John 16:33, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."
I always get a good laugh when I hear two little boys arguing about whose dad is stronger:
"MY dad could beat your dad up!"
"No way! My dad's a cop!"
"Oh yeah? Well my dad's in the army!"
The argument goes on and on - but we'll most likely never know whose dad would be stronger. I assume that the majority of grown men tend to not get in fist fights to prove to their sons they're the strongest dad in town.
Although I poke fun at the little guys that do this, I've found that I did the same thing today - only with my heavenly father. Let's just say Paul's message of "we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers of darkness" took on a whole new personal meaning for me. I had been around demonic manifestations before, I'd seen and helped deal with them, I'd even managed a small one myself once, but never had I seen anything like the one I just saw a while ago. When all was said and done in dealing with this wickedness, I walked away with physical bruises along with my spiritual battle scars - and I was exhausted. I had seen a powerful demonic manifestation like this one; but at the same time, I had never felt more confident of God's great love and power. It's like Alyssa said, "If our enemy is that powerful, how powerful must our God be!"
And amen to that! But I was still struggling. I was having a hard time recovering spiritually and emotionally from the battle that I had with the demons in that last manifestation. In so many ways, things kept happening, event after event popped up - seemingly just to make an attempt at discouraging me again. The smallest things from seeing creepy shadows to having to fight off another manifestation from someone else, it was like I just couldn't break free from the battle of this thing.
But praise be to God who remains true to his Biblical character! The psalmist wrote, "He hath delivered my soul in peace from the battle that was against me" - how amazingly true is this. Not only does God provide us victory in the battle, but also peace and victory from the battle. It was when I realized this great truth that I spoke boldly the words of 1 John 2:13, "I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one" and those words from John 16:33 became more powerful than ever before - Jesus has overcome!
As I prayed over this truth, an unsaved friend of mine stopped me and randomly said, "I had the weirdest dream about you last night!" Turns out, her dream was a prophetic picture of how God had used me the day before, and a prophetic foreshadowing of the purpose. Hallelujah! For though the principalities of darkness work in fear and in bitterness - only my God can perform works such as these! I suddenly found myself acting like those little boys bragging about their dads being the strongest, "Look at my Daddy! Look at my God!"
And my Daddy is this most powerful! Jesus said it, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." This truth is still truth today - and everyday. Lord, let us live in the love of God that delivers us through the battle, sets us above the battle, and places us in a position of victory - we are the overcoming saints of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
Use It or Lose It
"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." - James 1:22
Ever think you know something pretty well only to find out that you really don't know anything at all? I'll never forget some of my greatest blunders with this - Chinese. I was preparing to go on a missions trip to China, and I wanted to be prepared - so I studied, I read, I wrote, I even talked some in preparation for this difficult language; and I was prepared, or so I thought. The first day I arrived in China, I got off that plane, met my Chinese contacts, looked them in the eye, and then they spoke... gibberish. I couldn't make out any of it. I tried speaking back, and received blank stares in response. Let's just say there was a pretty big communication barrier until they found someone that spoke English - the next day. Although the rest of my time in China didn't reflect this experience; this was definitely a bad foot to get off on.
Well, to be completely honest, one of my biggest problems with learning the Chinese language was that I was to shy to try speaking it outside of class (to other ACTUAL Chinese speakers) back in America. I never really had practice outside of sitting in my little room attempting to say phrases that - quite frankly - were said wrong. I had this head knowledge of what the character looked like, what the phonetic spelling was, how each of the letters sounded and what THEIR phonetic spellings were, even where the diphthong was going to be placed - but practically, this was utterly useless. I didn't know how to put all of these things together and actually speak like the Chinese did; I didn't live out this knowledge of Chinese. And even though I THOUGHT I had it figured out; because I didn't use this knowledge, well, I lost it.
Sadly, I've found myself treating Christianity the same way sometimes. Why do I spend so much time studying, learning, and figuring out things in scripture that I refuse to actually live out and practice in my everyday life? Or maybe I read and learn about them and then choose to ignore them. Well, bad news for me: spiritual knowledge works a bit like my Chinese! Use it or lose it.
Luke 8:16-18 says, "No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick that they which enter in may see the light. For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have."
When we have an encounter with Christ, we should be like the man with the candle. We don't cover or hide this knew spiritual knowledge and divine encounter, we're supposed to set it up on a candlestick. However, so many of us don't do that. We take what we hear in church, what we read in the Bible - and we put it in our box of spiritual knowledge to be pulled out when we need to make a good argument. The biggest problem with this is that this isn't active knowledge! Truth in the Bible is very active: look at John 16:13, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come."
So the Spirit actively guides us into all truth; he readily helps us to understand the Word that we read and hear and then to live it out in our lives. But if we just set our knowledge of God aside, and don't even make an attempt to live it out - we actually lose our understanding of it. The last verse of the Luke 8 passage says that we need to be careful how we listen - how we understand the word of God. Similarly, James 1:22 tells us to not just be hearers, but doers of the word. The consequence that each passage presents is very similar as well: if we aren't careful to listen and understand correctly (which means applying it to our lives), then spiritual knowledge will actually be taken away from us; and if we don't live what we learn like James says, we actually deceive ourselves into thinking we understand what the Bible is saying.
I deceived myself with Chinese. I was convinced I knew it based on my study and adherence to grammar rules - but not the applicable, living out of the language. I know I've done this thousands of times with Christianity as well - learning the knowledge and not living it out. Spiritual knowledge is active, it changes and deepens as our relationship with God grows; and our relationship with God gets better as we obey what he has to say to us. There is definitely a blessing attached! For Luke 8 tells us that whoever "has" - whoever listens correctly and lives it out, to him will be given more; a greater understanding of God; deepness in their Christian walk, and intimacy in their fellowship. Overall, it's a choice. Live out our knowledge and get closer to God; don't live it out, and we get further away. Use it or lose it.
Ever think you know something pretty well only to find out that you really don't know anything at all? I'll never forget some of my greatest blunders with this - Chinese. I was preparing to go on a missions trip to China, and I wanted to be prepared - so I studied, I read, I wrote, I even talked some in preparation for this difficult language; and I was prepared, or so I thought. The first day I arrived in China, I got off that plane, met my Chinese contacts, looked them in the eye, and then they spoke... gibberish. I couldn't make out any of it. I tried speaking back, and received blank stares in response. Let's just say there was a pretty big communication barrier until they found someone that spoke English - the next day. Although the rest of my time in China didn't reflect this experience; this was definitely a bad foot to get off on.
Well, to be completely honest, one of my biggest problems with learning the Chinese language was that I was to shy to try speaking it outside of class (to other ACTUAL Chinese speakers) back in America. I never really had practice outside of sitting in my little room attempting to say phrases that - quite frankly - were said wrong. I had this head knowledge of what the character looked like, what the phonetic spelling was, how each of the letters sounded and what THEIR phonetic spellings were, even where the diphthong was going to be placed - but practically, this was utterly useless. I didn't know how to put all of these things together and actually speak like the Chinese did; I didn't live out this knowledge of Chinese. And even though I THOUGHT I had it figured out; because I didn't use this knowledge, well, I lost it.
Sadly, I've found myself treating Christianity the same way sometimes. Why do I spend so much time studying, learning, and figuring out things in scripture that I refuse to actually live out and practice in my everyday life? Or maybe I read and learn about them and then choose to ignore them. Well, bad news for me: spiritual knowledge works a bit like my Chinese! Use it or lose it.
Luke 8:16-18 says, "No man, when he hath lighted a candle, covereth it with a vessel, or putteth it under a bed; but setteth it on a candlestick that they which enter in may see the light. For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad. Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have."
When we have an encounter with Christ, we should be like the man with the candle. We don't cover or hide this knew spiritual knowledge and divine encounter, we're supposed to set it up on a candlestick. However, so many of us don't do that. We take what we hear in church, what we read in the Bible - and we put it in our box of spiritual knowledge to be pulled out when we need to make a good argument. The biggest problem with this is that this isn't active knowledge! Truth in the Bible is very active: look at John 16:13, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come."
So the Spirit actively guides us into all truth; he readily helps us to understand the Word that we read and hear and then to live it out in our lives. But if we just set our knowledge of God aside, and don't even make an attempt to live it out - we actually lose our understanding of it. The last verse of the Luke 8 passage says that we need to be careful how we listen - how we understand the word of God. Similarly, James 1:22 tells us to not just be hearers, but doers of the word. The consequence that each passage presents is very similar as well: if we aren't careful to listen and understand correctly (which means applying it to our lives), then spiritual knowledge will actually be taken away from us; and if we don't live what we learn like James says, we actually deceive ourselves into thinking we understand what the Bible is saying.
I deceived myself with Chinese. I was convinced I knew it based on my study and adherence to grammar rules - but not the applicable, living out of the language. I know I've done this thousands of times with Christianity as well - learning the knowledge and not living it out. Spiritual knowledge is active, it changes and deepens as our relationship with God grows; and our relationship with God gets better as we obey what he has to say to us. There is definitely a blessing attached! For Luke 8 tells us that whoever "has" - whoever listens correctly and lives it out, to him will be given more; a greater understanding of God; deepness in their Christian walk, and intimacy in their fellowship. Overall, it's a choice. Live out our knowledge and get closer to God; don't live it out, and we get further away. Use it or lose it.
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