Spent the better part of the afternoon yesterday on the phone talking with people who were struggling.
Not with addiction, as most would think, but with attacks by the enemy.
The enemy we know as the devil. Yes, there is a devil and his desire is to devour you. Not in the sense of physical teeth tearing and consuming your flesh, but by bringing your life down through situations and circumstances. He comes at you whispering and accusing you. He brings doubt and fear and seeks to have you turn away from God, looking to your own ability to get you out of situations.He is called the accuser of the brethren in Scripture. These that I talked to and prayed with, were under severe oppression by forces of darkness.
One in particular who called was being visited by two demonic spirits who gave their names. They were bombarding this poor man's mind with all manner of anguish and accusation. He was trying to hold firm to the word of God,but had allowed these demonic spirits into his life through sin. In other words, when we sin, we open ourselves up to being oppressed by demonic spirits. To put it another way, through sin, we give these spirits legal right into our lives. It takes a greater authority to break their power and bring freedom and healing to the one who is suffering. That greater authority? The Lord Jesus Christ.
In Ephesians 6:10 we read: Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Be strong! Not in our own ability. Not in our own wisdom or strength, but in the Lord. Be strong in the truth about our relationship we have through the shed blood of Jesus. That it is a relationship that can never be broken by the powers of hell. So we rest in the knowledge of our position in Christ, and in His ability to battle any forces of darkness that comes to us.
Verse 11 reads: Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles (or plans) of the devil. God provides us protection in the form a armor. But there is a command that comes for this protection to be applied to our lives. We have to put it on. That means that I prepare myself mentally, spiritually and physically each day to walk in the instruction of the Lord. The armor consist of the following:
1.) Truth
2.) righteousness
3.) gospel of peace
4.) faith
5.) salvation
6.) Word of God (the Bible)
Truth holds everything in place. Without truth, we have nothing. Without truth, we are battling on the enemies terms and turf. When Jesus went into the wilderness after his baptism and encountered the devil, it wasn't a demonstration of power between these two. It was a battle of truth. The devil quoting half truths from Scripture trying to get Jesus to choose wrongly, and Jesus who was quoting the whole truth of the Word of God. Truth reveals my old sin nature when it seeks to thwart the things of God in my life. Truth keeps me pointed and walking in the right direction.I think it is pretty net that the list of the armor of God begins and ends with truth. It bookends all the other peaces of the armor. If you remember, in John 8:32, Jesus says, "And you shall know the TRUTH, and the TRUTH shall make you free. The truth that Jesus is indeed the power, the authority and the only person who can deliver us from this world of darkness and spiritual death.
In John 14: 6, Jesus goes on to say, "I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. This is a pretty bold statement. No one...anywhere, anytime, any place can come to God the Father, except through Jesus. You know what? There aren't too many ways you can slice that statement. Boil it down to the basic message and what Jesus said is either the truth or its a lie. Call me crazy, but I tend to fall on the side that Jesus is speaking the truth.
So if you are struggling today, turn to the Word of God.
Pray out loud and call on the name of Jesus to come and rescue you.
You might be surprised as to what happens.
God on you.....
mb
Monday, February 27, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Boring....Tedious.....Step by Step
Numbers 3:36-37
Now the appointed duties of the sons of Merari involved the frames of the Tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, all its equipment and the service concerning them, and the pillars around the court with their sockets and their pegs and their cords.
Sometimes this new life of recovery is simply us doing the every day things.
But doing them correctly and with the proper attitude.
What attitude?
Why an attitude of gratitude of course.
Just like the men and families that God appointed to carry the tabernacle (the tent and Ark of the Covenant) during their wilderness wanderings, it wasn't all glamour and 10 Commandment moments. A lot of the time it was simply doing the right thing, over and over and over. Set the tabernacle up.........make sure everything is in place according to God's design.....do the daily, monthly and yearly sacrifices according to instructions....take the whole she-bang down, pack it up and move to the next location. It would be really easy to slide over into a place of apathy or even resentment. Thinking to yourself, "Hey...look at the family Jones! They don't have to carry any of this tabernacle stuff! Why don't they have to? Why am I stuck with carrying the tent pegs while others get to carry the Ark? Why don't I get to carry the Ark? I'm as good as they are.
We need to guard ourselves and be grateful and content with what God has given us and the place he has given us to occupy. It is there in the place of his calling that we will receive his blessing and favor if we are faithful. It's more than simply doing what God has called us to do, it also involves the motive and attitude we carry as we do the job.
The apostle Paul writes: Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.
What was Paul's secret?
That God can be trusted.
Knowing that there is purpose behind where ever we have been lead to be.
If God called us to carry the tent pegs of the tabernacle, why then we should be the happiest, most content tent-peg-carrying people that ever existed.
No matter what is going on in your life today, fall on the fact and comfort that God can be trusted and that your circumstance has not caught him off guard.
This relationship we now live with Jesus Christ is built on faith, his grace to us and trust.
Did you see how Paul's situations were always changing? Prosperity...or want....full stomach or going hungry...abundance or suffering...no matter what, Paul's faith in God did not waver. This is the kind of life I desire to have. How about you?
God on you......
mb
Now the appointed duties of the sons of Merari involved the frames of the Tabernacle, its bars, its pillars, its sockets, all its equipment and the service concerning them, and the pillars around the court with their sockets and their pegs and their cords.
Sometimes this new life of recovery is simply us doing the every day things.
But doing them correctly and with the proper attitude.
What attitude?
Why an attitude of gratitude of course.
Just like the men and families that God appointed to carry the tabernacle (the tent and Ark of the Covenant) during their wilderness wanderings, it wasn't all glamour and 10 Commandment moments. A lot of the time it was simply doing the right thing, over and over and over. Set the tabernacle up.........make sure everything is in place according to God's design.....do the daily, monthly and yearly sacrifices according to instructions....take the whole she-bang down, pack it up and move to the next location. It would be really easy to slide over into a place of apathy or even resentment. Thinking to yourself, "Hey...look at the family Jones! They don't have to carry any of this tabernacle stuff! Why don't they have to? Why am I stuck with carrying the tent pegs while others get to carry the Ark? Why don't I get to carry the Ark? I'm as good as they are.
We need to guard ourselves and be grateful and content with what God has given us and the place he has given us to occupy. It is there in the place of his calling that we will receive his blessing and favor if we are faithful. It's more than simply doing what God has called us to do, it also involves the motive and attitude we carry as we do the job.
The apostle Paul writes: Not that I speak from want; for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.
What was Paul's secret?
That God can be trusted.
Knowing that there is purpose behind where ever we have been lead to be.
If God called us to carry the tent pegs of the tabernacle, why then we should be the happiest, most content tent-peg-carrying people that ever existed.
No matter what is going on in your life today, fall on the fact and comfort that God can be trusted and that your circumstance has not caught him off guard.
This relationship we now live with Jesus Christ is built on faith, his grace to us and trust.
Did you see how Paul's situations were always changing? Prosperity...or want....full stomach or going hungry...abundance or suffering...no matter what, Paul's faith in God did not waver. This is the kind of life I desire to have. How about you?
God on you......
mb
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Every Body Is Working For The Weekend
Shades of the 80's/90's.
Sorry about the title of the posting today. As I was trying to decide what to post, that song just kind of came out of nowhere into my head. Maybe I'm having a "Big-hair-band" Flashback.
Still parked in the book of Numbers this week. The one thing that I have come to appreciate is how God equips us for a change in lifestyle. The Hebrews had lived in Egypt for 430 years. During that time, they had become slaves and existed under the heavy hand of oppression by the Egyptian government. God came and used a man named Moses to deliver the Hebrews out of this bondage. Fast forward to today. Millions of people are living in bondage and slavery to addiction. It takes the infusion and intervention of a higher power (In our case, we believe Jesus Christ to be that higher power) into the hearts and lives of those wishing to break free from the heavy hand of the kingdom of Satan.
Once they were free, God led the Hebrews out of Egypt on a journey to a new land....a promised land, where they would begin a new life. Isn't that truly what recovery from addiction is? The beginning of a new life. Just like the Hebrews, coming out of addiction poses some problems. We've never lived clean and sober before and, as such, we keep trying to apply the old principals of our former lives into this new way of living. It didn't work.
In the book of Numbers, we have a record of a nation being born. A nation of people being set right under the instruction of God. God had taken a people our of slavery and bondage who did not know how to live as free people. He set up laws and regulations, not to punish but insure the safety and well being of each person. He did this because the people simply had never lived under freedom. Freedom is not license to do what you want to. It is like recovery, freedom is to do what you ought to do. These laws and regulations would benefit everyone, not a select few. At the very heart of this new nation was one simple fact. The blessing of God would flow to them through their obedience to God's instructions.
Some view the Twelve Steps as an intrusion on their freedom.
Usually people with such a view as this are those who "have to get clean and sober," not those who have a desire to be clean. To those who seem to struggle with rebellion against this new life, there is still a tug and draw (some say even a love) for the old life. Of course we know that those who still have a longing for the old life style do so with a romanticized view. Like I wrote in a previous posting, God had to take Israel out of Egypt. Once accomplishing this, then God had to take Egypt out of Israel.
What I have found to be true in my own life is that God is wanting to weave HIS WORD deep into our lives, our families and our communities. This is the instruction and guidance needed to follow our higher power, Jesus, daily. These instructions are there to give us life and safety.
Hebrews 4:7-13
So as the Holy Spirit says:
"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert where your fathers tested and tried me. And for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation. And I said, "Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways. So I declared an oath in my anger, they shall never enter my rest."
See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
Think of all the tools given to us by our higher power, Jesus Christ, when we surrender, repent, confess and accept Him as Lord and Savior over our lives.
1.) He puts His Holy Spirit inside us to guide us and instruct us.
2.) He gave us a simple, practical daily discipline to help keep chaos out of our lives. The 12 Steps become the daily schedule I follow.
3.) He provided His own thoughts, desires and plans in His word, the Bible.
4.) Through this new birth (II Cor. 5:17) He has provided a ready made family in which we can live and function as we grow and mature.
5.) This entire new life of sobriety is filled with promises from God.
6.) He has given us abundant life now, and eternal life when we cross over from death to the really, really new life with Him in eternity. I can't explain it, but I am sure ready to live it.
Have a great weekend.
God on you.....
mb
Sorry about the title of the posting today. As I was trying to decide what to post, that song just kind of came out of nowhere into my head. Maybe I'm having a "Big-hair-band" Flashback.
Still parked in the book of Numbers this week. The one thing that I have come to appreciate is how God equips us for a change in lifestyle. The Hebrews had lived in Egypt for 430 years. During that time, they had become slaves and existed under the heavy hand of oppression by the Egyptian government. God came and used a man named Moses to deliver the Hebrews out of this bondage. Fast forward to today. Millions of people are living in bondage and slavery to addiction. It takes the infusion and intervention of a higher power (In our case, we believe Jesus Christ to be that higher power) into the hearts and lives of those wishing to break free from the heavy hand of the kingdom of Satan.
Once they were free, God led the Hebrews out of Egypt on a journey to a new land....a promised land, where they would begin a new life. Isn't that truly what recovery from addiction is? The beginning of a new life. Just like the Hebrews, coming out of addiction poses some problems. We've never lived clean and sober before and, as such, we keep trying to apply the old principals of our former lives into this new way of living. It didn't work.
In the book of Numbers, we have a record of a nation being born. A nation of people being set right under the instruction of God. God had taken a people our of slavery and bondage who did not know how to live as free people. He set up laws and regulations, not to punish but insure the safety and well being of each person. He did this because the people simply had never lived under freedom. Freedom is not license to do what you want to. It is like recovery, freedom is to do what you ought to do. These laws and regulations would benefit everyone, not a select few. At the very heart of this new nation was one simple fact. The blessing of God would flow to them through their obedience to God's instructions.
Some view the Twelve Steps as an intrusion on their freedom.
Usually people with such a view as this are those who "have to get clean and sober," not those who have a desire to be clean. To those who seem to struggle with rebellion against this new life, there is still a tug and draw (some say even a love) for the old life. Of course we know that those who still have a longing for the old life style do so with a romanticized view. Like I wrote in a previous posting, God had to take Israel out of Egypt. Once accomplishing this, then God had to take Egypt out of Israel.
What I have found to be true in my own life is that God is wanting to weave HIS WORD deep into our lives, our families and our communities. This is the instruction and guidance needed to follow our higher power, Jesus, daily. These instructions are there to give us life and safety.
Hebrews 4:7-13
So as the Holy Spirit says:
"Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert where your fathers tested and tried me. And for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation. And I said, "Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways. So I declared an oath in my anger, they shall never enter my rest."
See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.
Think of all the tools given to us by our higher power, Jesus Christ, when we surrender, repent, confess and accept Him as Lord and Savior over our lives.
1.) He puts His Holy Spirit inside us to guide us and instruct us.
2.) He gave us a simple, practical daily discipline to help keep chaos out of our lives. The 12 Steps become the daily schedule I follow.
3.) He provided His own thoughts, desires and plans in His word, the Bible.
4.) Through this new birth (II Cor. 5:17) He has provided a ready made family in which we can live and function as we grow and mature.
5.) This entire new life of sobriety is filled with promises from God.
6.) He has given us abundant life now, and eternal life when we cross over from death to the really, really new life with Him in eternity. I can't explain it, but I am sure ready to live it.
Have a great weekend.
God on you.....
mb
Friday, February 24, 2012
Eureka! Gadzooks! Wowzers!
Just posted the message from last Saturday night's service (2/18/12).
Taken from Luke Chapter 5 about the paralytic whose friends brought him to Jesus for healing.
Jesus pulls the old switch-er-roo and forgives the man of his sins.
Feel free to download for later listening!
We give away simply because it was given to us.
God on you....
mb
Taken from Luke Chapter 5 about the paralytic whose friends brought him to Jesus for healing.
Jesus pulls the old switch-er-roo and forgives the man of his sins.
Feel free to download for later listening!
We give away simply because it was given to us.
God on you....
mb
Payday
I've been at this recovery stuff for over 14 years. If you could translate that amount of time into the number of men who have come through the program, it would turn out to be a good number of men. Some have done well. Some have struggled (and continue to do so). Some simply gave up and made no effort to change. Among those who gave up, many have died. Death is the part of recovery that I hate the most. As a wise man once told me, "We are called to be obedient and plant the seeds God has given us." He went on to tell me..."We have good seed." In other words, the things that God has given to us to share, works and brings change to those whose hearts receive this Word/Seed.
We don't always get to see the end result of God's work in the lives of the men who come through Rapha. Guy's move on. Some we just never see again. But we rest in the knowledge that God's seed will produce fruit. That is why we pray over (and continue to pray) for each person who comes through Rapha.
God has a wonderful sense of timing and I was the recipient of such timing yesterday.
A former client came by to visit and catch up on the going's on at Rapha as well as share from his own life.
What a story. His story is one of the good seed that took root and has now produced fruit.
Bobby was a client at Rapha back in 2005 and over the years, God has taken Bobby on a most incredible journey. Bobby is now a full-time minister and evangelist who oversees an all male facility that helps men move back into main stream society. Bobby also is involved with prison ministry and makes several trips each year to prisons to share the message of hope and Christ to the inmates. Bobby's message is from the heart because he has experienced the first hand love of Christ in his own life. It is from this perspective that Bobby can relate to others who are struggling. It is also Bobby's perspective on life and Jesus that makes his message so powerful. Bobby has walked out his own recovery under the direction of God's Holy Spirit, so Bobby knows that it is real and not just another story.
As I sat and listened to Bobby share stories about all that has been going on in his life, I had this incredible sense of being grateful to God. You see, it really isn't about me and my time at Rapha. It isn't about the time I spent with Bobby during his program. It is about the faithfulness of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit as Bobby gave himself to God. Any time a former client comes back and they are doing well, that is payday for me. That is God's gift to me that says, "See...I'm still working in the lives of men who have come through Rapha. Keep teaching. Keep loving. Keep sharing the good news that Christ is the answer to every addiction problem that a person could face." That is why we are called to make disciples. Don't let the term "disciple" throw you off. I know it sounds all religious-see but it only means a follower. I want to introduce people to Jesus and see them fall in love with Him and follow Him. How's that for good stuff?
Over the years, God has given me a passion to teach those who have been entrusted to the program at Rapha. But in the course of teaching, I am to look for those who want to become disciples to God's word. The words of II Timothy 2:2 is a verse that I hold dear as the staff pastor at Rapha. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Not every one will have a call to teach others. Not every one who comes through Rapha burn with the desire to share what Jesus has done for them. But those who do, I want to help teach and train and equip them so they can take the message to others. This is the heart of the Kingdom of God, sharing the message of Christ's redemption.
Because of Christ's redemption, I am a new creation of infinite worth.
I am deeply loved.
I am completely forgiven.
I am fully pleasing.
I am totally accepted by God
I am absolutely complete in Christ.
When my performance reflects my new identity in Christ, that reflection is dynamically unique.
There has never been another person like me in the history of mankind, nor will there ever be.
god has made me an original
one of a kind
Special person
And so are you
God on you...
mb
We don't always get to see the end result of God's work in the lives of the men who come through Rapha. Guy's move on. Some we just never see again. But we rest in the knowledge that God's seed will produce fruit. That is why we pray over (and continue to pray) for each person who comes through Rapha.
God has a wonderful sense of timing and I was the recipient of such timing yesterday.
A former client came by to visit and catch up on the going's on at Rapha as well as share from his own life.
What a story. His story is one of the good seed that took root and has now produced fruit.
Bobby was a client at Rapha back in 2005 and over the years, God has taken Bobby on a most incredible journey. Bobby is now a full-time minister and evangelist who oversees an all male facility that helps men move back into main stream society. Bobby also is involved with prison ministry and makes several trips each year to prisons to share the message of hope and Christ to the inmates. Bobby's message is from the heart because he has experienced the first hand love of Christ in his own life. It is from this perspective that Bobby can relate to others who are struggling. It is also Bobby's perspective on life and Jesus that makes his message so powerful. Bobby has walked out his own recovery under the direction of God's Holy Spirit, so Bobby knows that it is real and not just another story.
As I sat and listened to Bobby share stories about all that has been going on in his life, I had this incredible sense of being grateful to God. You see, it really isn't about me and my time at Rapha. It isn't about the time I spent with Bobby during his program. It is about the faithfulness of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit as Bobby gave himself to God. Any time a former client comes back and they are doing well, that is payday for me. That is God's gift to me that says, "See...I'm still working in the lives of men who have come through Rapha. Keep teaching. Keep loving. Keep sharing the good news that Christ is the answer to every addiction problem that a person could face." That is why we are called to make disciples. Don't let the term "disciple" throw you off. I know it sounds all religious-see but it only means a follower. I want to introduce people to Jesus and see them fall in love with Him and follow Him. How's that for good stuff?
Over the years, God has given me a passion to teach those who have been entrusted to the program at Rapha. But in the course of teaching, I am to look for those who want to become disciples to God's word. The words of II Timothy 2:2 is a verse that I hold dear as the staff pastor at Rapha. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Not every one will have a call to teach others. Not every one who comes through Rapha burn with the desire to share what Jesus has done for them. But those who do, I want to help teach and train and equip them so they can take the message to others. This is the heart of the Kingdom of God, sharing the message of Christ's redemption.
Because of Christ's redemption, I am a new creation of infinite worth.
I am deeply loved.
I am completely forgiven.
I am fully pleasing.
I am totally accepted by God
I am absolutely complete in Christ.
When my performance reflects my new identity in Christ, that reflection is dynamically unique.
There has never been another person like me in the history of mankind, nor will there ever be.
god has made me an original
one of a kind
Special person
And so are you
God on you...
mb
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