In chapter 1 of Desperate Dependency we introduced you to Shirley. Yes, she is a very real person. Her testimony started with “I used to live my life waiting to find a way to beat the system. (God was the system.)” These are a few other excerpts from her testimony: "I guess we all spend some time on the edge. I’ve sort of lived my life there.... But God brought me to the end of myself... what a liberating moment it was as God accepted me right where I was, asking nothing but that I put my complete trust in Him. Somewhere along the line I started to long for Jesus more than I was afraid of losing control..."
This week we received an update on Shirley and her continued desperate dependency on Christ.
Melanie, the health issues that I talked to Kirk about a few months ago and also the sudden depression and exhaustion, trouble walking, numbness and vision changes, finally has a diagnosis. I have Multiple Sclerosis. I'd appreciate your prayers. I knew something was wrong inside my body but I still looked the same on the outside so I discounted each issue until some just got very overwhelming and serious. I still have not had an MRI, I will the end of July when I see my Neurologist, but my doctor, Rheumatologist, and eye specialist all agree. I'm grateful though to just have a name put with what has been going on for a while now. As much as I do not want to have MS, I am glad to have a diagnosis so we can know what I am dealing with and how to move forward. Not knowing is much worse than having facts, even hard ones. I have times that I feel fearful but I am very aware that my Lord is not surprised by this diagnosis and it has not come to me before being sifted through his sovereign hands. I trust him. I have gone to the very depth of my fears and explored those possibilities... and found Christ relevant to even this situation. When I was reading in I Corinthians and got to the part where Paul had been sharing Christ and the Jewish people wanted to flog him when he said he was now going to share it with the Gentiles. Thankfully someone got him out of that crowd and to momentary safety. While he was standing there terrified, Christ came… and the Word says He stood very close to Paul and told him to "Be Courageous" and that they were now going to Rome to do this again. When I read that, I knew that God could have gotten that message to Paul in a myriad of ways but what He did was come to him personally and stood very close to his friend. I thought about how Paul must have felt the warmth from Jesus' body and felt a sense of safety and protection that no one else could have provided except for Jesus. He is a very personal, loving Savior and I am feeling Him stand very close to me through this. My doctor said the depression I have struggled with has been from the MS and thankfully it is much better.
I would appreciate your prayers. I am experiencing God's peace for the most part, and I can't tell you how grateful I am for that. I have known for months something was wrong, just did not have a name to put with it. Just wanted to let y'all know.
Insight Journal
Will you allow the Master to complete His self-portrait through your life by whatever means He sees as necessary?
(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)
Monday, June 18, 2012
Monday, June 11, 2012
Summertime Memories
(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)
One of my (Melanie) earliest summertime, childhood memories recalls pumping my legs passionately to swing to the clouds while singing, “Yes, Jesus Loves Me.” This elementary song saturated my soul, but even in adulthood it is difficult to comprehend the depths of that simple truth.
“This High Priest of ours [Jesus] understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testing we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Heb. 4:15–16 NLT).
Erroneously we believe the deception that if God really does love us and really does care, He would make everything easy with smooth sailing. How can crisis and tribulation be evidence of a loving God? But even God’s gift of love to us required grief, agony, and despair. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 NKJV).
On a particularly desperate day, the simple fact of God’s love for me (Kirk) became a powerful, relevant truth. Submitting to lifetime ministry did not isolate us from crisis and tribulation. The fiery darts of the wicked one inundated us with unrelenting force. The battle was fierce. It was the kind of spiritual warfare that challenged every fiber of my being.
As I was driving en route to pay a bill, I looked up and said to God in the privacy of my truck, “Lord, I’m at my end. I think I’m finished. There is nothing left in me to carry on. I don’t have anything else to give.” I was beaten. I had no more stamina. No more ability to endure. I was not depressed; I did not want to die. I was, however, pressed beyond my measure to continue the fight. I was exhausted.
“God, . . . I am finished! I don’t know what will become of me or how I will continue into tomorrow. God, unless You do something, it’s over for me.” My prayer to God was as tired and devoid of emotion as it could have ever been and still be articulated. All I could do was to look to God and say, “Please help me.”
God had me right where He wanted me. It was at this broken place I received from God the greatest gift I could ever have—His love! I have placed this event in the annals of the most significant experiences with God I have ever had.
God’s Spirit opened my mind that day to all verses of Scripture, sermons, and songs I have ever read, preached, heard preached, or sung, testifying to His great love for me. I began to be flooded with the love of Christ beyond anything I have ever known or thought was possible. His nurturing was powerful and tangible; I could feel His presence. As I was being cocooned within His love, the peace of God surpassed my understanding while I was serenaded by the very songs of how much He loves me. All my worries, my fears, my concerns for life, and how I would make it past today were enraptured in the vortex of His person. I was now strengthened with His might. It was at this moment that I wanted nothing more than what God wanted for me.
Immediately I began to sob from the depths of my soul, the apathy now vanquished. My tears flowed in praise to my God, my Deliverer, my Lord and Savior, who really, truly loves me. These tears of praise continued for hours. I sobbed until the sobbing could no longer be sustained. Then I would sob some more. That day I was rejuvenated by the hand of God and taught that I could live only through His power. It became clear to me: I must see Jesus as relevant to all areas of my life; I must understand that He cares about every area of my life. I have never forgotten this, nor have I ever been the same.
“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light’” (Matt. 11:28–30 NLT).
Insight Journal
Children see God as relevant because they can trust that there is someone bigger who knows the best way to make things work out. When did I lose that concept of God?
One of my (Melanie) earliest summertime, childhood memories recalls pumping my legs passionately to swing to the clouds while singing, “Yes, Jesus Loves Me.” This elementary song saturated my soul, but even in adulthood it is difficult to comprehend the depths of that simple truth.
When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. (Rom. 5:6–8 NLT)
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? . . . No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.The truth of God’s love is not just a fact; it becomes a reality when we can recognize that because God loves us, He cares about every area of our lives. Not only does He care, but He also understands our deepest struggles, and He desires to be the solution for our every problem.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:35–39 NLT)
“This High Priest of ours [Jesus] understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testing we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most” (Heb. 4:15–16 NLT).
Erroneously we believe the deception that if God really does love us and really does care, He would make everything easy with smooth sailing. How can crisis and tribulation be evidence of a loving God? But even God’s gift of love to us required grief, agony, and despair. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16 NKJV).
On a particularly desperate day, the simple fact of God’s love for me (Kirk) became a powerful, relevant truth. Submitting to lifetime ministry did not isolate us from crisis and tribulation. The fiery darts of the wicked one inundated us with unrelenting force. The battle was fierce. It was the kind of spiritual warfare that challenged every fiber of my being.
As I was driving en route to pay a bill, I looked up and said to God in the privacy of my truck, “Lord, I’m at my end. I think I’m finished. There is nothing left in me to carry on. I don’t have anything else to give.” I was beaten. I had no more stamina. No more ability to endure. I was not depressed; I did not want to die. I was, however, pressed beyond my measure to continue the fight. I was exhausted.
“God, . . . I am finished! I don’t know what will become of me or how I will continue into tomorrow. God, unless You do something, it’s over for me.” My prayer to God was as tired and devoid of emotion as it could have ever been and still be articulated. All I could do was to look to God and say, “Please help me.”
God had me right where He wanted me. It was at this broken place I received from God the greatest gift I could ever have—His love! I have placed this event in the annals of the most significant experiences with God I have ever had.
God’s Spirit opened my mind that day to all verses of Scripture, sermons, and songs I have ever read, preached, heard preached, or sung, testifying to His great love for me. I began to be flooded with the love of Christ beyond anything I have ever known or thought was possible. His nurturing was powerful and tangible; I could feel His presence. As I was being cocooned within His love, the peace of God surpassed my understanding while I was serenaded by the very songs of how much He loves me. All my worries, my fears, my concerns for life, and how I would make it past today were enraptured in the vortex of His person. I was now strengthened with His might. It was at this moment that I wanted nothing more than what God wanted for me.
Immediately I began to sob from the depths of my soul, the apathy now vanquished. My tears flowed in praise to my God, my Deliverer, my Lord and Savior, who really, truly loves me. These tears of praise continued for hours. I sobbed until the sobbing could no longer be sustained. Then I would sob some more. That day I was rejuvenated by the hand of God and taught that I could live only through His power. It became clear to me: I must see Jesus as relevant to all areas of my life; I must understand that He cares about every area of my life. I have never forgotten this, nor have I ever been the same.
“Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light’” (Matt. 11:28–30 NLT).
“Listen to me, descendants of Jacob,
all you who remain in Israel.
I have cared for you since you were born.
Yes, I carried you before you were born.
I will be your God throughout your lifetime—
until your hair is white with age.
I made you, and I will care for you.
I will carry you along and save you.” (Isa. 46:3–4 NLT)
Insight Journal
Children see God as relevant because they can trust that there is someone bigger who knows the best way to make things work out. When did I lose that concept of God?
Monday, June 4, 2012
Great Summer Plans
(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)
So if people, positions, or possessions do not offer freedom or the solution for enjoying a complete life, what is the solution? Galatians 5:16 (NIV) supplies the answer: “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” We are to conduct our lives “by the Spirit.” This requires a relationship with God’s Spirit in which we dependently trust Him with all our needs. The catch is that brokenness is a prerequisite: we cannot depend on God without first giving up our willfulness. We must give up the right to want what we want and trade it for wanting what God wants. “But I don’t want to give up what I want,” you may whine. Then you are not ready for a desperately dependent relationship on God that results in a life that is divinely enabled. This relationship begins by giving up our self-centered lives in exchange for Christ-centered lives that result from the forgiveness of sin. Without giving up our willfulness, we cannot know the heart of God and want what He wants.
Independent inclinations thrust individuals further into crisis, which perpetuates an unending cycle of futility. At best, self-effort can only temporarily affect the crisis of our lives; it can do nothing to address the deeper problem of sin. In fact, self-effort exacerbates the problem, actually increasing the intensity of the nature of sin’s impact on us. Now we have, as a result of our best solutions, even more guilt, shame, and fear. We are even more alienated from God than before. We only sink deeper into the bondage of our sinfulness. Because of humanity’s depravity, we are stuck in the unending, self-perpetuating cycle. Demoting God as the authority; promoting self as the authority; and exploiting people, positions, and possessions for personal empowerment.
The fallout from independently contrived solutions intensifies the symptoms of the sin nature, thereby provoking an even greater crisis. No matter what we do, we are still falling apart. We are still at the place of redemptive need. Only God can help us.
Christ’s redemptive process can only be participated in through the power of Christ as He addresses the nature of sin by bringing us to brokenness. The willingness to give up our willfulness to Christ in exchange for His enabling us to submit to His will, removes our resistance to entering into Christ’s redemptive process. Christ’s redemptive process is characterized by dependence on Him as we see ourselves in desperate need of Him.
Because of Christ’s satisfaction of the sin debt, He can redeem us from our sinful selves and all the crises we have created. He resolves the symptoms of the sin nature—guilt, shame, and fear—and reconciles us to fellowship with God, restoring love, joy, and peace. “He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world” (1 John 2:2 NLT).
Unfortunately, we must still contend with the nature of sin resident within us. Self-sufficiency tempts us to reenter the futile cycle dominated by the nature of sin in our lives. But gratefully, at the point of salvation, we are blessed with a new set of options. No longer are we bound by the power of sin; we may now choose from His abundant resources and allow His divine enablement to personally empower us.
God’s job is to bring us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, by whatever holy means are appropriate. God uses love to promote purity (1 John 3:1–3), goodness to promote repentance (Rom. 2:4), patience to promote redemption (Luke 8:4–15), discipline to produce maturity (Heb. 12:5–10), and pain to promote growth (Heb. 12:11). God uses trials to bring us to completion (James 1:2–4), tribulation to produce hope (Rom. 5:3–5), trauma of truth to produce brokenness (2 Cor. 7:8–11), and thorns in the flesh to produce dependency (2 Cor. 12:7–10). All His blessings are for achieving the one purpose of transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ. This endeavor is His most important task. All facets of God’s economy function to produce Jesus’ image within our souls, bringing glory to Him as we depend on Him. God produces His essence within us as we yield to Him.
God has no higher concern and espouses no greater agenda than to promote Jesus as preeminent within our lives. Thus His grace is dedicated to this mission. Grace cannot be manipulated or exploited to achieve our own selfish ambition, nor will it be subservient to our vain conceit. Grace resides securely within the heart and mind of God, having no other master, and can be wielded by none other than His hand.
Insight Journal
Which willful plan do you need to give up for a great summer with God?
Write a personal psalm to pour out your heart to God.
So if people, positions, or possessions do not offer freedom or the solution for enjoying a complete life, what is the solution? Galatians 5:16 (NIV) supplies the answer: “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” We are to conduct our lives “by the Spirit.” This requires a relationship with God’s Spirit in which we dependently trust Him with all our needs. The catch is that brokenness is a prerequisite: we cannot depend on God without first giving up our willfulness. We must give up the right to want what we want and trade it for wanting what God wants. “But I don’t want to give up what I want,” you may whine. Then you are not ready for a desperately dependent relationship on God that results in a life that is divinely enabled. This relationship begins by giving up our self-centered lives in exchange for Christ-centered lives that result from the forgiveness of sin. Without giving up our willfulness, we cannot know the heart of God and want what He wants.
Independent inclinations thrust individuals further into crisis, which perpetuates an unending cycle of futility. At best, self-effort can only temporarily affect the crisis of our lives; it can do nothing to address the deeper problem of sin. In fact, self-effort exacerbates the problem, actually increasing the intensity of the nature of sin’s impact on us. Now we have, as a result of our best solutions, even more guilt, shame, and fear. We are even more alienated from God than before. We only sink deeper into the bondage of our sinfulness. Because of humanity’s depravity, we are stuck in the unending, self-perpetuating cycle. Demoting God as the authority; promoting self as the authority; and exploiting people, positions, and possessions for personal empowerment.
The fallout from independently contrived solutions intensifies the symptoms of the sin nature, thereby provoking an even greater crisis. No matter what we do, we are still falling apart. We are still at the place of redemptive need. Only God can help us.
Christ’s redemptive process can only be participated in through the power of Christ as He addresses the nature of sin by bringing us to brokenness. The willingness to give up our willfulness to Christ in exchange for His enabling us to submit to His will, removes our resistance to entering into Christ’s redemptive process. Christ’s redemptive process is characterized by dependence on Him as we see ourselves in desperate need of Him.
Because of Christ’s satisfaction of the sin debt, He can redeem us from our sinful selves and all the crises we have created. He resolves the symptoms of the sin nature—guilt, shame, and fear—and reconciles us to fellowship with God, restoring love, joy, and peace. “He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world” (1 John 2:2 NLT).
Unfortunately, we must still contend with the nature of sin resident within us. Self-sufficiency tempts us to reenter the futile cycle dominated by the nature of sin in our lives. But gratefully, at the point of salvation, we are blessed with a new set of options. No longer are we bound by the power of sin; we may now choose from His abundant resources and allow His divine enablement to personally empower us.
By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. (2 Peter 1:3–4 NLT)God is extending deliverance to us as we rely on Him. “It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies” (Zech. 4:6 NLT). The question is, will you in your desperation depend on God? Will you respond to the invitation God gives to you? Will you continue in your self-effort? Will you believe the same lies? Will you commit the same sins? Will you experience the same problems over and over again? Or will you realize that you are a child of the King with an inheritance already in your possession?
God’s job is to bring us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, by whatever holy means are appropriate. God uses love to promote purity (1 John 3:1–3), goodness to promote repentance (Rom. 2:4), patience to promote redemption (Luke 8:4–15), discipline to produce maturity (Heb. 12:5–10), and pain to promote growth (Heb. 12:11). God uses trials to bring us to completion (James 1:2–4), tribulation to produce hope (Rom. 5:3–5), trauma of truth to produce brokenness (2 Cor. 7:8–11), and thorns in the flesh to produce dependency (2 Cor. 12:7–10). All His blessings are for achieving the one purpose of transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ. This endeavor is His most important task. All facets of God’s economy function to produce Jesus’ image within our souls, bringing glory to Him as we depend on Him. God produces His essence within us as we yield to Him.
God has no higher concern and espouses no greater agenda than to promote Jesus as preeminent within our lives. Thus His grace is dedicated to this mission. Grace cannot be manipulated or exploited to achieve our own selfish ambition, nor will it be subservient to our vain conceit. Grace resides securely within the heart and mind of God, having no other master, and can be wielded by none other than His hand.
Insight Journal
Which willful plan do you need to give up for a great summer with God?
Write a personal psalm to pour out your heart to God.
Monday, May 28, 2012
The Great Scam
(excerpts included from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)
GOD ASSIGNED JOB the job of demonstrating desperate dependency amid plenty and loss. Our lives are driven by the desire to be successful, and many viewed the life of Job as being a grand success with his ten children, leadership positions, and vast possessions. But when Job was stripped of the people, positions, and possessions, his friends and neighbors would have been hard pressed to label him as a success while he sat on the ash heap mourning his unspeakable losses.
One of the first challenges we face in the Christian growth process is resolving the incongruence between what is true of God versus how we believe those truths about Him should be experienced.
We believe God cares for and loves us, so how should these realities manifest within our lives? These notions are synthesized into expectations that we place upon God. Preconceived notions develop, setting us up to be frustrated. We judge that God has not acted in accordance to our interpretation of His attributes, and we respond with disappointment. Frustration sets in: “I want God to do what I think He should do!” and “I believe I have the right to think this way because His attributes, after all, give me permission to feel as I do.”
It is difficult to admit when our beliefs are shaken and we are soon overwhelmed with questions: “Can anyone really know how God works?” “Can anyone really expect anything from God?” Frustration morphs into a sense of alienation. Perhaps God simply is not pleased with me, or maybe He does not like me.
The spiritual communion prior to the unmet expectations has now become lost to the spiritual commotion of the deeper, darker assumptions that grow like mold in the damp shadowed recesses of the soul. Distorted views of God burst forth from the spores only to be inhaled by a gasping spirit.
Feeling mistreated is the logical conclusion that many a child of God has come to over and over again. “Why will God not treat me as He has the others whom He has blessed?” “What does God want from me?” “Maybe I will never please Him. Maybe I should just give up?” “Trying is just too hard.”
Job’s dire situation produced desperate dependency upon God and facilitated communion with God in response to his loss and suffering. Job had already given everything to God, so it was not without his permission that God followed through to use Job as He desired.
When one believes that faith has become a set up for failure, than that one seeks to remedy the conflict by giving up on faith. With “I’ll show God” animosity one chooses to stop trusting, as if to punish God. The reality is this—-we have just been scammed by the wiles of the devil.
Insight Journal:
How would your life challenges look if you first viewed them as having come to you through God's truth, justice, righteousness, goodness, holiness, and love?
GOD ASSIGNED JOB the job of demonstrating desperate dependency amid plenty and loss. Our lives are driven by the desire to be successful, and many viewed the life of Job as being a grand success with his ten children, leadership positions, and vast possessions. But when Job was stripped of the people, positions, and possessions, his friends and neighbors would have been hard pressed to label him as a success while he sat on the ash heap mourning his unspeakable losses.
“All right, you may test him,” the LORD said to Satan. “Do whatever you want with everything he possesses, but don’t harm him physically.” So Satan left the LORD’s presence.At this point in the story, every fiber of our being stands in judgment against God, casting dispersion on His name. “If You love me, why would You allow this to happen?” Hardly can God be understood while being weighed in the balance of our pain. Yet, God in His love uses suffering as a platform to convey the depths of His sovereignty. God will save us. God will sustain us. God will promote our best interest. But His ways are beyond our comprehension.
One day when Job’s sons and daughters were feasting at the oldest brother’s house, a messenger arrived at Job’s home with this news: “Your oxen were plowing, with the donkeys feeding beside them, when the Sabeans raided us. They stole all the animals and killed all the farmhands. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”
While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: “The fire of God has fallen from heaven and burned up your sheep and all the shepherds. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”
While he was still speaking, a third messenger arrived with this news: “Three bands of Chaldean raiders have stolen your camels and killed your servants. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.”
While he was still speaking, another messenger arrived with this news: “Your sons and daughters were feasting in their oldest brother’s home. Suddenly, a powerful wind swept in from the wilderness and hit the house on all sides. The house collapsed, and all your children are dead. I am the only one who escaped to tell you.” (Job 1:12–19 NLT)
One of the first challenges we face in the Christian growth process is resolving the incongruence between what is true of God versus how we believe those truths about Him should be experienced.
We believe God cares for and loves us, so how should these realities manifest within our lives? These notions are synthesized into expectations that we place upon God. Preconceived notions develop, setting us up to be frustrated. We judge that God has not acted in accordance to our interpretation of His attributes, and we respond with disappointment. Frustration sets in: “I want God to do what I think He should do!” and “I believe I have the right to think this way because His attributes, after all, give me permission to feel as I do.”
It is difficult to admit when our beliefs are shaken and we are soon overwhelmed with questions: “Can anyone really know how God works?” “Can anyone really expect anything from God?” Frustration morphs into a sense of alienation. Perhaps God simply is not pleased with me, or maybe He does not like me.
The spiritual communion prior to the unmet expectations has now become lost to the spiritual commotion of the deeper, darker assumptions that grow like mold in the damp shadowed recesses of the soul. Distorted views of God burst forth from the spores only to be inhaled by a gasping spirit.
Feeling mistreated is the logical conclusion that many a child of God has come to over and over again. “Why will God not treat me as He has the others whom He has blessed?” “What does God want from me?” “Maybe I will never please Him. Maybe I should just give up?” “Trying is just too hard.”
Job’s dire situation produced desperate dependency upon God and facilitated communion with God in response to his loss and suffering. Job had already given everything to God, so it was not without his permission that God followed through to use Job as He desired.
Job stood up and tore his robe in grief. Then he shaved his head and fell to the ground to worship. He said,Job assumed God’s sovereign involvement in the course of life that he could not control. In Job’s mind God’s presence was not only acknowledged in his suffering, but His will was ascribed to it. In response to his bereavement, Job asserted a benediction of blessing to the Lord. In the midst of his tragedy, Job worshipped while submitting to God’s sovereign right to rule over his person, positions, and possessions.
“I came naked from my mother’s womb,
and I will be naked when I leave.
The LORD gave me what I had,
and the LORD has taken it away.
Praise the name of the LORD!”
In all of this, Job did not sin by blaming God. (Job 1:20–22 NLT)
When one believes that faith has become a set up for failure, than that one seeks to remedy the conflict by giving up on faith. With “I’ll show God” animosity one chooses to stop trusting, as if to punish God. The reality is this—-we have just been scammed by the wiles of the devil.
Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. (Eph. 6:10-12 ESV)The moral character of God held Job constant even though his mortal condition was completely in chaos. Overwhelmed by his limitations, he could only find comfort in total self-abandonment through trust. Delimited by his dependency, Job had no other choice but to interpret the nature of his anguish through the moral attributes of a holy, righteous, just, and good God who is full of truth. All of Job’s philosophical ponderings, including his frustration and confusion, were delineated by his dependence on God, making him more desperate than ever. In Job’s agony his dilemma was to understand life’s new normal consistently with the truth about God.
Insight Journal:
How would your life challenges look if you first viewed them as having come to you through God's truth, justice, righteousness, goodness, holiness, and love?
Monday, May 21, 2012
Relevant Relationship
I [Melanie] have been reading Success and the Christian: The Cost and Criteria of Spiritual Maturity by A. W. Tozer and James L. Snyder. Although we have never read this work before, it is very interesting to see the many elaborations that are similar to those we have written in Desperate Dependency: Finding Christ Relevant to Every Area of Life. From chapter 5 of this work (The Deeper Life), I gleaned these comments:
How desperately dependent are you on Christ?
[excerpts taken from Success and the Christian: The Cost and Criteria of Spiritual Maturity by A. W. Tozer and James L. Snyder, (Camp Hill, PA.: WingSpread, 1994). (Tozer died in 1963.)]
A Christian is not one who has been baptized, necessarily, though a Christian is likely to be baptized. A Christian is not one who receives Communion, though a Christian may receive Communion, and if he’s been properly taught, he will. But that is not a Christian necessarily. A Christian is not one who has been born into a Christian home, though the chances are more likely that he will be a Christian if he has a good Christian background. A Christian is not one who has memorized the New Testament, or is a great lover of Christian music, or who goes to hear the Apollo Club sing the Messiah every year. A Christian may do all of those things and I think it might be fine if he did; but that doesn’t make one a Christian. A Christian is one who sustains a right relationship to Jesus Christ.Tozer and Snyder offer these insight regarding “Freedom from Earthly Loves.”
Christians enjoy a kind of union with Jesus Christ. Everybody sustains some relationship to Jesus Christ; just the same as everybody in America sustains some relation to Krushchev [former leader of the Soviet Union]. My personal relation is one of active hostility so far as can be possible within a Christian framework. We can’t hate people, but we can hate everything they stand for, and I want it known that I do. But everybody has a relationship to everybody else, and everybody has a relation to Jesus Christ. The relation he sustains may be one of adoring faith and love; it may be one of admiration; it may be one of hostility; it may be one of complete carelessness; but it is an attitude of some sort. A relationship of some sort exists between every human being and Jesus Christ; that is, every human being that ever heard of Jesus Christ. But a Christian is one who sustains a right and proper relation, a biblical relation, to Jesus Christ. (p. 67-68)
What do I mean by earthly love? I mean any love out of the will of God, any love that we would not allow God to take away. If you have anything in this world or anybody in this world that you would not let God take away from you, then you don’t love Him as you should and you don’t know anything about the deeper life in experience. For the Spirit-filled Christian life means that I am delivered from earthly loves to a point where there is no love that I would not allow Jesus Christ to take away—be it money, reputation, my home, my friends, my family or whatever it may be. The love of Jesus Christ has come in and swallowed up all other loves and sanctified them, purified them, made them holy and put them in their right relationship to that all-consuming love of God so that they’re secondary and never primary.
I want to ask you this question: Is there anything or anyone on Earth that you love so much that you’d fight God if He wanted to take him? Then you are not where you should be and you might as well face up to it and not pretend to be something you’re not. Complete freedom means that I want the will of God only. And if it is the will of God for me to have these things, then I love them for His sake, but I love them with a tentative and relative love and not an all-poured-out love that makes me a slave. It means that I love nothing outside the will of God and that I love only what and who He wills that I should love. Then you can love everybody. (p. 78-79)
If you love anything enough that there’s any question about whether God can have it or not, you know nothing about the deeper life; you are a slave to that love whatever it is. If we’ve been freed from every earthly love, then we have no unsatisfied longings and we have no wishes and no dreams. (p. 81)
Freedom from earthly fears means that I choose the will of God now and forever; it is my treasure, my whole attitude. The only fear I have is to fear to get out of the will of God. Outside of the will of God, there’s nothing I want, and in the will of God there’s nothing I fear, for God has sworn to keep me in His will. If I’m out of His will, that is another matter. But if I’m in His will, He’s sworn to keep me.
And He’s able to do it, He’s wise enough to know how to do it and He’s kind enough to want to do it. So really there’s nothing to fear. (p. 82)
So I don’t say that the deeper life—the Spirit-filled life—means that you won’t be normal. If lightning strikes near you, you’ll jump. And if somebody comes at you with a needle, you’ll shrink—you are human. But that is one thing; it is quite another thing to walk around chained by human fears—chained by the fear of death or the fear of sickness or the fear of poverty or the fear of friends or the fear of enemies. God never means that His children should thus be afraid. (p. 84)
How desperately dependent are you on Christ?
[excerpts taken from Success and the Christian: The Cost and Criteria of Spiritual Maturity by A. W. Tozer and James L. Snyder, (Camp Hill, PA.: WingSpread, 1994). (Tozer died in 1963.)]
Monday, May 14, 2012
Jesus Calling
Hello?... Hello?... Who is this?... Jesus?...
Is it difficult to comprehend that the Creator of the Universe desires a relationship with you? He not only desires a relationship, He desires an intimate relationship. He desires a relationship in which He is your all in all, your everything, the reason you get up in the morning, the motivation of your life, the beat of your heart, your breath. But still we struggle to find Christ relevant to every area of life. We take our desires and ascribe them to His desires, instead of taking His desires and making them our desires.
I was blessed to receive the devotional book, Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence by Sarah Young, as a Christmas gift. Daily I am reminded that Jesus does indeed call to us and woo us into an intimate relationship with him.
“For nothing will be impossible with God.”
2 Corinthians 12:9–10 (NIV)
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence by Sarah Young is an excellent resource as you live in desperate dependency and finding Christ relevant to every area of your life.
Do you hear Him calling to you?
Is it difficult to comprehend that the Creator of the Universe desires a relationship with you? He not only desires a relationship, He desires an intimate relationship. He desires a relationship in which He is your all in all, your everything, the reason you get up in the morning, the motivation of your life, the beat of your heart, your breath. But still we struggle to find Christ relevant to every area of life. We take our desires and ascribe them to His desires, instead of taking His desires and making them our desires.
I was blessed to receive the devotional book, Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence by Sarah Young, as a Christmas gift. Daily I am reminded that Jesus does indeed call to us and woo us into an intimate relationship with him.
Here is a year’s worth of daily readings from Young’s journals to bring you closer to Christ and move your time with Him from a monologue to a dialogue. Each day is written as if Jesus Himself were speaking to you. Because He is. Do you hear Him calling?Sarah Young writes in her introduction:
The Bible is, of course, the only inerrant Word of God; my writings must be consistent with that unchanging standard. I have written them from Jesus’ point of view; i.e., the first person singular (I, Me, Mine) always refers to Christ. “You” refers to you, the reader, so the perspective is that of Jesus speaking to you.Here is Sarah Young’s devotional for May 14th.
I AM A MIGHTY GOD. Nothing is too difficult for Me. I have chosen to use weak ones like you to accomplish My purposes. Your weakness is designed to open you up to My Power. Therefore, do not fear your limitations or measure the day’s demands against your strength. What I require of you is to stay connected to Me, living in trusting dependence on My limitless resources. When you face unexpected demands, there is no need to panic. Remember that I am with you. Talk with Me, and listen while I talk you through each challenging situation.Luke 1:37 (NASB)
I am not a carless God. When I allow difficulties to come into your life, I equip you fully to handle them. Relax in My Presence, trusting in My strength.
“For nothing will be impossible with God.”
2 Corinthians 12:9–10 (NIV)
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Jesus Calling: Enjoying Peace in His Presence by Sarah Young is an excellent resource as you live in desperate dependency and finding Christ relevant to every area of your life.
Do you hear Him calling to you?
Monday, May 7, 2012
The Art of Influence
Why do you want to be a leader? What type of influence do you desire to exert? Influence that makes you look good? Influence that makes you feel good? Influence that benefits the lives of others? Or are you seeking to provide influence that is reflective of God's guidance? On the other side, whose influence do you want to follow?
Will you be honest enough to examine your heart on this matter? Unfortunately, those who do not challenge their soul’s tendency to usurp God’s will for leadership have a propensity to counterfeit all that is godly for the pursuit of their own purposes. The shackles of the sensual amusements of the world, the flesh, and the devil draw us through the lust of our hearts and the vanity of our lives and bind us in strongholds.
"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world." (1 John 2:15-16 ESV)
Leadership that is filled with our plans is devoid of His plan. When we live independently from God we search for a substitute as our validating source. Without a desperate dependency on Him we establish a counterfeit connection with people, positions, and possessions in our pursuit for validation. We extract love from illicit relationships to prove that we are lovable, to establish our significance, and to enable us to feel secure. But in actuality we suffer loss because people, positions, and possessions are incapable of fulfilling us. Ultimately we are left unfulfilled, dissatisfied, and incomplete as the result of pursuing God substitutes. The delusional sense of satisfaction that stimulates and sedates eventually fades and we are left wanting more. In our vain attempts we explore other counterfeits that may promise temporary contentment, but only provide mutually satisfying exploitation and manipulation to empower our identity.
When we look to people, positions, and possessions to empower love, significance, and security in our lives, our counterfeit gods enable us to feel complete and contented for a time. But it is the compulsion of any of us to become reliant on whomever we reverence. And when what we reverence becomes the defining entity in our lives, our god, we live in service to what will ultimately disappoint.
Jesus said, “If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26 NLT). It is a bewildering truth as well as paradoxically necessary, that others be hated that we may love Jesus with a pure and undivided heart, in order that we may have the ability to love, serve, and lead others with a pure and undivided loyalty to God.
The God place of our souls is designed for Jesus. Boundaries should be built around this sacred place to assure that none other but Christ resides there. It should be guarded by our fear of God with our appropriate view of God serving as the sentinel. The highest of all that is lofty should be ascribed to Jesus so that He attracts in full our hearts, minds, and souls, capturing our strength with the truth of His glory and virtue. Then Jesus becomes central because He is preeminent. We come to see Him in truth, as He actually is—Lord, Savior, lover of our souls, champion of our hearts. It is here that each one of us will be vested with the sacred trust given by the Spirit of God to lead in the path to intimacy with Christ and to lead others by the excellence of His good pleasure.
The New Testament: An Expanded Translation by Kenneth Wuest presents The Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 with its mandates from this perspective:
Insight Journal
What is your motive for wanting to serve and lead?
Do you yearn for personal significance or God’s glory?
(some excerpts included from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)
Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross! (Phil. 2:3-8 NET)Check your motives. Motivation makes all the difference between being a healthy leader or an unhealthy leader, the difference between being a godly leader or an ungodly leader. No influence exerted on another from a self-centered orientation can be healthy or godly, for the intent is always exploitive. Leadership derived from the reservoir of self will only yield a pathological influence on others, ultimately depriving them of intimacy with God as they are depleted by the industry of a self-centered agenda.
Will you be honest enough to examine your heart on this matter? Unfortunately, those who do not challenge their soul’s tendency to usurp God’s will for leadership have a propensity to counterfeit all that is godly for the pursuit of their own purposes. The shackles of the sensual amusements of the world, the flesh, and the devil draw us through the lust of our hearts and the vanity of our lives and bind us in strongholds.
"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world." (1 John 2:15-16 ESV)
Leadership that is filled with our plans is devoid of His plan. When we live independently from God we search for a substitute as our validating source. Without a desperate dependency on Him we establish a counterfeit connection with people, positions, and possessions in our pursuit for validation. We extract love from illicit relationships to prove that we are lovable, to establish our significance, and to enable us to feel secure. But in actuality we suffer loss because people, positions, and possessions are incapable of fulfilling us. Ultimately we are left unfulfilled, dissatisfied, and incomplete as the result of pursuing God substitutes. The delusional sense of satisfaction that stimulates and sedates eventually fades and we are left wanting more. In our vain attempts we explore other counterfeits that may promise temporary contentment, but only provide mutually satisfying exploitation and manipulation to empower our identity.
When we look to people, positions, and possessions to empower love, significance, and security in our lives, our counterfeit gods enable us to feel complete and contented for a time. But it is the compulsion of any of us to become reliant on whomever we reverence. And when what we reverence becomes the defining entity in our lives, our god, we live in service to what will ultimately disappoint.
Jesus said, “If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:26 NLT). It is a bewildering truth as well as paradoxically necessary, that others be hated that we may love Jesus with a pure and undivided heart, in order that we may have the ability to love, serve, and lead others with a pure and undivided loyalty to God.
The God place of our souls is designed for Jesus. Boundaries should be built around this sacred place to assure that none other but Christ resides there. It should be guarded by our fear of God with our appropriate view of God serving as the sentinel. The highest of all that is lofty should be ascribed to Jesus so that He attracts in full our hearts, minds, and souls, capturing our strength with the truth of His glory and virtue. Then Jesus becomes central because He is preeminent. We come to see Him in truth, as He actually is—Lord, Savior, lover of our souls, champion of our hearts. It is here that each one of us will be vested with the sacred trust given by the Spirit of God to lead in the path to intimacy with Christ and to lead others by the excellence of His good pleasure.
The New Testament: An Expanded Translation by Kenneth Wuest presents The Great Commission of Matthew 28:18-20 with its mandates from this perspective:
Now, the eleven disciples went on their way to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had appointed them. And having seen Him, they worshipped Him, prostrating themselves on the ground before Him. But some doubted. And Jesus, having come, spoke to them, saying, There was given to me all authority in heaven and upon earth. Having gone on your way therefore, teach all the nations, making them your pupils, baptizing them into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to be attending to carefully, holding firmly to, and observing all, whatever things I enjoined upon you. And behold, as for myself, with you I am all the days until the consummation of the age.
Insight Journal
What is your motive for wanting to serve and lead?
Do you yearn for personal significance or God’s glory?
(some excerpts included from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)
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