Idolatry and Sonship

I recently found out that I was going to have some extra income. It was a significant amount and my heart rejoiced. Even though it was going to be dispersed evenly throughout the year, I began to make plans for this extra money even though none of it had been deposited into my bank account.  I thought to myself, "Wow I can give more, save more and I won't have to feel guilty about grabbing a cup of coffee, or spending too much money on my lunch break."

Then, almost without warning, it was yanked away. I felt like I had failed my wife and my marriage. Soon, the condemnation turned to anger against the alleged "perpetrators."  In my "righteous" anger I was going to confront those who took away the income that I needed so desperately. I even had a scripture verse to justify myself. 

"His father and mother did not know that it was from the Lord,  for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.
Judges 14:4. 

I felt like maybe the Lord was using this occasion for me to expose the evil in those who had unjustly taken away my income. 

Later in the week I met with my mentor, Tom.  I knew I needed some wisdom on this issue because my emotions were running high and I was still very angry.   At one point in the conversation Tom said something like "sometimes our basic challenge as sons is to worship the Giver, not the gifts."  I said to him "this discipleship stuff is not as easy as it I thought it was."

Later that morning as I was driving to work the Lord spoke clearly to me. He said the evil that needed to be exposed was not the evil in the people with whom I was angry.  The evil that needed to be exposed was the idolatry in my own heart. My anger, my condemnation, my frustration, all pointed to something that was wrong in me, not in my alleged perpetrators. I was an idolator. My heart had so quickly had begun to worship the gifts and not the Giver. As I wept before the Lord, I was reminded that He is a good Father who will expose everything in His sons that prevents them from enjoying the Father.  God is aggressively angry about idolatry because it prevents us as sons from enjoying the good pleasure of a good God. He wants me to know that He is good and He is the ultimate Father who will not withhold what is good from his Children.  As my friend, Tom pointed out, God did not dangle this income in front of me and yank it away because He's bad.  He allowed this to happen to expose me and reveal Him in His glory and goodness.

"For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly." Psalms 84:11 ESV

"He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?" Romans 8:32 ESV

As of this writing, the income has been restored. He is really good all the time with or without more income.

Written by Joel, The Colony, Texas

Keep It Simple Stupid

“If you abide in My word you are truly My disciples.  And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31&32)

Abide… My word… My disciples… The truth will set you free.  Sometimes I read things like this and they just echo throughout my head like, “what… the hell… does that mean… In my life.”  How?  What does that look like?  And why the disconnect resulting in my question?

I have been the recipient of the greatest gift that could ever be bestowed upon a human heart — God’s Love.  I know Him.  I’ve experienced His love.  It has plastered me to a couch cushion for hours. It has swept me off my feet, and caused me to give my entire life to Him without reservations.  I KNOW HIM.  He is magnetic.  His love is intoxicating.  He is like adrenaline pumping through your veins at times, and like a pot-brownie that sends you to another place and state of rest that you didn’t know existed.  (Obviously, the Real Thing, a.k.a. Jesus, far surpasses my earthly references, but you get the picture)

He’s SO good.  He has demonstrated faithfulness again, and again, and again.  He has mended my broken heart.  He has done miracles in every corner of my life.

And I turn my head.
If only for a moment… and can experience what one novel refers to as “Shadow Sickness.”*
I have tasted the marrow of Life, and in the next breath I am eating the rotten fruit of despair, selfishness, and fear, and all those other nightmarish nouns that come to claim our life.

Years ago, I was in Berlin on a mission trip (This is how and where I met Chuck & Della Magnet, Re-Generation).  There was a man from Israel with a crazy-amazing prophetic gift.  I observed as he delivered spiritual arrows of hope and destiny straight to the hearts of friends and strangers all around me.  I was one of the last ones that he spoke to, but it sounded so different than prophetic words I had heard until that point, and still to this day.  It was like an urgent warning.  Honestly, it was as if my life DEPENDED on what He was saying.

He said, “You have to learn to renew your mind”.

It was the way he said it.  It was the fact that He said it so many times. It unnerved me a bit.  I thought, ‘okay.  I mean the name of a nation, or some cool calling would have been awesome, but thanks for the tip, buddy!’
I am laughing now at how ignorant I was.  Not that I have fully grasped the significance and full weight of it, but I’m certainly starting that journey.

My life DOES depend on this.  This is life or death for me.  See a few paragraphs up.  We are talking about the difference between Dark and Light. Truth and Lies. Walking in Truth, with Truth — or Shadow Sickness.

I choose which reality I live in. I make that choice based on trust. 

Can I look Jesus in the eye and accept what He says about me, how He sees me, how he sees my circumstances, or others, and choose to believe those things because its the Truth?  Because HE IS TRUSTWORTHY.

When thoughts, feelings, emotions, circumstances, and sometimes the devil is raging in my ear and my head - and seems pretty damn real, can I just choose to trust what God has said - and live from that place?

When we see with His eyes, when we walk through the door of Truth and Life - we experience rest, and peace, and joy, and love, because we are face-to-face with Him.  If we ABIDE in THE WORD (which is HIM) we will know the TRUTH and it will set us free.

Free to laugh with Him.  Free to find joy in the midst of our crazy circumstances.  Free to rest while all else screams otherwise.  Free to play!  We get to discover His perspective, and explore His amazing plan on using this wild ride to bring us into even greater intimacy with Him.
It is not easy to choose this - I know.  I know so, so well.  I have lived with shadow sickness.  Way to long.  It’s not easy, but it is SIMPLE.  And that gives me such hope.  It really is two-plus-two-equals-four-simple. When we focus on Truth: which is HIM, we experience Life abundantly! We taste the kingdom, the fruit of love, the life that Christ died for - all because we Trust Him.

Life.

When we believe a lie, and it captivates us - we are towed-under by anxiety, frustration, fear, isolation, insecurity, and the like!

Death.

It’s life or death.  It’s truth or lies.  It’s the daily work of Trust.

But I know - if we choose to trust what He says about us, about who He is to us, and our world - it will change EVERYTHING.  We become ONE with the mind of Christ.  We partake of ONENESS.  One heart, one mind, one body.  We live in the Kingdom.

And then… we spread that Kingdom.

*”Eve” by Paul Young

Written by Justine, Los Angeles, California