CrossLife Blog

It’s not “what” you know but “WHO” you KNOW

2011-12-21T13:05:00.000-05:00

“A Christian disciple is a follower who is learningfrom Another”

(This blog is being written toclarify my earlier blog entitled Disciples of Christ Are Made Not Educated. A respected brother in Christ commented thathe was concerned that what I had written might cause, an “imbalance to correct an imbalance.” My response/clarification follows.)

Forgive me if it sounded like“learning was unnecessary or optional.” Quite the contrary, but I wasattempting to emphasize that spiritual learning is always dependent on andreliant upon the personal interpretation of and indwelling presence of the HolySpirit. “And Jesus said to him, “Blessedare you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, butMy Father who is in heaven (Matthew 16:17).”

My purpose in writing “Disciplesof Christ Are Made Not “Educated” was that true learning is relationallydependent and derived from the presence of and participation with the person ofJesus Christ (John 15:5). The Greek wordfor disciple, “mathetes,” impliesboth a "learner" and a "follower." The point that I wasmaking is a "learner" can be both one who assimilates data, and/or arelational learner who is learning from Another in a personal context ofrelationship not just academic information. The New Testament concept of"follower" tends to have more of a personal emphasis that is morerelational than informational.

I referenced the Apostle Paul statementin 2 Timothy 3:7, “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge ofthe truth.” Academic learning alone was never intended by God to be the soleof foremost means of knowing Him.

Mycritics commented; “Recipients of the Letter to theHebrews had neglected learning (education) in the fundamentals of the faith.This retarded their spiritual maturity and hindered their potential fordisciple-making (Heb. 5:12-14).” I disagree. Let me explain why.

Paul was admonishing believers inthis passage of scripture that they had lost sight of personal participationwith Christ, which was the focus of my blog, Disciples of Christ Are MadeNot “Educated, “Christianity isreal and genuine Christian disciples share what they know through participationwith Christ, not just what they know intellectually about Christ. We do notknow simply through educational learning (2 Timothy 3:7), but through Hisabiding presence in us (cf. John 14:7), and this goes beyond ”the fundamentalsof education.”

Paul’s admonishment in Heb. 5:12,is that a teacher is not just an informational professor who instructsothers. A true teacher of the gospel ofJesus Christ is one who is responsible and leads through example, sharing outof experiential knowing of Christ relationally, not just learned theologicalhead knowledge. A responsible Christian teacher has learned to “respond”to “Christ’s ability” which is what it means to be responsible. A disciple is a relational learner who islearning from “Another,” referred to as a follower of Christ. A Christian teacher is one who has beentaught by God, “listening under” the Holy Spirit, which is the New Testamentunderstanding of Obedience.

Many Christian teachers today areteaching from a flawed theological premise due to the fact they have notunderstood New Testament grace and are endeavoring to present the Gospelthrough the “eyes” of an Old Covenant understanding. Jesus reminds us in John 14:26, “But theHelper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teachyou all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.”

Neither Paul writing to theHebrews, nor Jesus quoted in John’s gospel are referring to a “book learning”or “educational learning” but rather a relational learning that can only berealized as we encounter God for ourselves and choose to rely on Him. Paulseems to chide the Jewish believers of Jerusalem saying, “For though by thistime you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the firstprinciples of the oracles of God” Heb. 5:12.

Christians now and then hadapparently gone backward into a novice spiritual mind-set which was hinderingtheir spiritual maturity. They wereacting like immature students who were dependent on an instructor to tell them“what to believe” and “how to do it;” relying on hand-me-down information, or asecondary sense of “living by the book.” Paul challenged them to press on into the obedience of faith (Rom.16:26) rather than the hopeless reliance of legalistic, law-dependent instructionfor which religion is famous. Faith isalways relationship-oriented, being dependent and receptive to what the Spiritof Christ is doing in us and acting in response to the direction of His Spirit,not just being psychologically focused on a written script or approvedecclesiastical belief system.

The “firstprinciples of the oracles of” (Heb.5:12) are not just elementary biblicalinformation that we are taught from studying our bibles or listening to sermons,but are better understood as the foundational understanding of Christ as ourlife choosing to be relationally dependent on Him and Him only!

Paul continues with a newanalogy, but continues to chide their spiritually juvenile behavior, “andyou have come to need milk and not solid food” Heb. 5:12. Mature Christians should be able to “digest”both “the pure milk of the word” as well as the “solid food” of spiritual“taste” which is based on the finished work of the cross. Spiritual immaturity is largely due to thefact that believers have been malnourished relying on second-hand “spoonfeeding” rather than “growing up andtaking their place at the table” in Christ. This is largely due to the factthat believers then and now have been taught to rely on “book religion” or onwhat “clergy” has taught them and have not learned to be “followers of Christ”in an intimate relationship that is personal. You have heard it said, “It’s not “what” youknow but “who” you know.” “A Christian disciple is a follower who islearning from Another.”

To Experience Grace Is To Experience God!

2011-12-07T18:30:00.001-05:00

Reformation or Restoration – what say you?

Often we hear of the need for a “new reformation of grace.” If what is being referred to is the spiritual state of deadness of institutionalized religion, maybe so. However, Christianity is not religion and grace is not dead. Grace is not going to lead to a reformation because nothing is dead. When we talk about grace and, therefore, reformation is not necessary. “Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace” Hebrews 13:9.

Grace is what distinguishes Christianity from all man-made religions.

Grace is not a thing or goal to be achieved, but a person who is living and active, The Person - Jesus Christ - who is LIFE. When we talk about God's grace, it is like trying to understand God, Himself. Grace is as comprehensive as God Himself, His every expression. The good news of grace is that it is always consistent because it is the expression of God’s character, the manifestation of His being or essence.

To experience Grace is to experience God!

Grace is God at work or God’s activity and as we choose to experience grace, to obey, which is faith, (our receptivity to God’s activity). Our lives are then restored, sanctified or conformed to the image of Christ. As we agree with the Spirit of Christ, we experience the expression of His life and character and the world sees the invisible living Lord Jesus in a visible, tangible way through us. “But we all, with unveiled face,beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into thesame image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” 2 Corinthians 3:18.

Religions talk about reformation. But, God is at work in restoration the activity of God in Christ allowed to function in us (spirit), as us (soul), and through us (body).

“With this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written, ‘AFTER THESE THINGS I will return, AND I WILL REBUILD THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID WHICH HAS FALLEN, AND I WILL REBUILD ITS RUINS, AND I WILL RESTORE IT, SO THAT THE REST OF MANKIND MAY SEEK THE LORD, AND ALL THE GENTILES WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME” Acts 15:15-17.

Did God do away with the Laws to Moses?

2011-10-13T12:58:00.004-04:00

Yes He did!

The Law was given to only one group of people, that is Israel, and given only as a temporary foreshadowing during the old covenant time.

Hebrews 8:13 “When He said, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.”

This brings us to an important question; “Why do people today, like the Jewish Christians of old still believe in and follow religious procedures?” Religious Judaism, (which is similar to any religious system of our day) was falsely depending on what they could do rather than discovering what God had already done. Religion like the old covenant was dying of old age. That is why Paul says the law was “growing old (and) is ready to disappear.”

God speaks of a new (covenant), and by so doing made the first (covenant) obsolete. God declares the old covenant, the Mosaic covenant of Law, displaced and replaced by the inauguration of the New Covenant. The New Covenant supersedes the old preliminary agreement of the old covenant.

God, through Paul, was counseling the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem that the old covenant was a thing of the past, out-of-date and obsolete! There is no reason for Christians to seek to follow the old covenant laws which have been cancelled by the finished work of Jesus Christ at the cross. The laws of Moses have been done away with!

Colossians 2:14 “...having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.”

The point of reference of the New Covenant is Jesus Christ, not religious performance. The New Covenant has been determined by God and, yet is relational. The New Covenant takes the focus off of physical observes of man and such as the Jewish priests in the temple and focuses on Christ in you a “tabernacle, not made with hands” (9:11).

The priestly ministry of Jesus in us allows the Christian to function as God intended. We participate and become the expressers of His glorious character and this becomes apparent as Christ is living out His life in us. We experience, as we choose to obey, the “out lived life!” In the new covenant the concept of “law” has been radically changed. The law is no longer an outward set of regulations to be kept or performed. When the New Covenant in Christ came "in the fullness of time" (Gal.4:4), the law was written on our hearts.

“FOR THIS IS THE COVENANT THAT I WILL MAKE...I WILL PUT MY LAWS INTO THEIR MINDS, AND I WILL WRITE THEM ON THEIR HEARTS” (Heb. 8:10).

The concept of “law” and “covenant” are opposed to one another. Under law there is conditional blessing; “if” you do this you will be blessed.

Exodus 15: 26 “And He said, “If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer.”

This kind of arrangement often leads to misunderstanding on our part and provides the basis for “legalism.” Under a law system, commands are dependent on performance and obedience. Legalism is based on keeping the rules, the principles or the precepts of Law for acceptance.

The New Covenant is based on grace not performance. Grace is God’s activity or action, what He is doing. New Covenant grace is relational. This relationship has been initiated in the heart of the Trinity. The New Covenant was birthed out of God’s presence and is experienced by His presence, while still allowing for us to choose to be responsible to God’s activity. A faith response to grace is what responsibility “is made. “Response-ability” is the basis of intimacy with God which is dependent and derived from the very heart of God.

In the New Covenant the conditional “if” is replaced by the magnificent “I AM.” I AM who I AM and I do what I do because I AM who I AM. The mystery of the New Covenant is that, although it began in the heart of God it allows for man to be receptive in his “heart/spirit” toward God. This is possible because God has designed us as choosing “faith creatures.” Faith is “our part,” whereby we believe and receive what God is doing in us. As we believe, we experience the relational oneness of the New Covenant and the Triune activity of God.

The intent of the Law was to reveal the character of God and has now been revealed in the New Covenant in the Son, Jesus Christ.

“And He (Jesus) is the radiance of His (Father’s) glory and the exact representation of His (Father) nature...” Hebrews 1:3.

Because God’s activity is grace and His activity is always consistent with His character, God can and does, do whatever He wants. Because of Pentecost, every believer is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. The outcome is, God can and does initiate His commands in us and He is the means of man carrying out His activity.

He is the source of His own doing.

2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”

His grace is our ability! New Covenant obedience is our willingness to “listen under” His directives. Obedience is no longer performance oriented but the

“obedience of faith” (Rom. 1:5).

We are free to admit and declare, “I can’t do it but God can.”

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).

The need of our day, as in the day of the early church, is for believers to discover the dynamic life Jesus Christ, as our life. Christ “in you” (your human spirit), “as you” (as you choose in your soul), and Christ “through you” (His activity expressed through your body).

God did away with the Laws of Moses! Christians have had a wrong “point of reference” for far too long. God gave Jesus who is the personification of the New Covenant.

The Message bible states in John 3:16-18

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn't go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person's failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.”

The gospel is God’s gift to man, not man trying to obey the rules or keep commandments.

Col. 3:1-4 “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.”

That is why I have been telling people to stop trying to live the Christian life! You can't! Only Jesus Christ can live His life! He is the Life! The good news of the gospel is to receive the indwelling presence of the son of God, Jesus Christ as our very Life!

Gal. 2:20-21 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”

News flash! Did you read that? “...if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”

Disciples of Christ Are Made Not “Educated”

2011-08-27T13:32:00.000-04:00

(Recently someone who attended a Christ Life Seminar at CrossLife wrote me asking if it was necessary to work through the woundedness of their past before they would be ready to counsel and help others. I am posting my response, hoping it will be helpful to others, as it was to this person.)

Their Question:

“I am getting ready to "unpack the boxes of wounded memories... Do we need to be completely at peace with everything to help others?”

My response:

“It is true we are a “work in progress” and Christ is sanctifying us (1 Peter 1:2).

It is also a fact that many counselors enter the counseling “profession" due to their own codependent issues that are yet unresolved, not realizing it.

Although we are always being renewed in our minds (Romans 12:2), it is most helpful to have worked through the deeper woundedness of our hearts. Our greatest effectiveness is having personally encountered God working through our lives, more than, “the knowledge we have of Him." Christ is the means of helping people not our training. Our spiritual journey is preparation for ministry that is most valuable.

See “unpacking the boxes” as “counseling” God is doing in you which will be your "on the job training."

Our motto at CrossLife is that “...that others may live!" God has made it clear to me that although He is always about others; the first "other" is me! I cannot touch someone else's life in a “Christian way” unless I have first encountered Christ for myself and allowed for His expression through me. Otherwise, it is just religious performance and we have far too much of that in “behavioral counseling” today.

Christianity is real and real Christian disciples share what they know through participation with Christ not just what they know intellectually about Christ. We do not know through learning (2 Timothy 3:7) “always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth,” but through His abiding presence in us. “that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you” (John 14:7).

This is why our identity in Christ is central to understanding not only who we are but how we were designed to function as human beings. An effective disciple of Christ cannot be “stuck” on him/her self but must be working from Christ as his point of reference! Self-orientation and self-focus is antithetical to the "love by which we are to serve one another." Instead of being self-oriented, divine love is unselfish and other-oriented.

True discipleship is a call into an intimate spiritual transformation by relationship with Christ. As we choose to participate in Him intentionally, relationally, and spiritually through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit (Roman 8:9) we are not only transformed but equipped for ministry but transformed by His love. The apostle Paul testified of this in 2 Corinthians 3:18; 4:1a, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. Therefore, since we have this ministry…”

This is the divine order of true Christian ministry, personal convent relationship in Christ. The most powerful ministry is not taught but caught. As we almost "unconsciously," spontaneously live our lives, people see Jesus (John 12:21). They see Jesus not because we are trying to minister to them but because, that is who we are, Christ-ones. True Disciples of Christ are made! Paul writes in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”

It is not what we know or do but what He is doing in us, as us and through us. Paul writes in Philippians 2:13 “for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.”

Whenever we are experiencing a lack of peace in our hearts, God is greater. We are admonished in Colossians 3:15 “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called...”

I would encourage you, that whatever God is surfacing in your heart is a loving invitation from Him that you might experience a greater level of freedom in Christ, and as a result you would be able to share with others more effectively. Jesus invited us to Himself in Matthew 11:28-30, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 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. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

“Why would a Christian choose to sin?”

2011-07-18T10:00:00.000-04:00

A Christian is an individual who has received the presence and life of the risen and living Lord Jesus by faith. “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, that person is none of His” (Rom. 8:9), i.e. not a Christian. When the Spirit of Christ dwells within a Christian, He is the total provision for the expression of His righteous character in that Christian’s behavior. In relationship with Christ the Christian has the privilege and responsibility to allow Christ’s righteous character to be expressed through his behavior by faith. Faith is the receptivity of God’s activity of grace.

A Christian is not obligated to sin (Romans 8:12). But the Christian still has the “freedom of choice” to misrepresent his/her new identity in Christ by expressing selfish and sinful character in his or her behavior. Sin is defined as any character that is contrary to, and “misses the mark” of, the righteous and holy character of God in Christ by the Spirit. Sin is not simply engaging in a particularly prescribed action, but is the character of the Evil One expressed in any action we have chosen to participate in. Sin is anything derived from other than God.

So, why would a Christian choose to sin? This is the question of the ages. Realistically, all Christians do sin, 1 John 1:8 “If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.” We are tempted by the tempter, Satan, who wants to express his evil character in our behavior to negate the character of Christ that brings glory to God.

You are not the problem, nor are your desires evil. You are not tempted by your own sinful desires because you do not have sinful desires, just God-given desires that are patterned and warped by sinful propensities. The straw-man labeled “Self” does not tempt us. Our “flesh” does not tempt us. Temptation is always, and only, from the tempter, the devil.

God never saw you as the problem, but the Adversary, the devil. When you were “spiritually exchanged” by the receipt of the Spirit of Christ, you were united with Him. “For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection” (Rom. 6:5).

The Christian has received Christ within his/her spirit, but within the soul, the behavioral mechanism, the Christian individual still has residual patterns of selfish and sinfulness formed in his/her God-given desires. These patterned desires of selfishness and sinfulness are what the apostle Paul called the “flesh.” Flesh is not to be personified as some hunk of evil in us, but is a sinful patterning from our unregenerate past, but can still be developed during our regenerated spiritual condition by choosing to participate with Satan’s character of sin. A working definition of the “flesh” might be: how I learned to manage and operate my life apart from God under the deception of Satan and his character of sin.

Under the selfishly patterned desires of the “flesh” is where the tempter goes fishing in an attempt to snag us, deceive us, and prompt us to make a decision that corresponds with our old patterns of action and reaction. The choice is always ours, but when we succumb to temptation we manifest the character of the Evil One, and misrepresent who we are as Christ-ones (Christians). “The one who engages in sin, derives what he does from the devil” (I John 3:8).

Too often our focus is on our behavior. One of the chief aims of the enemy is to get our attention and focus off of Christ as our point of reference. Behavior, as important as it is, is always the expression of the character of the spirit-source we are trusting in or depending on. We do not generate any character within our behavior. Character is always derived regardless of whether it is good or evil. When we understand who we are in Christ, and that our identity of being is in union with Christ, we can live free, gladly choosing to be dependent on what He is doing in us. This allows everything in our lives to be an expression of worship as we live in the fullness of His presence as our life. Worship is the expression of the “worth-ship” of His character. As we embrace the reality of our union in Christ and enjoy living in the freedom that He has provided for us, “why would a Christian choose to sin?”

When you pray, who’s praying?

2011-07-13T10:51:00.000-04:00

The Christian life is not what we do, but what He does in us, as us, and through us. Everything in the Christian life is Jesus Christ in action, which is what Grace is ... “God at work.” We derive all that we are, and all that we do, from our union in Christ. Jesus said in John 15:5, “Apart from Me you can do nothing.”

What about our prayer life? Who’s doing the praying?

C.S. Lewis writes, "Our act, when we pray, must not, any more than all our other acts, be separated from the continuous act of God Himself, in which alone all finite causes operate." Lewis, C.S., "The Efficacy of Prayer"

Some would say that pray is “our part” and the answer to pray is “God’s part.” Not so. Pray is depending on the Spirit of God and expressing the life of Christ. He is our ability regardless of the activity. "The Spirit helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God" (Rom. 8:26,27).

So when you pray, listen to what He is doing in you and agree, which is to confess or “say the same as.” When you open your mouth your prayers or confessions are then verbalized and prayer is made. The indwelling presence of Jesus Christ who is our life is the Pray-er (the prayer-prompter). You cannot pray apart from Him praying through you nor can Jesus pray though you apart from you agreeing with Him. Jesus is both the beginning and the end of Christian prayer. Christian prayer is not activated by human effort, but is prompted by the One who is our Life. We pray in response to what He is doing in us. As we abide, confessing what He is initiating us to participate with Him in, we experience His grace and our lives become His prayer!

In all of your praying, simply remember who you are in Christ. When you pray for wisdom; when you pray for discernment; when you pray for patience, gentleness, kindness or love, you are praying for what you already have in Christ. Whatever you are led by the Spirit of God to pray for, has already been provided and promised in Jesus Christ (Phil. 4:19).

So, why don’t you gladly express in prayer today what He is initiating in you?

We are qualified to the extent that God is the qualifier!

2011-03-25T16:28:00.000-04:00

Christian, what is God, “in Christ,” asking you to do? Do you feel unqualified? You should feel unqualified, because you are - apart from Him. We are qualified to the extent that God is the qualifier!

Remember who you are as a Christ/one. You are in relational union with Him. Don’t think in terms of separation but, union in Christ. Not essentially one, as only God is God and you are not God but, relationally - one with God. You are in spiritual union with God relationally.

-“The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16)

God is the believers “center point” or “point of reference.” Man does not “do anything on his own” as if he is an independent self. Man is always dependent on the God who has dominion over him.

- Christ indwells the believer. (Romans 8:9)

- We have been saved by His Life (Romans 5:10) so we have a “new point of reference”

- “Christ in you the hope of glory.” Colossians 1: 27

- “So we may boldly say: The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?” (Hebrews 13:6)

- Begin to believe in who you are in Christ. (Galatians 5:10)

- “I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view…”

- Because “…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

We are qualified to the extent that God is the qualifier and we are qualified in Him.

Go ahead and boldly be you!

Impersonal by principle

2011-03-16T12:34:00.001-04:00

“Of what are relationships made?”

Do you see your marriage or your Christian walk as a “rule” or “principle” to “keep” or “follow”? Many believers today believe that the more they “know” about God by reading and studying their Bibles the deeper their relationship with God will be. I call this mind-set “impersonal by principle.” People struggle relationally with God not knowing Him personally and intimately not because of a lack of intellectually knowing about Him. To simply know principles about God misses the “heart of God,” – “Love,” this is what relationships are “made of.” Many are confused trying to follow the “letter of the law” (principles) and blindly hold on to a perspective or interpretation of God, rather than knowing Him and allowing Him to be personally expressed through them as their life.

Some couples find themselves staying in physically or sexually abusive relationships, falsely believing they are to “work at” maintaining the marriage. There is a biblical time to “separate” for a season, from an abusive relationship and allow proper authorities to help. This is an example of “impersonal by principle.”

It is also important to seek help if there is emotional abuse. Name calling, yelling, screaming and expressing hurtful and hateful things is never appropriate and help should be sought.
However relationships should not be “discarded” like worn-out cars, which no longer function as designed, or dissolved because one of the partners has made a mistake or sinned, so now “I have Biblical grounds to leave you.” Often, one finds themselves believing the lie, “that I am no longer in love.”

Living by the book, “the Bible” can be a very impersonal thing “to do.” Relationship involves a connection, association, or involvement with a person not just a love letter from the person. We are not called to “love the principle” or “the book,”— the Bible but to “…LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND… (And) LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF” Matt. 22:37-38.

Christianity is not a book religion. It is not a principle or belief system. Nor is it a “principled approach” to life, but an intimate personal relationship with a personal indwelling presence— God in us. Colossians 1:26-27 “…the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

We are not called to “do” but to “be” in relationship with God. How do you “do” relationship if you have never been in one before? Christ in us has begun a relationship with us through the “New Birth” and will continue to initiate His relationship with us. In Philippians 2: 4, Paul says, “...for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” In Philippians 1:6, Paul says, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

Our “part” is to let Him “make the first move” and then participate with Him. The Amplified Bible states in 1 John: 23 “And this is His order (His command, His injunction): that we should believe in…the name of His Son Jesus Christ…and that we should love one another...” Faith is our receptivity to His activity (grace). Faith is not just giving mental assent to something but rather a personal relationship with the person of Christ whereby we agree with Him. Gal. 2:16 “…knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.” As we truly become aware of His amazing presence in us, we are “caught up” in the wonder of His grace. We might call that “love at first sight.” As we learn to live in Him, we experience as Jesus said, in John 10:10, “abundant life”.

When we hold others or ourselves to “principles to live up to” (especially in marriage) we become impersonal and miss the opportunity for genuine interpersonal relationship with God and others. It is not your best efforts to live by the principles of scripture but, as the apostle Paul says in Galatians 5: 25, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” It is only then that you will experience the union of a loving marriage relationship as God intended. It is in Christ’s presence that you “live and walk” as He intended.

Embrace Christ's presence as your life and begin to live intimately both with God and your spouse. What we might call “personal by presence!”

What is the secret to living the Christian life?

2011-02-14T14:57:00.000-05:00

     Often people find themselves struggling to understand how to live the Christian life.

     Our naturally developed mind-set and tendencies are opposite of God's ways. God told us that through Isaiah. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways’, declares the Lord. ’For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa. 55: 8, 9).

   As fallen, sinful persons we have all developed flesh patterns which are sinful tendencies to approach everything in life from a selfish perspective. The New Testament Scriptures calls it the "flesh". Each of us has these unique action and reaction flesh patterns of selfishness and sinfulness in the soul.   When we become Christians, we still have those patterned tendencies of the “flesh”. Paul explains to the Galatian Christians that "the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another" (Gal. 5:17). To the Romans, Paul wrote, "I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin...I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not" (Rom. 7:14,18).

     These patterned tendencies of the "flesh" affect our individual “approaches to living” the Christian life. Some Christians approach the Christian life as a project. They see life as a task to be completed. Results are the key focus in everything. The goal in their mind is to get the job done!

    Then there are those who approach the Christian life as if it is something to “promote”. Their efforts are used to persuade everyone and to get everyone excited and “caught up” in the moment. The goal is to be enthusiastic about being a Christian and to be on “fire” for Jesus, even better to “burn out” for Jesus. They want everyone get involved and to join in the exciting programs.

    Still others approach the Christian life as a "cure." They think that the Christian life should be pleasant and conventional. For them, security is found in that which is stable and status-quo. They want everybody to "get-along." This is the way we have always done things before. The goal is to have a safe environment of fun and fellowship.

     Some Christians approach the Christian life as “morality”. They view the goal of the Christian life as proper thinking and proper action, resulting in correct doctrine and correct ethics. These Christians want to get everything figured-out accurately and logically to do the right thing. They "study to show themselves approved." They want everyone to think like they do, and to conform to their beliefs for life. The goal is to "do it right," "keep the commandments," and "live by the Book."

   All Christians have been influenced by one or more of these fleshly approaches to live the Christian life. Every one of us has had a tendency to approach our Christian life from a selfish prospective. That is why for so many, the Christian life doesn't seem to be working, it was never intended “to work” by our "works" of self-sufficiency.

      Every one of these fleshly tendencies has a deadly flaw which assumes that it is possible to live the Christian life. Can you live the Christian life? The answer is no, a resounding NO!

     Our mistake has been to falsely believe that we can live the Christian life. This is due to “unbelief” which revolves around us! You are your own point of reference. It’s called self-centeredness. Are you trying to live the Christian life? How’s that working for you? You cannot live the Christian life. No wonder we have been confused. We have been trying to figure out how to live the Christian life.

     If you can’t live the Christian life, who can? Would it surprise you if I said; that not even Jesus Christ could live the Christian life? That’s right, not even Jesus could… “Just hold that thought”, we will come back to it in a minute and explain.

     None of us can live the Christian life! If Jesus Christ cannot live the Christian life, what makes you think that you can? What freedom! You can give up trying to live the Christian life! We can all testify what a colossal failure we have been at trying to live the Christian life. Failure we all understand.

     If Jesus Christ could not live the Christian life, than who can? God the Father lives the Christian life. Or should I say, He doesn’t live the Christian life but that He IS the Christian life. He is the highest life. He is eternal life!

     The Father indwelt His Son here on this earth for thirty-three years. The Father lived the Christian life inside Jesus Christ. It was the Father's life, and the Father's life alone, which lived the Christian life inside Jesus. Jesus said in John 14:10, "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.”
It is the Father's life, and the Father's life alone, that ever lives the Christian life. God the Father is eternal life and this life was manifested in the person of Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is the Father's life, and Father's life alone, which will live the Christian life in you. Try to embrace a formula or a "to do list" in order to "live the Christian life" and you are doomed to frustration and failure.

John 14:7-13 (The Message)

Jesus said, "I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You've even seen him!"

Philip said, "Master, show us the Father; then we'll be content."

"You've been with me all this time, Philip, and you still don't understand? To see me is to see the Father. So how can you ask, 'Where is the Father?' Don't you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you aren't mere words. I don't just make them up on my own. The Father who resides in me crafts each word into a divine act.

     "Believe me: I am in my Father and my Father is in me. If you can't believe that, believe what you see—these works. The person who trusts me will not only do what I'm doing but even greater things, because I, on my way to the Father, (I) am giving you the same work to do that I've been doing. You can count on it. From now on, whatever you request along the lines of who I am and what I am doing, I'll do it.”

     That's how the Father will be seen for who he is in the Son.” What is the Father doing in you through Christ? Are you letting Christ live the Christian Life through you?

     The Christian life is not static. It is not something you or I can accomplish. It is not a crusade. It is not some spiritual plateau we are to reach. It is not a systematic, theological belief-system. The Christian life is the dynamic manifestation of the life and character of the personal presence of Jesus Christ, who is "the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6).

     In John 15:5 Jesus says, "Apart from Me, you can do nothing." Apart from Jesus Christ and His activity in and through us, we can do nothing that will affect the living of the Christian life. We must give up our naturally patterned approaches, and rely only on Him, totally dependent and deriving life from the only One who is Life!

     The secret to living the Christian life is to participate with the indwelling personal presence of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit as our life. Start enjoying the Secret today!

You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?

2011-02-07T17:43:00.002-05:00

Galatians 5:7 You were running well; who hindered you from obeying the truth?

You have a choice! Choices reveal “who” we are listening to and being controlled by. As a Christian chooses to depend on the sufficiency of Christ as his life, his desires and behavior coincide with the intent of God. Christians are “not mechanical” slaves of obedience, but are friends of Christ who are in relational union. We have as it were the “inside scoop” on what God is “up to” having the inner confidence of knowing God’s will and direction. Let your choices today reveal “who” you are “in tune too”. Choosing to agree with, “what He is saying and doing”, allowing for the fruit of the Spirit to be expressed through you!

Family Jamboree on TV 10 Vero Beach, Florida

2010-09-24T20:10:00.000-04:00

Trying No More!

2010-07-27T13:42:00.000-04:00

I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God. It didn't work. My motto used to be the old Sunday school song, "read your Bible, pray everyday and you'll grow, grow, and grow." NO! Spiritual growth did not occur because I was "doing" more. However, when I became aware of His loving presence as my life things did begin to change. I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man.
Christ's life showed me how and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with Him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. I have no human nature (never did) but, Christ's nature. Christ is my new point of reference! It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion. I am no longer driven to impress God. Why? Because I am just as righteous as Jesus Christ! You say, “Blaspheme!” But, wait, if you are in Christ you are just as righteous as Jesus Christ - not essentially but relationally. Not that you become “like God” but you are involved in intimate relationship with Him expressing His righteous life as yours.
I have stopped trying to live the Christian life. Not only did I discover I can't, but, God never intended me to try. That was Satan’s idea. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine." It is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Ever since my spiritual exchange, Christ is my life!
So, if you are a true believer in Jesus Christ, remember who you are today and participate with Him! Begin enjoying the abundant life which is yours in Christ. Start living - aware of Jesus’ life in you, as you and through you!

Imaging is Everything

2010-05-12T13:10:00.000-04:00

Sat Feb. 20, 2010 “Dunkin Donuts ran a promotional campaign for their gift cards. The Ad asked the question, “Whose picture would you put on your Dunkin Donuts Gift Card? Barack Obama? Sarah Plain? Something more personal?

The Dunkin Donuts Gift Card is completely customizable with your own uploaded picture and you can use any picture you want, including ones you have taken. Dunkin Donuts would be happy to put whatever picture you like on the gift card.

Would you make a statement with your Dunkin Donuts Gift Card? What would be the statement you would be trying to make with your custom picture choice?

You know everyone in line behind you will be watching to see whom you are sporting on yours!” All of us are “sporting” an image whether we like it or not! Whose image do you bear?

Your image reveals your identity and your identity is who you are. “Imaging” is everything! The most important point to understand, as you consider whose image you bear as a Christian is…“who (not what) is your point of reference”?

The Bible says man is either “In Adam” or “In Christ”. We learn from this revelation that our identity is determined by the God/god that has dominion over us, either God or Satan. Due to “The Fall” of man, all men are born with a sin nature which is Satan’s nature. In this spiritual condition man is separated from God - spiritually dead - without life. Man needed a spiritual exchange, man needed life.

Man cannot bring about or produce a “spiritual exchange” in himself. Apart from the finished work of God, through Christ on the cross, man would be eternally lost and separated from God’s life, bearing Satan’s image.

Man is totally dependent on God for spiritually transformation. Man’s spiritual image is a reflection of the spiritual personage he is joined to in his human spirit. Image is not a substance in you but, rather, a “personage” or a presence in you.

When we ask the question, "whose image do you bear", we are really asking, "With whose personage are you joined?" Your human spirit was created to allow the presence of God to dwell in you - to “visibly image God”. As you allow the invisible God (the being of God or the presence of God) in you to be visibly expressed, the invisible character of God is made “manifest” through your behavior. Human behavior is the “outcome” of man choosing to depend and derive from one of two spiritual sources.

The believer has been crucified in Christ and, therefore, Christ is the spiritual “source” of every believer. Christians have been “joined” to the Lord and are one in Christ. Christians have the divine nature, as the apostle Peter proclaims. As you derive your life and activity “out of” Christ you become “the image of God” to the world in which you live.

Temptation is Satan’s attempt to deceive (distract) you to depend on his character “to get things done”. His character is sin. As the believer learns to be dependent on God, he walks by faith which is the receptivity of God’s activity, expressed through behavior.

Understanding who we are in Christ allows us to function as God intended. You are Christ’s “Icon”, the visible expression of the invisible image of God to man! You bear His image and are called by His name… “Christ-one”, Christian!
“Whose picture would you put on your Dunkin Donuts Gift Card? Barack Obama? Sarah Plain? Something more personal? Jesus Christ!
We are all “making a statement” as the Dunkin Donuts ad suggested. Whose image is making a statement through you?