Pursuing our Destiny, Part 4—Being with God in His Word

How can a young man keep his way pure?
By guarding it according to your word.
With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!
I have stored up your word in my heart,
that I might not sin against you.
Blessed are you, O LORD;
teach me your statutes!
With my lips I declare
all the rules of your mouth.
In the way of your testimonies I delight
as much as in all riches.
I will meditate on your precepts
and fix my eyes on your ways.
I will delight in your statutes;
I will not forget your word. (Psalm 119:9-16, ESV)

Eugene Petersen titled one of his latest books, Eat This Book. It’s a book about how to read the Bible. And that’s what this particular article is about: how to read the Bible. So many of us have used various reading plans, and so many of us struggle to remain consistent in fulfilling those plans. I’d like to offer a different way of reading today. It’s not a new way; it’s almost 2,000 years old. But it’s probably new to many of us who have grown up in the American church.

To frame our thinking, I’d like to offer you a premise, a practice, and a precondition that will help us and encourage us to be with God in his Word, not just read his Word.

The premise is this:

The Spirit of God,
Uses the Word of God
To conform the child of God,
Into the image of the Son of God.

Consider three different pieces of Scripture:

All Scripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16&17, ESV).

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12, ESV).

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect
(Hebrews 4:12, ESV).

The Scriptures are God-breathed, living and dynamic, and transformative in nature. God designed them to live in us through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. He uses them to help us live our destiny—to become living icons of Jesus (Romans 8:29). Remember the premise:

The Spirit of God
Uses the Word of God
To conform the child of God
Into the image of the Son of God.

How does this happen? Think with me about how we live out the premise through the use of a centuries old practice.

Have you ever wondered if old dogs can really learn new tricks? When it comes to being with God in his Word, I can tell you that this old dog learned a new trick about six years ago—actually a new way to come to Scripture—actually a really old way to come to Scripture that was new to me.

I began meeting with a spiritual director, a retired Presbyterian pastor. His name was Hugh Smith, and he was one of the godliest and wisest men I’ve ever known. He introduced me to a way of reading scripture called Lectio Divina, which means Divine Reading.

Lectio consists of four movements—four ways we engage the small passage of Scripture we’re reading. They are lectio (reading), meditatio (meditating on what we’ve read), oratio (prayer driven by what we’ve read and meditated upon), and contemplatio (living with and living out the text we’ve read, meditated, and prayed.)

One of the early church fathers called this way of being with God through his Word, “listening deeply with the ears of the heart.” There is no hurry.  There is no intellectual effort to figure out just what the text means. We simply wait quietly on the Holy Spirit as we read, listening for the “still small voice” of the Lord to speak personally through his Word.  Remember the premise:

The Spirit of God
Uses the Word of God
To conform the child of God
Into the image of the Son of God.

There is one more thing. We can never experience God fully in his Word  while using the practice of lectio divina without one precondition.

One of the most dangerous things a Christian can do is study the Bible without submitting to God. Lectio Divina—Divine Reading—requires that we come to God’s Word with humility, in submission, and with a heart open to hear what the Spirit wants to show us from the Word.

One writer has described it this way: We approach the living Word of God ready to hear the Lord speak to us, anticipating that the historical and inspired text will be freshly applied by the Holy Spirit to the personal text of our lives today.

We open our hearts to be with God in his Word so that . . .

The Spirit of God
Can use the Word of God
To conform the child of God
Into the image of the Son of God.

Amen.  (For more information on the practice of lectio divina, check out this website: http://www.soulshepherding.org/2012/07/lectio-divina-groups/  While the focus is on groups, the principles work for individual reading as well)

Daily Bible Reading: Jeremiah 20-11; Matthew 24:1-28

Quote of the day: The Holy Scriptures are our letters from home. Augustine

Bible Memory: Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart. I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end. Psalm 119:111-112 ESV

Don’t Miss His pitch

 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” Romans 10:14-15 

This past weekend a group of friends and myself decided to have a fun night out and hit up a minor league baseball game. Now I am by no means a sport enthusiast but if I do sit down and watch a game, it will always be baseball. Growing up and watching my grandfather and his passion for the New York Yankees will always live with me. As we entered the stadium and began to look around for our section and seat numbers, I could see ahead down the row. I saw an older man sitting intensely watching the teams warm up, passing the ball back and forth and then we made eye contact. I could tell in his eyes he wanted to chat. Now before I go on, I must be honest, I am not what people would call a “conversationalist “. I have always been extremely shy and the thought of sitting down with a stranger sends chills into my stomach.

As we sat down I was voted by the group to sit next to him. He was very scruffy looking and gave off a very unpleasant odor, just to be kind. The moment I sat down he leaned over and asked the question “Do you want to hear some baseball trivia?” before I had time to say no he was off and running. That man talked to me throughout the entire game, giving unusual commentary laced with profanity and periodically bringing up other useless trivia that no one would ever know exact him. Now, it’s right about now I’m sure you’re asking yourself, “okay, now what’s the point of all this?”

As we began our drive home I began to come under conviction. I could tell in my heart that this man was lonely and just wanted someone to talk too. I spent that entire night internally picking him apart and never once did it pop into my head that maybe this man needs to hear about Jesus. In Romans 8:29 it says that “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son”.  When I read in the Gospels about the character of Jesus, I can only imagine how Christ would have turned that baseball game into a life changing experience for that scruffy old man.

My encouragement to you and myself is this. God is placing people in our lives on a day to day basis that we can have the pleasure of sharing Christ with. Don’t fall into this trap like I did and miss a divine appointment that my Savior had laid out for me. We need to have a watchful eye for these moments and be ready to act on behalf of our King. Whether these moments come in our families, our workplaces or at a local minor league baseball game… when God throws you a pitch, always be ready to knock it out of the park for the glory of our Savior. – Graeme Wilson serves full-time at America’s Keswick in the areas of IT/AV, Marketing and Programming

Daily Bible Reading: Jeremiah 18-19; Matthew 23:23-39

Quote of the day: “We are all missionaries…Wherever we go, we either bring people nearer to Christ, or we repel them from Christ.”  ~Eric Liddell

Bible Memory: Your testimonies are my heritage forever, for they are the joy of my heart. I incline my heart to perform your statutes forever, to the end. Psalm 119:111-112 ESV

The “C’s” in Grace Part Two

“But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” 2 Peter 3:8-9 (ESV)

I am hoping that you have read my previous Freedom Fighter concerning some thoughts on the common grace that YHVH has bestowed upon the creation. I also would like to continue to share what Dietrich Bonhoeffer had written in his book “The Cost of Discipleship” concerning his thoughts on grace. It really took me a-back when I read his two “C’s” of grace. But his accusations are as right now as they were then. It blows me away that no matter how much our gracious Father blesses His creation, we seem to have the uncanny ability to tarnish the very precious metals He tries to refine us to be.

Bonhoeffer wrote this about what he calls “Cheap Grace”. “Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjack’s wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices.” Granted this is harsh but it has it’s element of truth. “The essence of grace, we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap?” I ain’t finished quoting this idea of cheap grace yet…get ready for this…

“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without The Cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.” Can a brother get an AMEN and say OUCH in the same sentence? But there is a better grace Bonhoeffer wrote about, it’s called “Costly Grace”. “Costly grace is the Gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which man must knock.”

“Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ which the disciple leaves his nets and follows Him.” When I read these words I get a deep sense of conviction that I, in my everyday routine, cheapen the very grace I cry out to receive. I complain that my job isn’t what it should be, I expect my family to tolerate my times of frustration with making ends meet, I say unkind things to people who should be hearing words of encouragement and yet I find it easy to blame it all on a fallen world that refuses to accept God’s grace and praise Him for His mercy. Who do I think I am?

If there is a book to buy and read over the approaching summer it should be this book “The Cost of Discipleship” by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. In the very evil of Hitler’s war machine this Pastor of humility found that God’s grace was sufficient enough for him. Bonhoeffer was hung for the sake of The Cross, naked but yet prayerful. The Nazi Regime fell not too much long after that. And here we are decades later having the same struggles with grace that Christians did back then. What wretched people we are…who can save us from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen? – Chris Hughes blogs regularly on Freedom Fighter and is a grad of the Colony of Mercy

Daily Bible Reading: Jeremiah 6-8; Matthew 21:23-46

Quote of the day: “Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life.”—Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Bible Memory: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules.—Psalm 119:106 ESV

The “C’s” in Grace

“What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”  Romans 9:14-16 (ESV)

Sometimes in the daily-ness of my mere life I seem to forget God’s grace on my life. At times I’ll wrestle with what Jesus said in Matthew 5 when He said that “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” I just want the sun and rain for the good and just. Let the evil and the unjust cry out to whatever god they serve for their own sun and rain. After all why should their poor choices interfere with my daily routine? But then why should YHVH take any of my suggestions…I have been known to fail the Cross in my selfish daily routine.

So with that said…

One of the C’s in grace is the common grace that is bestowed upon us all. It has been said that there are two Bibles available to us. There is God’s Word (the written Bible) and then there is God’s Works (the creation we live in). In God’s Works all are bless with the rain, sun, air, grass…well you get the idea, these are the physical ones. We get the intellectual ones like the i-Pod, GMC Sierra pick-up trucks (my personal favorite), antibiotics and other inventions. Some people aren’t really evil, some people can create and some people do good things for social causes. I have to keep in mind that the people behind these, though not saved, have been allowed by The Creator to do what they do.

Common grace is God demonstrating His long-suffering and patience towards all of mankind. He continual blesses in this way so that when the Day of Judgment comes, He will be able to stand just in front of those who rejected Him for it will be made clear to them that they are without excuse. I wonder if this is what would keep Dietrich Bonhoeffer at peace within himself as Hitler’s Nazi’s held him captive. If you’re not familiar with him, Google him and you will find a 20^th century martyr whose life should have lead us into a more spiritual and responsible millennium. Sadly there are a few of us who know of this theologian, writer, musician, Pastor and author of poetry and fiction.

In his book “The Cost of Discipleship”, Bonhoeffer also had some C’s of his own when it comes to God’s grace and how we need to look at it. He argued that as Christianity spread, the Church became secularized, that there was an accommodating the demands of obedience to Christ to the requirements of a fallen world. This way as the world was becoming Christianized, God’s grace would become its common property. The problem becomes that the Gospel gets cheapened and living a true Christ like life gets lost in formulas and rituals. Basically saying grace could be sold literally for monetary gain.

I will be sharing what Bonhoeffer called “cheap grace” and “costly grace in my next Freedom Fighter. It is powerful stuff indeed. But to warm us to it let us consider what Max Lucado challenged us with by way of questions. “What if God’s only gift to you were His grace? Would you be content? You beg Him to save the life of your child. You plead with Him to keep your business afloat. You implore Him to remove the cancer from your body. What if His answer is, “My grace is enough.” Would you be content?” Hmmm…. – Chris Hughes is a regular Freedom Fighter blogger and a graduate of the Colony of Mercy

Daily Bible Reading: Jeremiah 3-5; Matthew 21:1-22

Quote of the day: “Judging others makes us blind, whereas love is illuminating. By judging others we blind ourselves to our own evil and to the grace which others are just as entitled to as we are.” —Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Bible Memory: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules.—Psalm 119:106 ESV

Pursuing our Destiny – Part 4

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night (Psalm 1:1&2).

Last week, I invited you to think about the importance of God’s Word in our pursuit of our destiny.  Allow me to remind you that we are destined to become living icons of Jesus (Romans 8:29).  All Jesus followers shares the same destiny; the details will differ from life to life, but all of us who trust Jesus are destined to be conformed to his image.

The “blessed” man in Psalm 1 strengthened himself by meditating on God’s Word—the “law.”  He understood the value of thinking about the law of the Lord.  The continual thinking about the things of God strengthened him and brought blessing to his life; it also protected him from sin.

For millennia, Christians have read the Word of God, but I am concerned that we often just meet the obligation, not letting the Word settle in our souls, a settling that’s needed if we’re going to experience transformation from the inside out.   We do some plan to get us through the New Testament or through the whole Bible in a year.  Perhaps we read a chronological Bible that takes us through Scripture in a year.  Some may use the Daily Office from a prayer book.  With the advent of the Internet, our options are almost unlimited.  That’s not a bad thing, but just reading isn’t enough.

The man in Psalm 1 meditated on what he had read, and that’s a little foreign to most of us.  We think of cults and eastern religions when we think about meditation.  And sadly, many of us who follow Jesus just haven’t discovered the value of a spiritual practice that focuses our minds and hearts on God’s Word.

Remember that this series is about spiritual practices/disciplines that will transform us and lead us to become more like Jesus.  The Word of God is central to this transformative life style; we can’t do without it.   So, I want to introduce you to a way to read God’s Word that Christians have used for hundreds of years.  It’s called Lectio Divina or Divine Reading.

Last week I mentioned a book by Jim Wilhoit and Evan Howard, Discovering Lectio Divina: Bringing Scripture into Ordinary Life.  In their book, the authors describe Lectio Divina as “the reading of a lover: the relaxed waiting that is as attentive to the relationship as it is to the text.  Though not divorced from analytical study, it is slower and more meditative.  It is where reading and prayer are bound together.”

In this way of reading, we bring ourselves to the text.  We read slowly, watchfully, listening for God’s Spirit to bring to our attention what he knows we may need to see.  We’re not in a hurry.  In the words of Wilhoit and Evans, we bring ourselves to the text—our eyes, our questions, our circumstances, all of us.  We watch as we read, paying attention to how the Spirit of God shapes our time in the Word.  And, we allow the Scripture to soak into us, changing our hearts and transforming us into the image of Jesus.

This way of reading includes several pieces: the actual reading, meditating, praying through the section of Scripture we’ve read, and contemplation, which is what the psalmist had in mind when he wrote, “Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10a).  It is a slower, more deliberative way of bringing ourselves to God’s Word.  It is reading for inspiration more than for information.  There is a time and place for both kinds of reading, but I submit to you that reading God’s Word only for information will never transform our lives and make us living icons of Jesus.

Someone once commented on maintaining the status quo by saying, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.”  If you don’t see God’s Word transforming your life, maybe it’s time to try a new way.  I’m far from being an authority, but if you would like to pursue this way of coming to the Word of God, expecting the Spirit of God to transform you, a child of God, I’ll be glad to share what I’ve learned and encourage you any way I can.  Just respond to this post, and I’ll be in touch.

Our common destiny, to be conformed to the image of Jesus, warrants our best efforts to engage with God in the transformation process.  I want to take one more week to talk about this spiritual practice, and then we’ll move on.  I invite you to consider a different way of coming to the Word of God, Lectio Divina; it may be something God’s Spirit is calling you to consider.  Please listen carefully. – Pastor John Strain is retired from full-time ministry and now a regular blogger for Freedom Fighter. He is also available for pulpit supply

Daily Bible Reading: Jeremiah 1-2; Matthew 20:17-34

Quote of the day: Christianity is not a religion at all but a way of life, a falling in love with God, and through him a falling in love with our fellows. J. B. Phillips

Bible Memory: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules.—Psalm 119:106 ESV

“But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” ~Acts 20:24

In keeping with Keswick’s summer theme, verse it’s been amazing how I’ve been able to apply it to an immense amount of situations in my life. The section of the verse I would like to highlight today is, “so that I may finish my race with joy”.

One of my favorite TV shows is “House”. For those of you that don’t know, the show follows the fictional life of Dr. Gregory House, Head of Diagnostic Medicine at a teaching Hospital in New Jersey. Dr. House is incredibly smart and witty but one of the biggest things he’s is known for, aside from saving the life of everyone on the TV show is that he’s quite miserable. His character can be described as moody, bitter, grumpy and cynical and is often robbing the joy of people around him with his horrible bed side manner.

Having struggled with addiction because of a past injury and being emotionally abused as a child, Dr. House can’t seem to focus on the journey that has been set before him. Consistently looking at the negative things in his life and his own personal selfishness, he has been blinded to the fact that he has the immense blessing of saving people’s lives on a day to day basis.

When I look at his character I can‘t help but think that during our own Christian walk it can be so easy for us to fall into this trap ourselves. Over my past ten years of service here at Keswick I’ve had the great pleasure of rubbing shoulders with hundreds of Christian men and women running their own races in ministry. One of the things I’ve learned along with the way and continue to do so is that running your race with joy is a choice, sometimes a daily one. We need to remember that as believers in Christ we are not only running our own race but are running side by side with others. If we don’t make the decision to choose joy ourselves we can in turn rob others of their joy as well. Jesus says in John chapter fifteen that if we abide in Him that our joy may be full!

As you begin your day I encourage you to choose joy in the race God has sent you on. That in Christ we have been made new, we can rest in His promise that he will see us through any challenge, heartache or fear. That if we abide in Him our own joy will be fulfilled and in turn we won’t rob others of what He has promised to give us. Graeme Wilson serves on the full-time ministry team at America’s Keswick and is our “millennial-in-residence”

Daily Bible Reading: Hosea 12-14; Matthew 20:1-16

Quote of the day: “Joy is of the will which labours, which overcomes obstacles, which knows triumph.” ~William Butler Yeats

Bible Memory: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules.—Psalm 119:106 ESV

Purity (Part 2)

“I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless.” Psalm 101:3

Welcome to a new week of Freedom Fighters. I am thankful for each of you and for your willingness to join me on the journey.

Last week I talked about the battle that the enemy is waging in tempting us with our eyes and our minds.

If it wasn’t so sad, it would have been humorous. Two days after writing that blog I found myself doing battle with my eyes.

The first encounter was at one of our favorite restaurants enjoying a meal with Jan and dear friends. When it came time to pay the bill, our waitress who was very attentive came over to present the bill and proceeded to lean over the table right in front of me. It was a very awkward moment. Did she know what she was doing? Or is she just a part of the “reveal it all” culture? Well I quickly turned my head and faced my wife.

The next day I was dropping off something and the young lady behind the counter was sitting much lower than were I was standing. For the type of business she was working for, she was certainly overdressed, well actually under-dressed for the occasion. I can’t help but thing that every guy that walked in that day faced the same temptation that I faced (unless they were truly brain dead or blind).

Author of Every Man’s Battle, Steve Atterburn says that our eyes, if not careful can be like a broken sewer pipe that will continue to carry raw sewage and leak it into our lives.

He says, “That is why we not only need to fight on the spiritual front by praying, but we also have to fight on the physical front with our wills by fleeing.

What does fleeing look like in practice? Simple: It is cutting off those sensual images that create that mental pop! Bouncing our eyes is one form of fleeing. Starving the mind of new images and taking lustful thoughts captive are two others. Fleeing into a deeper relationship with God through regularly reading the bible is the fourth.”

Recently one man shared with me, “I don’t have to look at pornography – I just have to go to the beach and boardwalk.” Another brother shared that what helped him think through this issue was this: “Do I want other men ogling at my wife and daughters with their eyes? Mentally undressing them and who knows what else?”

You might say – do we really need to talk about this? Absolutely! We need to hold each other’s feet to the fire. Actually we need to hold each other’s eyes to the fire. How are you doing with the battle with your eyes? You can’t do it alone, but with God’s help and another brother holding you accountable, we can live a life of purity.

Running the race with joy,

Bill Welte
President/CEO America’s KESWICK

Daily Bible Reading: Hosea 9-11; Matthew 19

Quote of the day: God loves us just the way we are, but He loves us too much to leave us that way. – Adrian Rogers

Bible Memory: Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. I have sworn an oath and confirmed it, to keep your righteous rules.—Psalm 119:106 ESV

Anticipation

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 20:28

I don’t go out to eat very often. It’s usually a special occasion like birthdays or my anniversary.

If it’s my birthday, and I make the choice, it’s always a steak house. I don’t even need a menu; it’s always the porter house steak. I will usually begin to get excited that morning and the excitement builds all day.

I was recently sharing with the men of the Colony about our upcoming conference season and how their attitude towards these events can make the difference.

The meetings are an addition to an already full schedule, and in the heat of summer it can become overwhelming.

But, just like my anticipation for that special meal, if we can get excited about hearing God’s word and believe that the spiritual nourishment that comes from it satisfies our longing soul, we can anticipate the events as an addition instead of a subtraction.

When I look back at my stay at the Colony, I believe it was the conference meetings that were the most beneficial to me. The teachings were what adhered all the counseling and heart searching that took place during my stay.

I was among the “Family of God”, and together we worshiped, fellowshipped and were blessed.

I would encourage you to come out this summer and join us as we, together feast on the Word of God. – Rob Russomano is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and serves on our full-time ministry team

Daily Bible Reading: 2 Kings 24-25; Matthew 17

Quote of the day: I learned to pray out of desperation. For most of us, this is how the adventure usually begins. When we finally get serious about prayer, the trigger is usually desperation, not duty…. We don’t pray because we ought, we pray because we are without any other recourse. David Jeremiah

Bible Memory: How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. Psalm 119:103-104

Power in a Jar of Clay

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,  that according to the riches of His glory He may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
~ from Ephesians 3

Oh beloved, it is true.  He has made us astoundingly new on the inside.  There is now, within a believer – deeper than the complex soul we are – an inner man.  And this man is now one with the One who made us new.

To know this, and reckon it true, is the most astounding source of freedom.

We are no longer alone in this horrible, wretched world.

We are free from time.

We are free from sin.

We are free to Love.

We are are eternal, now.

And this is all very good news.

But, it is news that the old man we were looks in on and tries to comprehend.  And in seeing a truly free spirit within, the soul and its attendant flesh begin this natural (read fallen) process of trying to identify and categorize and control – and even contain this new Life within.

And this is bad news.

For, in defaulting back to our old methodologies of trying to understand everything that is going on with our minds, we do actually begin to bottle up the new life that is growing within us.  We (mistakenly) think that this new inner man is simply an improvement to who we are, and so we try to integrate this new Life into our old life.

The very Spirit of God has different plans for us.

Can we see it?  In looking inside ourselves and trying to get a handle on what God is growing with us and within us, we get the focus entirely wrong.  See, we are a new creation in Him.  And that new and ever-strengthened spiritual inner man is now at the headwaters of the rivers of Living water which now flow out from us.

And as those rivers of Living water flow, they are not Designed to accommodate or improve the old man.  Rather, they are to wash away who we were and then begin to spill out in ever-increasing measure on others that they might develop a thirst for the same Source.

And so, dear friends, as we begin to grow spiritually, this growth should not, and cannot simply be a curiosity and interesting development.  No, rather these changes should supplant our former sense of identity.  Because we are a new creation, we find that this new creation is this amazingly beautiful person He is making even more amazing every day.  And this person is so amazing, that we cannot ever go back to simply living as a body and soul.

We are a now a spiritual being, imbued with Power from on high.  We are vessels out from which pour the Love of Christ to a world that desperately needs it.  We are people living outwards from the center of our existence – now living the same way our G_d Lives for us.

Oh beloved, may we stop simply looking inward at our new selves, and allow the new creation we are to simply pour out as Designed. – Makala Doulos is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and blogs regularly for Freedom Fighter

Daily Bible Reading: 2 Kings 22-23; Matthew 16

Quote of the day: They will kill me if they please, but they will never, never tear the living Christ from my heart. ~Girolamo Savonarola (1452-1498)

Bible Memory: How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through your precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. Psalm 119:103-104