This blog explores the physical, mental and spiritual aspects of total health with some children's stories thrown in to break the intensity.

Posts tagged ‘Gospel’

The Solution


(This entry reads best if you have read the previous 3 entries.)

In the last blog, I reasoned that we feel separation from God and that there is actually a rift or chasm dividing us. This leads to our feeling like a fish out of water and having an unexplained longing for something we can never quite find. The problem needing a solution is our separation.

The very real cause of this separation is our sin–not doing things God’s way. The Bible says that all men have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Rom. 3:23) It also says that the wage of sin is death. (Rom 6:23)

This is simply caused by God’s holiness. His holiness utterly destroys any sin in his presence. When a sinful man is facing God without any barrier, he is consumed by the fire of the Lord’s holiness.

It is common knowledge that a person must first realize a problem and next seek to fix it in order to change. If we persist in living in isolation from God, we have freedom to make that choice. However, if we want to be reconnected with God, he has provided a way.

You have heard it. You know it. You may not want to hear it again. However, I challenge you to do this. Say out loud. “God, please reveal yourself to me. Please remove all blinders and deceptions from me.”

Now, open your Bible and read the book of 1 John. It is short and simple. The truth is there. Jesus is our reconnection to God–our only hope of completion.

The gospel or good news is that Jesus, who is holy and complete, paid the price for us, who are sinful and incomplete. He could do this because he does not have our sinful genes and sin nature. He has God nature as the son of God. Yet he humbled himself to be born of a virgin and become a man so that he could die in the place of all men.

The solution is simple. We choose life or death, light or darkness, God or Satan. Not making a choice means choosing Satan because we exist in the devil’s realm.

Choosing God involves acknowledging that we are not as perfect as we have pretended to be, accepting Christ’s gift of payment for our failures and committing to cooperate with God’s plans. We need to speak directly to God–“I have sinned and fallen short. I choose to accept Jesus’ payment on the cross for my sins. You, Jesus, are now my Lord and Saviour. In Jesus name Amen.”

It is reasonable to become part of a community of believers. We all know that we become like those we hang with. The Bible says that we are not to neglect assembling together with other believers.(Heb 10:25) Jesus also gave us prayer as a gift for connecting to Him, and the Bible as an instruction book. Reading the Bible, praying, and having fellowship are all essential to staying connected to God.

In summary, I do not believe that intellect alone can lead you onto the bridge of faith. That first step must be taken in trust knowing that God is good and that He will not fail us. Saying a prayer of faith may seem like such an inconsequential thing, yet, it can be profoundly life changing. Know that the choice you make on this issue about whom you will serve is an eternal one.

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Christian

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What happened?


(This is part 3 of a 4 part series of entries.)

To get to the problem of our feeling disconnected or like something is missing, one needs to go all the way back to the beginning–Genesis. Adam and Eve lived in the garden of Eden and walked and talked with God. This is the way we were meant to exist–directly in the presence of God, mentored by God, and as friends with God. God made it clear from the start, however, that he is ruler of the universe, and he will tolerate no other usurper.

The Bible says that man is fearfully and wonderfully made. What does this mean?

I think the wonderful part is obvious. Aside from the amazing complexity and consummate engineering of our bodies and brains, there is the magnificence of man’s spirit. At its best, it outshines the stars.

Fearfully made? The capacity to choose evil and to disobey God was put into us from the get-go. God did not create automatons who would do just as he wished. God created humans so that they are able to choose rebellion should they wish. He made the angels with a similar ability to revolt. As creatures with a spirit, we can choose to side against God.

Whether the first rebellion was literally eating from the tree of good and evil or whether this was metaphorical makes no practical difference. Our first ancestor went against God’s ways and as a result, sin is in our genes.

Sin! We hate that word. Speak to us of the love and tolerance of God and never of our sin nature, passed on from the very first man.

But really, all we have to do to see our sin nature is to watch any two year old. Adam’s choice has genetically cursed our natures to be rebellious. No one escapes it.

Oh, and there really is a Satan. Adam invited him to become the prince of this world when he chose rebellion.
http://www.battleinchrist.com/principalities_powers_world_rulers_of_darkness_spiritual_wickedness_in_spiritual_warfare.htm

Satan was an angel who wanted to take God’s place. He led angels in leaving heaven, and warfare has existed in the invisible realms ever since. When Adam chose to follow Satan’s misleading words, he made the Earth into enemy occupied territory.

We don’t like all these facts, but that does not change them. The truth is the truth whether we choose to believe it or not. Rom 3:23 “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

One of the greatest gifts that I was ever given from God was this: in the process of my illness, my life replayed. It was as if a video reviewed in my head many of the times when I did wrong. I hurt people. Selfishness and self-centeredness abounded, as did failure to do the right thing. Making restitution, as much as possible, occupied my time for quite a while.

My prayer is that never again will I fall back into viewing myself as okay or righteous. And never do I want to be surrounded with the self righteous. My heart needs to be ministered to by those who know they are poor in spirit. And my ministry needs to be to the same.

Knowing that one is a sinner does not fix the problem of being alone and separated. Making restitution does not wipe the slate clean. The solution to our separation is the subject of the next blog. Again I say to us all, “Awaken oh, sleeper.”

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Christian, Spiritual

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Like a Fish Out of Water


(This is part 2 of a 4 part series of blog entries.)

Don’t we all at some point feel that something is missing in our lives? We feel a longing for something that we cannot quite grasp. Throughout my life, this feeling would arise at times. It felt like homesickness for a home just out of my reach, a home that I could not see or understand. Something was missing in my life–I felt like a fish out of water or a bird unable to take to the air. The roots of my heart were not planted in the soil that they needed.

As a young person, I asked many people, “How do I get to know God? I want to have a relationship with him.” Possibly my ears just were not open, but in college I finally got the answer. That is the gospel–the good news.

The good news is not religion. Religion is comprised of man’s attempts to reach God. All religion except Christianity is simply different ways of trying to be good enough, to do enough good works and to reach a level of perfection which will make us acceptable to God.

The Christian gospel is the only one in which God reaches to us. He accomplishes the connection.

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Christian, Spiritual

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Awaken oh sleeper!


(This is part 1 of a 4 part series of blog entries.)

Evangelism has always been a difficult chore for me in my Christian walk. Never did I imagine it would become a pure joy.

Two things have changed my attitude. The first was the Elijah House teachings. As I have explained before, these are basically the big principles from the Bible in very applied form. Jesus is involved in the application.

The second attitude adjustment came from cancer. Since December 2006, I have had 3 separate cancers, one of which is still active (as far as I know). Nothing in my whole life previous to Elijah House (with the addition of the cancer) enabled me to accept with my whole heart how much Jesus loves me. My previous blog entries give glimpses of this process. In a nutshell, it is exactly what the apostles write about–suffering refines, if one allows it to do so.

The refining or purification process gets the garbage out of your heart so that God’s love can more fully inhabit it. I view the Elijah House ministry along with the cancer as aids to cooperating with God in massive heart housecleaning. I recognize that I am poor in spirit, sinful, and needy. Humility enables me to expose my sins to trusted others and bring those sins to Jesus in repentance. This is not the salvation process but the sanctification process. It prepared me for the most important thing there is in life–sharing the good news in the power and love of the Holy Spirit.

How did Elijah House and having cancer serve as a catalyst for joyful evangelism? Very simply, by capturing in body, mind, and soul how much God loves me, I am able to share that love. Having a head knowledge of his love versus a heart knowledge was an obstacle to my speaking the gospel, as well as a stumbling block to others receiving it.

A new venture in my life is an evangelism course. You may journey with me through this learning process. There will be a number of entries on this subject. Can’t we all stand to awaken more fully?

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Christian, Spiritual

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