Father, thank you for this time with You in Your word and this time with my good friend, Tina. I echo her questions from her previous post about how to be lights in such a very dark place. I know you have the solution, and I know you want to share it with us. Thank you that we are on this quest together and that you are revealing Your heart toward the nations and toward our own families right here in Paul's words. Increase our sensitivity to Your Spirit, increase our ability to hear Your message clearly and loudly in the midst of so many other messages out there, increase our ability to believe the words You speak to us and the message You have for us. Increase our faith, that one person can make a difference in a fallen world. Amen.
2:1 "You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other ,you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things."
Here it is: The paradigm shift. It is in passing judgment that we condemn ourselves. In many other places, Paul tells us that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Yet many of us who are in Christ continue to condemn others, both those inside and outside the church. Ouch! This is the biggest wake-up call I've ever had. That I am no better than anyone else. That God's grace, His unmerited favor, is turned toward the righteous and the wicked, for the wicked are really only those who are still in the dark about His infinite love toward them. The only difference between us and them is that we have seen the light of His love upon us. I was struck by the commentary you posted on the last verses by the relational nature of it. That is a side of things that I didn't hit upon fully...that all these "wicked actions" Paul is describing break down healthy relationships. When relationships aren't healthy, then interactions between people are filled with manipulation, jealousy, codependency, enmeshment, and so much other bondage. In this verse, Paul hits the ball out of the park...when we judge others, we condemn not only them but ourselves, for we are all guilty of loving on a purely human level...of selfishly using other people for our own gain. We have all done it, and we don't stop doing it just because we've given our lives to the Lord. It is only in recognizing this error, confessing it, and asking the Lord to help us recognize when we are loving wickedly that we have any hope of trading human love for Divine Love.
2:2 "Now we know that God's judgment against those who do such things is based on truth."
God's judgment falls on those who have not come under the umbrella of His grace, because they are still under the Law, which is based on truth! The Law is based on truth...the true standard, the true measure of all other thoughts, motives, ideas. And the Law at its very core is completely relational...governing man-to-man relationships and man-to-God relationships. The Law falls short in actually transforming the heart, though. Only the Spirit of Jesus Christ can transform our hearts so that we are internally governed by the heart of God. I can see so clearly that this is a pivotal and very important passage, but it is hard for me to put it into words. At some point, Jesus said that He did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it...in fact, He did fulfill it in total surrender and dependence on Father God, by becoming the Law incarnate...by teaching us how to relate perfectly with God and how to relate perfectly with men. And we have the same opportunity to fulfill the Law by turning our hearts away from judging others and towards God and His infinite love for us. By recognizing that we are by very nature truly beloved and true royalty. When we know who we are, we will automatically act differently. That's why it was so important when Jesus said that He loved us first.
2:3 "So when you, a mere man, pass judgment on them and yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God's judgment?"
This sums it up right here...why do Christians still struggle to have the fulfilled life? Why do Christians remain oppressed and downtrodden? I think it's because we've been taught by the church that our job is to point out sin...to talk about it when we get up, to talk about it when we eat together, to talk about it when we go to bed at night...to talk about how we're going to change ourselves, how we're going to change our children, how we're going to change our husbands. To talk about how we need to change ourselves, how we need to change our children, how we need to change ourselves. Isn't this what you've been taught? That believers are going to heaven because we have waged war against our own sin? That unbelievers are going to hell because they've sinned and fallen short of the glory of God?
Do you see the error in this? Do you see the subtle scheme of the enemy to distract us from the main point? Jesus wasn't focused on sin. He was focused on the Father heart of God. He wasn't focused on God's judgment or His wrath. He was focused on His love and on expressing His love in every way possible. Oh, yes, He talked about sin and righteous living. But actually most of His messages on this topic were couched in relational terms...He was always and forever inviting us into relationship with Father God...to fix our attention and gaze upon the Father and find that within Him is housed every answer to every problem, and the Spirit of God who brings forth the change we all know we so desperately need. It is His Spirit that transforms, not my effort, not my prayers for me or my family, not my complaining or nagging or exercising or dieting. Nothing I do can transform me, EXCEPT if I fix my gaze upon the One who loves me with an undending Love. The moment of true transformation in my life, the moment when all my healing and repentance truly began was when I started meditating on His affection for me. When I started reading my Bible through the lens that I am His beloved daughter, that I am His intended bride, that I am the Love of His Life. His love is the only thing that can transform our fallen hearts, that can transform human love into divine love.
2:4 "Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?"
Again, the knife goes deeper into my heart. I know this verse. In fact, I've been meditating on it for weeks now. It is not my judgment that will change my husband. It is not my nagging that will make him change. It is God's revelation of kindness toward him. It is tolerance for mistakes, for bumbling, for hangups and weaknesses. It is God's kindness toward me that has changed me. I am no longer afraid to make blunders. I am no longer afraid to take risks, like allowing my husband to quit his job and really depend on God to provide for us. I am not afraid, because I know my Daddy loves me. I know He is infinitely patient and kind. That if I am on the wrong path, He will gently correct me and guide me. And He will do the same for my husband. And because I am so engulfed in the revelation of God's kindness for me, I'm actually being kind to my husband. I can offer nothing less to those around me than what He has offered to me. There was a time when I thought He was offering me judgment, so that's what I offered. There was a time when I believed that it was by fear that people stopped doing bad things. I think many Christians believe this and teach this...that we should be evangelizing based on the fear of hell.
That is pure silliness to me now, but it was something I believed with all my heart even a year ago! Now, I realize that avoiding hell is not at all compelling. The only thing more compelling that satisfying earthly pleasures and living for the now is the LOVE of God. When I evangelize now, I just introduce people to the Lover of my soul. I speak of Him as an intimate friend, as a deeply understanding and loving Father, as a blazing fire of passionate love for my soul. I speak of Him as if I know Him, because I do. I speak of Him as if He is the best person on earth I could introduce someone to, because He is. That is effective in breaking strongholds, in leading people into relationship with the Lord, in saving people from the hell that is separation from that Love.
Father, Thank you for revealing Your kindness to me. I pray that You will reveal Your kindness in a profound way to Tina this week. And to Mark and the girls. Lord, renew their minds. Renew their hearts. Renew their lives. Set them on a course to walk all the days of their lives in Your infinite grace, in your unmerited favor, in the peace that passes all understanding (the shalom of heaven that says that all good things are coming your way). I pray right now that You would break off the power of a foreboding spirit, that you would break off the power of a judging spirit, and that You would give them a revelation of the freedom they have in Christ...the freedom to make mistakes, to think wrongly about you and about others, to fall in the mud and to get back up again, knowing that nothing they do, nothing they think, nothing they say, nothing they try is going to change anything about the Love you have for them and the security they have in being children of God. Father, break through the glass ceiling in their lives...give them the keys to their freedom here and now. Father, no more lies, no more fear, no more depression, no more anxiety about provision, no more sickness, no more lack, no more poverty. Instead, replace all these things with the MORE of Heaven...more abundance, more peace, more faith, more joy, more life, more influence, more ministries, more money, more food, more resources. Father, make the great exchange in Tina's life that You've made in mind and blow her mind with Your kindness and Your goodness. ~Amen.
Friday, October 14, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Romans 1:28-32
Dear Father, Thank you for this time to spend in your word together today. Let your words soak into our hearts and into our spirits. Lord I think you so much for allowing me to have such a special friend in Angela, she is truly a blessing in my life. Amen
1:28-32
When they refused to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do thinks that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, fighting, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip/ They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They are forever inventing new ways of sinning and are disobedient to their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, and are heartless and unforgiving. They are fully aware of God's death penalty for those who do these things, yet they go right ahead and do them anyway. And worse yet, they encourage other to them, too.
I am adding a commentary that I found online, cheating a little but I found that you had really hit the nail on the head with your post and I wanted to be able to bring a different interpretation to you and I didn't have any great spiritual revelations while reading today.
http://www.easyenglish.info/bible-commentary/romans-lbw.htmVerse 28 God ‘allowed’ them to do these *sinful deeds. This does not mean that such behaviour is acceptable. It means that God gave to people the opportunity to make decisions. So people should realise that they will suffer the results of their actions.
Verses 29-32 There were lists of wrong social behavior in other *Jewish and Christian books. Paul himself has lists in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 and Galatians 5:19-21. Verse 29 speaks about wrong actions in a general way. Then Paul gives several examples of how people destroy relations with each other. This happens:
· when people are jealous;
· when people murder other people;
· when people fight;
· when people cheat other people;
· when people hate other people.
Verses 29-30 It is wrong to gossip or to lie. People use these methods to attack the character of other people. To hate God or to *boast shows that a person is very proud. And anyone who does not respect other people is also very proud. Some people try to get excitement by new ways to *sin. In both *Jewish and *Roman society, it was important to obey parents. The 5th *commandment said that children should give honor to their father and mother. When people do not obey their parents, all kinds of problems develop in society.
Verse 31 ‘Foolish’ means that people do not learn from experience. They do not remain loyal to any agreement. They do not show any natural love, even for their own children. ‘Without pity’ is an accurate description of the way in which many masters dealt with their slaves. Masters thought that slaves were mere possessions rather than people. *Roman law allowed masters to punish and even to kill slaves because of a very small mistake or accident. This was a very wicked law.
Verse 32 People had *sinned themselves. And they encouraged other people to *sin too. They knew that this behavior was wrong. But *sin was controlling their lives.
Our societies today may be as wicked as society was in Paul’s time. Or, they may be less wicked. Or, they may even be more wicked. But Paul’s words are still true. People still refuse to obey God. They prefer to follow their own desires. And then their own evil thoughts begin to control their behavior. And that is the reason why people behave in such a wicked manner.
I am struck reading this because Paul could be speaking to us right now about our society! So sad that the world is full of sin and darkness and strife. Just last night on the news, one boy and three of his friends broke into the boy's house and beat his parents to death in order to steal 35,000. A ten month old girl has been missing for 8 days authorities are beginning to suspect the parents because there is no other evidence to suggest otherwise. An American man is arrested involved in a plot with Iran to kill the Saudi Arabia US diplomat thus starting a war! This was on CNN world news, if I had watched the local news it would have been way worse with husbands killing wives and children, robberies, scams, and even more. I can see that Paul is telling us what we need, that we need God that we need to obey his words and commandments and that without them we are simply pawns for the enemy to use as he sees fit. I am unsure how we are suppose to infuse the world with this knowledge. How do we do it??
Dear Father, I see what we need to accomplish but I am unsure how to go about it. I also see that my own children are filled with love and hearts that you have given them, fleshy hearts that break for the pain they see around them. How can we have hearts that are tender yet have the hearts of warriors? I know you have the answers to those questions and more but I ask that you would reveal it to me. Amen
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Romans 1:28-32--Angela
Thank you, my friend, for your encouragement to just write as much as I feel led. I was feeling apologetic about how I was going on and on. I guess those feelings of insecurity and worry that others don't want to hear what I have to say are still clinging on in subtle and not-so-subtle ways. I'm raising a toast to the end of all those insecurities. And a strong and hearty amen to your final prayer in your last post. I am in deep intercession for myself and you and Echo and all of who suffer from some kind of imbalance in our immune systems. I know that is the final frontier in my body. I have had such victory in every other area, and I am now standing fast until I see the goodness of His hand upon my immune system. I love your tender cry of desperation to touch His robe. I remember praying the very same thing two years ago before coming down here and receiving the beginning of my healing! Amen and Amen!
28-32 (Might as well take this in one whole swallow.)
"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them."
Wow! That's a lot to cover. And it's such a huge run-on that I didn't want to break the verses up. I'll just break my thoughts up in paragraphs. I actually have a lot of different thoughts. The first thing I needed to do is go back and remind myself who Paul is talking to and why he would start with such a powerful discourse on unrighteous living.
Paul is definitely talking to faith-filled, Spirit-filled believers in Rome who are walking in rich faith in a very dark place. Very much like we are today, which is why this is such a great time to be studying this book once again. I really can't get over how we are right back here in this book in this amazing season of transition, trial, and breakthrough. I am celebrating the timing and the beauty of our friendship that seems to endure no matter what, just like Paul's relationship with the Roman Christians. How many times I have longed, as Paul did, to be with you and give you a hug in the flesh. I long to have you and your family come and be here with us, soaking up the encouragement of fellowship and peace here in our home. I miss you so much, especially in your struggle now against the scheme of the enemy.
Back in the verses, the transition seems to be one of contrast...that he is talking of the Romans' faith compared to the darkness around them. We stand at the brink of an amazing point in history, one like the early Christians encountered in Rome. Darkness all around, people completely hardened and/or unfamiliar with the true ways of God, even within in the church. We are poised to provide great light, great power, and great breakthrough for those around us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and His mighty power working through us for transformation. I have more and more hope and more and more visions of people being set free from darkness. People who live in darkness are actually hungry for something different, they just don't know it's possible.
There were a few words and phrases that caught my attention in these verses.
First, "did not like to retain God in their knowledge..." Pretty much anywhere in the Bible that talks about knowledge of God seems to imply more than just head knowledge...rather it implies experiential knowledge, relational knowledge like we have with each other. We don't just know about each other, we know each other. We have experienced each other. This is the kind of knowledge I think Paul is talking about here...I know this has to be true because some of the later words that he uses to describe the "out" group actually fit me just a year ago...things I've since repented of, finally recognizing that these were contrary to God's Spirit and they were keeping me from having intimacy with Him and thereby were also keeping me from experiencing healing and deliverance. We must experience God to know Him fully. We must retain our experiences and know His full nature...His kindness and faithfulness...and really believe that this is His posture toward us in order to be free of all the other things on this list...the things we are given over to if we don't pursue God in all His holiness and in the revelation of Himself that He gave through Jesus.
Next, "He gave them over to debased minds..." I looked up 'debased' in the thesaurus. Here are some other words that mean the same thing: cheapened, corrupted, crippled, debauched, debilitated, demoralized, devalued, disabled, enfeebled, humiliated, reduced, sapped [of energy], undermined, and weakened.
Wow! I have a very different picture of debased in my mind--more like someone I would want absolutely nothing to do with...you know, pure evil or something like that. Instead, these words actually describe the way my mind was before I really truly encountered the Love of God for me, His intentions to heal me, His grace toward me, that His heart was set toward triumph and victory for my life. Weakened, ineffectual, fearful, full of envy, full of stress and strife, defeated, depressed, oppressed...these are a few of the words that would describe my mind...more: powerless, hopelessness, definitely sapped of energy, weakened in faith, crippled...my heart aches to remember those days of really believing that it was all up to me and that I was completely without the power to change myself, control myself, or influence the circumstances or people around me.
The final phrase that caught my attention was "to do those things which are not fitting." I love this phrase. Because we were made for more than that! We were made to be royalty. We were made to host and reflect the very nature of God in all His fullness, just as Jesus did. We were made for glory, for endless joy, for abundant faith, for undending goodness flowing in and out of our lives. We were made to be Jesus' inheritance. It is not fitting that we should act in the ways Paul describes next. It is beneath our rightful position as co-heirs with Christ to be corrupted, feeble, crippled, etc. in our thinking. We were called to higher living. And yes, God has to walk away, because the weight of His presence on those who are feeble in their thinking is too great...He walks away, His Spirit ever interceding, calling out to those who will truly heed His call to repent in their thinking, so that He can bring healing to the land...to the people...to all those who remain in darkness by their own choosing. I am so glad that I have heard His call and have repented of this debased mind. I know my mind is being renewed day by day, and I grow stronger in my conviction that I am royalty and that everything He has for me is available to me, and it is all good. In fact, to this end, I prayed for a man on Sunday who was having trouble with his eyes. His eyes wandered around as though he were actually blind, though he was not really blind. He could not focus on things. He said it was hormonal. I prayed for him and literally watched clarity and focus return to his vision. It was like there was a veil over his eyes, and as I laughed over him and prayed for him, the veil lifted. It was stunning! I know this is just the beginning, too. I am going to see more people healed, because this is God's will for all men! To know the Love of God, to be healed of their stuff, then to turn around and heal others. But first, we must repent of our debased mindsets.
This brings me to the long list of the fruit of the debased mind that Paul describes. This list makes my heart ache, not just because so many live with this kind of fruit, but because I was living like this less than a year ago. Man, if I didn't know how much He loves me, how He has truly forgiven my sins and cast them as far away from me as the east is from the west, I would still blush (which I did many times after I started repenting last September) at some of these.
Here are a few of the words in this list that fit me just a year ago: Unrighteousness (the opposite of faith, which is the righteousness of Abraham and all the saints), covetousness (I didn't believe there was enough for me, so I thought I would have to take from someone in order to have enough for me; this manifested in a longing in my heart for things I believed I could not have that others had, giftings, anointings, calls, and even material things), maliciousness (yes, really; I know I seem sweet, but I wasn't always sweet), full of envy, full of strife, full of deceit (I dumbed down the message of the Bible to suit my experience, instead of allowing Him to call me up and out to realize that I was living beneath the fullness of all He has for me), whisperers & backbiters (I complained about other people and what they were or weren't doing, including my husband, instead; when I finally repented of this, I actually saw that I was guilty of the very things I was judging them for...this is one that made me blush a lot when I would think of my sin), untrustworthy (when we do not have the mind of God, He cannot trust us with His secrets; as an intercessor, this really crippled my ability to experience fullness in my gifting. God now shares His secrets with me about others because He knows He can trust me not to judge, not to try to orchestrate my solutions for people. He knows I will pray what is on His heart for people. It is such a pleasure and privilege to intercede out of joy and hope rather than worry and fear!), unforgiving (my path through repentance and toward wholeness has included a ton of forgiveness...a lot for my parents and my husband, some for friends and other relatives, a lot toward myself and even of God. It has been a lot of work to go back and really uncover all these areas that were "closed" to God from unforgiveness; even areas where I thought I had forgiven, only to realize that it was partial forgiveness and not complete forgiveness).
Paul says people with these mindsets are deserving of death. That is strong language, but I understand...because what we believe is what we propagate in our lives, what we sow seed for in the lives of others. I know that Paul was not advocating stoning or death for these people. He was filled with the compassion of Jesus' Spirit, and Jesus' Spirit longs for all men to come into their destinies, into full knowledge and experience of all that God has for them in relationship with Him. What I pray now is that my life will draw others into this transparent, honest life of repentance of mindsets that do not line up with the mindsets God has ordained for His children. I am seeing breakthrough in my husband's mindsets as I have forgiven him and also as I've begun to speak differently, think differently, and act differently because of the revelation I've had of these truths. I am seeing fruit of a very different nature come forth now, a year later, and it is exciting. Exciting is really an understatement. Words really do fail me here, so I will just turn to prayer now.
Father God, thank you for Your Word which brings life to all who ingest it. Thank you that Your truth is sinking deeply into the soil of our desperate and hungry hearts. Thank you for my sister, who so desperately wants all that You have for her. Shower her with Your kindness that leads to repentance in any of these areas that she is living beneath the fullness of all that You've called her to. Show her Your gentleness in revealing the areas of wounding that need her forgiveness, in revealing the areas of crippled mindsets that need your gentle and tender correction. Show her the lavishness of Your love, which is what truly led to my turnaround. Drive out all fear with Your perfect love. Continue driving out all fear in my life. Thank you for showing me more pockets of fear in my life, as You did through Tina's words about my insecurity in sharing my thoughts. Thank you for such a dear friend who is as hungry as I am for everything that You have.
Father, I thank you for Your healing touch upon Tina's body, and I thank You for Your healing touch upon Echo's body. And I thank You for Your healing touch upon Mark's mind and his soul. Father, thank you that You are bringing increased revelation to Tina and Echo. Increase the revelation to Mark, as well. Draw them near to You and give them all they need for this season. Father, especially for Echo, I thank you for the breakthrough You have waiting around the corner for her. Thank you, Father, for bringing us back together again through this season. Amen.
28-32 (Might as well take this in one whole swallow.)
"And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them."
Wow! That's a lot to cover. And it's such a huge run-on that I didn't want to break the verses up. I'll just break my thoughts up in paragraphs. I actually have a lot of different thoughts. The first thing I needed to do is go back and remind myself who Paul is talking to and why he would start with such a powerful discourse on unrighteous living.
Paul is definitely talking to faith-filled, Spirit-filled believers in Rome who are walking in rich faith in a very dark place. Very much like we are today, which is why this is such a great time to be studying this book once again. I really can't get over how we are right back here in this book in this amazing season of transition, trial, and breakthrough. I am celebrating the timing and the beauty of our friendship that seems to endure no matter what, just like Paul's relationship with the Roman Christians. How many times I have longed, as Paul did, to be with you and give you a hug in the flesh. I long to have you and your family come and be here with us, soaking up the encouragement of fellowship and peace here in our home. I miss you so much, especially in your struggle now against the scheme of the enemy.
Back in the verses, the transition seems to be one of contrast...that he is talking of the Romans' faith compared to the darkness around them. We stand at the brink of an amazing point in history, one like the early Christians encountered in Rome. Darkness all around, people completely hardened and/or unfamiliar with the true ways of God, even within in the church. We are poised to provide great light, great power, and great breakthrough for those around us through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and His mighty power working through us for transformation. I have more and more hope and more and more visions of people being set free from darkness. People who live in darkness are actually hungry for something different, they just don't know it's possible.
There were a few words and phrases that caught my attention in these verses.
First, "did not like to retain God in their knowledge..." Pretty much anywhere in the Bible that talks about knowledge of God seems to imply more than just head knowledge...rather it implies experiential knowledge, relational knowledge like we have with each other. We don't just know about each other, we know each other. We have experienced each other. This is the kind of knowledge I think Paul is talking about here...I know this has to be true because some of the later words that he uses to describe the "out" group actually fit me just a year ago...things I've since repented of, finally recognizing that these were contrary to God's Spirit and they were keeping me from having intimacy with Him and thereby were also keeping me from experiencing healing and deliverance. We must experience God to know Him fully. We must retain our experiences and know His full nature...His kindness and faithfulness...and really believe that this is His posture toward us in order to be free of all the other things on this list...the things we are given over to if we don't pursue God in all His holiness and in the revelation of Himself that He gave through Jesus.
Next, "He gave them over to debased minds..." I looked up 'debased' in the thesaurus. Here are some other words that mean the same thing: cheapened, corrupted, crippled, debauched, debilitated, demoralized, devalued, disabled, enfeebled, humiliated, reduced, sapped [of energy], undermined, and weakened.
Wow! I have a very different picture of debased in my mind--more like someone I would want absolutely nothing to do with...you know, pure evil or something like that. Instead, these words actually describe the way my mind was before I really truly encountered the Love of God for me, His intentions to heal me, His grace toward me, that His heart was set toward triumph and victory for my life. Weakened, ineffectual, fearful, full of envy, full of stress and strife, defeated, depressed, oppressed...these are a few of the words that would describe my mind...more: powerless, hopelessness, definitely sapped of energy, weakened in faith, crippled...my heart aches to remember those days of really believing that it was all up to me and that I was completely without the power to change myself, control myself, or influence the circumstances or people around me.
The final phrase that caught my attention was "to do those things which are not fitting." I love this phrase. Because we were made for more than that! We were made to be royalty. We were made to host and reflect the very nature of God in all His fullness, just as Jesus did. We were made for glory, for endless joy, for abundant faith, for undending goodness flowing in and out of our lives. We were made to be Jesus' inheritance. It is not fitting that we should act in the ways Paul describes next. It is beneath our rightful position as co-heirs with Christ to be corrupted, feeble, crippled, etc. in our thinking. We were called to higher living. And yes, God has to walk away, because the weight of His presence on those who are feeble in their thinking is too great...He walks away, His Spirit ever interceding, calling out to those who will truly heed His call to repent in their thinking, so that He can bring healing to the land...to the people...to all those who remain in darkness by their own choosing. I am so glad that I have heard His call and have repented of this debased mind. I know my mind is being renewed day by day, and I grow stronger in my conviction that I am royalty and that everything He has for me is available to me, and it is all good. In fact, to this end, I prayed for a man on Sunday who was having trouble with his eyes. His eyes wandered around as though he were actually blind, though he was not really blind. He could not focus on things. He said it was hormonal. I prayed for him and literally watched clarity and focus return to his vision. It was like there was a veil over his eyes, and as I laughed over him and prayed for him, the veil lifted. It was stunning! I know this is just the beginning, too. I am going to see more people healed, because this is God's will for all men! To know the Love of God, to be healed of their stuff, then to turn around and heal others. But first, we must repent of our debased mindsets.
This brings me to the long list of the fruit of the debased mind that Paul describes. This list makes my heart ache, not just because so many live with this kind of fruit, but because I was living like this less than a year ago. Man, if I didn't know how much He loves me, how He has truly forgiven my sins and cast them as far away from me as the east is from the west, I would still blush (which I did many times after I started repenting last September) at some of these.
Here are a few of the words in this list that fit me just a year ago: Unrighteousness (the opposite of faith, which is the righteousness of Abraham and all the saints), covetousness (I didn't believe there was enough for me, so I thought I would have to take from someone in order to have enough for me; this manifested in a longing in my heart for things I believed I could not have that others had, giftings, anointings, calls, and even material things), maliciousness (yes, really; I know I seem sweet, but I wasn't always sweet), full of envy, full of strife, full of deceit (I dumbed down the message of the Bible to suit my experience, instead of allowing Him to call me up and out to realize that I was living beneath the fullness of all He has for me), whisperers & backbiters (I complained about other people and what they were or weren't doing, including my husband, instead; when I finally repented of this, I actually saw that I was guilty of the very things I was judging them for...this is one that made me blush a lot when I would think of my sin), untrustworthy (when we do not have the mind of God, He cannot trust us with His secrets; as an intercessor, this really crippled my ability to experience fullness in my gifting. God now shares His secrets with me about others because He knows He can trust me not to judge, not to try to orchestrate my solutions for people. He knows I will pray what is on His heart for people. It is such a pleasure and privilege to intercede out of joy and hope rather than worry and fear!), unforgiving (my path through repentance and toward wholeness has included a ton of forgiveness...a lot for my parents and my husband, some for friends and other relatives, a lot toward myself and even of God. It has been a lot of work to go back and really uncover all these areas that were "closed" to God from unforgiveness; even areas where I thought I had forgiven, only to realize that it was partial forgiveness and not complete forgiveness).
Paul says people with these mindsets are deserving of death. That is strong language, but I understand...because what we believe is what we propagate in our lives, what we sow seed for in the lives of others. I know that Paul was not advocating stoning or death for these people. He was filled with the compassion of Jesus' Spirit, and Jesus' Spirit longs for all men to come into their destinies, into full knowledge and experience of all that God has for them in relationship with Him. What I pray now is that my life will draw others into this transparent, honest life of repentance of mindsets that do not line up with the mindsets God has ordained for His children. I am seeing breakthrough in my husband's mindsets as I have forgiven him and also as I've begun to speak differently, think differently, and act differently because of the revelation I've had of these truths. I am seeing fruit of a very different nature come forth now, a year later, and it is exciting. Exciting is really an understatement. Words really do fail me here, so I will just turn to prayer now.
Father God, thank you for Your Word which brings life to all who ingest it. Thank you that Your truth is sinking deeply into the soil of our desperate and hungry hearts. Thank you for my sister, who so desperately wants all that You have for her. Shower her with Your kindness that leads to repentance in any of these areas that she is living beneath the fullness of all that You've called her to. Show her Your gentleness in revealing the areas of wounding that need her forgiveness, in revealing the areas of crippled mindsets that need your gentle and tender correction. Show her the lavishness of Your love, which is what truly led to my turnaround. Drive out all fear with Your perfect love. Continue driving out all fear in my life. Thank you for showing me more pockets of fear in my life, as You did through Tina's words about my insecurity in sharing my thoughts. Thank you for such a dear friend who is as hungry as I am for everything that You have.
Father, I thank you for Your healing touch upon Tina's body, and I thank You for Your healing touch upon Echo's body. And I thank You for Your healing touch upon Mark's mind and his soul. Father, thank you that You are bringing increased revelation to Tina and Echo. Increase the revelation to Mark, as well. Draw them near to You and give them all they need for this season. Father, especially for Echo, I thank you for the breakthrough You have waiting around the corner for her. Thank you, Father, for bringing us back together again through this season. Amen.
Romans 1:24-27
Angela, Keep on preaching girl! I feel like sometimes you don't feel comfortable and I just want you to know that you can keep going if you feel led to. I love the words you sent and your views on the verses especially on verse 26-27, I do have felt that way about homosexuality and our lack of God in this country. I bet even if we went to little tribes who don't worship our God they probably do not have this rampant sexual immorality. - Tina
Dear Father God,
Thank you for our time together with you today, I ask you to reveal yourself to us and help us uncover your truths. Speak to our hearts and our spirits, heal us with your presence. Amen
24: So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, the did vile and degrading things with each others bodies.
You mentioned this too that this verse does belong grouped with 23. They traded in the living holy perfect God and instead worshiped dead idols and humanity. WE worship the creator of all living things, the maker of heaven and earth. We love his creation and all the people in it, we would never take a life or abuse something of God's creation because it is an extension of God. Those who do not worship God have this portion of their humanity cut off, it suddenly becomes ok to do things to hurt others or yourself. I am thinking of all the sins being committed against children, being kidnapped, raped and then mutilated. Years ago like when our grandparents were young you never heard of such things happening in the world. It was just completely unthinkable, now in our world it happens all the time, there are books about it, movies, and thousands of missing and lost children.
25 Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the creator himself, who is to be praised forever, Amen.
The veil is covering the eyes of the people in Rome and our brothers and sisters now. So distracted are we, so little time do we have to hear the word of God. People today are so lost and is it any wonder they have their eyes covered with a lie. Lord Jesus help me to see the truth around me, to live in your truth everyday, keep my eyes clear and present and watching out for your return. Amen
26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men and , as a result, suffered within themselves the penalty they so richly deserved.
The words God abandoned them to their shameful desires hits a chord with me. The people had made their choice, they chose to be Godless, to worship creation, idols and self gratification what else could God do but to walk away and leave them to their sins. I don't believe he abandoned them, I think he would welcome them back if they truly wanted to return but while they are in the middle of this gluttony fest of sex and lust and vile behavior he chooses not to watch and who can blame him! This portion of Romans is so parallel to our world today, it is so sad to see that our society is so lost to the truth, they have their eyes covered as well as their ears. When the truth is spoken in a public way it is blasted by the media and seen as hateful or judgmental. Makes me feel sad and it does make it harder to keep living a life of faith, sometimes it feels like the world would love to suck it right out of me!
Lord thank you for your word and for your voice in our lives. Lord I ask that you help me live a life a faith everyday, that the world would have no negative impact on my faith in you. Help me to guard my eyes and ears to the real lies being promoted in society, help me to see your truths everywhere I look. Lord I ask for complete healing for Angela, Echo, and myself. That what ever is bound up inside of us, disease, depression, dis pare, arthritis, immune systems that you would heal all of those. I trust that you will do what you say you will do. I know you created these bodies and immune systems and I believe that you could take these aliments away in one quick moment. Lord Jesus I ask to just touch your robe and feel my afflictions leave. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Romans 1:24-24-27--Angela
Father God, thank you that we have the great joy and privilege of calling you Father. Thank you for embracing us as your children, as heirs with Christ in the glory that You gave to Him. Thank you that we are Your daughters. That we are made in Your image and that as we grow in intimacy and experience of You in our daily lives, we have greater and greater opportunity to be like You and to share Your true nature with the world around us. As we continue in our study of this section of Romans, where Paul is lamenting the sad truth that so many people trade Your revelation of Yourself as Father and Lover for the cold-hearted nature of human beings with limited sight, limited understanding, and a limited view of love. Expand our capacity to receive Your Presence in our lives. Expand our capacity to understand and experience all that You are and all that You have given us as your children. Expand our capacity to reflect, to rise and shine Your goodness, Your beauty, Your holiness, Your joyful Presence to all those around us.
Father, I pray specifically today that You will lift the burden of stress, worry, fear, and pain off of Tina's heart. That You will infuse her with a revelation and experience of Your goodness that is so powerful that it chases every fear of the future away in one breath. Father, give Tina the most expansive revelation of the Love You have lavished upon her as a child of God (1 John 3:1). That she might celebrate and not feel compelled to do, but rather to rest in being...to rest in her calling as a child of God. Yes, we will do things because we are called Your children, but true joy really comes from knowing that You do not love us because of what we do, but because of who You call us to be...Your sons and daughters. She is greatly treasured and a great delight to You, especially when she is completely free from worry, fear, stress, and pain...when she is laughing freely and openly without a care in the world...that is how You want her to live every day of her life. May it be so, Father. Release her from the grip of fear, and draw her into Your glorious light where there is no fear and no pain. Thank you, Jesus.
1:24-25 "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen."
This therefore is attached to verse 23, that they exchanged the glory they were intended to shine in for the glory of creation, which was meant to serve. They exchanged the truth of God's goodness for the false belief that He wanted to rule over them, to control them, to govern them without relationship. This makes me sad, for so many Christians live every day of their lives, having heard that Jesus loves them, but not really understanding that His love calls us to a higher plane. The result is sad, that we just act and behave like animals instead of reigning queens and kings on the earth. Instead of having dominion over the earth, the earth has dominion over us. We are tossed about by every wind and wave of nature, as well as by every wind and wave of doctrine...not sure who we are, not sure of our purpose, not sure of the hope we were called to. This breaks my heart, and it surely broke Paul's heart. It was sorrow over this fallen state of man that moved him to so resolutely and purposefully focus his entire attention on getting the word out about God's goodness, about His kindness toward man. There is nothing worse in this world than seeing someone live below their full potential. It saddens God's heart, and it saddened Paul's heart, and it breaks my heart, too. I am a champion for helping people begin dreaming again, living life fully, experiencing true joy and true pleasure as they gain victory over the strongholds in their minds so they can have the true picture of what they were called to...not a list of things to do, but a lifestyle of being loved and loving fully, a lifestyle of living out of joy and rest rather than out of obligation and servitude. Ahhhh! I could go on and on about this.
1:26 "Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion."
This seems to be one of the main verses used to condemn homosexuals, but what I just realized this minute is that it's a result of a whole group of people exchanging the truth about God for a lie. He didn't say just one person. He said "they". They exchanged...God gave them over. I'm having trouble putting into words what I'm really thinking about this. I can start here...when a culture has groups of people who practice homosexuality, it is a sign...it is a sign that the truth has been exchanged for a lie, not just in the individual's life but in the life of the entire culture. This seems to be the final sign of the full exchange of the lie. Our culture is steeped in lies about God. We see it all over the place. People believe He is angry at everyone, that He is unhappy and is seeking vengeance against mankind. These lies about God have been promulgated since the dark ages, and just now they are coming to full fruit in our country in the devastating acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle as normal. And the church is missing the sign...they are railing against the homosexuals instead of actually repenting for their own folly in believing and promoting lies about God...instead of laying down sin, the Church has chosen to further commit error by taking to task those who are displaying the fruit of the lie all of us believe. In 2 Chronicles 7:14, it says the solution to this is not telling people they are going to hell. Rather, the solution is in humbling ourselves, going to Him and repenting of our wrong thinking about Him. We are not supposed to be repenting for overeating, for engaging in sexual immorality, for smoking or doing drugs. No!!! That is small-minded repentance. We are supposed to be repenting for believing the worst about God, for believing that He is mad at us and that the fear of the Lord is supposed to be a cowering, frightened, shaking, and trembling fear that makes Him completely unapproachable and foreign to us. We are supposed to be repenting for not believing that we are co-heirs with Christ, saved completely, healed completely, delivered completely of all that stops us from spreading the Love of Christ everywhere we go. We are supposed to be repenting for not believing that God is faithful to do all that He has promised on behalf of mankind and the earth...it is time to dust off the promises of Scripture (I recently heard there are 7,000 of them in there!), and begin actually living by faith that He is who He has revealed Himself as in Christ Jesus, who had compassion on all who came to Him with faith and humility. He healed EVERY disease, He delivered the people of EVERY spiritual oppression, He embraced and accepted as Holy every person who came to Him, wealthy or poor, sick or well. We need to embrace the true revelation Jesus came to give...that Father God is raising up a family...children who will be like Him, who will love like Him, who will embrace the world as He did...
Okay, I'll stop preaching now. I am so passionate about this, having had an awakening of my own in this area. I no longer doubt His goodness. I no longer doubt His power to change, to heal, to transform, to deliver...even the hard things like fibromyalgia, chronic pain, arthritis, and other maladies that seem to have their roots so deep in peoples' lives that it's as though they might never leave. I am positive that He has breakthrough in mind for every person's life. I am believing this for you. I have believed it for me for a couple of years now and am finally seeing the fullness of His healing in my physical body. I still have a few things I'm praying for in my body, but I have had tremendous breakthrough in my body. And it's not because I'm somehow in a class above anyone else. I am definitely in a class alone...there is no one else like me, and I'm amazing. But that is true of each one of us. There is not one person who is exempt from the blessings of His generosity and His good pleasure to give us all things. Not one of us...we are all unique. We all are meant to shine from within, filled with His Spirit who brings peace, joy, faithfulness, self-control, and all those other amazing fruits that we can seem to produce without Him. We are all meant to be special, unique, the only representation of Him that has ever lived on the planet. It is a glorious call.
I admit it. I'm still preaching. Haha! I really will stop now.
Father God, thank You for sending Jesus to die so that we can approach Your throne boldly. Thank you that we can cry out to You, Abba, Daddy. Papa. Papa, we need You. Tear the veil away from our eyes that keeps us from seeing You in Your full goodness. Papa, help us identify the lies we're believing about You that keep us trapped in isolation, fear, and oppression. We want to exchange these lies now for the truth, and we want to see healing come upon our land as we repent and begin to come into agreement with the truth about Yourself that You revealed in the man Jesus Christ, who laid down His life to reconcile every man to God and to save the whole earth from the judgment and wrath of God. Thank you for this good news. May it soak deeply into the core of our beings and begin to change us from the inside out. Amen.
~Angela
Father, I pray specifically today that You will lift the burden of stress, worry, fear, and pain off of Tina's heart. That You will infuse her with a revelation and experience of Your goodness that is so powerful that it chases every fear of the future away in one breath. Father, give Tina the most expansive revelation of the Love You have lavished upon her as a child of God (1 John 3:1). That she might celebrate and not feel compelled to do, but rather to rest in being...to rest in her calling as a child of God. Yes, we will do things because we are called Your children, but true joy really comes from knowing that You do not love us because of what we do, but because of who You call us to be...Your sons and daughters. She is greatly treasured and a great delight to You, especially when she is completely free from worry, fear, stress, and pain...when she is laughing freely and openly without a care in the world...that is how You want her to live every day of her life. May it be so, Father. Release her from the grip of fear, and draw her into Your glorious light where there is no fear and no pain. Thank you, Jesus.
1:24-25 "Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator--who is forever praised. Amen."
This therefore is attached to verse 23, that they exchanged the glory they were intended to shine in for the glory of creation, which was meant to serve. They exchanged the truth of God's goodness for the false belief that He wanted to rule over them, to control them, to govern them without relationship. This makes me sad, for so many Christians live every day of their lives, having heard that Jesus loves them, but not really understanding that His love calls us to a higher plane. The result is sad, that we just act and behave like animals instead of reigning queens and kings on the earth. Instead of having dominion over the earth, the earth has dominion over us. We are tossed about by every wind and wave of nature, as well as by every wind and wave of doctrine...not sure who we are, not sure of our purpose, not sure of the hope we were called to. This breaks my heart, and it surely broke Paul's heart. It was sorrow over this fallen state of man that moved him to so resolutely and purposefully focus his entire attention on getting the word out about God's goodness, about His kindness toward man. There is nothing worse in this world than seeing someone live below their full potential. It saddens God's heart, and it saddened Paul's heart, and it breaks my heart, too. I am a champion for helping people begin dreaming again, living life fully, experiencing true joy and true pleasure as they gain victory over the strongholds in their minds so they can have the true picture of what they were called to...not a list of things to do, but a lifestyle of being loved and loving fully, a lifestyle of living out of joy and rest rather than out of obligation and servitude. Ahhhh! I could go on and on about this.
1:26 "Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion."
This seems to be one of the main verses used to condemn homosexuals, but what I just realized this minute is that it's a result of a whole group of people exchanging the truth about God for a lie. He didn't say just one person. He said "they". They exchanged...God gave them over. I'm having trouble putting into words what I'm really thinking about this. I can start here...when a culture has groups of people who practice homosexuality, it is a sign...it is a sign that the truth has been exchanged for a lie, not just in the individual's life but in the life of the entire culture. This seems to be the final sign of the full exchange of the lie. Our culture is steeped in lies about God. We see it all over the place. People believe He is angry at everyone, that He is unhappy and is seeking vengeance against mankind. These lies about God have been promulgated since the dark ages, and just now they are coming to full fruit in our country in the devastating acceptance of the homosexual lifestyle as normal. And the church is missing the sign...they are railing against the homosexuals instead of actually repenting for their own folly in believing and promoting lies about God...instead of laying down sin, the Church has chosen to further commit error by taking to task those who are displaying the fruit of the lie all of us believe. In 2 Chronicles 7:14, it says the solution to this is not telling people they are going to hell. Rather, the solution is in humbling ourselves, going to Him and repenting of our wrong thinking about Him. We are not supposed to be repenting for overeating, for engaging in sexual immorality, for smoking or doing drugs. No!!! That is small-minded repentance. We are supposed to be repenting for believing the worst about God, for believing that He is mad at us and that the fear of the Lord is supposed to be a cowering, frightened, shaking, and trembling fear that makes Him completely unapproachable and foreign to us. We are supposed to be repenting for not believing that we are co-heirs with Christ, saved completely, healed completely, delivered completely of all that stops us from spreading the Love of Christ everywhere we go. We are supposed to be repenting for not believing that God is faithful to do all that He has promised on behalf of mankind and the earth...it is time to dust off the promises of Scripture (I recently heard there are 7,000 of them in there!), and begin actually living by faith that He is who He has revealed Himself as in Christ Jesus, who had compassion on all who came to Him with faith and humility. He healed EVERY disease, He delivered the people of EVERY spiritual oppression, He embraced and accepted as Holy every person who came to Him, wealthy or poor, sick or well. We need to embrace the true revelation Jesus came to give...that Father God is raising up a family...children who will be like Him, who will love like Him, who will embrace the world as He did...
Okay, I'll stop preaching now. I am so passionate about this, having had an awakening of my own in this area. I no longer doubt His goodness. I no longer doubt His power to change, to heal, to transform, to deliver...even the hard things like fibromyalgia, chronic pain, arthritis, and other maladies that seem to have their roots so deep in peoples' lives that it's as though they might never leave. I am positive that He has breakthrough in mind for every person's life. I am believing this for you. I have believed it for me for a couple of years now and am finally seeing the fullness of His healing in my physical body. I still have a few things I'm praying for in my body, but I have had tremendous breakthrough in my body. And it's not because I'm somehow in a class above anyone else. I am definitely in a class alone...there is no one else like me, and I'm amazing. But that is true of each one of us. There is not one person who is exempt from the blessings of His generosity and His good pleasure to give us all things. Not one of us...we are all unique. We all are meant to shine from within, filled with His Spirit who brings peace, joy, faithfulness, self-control, and all those other amazing fruits that we can seem to produce without Him. We are all meant to be special, unique, the only representation of Him that has ever lived on the planet. It is a glorious call.
I admit it. I'm still preaching. Haha! I really will stop now.
Father God, thank You for sending Jesus to die so that we can approach Your throne boldly. Thank you that we can cry out to You, Abba, Daddy. Papa. Papa, we need You. Tear the veil away from our eyes that keeps us from seeing You in Your full goodness. Papa, help us identify the lies we're believing about You that keep us trapped in isolation, fear, and oppression. We want to exchange these lies now for the truth, and we want to see healing come upon our land as we repent and begin to come into agreement with the truth about Yourself that You revealed in the man Jesus Christ, who laid down His life to reconcile every man to God and to save the whole earth from the judgment and wrath of God. Thank you for this good news. May it soak deeply into the core of our beings and begin to change us from the inside out. Amen.
~Angela
Romans 1:18-23
Dear Father God I thank you so much for this time we have to share with you and each other today. Lord help me to focus on what is important today, help me to not be distracted by stress and pain and family woes, help me to focus in on you. Lord I thank you so much for my sister Angela and her willingness to spend time in the world with me, I glean so much from our time together. Lord you know the needs of both or our families and I ask you to overflow our cups. Amen
1:18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves. (My bible has a side note "or people who prevent the truth from being known.")
God's anger is poured out on those who prevent the truth from being known or who push the truth away from themselves. I am thinking that there are many in our culture who will be shown the wrath of God when the time comes. God is holy and just, loving and forgiving yet his anger is for those who prevent his true nature from being known. I love that this makes him angry, it shows us his nature which is justly and good.
1:19-20 For the truth about God is known to them instinctively. (Manifested in them) God has put this knowledge in their hearts. From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God.
I really loved your view on this verse. It is hard not to take the view point of judging those who look around and see the wonder around them and yet they believe all of it was just an accident or part of chaos theory. I want to know more specifically what did God put into their hearts as "knowledge"? Do you think it is your conscious or the knowledge of right and wrong. Is it the wonder of nature? Hard to say isn't it? I look at this verse and believe that even those who have not heard the word of God might be saved if God desires it. That those who died before Christ was on the cross might be saved, those in the deep jungle might be saved also.
21 Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. The result was that their minds became dark and confused.
I think left to our own imaginations we could make God into something very scary and dark because our imaginations are tainted by our sinful nature. God is indescribably big, powerful, creator of all things and if left to our sinful imaginations of coarse he would be vengeful, mighty forceful and in love with power. God is all those things but he is also HOLY, sinless, full of love and mercy all of which our human heart and mind can not grasp.
22 Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people, or birds and animals and snakes.
Our little minds can not comprehend the every-living glorious God we like to keep God contained in a little package, make him familiar like a bird or an animal. We are fools. I am guilty of this myself, not in worshiping an object but of obsessing over an idea or not giving my cares and worries up to God, thinking I can handle this. Thinking God can not possibly handle all of my burdens. I become the fool because I can not carry my burdens, I need God to take them away.
Monday, October 3, 2011
Romans 1:18-23--Angela
Father God, bring your peace to Tina and Mark and to the girls. I thank you for encouraging Echo to make the decision she has made to move to Anacortes. I praise you and your glorious nature for inspiring Mark and Tina to encourage her to follow her heart, despite the fear and concerns they may have about her future. Thank you for providing for me and Eric today. You keep placing upon my heart the importance of remaining firmly rooted in today's provision. My heart is often distracted by the future, concerns that aren't even on the horizon...weeks or months away. And I know you are faithful. I know that you are faithful to provide for our needs. I know that I must push past my enemy, fear, and press into your faithfulness. You are faithful, not because of what we do but because of who You are. Reveal to us Your faithfulness today. Lord, I pray a special prayer for Ruby today. I pray for your ministering angels and your people to meet her, to encourage her, to love her. Father, give her the security of being a daughter of the King. Give her the security she needs right now. Father, I pray right now for the lies to be broken over Mark. I pray for Mark to have a great awakening to his partnership with fear, depression, and discouragement. I pray that he would have a great awakening to the way he has been partnering with the lies of the enemy, who only desires to keep him low, pressed down, oppressed, and depressed. Father, lift his eyes to see your countenance shining upon him. Call forth his spirit into true communion with Your Spirit. Break through the lies and bring forth Your truth in greater and greater measures each day. Fan the flames and renew for him the joy of his salvation. Your good news is really good news. The life he is living, the life he has settled for, is not the life you planned for his family. Father, spark in Tina prayers and songs of deliverance over her family. Father, remind her of the dreams she's had, and give her fuel to fan the flames of her intercession and prayer. Give her hope and life in these times. A smoldering wick You will not snuff out. I breathe life into her soul. I breathe life into her spirit. I call her forth into communion with Your Spirit...nourish her, strengthen her, revive her, give her tools and truths to combat the lies of the enemy in this season. Give her swift breakthrough, Father God. Thank you. ~Amen.
1:18-19 "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them."
This really stirs my heart in righteous anger against the enemy right now. It is such godless and wicked teaching that has Christians at the bottom of the barrel, oppressed by poverty, fear, and depression. It is wicked and godless teaching, the false doctrines of demons, that keep us under the finger of fear that God is not who He says He is, that keeps us from seeing the great victory and triumph that has been given to us by Christ's sacrifice. The sentence right before this is "The righteous will live by faith." That is as plain as plain can be. Just like you said this morning, it is that SIMPLE!!
LIVE: Fully alive, fully infused with the joy that is the very nature of God, fully confident of purpose and destiny, fully assured of all provision (all that we need for life and godliness). The promises are clear in the Bible, but somehow we feel we are disqualified. We fear that somehow we have done something, or not done enough to be sure that God will make good on His promise to provide. It is by faith that we live. Anything less or more is a teaching borne out of wickedness and godlessness.
I have long since stopped seeing people as wicked and godless...I see the principalities behind these lies as wicked and godless. If we are oppressed or downcast, we have only to see that these things are not from God. We have only to recognize our true nature...our new nature...the one that is free to believe all the good things that God says about us. If someone doesn't know the Lord, I still see them the same way...loved by God, the promises are for them, they only need to meet the Promise Maker (the Promise Keeper).
1:20 "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."
So often when discussing this verse, I have been tempted to focus solely on the fact that men are without excuse. I have used this verse to fuel a judgmental attitude of superiority...I know God, and you don't. You missed the signs. Oh shucks, too bad.
In reading this today, though, I see a very different focus. It is a question that this verse begs an answer to...what are the invisible qualities of God? This verse implies that they should be obvious, yet so many of us seem to look at creation and see only the bad...the violence, the disease, the darkness. None of these are God's qualities, so this is not what Paul is talking about. God reveals His nature in the fruit of His Spirit...Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control.
I want to turn my attention toward these qualities of God. I want to look at creation, at my brothers and sisters, at my husband, at my children, through the eyes of God's immutable nature...from beginning to end, God's kindness, gentleness, patience shines forth from all of creation. I want to see God clearly, and I want to see my fellow humans clearly, and I want to see creation clearly. I want my mind to be completely renewed to see the earth as good, to see all of creation as good, to see everything around me as something for my enjoyment, for my nourishment, for my good. I think this is what Paul is so up in arms about...if we see God as evil, then we are without excuse, for He has never revealed Himself that way. If we see Him that way, it's because we are projecting our fallen nature onto Him. We must stop doing that and trust Him at His Word!
1:21 "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened."
This is in keeping with I wrote in the last paragraph, but it brings freshly to mind a scene in The Magician's Nephew, by CS Lewis. I hope you've read it. If you haven't, I highly recommend it. It's one of the Narnia books, and the scene I'm thinking of is when Uncle Andrew (a greedy, low-minded man) is surrounded by the talking beasts of Narnia, but he can't hear their words. He can only hear growls, and he interprets them all as having ill-intent. He trusts none of them, and even Aslan's song is just noise to him...frightening. Because of his "darkened understanding," he interprets the whole beautiful scene as threatening and evil. In fact, he has just projected his own evil heart upon the creation of a brand new world. He's missed the beauty, and because of it he will succumb to his fear and possibly die.
1:22-23 "Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal men and birds and animals and reptiles."
I recently heard someone teach on this verse. He said that we become what we gaze upon. In other passages, Paul says that we become like our idols...not seeing or hearing. This man who was teaching said that the glory we were given by God was like His glory and was meant to ensure that we would have intimacy with Him. This is what allowed Jesus to tell His disciples that they were not mere slaves, but actually friends of God. And later, when His Spirit fell upon all flesh, the ability to receive the mind of Christ was given to all mankind. However, we are given the choice as to what we gaze upon, what we worship, what we meditate (worry) over. When we are in idolatry, we exchange our God-given glory for the glory of nature. And throughout the Bible, all of nature is in subjection to God...nature is subservient to God...lower than what we were made for. Even the angels do not share in the kind of intimacy that God reserves for human beings...we are meant to colabor, to coreign on the earth. We are not meant to have a slave relationship with God, but rather a partnership. Moses had this, Abraham had this. David had this. And that was in the Old Testament. They managed to tap into the truth of man's glory before His glory was revealed to all mankind through Jesus. The time when Moses interceded on behalf of the Israelites, and God heard his pleas and spared their lives. The time when Abraham was given power over the fate of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is a grave mistake to be like Esau...to give our birthright away for momentary peace, for momentary satisfaction. Rather, we are to be like Jacob, understanding the power that lies within and not settling for anything less than all we were meant to become.
I pray we will both grow in our understanding of the glory reserved for us, and that we would both grow in wisdom and stature, so that we can carry that glory in such a way as to honor the One who gave it to us.
Bless you, my dear friend.
~Angela
1:18-19 "The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them."
This really stirs my heart in righteous anger against the enemy right now. It is such godless and wicked teaching that has Christians at the bottom of the barrel, oppressed by poverty, fear, and depression. It is wicked and godless teaching, the false doctrines of demons, that keep us under the finger of fear that God is not who He says He is, that keeps us from seeing the great victory and triumph that has been given to us by Christ's sacrifice. The sentence right before this is "The righteous will live by faith." That is as plain as plain can be. Just like you said this morning, it is that SIMPLE!!
LIVE: Fully alive, fully infused with the joy that is the very nature of God, fully confident of purpose and destiny, fully assured of all provision (all that we need for life and godliness). The promises are clear in the Bible, but somehow we feel we are disqualified. We fear that somehow we have done something, or not done enough to be sure that God will make good on His promise to provide. It is by faith that we live. Anything less or more is a teaching borne out of wickedness and godlessness.
I have long since stopped seeing people as wicked and godless...I see the principalities behind these lies as wicked and godless. If we are oppressed or downcast, we have only to see that these things are not from God. We have only to recognize our true nature...our new nature...the one that is free to believe all the good things that God says about us. If someone doesn't know the Lord, I still see them the same way...loved by God, the promises are for them, they only need to meet the Promise Maker (the Promise Keeper).
1:20 "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."
So often when discussing this verse, I have been tempted to focus solely on the fact that men are without excuse. I have used this verse to fuel a judgmental attitude of superiority...I know God, and you don't. You missed the signs. Oh shucks, too bad.
In reading this today, though, I see a very different focus. It is a question that this verse begs an answer to...what are the invisible qualities of God? This verse implies that they should be obvious, yet so many of us seem to look at creation and see only the bad...the violence, the disease, the darkness. None of these are God's qualities, so this is not what Paul is talking about. God reveals His nature in the fruit of His Spirit...Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control.
I want to turn my attention toward these qualities of God. I want to look at creation, at my brothers and sisters, at my husband, at my children, through the eyes of God's immutable nature...from beginning to end, God's kindness, gentleness, patience shines forth from all of creation. I want to see God clearly, and I want to see my fellow humans clearly, and I want to see creation clearly. I want my mind to be completely renewed to see the earth as good, to see all of creation as good, to see everything around me as something for my enjoyment, for my nourishment, for my good. I think this is what Paul is so up in arms about...if we see God as evil, then we are without excuse, for He has never revealed Himself that way. If we see Him that way, it's because we are projecting our fallen nature onto Him. We must stop doing that and trust Him at His Word!
1:21 "For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened."
This is in keeping with I wrote in the last paragraph, but it brings freshly to mind a scene in The Magician's Nephew, by CS Lewis. I hope you've read it. If you haven't, I highly recommend it. It's one of the Narnia books, and the scene I'm thinking of is when Uncle Andrew (a greedy, low-minded man) is surrounded by the talking beasts of Narnia, but he can't hear their words. He can only hear growls, and he interprets them all as having ill-intent. He trusts none of them, and even Aslan's song is just noise to him...frightening. Because of his "darkened understanding," he interprets the whole beautiful scene as threatening and evil. In fact, he has just projected his own evil heart upon the creation of a brand new world. He's missed the beauty, and because of it he will succumb to his fear and possibly die.
1:22-23 "Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal men and birds and animals and reptiles."
I recently heard someone teach on this verse. He said that we become what we gaze upon. In other passages, Paul says that we become like our idols...not seeing or hearing. This man who was teaching said that the glory we were given by God was like His glory and was meant to ensure that we would have intimacy with Him. This is what allowed Jesus to tell His disciples that they were not mere slaves, but actually friends of God. And later, when His Spirit fell upon all flesh, the ability to receive the mind of Christ was given to all mankind. However, we are given the choice as to what we gaze upon, what we worship, what we meditate (worry) over. When we are in idolatry, we exchange our God-given glory for the glory of nature. And throughout the Bible, all of nature is in subjection to God...nature is subservient to God...lower than what we were made for. Even the angels do not share in the kind of intimacy that God reserves for human beings...we are meant to colabor, to coreign on the earth. We are not meant to have a slave relationship with God, but rather a partnership. Moses had this, Abraham had this. David had this. And that was in the Old Testament. They managed to tap into the truth of man's glory before His glory was revealed to all mankind through Jesus. The time when Moses interceded on behalf of the Israelites, and God heard his pleas and spared their lives. The time when Abraham was given power over the fate of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. It is a grave mistake to be like Esau...to give our birthright away for momentary peace, for momentary satisfaction. Rather, we are to be like Jacob, understanding the power that lies within and not settling for anything less than all we were meant to become.
I pray we will both grow in our understanding of the glory reserved for us, and that we would both grow in wisdom and stature, so that we can carry that glory in such a way as to honor the One who gave it to us.
Bless you, my dear friend.
~Angela
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