How to Become Who You Already Are

I believe the more we understand what God did in the new covenant, the more we understand what God wants from us as believers. 

We see that Moses was given the law on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19. When the law came into existence, it was God saying to man; this is how we are in covenant.  There has to be two people to keep a covenant but God knew that there was no way we could have kept our side of the covenant. The law could not produce the righteousness it commanded but God wanted to show us how much we needed a redeemer, a mediator. Man, in his sinful nature, believed that he could behave his way to God, or keep his side of the deal but God was a covenant keeping God, and we were just a covenant breaking people. So God, in his infinite wisdom, breaks in and tells us that he is going to fulfill our side of the covenant with a new heart and a new spirit. Ezekiel 36: 24-27 says:

I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness’s, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.  And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

For me, I see that the heart of stone represents the law. We are no longer called to God through the law, but we are called to him through a new, supernatural heart; a heart that can receive God’s perfect law on our soul, that is, the Holy Spirit. God is promising us that we no longer have to try and behave our way to him, He is making His way to us which comes from the completed work of the crucified Christ, and resurrected through the power of the Holy Spirit. In addition, we see in Jeremiah 31: 31-34 that God is making a new covenant.

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

We see that two of the main aspects of the new covenant are the forgiveness of sin, and that God will write His law on our hearts. So, what does it mean when God writes His law on our hearts? How does He write the law on our hearts? It is obviously through the Holy Spirit. You may ask why this is important to understand as a believer. It is precisely where our transformation comes from, and if you’re going to lead someone to transformation, I believe you need to understand how you have been transformed. God says it is going to be through the forgiveness of sin, and that He writes His law on our hearts. Paul talks about this in 2 Corinthians 3: 1-6

Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some do, letters of recommendation to you, or from you? 2 You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all. 3 And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. 4 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. 5 Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, 6 who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

In addition, Paul talks about in 2 Corinthians 3 that not only was the old covenant a temporary ministry and the new ministry was eternal; that the old ministry brought death and the new ministry brought life, and that life comes through the Holy Spirit. Paul also states that when you try to read Moses, or the law, a veil remains over your heart, meaning when you try to obey the law, when you try to do better, you fail because only when you turn towards the Lord is the veil removed. When the veil is removed, Paul says we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another. That is transformation. The transformation only comes from God through the power of the Holy Spirit. In addition, when the veil is removed, sin is also removed, because that is part of the new covenant; the forgiveness of sin. You have to understand that the removal of sin is an experience given to us by God through the power of the Holy Spirit. Most people even have an experience of feeling lighter because you helped them see God’s promise of the removal of sin, and now they experience a right relationship with God, by God, through the power of the Holy Spirit.  By God’s help, we are keeping our end of the covenant, by being forgiven and having the law of God written on our heart.

So in the new covenant, I don’t think God wants us to do more; I believe God wants us to become more.  And the only way we can become more is through the transformational love of the Triune God, which came through the new covenant.

So what does God want from us as believers?  Become who you already are. Its the work God accomplished.

What Does Fear Of The Lord Mean?

I believe the spirit of fear of the Lord could be defined as “our humble position before God”.  It says in Isaiah 11:3 that Jesus’ delight will be in the fear of the Lord. It would be the center of all things.  Fear of the Lord is not necessarily the first thing that comes to one’s mind as something that makes you a better believer, but I believe scripture shows us that it is the beginning of who we are. The theme of fearing the Lord is explicitly spoken of throughout all of the Old Testament and is heavily implied throughout the New Testament.

What is the fear of the Lord?  Well, we know it is a Holy reverence for God, but I believe it is more like the real deal, shaking in your boots kind of fear. Have you been in the presence of something so huge or so enormous like the Grand Canyon that it makes you feel so small and insignificant? Or have you been in the presence of something so extremely powerful that it makes you tremble because it could destroy you in a blink of an eye, like standing too close to the rocket shuttle when it launches? We have to understand how the BIGNESS OF GOD reveals the smallness of us. The right fear of the Lord puts us where we belong…humble. It is real humility that puts you right where you belong as the fragile creation and it puts God right where He belongs as The Mighty CREATOR. If believers don’t have this beautiful quality about themselves, then it will be almost impossible to lead others to God.

In addition, we see God proclaim in Job 1:8 that the people who are blameless and upright in His eyes are people that fear the Lord and turn away from evil. Proverbs speaks the most on what the fear of the Lord is.

Proverbs 1:7 - The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge

Proverbs 8:3 - The fear of the Lord is the hatred of evil

Proverbs 9:10   The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom  

Proverbs 14:26 The fear of the Lord gives us strong confidence and gives His children refuge

Proverbs 14:27   The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life that one may turn away from the snares of death.

Proverbs 15:33   The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom

Proverbs 19:23 The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.

These are just a few nuggets on what the fear of the Lord is. Can you imagine, if we really navigated through these supernatural promises of God regarding the Fear of the Lord, how more effective we would be as believers? Can you ponder this list and ask God, “Where is my fear?” I believe He will tell you, and by following the leading of the Holy Spirit, you can experience even more fear of the Lord and be able to lead others to the same place.

How do we lead others to fear of the Lord? By fearing Him yourself!  I believe this is one of the easiest things to lead other believers to. Obviously, you must first fear the Lord! If people see that the one who is leading and teaching absolutely, unequivocally, believes out of his own fear of the Lord, they will follow in fearing God as well. The smaller our flesh gets the bigger God is seen through us and this happens when we fear Him.

New Life From The Holy Spirit-Romans 8

I recently wrote a thesis on the power of the Holy Spirit.  This is a segment of it on Romans 8.  I broke down Romans 8 verse by verse to show how God promises a new life through the Holy Spirit.  Basically God says in Romans 8, “You can’t change your behavior unless you’re a changed person.  So what we have, is a new life that comes from God the Father; through God the Holy Spirit; by God the Son who died our death, so we can live His life.

New life free from condemnation (8:1-4)

· The Holy Spirit has set us free from sin and death. (8:2)
· The Holy Spirit fulfilled the law in us. (8:3-4)

      In Romans 8:1-4, we have a new life free from condemnation. Nevertheless, one of the main problems I see in counseling is that people “feel” condemned.  Even 1 John 3:20 tells us, “For whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart. But if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God.” How exactly are we free from condemnation? Well, Romans 8: 1-4 says the Holy Spirit has freed us.  

New life free from the power of sin (8:5-14)

· The Holy Spirit gives us life and peace. (8:5-8)
· The Holy Spirit has given us a regenerated body and spirit. (8:9-11)
· The Holy Spirit gives us life as sons of God. (8:12-14)

           

This is enormous. We really need to understand this as believers, because people are more enamored by the power of sin, than the power of Christ. Verse 11 says that if the spirit of Jesus, who rose from the dead, dwells in you, He will give life to our mortal bodies through the Spirit. That’s amazing, right?

New life with God (8:12-17)

· The Holy Spirit has adopted us as sons of God that cry Abba Father. (8:15)
· The Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. (8:16)
· The Holy Spirit makes us heirs of God and of Jesus Christ. (8:17)
· The Holy Spirit allows us to suffer with Christ. (8:17)
· The Holy Spirit glorifies us with Him. (8:17)

How exactly does a human dwell with the eternal God? How does flesh and bone commune with the eternal God? In versus 12-17, God says it’s the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit connects us to God the Father. 

New life of hope (8:18-25)

· God promises future glory. (8:18-21)
· God promises redemption of our body. (8:23)
· God promises hope for what we can’t see. (8:24)

How do we have hope of what we can’t see? Or a hope of a future we don’t know?  How does the promise of God break into the now? It’s the Holy Spirit. I believe hope in God glorifies God more than anything else. Hope says, “I believe God”! Hope gives us confidence and boldness to see God as He is.  It is faith that consists of hope, and our faith produces hope.  Pastor Bill Clem talks about a difference between a little faith, and a real faith.   The little faith was like Peter doubting God, the Holy Spirit’s ability within him, to walk on water (Matthew 14:31).  Jesus says “you of little faith why did you doubt?  Peter went from God’s ability to his own ability, and sank.

We are called to have the faith of Abraham. In Hebrews 11:8-20 Abraham offered up Isaac with no hesitation, because he knew God would give Isaac back through a resurrection.  After all, Abraham knew God promised a nation out of Isaac.  Abraham believed God!  Abraham hoped! A little faith says, “I believe in me.” But God calls us to a real faith that produces a real hope.  A real faith says, “I believe in God!”  The Holy Spirit makes that real faith possible.

New life of prayer (8:26-27)

· The Holy Spirit teaches us to pray. (8:26)
· The Holy Spirit intercedes for us in prayer. (8:26)

           

The Holy Spirit teaches us how to pray, and searches our heart. One aspect of the Holy Spirit teaching us how to pray includes us learning how to confess sin with discernment given by the Spirit.  We learn how God sees our sin rather than merely praying to God and telling Him about our sin. Here we see that the Holy Spirit helps us to confess sin the way God sees it.

New life of purpose (8:28-29)

·  God works everything for the good for those who are called to His purpose. (8:28)

           

The enemy uses our suffering to lie to us and declares, “Where is your God”? David says in Psalms 42:10 “As with a deadly wound in my bones my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?”  While we suffer, it is the work of the Holy Spirit that enables us to worship well in the midst of our suffering. Paul tells us in Romans 5:1-6 that we can rejoice in our suffering, because it produces hope and endurance.  So, the “Good” that is according to God’s “purpose” in 8:28 is hope filled, because he will never waste our suffering.

A New life with God (8:29-30)

· God’s chosen ones are predestined to conform to the image of His son. (8:29)
· God justified and glorified the predestined. (8:30)

           

We’re secured because we are conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ. In verse 30, it says God justified us, and who He justified He also glorified. We share in the glory of God, and this happens through the Holy Spirit, by taking sinful man and clothing us with His image. We are visible people and God is invisible, so we need tangible evidence that we are now Just before God and that’s the work of the Holy Spirit; the real and felt forgiveness of God.

A new life of victory over all of our enemies (8:31-34)

· God is for us who can be against us. (8:31)
· God gave his own son up for us. (8:32)
· God freed us from any legal demands because he has justified us. (8:33)
· God is the one who condemns, He condemned Jesus so we stand acquitted. (8:34)

     

Condemnation is what the Enemy had over us, because we belonged to the world. When we were dead in our trespasses, we belonged to Satan. Again, I ask, how did we get separated from the Enemy? How are we joined together with God? How does the human being stand acquitted before God? How do we share in the victory over Satan? The Holy Spirit.

New life as conquerors (8:35-39)

· Nothing can separate from the love of God in Christ Tribulation. (8:35)

           

 How do we stand more than conquerors? It’s an amazing statement; more than conquerors. It would be one thing to be a conqueror, but God says we are more than conquerors. I believe God says we are more than conquerors because of His love; His love that has been poured into our hearts by the Spirit (Romans 5:5). So, in this last segment of Romans 8, because of God’s love that has been poured into our hearts, the things that we stand over are tribulation; distress; persecution; famine; nakedness; danger; sword; death; angels; rulers; and evil powers.

So after walking through Romans 8, how does knowing and believing we have a new life given by the Holy Spirit help the counselee change? I believe that if we have the true confidence that is given to us by the Holy Spirit, we are more equipped to lead people to their new life. But if we don’t know to how to navigate to the truth by the Holy Spirit, we may tend to lead them to better behavior or a better life, rather than to a place where they are living out of their new life.  For example, if a porn addict is not using porn anymore, how will you know if it is out of a better life or a new life? Most people who want help don’t realize what they actually need. They most often believe they need to change their circumstance, or change some behavior. Not true. What they need is a new life.

Is Boredom Sin?

Boredom can be defined as having a lack of interest in your surroundings or being displeased with your surroundings or being discontented.  For me the best definition is dissatisfaction, or a lack of satisfaction. So, if boredom is defined as dissatisfaction, is that sin?  I believe it is.  Why?  We were made to hunger and thirst and when I experience dissatisfaction or boredom, then I am looking to satisfy my dissatisfaction, or in a sense a cure to my boredom. There is no cure to boredom, outside of Jesus.  So if Jesus isn’t part of that cure I will sin, because I will always look to satisfying myself.

Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 1:8, “All things are full of weariness; a man cannot utter it; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing. It also says in Proverbs 27:19-20 “As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man. I believe God is showing us that we cannot satisfy our own hunger and thirst and that the more I feed my flesh the hungrier I get.  For me, boredom is a reflection of my dissatisfaction with God.  Man that is ugly! I love that God is not interested in me being good at satisfying myself.  I also love that man satisfying himself was never supposed to work.  That means God is absolutely interested in being our satisfaction…..What a God!

I believe suffering can and should produce a hunger and thirst, but where do we go to satisfy that hunger and thirst?  Suffering produces some the most intimate moments with God, because it makes our need for Him greater and when our need for God is at its greatest, our dependence on Him is most realized.  We were made to depend on God, and that dependence comes through the Spirit of God.  Jesus, although perfect, sinless and born from God, had to be completely dependent on God the Spirit to connect Himself to God the Father.  We too have to be completely dependent on God the Spirit to connect us to God the Father and this happened because Jesus bore our sins so we could have access to the Triune God.

David says in Psalms 23:1 “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want”. This means “The Lord is my Shepherd, I’m not in want” or “The Lord is my Shepherd, He doesn’t leave me in wanting”  Moreover, in Matthew 5:6 Jesus says “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be satisfied! What an awesome promise.  That the only cure for boredom or dissatisfaction is Christ and Him crucified!

We Have No Hope In Ourselves

For me Romans is one of the most profound books of the bible.  And for me Romans 3 is one of the most intense chapters of the bible.  Why?  Romans 3:10-18 is full of whom God says we are.  If you stopped reading at 3:20 there should be total despair!  Your heart should race, a pit in your stomach should grow, and tears have to start running down your cheek.  I mean Romans 3:10-18 is Gods assessment of man, and it is atrocious!  We should see NO hope in ourselves! But, if you read further in Romans 3:22-30 we see God assesses Himself. God shows us who He is, as our righteousness.  So now our hope is revived through His righteousness.  I summarized each verse in Romans 3 and then put them side by side, so you can see how much the Gospel is about God and how much less it is about man. 

Romans 3:10-18                                         Romans 3:22-30

No one stands righteous before God (vs. 10) VS. God gave us His righteousness thru faith (vs. 22)

 No one understands (vs. 11) VS. God justified us by grace thru faith (vs. 24-25)

 No one seeks God (vs. 11) VS. God justified us as a gift thru faith (vs. 24-25)

 Everyone is worthless (vs. 12) VS. God redeemed us that’s received by faith (vs. 24-25)

 No one does good (vs. 12) VS. God bought us with the blood of Christ (vs. 24-25)

 Everyone’s hearts are dead thru lies (vs. 13) VS.  God passed over our sins by Jesus’ blood (vs. 24-25)

 Everyone deceives (vs. 13) VS. God’s righteousness is shown by our faith (vs. 26)

 Everyone has poison speech (vs. 13) VS. God declares sinners justified thru faith (vs. 26)

 Everyone is full of bitterness (vs. 14) VS.  God is glorified as the justifier thru faith (vs. 26)

 Everyone murders (vs. 15) VS. God freed us from works thru faith (vs. 27)

 Everyone is ruined and in misery (vs. 16) VS. God has justified us apart from the law (vs. 28)

 No one has peace (vs. 17) VS. God fulfilled the law in us thru faith (vs. 26-30)

 No one fears God (vs. 18) VS. God’s Righteousness is now indwelling us (vs. 22)

A Faith That Grows In Weakness

We meet for community group on Mondays and we are walking through Romans. Last night we went through Romans 4 and it struck me how Abraham's faith grew when his circumstances weakened. 

Romans 4:18-21

[18] In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” [19] He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. [20] No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, [21] fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.

God promised a son to Abraham and God also promised to make a nation out of this son. Verse 19 says "he was as good as dead" (because he was around 100 years old) and "Sara was barren", so Abraham’s ability to have a son was physically weakening, but verse 20 says, "Abraham's faith grew".

I have so many promises from God, but when my circumstances weaken, so does my faith.  I never thought of the possibility of my faith growing when things in my life are falling apart!  Really!? My faith should be at its best when my life is at its worse?  I know it makes sense when I'm blogging about it, but I want it to make sense when I am suffering.

We also see in Hebrews 11:8-19 when Abraham was asked to sacrifice his long awaited son (Genesis 22), Abraham had no problem sacrificing Isaac because he believed God would keep His promise of making a nation out of Isaac.  This is amazing to me!  When God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham didn’t ask God, “Hey, wait a minute why are you asking me to sacrifice Isaac, when you promised to make a nation out of him?”  He basically said, “Sure, I know you will resurrect Isaac, because you promised me, You will make a nation out of him”. For Abraham, sacrificing Isaac and God making a nation out of him were both true…Amazing Faith!

God promises me, “Everything will work together for good” in Romans 8, so when my life blows up in ways that are to me unappealing, I say to God, “hey wait a minute, didn’t You promise me good things”?  I almost, always question God’s goodness in trying times. 

So today, I say “God thank you for growing my faith by turning my life upside down”.

In Your Light Do We See Light

Psalms 36:9, David says, "For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light". 

I love this statement "in your light do we see light".  It says to me, we only see His light, because God gives us the ability to see His light.  So, what does it mean to "see His light"?  I believe it's the ability to see what He sees.  This is accomplished through the power of the Holy Spirit.  2 Corinthians 2:6-16 says we can even know the depth of God through His Spirit.    We have to understand how huge this is.  If we really believe we could "see" things the way God "sees" them, our lives would really be different.  I also believe God challenges us through scripture to expect to see things the way He sees them but it is something that He is calling us to believe and press in on through the power of the Holy Spirit

1 Peter 2:9 

          But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Peter actually calls us a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's possession who removed us from darkness into His light.  Clearly God has given us His ability to see what He sees.  

My question is, when I seem to be experiencing joylessness, am I really joyless?  If I really have the ability to see the way God sees, I would see that He doesn’t remove His presence from me; which is joy.  God doesn’t give me joy, He is joy and He gave me Himself.  God doesn’t give me love, He is love and He gave me Himself.  So, in this season of “seemingly” joylessness, I can pronounce the lie that I am joyless because I see what God sees in that I am not absent of God’s attributes (joy, love, peace etc.) because the absolute truth is He has promised to give me His sight on who I am and who He is.  I am not saying that when we suffer we are supposed to run around saying “yahoo, I hurt” but there can be a real joy in the midst of suffering because of the promises of God.

When Two become One

I went to a David Crowder concert the other night and one of the opening bands was named Gunger. They were amazing!

This dude played a cello and was beat-boxing at the same time and it was one of the coolest things I have ever seen!  If someone told me they could beatbox and play the cello together and sound amazing I would have laughed and said something like you're crazy, but the way this cat put them together, it was like they were made for each other.

The cello is mainly used in classical music and beatboxing is mainly used in hip-hop or rapping.  So it seems that this would be an unlikely duo.    He had a solo in the song and the song had a good jam to it which was already cool. When the other band members stopped playing and it was just him playing the cello, he started beatboxing while playing the cello.  The moment I heard it I wasn’t thinking what the heck is this guy doing that doesn't work”.  I thought, man this works!  It makes total sense!  It wasn't that beatboxing worked by itself and the cello worked by itself.  It was that this dude brought the pair together and made it work, he made it sound amazing.

In the same way, my wife Gina and I are the same unlikely duo.  Gina absolutely loves pink soft things.  And for those who know me, I am far from pink and soft.  So, how do we work?  How does our relationship make sense when we are so different?  The answer my friends, is Jesus! 

If someone was playing a cello and someone was beatboxing and they were sitting next to each other, playing their own thing, it would be discombobulating or confusing.  It has be one person playing both instruments to bring them together.  When Gina and I play our own instrument separately, (meaning, being self-absorbed) we sound awful and discombobulating; but when we allow Jesus to bring us together then we play His music as one instrument.  Jesus is the only thing that allows us to worship in oneness, even when we are so different. I don't want to sound corny here, but it is a true miracle when God bring Two sinners together through Christ and through the power of the Spirit and make them sound harmonious  

What Makes Sense

It's hard to define the season I am in when I have so many lenses.
Let's see, I have a defensive lens, where everyone else is wrong and I
am right. I have a self pity lens where everyone else is right and I
am the most wrong.  I have a rose colored lens where everyone is right
including me. And I have the lens of the Cross, where Jesus became
wrong when He was the most right! So how dare I have so many lenses,
when there is really one to true lens to see life through... and that
is Christ and Him crucified.


I spend so much time and energy trying to make sense of things.  For

the longest time I thought making sense of things in a trying season

was a good thing.  I mean right!?  What is wrong with trying to make

sense of things in a trying season?  But for me it's idolatrous.  I

think this is idolatrous, because, it's like I am saying to God, "I’m

all in" as long as it makes sense.  How much faith do I need to be
"all in" when it makes no sense, versus me being "all in" when it

makes all the sense in the world?

The cross makes no sense to non-believers, but God says it makes

perfect sense (1Cor. 1:18-20).  So, if I really look towards the
cross, I see perfect humility, perfect submission and for me that will
always make sense in my life.

So today, I say to my God; forgive me for trying to make sense of

things when the Cross of my dear Savior is all I need to make sense.