God's will is not a mystery.
It's a choice.
You choose to do as He chooses, right now, right where you are.
His will is just that, His will. His authority. His right to choose and refuse.
As His creature, His son, or His daughter, you choose to be what He made you to be and do what He made you to do. This is God's will. A choice. Not a place. Not a mystery.
It's easy.
Not so much in the sense that doing His will always feels good.
But it's easy to simply decide to submit.
Unless you don't accept who He is and thus who you are.
Who is He?
Who are you?
He is the Creator, perfectly good, perfectly powerful, perfectly wise.
You are His creature, good only when you are what He made you to be.
Powerful when you submit to and receive His power.
Wise when you accept your ignorance and receive His omniscience.
If you accept who He is and who you are, then you accept your purpose, which is to submit to His will for you.
God's will is not a mystery.
It's a choice.
Choose to submit to His will, and you will have found His will for your life.
Friday, October 3, 2014
Sunday, September 7, 2014
How to have AUTHORITY wherever you go (Part 2)
AUTHORITY IS USING THE NAME ABOVE YOU.
Jesus said, "He who speaks from his own authority seeks his own glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is true, and there is nothing false about him."
In other words, we tend to trust people who aren't acting in their own name or for their own pleasure. When the mail carrier comes, he is simply the messenger; she is simply delivering messages; he has no self-centered agenda. The police officer has a badge that represents his governmental authority. He is acting in the name of the law or the government, not his own name.
You use authority by using the name above you, or the name of the one who authorizes you.
I'm at the library typing these words. I have 33 minutes left on this computer. This means I have authority over computer number 13 for 33 more minutes. I have "command" over this computer, the ability to command it and it to obey me. I received this authority from the librarian who told me where the adult computers are. I typed in my library card number, given to me by the librarian. If anyone tries to use this computer, I can tell him or her in the name of the librarian that I now have 31 more minutes on this computer.
Authority is actually easy to experience.
Wherever you are, or wherever you go, find the one who is in authority and submit to his or her authority. Then you will have authority, the ability to command and be obeyed. You can use the name of the authority figure above you to enforce you. This is true no matter where you go.
In your house, if you are an adult who owns or rents, or someone who lives with that adult, the lease, given by the owner, gives you authority in that house. The keys are your power. You can command people to leave your house and expect them to obey, or law enforcement officers to enforce your authority.
You want authority. You have it by submitting to the authority where you are.
You want powerful influence. You have it by using the name of the authority over you.
Your freedom to speak and act comes from the authority above you.
Your respect comes from respecting the authority above you.
How to have AUTHORITY wherever you go
You want authority.
You want powerful influence.
Freedom to speak and act.
Respect.
How can you have these wherever you go?
You want powerful influence.
Freedom to speak and act.
Respect.
How can you have these wherever you go?
To have authority, you must be under authority.
But first we must answer three questions:
1. What is authority?
2. Where does it come from?
3. How do we use it?
AUTHORITY IS THE POWER TO COMMAND AND BE OBEYED.
Once a soldier (a "centurion" in this historical context) wanted the Lord Jesus to heal one of his beloved servants. Here is what happened according to Matthew, one of Jesus' chosen ambassadors:
When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”
The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
Notice what the centurion says. He felt confident that Jesus had authority to heal diseases, and he believed authority meant the power or ability to command and be obeyed. In other words, because Jesus had authority over diseases, he had the ability to command diseases in the same way that the centurion had the ability to command soldiers under his authority. The centurion would say, "Go," and his soldiers would go; he would say "Come," and his soldiers would come; he would say, "Do this," and his servant would do it. That's authority: The ability to command and be obeyed. The ability to have happen what you want to have happen. But where does authority come from? Jesus and Paul tell us.
AUTHORITY COMES FROM GOD.
This is what Jesus said after he rose from the dead:
"All authority is given to me in heaven and on earth."
Paul, Jesus' ambassador to all who were not of Hebrew descent (Gentiles) said this:
"Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God. The authorities that exist have been appointed by God."
The centurion we've been focusing on said he was "a man under authority." And he assumed Jesus was under the authority of God, and thus had the ability to command diseases to leave and they obey him.
To have authority, you must be under authority.
God's authority.
Directly or Indirectly.
This means you are either in authority, from God, or under the authority of someone who has authority from God.
For example, I am a father, and fathers have God given authority from their God given identity, as Moses said,
"Honor your father and mother, so that your days may be long on the earth."
Paul also says, "Children obey your parents in all things, for this is well pleasing to the Lord."
As a father, I have the right to command my children and expect obedience from them. I have authority over them because I am in authority. They have authority when they act under my authority.
Authority comes from God.
You are either in authority right now, as you read my words, or you are under someone's authority as you read my words. When you act under the authority over you, you have authority.
If you are at work, and your manager or supervisor tells you to do something, you have authority to do it. This means you do it in the name of your manager. You can say, "My manager says to do this," to whom every you must interact with. Your manager is your enforcer. If you are resisted, he or she is the one being resisted, and he or she is the one to enforce his or her authority, given to you.
Authority is the ability to command and be obeyed.
Authority comes from God.
You use authority by speaking and acting in the name of authority.
(Click HERE for part 2)
Monday, June 2, 2014
How To Be Angry Without Regret (Part 2)
3. DON'T GO TO BED ANGRY.
God isn't just slow to anger, but His anger is short termed. He gets angry, judges those who sin against Him, and then it's over. He doesn't hold grudges or let his anger linger. Neither should we. God's anger lasts a moment, and so should ours. We should get angry slowly. We should be and express anger quickly.
4. DON'T GIVE SATAN AN OPPORTUNITY.
The devil loves to be angry and to provoke anger. He loves conflict and harm. He wants us to get angry quickly and to stay angry indefinitely, expressing our anger violently and harmfully.
When we are quickly, uncontrollably, and unjustly angry, we give Satan an opportunity to express himself through us and with us.
But when we our anger is slow, controlled and just, God's Spirit will empower our anger to bring justice and peace.
How can we practice this?
By remembering anger's purpose: justice.
To practice justice, we must first practice wanting justice by wanting the truth.
In other words, we have to put ourselves in a state in which we want to know the facts....all the time. We don't quickly make up our minds about things or people without hearing all the facts.
We become people of truth who are committed to perceiving things as they actually are.
Perception creates emotion. What we perceive affects what we believe, and thus how we feel.
For example:
You receive a phone call. You're told that someone you love has been in a fatal accident.
How do you feel?
You receive another phone call moments after the first one. You're told that your loved one is completely unharmed.
How do you feel?
Within moments, your emotions shift from anxiety and fear to complete peace and relief, based on your perception of the situation. Based on the truth.
If we become people of truth, we can indirectly control being angry, and all of our other emotions through our truth perception.
It's up to us.
If you agree, pray with me:
God, help me to see as you see, and to be angry like you are angry. In Jesus name, amen.
May God help you by His Spirit to be angry without regret.
God isn't just slow to anger, but His anger is short termed. He gets angry, judges those who sin against Him, and then it's over. He doesn't hold grudges or let his anger linger. Neither should we. God's anger lasts a moment, and so should ours. We should get angry slowly. We should be and express anger quickly.
4. DON'T GIVE SATAN AN OPPORTUNITY.
The devil loves to be angry and to provoke anger. He loves conflict and harm. He wants us to get angry quickly and to stay angry indefinitely, expressing our anger violently and harmfully.
When we are quickly, uncontrollably, and unjustly angry, we give Satan an opportunity to express himself through us and with us.
But when we our anger is slow, controlled and just, God's Spirit will empower our anger to bring justice and peace.
How can we practice this?
By remembering anger's purpose: justice.
To practice justice, we must first practice wanting justice by wanting the truth.
In other words, we have to put ourselves in a state in which we want to know the facts....all the time. We don't quickly make up our minds about things or people without hearing all the facts.
We become people of truth who are committed to perceiving things as they actually are.
Perception creates emotion. What we perceive affects what we believe, and thus how we feel.
For example:
You receive a phone call. You're told that someone you love has been in a fatal accident.
How do you feel?
You receive another phone call moments after the first one. You're told that your loved one is completely unharmed.
How do you feel?
Within moments, your emotions shift from anxiety and fear to complete peace and relief, based on your perception of the situation. Based on the truth.
If we become people of truth, we can indirectly control being angry, and all of our other emotions through our truth perception.
It's up to us.
If you agree, pray with me:
God, help me to see as you see, and to be angry like you are angry. In Jesus name, amen.
May God help you by His Spirit to be angry without regret.
How To Be Angry Without Regret (Part 1)
Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.
The Apostle Paul to the church in Ephesus
God gets angry.
But His anger is sinless.
I envy this about God.
It seems to me that God can be angry freely and sinlessly. He can express it without the fear of going too far, or being wrong like we often are when we are angry. Sometimes we get angry too quickly and find out that what we thought was happening wasn't happening at all. We've misunderstood yet once again.
What if we could be as free in being angry as God is?
I believe we can. The Apostle Paul shows us the way in four steps.
1. BE ANGRY.
Imagine what Paul is saying, even commanding. Imagine the freedom to be angry, and where this freedom comes from. It comes from an understanding of what anger is and what anger's purpose is.
Anger is intense displeasure towards evil or wrong doing.
It's purpose is justice, to expose and undo unrighteousness and establish righteousness.
Isn't this why God gets angry? If He sees a baby being abused, doesn't this make Him angry, and doesn't He want to stop the abuse? This is the proper place of anger. In this way, and in this way only, are we encouraged and even commanded by Paul to be angry.
2. DO NOT SIN.
This is the difference between sinful and sinless anger:
Sinless anger is slow, controlled, and just.
Yes, God gets angry, and His anger is intense, but He is not immediately or quickly angry. He is not rash or reactionary when He is angry. His anger is slow, controlled, and just. In other words, it is an informed anger. His dealings with Sodom and Gomorrah is an example.
God told Abraham that He had come down to see if the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah that had come up to Him was true. If so, then He would know. So before God became angry and expressed anger, He sought to be informed. Before He judged, He investigated.
Another example is how He dealt with Nineveh through the prophet Jonah. He gave Jonah this message: In 40 days, Nineveh will be destroyed. Why 40 days? Because God is patient, and gives us the way to be slow to anger through this example.
The key to being slow to anger, or patient, is to set a limit on our patience. God's patience is not indefinite, but has a limit. So should ours. In setting a limit on our patience, and in being informed about situations of wrong, we can be angry without sin, and we can avoid another danger of sinful anger. (Click HERE for part 2)
The Apostle Paul to the church in Ephesus
But His anger is sinless.
I believe we can. The Apostle Paul shows us the way in four steps.
Imagine what Paul is saying, even commanding. Imagine the freedom to be angry, and where this freedom comes from. It comes from an understanding of what anger is and what anger's purpose is.
Anger is intense displeasure towards evil or wrong doing.
It's purpose is justice, to expose and undo unrighteousness and establish righteousness.
Isn't this why God gets angry? If He sees a baby being abused, doesn't this make Him angry, and doesn't He want to stop the abuse? This is the proper place of anger. In this way, and in this way only, are we encouraged and even commanded by Paul to be angry.
This is the difference between sinful and sinless anger:
Sinless anger is slow, controlled, and just.
Yes, God gets angry, and His anger is intense, but He is not immediately or quickly angry. He is not rash or reactionary when He is angry. His anger is slow, controlled, and just. In other words, it is an informed anger. His dealings with Sodom and Gomorrah is an example.
God told Abraham that He had come down to see if the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah that had come up to Him was true. If so, then He would know. So before God became angry and expressed anger, He sought to be informed. Before He judged, He investigated.
Another example is how He dealt with Nineveh through the prophet Jonah. He gave Jonah this message: In 40 days, Nineveh will be destroyed. Why 40 days? Because God is patient, and gives us the way to be slow to anger through this example.
The key to being slow to anger, or patient, is to set a limit on our patience. God's patience is not indefinite, but has a limit. So should ours. In setting a limit on our patience, and in being informed about situations of wrong, we can be angry without sin, and we can avoid another danger of sinful anger. (Click HERE for part 2)
Sunday, May 25, 2014
The Consciousness of Sinlessness
I'm writing to Christians who want to be sinless, and who want to be conscious of this. If you are a not a Christian, or you don't want this, I'm not writing to you. If you don't believe this is possible or probable, I'm not writing this to you. I'm not writing to debate or prove anything. I assume it is possible to be what God wants us to be: As Holy As Christ Himself. So here I go.
To be conscious of sinlessness involves two things:
1. Forgiveness
2. Harmlessness
The first step in being conscious that you are sinless, indeed without sin, is to be forgiven. You must know that a beautiful exchange has taken place, the exchange of your sin for Christ's sinlessness. When Jesus died for your sin, He "became sin," your sin. It was as if He committed every sin you ever committed or would commit, and it was if you never sinned from the point of accepting Jesus' death for you, and thus His sinlessness in exchange for your sin.
So when you "confess your sin, God is faithful and just to forgive your sin and cleanse you from unrighteousness." He "separates your sin as far as east is from the west." He "casts your sin into a sea of forgetfulness." God "blots out your transgressions for His own sake and remembers your sin no more." He "keeps no record of your wrongs." It is as if you've never sinned and never been a sinner.
This is the first step in the consciousness of sinlessness. If you know that you have confessed and forsaken your sin, you can know that you are forgiven, and that at the very moment after your confession, you are in fact sinless. Now the issue is remaining in that state, living without sin. To understand the next step, we must define what sin is at it's core. Sin's essence. I'll define it with one word: HARM.
To do harm to God's glory, and those who reflect God's glory, man and woman, is sin.
HARM.
The Apostle Paul said, "Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." He said that the commandments, and every commandment, could be summed up in one commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself. Or put another way, "Do no harm to your neighbor." Every moral code in every society in every time period acknowledges this basic ethical principle: Do no harm.
Now of course, we as Christians seek more than this, but we should seek no less. And by seeking to be harmless, we can have the consciousness of sinlessness.
As I thought about this last night, or rather at 3:00 this morning, it felt most practical and applicable. I can measure my thoughts, words, and actions by whether they are harmful or harmless. I can have the consciousness of harmlessness and sinlessness. I can know whether I have intentionally thought, said, or done anything that would harm anyone.
So can you, if you want to.
If you do, pray this prayer with me:
"God, help me to be as sinless as Jesus."
Confess your sin.
Do no harm.
Let me know how this goes in the comment box.
To be conscious of sinlessness involves two things:
1. Forgiveness
2. Harmlessness
The first step in being conscious that you are sinless, indeed without sin, is to be forgiven. You must know that a beautiful exchange has taken place, the exchange of your sin for Christ's sinlessness. When Jesus died for your sin, He "became sin," your sin. It was as if He committed every sin you ever committed or would commit, and it was if you never sinned from the point of accepting Jesus' death for you, and thus His sinlessness in exchange for your sin.
So when you "confess your sin, God is faithful and just to forgive your sin and cleanse you from unrighteousness." He "separates your sin as far as east is from the west." He "casts your sin into a sea of forgetfulness." God "blots out your transgressions for His own sake and remembers your sin no more." He "keeps no record of your wrongs." It is as if you've never sinned and never been a sinner.
This is the first step in the consciousness of sinlessness. If you know that you have confessed and forsaken your sin, you can know that you are forgiven, and that at the very moment after your confession, you are in fact sinless. Now the issue is remaining in that state, living without sin. To understand the next step, we must define what sin is at it's core. Sin's essence. I'll define it with one word: HARM.
To do harm to God's glory, and those who reflect God's glory, man and woman, is sin.
HARM.
The Apostle Paul said, "Love does no harm to a neighbor, therefore love is the fulfillment of the law." He said that the commandments, and every commandment, could be summed up in one commandment: Love your neighbor as yourself. Or put another way, "Do no harm to your neighbor." Every moral code in every society in every time period acknowledges this basic ethical principle: Do no harm.
Now of course, we as Christians seek more than this, but we should seek no less. And by seeking to be harmless, we can have the consciousness of sinlessness.
As I thought about this last night, or rather at 3:00 this morning, it felt most practical and applicable. I can measure my thoughts, words, and actions by whether they are harmful or harmless. I can have the consciousness of harmlessness and sinlessness. I can know whether I have intentionally thought, said, or done anything that would harm anyone.
So can you, if you want to.
If you do, pray this prayer with me:
"God, help me to be as sinless as Jesus."
Confess your sin.
Do no harm.
Let me know how this goes in the comment box.
Friday, May 23, 2014
Your God Given Responsibility
Kenaniah the head Levite was in charge of the singing;
that was his responsibility because he was skillful at it.
1 Chronicles 15:22
Your God given responsibility is to use your God given abilities.
This is God's will for you.
This is your calling.
You don't need to wait for anything else to be revealed to you to know what God wants you to do.
This is comforting for us because we are not called to do or be anything beyond or other than what we are. In fact, we have a moral obligation to be what God made us to be and do what God made us to do, which means we also have a moral obligation to refuse to be what we are not.
I'm experiencing this vividly.
In seeking a job, my first inclination is to simply do whatever job I find, whether I'm skilled at it or not. After all, I have a family, a responsibility to provide for them. Does it really matter how I do it as long as it do it?
I'm learning that it does.
To take care of my family does not negate God's glory. In fact, I believe the only real way to take care of my family is to seek first God's glory, to seek first God's kingdom. Seeking this first, God will add the provision of my family's needs--through giving me a job! But not just any job. He will give me my God given vocation, the job by which I will glorify Him by doing what He made me alone to do.
The same is true for you.
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