Life out of Death

Today I started by reading my devotional from TA Sparks: http://austin-sparks.net/english/books/002851.html

Before starting, I had to claim the cross against all the fleshy activity in my mind because it was still racing from work, which would definitely hinder my understanding of this complex excerpt. I got to his message really ministered to me. Especially a part speaking of Moses being chased by God as God sought to kill him. I know many look at this telling of events, and think what a harsh God. Conversely, I see the love of God in this. That He is so insistent He wants to work in Moses, that He will scare him into His will almost. That God will bring Moses to the end of himself and slay his flesh, that Moses can live up to his potential, and more importantly, purpose God has planned. A true, meaningful Christian will be marked by circumcision of the heart. They will have a line of alters behind them of things they gave up to follow God. Don’t believe me? You should study your old testament more. Do a study on the word alter. If a Christian is going to MEAN something for God, the devil will not stop or rest until he has used every measure to defeat said Christian. So, when I see Christians who have a life of ease, unmarked by the cross, pains, deaths, etc; I see a Christian who musn’t have counted much for God’s eternal kingdom. Do not get me wrong – this is me included! I read this and shudder! Am I counting for God??

Next I continue my reading of Matthew – today on chapter 12. I am trying to go slower lately and ensure I am grasping the meaning as much as God will reveal. Trust me this is tedious. I will read a parable or story I have read a hundred times, and insist that I break it down. I have not perfect this endeavor yet but here are things that stuck out to me:

1. Works on the Sabbath: God does not put religiousity before souls. Let me explain, when it comes to life and death, Christ did not nitpick at the Pharisee’s own dos/do-nots just to follow the status quo. Scripture had said it was legal for those who were hungry to glean from the corn fields. Believers were not to die on the Sabbath, just to follow the law. Christ is merciful and thus he healed on the Sabbath, he provided food to those hungry. We have been in times where God is sending us through a time where we can do nothing but rest in Him – does He not provide what we need during these times for us to live off of and go on with Him. Does he leave us to starve? No! Does he leave us unhealed? No! He provides healing on the Sabbath. Besides, He fulfilled the Sabbath with Himself- He is that rest to us. The man with the withered hand was without works – nothing to show for what he believed. Once again, here is a man who can do nothing of himself. He does not have the strength to accomplish any work EXCEPT through the healing of Christ. This mercy so frustrated and angered the Pharisees, they sought to KILL HIM. The Pharisees were individuals who were “Fair-you-see”? They were the white-washed, rule-followers who lived according to the book (or law). However, they were greatly lacking mercy. Mercy is God not giving us what we deserve. We deserve death. We deserve humiliation. Shall I go on? Mercy is God delivering us from the judgement we deserve in regards to our sin. The Pharisees did not have this mercy. It was this giving of mercy to people who didn’t deserve it, that caused their anger. It is like the parable of the prodigal son. Upon his return, the brother had somewhat of a contempt, because though he had stayed and served, the brother was receiving mercy. I can admit that I have been this way. I have sought to follow God to the best of my ability, becoming rigid and religious and deeply indoctrinated in what I think is right; then a brother who is struggling seems to be shown more grace or mercy. How dare we? Our works mean nothing to God! Only what is of Christ stands and that is why it is easier for those who have been forgiven much to love much. They know they do not deserve it, but yet God provides mercy in Christ.
2. It moves on to say that Christ will not break a bruised reed or quench smoking flax. Once again showing His mercy. A reed is nothing special. It is EXTREMELY weak and easily broken. But He will not allow it to be broken. Those individuals suffering, He will not allow them to be crushed under despair. Smoking flax does not easily catch aflame. It just smolders and lacks heat ignition. There are those who would serve Christ but their flesh is indeed weak. He will set them aflame – He will instill that desire for God. He, right after, states the “nations” will hope in His name – meaning not only Jews (or those who “deserved” it; but the gentiles those cast off.)
3. He continues to heal on the Sabbath, bringing sight and speech to those whose demons had left them blind and speechless. How many Christians are with out spiritual sight and with no real voice? Then the Pharisees continue – hating him even more. Now, Christ is not only delivering those who don’t deserve it but those POSSESSED by the Devil – THAT is how MERCIFUL our God is! There is no one out of His reach whom He has called unto is purpose.  He remind them, that a house against itself cannot stand. If we despise fellow, weaker Christians we are destroying our own supports (think of pillars in a home – we bring them down and it all comes down) – a PART of US.
4. A tree is not judged by its looks. A tree is not judged by how beautiful and holy it appears. I would assume the Tree of Life (representing Christ) looked very dreary and not much to be desired (See Isaiah 53). On the other hand, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil caused Adam and Eve not only to lust after it but to give up EVERYTHING for it – It was alluring to the senses. A tree is judged by its FRUIT. NO matter how worthless or sinful a Christian may appear to the religious viewers surrounding them, a Christian is judged by their FRUIT – that that speaks of Christ: A testimony of live overcoming death. A seed must go into the ground and THEN (and only then [after death]) can it bear fruit. So again, as in my devotional, if there is not a sign of death and resurrection in a Christian – what is their purpose? Our purpose is to testify and have our lives speak of Christ. And what is Christ’s testimony? LIFE OVERCOMING DEATH. Do you not see now, why Christ became so angry? These Pharisees call themselves Christians but so hurt those less than them, who are struggling to believe. He says to them, the only sign He would give was the sign of Jonah. What is the sign of Jonah? Again, LIFE OVERCOMING DEATH. He went down into death – being typified by swallowed up in a whale. According to the world’s reasoning, Jonah was a dead man – Jonah was no more. But wait! Then there comes resurrection life and he is restored. Three days and three nights speaks of death and resurrection. This is a very basic concept – it obviously speaks of Christ’s death and resurrection. He remind the Pharisees that if they were there in Nineveh’s time, they would have condemned the Ninevites – but God did not – HE SAVED THEM (even though they did not deserve it).
5. Now before we sinners get excited and think – ‘Oh well since God is merciful, why not keep on sinning?’, Jesus speaks of the unclean spirit. Paul said: “But Law came in besides, that the deviation might abound. But where sin abounded, grace much more abounded, that as sin ruled in death, so also grace might rule through righteousness to everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Let it not be! We who died to sin, how shall we still live in it?” (Romans 5:20-6:12) When we sinners are so graciously saved from sin, if we are to return to sin as a dog does to its vomit, we are disgracing Christ. And is a man is able to rid himself of a demon and “clean up the house” (get aright), if he goes out and continues in what he was delivered from, he invites worst sins to reside where his previous evil dwelt. The best way I have found to describe the continuation of sin after forgiveness and the shame it bring upon Christ is this: Hoseas wife. Imagine you were married to a woman. You loved her deeply. Then she goes out and cheats on you. You understood her past was of this sort and you forgive her. She comes back to you seeking forgiveness and with a renewed love. Then, she continues to go out and cheat over and over and over. Would this bother you? Would her obvious whoring around not bring you shame and destroy a testimony of what a marriage should be? Just so, we bring shame upon Whom we say we believe when we do not allow the crucifixion of our flesh.

That is all I will share for now, but please comment with any comments!

Separation and Expectations

“If you present the high ground of God’s full thought for His people and the hearts of the people are really set upon having a work for God down here that is flourishing and prosperous and well-spoken of, you find that people are really, after all, only going with Him so long as He comes into line with their ideas and ambitions. But immediately that runs counter to thoughts more earthly, thoughts even in relation to Him, something deeper rises up. They are not going to have that. You have seen that many times; you must not touch their things. They say it is for the Lord, but you must not touch it; it is their own. If you are not coming to help their thing or things with your ministry or presentation, of course they won’t have it, and it resolves itself into this: they won’t have Him; that is not the kind of Lord they want. They want a Lord who is going to make their thing for Him successful down here. You can only know and discriminate between the true and the false when you yourself are on the higher ground. Perhaps you know something about that. The Lord may have led you on spiritually, He has led you into new realms, and you look back and see what your devotion to the Lord really amounted to before – very largely something in this life.” – T.A. Sparks

Going on with God, often means losing individuals related to this exact point. Often, people follow God – get in a movement – but are focused on the temporary. Likely much of their own works are involved and outwardly they look very righteous. The religious church system we see throughout our nation, that may have a positive outlook on the outside with acts such as feeding the poor, charities, and ministries, is largely something temporal. “Christians” have their eyes set on the here and now. God’s major purpose for eternity is not necessarily the hunger in these individuals hearts. That is why so often when these ministries fail, individuals lose hope. Their expectation was not in Christ but in the thing itself. I have lost individuals on this line. They were determined to have their God. They stumbled on the testimony of Christ. God does not change, and Christ work in the cross should be worked out in His people. God is not a cruel God; however, the cross is a necessity to bring us to the end of ourselves, lest we not seek God. If we have it within ourselves, where would be the need?

I have struggled with this myself, putting faith in a situation or even individuals which I felt God led me to. Unfortunately, I could feel myself trusting more in the gift that the Giver. For example, God may lead us in to a situation. But then we cling to the fact we know He led us there, and we may get stuck there when he is later drawing us on. We may grasp at the situation and say I musn’t leave it – God put me in this; not understanding that God is moving on from it. He has had his purpose in such a thing and it is time to move on, but we have made a religion out of this thing – it is now our creed. It is easy to lose focus of God’s vision and only see with our natural eyes and understanding. God is far, far above us in his ways, mind, and works. God help us to “Seek first the Kingdom of God.”

Awesomeness of God

How silly we are to view the Almighty God with a conception of only the current state of time! Our problems, our past – US in general. What are we in comparison to God’s eternal purpose. Do not mistake my point – we are crucial to that purpose; however, God’s plans and ways are FAR, FAR above our understanding. We see our lifespan as something above our understanding. We are overwhelmed by the thought of the day of creation until the end of times – but Christ is far and above that. God’s purpose through Christ spans all eternity – from ages past to the never ending ages to follow ours. And God plans to express Christ to us for eternity, revealing His Son to those He has called according to His purpose.

And here we stand – at least me and my posts – with such a temporal standing. We are speaking of a God eternal, omnipotent. He has no end. We will, by His grace, learn of Christ throughout eternity! That thought is exciting and comforting to me. To know that through Jesus Christ, I have right standing with God and he will, not only through this life, guide me into knowing more of Christ.

If you are interested, this is what sparked my thoughts: http://austin-sparks.net/english/books/002767.html

In this message, Sparks mentions that our spiritual understanding is much like our natural understanding. When we are young, our perception is limited, we do not understand the vastness of the life we had. Small problems a child may have (not getting a candy bar) is a big deal to them – to an adult this seems a small thing (depending on the adult I suppose). Also, a child has a limited understanding of things. As we grow, we learn, we experience, things are revealed to us. It is the same way spiritually. We are led by our Heavenly Father to bigger and better things – at first they may seem beyond our understanding. It is like levels or climbing a mountain. Just when you think you can see the top, you climb and you find there is yet another level, and so on and so forth.

My point is God is so, so very far above our understanding and it is his awesomeness that leaves me speechless today – it is what comforts me when I have no comfort. I stand in awe of the God who is so far behind and before me. How can I be saddened thinking He does not know my condition now? How can my soul be cast down? Almighty God has called me according to His purpose and He will lead me in the way that I should go. Praise God for His awesomeness!

 

Trusting Him

Exo 16:8 And Moses said, This shall be, when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.

Here is Israel, just making it to the wilderness of Sin. God had just done wonderful, amazing things and gave them quite the deliverance from Egypt. He had set them free from their oppressors. And yet so soon after, as soon as things got hard, they began to complain and murmur against God. You have to think these people are the most ungrateful individuals – however, to be honest, how often do we do the same thing. We seek God, He delivers us from our trial, and then so soon get complacent with the “good” being the “norm.” As soon as the trial eases up, we ease our hold on Him.  “The Lord heareth your murmurings.” The thought pierces my conscious. How often have I done such? God hears our unspoken, subconscious thoughts that constantly doubts his ability to continue to meet our needs. Another note is how often when their is a struggle or pain of transition we blame the brethren. So often a leader of sorts or the one who is seeking God the most and not relaxing their hold is the one persecuted! When we murmur, “I don’t understand why I hav to constantly look to he Lord and involve Him in EVERY decision – it seems impossible” or “They are too radical – there is no way to serve God that separate from the world-  mean we cant change the times or practices of modern day society.” These are just some light examples. But our “murmurings are not against (them) but against the Lord!” To allow that root of bitterness to spring into our hearts that first doubts God, then leads to untrust and death, and lastly hardness and rebellion – is detrimental. We must be wary of falling back in to the old “normal.” Comfort zones. Ruts. We are not like everyone else in this world who can just live life! In fact we are called to be separate. To be like Christ. To be a friend of the world is to be in enmity with God! Have we forgot the holy words of the bible. Even that word – “HOLY” in its origin means to “be separate.” Words we so often take for granted and assume they mean lack of sin are more than that. Holy. Pure. Separate. So many words that just truly mean to be different.

What did God do in this situation? He gave them what they wanted! He didn’t even began to argue. It would have gotten nowhere with the natural man – fighting against the flesh. Instead they ate to their glutenous desire. And when he offered something of Himself – Manna (a representation of Christ Himself), they would not have it. It did not suit their fleshly appetite. It tasted strange. Did not satisfy them in the way they desired.

Exo 16:28 And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?
Exo 16:29 See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

Keeping God’s laws and his commandments are staying focused on His Word – which is again Christ Himself (See John 1) and what God has spoken through Him. He has taught us how to live life – as Christ. Jesus lived his daily life according to the Father’s will Constantly making every move only as it was in that will. Keeping the Sabbath is not about keeping some physical day – It is about resting in Christ. Sabbath was to point to Christ! – as most things in the old testament (the sacrifice, the temple, etc.). What we can glean from all this contemplation of this chapter of Exodus – is to trust God and to walk in Christ, seeking his will in our everyday lives, whatever that may lead us through. God will get us through it – even as miraculously as he delivered them prior from the Egyptians. We just must never let that root of bitterness or enmity against God began to bloom in us. No untrust but to cast all our cares upon Him because He cares for us (as Peter said.)

God help me in this! Help us all! To trust you with our whole hearts no matter how things appear or seem. To trust that Your ways our above our ways and Your thoughts above our thoughts.

Who am I?

Who am I? Moses said it. David said it multiple times. I could feel their unworthiness in myself today. It has been a hard time for me recently. Life seems to be imploding, caving in. Everything seems hopeless and I a complete failure. Even those around me. There seems to be a lack of victory, of life. I feel like wrestling with God until he gives my the why of it all. As I struggle within I cannot help but recall the words God spoke when I lost my sister, “my ways are not your ways neither my thoughts  your thoughts. My ways are above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.” Those words begin to reverberate in my mind. The thought “where were you breaks in?” It puts me back in my place. Who am I? Who am I! How dare I question God almighty?! Has he not gotten me this far. So I will hold to what I know. I will cling to the praises of blessings of days before knowing such shall be again yet greater.

http://youtu.be/DLf_Nlukra0