Christmas Letter -- 2008

Hark the herald angels sing,

"Glory to the newborn King!

Peace on earth and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled!"

This is one of my favorite Christmas songs. I never really heard the lyrics before I had faith in

Christ. After October 25th, 1987, Christmas meant more to me than ever. The meaning changed from gifts, family, parties and all the trimmings -- to the awe and wonder of Jesus! I had heard the Nativity story all my life and understood that Jesus was God's Son Who came as a little baby to save the world. It was a fantastic story! However, the reality of this Nativity story became mine that day in October when I asked Jesus to be my Lord and Savior. I told Him that I had known about Him, but that now I needed Him to become real in my life. I knew about the Savior, but now I NEEDED a Savior.

Romans 10:11-13, says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED."
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;
for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED." That was one Bible version of that verse. Sometimes when I look up the same verse in different versions, I can better "fit" the meaning to what I want to convey. For instance, in The Message Bible, this verse says simply, "the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. "Everyone who calls, 'Help, God!' gets help."

"Everyone who calls, 'Help, God!' gets help" . . . incredibly simple and incredibly accurate. If we call upon His Name and believe we shall be saved. Simple. I LOVE what Max Lucado, author, calls John 3:16. He says that John 3:16 is the "Hope Diamond" of the Bible. "For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life." This is Good News and this gives us all great HOPE.

And what is saving faith? What is the difference between just knowing about someone and really BELIEVING IN THEM? This is my best demonstration on what saving faith is: Take a chair. Stand next to that chair. Look at the chair. Do you believe that that chair exists? Most would say, "yes." That is where I was before October 25th, 1987. I knew that Jesus existed. I believed that much. But that wasn't enough faith to be converted, inwardly changed by the Holy Spirit, or born again. Let me go back to the existing chair standing beside you. You believe that the chair is there. You might even believe that that chair can hold you if you chose to sit in it. But true saving faith, real faith, the "believe" that John 3:16 is referring to is this -- sit down in the chair and COMPLETELY RELY UPON IT TO HOLD YOU UP.

When we completely rely upon Jesus as our only way to eternal life. When we rely upon His finished work, His righteousness, knowing that we can never "do good enough" to earn our way to Heaven . . . when we call upon His Name as the answer to our "dilemma," then we receive all that the angels heralded that night . . . reconciliation with God, healing, deliverence, death holding no sting, peace and good will, and . . . a second birth.

"Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!

Hail the Son of Righteousness!

Light and life to all He brings

Ris'n with healing in His wings

Mild He lays His glory by

Born that man no more may die

Born to raise the sons of earth

Born to give them second birth

Hark! The herald angels sing

"Glory to the newborn King!"

The Gospel is Good News. It brings relief to our souls. We need help. And God offers it thru His Son, Jesus. He is the only Way, the only Truth and the only Life.

Quoting Max Lucado, "YOUR GOODNESS CAN'T WIN GOD'S LOVE. NOR CAN YOUR BADNESS LOSE IT. BUT YOU CAN RESIST IT." Let's not resist so great a Gift and so great a love.

Merry Christmas, from our house to yours. And may we all stay fully convinced of this Good News and believe, relying on Christ alone. Amen.

You Are Special!

I'm grateful that Max Lucado wrote this book. In it, he successfully presents similar experiences we all have. Unfortunately, in this imperfect world, elitism and exclusivity flourishes. You're not "good enough," is the message. You're not "qualified," "desirable," "stable," "a winner like us," or the "cream of the crop."


Even Rudolph the reindeer had to deal with this! :) Because of his shiney nose, he was not allowed to play in any of the "reindeer games." Poor Rudolph! (I always hated that part of the show!)

But who are these elitists who are giving us "dots" and making us feel "sub"-everything and inferior? They are "wemmicks" just like us! Every time they get stars they feel so much better. They even feel better when they give you dots.



But in Max's story, we are lovingly reminded and encouraged that God knows our name! He made us. If you've been given alot of "bad marks", don't worry! God doesn't care what others think about you. And neither should you. Who are they to give you "stars and dots?" WHAT THEY THINK DOESN'T MATTER!. Only what God thinks is important and He thinks you're pretty special . . . because you are His!


Punchinello ran into someone who had neither dots or stars. Her name was Lucia. Stickers wouldn't stick on her . . .dots or stars. This is our example. We shouldn't want anyone's marks! (anyone's approval or disapproval)


So why don't the stickers stay on Lucia? Because she has decided that what God thinks is more important than what they think. THE STICKERS WILL ONLY STICK IF YOU LET THEM! . . . If they matter to you. BUT,the more you trust His love . . . the less you care about their stickers.

Remember, you are Special because God made you and He doesn't make mistakes! And He sent His one and only Son for YOU . . . for our freedom and for our way Home. Many tried to put their "dots" on the Savior while he walked this earth. He was despised by many and counted among the sinners. He ate and drank with sinners. He loves sinners! He is a Friend to the sinner! He didn't care what the elite thought. He didn't seek out the elitists! He exposed them. He drapes his arm with a serving cloth and serves us, washing our feet, to lift us up! He sings over us with songs of deliverance and we are touched by the Master's Hand.

Jesus took the marks on His back for us. And He gives us the "stars" of God's approval. He exchanged our "dots" with His "stars." He laid His life down completely so that we might be Born Again into His Kingdom of Love. Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Father God and thank you, Holy Spirit, that You are not a respecter of people.

In Christ, we are all the same. Galatians 3:26 - 28 says, "26)You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, 27)for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28)There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."


There is neither Jew nor Greek, etc. In Christ the old, worldly lines of separation are all blotted out.

All are one in Christ Jesus. One person, as it were, one new man of which Christ is the head (Eph 2:15). All, without regard to race, or position, or title, blended into one whole.

Romans 2 describes the Impartiality of God, and in Galatians 2:6, Paul testifies that "(By the way, their reputation as great leaders made no difference to me, for God has no favorites.)" So don't believe the lies that you're not important to God, or to the Body of Christ. Each part is important and very essential. And we all play different roles to the edification of one another.

"Here we learn that the gospel is not ours, but God's; and that men are but the keepers of it; for this we are to praise God." (Matthew Henry)

So, let us all sit in the "woodshop with our beloved Eli" every day and believe what He says about us and rest. And let us encourage one another daily that what He thinks matters most. Reminding one another that we are all "wemmicks" and fall short of the Glory of our Maker. But in Christ, we are all one Body and He is our Head and there is no partiality with God. And . . .

WE ARE PRECIOUS IN HIS SIGHT! :)

In The Name Of Jesus

On October 3, 2007, while resting in Him, I heard Jesus say the following:





MY NAME . . .

MY NAME . . .

MY Name is ALL you need!

You don't need buildings, or programs, or teams, or meetings.

All you need is MY NAME!

My Name will do it ALL!

In My Name, you are free!

In My Name, others will and can be free.

n My Name is SATISFACTION.

And PURPOSE REVEALED.

My Name PROVIDES all your needs!

My Name scatters your enemies.

My Name is your high tower and fortress!

Christian -- Little Christs!

In Christ and thru Christ alone --

In My Name, you are ESTABLISHED as a Heavenly agent --

Sent out in My Name.

My Name is given to you as a Gift.

Wear My Name over your heart

Like a name tag, an identity badge.

Your identity is in My Name alone.

All you need or could ever want or would ever accomplish,

All your glory,

Is in My Name.

Resist all other "attachments.

Man-made attachments and/or ways.

You say a mouthful of love and power

When you say My Name!

My Name is the pathway to God's Heart.

In My Name is healing,

Wholeness,

Redemption,

And complete deliverance!

Fragrant -- Flowing -- Free!

You do not need restraints.

You need release.

Man restrains.

I release.

When you strain gnats,

You swallow camels!

In My Name alone is your Holiness.

In My Name alone is all your sanctification.

In My Name is all your glory, all your purposes, and destinations.

HERE I AM . . . I HAVE COME TO GIVE YOU MY LIFE . . . AND . . .

MY NAME!

It's All A Gift!!

1 Corinthians 14:18 . . . I, too, thank God for the Gift of speaking in Tongues! Because, my prayer language is a continual reminder to me that from beginning to end and all in between this salvation journey is all a gift. It has zero to do with any of my own abilities. Actually, I, like Paul, glory in my weaknesses. Why? Because His Grace and power shows up best in my weakness.



2 Corinthians 12:9 & 10 -- I am glad to boast at how weak I am; I am glad to be a living demonstration of Christ's power, instead of showing off my own power and abilities.



It's all a Gift! All of it. 1 Corinthians 1:19 for God says, "I will destroy all human plans of salvation no matter how wise they seem to be, and ignore the best ideas of men, even the most brilliant of them." v24) God has opened the eyes of those called to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, to see that Christ is the mighty power of God to save them; Christ Himself is the center of God's wise plan for their salvation. v)25 This so-called "foolish" plan of God is far wiser than the wisest plan of the wisest man, and God in His weakness -- Christ dying on the cross -- is far stronger than any man. v26) Notice, among yourselves, dear brothers, that few of you who follow Christ have big names or power or wealth. v27) Instead, God has deliberately chosen to use ideas the world considers foolish and of little worth in order to shame those people considered by the world as wise and great. v28) He has chosen a plan despised by the world, counted nothing at all, and used it to bring down to nothing those the world considers great, v29) so that no one anywhere can ever brag in the presence of God.



v30) For it is from God alone that you have your life through Christ Jesus. He showed us God's plan of salvation; He was the One Who made us acceptable to God; He made us pure and holy and gave Himself to purchase our salvation. v31) As it says in the Scriptures, "If anyone is going to boast, let him boast only of what the Lord has done."



It's all a Gift! Salvation, justification, sanctification, fellowship with the Holy Spirit, the blessed Fruit of the Holy Spirit, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, walking in the Anointing of the Holy Spirit, the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, and even the Callings are a Gift. Whatever measure of faith and grace He assigns us, whatever process of growth . . .to be content to just be His and trust His heart for you is a Gift.



1 Corinthians 12:4 -- Now God GIVES us many kinds of special abilities, but it is the same Holy Spirit Who is the Source of them all. v5) There are different kinds of services to God, but it is the same Lord we are serving. v6) There are many ways in which God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work in and through all of us who are His. The Holy Spirit displays God's power through each of us as a means of helping the entire Body.



It's all a Gift! And the Holy Spirit has fitted us all together into one Body . . . we have all been given the same Spirit. v15) If the foot says, "I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand," that does not make it any less a part of the body." . . . God has put each part, each one of us, where He wants us. v21) The eye can never say to the hand, "I don't need you." The head can't say to the feet, "I don't need you." v22) And some of the parts that seem weakest and least important are really the most necessary. . . .So God has put the body together in such a way that extra honor and care are given to those parts that might otherwise seem less important. v25) This makes for happiness among the parts, so that the parts have the same care for each other that they do for themselves.

I'm a big believer in "Body ministry."



It's a Gift! Each one of us is a separate and necessary part! And it's His decision which part we are. Herein lies contentment! This puts the "cabash" on that worldly spirit that promotes hierarchical authority, selfish ambition and the human pride that revels in it.



It's all a Gift! There is no more boasting or confidence in the flesh. We rest, contented to be whatever part He makes us, knowing that His love is unconditional and His Friendship the apex.

We rest in the fact that it's really all about Him, and never can be about us. :)



As Kathryn Kuhlman once said, "It isn't golden vessels He needs. It isn't silver that He's asking for. He just needs yielded vessels." He is not a respecter of persons. He'll use every and any yielded vessel. And in case we think we are "it," let's not forget He ANOINTED a donkey to see a Heavenly angel and to speak! We are but dust . . insignificant dust . . yet, HE HAS CHOSEN US TO SHOW FORTH HIS GLORY AND TO REFLECT HIS IMAGE AND TO BE RECIPIENTS OF HIS GREAT LOVE . . . therein lies our significance.



He wants us to know that we can do nothing, but He also wants us to know that He can do everything.



So . . . back to the "tongues." I didn't read a book,or take a class,earn or do anything to speak in the Heavenly language He chose for me. And that same power that freely gives me the ability to pray in the Spirit, gives me the fruit of the Spirit and the Gifts of the Spirit and the Callings of the Spirit. All because of Jesus, and Jesus alone.

TRUE SHEPHERDS POINT TO THE CHIEF SHEPHERD. Here's a simple rule of thumb I've learned recently for discerning teaching: The actual source of all teaching and doctrine is revealed in whom it glorifies. In other words, teaching that emphasizes success through YOUR great discipline or even success through YOUR great faith also tends to aim the glory at YOU. Thus, it is frequently true that faith in faith glorifies your faith, and faith in self-discipline glorifies your self-discipline. BUT faith in God's grace and in the gift of His righteousness glorifies God, because A GIFT CANNOT BE BOUGHT OR EARNED; it can only be received.

Freely we receive . . . freely we give.

God's Works Are Perfect In Every Stage of Their Growth

Have you ever felt like you were being pressured to grow up in the Lord? That levels of maturity were more righteous than the newborn babe in Christ? I have. As a recovering legalist, I have laid aside other's expectations and assessments and now rest in the truth that I am His workmanship and I am right where He wants me to be and He is happy with me in whatever stage of the process I'm in.

From a parent's viewpoint I consider the difference in ages of all my children . . .23 years down to 5 years. Does my 23 year old bless me more than my 5 year old? NO! Should my 8 year old compare herself with her 21 year old brother? NO! At each stage of their growth, they are right where they should be and are such pleasure to me.

I think of the thief on the cross alot. He had such a short time between saving faith to Paradise with the Savior. Did he have time to mature? NO! He was perfect right then. This should bring us relief and rest from striving to appear mature and realize that it's His work in us as we trust in Him and we are right on schedule and pleasing just where He has us. There is no "place" we need to strive to get to. We are His beloved and we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus.

One of my favorite authors, Hannah Whitall Smith, wrote "THE CHRISTIAN'S SECRET TO A HAPPY LIFE." In Chapter 2 (God's Side and Man's Side), she clearly describes accurately what I'm trying to convey above . . .

She defines man's part is to trust, and God's part is to work. "Plainly the believer can do nothing but trust," she writes. "The Lord, in whom he trusts, actually does the work entrusted to Him."

In essence she writes: "The Potter And The Clay --

Sanctification is both a step of faith and a profit in the oven, and finally turns it out of his workshop, a vessel to his honour, and fit for his use."
Before, I was speaking of the clay's part in the matter. I am now speaking of the potter's part. These two are necessarily contrasted, but are not in the least contradictory. The clay is not expected to do the potter's work. It only yields itself to his working. It seems to me that nothing could be clearer than the perfect harmony between these two apparently contradictory sorts of teaching.
What can be said about man's part in this great work is that he must continually surrender himself and continually trust. But when we come to God's side of the question, much can be said about the many wonderful ways in which He accomplishes the work entrusted to Him. It is here that growing is important. The lump of clay could never grow into a beautiful vessel if it stayed in the claypit for thousands of years. But when it is put into the hands of a skilful potter it grows rapidly under his fashioning into the vessel he intends it to be. In the same way the soul, abandoned to the working of the Heavenly Potter, is made into a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the Master's use.


The Maturing Process
Having, therefore, taken the step of faith by which you have put yourself completely and absolutely into His hands, you must now expect Him to begin work. His way of accomplishing that which you have entrusted to Him, may be different from your way. But He knows, and you must be satisfied. . . .

It is the result of the work of God's Holy Spirit, who, by His energizing and transforming power, causes us to "grow up into (Christ) in all things" (Ephesians 4:15). We cannot hope to reach this maturity in any other way than by yielding ourselves completely and willingly to His mighty working. However, the sanctification the Scriptures encourage, as a present experience upon all believers, does not consist in maturity of growth, but in purity of heart.


From the moment the lump of clay comes under the transforming hand of the potter, it is, during each day and hour of the process, just what the potter wants it to be at that hour or on that day. Therefore, it pleases him, but it is far from being the vessel he intends it to be in the future.


A little baby may be all that he or she could be or ought to be, and may perfectly please its mother. Yet it is very far from being what that mother would wish it to be when it reaches maturity.

The apple in June is a perfect apple for June. It is the best apple that June can produce. But it is very different from the apple in October, which is a perfected apple.

God's works are perfect in every stage of their growth. Man's works are never perfect until they are in every respect complete. In this life of sanctification, all we can claim is that by an act of faith we put ourselves into the hands of the Lord for Him to work in us all the good pleasure of His will. Then, by a continuous exercise of faith, keep ourselves there. This is our part in the matter. And when we do it we are truly pleasing to God.

It may require years of training and discipline to mature us into a vessel that will be in all respects to His honour and fitted to every good work. Our part is the trusting. His part is to accomplish the results. Trust is the beginning and the continuing foundation. When we trust, the Lord works, and His work is the important part of the whole matter. . . "

Here is the link if you want to read this entire classic . . .for which I highly recommend because it brings such relief and it has Good News!

http://www.worldinvisible.com/library/hwsmith/haplife/content.htm

What is the Good News today? THERE IS NO CONDEMNATION IN IMMATURITY! God is the potter and you are the clay and His work in you is PERFECT in every stage of your growth in maturity. You don't have to fret or worry or strive to get into a "place" or "position" . . . you do not have to qualify. Jesus has qualified you already.

One of my all-time favorite verses is this: HEBREWS 10:14 (LBV) FOR BY THAT ONE OFFERING HE FOREVER MADE PERFECT THOSE WHO ARE BEING MADE HOLY.

Amen! I am always at the perfect stage . . . where He wants me while He sanctifies me and makes me a holy vessel unto His honor and glory.

In John 17:19, Jesus consecrated Himself towards this work . . "on their behalf I consecrate myself, in order that they may become perfectly consecrated in truth." Wow, what a promise!


Matthew Henry's Commentary explains:
Jesus entirely devoted himself to his undertaking, and all the parts of it, especially the offering up himself without spot unto God, by the eternal Spirit. The real holiness of all true Christians is the fruit of Christ's death, by which the gift of the Holy Ghost was purchased . . . .

So let us be relieved, resting and trusting Him. Amen.

God Is Easy To Live With

"Satan's first attack upon the human race was his sly effort to destroy Eve's confidence in the kindness of God. Unfortunately for her and for us he succeeded too well. From that day, men have had a false conception of God," . . . ." A.W. Tozer thus begins his relieving message to all of us who are in Christ.



Jesus said in John 17:3, "This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." He tells us in Matthew 11:29, "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS."



Jesus told us if we've seen Him, we've seen the Father. John 14:8-11 -- 8) Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”
9) Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? 10) Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. 11) Just believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or at least believe because of the work you have seen me do."

And Ephesians 1:17 says, "asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God.



All He wants is for us to KNOW Him. To become acquainted and know and believe in WHO HE IS. And then rest in that. Take His easy yoke and rest. The Pharisees, and legalists everywhere, want to paint a different picture. They want you to see God in their "light of leaven." They preach forgiveness, yes, but they also preach another gospel . . . the one with a heavy yoke and a heavy burden of "assembling" yourselves for God. (As if this has anything at all to do with us.)



"Nothing twists and deforms the soul more than a low or unworthy conception of God," A. W. Tozer says. The legalists hold that "God is stern and austere, yet they manage to maintain a fairly high level (standard) of external morality; but their righteousness is only outward. Inwardly, Jesus said, they are "whited sepulchres" (tombs). Their wrong conception of God even results in a wrong idea of worship and devotion."



A. W. Tozer states, "To a Pharisee, the service of God was a bondage which he did not love but from which he could not escape without a loss too great to bear." The God of the legalist is not a God easy to live with, so his religion is grim and hard and loveless. "It has to be so, for our notion of God must always determine the quality of our religion." Grim and severe "Christianity" is the effect of an inadequate view of God. Instinctively, we try to be like our God, and if He is conceived to be stern and exacting, so will we ourselves be! From this failure to properly understand God comes a world of unhappiness among good Christians. The Christian life is thought to be glum, UNRELIEVED cross-carrying under the eye of a stern Father who expects much and excuses nothing. He is austere, highly tempermental and extremely hard to please. THE KIND OF LIFE THAT SPRINGS OUT OF SUCH LIBELOUS NOTIONS IS BUT A MOCKERY OF THE TRUE LIFE IN CHRIST."

I agree with Tozer that to paint such a picture of God is libelous, slanderous, even blasphemous. It is exactly what satan did in the garden.

Tozer goes on to say, "It is most important to our spiritual welfare that we hold in our minds always a right conception of God. If we think of Him as COLD and EXACTING, we shall find it impossible to love Him, and our lives will be ridden with SERVILE FEAR. If, again, we hold Him to be KIND and UNDERSTANDING (He knows our frame is but dust.) our whole inner life will mirror that idea."

"The TRUTH is that God is the MOST WINSOME OF ALL BEINGS AND HIS SERVICE ONE OF UNSPEAKABLE PLEASURE. HE IS ALL LOVE, AND THOSE WHO TRUST HIM NEED NEVER KNOW ANYTHING BUT THAT LOVE. HE IS JUST, INDEED, AND HE WILL NOT CONDONE SIN; BUT THROUGH THE BLOOD OF THE EVERLASTING COVENANT HE IS ABLE TO ACT TOWARD US EXACTLY AS IF WE HAD NEVER SINNED. TOWARD THE TRUSTING SONS OF MEN HIS MERCY WILL ALWAYS TRIUMPH OVER JUSTICE."

"The fellowship of God is DELIGHTFUL BEYOND ALL TELLING. He communes with His redeemed ones in an easy, uninhibited fellowship that is RESTFUL and healing to the soul. HE IS NOT HARD TO PLEASE . . .HE EXPECTS OF US ONLY WHAT HE HAS HIMSELF FIRST SUPPLIED!!!! HE IS QUICK TO MARK TO OVERLOOK IMPERFECTIONS WHEN HE KNOWS WE MEANT TO DO HIS WILL. HE LOVES US FOR OURSELVES AND VALUES OUR LOVE MORE THAN GALAXIES OF NEW CREATED WORLDS."

"Unfortunately, many Christians cannot get free from their PERVERTED notions of God, and these notions poison their hearts and DESTROY THEIR INWARD FREEDOM. These people serve God grimly, as the elder brother did, doing what is right and without enthusiasm (PERFUNCTORY = this is a key word) and without joy, and seem altogether unable to understand the buoyant, spirited celebration when the prodigal comes home. Their idea of God rules out the possibility of His being happy in His people, and they attribute displays of unbridled love and worship as sheer fanatacism. Unhappy souls, these, doomed to go heavily on their melancholy way, grimly determined to do right if the heavens fall and to be on the winning side in the day of judgment."


Many who do not rest in Christ alone have forgotten Isaiah 53:11! "As a result of the anguish of His (Jesus) soul, He (God the Father) will see it AND BE SATISFIED." (my emphasis) It is finished. Completed. Accomplished. Jesus (God's second Adam and beloved Son) lived the perfect life for us, fulfilled the law, and has thus SATISFIED GOD. Now, those who are in Christ alone, can abide and believe . . .NOT strive and try to satisfy God on their own. If God is satisfied with Jesus, why can't we be satisfied with Jesus alone? Why do we feel the driving force to add to what Jesus did. I believe it appeals to our pride. We want to get our hands in this equation somehow. But, this work of God is just that . . .a work of God, not man.

Tozer says, "How good it would be if we could learn that GOD IS EASY TO LIVE WITH. He remembers our frame and knows that we are dust. He may sometimes chasten us, it is true, but even this he does with a smile, the proud, tender smile of a Father, who is bursting with pleasure over an imperfect but promising son who is coming every day to look more and more like the One whose child he is. Some of us are religiously jumpy and self-conscious because we know that God sees our every thought and is acquainted with all our ways. We need not be!! GOD IS THE SUM OF ALL PATIENCE AND THE ESSENCE OF KINDLY GOOD WILL. WE PLEASE HIM MOST, NOT BY FRANTICALLY TRYING TO MAKE OURSELVES GOOD, BUT BY THROWING OURSELVES INTO HIS ARMS WITH ALL OUR IMPERFECTIONS, AND BELIEVEING THAT HE UNDERSTANDS EVERYTHING AND LOVES US STILL."

Thank you, Jesus, for drinking to the dregs our cup of wrath and exchanging with us your cup of blessing. May we, by faith, drink this cup to it's dregs, glorifying You. May we KNOW YOU, our King eternal and God our Father, more and more with the help of the Helper. Holy precious Spirit, HELP US TO KNOW HIM and BELIEVE. AMEN

Herein is the Good News . . . God is mad about you, not mad at you! :) What a relief.

Stay Thawed in the Gulf-Stream of God's Infinite Love

Psalm 147:16-18 --""He giveth snow like wool; he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes. He casteth forth his ice like morsels; who can stand before his cold? He sendeth out his word, and melteth them; he causeth his wind to blow, and the waters flow."


Below is an article I read today. You should be able to click below and witness some spectacular pictures:


(Greenland)—Award winning photographers Bryan and Cherry Alexander have worked in the Arctic for 37 years and have taken their share of amazing pictures during that time, but a recent sunrise over Inglefield Bay was so unusually spectacular—with clouds described as terrifyingly beautiful by Daily Mail reporters Caroline Graham and Claire Bates—that Bryan Alexander says he couldn't believe his eyes. "It was just before dawn," explained Mr. Alexander, when "I went outside and was immediately stunned by the beautiful and dramatic cloud formation...I have worked in the Arctic regularly for the past 37 years and I had never seen the sky like it. It looked apocalyptic and like a scene from one of the Lord of the Rings movies." (Photo: Barcroft Media/Bryan & Cherry Alexander)
According to a report in The Telegraph, he called it a once-in-a-lifetime photographic event. "It was an incredible experience and one which I describe it to my friends as a 'once in a lifetime sky'. It wasn't just me that was amazed, just about everybody in the village was, including an elderly Inuit hunter who told me that he had never seen anything like that before in his life."
That, and other pictures can be viewed by CLICKING HERE. (The photo they are describing is in the second row, middle.)
Source: Staff - The Telegraph U.K.


After seeing these pictures, and being in awe of my King, the Holy Spirit reminded me of the verse that says, "who can stand before the cold of the Lord?" (referenced above) I searched for that Scripture on line and I came upon a teaching from Charles Spurgeon. It is long, but a very good read. I have to read Spurgeon outloud because it just "works" better that way. :) Anyways, here's the link to the whole teaching and then following are some of my favorite excerpts:

Frost and Thaw by C.H. Spurgeon -- http://www.spurgeon.org/misc/frost.htm


"Your heavenly Father is as able to deliver you as he is to melt the snow, and he will deliver you in as simple a manner if you rest upon him. He openeth his hand, and supplies the want of every living thing as readily as he works in nature. Mark the ease of God's working,—he does but open his hand."

"So in providence the Lord has a thousand forms of frosty trials with which to try his people, and he has ten thousand beams of mercy with which to cheer and comfort them. He can afflict you with the snow trial, or with the hoarfrost trial, or with the ice-trial if he will; and anon he can with his word relax the bonds of adversity, and that in countless ways. Whereas men are tied to two or three methods in accomplishing their will, God is infinite in understanding, and worketh as he wills by ways unguessed of mortal mind."

"Let the south wind blow and the snow he melted": lo, it disappeared at the voice of his word. Believer, you cannot tell how soon God may come to your help. "He rode upon a cherub and did fly," says David; "yea, he did fly upon the wings of the wind." He will come from above to rescue his beloved. He will rend the heavens and come down; with such speed will he descend, that he will not stay to draw the curtains of heaven, but he will rend them in his haste, and make the mountains to flow down at his feet, that he may deliver those who cry unto him in the hour of trouble. That mighty God who can melt the ice so speedily can take to himself the same eagle wings, and haste to your deliverance. Arise, O God! And let thy children be helped, and that right early."

""Who can stand before his cold?" For cold has a degree of omnipotence in it when God is pleased to let it loose. Let us thank God for the restraining mercy by which he holds the cold in check."

"Certainly there is much mercy in the frost, for pestilence might run a far longer race if it were not that the frost cries to it."

"Noxious insects would multiply until they devoured the precious fruits of the earth, if sharp nights did not destroy millions of them, so that these pests are swept from off the earth. Though man may think himself a loser by the cold, he is a great ultimate gainer by the decree of Providence which ordains winter. "

"Christian, remember the goodness of God in the frost of adversity. Rest assured that when God is pleased to send out the biting winds of affliction he is in them, and he is always love, as much love in sorrow as when he breathes upon you the soft south wind of joy. See the lovingkindness of God in every work of his hand! Praise him—he maketh summer and winter—let your song go round the year! Praise him—he giveth day and sendeth night—thank him at all hours! Cast not away your confidence, it hath great recompense of reward. As David wove the snow, and rain, and stormy wind into a song, even so combine your trials, your tribulations, your difficulties and adversities into a sweet psalm of praise."

"THOSE OPERATIONS OF GRACE, OF WHICH FROST AND THAW ARE THE OUTWARD SYMBOLS.There is a period with God's own people when he comes to deal with them by the frost of the law. The law is to the soul as the cutting north wind. Faith can see love in it, but the carnal eye of sense cannot. It is a cold, terrible, comfortless blast. To be exposed to the full force of the law of God would be to be frost-bitten with everlasting destruction; and even to feel it for a season would congeal the marrow of one's bones, and make one's whole being stiff with affright. "Who can stand before his cold?" When the law comes forth thundering from its treasuries, who can stand before it? The effect of law-work upon the soul is to bind up the rivers of human delight. No man can rejoice when the terrors of conscience are upon him. When the law of God is sweeping through the soul, music and dancing lose their joy . . .Every promising hope is frost-bitten, and the spirit is winter-bound in despair. This cold makes the sinner feel how ragged his garments are. He could strut about, when it was summer weather, and think his rags right royal robes, but now the cold frost finds out every rent in his garment, and in the hands of the terrible law he shivers like the leaves upon the aspen. The north wind of judgment searches the man through and through. He did not know what was in him, but now he sees his inward parts to be filled with corruption and rottenness. These are some of the terrors of the wintry breath of the law."

"This frost of law and terrors only tends to harden. Nothing splits the rock or makes the cliff tumble like frost when succeeded by thaw, but frost alone makes the earth like a mass of iron, breaking the ploughshare which would seek to pierce it. A sinner under the influence of the law of God, apart from the gospel, is hardened by despair, and cries, "There is no hope, and therefore after my lusts will I go. Whereas there is no heaven for me after this life, I will make a heaven out of this earth; and since hell awaits me, I will at least enjoy such sweets as sin may afford me here."

"When the Lord has wrought by the frost of the law, he sends the thaw of the gospel. When the south wind blows from the land of promise, bringing precious remembrances of God's fatherly pity and tender lovingkindness, then straightway the heart begins to soften, and a sense of blood-bought pardon speedily dissolves it. The eyes fill with tears, the heart melts in tenderness, rivers of pleasure flow freely, and buds of hope open in the cheerful air. A heavenly spring whispers to the flowers that were sleeping in the cold earth; they hear its voice, and lift up their heads, for "the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth, the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the turtle is heard in our land." God sendeth his Word, saying, "Thy warfare is accomplished, and thy sin is pardoned;" and when that blessedly cheering word comes with power to the soul, and the sweet breath of the Holy Spirit acts like the warm south wind upon the heart, then the waters flow, and the mind is filled with holy joy, and light, and liberty."

"All departures from sound doctrine on the point of conversion arise from forgetfulness that it is a divine work from first to last; that the faintest desire after Christ is as much the work of God as the gift of his dear Son; and that our whole spiritual history through, from the Alpha to the Omega, the Holy Spirit works in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure."

"The second thought upon nature was the ease with which the Lord worked. There was no effort or disturbance. Transfer that to the work of grace. How easy it is for God to send law-work into the soul. You stubborn sinner, you cannot touch him, and even providence has failed to awaken him. He is dead—altogether dead in trespasses and sins. But if the glorious Lord will graciously send forth the wind of his Spirit, that will melt him. The swearing reprobate, whose mouth is blackened with profanity, if the Lord doth but look upon him and make bare his arm of irresistible grace, shall yet praise God, and bless his name, and live to his honour. Do not limit the Holy One of Israel. Persecuting Saul became loving Paul, and why should not that person be saved of whose case you almost despair? Your husband may have many points which make his case difficult, but no case is desperate with God. Your son may have offended both against heaven and against you, but God can save the most hardened. The sharpest frost of obstinate sin must yield to the thaw of grace. Even huge icebergs of crime must melt in the Gulf-stream of infinite love."

"All obstacles which hindered our pardon were removed by Jesus when he died upon the tree, and if you believe in him you will find that he has cast your sins into the depths of the sea. If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth."

"If the Spirit enables you to trust in the finished work of Christ, you may go out of this house rejoicing that every sin is forgiven. Poor soul, do not think that the way from the horrible pit is to climb, step by step, to the top. Oh no; Jesus can set your feet upon a rock ere the clock shall have gone round the dial. He can in an instant bring you from death to life, from condemnation to justification. "To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise," was spoken to a dying thief, black and defiled with sin. Only believe in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."

"But how shall we thank him sufficiently for the thaw of his lovingkindness? How great the change which his mercy made in us as soon as its beams had reached our soul!"

"Believe in the Lord, ye who shiver in the frost of the law, and the law of love shall soon bring you warm days of joy and peace. So be it. Amen."

SO BE IT . . .AMEN! :) I hope you were able to see the pictures! And I hope you found RELIEF in this writing. May we all rest in the relief of the Good News today! Bless you.

Thank You President Bush!

I want to share Steven Curtis Chapman's new song written as a thank you for our President Bush's eight years of devoted service to us and our country. I, too, am so grateful for him. Our family has embraced him both in prayer and in our hearts. He will be sorely missed, but kept close always. We love you President Bush. Thank you! God bless you and give you rest now. :)

And thank you, Steven Curtis Chapman, for putting to words and music what we feel. And thank you for sharing your life and the mighty grace of God with us. We love you, too! :)



Good Bye. Mr. President.
Whether you voted for him & love him, or you’ve disagreed with all his policies and dislike him... Could we all agree on this? We owe President Bush a sincere thank you. As the historic Inauguration of President Elect Barack Obama approaches, StevenCurtisChapman.com pauses to thank our outgoing President for his service to our great country. This Thanksgiving weekend, we hope you’ll enjoy a new song by Steven written in President Bush’s honor.

http://www.stevencurtischapman.com/?roi=farm-16269486-120012-7f2c9970d8819b8ed95362990addf9e0&

The Double Message -- Part 2

What is the issue Paul is speaking to when he starts talking about freedom and standing firm in that freedom? The issue is -- Salvation is by grace thru faith alone. You cannot earn it. You cannot deserve it. You cannot accomplish it in the flesh. It is a work of the Spirit. That is all. Any adding of the flesh. Any adding of your works to that process, will negate it. No one would argue with that. Now, Paul takes another step into an arena where people might disagree and certainly where many people misunderstand.

He says, the way you came to faith. The same way you came to freedom. . . that is the way you have to live. "It was for freedom" = that's how you came and "keep standing firm" = that's how you're going to have to live. Galatians 3:2 & 3 says, "Let me ask you this one question: Did you receive the Holy Spirit by obeying the law of Moses? Of course not! You received the Spirit because you believed the message you heard about Christ. 3 How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?" Answer that. Was it by your striving that you were born again? NO. What happened? The Spirit of God "blasted" you. You received Jesus Christ. There was a sense of freedom and joy. "Are you so foolish that having begun by the Spirit . . .are you now being perfected by the flesh?" THAT'S THE DOUBLE MESSAGE! They had received the Spirit by faith thru grace, and now they were working like crazy in their flesh to be perfected . . . to receive their sanctification with their own effort. Guess what? This explains frustrated Christians!

Whenever freedom is discussed . . . whenever we talk about it . . . the discussion that it is not being up to you, the question always comes, "This freedom from the law is great. What? I can do anything I want to do? And I can be free to sin and get into all sorts of garbage?" THAT ISN'T TRUE! That isn't true. We are not set free to ignore God's moral law. God's moral law is still the standard. That isn't what we are talking about. The law we are speaking of is the law that we would use to try to get me to be holy. God's moral law is still the standard, e.g. "love one another." "Love the Lord . . . and love your neighbor as yourself." That moral standard is the standard that we would move to. The question is not do I keep God's moral law or not. The question is this -- what is the dynamic in some one's life that would move him into obedience to God's moral law? What is the dynamic in some one's life that would really produce holy, godly living? There's two answers to that question: 1) Put him in prison. Put him under the law. I can get people to behave a certain way by putting him in prison. By putting walls around him. Give him rules to follow. Tell him what to do and what not to do. . . how to act, and how not to act. . . what to care about and what not to care about. Put him in prison. Put little walls around him. And I can get him to "act" just exactly the way I want him to act. That's called EXTERNAL CONTROL. There's another way. It's a bizarre way. It's God's idea and it's really great! But, it's very, very hard to grasp sometimes. And many of us even after coming to know Jesus as our Savior, reject it. It's this -- 2) The other way to get people to live a holy life is to set them free.

But first, before you set someone free, if I set someone free who hasn't ever been changed INSIDE, I'm just going to have ANARCHY. He's going to go off and do whatever he wants to do. And it won't be anything about the Spirit of God. What I'm gonna do first, Jesus said, before the foundations of the world, is I'm gonna take these people and I'm gonna make them brand new people. Ill give them a new heart. I'm gonna make a brand new creature in Christ. I'm gonna implant the Holy Spirit of God in them. And then, I'm going to set them free. Think on this. . . How do I get people to live a holy life? Put 'em in prison? That's one way. Keep the rules there. Keep all the little boundaries there. Another way is to implant in him the Holy Spirit. Give him a new heart. Give him a new life. Make him a new creature in Christ and set him free. (Free to respond himself to the promptings of the Holy Spirit within him by grace, thru faith.)

Do you think that someone in whom the Spirit of God is dwelling is just going to go off and do whatever it is he feels like doing? I don't believe it. Unless the Spirit of God is NOT in him. And the problem for us is that most churches do not function that way. Most of the time we are not committed to setting people free, we are committed to putting them in prison. Because we are so scared (and unbelieving) that if we set them free, they're just going to go off and "run-a-muck."

And so, we tell them the rules and tell them how to act and we tell what to care about and what not to care about (the "build-a-Christian" factory) . . .we tell them when to do it and when not to do it. We put them under a legalistic bondage and we just put them back in prison.

Basically, there's two reasons why we do that -- 1) I don't think we (pastors) really trust the Spirit. Not enough to believe that He's really "at work" within you. Paul said, "it's God Who is at work within you (Philippians 2:13); both to will and to work to His good pleasure."
Philippians 1:6 -- "And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns."

I (Pastor Dave) have NO confidence that God is going to continue in you a good work if you are an "Ishmael" (a natural born son-of-God). If the Spirit of God is NOT born in you, I have no confidence that anything holy is going to come from your life. However, I have every confidence that if the Spirit of God is in your life, having set you free, it will lead to holiness. Absolutely! I've gotta believe that.

But we take people and we put them back in prison and Paul says "don't you dare do that!" If you do that, you will have DEFILED the Gospel. It is no longer the Gospel. It is no longer the Good News! We don't trust the Spirit. We take over His job by putting people back in prison.

Who is Paul speaking to in Galatians? This is vital. From here on in . . . he is speaking to "Isaac's" (these are Dave's buzz words -- an "Isaac" is someone who is supernaturally born of the Spirit of God. . . they are re-born. . . new creature in Christ. An "Ishmael" is someone who is naturally born. . . talks like a Christian. . . acts like a Christian. . . joined a church. . . has been in alliance all their life . . .maybe been on the Board. . . .probably taught Sunday school. . . but they are naturally-born, illegitimate sons of Abraham. . . there never was the implanting of the Holy Spirit (a false convert). Who Paul is speaking to here (in Galatians) are only those to whom the Spirit of God has been implanted -- supernaturally born. Ishmael's, no matter how religious they are or how spiritual they sound, Ishmael's are absolutely incapable of the freedom we are speaking of. They are absolutely incapable of having freedom produce holiness. For an Ishmael, freedom will produce godlessness. . . every time. . . guaranteed. Why? There's nothing left to control them.

Ishmael's get terrified when you start talking about setting people free. Why? An Ishmael wouldn't even understand that there can be another control, because they don't have one! No internal control. . . no presence of the Holy Spirit.
But now in Galatians, Paul is speaking to the dimension that this life inside of us is the work of the Spirit. Internally, indwelling, the life of a true "Isaac."

Here is the "theme" of Galatians: Your striving did not bring salvation. Your striving will not bring sanctification. It is all a work of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5:5, "For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." Galatians 5:15, (amp) "But I say, walk and live [habitually] in the [Holy] Spirit [responsive to and controlled and guided by the Spirit]; then you will certainly not gratify the cravings and desires of the flesh (of human nature without God)." It DOES NOT say, "Try hard not to carry out the desires of the flesh. It says, "If you walk by the Spirit, you won't. . . " Galatians 5:18, "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law." You are no longer in prison. You don't need the rules. You don't need the external control. You've got internal control (unless you are an "Ishmael"). Galatians 5:25, "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." And all God's people say, "Amen!" And some of God's people say, "What does that mean?"

Control of the Spirit . . .Spirit-Control . . . has to do with internal transformation. Law, rules, flesh have to do with external pressure. Both of them are designed to produce the same thing. The laws, rules everybody coming down on everybody is designed to produce holy living. Every body's got a good motive. Right? The most legalistic church you could possibly imagine has a good motive and that's holy living. That's what they want. They have opted for external control, tho. A controlling pastor says, "If I can make them feel guilty enough, (and put the fear of God in them) I can get them to do whatever I want them to do or think they should be doing." I can motivate them to do right by external pressure.

Internal transformation requires a work of the Spirit that produces Holy living. When a person is full of the Holy Spirit, wrapped around in Christ, he is set free from that prison. He is set free from the law. If you are led by the Spirit, you are free from the flesh.

In our society, when people break the law, we put them in prison. right? The reason we put them in prison is because the ones who have broken the law, for one reason or another, do not have enough internal control to keep the law on their own. So what they need, in order for them to keep the law, I've go to give them an external control. What we do is "institutionalize" them. We put them in an institution. What does that mean? It means that we need to put that guy in a box that he cannot get out of, so that he keeps the rules or holds to the moral law. Again, everybody wants the same thing. They want to have holy living. This guy has no internal control. So I gotta put him in prison. I gotta give him structure. I've gotta give him walls. I've gotta give him restrictions. I've gotta dump a lot of guilt on him to keep him in line. That's exactly what the law does. It give you external control.

As a believer, having been given internal control, having been given the transformation work of the Spirit of God, what I did when I got saved was I walked out of that prison. Do you remember the day you got saved? The joy? Do you remember the joy, the exhilaration of knowing that you were saved and it wasn't up to you? Knowing that you were accepted and all you had to do was receive it by faith? Knowing that the Spirit of God had come and taken His residence in you and you couldn't explain it, but, you could "feel it?" How long has it been since you "felt it?" And you walked out of prison a free man. Free to break the law, right? No. When we think that it just betrays that we don't have any idea what we're talking about. You are not free to break the law. You're not free to just go and do any thing you want. You are free to fulfill it. Not because some body's pounding on your head. Not because your mommy and your daddy are on your case if you don't. Not because your pastor is yelling and screaming at you. (Not so you can get your pastor's approval!) Not cuz your church pressures you too. But because you've got a NEW HEART from Jesus and you hunger and thirst for His righteousness.

Now, if you take an "Isaac" and you put him back in a legal system to control his behavior, you have just put him back into prison. You have put him back into his cell. When you do that, you have absolutely eliminated the need for the Holy Spirit in his life! As an externally-controlled believer, you've got all this external control . . .what do you need God for? You've got all the rules (spoken and non-spoken), telling you how to behave. . . why would you even be prompted to seek out what it means to be led of the Spirit? Why would you even consider that? You've got all these external things and your pastor telling you what to think, telling you what not to think . . . what to do and what not to do. . . what God likes and what God doesn't like.

I could give you the testimony of Christian after Christian who describes their salvation experience in glowing terms and then they got involved in a controlling church. And all of a sudden it became "external control." (How you looked and how you dressed and how you talked, whether you could date or not date, what college you could go to or not got to, what job you should do, whether you should have 3 children or 5 children . . homeschool or not homeschool. No longer are you Spirit-led but rather "pastor-led.") Whether or not you are circumcised. In a controlling church this is what really matters. You have been "incarcerated" by man. . . not transformed by God. '

By the way, it is much easier to live in a cell than it is to make the right use of my freedom! Isn't that right? That's another reason why Christians just prefer to live under control and a legalistic structure. It's easier. "I don't have to learn to be sensitive to the Spirit. I just obey the rules. Just do it. I don't ever have to DISCERN. I don't ever have to think. I don't ever have to pray. It's all cut and dried. It's all real clear. I don't have to learn to hear the Spirit. SOMEONE ELSE DOES ALL THAT FOR ME. Call the pastor, or elder board, mother or father or someone else does all that praying and that deciding for me. . . ALL THAT DISCERNING FOR ME and they tell me how much to serve, where I should serve, how much is too much and how much is too little. They'll even come to my house and tell me how to raise my children and how to keep my home. They'll tell me what I should be involved in and what I shouldn't be involved in. It's all wonderful! And we'll make these the marks of what a true Christian is. They'll tell me what I should do and what I shouldn't do. They'll tell me what is right and what is wrong. And I'll just keep following along, and if they say give 10% to the Lord then I'll give 10%. And if they say 12%, then I'll give 12% and if they say give it all, then fine, here's the whole bank account. That's fine, BUT DON'T CALL THIS "SPIRIT CONTROL." DON'T CALL THAT THE CONTROL OF THE SPIRIT.

The Double Message -- Part 1

It's really on my heart to begin sharing something of Dave Johnson's (co-author of "The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse" and pastor at Church of the Open Door in Minnesota). This church has a ministry of a "lending library" that has really been instrumental towards my recovery from legalism and growth in God's grace. I met Dave's dad, Bill Johnson, long ago at a Christian camp called, Silver Birch, up in northern Wisconsin. Bill Johnson and his wife and I became friends and started corresponding while they were retired in Florida. I was also able to participate in Bill's conference on Job and have loved his audios and book on Job called, "Friendly Fire." God has used both Bill (who is now in Heaven) and his son, Dave, to present to me the clear Gospel.

Dave's teaching on "The Double Message" is powerful and valuable and that's why I'm quoting most of it and for the sake of time, breaking it down into parts. May God bring all of us into total trust in Christ, having no confidence in our flesh, but be completely led by the Spirit. Amen.





Galatians 5:1-6 (Walk by the Spirit)
1 It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. 2 Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. 3 And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. 4 You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. 5 For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love. 7 You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?



Fallen from Grace. You were running so well. Who hindered you? Satan would just as soon leave Christians living their Christian life in their Christian flesh; working as hard as they can, and never breaking thru in the Spirit.



The definition of a double message is: while in a conversation, there are two things being said at the same time. There are two things involved. While one thing is being communicated, another thing is being felt. For instance, someone may say the words, "I love you," but with an angry, indifferent tone. There are two messages at the same time. You're hearing the words, "I love you," but the feeling is the opposite. When we get double messages, what it does is it causes confusion. You can't always sort it out. And the characteristic of a double message is that the two things being said contradict each other. The irony is for us is when we get a double message from someone, instead of taking the time and sorting it out by asking them, "what do you mean." Generally, what we do is we live trying like crazy to reconcile the tension in the double message almost as if they can live together as equal and it can really be okay. You're left living in a limbo -- between what is said and what you are really feeling is being said (the opposite).



The Galatians had received and fallen prey to a double message. They had been wonderfully saved. They had received the Holy Spirit of God. You could see the work of the Holy Spirit thru them as God was demonstrating thru their lives and He transformed them with love and patience and joy and peace. The internal work of the Holy Spirit had begun for these people. And it was characterized by freedom and joy.



Then the "Judy-izers" came and they said, "Praise the Lord! You're saved. I'm really glad that that happened. It's wonderful. Isn't God good? That's just great. Ah, yes, BUT NOW that you're in, now that you've passed the salvation test and you know that it's all by faith, what you NEED TO KNOW NOW my dear friend, is that now that you're in, here are some rules that you need to keep, and here are some little rituals that you need to observe. If you really want to be a Christian of course you'll have to be circumcised. If you really want to be a Christian, of course, you have to join the church. If you really want to be a Christian, you have to give more money. If you really want to be a good Christian, you have to get a little more involved; you need to do this external thing that will prove to everyone else around you that you really are in. You gotta come not only to the morning service, but all the other services as well, and participate in as much as you can."



There's nothing wrong will all these things . . . .UNLESS that activity that you do is done because you think that somehow by doing it you can get God to like you more, to love you more, to accept you more, to be a really "good" Christian, I'll do this external thing.



The result of this kind of mindset is a double message. The double message is this: the Christian life, dear friend, is lived by faith. It is lived by the Holy Spirit of God coming into you taking His residence in you and beginning to express Himself out. . . BUT REALLY YOU LIVE BY THE LAW. The double message is this: The Christian life is a life of God's gracious giving and the Holy Spirit's empowering . . .BUT THE REAL TRUTH IS THIS -- IT'S UP TO YOU, BUDDY. IT'S UP TO YOU.

So, we'll "talk" about grace and we'll "talk" about faith and we'll "talk" about the Holy Spirit (some times) of God in you moving thru you, producing fruit and freedom and producing holiness, BUT THE BOTTOM LINE IS ALL THOSE THINGS REALLY MEAN IT'S UP TO YOU. YOU GOTTA DO IT. WORK REAL HARD.



You felt set free when you first got saved. You felt excited. You felt full of Jesus. This can even be illustrated with a worship service. During praise, my heart gets so lifted, I see Jesus real clear. And I think all the things I'm worried about and all the things I'm consumed in are just trivial things, they're external things that I've allowed myself to get bogged down in and my freedom is gone. I see Jesus real clear sometimes and I feel real sensitive to Him and I feel real free and real alive. BUT then there's that "double message" that comes flying right behind you.



We'll "talk" of grace and Spirit, but the truth is "you better do it right." It's not up to the Spirit at all, it's up to you. It's up to you. "You own it." The result: While you know you are a Christian and there's nothing in the world to convince you otherwise . . .while you are a Christian, in your life, there is no joy . . .there is no joy. Paul's greatest concern for the them was "what happened to that sense of blessing you had?" There's no joy, no life, no freedom and there is no victory, even tho you seek after it with tears and try as hard as you can to be a good Christian . . . you just work so hard and you begin to think, "something's missing. Something's off! Is this all there is?" We just keep on striving and keep on working, hoping nobody will notice you are living a totally defeated Christian life. You're even wondering if this is real?!



And then to that Paul says this . . . (into that double message) Paul says: "It was for freedom that Christ set you free. Keep standing firm in that freedom." Don't you "buy" the double message. Get on one track. You can't have it both ways. It is either Spirit, or it is flesh. It is either law or it is grace. It is either external control (as a Pastor, getting people to do things you want them to do) or it is internal control (the Spirit of God getting them to do what He wants them to do.) You can't have both. And if you mix them at all, it's OVER. It's over.



In fact, Paul says if you try to mix law and grace, if you come at people with this double message ("Oh, yes, it's Spirit, but it's really you.") if you come at people with this double message you have not just confused the Gospel, you have DESTROYED the Gospel. It is NO LONGER the Gospel. Paul called it a different Gospel. The double message may sound just like Christianity . . . but it isn't. Galatians 5:2-6 says if you start living this double message, Christ is of no benefit to you . . .you are under obligation to keep the whole law . . . you are severed from Christ . . .you are fallen from Grace. Pretty heavy stuff.

Favorite YouTube Clips

Some favorite YouTube videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-N_HueFxMI -- Charles Stanley (10 min) teaching on "Legalism." Clip from the preaching of Dr Charles Stanley. Many churches become legalistic when they attribute the keeping of rules to salvation, if a christian fails to perform the standards they are taught they have failed to keep saved.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h91guqkL2xM -- Charles Stanley (3:25 min) "Our Position
In Christ."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1kjb_QY8_o -- What is Spiritual Abuse? (10 min) This video isn't only about the pain & harm caused by heresy. It's also about inappropriate & harmful *methods* of ministry taking place at doctrinally orthodox assemblies.

Earnestly Contend . . .

Jude 1:3 (NIV) says, "Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.

Contend? Is Jude actually promoting contentiousness?

Definition:
con·ten·tious (kən ten′s̸həs) adjective = always ready to argue; quarrelsome; of or marked by contention; provoking or likely to provoke controversey; militant

I heard a good teaching today at church about our attitudes and not being quarrelsome. And I agree. We should suffer default (I Corinthians 6:5-8) rather than participate in PETTY arguments and issues. Yet, in keeping the doctrine of grace uncorrupted, and the purity of the Good News, we are also called to contention. We are called to expose the toxic leaven that kills our joy and renders us powerless and offends the Spirit of Grace. We are accountable one to another "not to turn traitor to Him Who has called us by the Grace of Christ by embracing a variant message! It is not a minor variation, you know; it is completely other, an alien message, a no-message, a lie about God," (Gal. 1:6 -- The Message).

Galatians 1:6-9 (LBV) says: "I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ.
8 Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even an angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one we preached to you. 9 I say again what we have said before: If anyone preaches any other Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed."

Paul says that we are not to be fooled by anyone, no matter who it is, even if it were an angel, that promotes any other way of salvation other than by the Grace and Gift of God. This is a legitamate cause for contention.

Matthew Henry's Commentary:
1:6-9 Those who would establish any other way to heaven than what the gospel of Christ reveals, will find themselves wretchedly mistaken. The apostle presses upon the Galatians a due sense of their guilt in forsaking the gospel way of justification; yet he reproves with tenderness, and represents them as drawn into it by the arts of some that troubled them. In reproving others, we should be faithful, and yet endeavour to restore them in the spirit of meekness.(I want this, Lord.) Some would set up the works of the law in the place of Christ's righteousness, and thus they corrupted Christianity. The apostle solemnly denounces, as accursed, every one who attempts to lay so false a foundation. All other gospels than that of the grace of Christ, whether more flattering to self-righteous pride, or more favourable to worldly lusts, are devices of Satan. And while we declare that to reject the moral law as a rule of life, tends to dishonour Christ, and destroy true religion, we must also declare, that all dependence for justification on good works, whether real or supposed, is as fatal to those who persist in it. While we are zealous for good works, let us be careful not to put them in the place of Christ's righteousness, and not to advance any thing which may betray others into so dreadful a delusion."

We need to have the freedom to "revelate" with one another, to debate in a normal dialogue if we disagree or have any questions regarding doctrine. Fellow believers should never question loyalty, respect, spirituality, maturity, because we contend for the Good News. Our questions or statements, what a good friend of mine calls "revelating," is actually healthy and can be used for an interdependant system of checks and balances. It takes secure people, whose identities are not tied up in anything but Christ. In fact, this would be a sign of a healthy, non-abusive church . . .the ability to disagree respectfully and encourage dialogue that would support an uncorrupted Gospel.

I love Martin Luther and his contention for the Gospel of Grace. He nailed his objections soundly to the door of his mother church. HE PROTESTED! I think of Acts 15:1, which says, "It wasn't long before some Jews showed up from Judea insisting that everyone be circumcised: "If you're not circumcised in the Mosaic fashion, you can't be saved. Paul and Barnabas were up on their feet at once in fierce protest." What's that? FIERCE PROTEST? In other versions, it says, "no small disputation." (Oh, they must have been "wounded, or carrying baggage -- or some other 'write-off') And Jesus Himself, confronted this poison, calling men "vipers!" When it comes to the truth, the Truth Himself, contended. In fact, this is the very cause for persecution -- preaching Christ Crucified alone. The natural man hates it. The Spirit of Anti-Christ campaigns against it daily. . . in the world and . . in our churches.

So I say, if you get a "red flag" concerning doctrine, please don't come under any "no talk rule." Don't come under any control, but be compelled for His Glory and His Truth and His Good News! We must earnestly contend for the Good News Gospel concerning which we read in the New Testament, the only gospel that has the power to save (Rom. 1: 16).

My First Love

I am so "blasted" right now in God because Doug is playing "My First Love" sung by Jeremy Sinnott . . . I LOVE this song . . .and God's Love is all over our house! YEAH!!! Here are the blessed lyrics (just add a flute and guitar):

My first Love is a blazing fire,
I feel His powerful Love in me.
For He has kindled a flame of passion,
AND I WILL LET IT GLOW IN ME;
And in the night I will sing Your praise; My Love.

AND LIKE A CHILD I WILL DANCE IN YOUR PRESENCE
Oh, let the joy of Heaven pour down on me.
I STILL REMEMBER THE FIRST DAY I MET YOU,
AND I DON'T EVER WANT TO LOSE THAT FIRE!
MY FIRST LOVE!

My first love is rushing river,
A waterfall that will never cease;
And in the torrent of tears and laughter,
I feel a healing power released.
AND I WILL DRAW FROM YOUR WELL OF LIFE, MY LOVE.
AND IN YOUR GRACE I'LL BE SATISFIED, MY LOVE.
(cuz it's sufficient, Lord!)

Restore the years of the church's slumber,
Revive the fire that has grown so dim;
Renew the love of those first encounters,
That we may come alive again;
And we will rise like the dawn throughout the earth!
Announcing Your Return!!!

(Revelations 2:4 -- this was a "stellar" [outstanding in performance] church as far as works were concerned, but they placed their emphasis in their missions, programs and behavior (spiritual performances) over their intimacy and relationship with their Savior -- it started to become about them. But it's about Jesus and our extremely personal and passionate walk with Him. I like verse 2, where Jesus commended them for exposing false apostles . . .so we CAN disagree with leaders and make them accountable for their teachings and doctrines, huh? :) Noticing a problem, shouldn't make you" the problem.")

"If . . . .Then" Versus "Yeah and Amen!"

Joy!!! There is such joy in knowing the Truth of the Grace of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It brings such RELIEF! An oasis from the FUTILITY of religiousity and "spiritual performance."
I get so tired of the same 'ole, same 'ole messages that reflect the Old Covenant of "trying hard to do what God commands." As a recovering legalist, I turn off now to messages of any kind that endorses this sometimes subtle, yet damaging deception, and very popular form of legalism -- a PERFORMANCE-BASED Christianity.

A legalist = a "spiritual performer"

The Old Covenant was full of "if . . . then" promises. An "if . . . then" promise means that God was saying, "If you will do this, then I will do that." The people had to fulfill the "ifs" before God would fulfill the "thens." For example, "if you commit your house or possession to the Lord, He will then protect them." The New Covenant in Christ has "ifs and thens" also, but under this New Covenant ALL THE "IFS" HAVE BEEN FULFILLED AND COMPLETED IN JESUS CHRIST so that the "thens" can be fulfilled and completed in us!

I love 2 Corinthians 1:20! It gave me such revelation and joy not long ago. . .
2 Corinthians 1:20 (NIV) says,"For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God."

(LBV) says, "For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.

When I finally received this understanding, I couldn't wait to go thru all the "Ifs" everywhere in the Bible, and I read the Promises of God books in a new "light" -- the Light of Christ, because it was such a joy to know that Jesus has fulfilled them all and I, a believer, get to reap all the "thens!" THIS IS GOOD NEWS!!! Clearly, this verse says that ALL the promises of God are fulfilled -- they are "yea and amen" -- in Jesus Christ. Jesus IS the "yeah and amen," having fulfilled all the "if . . . then" requirements to all the promises of God. Now THIS would make for a great message to edify and build up the Body of Christ, wouldn't it? It brings hope and joy and celebration and awe in the gifts and MERCY of God.

Legalism endorses unbelief and the minimizes the mercy of God!

The Old Covenant falls short in glorifying the merciful God we really do have! Jeus IS HIS GlORY! Now, because of Jesus, we can see the Perfection of God as noted in Matthew 5:45: "For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike." (He can do this now because of Jesus!) And here's the Good News . . . one of the NT "Ifs . . . thens" . . . .If you are IN CHRIST, everything is already given to you as a Gift of His Grace and Mercy. "For if, while we were yet enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, how much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life." (Romans 5:10) We shall be saved, kept saved, and kept safe! We've inherited all the promises of God thru Jesus! Now the Father is our Father and He watches all things concerning our lives. We never have to bargain or do anything to get Him to respond to us. Jesus has already done did it all!! If you are In Christ, are are IN!!!

Legalism is like constantly trying to "get into a room" that you are already in. That's why it seems so hard. Have you ever seen someone trying really hard to get into a room he's already in? What freedom comes when that person realizes that he's already in! Then he can REST and RECEIVE and I know, as a recovering legalist, that person will never want to leave that glorious room. No teaching or mindset or scripture or anything will draw a recovering legalist out of the room of relief and grace . . . he/she is firmly planted. The Truth of God's Grace has set us free from that heavy yoke of OT spiritual performance, requirements and qualifications! YAHOO!

Where are you placing your faith and hope? In your performance ("If . . . Then)? Or in the Grace of God (the Yeah and Amen) IN Jesus Christ? Jeff Harkin, author of "Grace Plus Nothing" says it has been his observation that many of the most committed believers in the Body of Christ are under PILES of "if . . . then" teaching. And I agree. He asks this question, "Are you being vexed by the ever-growing list of "ifs" that you are being taught you must perform in order to obtain the blessings of God upon your life? The vexation is there to bring you back to simple grace. The Holy Spirit is allowing you to feel vexed in order to tell you something is wrong."

Legalism tries to "obligate God," which is in fact nothing short of a veiled attempt to manipulate God or to rule and therefore BE GOD. It has inferior motives: Fear of punishment and desire for reward. . . . to mature in grace is to be freed from REWARD as a Primary Motivation to obey God. This is why legalism can never break the mastery of sin.

Grace renders these inferior motives of fear of punishment and desire for reward either impotent or irrelevant. And Grace says, "We love, because He first loved us" (john 4:19) Thus love as a response to grace. The UNCONDITIONAL (no strings attached, no hidden agendas) Love of God IN Jesus Christ is the ONLY Place where worldly motives (fear of punishment and desire for reward) can be superseded by Godly motivation.

We have the Spirit of God within us (greater is He!) so that we may discern between true and false teaching. True shepherds point to the Chief Shepherd! False teachers are preoccupied with performance. . . using OT Scriptures most of the time. Works righteousness glorifies man! Grace righteousness glorifies God! Grace eliminates boasting ("I have a big ministry because I pray 5 hours every day!" or "God gave me this great job and/or money because I tithe." or "God answered my prayer because I fasted." How 'bout God takes care of me in all ways because of Jesus!

Here's a simple rule of thumb I've learned recently for discerning teaching: The actual source of all teaching and doctrine is revealed in whom it glorifies. In other words, teaching that emphasizes success through YOUR great discipline or even success through YOUR great faith also tends to aim the glory at YOU. Thus, it is frequently true that faith in faith glorifies your faith, and faith in self-discipline glorifies your self-discipline. BUT faith in God's grace and in the gift of His righteousness glorifies God, because A GIFT CANNOT BE BOUGHT OR EARNED; it can only be received.

All the above has come from my heart, notes from my journal, and highlighted notes from Jeff Harkin's book, "Grace Plus Nothing;" and notes from Dave Johnson's book, "The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse."

Spiritual abuse? Yes, that's why legalism is so dangerous. There's an equation that abusers use . . .legalism + fear = control. True shepherds point to the Chief Shepherd. They do not yell at you, or cause you to feel like you're not "doing enough." They should never condescend or treat you like a sub-Christian and/or children. There are no levels. (You are either IN Christ or not. You either have the Son or not.) When they speak of levels or higher places, we are being lied to. You are complete in Christ! You have the Holy Spirit to lead you and guide you and teach you and give you clear discernment. You have all the promises in God fulfilled by Christ!

Where are all the edifying messages about the Holy Spirit and His power in this Life in Christ? Where are all the faith-building message about what we have in Christ? The adequacy of Jesus!? His grace being sufficient for us? Anti-legalism messages? Jesus said many times, "beware, of the leaven of the pharisees." Why put so much emphasis on the outword (as in any religion: buddhist, islam, hindu, jewish, and cults like mormonism, jehovah witnesses, FLDS, etc.)? Where is Christianity any different? According to Jesus, we can all clean up the outside, but what about mercy, justice and faith? Why work so hard for what is so freely given? The Fruit of the Holy Spirit is given to us! We have something all the "religions" do not -- The New Life in Christ delivered and maintained by the precious Holy Spirit as a Gift of the Mercy of God the Father.

We lack NOTHING in Christ!! Legalism replaces rest in God. Therefore, resting in God recovers me from legalism. And let us now rest in, "If Jesus . . . then Fulfillment." :)