Faith

Faith and fear cannot coexist.  It is impossible.  If you have fear, you cannot have faith.  If you have faith, you cannot have fear.

Faith is the assurance, even the evidence of things unseen.  


I've been rolling that around in my mind this week.  Isn't it true that if you have faith for something, that that "something" has to be something... having faith for someone's healing, having faith for a job, having faith for a good outcome to an impossible situation.


I've thought about this in the context of situations and events.  There have been times in my life when my faith has felt like a force welling up inside of me.  I wouldn't call it a feeling, but more like an energy I feel deep inside of me.


When those situations have come, the faith I have, evidenced by energy in me, has resulted in answers to prayer and healing.  


So, when I have faith for something that I am believing in, believing for I can be assured by the faith I experience that I will have it.  

Renewing Your Mind

Renewing my mind is my responsibility.

Period... don't expect some preacher to do it for you. Don't expect that just going to church on Sunday to renew your mind. This is a daily, hourly, minute by minute exercise.

Experience It

I realize that it is sometimes difficult to move from words and concepts into experience. Our way of learning in North American schools and churches and even businesses, has been one of a talking head dispensing information and the audience just receiving that information without much interaction.

But the Gospel is not a concept, it's not words. It's a powerful force that causes life transformation. I do not know how to explain it, nor do I know if I could. How can you explain dramatic, inside-out changes in people who are Christians - whether their experience is brand new or years old?

How can I explain to you how I have been set free, no longer stuck in the same routine I was stuck in before? How can I tell what happened to me to change me from someone who was afraid to interact with anyone (unless someone worked at drawing me out), to someone who is no longer afraid and can go out meet people and interact with others more easily?

How can I explain to you that my past no longer influences my today or my tomorrow?

How can I explain to you that I do not live in fear?

There are so many areas where I have experienced a change that is not from within me. This change has not come about because I have worked it up or willed myself to do something different than I have before.

The change is coming from a deep place within. The change is coming because Jesus is IN me, living and residing in me, changing me at a deep, core level - from glory to glory.

This is the power of the Gospel at work in me.

Don't Copy

Don't copy!

We all used to hear that in school - don't copy. Copying is cheating. It's especially cheating and very bad if you do it during a test.

If I don't copy, and I don't know what to do, then what I am supposed to do?

I've been in a particularly difficult situation lately. Personalities and routine ways of behaving and reacting are dragging everyone in this situation into a particular downward spiral of actions and reactions. It's been very predictable and not at all positive or productive.

And I, of all people, got sucked into it!!! Do you know how hard it is to pull yourself from this copying behavior of others. It's like going around a whirlpool, and I can see the center of the spiral and I can't do a thing to get out. I'm getting sucked closer and closer with every action and reaction.

Someone help me. I do those things I do not want to do! I say things, and instantly regret them as I see them fueling the vortex and the actions and reactions of others.

How can I stop contributing to this behavior? I have been in a state of anxiety before every situation, knowing that I was powerless to do anything. Even the most innocent statement could and probably would set off the others to act and react and start the swirling, whirling descent.

I was re-reading Romans 12:2 in the New Living Translation where it says: Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world (I really want to stop doing this but how??!!), but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

Aha! I don't have to do anything! I can enter these situations, and simply by yielding to God, and recognizing Him in this situation (what He thinks, what He wants, what He sees) and reacting to Him instead of to them, I can be changed, and my behavior can change as well.

It's an exercise - a spiritual exercise that reaps benefits. As we exercise ourselves to mind these things, eventually our whole being will be according to the Spirit (see blog post of Aug. 29).

So, here I am exercising my spiritual muscles in order that I might be habitually dominated by the Spirit and not by my flesh.

Romans 8:5-7

I'm out of shape. A year of injuries and issues have driven me from the gym, and into a less active lifestyle, and has shown itself in weight gain and lack of muscle strength. And I'm not happy about it. While my injuries are healing (left knee and right shoulder - both separate and unrelated), I've had to make decisions to either find alternative workouts or or don't do anything. Most of the time I've opted to not do anything.

I should be fair to myself and note that in that year long period I was taking college algebra courses and working full time. But, still, decisions I made.... where were my thoughts?

Romans 8:5-7 talks about this very thing:

For those who follow the flesh have their interests in the flesh, and those who follow the Spirit have their interests in the Spirit. The interests of the flesh mean death, the interest of the Spirit mean life and peace.

For the interests of the flesh are hostile to God; they do not yield to God (ineed they cannot).

Habitually dominated by the flesh or the Spirit (Wuest).

Which way am I today? Dominated by the flesh or by the Spirit. If dominated by the flesh - meaning, following my own natural inclinations, whatever my mind thinks of I do, etc. If I am dominated by the Spirit, then I don't follow my mind, I seek Him out, I ask him "what do you think about this? - yes? no?" Then I wait for his answer. I don't just think and do... I think, seek, ask, and then follow His instruction - not my own inclination.

Do I always do this? Of course not. But how do I get better at this?

I think it's a lot like physical exercise. Physical exercise trains our bodies, strengthens our muscles, it can even consume our thoughts and dictate our lifestyle. When I had been working out for sometime, I was careful about what I ate, I arranged my life around time at the gym, and made sure I got enough sleep. I read fitness magazines, nutrition labels, and websites about fitness. I watched YouTube videos on new exercise moves, downloaded podcasts to listen to while exercising or running.

When I think about how to get myself habitually dominated by the Holy Spirit, I realize that it's a lot like starting out on a new lifestyle. Things have to change - schedules have to be rearranged. What I read about, listen to, and think about has to be about the Spirit and His desires, not about what I think is good.

Don't get me wrong - exercise is very good for the body. But it's still "of the flesh." Without the Spirit, there is still going to be death even though it seems good. Yes, even good things can be "of the flesh" - that's why it's so important to yield in everything to what the Holy Spirit wants.

I leave you with this quote in the note section for Romans 8:5 of the Recovery Bible: "As we exercise ourselves to mind these things, eventually our whole being will be according to the Spirit."

That's a goal worth rearranging my life for - to be consumed....

So, expect to see more here in this blog - it's my journey to become spiritually fit, dominated in my mind and all that I do by the Spirit.

Odd Fragments

Are you fragmented? Are you between two opinions and not sure which is really truth?

Do you have one identity in one situation and another identity in another?

I struggle around strong personalities. I'm laid back, easy going and not much ruffles my feathers. But when I get around stronger personalities - watch out.

But I have learned....

I have learned that in the Gospel I cannot sway between two opinions or two ways of being. My identity becomes eroded, unless I am on guard and aware of what is happening.

Strong personalities tend to say to less-strong (but not weaker) personalities - Who do you think you are? This is who I am! This can be anything that someone else leans upon as their identity such as their ethnicity, their physical fitness level, their status in society, and even their religion.

When I allow myself to get sucked into thinking like that - where I look inward and see where I fall short next to "big personalities" then I begin to lose my identity and my authority level.

I cannot allow this to happen.... because what happens is that my identity as a Christian gets eroded and smaller as I allow the bigger personality to swallow me up.

The truth is I cannot be two people - one at church (or in the presence of other Christians) and another person when I am with another group of people. That's a fragmented life. And being fragmented also erodes true identity.

Being who I am (I am in Christ!) has much to do with having this overwhelming confidence that allows me to be the stronger personality - not because I change my personality, but because I know who I am and I don't need to conform or be in submission to a stronger personality.

Where does this confidence come from? Yes, I see the threat of the bigger personality, but I ask the Lord - grant me boldness!!! (Acts 4:29)

To live between two opinions is a horrible place to be - never sure of who you are. It is much better to embrace your true identity through Jesus and live in one mind, of one opinion and one identity.

**********

Acts 4:29 Wuest version: Lord, look upon their threatenings and grant at once to your bondslaves the ability to be speaking your word with all fearless confidence and freedom of speech while you stretech out your hand to heal . . .

How can you not love the Gospel?

I died... and it's no longer I who live, but Him! He lives in me, and has made me alive - more alive than I ever was!!

My two word story? Dead? DEAD!! I am dead. And thank God I am dead. I could never live life to the fullest the way I was before. But dead is the way to be....

How do you like always screwing up? Always being rejected? Always enduring shame and depression, despair and discouragement? All of that - every bit of it was taken by Jesus on the Cross...

and you, if you believe it, were co-crucified with Him on the Cross - every bit of your shameful, rejection, searching for meaning, always screwing up life.

After that - you wonder - what's left? This is what's left - JOY, unspeakable joy. Satisfaction. Do you really know what it's like to be so satisfied that you don't have to yearn after anything else? Bliss - bliss, bliss, bliss. Righteousness - every thing made right. It's all yours - to those that believe... why? Because He said (Jesus) that when He would be lifted up on the Cross (something that happened about 2000 years ago), all men (with no regard for for time) would be drawn into his body. A demonstration of He that knew no sin became sin for your sake. He took your place, experience death, desolation, rejection, depression, etc. so you DON'T HAVE TO!

Experience this!!!!

Dead? DEAD!!!!!

(Thanks to Linley for sparking this one!)

Don't copy the behavior of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Rom 12:2, The Living Bible

What a challenging week!

What do you do when you're peer is named as your supervisor and is now doing your performance review? This was not a welcome move in my mind. And I admit I initially had quite a bit of turmoil about it.

However, while praying about it and asking the Lord what the proper response is the reminder that I am not of the world, and my response is not to be like those in the world came to mind. But I still struggled to find that proper response and have it be heartfelt.

I would like to say that this was one of those times of enlightenment where I instantly "got it" and behaved it, but to be truthful, it wasn't until a couple of days later when I could say that I definitely had peace of mind and a godly response in the face of this news.

I willingly sent this new supervisor my new performance review assessment and we have a date scheduled for the actual review.

The Lord has never let me down in all my job situations. There have been difficult situations and circumstances, but He has always been and always will be faithful.

To see a real life situation where Romans 12:2 is playing out is very exciting. This makes the Scripture more than a concept, and turns it into an experience. Experience trumps concepts every time.

Faith requires an action

I started reading Luke today, and was stopped in my tracks by what happened to Mary. We are very familiar with the story where the angel Gabriel comes and visits Mary and announces that she is going to become pregnant by the Holy Spirit and have a son, the Messiah.

What struck me about this story was that Mary got up and went to Elizabeth. She didn't wait around to see if she was going to get her next period, or even longer - until she felt the first movement in her womb. She got up and went to Elizabeth.

Her faith in the promise from Gabriel was immediate.

I love how The Message version of Luke 1:39ff captures it:

Mary didn't waste a minute. She got up and traveled to a town in Judah in the hill country, straight to Zachariah's house, and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby in her womb leaped.

What I take away from this is that when God makes a promise, I don't need to wait until I start to see an inkling of action. I only need to act and believe.