Without Duplicity

When Jesus saw Nathanael in John 1, he saw a true believer.  The Amplified version includes a word that I believe is very helpful in understanding the way God sees us.  Jesus said Nathanael was without duplicity.

When we believe Jesus to save us from our sin, something in us dies and we experience a new birth.  From a spiritual perspective, we are a new creation.  God wants us to see what He sees.  He is saying, “My child, look up.  The view is much clearer and healthier from where I stand.  You are a saint.  Take a fresh breath and receive this good news. I want you to see (and believe) how I see you.”

We believe Jesus had both human nature, with its capacity to sin, and divine nature, with its capacity to please God.  Not only did Jesus overcome sin in the flesh by fully walking in His divine nature, but when He died on the cross he put to death the sinful nature.  He didn’t say, “Someday you are new.”  He said, “It IS FINISHED!” (John 19:30 Emphasis mine)  When we walk in belief that God saves us, that sin thing that has been in operation since Adam is gone!

This is where the ‘already and not yet’ (Kingdom Come) quality of God’s promises comes into play.  As Paul explains in Romans Chapter 7, from our human perspective we feel like the two natures are at war.  From God’s perspective, however, our sinful nature is crucified and we are handed a new nature, God’s divine nature in Christ.  We are without duplicity.

Remember, the truly faithful live like God’s promises are (already) true. (Fulfillment)

When a believer allows pride to hold on to the notion he is a sinner, he is living in opposition to what is accomplished on the cross.  We must come into agreement with God: we are saints.  When God looks at us, He’s looking at our new nature.  When we believe Him for what He did on the cross,  we are not distracted by what we see and experience on the outside.  It doesn’t matter who is judging us, who is placing blame, or who is trying to shame us.  We must recognize these attacks as flaming arrows from the enemy.  Our battle isn’t against each other, but against the spiritual forces of evil.

It is critical we let go of our sin, receive God’s forgiveness, and move on to reflect God’s glory.  In our experience on earth, it feels like we are on a journey, realizing more and more of our divine nature as we walk closer to God.  We feel like we are dying a little bit each day as we put the flesh to death.  But in truth, from God’s perspective, there is only one nature in operation.  We are a new creation.  Period.

If we hold on to the lies of the past, it cripples us from living the life God intended for us.  We carry burdens, the weight of our sin, and it feels like shame, judgement, unworthiness, and the like.  We are not free to love others when we ourselves are holding on to judgement.  At some point our dark beliefs make themselves known.

Don’t be discouraged!  Don’t be distracted! We are without duplicity!

Live like salvation is true!

Fulfillment

For years I have been asking God about Jesus’ claim that He had not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill them (Matt. 5:17).  Although I read plenty of commentaries, I knew I didn’t know or have experience with this truth.  On the surface it seemed Jesus was breaking the laws, so in what way did Jesus fulfill them, and how does this apply to me and my relationship with God?

I believe God intended to do life with His creation.  When He created Adam and Eve, he intended on helping and teaching them everyday.  If heaven is living with God, well, I guess that was God’s idea of life in the garden.  But they chose their own way and thus began the separation between God and man.

During this time of separation God rolled out the Law: a bunch of external standards and expectations.  The Law doesn’t just contain big things like do not kill, but it also includes daily instructions for living such as how to get along with your neighbor and how to get rid of mold.  The writer of Hebrews says the Law was a foreshadow of good things to come.  Even with everything written down, there was no way the Israelites could live in perfection, so God rolled out the sacrificial system which was of coarse another foreshadow of good things to come.  The bottom line is that the Israelites had to trust God to save them from their sins.

Then the Prophets revealed this one little promise.  God said, “I will put My law within them, and on their hearts will I write them.” (Jer. 31:33)

The truly faithful lived like the promise was already true.  These are people like Samson and Abraham whom seem to have been living under this new covenant even before Jesus came in reality here on earth.

So Jesus manifested and showed us what perfection looks like here on earth.  He didn’t walk as someone obligated to follow external standards and expectations, but one obligated to the will of God.  Jesus operated as One in whom God’s law was written in His heart.  In this way, Jesus could say in truth (reality) that He had come to fulfill the law.  

When Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave, this was the sign of the new covenant established here on earth.  The system of external standards and expectations has been replaced by the law written on our hearts.

Here comes the tricky part.  How does one live under the new covenant if we cannot see God’s standards and expectations written down?  This is where the helper comes in, or in other words, the Holy Spirit.  He sent the Holy Spirit to all believers to reveal the law written in our hearts!

We learn how to live by the promptings of the Spirit who is revealing God’s law for our life.  In this way we learn to live our life God’s way, or according to His will.  This is an everyday, every moment, kind of living.

Even under this new system, we are humans and our flesh causes us to break God’s law written on our hearts.  Under the new covenant, Jesus is final sacrifice.  Like the Israelites, we trust God to save us from our sins.    

But Jesus revealed more than the new covenant while He was here on earth.  Jesus showed us how to live in perfect union with God.  Or in other words, how to live with God.  In this way, the new covenant is a foreshadow of good things to come.  We believe one day heaven will become manifest and we will (in reality) live with God in heaven. 

The truly faithful live like the promise is already true. 

As we learn to live life according to (the promptings of) the Spirit, we become increasingly aware of God’s Presence.  In this way, we live with God now, even before heaven is made manifest.  Through the Spirit we have glimpses of eternal reward which draw us to keep seeking God here and now.  And so we too find fulfillment.

The Temptation of Knowledge

One of the most prized god in this earth is knowledge.  It was the cause for Adam and Eve to fall and remains a great stumbling block for us today.

It is out of His kindness that Jesus doesn’t always keep us in-the-know.

Jesus knew His destiny.  He knew He was to be beaten, despised, abandoned, abused, and brutally murdered.  This caused Him to experience the weakness of the flesh in the garden of Gethsemane.  I have heard that Jesus actually sweat blood.  He was experiencing the natural reaction of His human nature in those moments.  He said, “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”  I believe this statement was not only an observation but a testimony.  He was on earth to obey God and He wasn’t going to fall into temptation.  He was to die on the cross according to God’s will, but His flesh was raging!  

I believe Jesus' experience in the flesh leads Him to have great compassion for His creation.

In His love for us, He reveals only what we can handle without falling into the trap of our flesh.  His priority is that we trust Him, and sometimes that means we walk in life without having all the details figured out.

I speak of this as one who wrestles with such things.  I’m a learner by nature.  I love to learn. . . just to learn!  But when my son was born, I experienced the curse of holding knowledge as an idol.  I was obsessed with what the experts were saying regarding raising children.  This proved to be a tortuous jail as my firstborn clearly had not read the rule book!  I was ignoring the wealth of wisdom already in my own heart!  I replaced the Spirit’s knowledge with the knowledge of man.  Oh how miserable I was!!

One of the most heart-breaking ways we fall into temptation regarding knowledge is judgment.  We think we know what is right and we unrighteously judge ourselves and consequently we judge others.  Women, can I speak directly to us?  We are some of the worst offenders.  In our self-righteousness we can be mean, caddy, and we murder each other with our words.  I say this with great sadness, but christians fall into this temptation regularly.  We learn God’s beautiful spiritual truths, but they are filtered and applied through the flesh.  In our immaturity we deeply hurt ourselves and others.

As we grow and mature, God’s revealed wisdom replaces the world’s knowledge.  Discernment replaces unrighteous judgement.  Our judgement comes from the flesh, but discernment comes from the Spirit.  Discernment allows us to recognize what is from God and let go of the rest.  Discernment allows us to see God in this world and His nature in others.  In this way, our criticism melts into encouragement as we nurture His nature in ourselves and others!!  Women, I believe we are especially designed to nurture, so this comes as a great relief to our soul!  

Have a great day nurturing His nature!

God's Will

Sometimes we think about God’s will as a bullseye.  If you hit it, you are blessed, if not, a lightening bolt for you!  But I’ve come to think about His will as a way, or a flow.  Our God is a living, breathing God, so He is moving constantly in our midst.  We have the opportunity, even obligation, to move and flow with Him.

I like to think about God as a steady moving train.  I can hop on and enjoy the ride, or I can hop off and act independently.  Whether we are acting out some heinous crime or simply doing what we want, we are separated from Him.  This causes the “now” part of judgement.  The separation causes feelings of abandonment, shame, guilt, even stress, worry and anxiety.  Never ignore these feelings!!  They don’t belong in the life of a son or daughter, so please ask God why they are there.  Hop back on the train and enjoy life!

This begs the question, can we miss the God train?  Truly, we can work our way so far from God that His Spirit is no longer able to influence us.  Our hearts become terribly hardened by the influence of the enemy and our experience in this world.  The continual rejection of the Spirit and His work is called blasphemy.  I’d say it is a worthwhile use of this life to seek Him wholeheartedly, allowing His Spirit to soften our heart and create an increasing sensitivity to Him and His Presence.

There was a time in my life where I had worked my way so far from God’s will that all I could see was darkness surrounding me.  The harsh reality of this world was crushing on my shoulders and I could no longer recognize God.  As I looked at all the horrible things going on I questioned God, “Where are You and what are You doing?”  I felt lost.  In my own way I had hit a wall and was forced to the sidelines.  I was faced with the reality of my willfulness.

So many times I have heard well meaning christians say, “I just wish I could see the writing on the wall.”  I think in essence this is the flesh desiring His will to once again be an external law.  When we are young, we are trained by the rules and regulations of our parents or other authority.  We have to learn to submit to these external expectations so we can one day grow into a mature adult, able to conduct ourselves even when the boundaries have been removed.

The same is true with spiritual maturity.  When we are young in faith we innocently follow what we see written in the Bible or what we hear from our spiritual leaders.  As we submit to these external instructions, the Holy Spirit is able to reveal more and more of God’s nature, or His heart.  This causes a transformation from our old hardened self into a new being.  What this means is that our softened heart is able to sense and see God in this world.  Following Him becomes as natural as it once was to follow the way of the world.  

Lets pause for a moment.  If you know you don’t know this intimately or haven’t experienced this, please pray for God to reveal these things to You.  It may take time, maybe even years, but one day Father will cause you to know these things in an intimate, personal way!

When I was willing to allow God to deal with my willful ways, he began to massage my hardened, wounded heart.  As with any hardened muscle, it hurt!  But God’s purposes were for good, and He was willing to let me suffer for a time because there was great joy and freedom on the other side.  He was transforming my thoughts, rewriting 30 years of thinking.  He actually used my anxiety to train me back into His Presence and His will.  Learning to follow His promptings was a bit mechanical at first.  I would get going in my day, doing my thing, and when the anxiety swelled I would stop and submit to God in that moment.  The anxiety was an indication that I wasn’t walking with Him.  I was learning to surrender; learning humility as I submitted to His way continually.  It’s these little things that the Lord uses to teach us to recognize His prompting and to live according to His will.  As we mature, we simply flow in Him, or in other words, in His Spirit.

Every journey is different, but it is important to note that my journey to freedom took 10 years of focused living.  If there is some habit or way of living for which you are asking freedom, it takes patience and perseverance.  But never waver in Your faith that God will fulfill His promises.  Don’t become discouraged or give up!

In His time of fixed order, God is able to quicken us, or get us back up to speed.  Time and time again I have seen God completely “fix” the mess I have made.  Once I truly surrendered my life and my ways, I noticed God sped my maturity to catch up with His train, or where He intended me to be.  He restored my life so nothing was wasted.  

True surrender can only come by the Spirit and is a daily process.  Our mind can say, “I surrender”, but our will can still be engaged and in force.  There is a death that must happen for life to spring forth.  Again, pause and pray that Father would reveal this.

So what is life like on the God train?  Let’s just say the temptation to do the things we know are wrong melts away as we experience a whole new way of living; one filled with the things our soul truly longs for.  When we taste and see for ourselves the Lord is good, our addictions to idols become a thing of the past with increasingly less appeal.  We are focused on and attached to the Spirit of God.  

The God train doesn’t take us out of the world.  We are in the world but not of it.  We still go through valleys and dark forests.  Fear still surrounds us.  But we stay on that train and we pass through; we do not remain in the darkness.  As we continue and increase in faith, we begin to rise above our experience.  This means that while we still encounter difficulty, sadness, loss, evil... these things loose their grip (influence) on us.  We cling to God and believe Him, and experience peace and joy that only He can provide.  At first it may only be in glimpses, but these moments become normal as we live life on His terms.  He reveals more and more of His nature in us, basically this means that He unveils what Jesus has given us the moment we believe in Him.  

Keep on, keep seeking God, my friends!

The Old Man

We have all heard it is better to give than receive.  But as we are doing our acts of giving, do we really perceive His blessing in reality?  Are we feeling God’s affirmation as we are obeying His prompting?

So many times we go into autopilot.  Autopilot.  Our giving becomes automatic, from the self and by oneself.  Our acts are reduced to a mental checklist of good deeds.  It is easy to detect when we are acting out of our own effort when our good will becomes a chore or something we dread.

Giving as Jesus displayed is something that comes from the abundance we receive from God.  Abundance.  So many of us are walking around completely depleted, without the time or energy to truly give.  When we are in need (or needy), our giving becomes selfish and manipulative.  This is a distortion of God’s perspective on sacrifice.

When giving comes by the prompting of the Spirit as opposed to an external standard of behavior, God is able to confirm us in a real and tangible way.  This is when God’s spiritual blessings break through into the reality of this world.  Sometimes this blessing comes in the form of a word.

The other day I got to experience this principle.  I was recovering from doing something I knew to be wrong.  I confessed to God but was caught somewhere in between the realization of my sin and forgiveness.  I was grieving the separation from the Spirit caused by my disobedience.  Instead of wallowing over my sinfulness which is so easy to do, I stepped into repentance.

I pulled into a shopping center I frequent when an old man camped out in front caught my attention.  He was asking for help.  I knew God was prompting me to give to him so I prepared my offering as I was leaving the store.  I positioned the van in front of the man and could sense there was something very different about this situation.  He gradually rose from the camping chair where he was seated and steadily walked toward my van.  Cars began to reroute as this encounter was already taking extra time.

When he reached my van he was rambling about a watch.  We exchanged a few words and he asked if he could take my hand.  I was surprised by how clean his hand felt.  He kissed it and looked me straight in the eye.  He delivered the most beautiful Word from God that healed my heart in an instant.  My eye was drawn toward the silver cross hanging around his neck.  I sincerely thanked him.

As I drove away God’s love enveloped me.  I was so grateful for His confirmation, encouraged to believe the truth about my sin.  By the blood of Christ I am clean.  I’m honestly not sure if the old man was homeless, or an angel.  Either way, God used that man to touch me deep in my heart.

To give or receive?  As I walk more and more in the generous heart God has given me, I’m not sure there is any difference.  When walking in the Spirit, there isn’t any sacrifice, just overflow.  And abundance.  Lots of abundance.