The Sword of the Spirit

"All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in rigteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17

We have an ongoing series at church about the Word. What makes this compilation of 66 books any different than any other book? Our pastor made an interesting comment that I have been thinking about over the last couple of weeks. He said, "we sit down to read and disect this piece of literature only to find that soon we are the ones being read and disected." "The Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

I think that these passages are very familiar to a lot of Christians, myself included. But what our pastor talked about this Sunday convicted my heart. He claimed that there are dangers in reading the Word if it is not read "spiritually".

We can atomize it - break it down into parts and lose the big picture. Gleen only what you want and throw the rest away. We see this a lot today in the wishy washy theology being taught. (I'm okay, you're okay)

We can privatize it - taking it as a series of inspirational thoughts and use it to get a "buzz on". In this case it becomes a commodity. It is all about me-me-me.

We can exclusivise it - put it on a pedestal under a glass case and never read it, or allow it to mold us.

We can systematize it - using it as a tool to come up with doctrines and arguments to prove ourselves.

In reality the Scriptures are over us - we are not to be master over them. We are to allow them to mold and change our hearts. We can know an aweful lot in our head without ever allowing the Bible to transform us. We must "spriritually" read it as Samuel the prophet exemplified, "Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening." The important question to ask while reading is not "what does it say?", but rather, "How do I obey?" "Your Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." Psalm 119:105

My brother posted a blog once about all the Christian literature there is out there. He said we shouldn't have a problem in the world with all the self-help books out there. Then why do we? I say that it's quite possible that we are not reading the Book of Books. We're too busy reading the next on the bestseller list. We want easy - let the pastor read it and explain it to me. And when we finally pick up and dust off our Bible, we are not reading it in the right way. This Book is powerful and must be wielded with respect to its power. It is the only book that can be used as a weapon - it is called the "Sword of the Spirit" in Ephesians 6:17 It must be read under the guidance and direction of the Holy Spirit. It is the Word that helps us in battle - it is our only offensive weapon. Interesting that it is the Word that Satan attacked in the garden, "Did God really say....?"

The Real Me - Natalie Grant

Foolish heart looks like we're here again
Same old game of plastic smile
Don't let anybody in
Hiding my heartache, will this glass house break
How much will they take before I'm empty
Do I let it show, does anybody know

But You see the real me
Hiding in my skin, broken from within
Unveil me completely
I'm loosening my grasp
There's no need to mask my frailty
Cause You see the real me

Painted on, life is behind a mask
Self-inflicted circus clown
I'm tired of the song and dance
Living a charade, always on parade
What a mess I've made of my existence
But You love me even now
And still I see somehow

But You see the real me
Hiding in my skin, broken from within
Unveil me completely
I'm loosening my grasp
There's no need to mask my frailty
Cause You see the real me

Wonderful, beautiful is what You see
When You look at me
You're turning the tattered fabric of my life into
A perfect tapestry
I just wanna be me

But You see the real me
Hiding in my skin, broken from within
Unveil me completely
I'm loosening my grasp
There's no need to mask my frailty
Cause You see the real me

And You love me just as I am

Wonderful, beautiful is what You see
When You look at me

Love

I Corinthians 13 is weighing heavy on my mind and I felt the need to write it out.

"If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." - To whom do I become that noisy gong or clanging symbol? To God? Or to whomever I'm speaking? Perhaps both? When speaking to someone, I must do it out of love whether it be in the training up of my children, the conversations with my husband or to the stranger on the street. More often than not my motives in speaking are self-centered. Perhaps I just need to shut up sometimes. I am reminded of the constant drip, drip, drip of a nagging wife that Proverbs speaks of or the provoked children of Eph. 6:4.

"If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing." Nothing, zero, zilch...

"And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing." There it is again - nothing. Is this the same as "Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain that build." Or perhaps these are the works that are burned up in the fire - done in vain - wasted.

"Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away." A good reminder. This speaks for itself. Bears all things...this is the one that speaks to me today. I have a real tendancy to fall into the martyrdom mentality.

"When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things." It's time to grow up!

"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known." Ah, the hope! Praise be to God! This is not all there is - "For the love of Christ controls me..."

"But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love." Amen!

The Greatness of God

I went to the "praise and worship" portion of a church on Sunday. After we had sung "God of Wonders" (one of my all time favorites, by the way), the worship leader spoke these words that have been on my mind ever since. He said that the Bible speaks of God as the most great, or greater. He went on to say that this statement is limited to our own puny knowledge or perception of what greatness is. We will always strive to make God controllable. God is greater than our circumtances, greater than our abilities, greater than money, greater than fame, and the list could go on and on.

So what is greatness in our eyes? Greatness in American culture has been reduced to being able to act, sing, play a sport well or build a business. Even a couple of the disciples had an argument over what greatness was as Luke 22:24-27 records for us. "And there arose a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest. And He said to them, 'The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called benefactors. But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant. For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.'" (NASB) Jesus makes it clear here that they (and we like them) have no idea what true greatness is.

I Chronicles 29:11-13 "Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all. Both riches and honr come from You, and You rule over all, and in Your hand is power and might; and it lies in Your hand to make great and to strengthen everyone. Now therefore, our God, we thank You, and praise Your glorious name."

Luke 9:42-43a - "While he was still approaching, the demon slammed him to the ground and threw him into a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit, and healed the boy and gave him back to his father. And they were all amazed at the greatness of God."

Psalm 48:1 - "Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, His holy mountain."

Psalm 96:4 "For great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods."

I believe this word great comes from a root word that means to exceed. God exceeds all else. He is above - and well above - anything we can think or imagine.

Method or Madness?

Here you go, Captain Caveman!

Ecclesia and I have been talking a lot about methods people have for sharing the Gospel, so naturally I decided to throw some thoughts out there and see what other's take on it is.

There has been an ongoing debate recently about our responsibility in sharing the Gospel with others and what is the best way to do that? I think my conclusion is - there is no best way. I remember hearing an interview with Sara Groves one day on WRBS - she apparently had really struggled with the whole "working mom" issue. If I remember the circumstance correctly, she had been guilt ridden by the fact that she was the primary bread winner in the family, and how this didn't seem to jive with all she had been taught about what a "good, respectful, submissive" wife is. After much battling in prayer over the issue and her trying to force herself to do things the "right way" all the while feeling like she was trying to force a square peg into a round hole, she was given this revelation: God gives us a fence or framework within to work - in this case it was "respect your husband". Then He allows us creative reign within that fence with which to work. So her family situation is not going to look like mine, or yours. I feel the very same way about evangelism. God has given us the scriptures as a fence or a framework within to work, and then allows us to be creative within that fence to share the Gospel. What I need to find out is what is God calling ME to. I tried for years to be a "good fundamentalist Christian" and use the methods well-known to all of us and it felt forced, unnatural, and really unfruitful and I began feeling like a failure. I am coming to the conclusion that I failed because I relied on the method, not the Holy Spirit.

I was reading in John 15:13-17 "Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. This I command you, that you love one another." It seems to me that Christ is calling us to two things here: love and obedience. We cannot do either of these things without abiding in the Vine - which is what the beginning of John 15 explains. Jesus calls us to make disciples, not clones. We are a wonderfully diverse creation - I think that we all agree that not one person is like another. This is amazing to me -- so why do we insist on boxing people, and ultimately God into one way of doing things?

God is calling me to be alone, still and quiet. This is not an easy task for an extravert. But it is only in my aloneness that I can allow the Holy Spirit to focus my attention in the right area. It is only in my aloneness that I can hear what God is calling me to, because I cannot obey if I don't know what He is teling me. I have to stop listening to other's convictions and start allowing Jesus to lead me through the Holy Spirit. Iron sharpens iron and I am grateful for all the wonderful people that God has placed in my life -- this "great cloud of witnesses" -- but I am not called to follow people, I am called to follow Christ.

Eustace the Dragon Meets Aslan

One of my favorite passages from C.S. Lewis' book, "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" has been weighing on my mind these last couple of days. To give you some background to the passage Eustace is the character that you love to hate, he's selfish, greedy, whiney, spoiled and complains constantly. He ends up in Narnia with his cousins Lucy and Edmund, who have been to Narnia before, and is taken aboard a ship with Prince Caspian, who is searching for seven (I believe) lost knights. The ship stops at several islands, one of which Eustace gets himself into a pickle. He wanders away from the crew and happens upon a cave, where he witnesses the death of a dragon. When he is sure the dragon is dead, he enters the cave and discovers that it is one huge treasure chest. Eustace begins loading his pockets with the treasure. You hear his thoughts as he does so, and he is trying to figure out how to get the treasure on board the ship without anyone else finding out about it, for he has no desire to share the wealth. He ends up falling asleep on the treasure only to wake up and find that he has turned into a dragon himself. He is miserable and lonely. He finally succeed in communicating to his ship-mates what had happened to him, and he realizes he is stuck forever in this predicament.

It is here that Aslan enters the picture and Eustace realizes that Aslan wants him to follow him. They end up at a bubbling well with marble steps going down into it.

"The water was as clear as anything and I thought if I could get in there and bathe it would ease the pain in my leg. but the lion told me I must undress first. Mind you, I dont know if he said any words out loud or not.

I was just going to say that I couldn't undress because I hadn't any clothes on when I suddenly thought that dragons are snaky sort of things and snakes can cast their skins. Oh, of course, thought I, that's what the lion means. So I started scratching myself and my scales began coming off all over the place. And then I scratched a little deeper and , instead of just scales coming off here and there, my whole skin started peeling off beautifully, like it does after an illness, or as if I was a banana. In a minute or two I jsut stepped out of it. I could see it lying there beside me, looking rather nasty. It was a most lovely feeling. So I started to go down into the well for my bathe.

But just as I was going to put my feet into the water I looked down and saw that they were all hard and rough and wrinkled and scaly just as they had been before. Oh, that's all right, said I, it only means I had another smaller suit on underneath the first one, and I'll have to get out of it too. So I scratched and tore again and this underskin peeled off beautifully and out I stepped and left it lying beside the other one and went down to the well for my bathe.

Well, exactly the same thing happened again. And I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off? For I was longing to bathe my leg. So I scratched away for the third time and got off a third skin, just like the two others, and stepped out of it. But as soon as I looked at myself in the water I knew it had been no good.

The the lion said - but I don't know if it spoke - 'You will have to let me undress you.' I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it.

The very first tear he made was do deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know - if you've ever picked the scab of a sore place. It hurts like billy-oh but it is such fun to see it coming away.

Well, he peele the beastly stuff right off - just as I thought I'd done it myself the other three times, only they hadn't hurt - and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been. And there was Ias smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been. Then he caught hold of me - I didn't like that much for I was very tender underneath now that I'd no skin on - and threw me into the water. It smarted like anything but only for a moment. After that it became perfectly delicious and as soon as I started swimming and splashing I found that all the pain had gone from my arm. And then I saw why. I'd turned into a boy again. You'd think me simply phoney if I told you how I felt about my own arms. I know they've no muscle and are pretty mouldy compared with Caspian's, but I was so glad to see them.

After a bit the lion took me out and dressed me - (with his paws?) - Well, I don't exactly remember that bit. But he did somehow or other: in new clothes - the same I've got on now, as a matter of fact. and then suddenly I was back here. Which is what makes me think it must have been a dream."

Eustace ends up a changed person outside and in. He is made new - though he struggles to live out this new life, his desires, his heart has completely changed.

I love this picture of redemption. We in our sin are like Eustace - we are selfish creatures playing "lord of the ring". We try in vain to "be good" - scratching and scratching away at the dragon scales, only to find another dragon skin underneath every time. It is only Christ that can dig deep enough - to the very heart and make us a completely new creation. It hurts because he has to dig deeper than we like. He has to put his claws beyond the tender parts of our flesh and into our heart. And then he washes us and clothes us anew with righteousness, holiness and purity. We still struggle to live out this new life, but our heart's desires have changed. He "gives us the desires of our heart". This is good stuff!

Eternal Life

I have Oswald Chamber's "My Utmost For His Highest". I picked it up to read last week and wanted to share the devotional from April 12.

"Death hath no more dominion over Him...in that He liveth, He liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God." Romans 6:9-11

"Co-eternal Life. Eternal life was the life which Jesus Christ exhibited on the human plane, and it is the same life, not a copy of it, which is manifested in our mortal flesh when we are born of God. Eternal life is not a gift from God, eternal life is the gift OF GOD. The energy and power which was manifested in Jesus will be manifested in us by the sheer sovereign grace of God when once we have made the moral decision about sin. 'Ye shall receive power of the Holy Ghost' - not power as a gift from the Holy Ghost; the power IS the Holy Ghost, not something which He imparts. The life that was in Jesus is made ours by means of His Cross when once we make the decision to be identified with Him. If it is difficult to get right with God, it is because we will not decide definitely about sin. Immediately we do decide, the full life of God comes in. Jesus came to give us endless supplies of life: 'that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.' Eternal Life has nothing to do with Time, it is the life which Jesus lived when He was down here. The only source of Life is the Lord Jesus Christ. The weakest saint can experience the power of the Deity of the Son of God if once he is willing to 'let go'. Any strand of our own energy will blur the life of Jesus. We have to keep letting go, and slowly and surely the great full life of God will invade us in every part, and men will take knowledge of us that we have been with Jesus."

That statement "eternal life is not a gift from God, eternal life is the gift OF GOD" has stopped me in my tracks this last week. God doesn't give us heaven, He gives us Himself. That is a powerful statement. I think we tend to fall into the thinking that Heaven is a place for good people. We would never admit to believing this, but this is how we live our lives. We have not made the moral decision about sin - instead we try to cover up our bad deeds with good ones, or try to "get away with something". Very few make the decision to be identified with Jesus because Jesus was never a very popular person. Instead we hide behind what we call "Christian love" (although very few know what love is) and become luke warm instead of allowing Christ to love through us as the situation dictates. Have you experienced the "power of the Deity of the Son of God" by "letting go"? This has been a very convicting read for me because I know how much I love to try to keep one foot in the world and one foot in heaven, but Jesus doesn't allow for this.

A Grain of Wheat

I remember reading Keith Green's biography a few years ago. Melody Green prefaced the book with the verse "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit." She was, of course, speaking of her late husband, who died young in a plane crash. It was after this that his ministry gained momentum.

I was reading this passage this morning, which is found in John 12:24-27, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him. Now My soul has become troubled' amd what shall I say, 'Father, save Me from this hour?' But for this purpose I came to this hour." It reminds me of Esther 4:13-16 "Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, 'Do not imagine that you in the king's palace can escape any more than all the Jews. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place and you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?' Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, 'Go, assemble all the Jews who are found is Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.'" If I perish, I perish. What shall I say, Father, save Me from this hour? Esther and Christ were both speaking of their death. Both put aside their own safety for the sake of something bigger. Esther's story ends with her successfully saving her people from annihilation and did not have to have to die in order to do so - the Lord protected her. Christ's story ends happy, too, but He had to die in order to accomplish this happy ending. He, too, laid down his life to save His people from annihilation. As his own enemy, Caiaphas, stated, "...it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish." "Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation..." John 11:50-51.

What does it mean to die to self? I believe this means different things to different people. For me it has meant to give up material possessions and learn to live on one salary in order to home-school my children. It has also meant giving up my desires for the sake of others. It has meant remaining in marriage when it would have been easier to just quit. It has meant punishing myself for the greater good of training up my children and giving up on activities that I really wanted to participate in in order to discipline them. It has meant giving up television shows that I wouldn't want my children exposed to. It means putting aside myself for the sake of others. It has meant working hard to keep the house as organized as possible so my husband can relax at home. It has meant giving up something that I really wanted to do, so my husband can do something he really wants to do. I unfortunately am not perfect in this area. I would love to leave you with the impression that I do this all day every day, but reality is - I do it far less often than I ought.

I noticed something in that passage that I have never seen before, "...unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone." As usual the paradox is hard to understand. Die in order to live or live and remain alone. Is it possible that all these things that we cling on to with white knuckles actually rob us of our life?

The Great Divorce

Any C.S. Lewis fan will know why I chose this as my title. In my opinion, C.S. Lewis is one of the greatest thinkers of the last century. He spoke of the need to "divorce" ourselves from the world. I am a believer in Jesus Christ. I believe that He alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that no man comes to the Father, but through the Son. Some would call this narrow minded - sorry. I didn't make the rules. If there were any other way Jesus would not have had to come -His life, and more importantly, His death and resurrection would be meaningless. I cannot reach God - He is too holy, too righteous, too good - and I am not. Moses couldn't even look upon His face. I need to trust His mercy and grace through Jesus Christ. C.S. Lewis says in Mere Christianity that this decision to follow Christ is both the hardest and the easiest thing you will ever do for Jesus said "Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and my burden is light." and yet at another point says, "Take up your cross and follow me." He wants all of us - not just "Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights" as Keith Green puts it. So, the Great Divorce is about leaving this world behind and following Christ. My prayer is that many will join me in this, the greatest of all adventures!