This is my confession. We have to start here so everyone knows I am not simply casting stones.
I just ended a five-day fast. Praise God! (Both for the five-days and for the end of it.) Anyone who knows me knows about the only thing I have ever gotten out of fasting is hungry. I am what some have called a "slow faster." For about the past two years I have stuck to the only diet plan that has ever really helped me lose weight. I made it up myself, but it is not copyrighted so you can use it too. It is really quite simple. Cut down on sugar intake. Then only eat when you are hungry and quit eating when you are satisfied. It worked for me to the tune of about twenty pounds over that time. It also enabled me to eat just one hearty meal a day and something more like snacks three or for times a day and feel satisfied. That is just to say, going from there to a total fast is not as difficult as if one were eating three square meals a day. However, unaccustomed as I am to fasting, and advancing in years, it still hurt by the third day--and did not get any better. I did learn some things and broke a bondage or two which is the purpose of this series of posts.
Jesus told us to, "Seek first the kingdom of God..." (Matthew 6:33) That is the subtitle of the next post, but we should start thinking about it now because it really is the essence of the entire series. I am going to guess that most of us are in the boat together in that we have no earthly conception of what it means to seek God's kingdom first. Now, before you get outraged by that statement, take a breath and tell yourself what it means. selah If you were able to do that, you are not in the boat with us. You can stop reading now if you want to. You might still want to read the next post, however.
Like most of you, I have read Jesus' words about seeking God's kindgom first many times and have heard several teachings on them over the years. In fact, I would probably say I thought I was seeking God's kingdom first. After all, I go to church every week (sometimes my wife makes me) and I give more than ten percent of my income to Christian ministries. I even do daily devotions and am reading a chronological Bible that will get me through the whole Bible in a year. What else can I do?
Seeking God's kingdom is not a matter of what we do. Although who we are is of the utmost importance to God, it is not even about that. It is a matter of priorities. Some readers were just hit with a jolt of revelation. That is what happened to me as well a couple nights ago. How have we (I) missed things like that? When we are told to seek something first, that indicates the top of a priority list. That in turn indicates there are other things which must not be at the top of the priority list--like everything else.
My confession is that I am a soul-first individual and I have only just realized it. In worldly terms we would say I was ignorant. Spiritually speaking, we would say I was deceived. Of course I would like to put all that in the past tense--and hopefully will be able to do that soon. The soul-first individual says to God, when confronted with the words of Jesus we are discussing, "Let me build my kindgom first." He does not usually even say "please."
See if any of the following quotes correlate with your experience:
"I have to finish my education first."
"I have to get a job first."
"I have to get married first."
"I have to have some money first."
Now again, if you are not guilty of any of those things you may stop reading. Where are your priorities? It was the last one that got me. Of course, then again, I have all the others, sort of.
If this has been as much fun for you as it has for me, look forward to doing it again soon. Part 2 coming up. God bless.
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Saturday, February 4, 2012
The Religious Spirit is the Spirit of the Law, Part 2
It is amazing that anyone could believe there is not a religious spirit over the Santa Maria valley. We have talked with many people over the years who have spiritually discerned the presence of a religious spirit. Evil spirits are masters of disguise, but one does not even need spiritual discernment to know the church in the Santa Maria valley is not The Church God intends for it to be. We are coming up woefully short of God's best. Let me be as fair as I know how here. Maybe the church is being The Church somewhere in this valley. Please do not keep it a secret any longer. Let us know where you are. (Read the rest of the post and use it as a checklist before making that claim.)
Some mistake the religious spirit for a controlling spirit. Certainly the religious spirit exhibits many forms of control. We have frequently written about that in these pages. The best way to distinguish the two is probably to say that a controlling spirit works through people to control other people whereas a religious spirit works through religious systems to accomplish the same end. In both situations, the end result is to coerce the rank-and-file to do what the leadership thinks they ought to do. That has more in common with law than grace. In the context of the church, this eliminates the possibility of the church truly being Holy Spirit led. The Holy Spirit does not check with the powers that be in the church before He moves. In fact, it seems the Holy Spirit takes great delight in surprising people--in a good way of course.
It just occurred to me that many of you readers have no idea what the Church is supposed to look like. In which case, you might be inclined to think the church in Santa Maria is doing as well as can be expected. Let us ask ourselves a few questions to see how we measure up against scripture.
Do we love one another and demonstrate that love so that people know we are disciples of Jesus? (John 13:35) One need not look far in this valley to find people who are hurting because they have been abused by leaders in one church or another. Strike one! Do we see signs following those who believe to the extent people are being physically healed wherever they go? (Mark 16:18) Oh, we do see healings, but it seems to be more accidental than intentional most of the time. Call that strike two. Is the Lord adding to the church daily? (Acts 2:47) Maybe. Does the church have all things in common? (Acts 2:44) Oh please, The Church gets together once a year, one Thursday in May for the national day of prayer. We all fit into the smaller exhibit hall at the Fair Park. That is the best we do. Strike three!
To say it plainly, we have a long way to go if we want to truly be The Church Jesus came to save from an enemy who seeks only to steal and to kill and to destroy. (John 10:10) Never mind even getting to the last part of the verse and having an abundant life. We know people who would say they have an abundant life. Most of those people are meeting in rented buildings or buildings with mortgages on them. Some do better, but they still have to ask for special offerings for special needs. Moses had to stop the people from bringing gifts for the building of the tabernacle.
There is still room for improvement. There will always be room for improvement while we live on the earth. Do not allow the enemy of our souls to deceive you any longer into thinking what you see in this valley is as good as can be expected. God is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all we can ask or even think. (Ephesians 3:20) We have a long way to go. We just have to get out of our own way and quit trying to be the Holy Spirit to other people, telling them what they should and should not be doing. Do what you are supposed to do! If we can just get out of our own way and do that, we will be amazed by what God will do.
Some mistake the religious spirit for a controlling spirit. Certainly the religious spirit exhibits many forms of control. We have frequently written about that in these pages. The best way to distinguish the two is probably to say that a controlling spirit works through people to control other people whereas a religious spirit works through religious systems to accomplish the same end. In both situations, the end result is to coerce the rank-and-file to do what the leadership thinks they ought to do. That has more in common with law than grace. In the context of the church, this eliminates the possibility of the church truly being Holy Spirit led. The Holy Spirit does not check with the powers that be in the church before He moves. In fact, it seems the Holy Spirit takes great delight in surprising people--in a good way of course.
It just occurred to me that many of you readers have no idea what the Church is supposed to look like. In which case, you might be inclined to think the church in Santa Maria is doing as well as can be expected. Let us ask ourselves a few questions to see how we measure up against scripture.
Do we love one another and demonstrate that love so that people know we are disciples of Jesus? (John 13:35) One need not look far in this valley to find people who are hurting because they have been abused by leaders in one church or another. Strike one! Do we see signs following those who believe to the extent people are being physically healed wherever they go? (Mark 16:18) Oh, we do see healings, but it seems to be more accidental than intentional most of the time. Call that strike two. Is the Lord adding to the church daily? (Acts 2:47) Maybe. Does the church have all things in common? (Acts 2:44) Oh please, The Church gets together once a year, one Thursday in May for the national day of prayer. We all fit into the smaller exhibit hall at the Fair Park. That is the best we do. Strike three!
To say it plainly, we have a long way to go if we want to truly be The Church Jesus came to save from an enemy who seeks only to steal and to kill and to destroy. (John 10:10) Never mind even getting to the last part of the verse and having an abundant life. We know people who would say they have an abundant life. Most of those people are meeting in rented buildings or buildings with mortgages on them. Some do better, but they still have to ask for special offerings for special needs. Moses had to stop the people from bringing gifts for the building of the tabernacle.
There is still room for improvement. There will always be room for improvement while we live on the earth. Do not allow the enemy of our souls to deceive you any longer into thinking what you see in this valley is as good as can be expected. God is able to do exceeding, abundantly above all we can ask or even think. (Ephesians 3:20) We have a long way to go. We just have to get out of our own way and quit trying to be the Holy Spirit to other people, telling them what they should and should not be doing. Do what you are supposed to do! If we can just get out of our own way and do that, we will be amazed by what God will do.
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