we stop bowing before their idols, their systems, their ideas of what thier own imaginations have set up as “God” we will not be liked.

But we can take courage. Because so it was with Jesus. Our Lord Jesus Christ deliberately, carefully, purposefully, openly, broke the rules of the Pharisees! He followed one- the voice within- the Holy Spirit.

“The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.” (Proverbs 29:25)

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From Strength to Strength

. . .[M]y heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. . . .Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee;. . .They go from strength to strength, every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. . .For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in thee. Psalms 84

“From strength to strength” -not from strength to weakness. But How, when I feel so weak? How, when I feel I cannot go on another day? How, when my heart hurts? How, when my body is wracked with pain? How, when sorrow engulfs me? Where is my strength?

In God! Our strength is found when our heart and flesh cry out for the living God- when we continue to trust God, placing our cares in his hands, enduring hardness as a good soldier, doing what is right inspite of how we feel. Our battle is won in our secret closet of prayer. Our battle is won in God.

Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:28-31

The days are evil. Darkness surrounds us. But did not the Lord Jesus Christ warn us of this? Can we not take courage that Christ has told us, “be of good courage; I have overcome the world.” Don’t lay down your armour dear soldier. Do not go AWAL. Hang in there. The Lord will never leave us nor forsake us. Get on your knees and gather strength from God. Be a proper representative of Christ in this present world. Press the battle on!

I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD. Psalms 27:13-14

From strength to strength, we sometimes go;

Then again, we’re sinking low

In the shadow, of a mountian

looming high above our head.

We need not fear, what lies ahead;

For the word has clearly said,

That our faith, would be sufficient

to make the mountains disappear.

Speak to the mountain,

You’ll not triumph over me;

Be thou removed from here to yonder

disappear into the sea

Speak to the mountain

Speak with authority

and the mountain must move

and you shall claim victory!

In the midst, of the battle

When the foe is gaining ground

Look up!!! and see the MIGHTY

hand of GOD, reaching down

Speak Gods name, Satan trembles;

Speak God’s word and watch him flee.

Once again, our GOD delivers

The mountains crumble at our feet!

Author Unknown

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Salt That’s Lost it’s Savour

Dead Sea Salt Formations

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Matthew 5:13

During the age when Jesus was depicting his people as the “salt of the earth” the salt that was widely utilized was taken from the Dead Sea. Its most common purpose was to salt dung that was then rendered usable to burn as fuel in the earthen ovens outside their homes. This salt was differnt from the table salt we use today, which cannot lose its flavour. This salt had to be kept dry and free from earth, or it would be changed into a powdery substance that was no longer usable. At that time people tossed garbage out into the streets (garbage was probably very scarce) and hence we have the analogy that the salt is no longer good for anything but to be tossed out into the streets where men trod every day.

The Jews reffered to the law as “salt and the light.” Salt was considered a purifying agent and a metaphor for wisdom. It is noteworthy that Jesus follows this statement about salt and light with;

“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5: 17-20

He then enters into what is known as “The Sermon on the Mount” with a well known Old Testament Law- and then defines its “fullness” of meaning. The whole sermon expands on what the people had been taught out of the law.

In light of this study, it stands to reason that the Christian is to be careful to maintian the purity of the word of God in their daily living. Also, if the Christian begins to mix that way with the ways of the world and its varied philosophies, that Christian’s message will become good for nothing. We cannot explain away the authority of the Word of God. It is the Word of Life.

We must be the salt of the earth, by living the truth out in our lives and not compromising what we know God’s word says to appease the mulititudes of Bible critics and naysayers. The law of God is to be written on our hearts and lived out in our lives.  (Hebrews 10:16) The ways of God must be preserved. We are the salt of the earth, the preserver of this way of life. To say that its okay to live any way we choose and to be accepted of God is to water down the message of God and become a useless Christian.

I repeat the words of Christ, “except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

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Prepare to Stand!

Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Ephesians 6:13

PREPARATION TO STAND is done when we bow– bow to the authority of Jesus Christ; Bow to his judgement, his truth, his way, when we “die daily” to our self, that Christs life may be manifest in us, when we put on the helmet of salvation, the breastplate of righteousness, the girdle of truth, when we shod our feet to walk upright, through studying and rightly dividing the word of God, when we unsheathe our sword of truth and practice raising our shield of faith in the face of adversity.

Like the song says:

“I believe in spite of the circumstance,
FAITH is there in place of the evidence,
in the face of the storm,
and though battered and torn;
I can stand on the ROCK, for I BELIEVE GOD!”

Have you studied your Bible today? Have you prayed? Have you put on the armor of God?
Be prepared- this is a battlefield for your soul!

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A Place Prepared For Us

We are living in a world where the word of God is being challenged, twisted and disregarded on every hand. The disrespect shown for God is having an effect on every soul. Just as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah vexed the righteous soul of Lot everyday by their ungodly ways and blatant opposition to the principles of God, so are we vexed by the spirit that is in the world. But we must battle. We are called to be soldiers in the army of Jesus Christ. We fight a spiritual battle against spiritual wickedness in high places. (Ephesians 6:12)

To fight and win we must be on our knees before God often. Daniel openly prayed three times a day while in captivity in a heathen land. Christ prayed often before his disciples and alone. He prayed before his greatest trial- the crucifixion,  with such earnestness that great drops of blood fell like sweat from his brow. (Luke 22:44)

Shortly after this prayer, he was taken captive and led away by a band of soldiers. All of his close friends, the disciples, forsook him. Only Peter was brave enough to follow afar off. But when recognized as one of his disciples, fear took hold and faith gave way and he denied that he even knew Christ, cursing as he did.

Yet Christ warned all of his disciples afore time. In the garden before he went off to pray he told them, “Pray, that ye enter not into temptation.” (Luke 22:40)

Christ could not have endured the cross, if he had forsaken those hours of prayer. The disciples may have stood in his defense if they had listened to the commandment of Christ and prayed earnestly with him.

Immediately following his prayer in Gethsemane, Christ was led away by soldiers and taken and mocked, ridiculed and severley abused. They smote him, laughed at him, spit upon him. All of his closest friends left him alone to deal with is all. What a horrible trial to face. But as I read this morning of this account in Luke 22, I am struck by some of the first words Christ gives in answer to their mockings:

“And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying, Art thou the Christ? tell us. And he said unto them, If I tell you, ye will not believe: And if I also ask you, ye will not answer me, nor let me go. Hereafter shall the Son of man sit on the right hand of the power of God.“ (Luke 22:66-69)

Christ was completely alone and multitudes were against him, even Kings and religious authorities. Yet His faith did not fail him. He knew that he had a place prepared of His Father for Him, and no matter what all the world accused Him of, He did not back down on who He was nor the authority He held. He fought the battle on His knees in Gethsemane and won! Now it was just a matter of going through.

Sometimes it is easy to just read through the scriptures and gather a little comfort from years passed. But lets bring this home- today.

How the world is mocking the people of God. Religious hypocrites abound and at times are the worse persecutors of a true Christian.

Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. (1Peter 3:3-4)

Is not this just how it is today? People are mocking God and disregarding Christ as just another prophet of old, and they are challenging our faith and belief in Christ on every hand. This is the majority of the world around us. When we witness that we are a child of God, we hear such things as, “Well everyone is a child of God.” When we say that we have been saved from sin and changed to a saint we are told, “You think you are the only ones going to heaven. You think you are holier than anyone else.” No desire to understand and know Christ, but, instead, a mockery, trying to breakdown our faith.  These are “swine-spirits”, trampling our testimony under their feet and then turning again to tear us apart.  (Matt. 7:6)

And like Christ, our only desire for them, is that they would be saved and make heaven their home. That they would partake with us of the beautiful Lamb of God.

In John 14 Christ has a very special message for us in these very unstable and troubling times;

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:1-3)

He wanted us to know, as He also knew, that there is a place prepared for us, beyond this world. He wanted us to know, that he is going to prepare that place for us. It took Him dying on the cross to prepare a place for us. It took the cruel mockings, beatings and horrible torcher that He suffered on the cross, to prepare that place for us. And he was telling His disciples and all who follow Him, “If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”

Isn’t that so precious? Christ has prepared a place for us. Let us lift up our voice to Him in praise. Let us see with our spiritual eyes, that wonderful home prepared for us by the LORD JESUS CHRIST himself, and let us pray always, that we would be kept from the hour of temptation. It is so needful that we keep this vision in view. This world is not our home. We are just passing through.

The battle is won on our knees. Christ was our perfect example of that. And He stood, confident, though forsaken by all, that he had a place prepared for him. We too, though forsaken by all, can stand confident in our position before God and that we have a place prepared with our personal name on it.  If we just keep praying, today and always, “Lord, not my will, but thine be done . . . keep me this day from all evil . . . let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight . . .”

May God bless you!

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