The Same—Only Different
“The assurance has grown upon me that here, in the Scriptures, at the very heart and core of our faith, Christians are far more at one than their outward divisions would imply.” J B Phillips
This statement is true only as long as those professing Christian are grounded in the Scriptures; only if they are Bible believing, Bible guided and Bible studying people are they indeed close to what that statement describes. I would agree that they are closer to the whole family of Christ, than what their particular church choice’s doctrines would indicate.
Unfortunately, many “Christians” that we come into contact with do not meet that simple litmus test. Oh, they might meet one or two points of what describes a Christian, however, sadly, many do not meet all three of that simple criterion. Believe; be guided by; study. Many of them know the Bible inside and out. However, when in conversation with them about its basic principals, you will find some room for doubt.
“All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in out lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.” II Timothy 3:16 NLT
False doctrine is not just something that is going on in the un-churched; it is prevalent in many of our churches and Christian groups. In each gathering, there are those who read the Bible then pick and choose which parts to believe and which parts not to. There are those who take a hold of those portions that support their personal preferences, supplying fuel for the argument in support of bias, prejudice, division, or excuses for un-Godly behaviour.
These people, for all their cranial knowledge of the Word, are not taking their responsibility as Christians as seriously, as they need to. Theirs is a selfish faith. They use their Christianity and the Bible with a personal agenda being their sole purpose for studying, or quoting. They will debate, quote, and use any form of connivance to sway those who are seeking into their way of thinking and belief.
If you are in conversation or association with a Christian and find yourself feeling that something is not quite right—or something they are sharing does not ring true, use your Bible as the litmus test. Check the facts. Whenever something comes to you that you either have not heard before, or are hearing in a different way, it is always good to go to your Bible and check it out. Sometimes, reading a verse in the context of the entire Bible chapter, or book, will put things into a better perspective.
A good Bible Concordance is an invaluable tool for this kind of research. It will help you narrow your search down to those passages that are relevant to the subject at hand. Strong’s concordances are very user friendly and are quite affordable.
One thing is certain, the Bible will either confirm or increase your understanding, or it will show you what is false and protect you from being led down the wrong path. When in doubt, check your facts. A fact that you can count on as true: 2600 statements in the Bible affirm that “God said” or that Scripture is “the Word of God.”
God has made himself known in many ways throughout Scripture. Still, there are those who have their doubts. Having doubts is not a sin. Taking those doubts and structuring a personal version of Bible truths, then preaching them in order to sway others to your way of thinking, is. It is dishonest, and selfish. In addition, it is my personal belief that it is cowardly. Delving into Scripture and allowing it to honestly minister to you and in your life, can be a scary thing. Many of us would rather not have that particular mirror held up to us.
Thankfully, God is merciful and He constantly works to teach, guide, and repair our lives toward the Truth. One of our tools of defense is the teaching and accountability of Bible Studies. In this venue of personal sharing, one can ask questions and gain a clear understanding and consensus on the lessons and truths of the Bible. They can also learn how to apply these lessons and truths to their lives.
The more you know, not only of what the Bible says, but what the Bible means, the better protected you are against false teachings.
“It is a wonder God did not loose his temper and do away with the whole lot of us. Instead, immense in mercy and with an incredible love, He embraced us. He took our sin—dead lives and made us alive in Christ.” Ephesians 2:3-5 MSG
Remember, when we are unsure, God knows. He gave us the Bible, his Word, for a reason. READ IT. STUDY IT. BELIEVE IT.
“All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man [woman] of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” II Timothy 1:14 MSG
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Strongholds
The message today was on strongholds. It reminded me about a study that I did a few years ago. It was done in my room, just me and God. The study, “Facing the Giants in Your Life” by Dr. David Jeremiah, really touched me deeply.
How many of those strongholds have I won victory over, I wondered, as I drove home from church. That led me to wonder what the biggest stronghold was in my life today. Often when I am driving the 40 or so minutes to and from town, I am deep in thought about something or other, or praying as I drive (yes, with my eyes open.)
This time in the car is when God has me as a captive audience. There is no escaping his voice in my ear. He can even reach me over the volume of the radio. Today, He was prompting me to look deep in my heart of hearts and recognize that which was keeping me trapped and away from His side.
What I realized, as I thought and prayed, was that an image kept coming to my mind. It was the image of my mother lying in a hospital bed, her legs blackened up past her knee. You see, my mother was a diabetic and she had gangrene in both of her legs. She chose not to have any amputation. Once again, I felt the anguish of watching her suffer, and knowing that there was nothing any of us could do to relieve her pain. It felt as real as it had when she was still alive, over twenty years ago.
Now that I have been diagnosed with diabetes, this image is always lurking, causing a deep and terribly crippling fear in my heart of hearts. Will I end up like Mom? Will I suffer as she did? These questions are never far from my mind. Each time my ankle swells, or I have leg cramps, or my toes tingle, or my heel becomes calloused, or... the fear increases.
In so many things, I have placed my complete trust in God’s plan for my life. Facing cancer—five times—did not instill in me the fear that the mental image of those blackened legs has. This, I recognized, is my greatest stronghold.
What is tricky about these types of strongholds is that we do not realize what a profound affect they have on so many other areas of our lives. The fear of my diabetes has coloured my relationships with family and friends; it has caused me to make choices, which, at times, are not the wisest, God purposed choices; and it has crippled me in my faith walk, handicapping my spirit and the Spirit’s work in my life. In a very real way, this fear has me giving up—giving up on the joy that should fill each day; giving up on trusting God for healing, as well. Now, I know that I have always had trust issues, but I did not realize that I had trust issues where God is concerned. I always thought that I trusted Him completely…however, in this stronghold, I have to ask myself, where is my trust in God?
So, all of this understood, what do I do about it? The first step, of course, is recognizing that there is a problem. Just as it is true with an alcoholic recognizing that he is powerless over his alcoholism, so must I recognize that I am completely powerless over this fear. Only in complete submission to that revelation, can I let go completely and allow God to work on it. As long as I try to battle even the smallest part of that fear, satan has a toehold to continue to persecute me through it and bind me to it.
Next, I have to find the courage to allow God to work on it. Even the most fearful, uncomfortable place can become comfortable—especially with those of us who feel like we are not worthy of any better.
My job, in the work, is to pray fervently for God to remove this fear…and this image from me. I know, with all of my heart and being, that only through Him can I be relieved of the chains of this fear.
My challenge to you, dear ones, is to search your heart of hearts to discover that which holds you in bondage. What are the strongholds in your life?
Here is a small list to help you sort that out. It is the list of strongholds that are worked through in the before mentioned study. I have included a Bible reference which speaks to this stronghold.
For myself, I think it is time to work through the study again. Needless to say, I will be concentrating on “fear.”
LIST OF STRONGHOLDS
- Fear (Deuteronomy 1:19-40)
- Discouragement (Nehemiah 4)
- Loneliness (Colossians 1:21,22; Hebrew 10:25, Roman’s 12:4-6)
- Worry (Matthew 6:25-34)
- Guilt (Psalms 32 and 51)
- Temptation (1 Corinthians 10:12-14)
- Anger (Ephesians 4:25-32)
- Resentment (Matthew 5:38-42)
- Doubt (John 20:24-29)
- Procrastination (Acts 24:22-27)
- Failure (II Corinthians 4:7-18)
- Jealousy (1 Corinthians 13:4; Ephesians 4:30)
May God richly bless your personal time with Him.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (New International Version)
4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
www.awriterstoolbox.com
How many of those strongholds have I won victory over, I wondered, as I drove home from church. That led me to wonder what the biggest stronghold was in my life today. Often when I am driving the 40 or so minutes to and from town, I am deep in thought about something or other, or praying as I drive (yes, with my eyes open.)
This time in the car is when God has me as a captive audience. There is no escaping his voice in my ear. He can even reach me over the volume of the radio. Today, He was prompting me to look deep in my heart of hearts and recognize that which was keeping me trapped and away from His side.
What I realized, as I thought and prayed, was that an image kept coming to my mind. It was the image of my mother lying in a hospital bed, her legs blackened up past her knee. You see, my mother was a diabetic and she had gangrene in both of her legs. She chose not to have any amputation. Once again, I felt the anguish of watching her suffer, and knowing that there was nothing any of us could do to relieve her pain. It felt as real as it had when she was still alive, over twenty years ago.
Now that I have been diagnosed with diabetes, this image is always lurking, causing a deep and terribly crippling fear in my heart of hearts. Will I end up like Mom? Will I suffer as she did? These questions are never far from my mind. Each time my ankle swells, or I have leg cramps, or my toes tingle, or my heel becomes calloused, or... the fear increases.
In so many things, I have placed my complete trust in God’s plan for my life. Facing cancer—five times—did not instill in me the fear that the mental image of those blackened legs has. This, I recognized, is my greatest stronghold.
What is tricky about these types of strongholds is that we do not realize what a profound affect they have on so many other areas of our lives. The fear of my diabetes has coloured my relationships with family and friends; it has caused me to make choices, which, at times, are not the wisest, God purposed choices; and it has crippled me in my faith walk, handicapping my spirit and the Spirit’s work in my life. In a very real way, this fear has me giving up—giving up on the joy that should fill each day; giving up on trusting God for healing, as well. Now, I know that I have always had trust issues, but I did not realize that I had trust issues where God is concerned. I always thought that I trusted Him completely…however, in this stronghold, I have to ask myself, where is my trust in God?
So, all of this understood, what do I do about it? The first step, of course, is recognizing that there is a problem. Just as it is true with an alcoholic recognizing that he is powerless over his alcoholism, so must I recognize that I am completely powerless over this fear. Only in complete submission to that revelation, can I let go completely and allow God to work on it. As long as I try to battle even the smallest part of that fear, satan has a toehold to continue to persecute me through it and bind me to it.
Next, I have to find the courage to allow God to work on it. Even the most fearful, uncomfortable place can become comfortable—especially with those of us who feel like we are not worthy of any better.
My job, in the work, is to pray fervently for God to remove this fear…and this image from me. I know, with all of my heart and being, that only through Him can I be relieved of the chains of this fear.
My challenge to you, dear ones, is to search your heart of hearts to discover that which holds you in bondage. What are the strongholds in your life?
Here is a small list to help you sort that out. It is the list of strongholds that are worked through in the before mentioned study. I have included a Bible reference which speaks to this stronghold.
For myself, I think it is time to work through the study again. Needless to say, I will be concentrating on “fear.”
LIST OF STRONGHOLDS
- Fear (Deuteronomy 1:19-40)
- Discouragement (Nehemiah 4)
- Loneliness (Colossians 1:21,22; Hebrew 10:25, Roman’s 12:4-6)
- Worry (Matthew 6:25-34)
- Guilt (Psalms 32 and 51)
- Temptation (1 Corinthians 10:12-14)
- Anger (Ephesians 4:25-32)
- Resentment (Matthew 5:38-42)
- Doubt (John 20:24-29)
- Procrastination (Acts 24:22-27)
- Failure (II Corinthians 4:7-18)
- Jealousy (1 Corinthians 13:4; Ephesians 4:30)
May God richly bless your personal time with Him.
2 Corinthians 10:4-5 (New International Version)
4The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
www.awriterstoolbox.com
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