Hebrews 12:2 The act of fixing my eyes on Jesus. An edited repost.

This idea of fixing my eyes on Jesus will not let go of me.

Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author, and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The KJV puts it this way:

"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;"

The Greek word for fixing or looking is aphorao and means to consider attentively.

To be honest, I have a problem with this idea of looking, because it implies distance, and distance suggests that I can never get close to God. Some churches I have been a part of, with their superstar pastors, have demonstrated what it is like to have a leader that is untouchable, and I have had more of that than I can stand. I have also, because of choices I made, experienced infidelity in marriage and divorce. The battle I had to fight was learning that God did not act like the people who have created false imagery in me. While God may never leave me, I sometimes wonder how embarrassed He is with how I talk or act. In the worst of conditions I have never experienced any distancing toward me on God's part, but I can assure you I have felt significantly distanced at times. There is no doubt in my mind that this distance I felt was because of my selfish indulgences.

The NET version says: "keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus,.." This version has pulled in both concepts; keeping our eyes on Jesus, and the idea of our fixation upon Him.

Why would you fix your eyes on something?

Detectives do it because they are on the hunt for something. Artists study or set their eyes upon a subject so that they can capture what they see. We, as believers, are told to fix our attention, vision, thoughts, and emotions upon Jesus because I believe that God wants us to live in a state of peace that passes understanding.

To be filled with peace, at a time when it is illogical, passes my understanding. Yet, having read this, and desired it, I find it easier to comprehend knowing that was God in the situation, though I did not know it, and He only wanted good for me.

Hebrews, the faith book, is meant to train us and establish us with the benefit of a solid information, and believable eyewitnesses. If I could equate this life to a trial, the evidence for the prosecution would be overwhelming and beyond a reasonable doubt. In reading Hebrews, I find out that the peace I just spoke of, requires faith, and is wrapped up in my faith.

Is it my faith or God's?

I suppose both. I have to exhibit some degree of faith in the process of accepting my position within the family of God; I have to act in faith upon God's promises to me to live in this world; And, God has placed His confidence in me that I will succeed and join Him in eternity. Example: There was a brief time in my life that I was keenly aware of a tremendous faith for healing.

How would I know that? I was a shy person who for the longest time was very timid. Speaking out boldly, or placing my hands upon someone for healing, would have been out of character for me. However, in several circumstances, I saw God's hand at work in extraordinary ways. Here is where the faith aspect comes in. God's word tells us to lay our hands on the sick, and they will recover. There is no emotion needed in that, merely obedience. The faith part is acting and letting God do what he said he would.

"Not with bodily eyes, for at present he is not to be looked upon in this manner, but with the eye of the understanding, or with the eye of faith; for faith is a seeing of the Son;" ( John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible)

Having read several commentaries on the passage, I agree with Gill. I believe that the intent is to focus on Jesus at all times and in every circumstance, but that seems impossible to do. When I was at work, I was barraged by customers, to the point that I barely had time for a thought of my own.

Where and how do I squeeze God into this hectic scene?

I know I am not alone in this struggle, because it is a human struggle, and it does not take a detective to realize that few people invest quality time with God to the degree that He becomes predominant in their thinking. For me to say, I am looking at Jesus with the eye of my faith makes it sound like I am very spiritual, although I sometimes wish I could be like Enoch and simply walk off the earth, that will never happen. In reality, this ability to stay focused on God seems to imply some act of our inward man that can operate aside from the circumstances the body is experiencing. What we are talking about here could be nothing more than the ability to reason, and that ability to reason would have to include the mind, would it not?

For the skeptics who think this inward man talk is something new age, I give you Paul's own words.

2 Corinthians 4:16 NASB 16) Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

If you consider our beginnings then this inward man idea may make more sense. In Genesis 1:27 we see God creating man in His image.

NASB “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

God's image is a spirit, therefore the man was a spirit, and, just like the Father, eternal. We don't see a body on the man until Genesis 2:7, after the completion of the earth.

John 4:23-24 NASB "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24) "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

This plays a role in our understanding of death as well, for the spirit never dies. Since the spirit never dies, then how did Adam understand this death that was to come upon him should he partake of the forbidden fruit? Because of the eternal nature of the spirit, death, in one regard, would have to mean eternal separation from the Father God. God, in the form of Jesus, had no intention of allowing that to happen as long as He could do something about it, and therefore, through Christ's activities in “death”, we were redeemed. Paul, in Ephesians, speaks of a mystery.

Ephesians 1:6-9 NASB to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7) In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8) which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9) He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him.

It is almost overwhelming when you let it all sink in.

It would seem that the spirit, which wars against the flesh, can function independently of the body.

Galatians 5:17 NASB For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

If that is the case then I should be able to have a conversation with you and the Father at the same time. In truth, I am not that good. If I have too many conversations going on at the same time, then someone is going to lose in the battle for my attention.

I believe that Paul was speaking to this distinction between the spirit and the flesh when he wrote:

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 1 Corinthians 14:14 NASB

Perhaps I am missing the point. It may be that Paul is saying that the spirit bypasses human reasoning. I have never been able to pray in the spirit without involving my mind, as something had to initiate this conversation. That does not mean that if I am praying in the spirit (that means praying in tongues to me,) that I am always keenly aware of what I am praying, but I always have a general idea.

Do not despair at the apparent futility of this exercise of the tongue for James tells us that God gives wisdom to those that ask. Is he talking about understanding everything that you might say in tongues? Probably not, but at least we have the opportunity to understand a great deal of what we say in tongues.

Since the topic had to do with fixing our eyes on Jesus. I think we have found that there is so much more to this simplistic phrase. Fixing my eyes on Jesus entails all of me, body soul and spirit. And, the spirit wants to take a well-needed advantage of the desire to commune with the Father. Now, this is where I could move into an entire teaching on aspects of our communications with, not only the Father but the body of Christ as well.

Back to my struggles with fixing my eyes on Jesus (A funny thing happened as I wrote this. I slipped up and wrote ears instead of eyes; I have since fixed that error. Why that might be funny is because if we could hear what God is saying, and respond, then maybe we would be walking as Enoch did. We have no evidence that Enoch saw God. So then, any seeing would have been by faith. Hearing, on the other hand, is a different story altogether.)

So, as I was trying to deal with the continual onslaught of customers at work, I could at the same time be praying in the spirit on the inside If I can pray in the spirit, then I can have communication with the Father at the same time too. I think it would primarily be Him talking to me.

The trick in this is to fine-tune your listening skills.

You should be aware that there are too few of us that have any clue how to listen to others. With your insight, you picked up on something. How does one fine-tune their listening skills so that God becomes the focus? Prayer, which is merely conversations you are having with God, often on behalf of others; that, and spending time in His word. The words that God uses currently, are no different in theme, from those he has already spoken. Trust me on this one, God can speak your language. How many translations of the Bible are there?, many, and yet He has brought innumerable lives into the family by speaking their language or slang. There is always the skeptic who does not believe that God speaks all the time. While God is not just incessantly rambling to hear His head rattle, as we often do, but there is a purpose in everything He says.

Keep this in mind as you read your Bible; everything in that book has a purpose. For example, why does the Gospel of John emphasize things like the cloth that was folded so precisely in the tomb (there was a reason); why is the trip to Samaria a three-day journey?; Why did Jesus go to the Samaritans, they were effectively Gentiles, and going there was contrary to his stated mission? There are things that all throughout the Bible that seem like nothing and yet the Jewish leadership believes that when the Messiah returns (he already did) that he will explain even the spaces between the letters; they are that serious about God's word. If only we were that serious about His Word as well.

The letter I wish I had received.

One of the things I am doing to better myself and find a place of normalcy inside my head, is to be involved in a book study with some of the guys from church. There are only three of us in this group, and I know both of them well enough but we are getting to know each other better with each meeting. As you might imagine a small group allows for relationship building, the whole idea. The book we are reading, again, is, Wild At Heart, by John Eldredge. 

I have been through two “boot camps” based upon this book and participated in a book study with this book before, but this time I think I am getting it. What changed? Me! And our leader said, “We all have the field manual that goes along with this book, so let's answer those questions and come back each week prepared to talk about what we wrote.” Now consider that I have already been in a recovery group for nine months at this point. And I, with a little prompting, decided to answer the recovery questions that our manuals ask us with all the honesty I could muster. As you can imagine that was at first very difficult because you have to battle through a slew of emotions, especially when you have no self esteem, and you trust no one.

Recently, I had scrambled to get the questions answered for chapter four of the manual but could not get them all. Wouldn't you know it, the last thing he asked as he skipped around some of the questions was the last one. I had not made it that far and had not even looked at it. Just looking at the question made my heart sink. With the premise that dad is now dead and going through his effects, you find this letter addressed to you. The question started off with, “What would you have loved to hear from your father? … what would you long for it to say? Is there an apology? An affirmation? Then Eldredge asked us to write that letter. I could hardly speak. I could not do the question justice by improvising at that moment.

I took some time, finished the other questions, sat myself in the backyard and wrote that letter, sobbing most of the way through it. It seemed that as I wrote about various aspects of my youth, the very things that created this person I became, seemed to drain away. I cannot remember anything so freeing. 

I have had to do some difficult things in recovery such as: writing and reading amends letters to people that I needed to say sorry too. This is especially hard when these same people created such havoc in me. But amends is not about the pain, or how they react to my amends; it has everything to do with my healing and relationship with God. One of those letters was to me, forgiving myself; I wrote it and read it to my sponsor, thinking that I would obtain a great release from the anguish I felt, but I felt very little. My sponsor suggested strongly that I go to the park, find a quiet place there, read it to God like a prayer, and then burn it; the silly thing resisted burning. Thinking back on my persistence at getting that paper to burn, perhaps there is a slow, gradual healing from it and I do not see it yet, and the idea that this paper resisted burning could be symbolic in many ways; one being the enemies resistance to release us from his grip.

Writing this letter from dad to myself was very emotional, and I think healing in many ways. I was so excited about what this started in me that I have been telling anyone that will listen what I did. Finally I am sensing some relief from the pains inside. 

So, with that I am going to share this letter that I wrote with you.

The Letter I wish I had received.

Dear Oz,

I failed you and I am so sorry.

When you were young I failed to understand or care about why you were struggling in school. I wish I had pursued every avenue on your behalf. I had no idea how great the humiliation was going to be for you and how that would have effected you. I have been reading your writings since you began, and I see now that you would have been great for you do have a good mind and you could have done anything you wanted in life. 

I am so sorry that I did not show you respect by not listening to what you had to say. Instead I believed the lies your brother told me and beat you for it. If only I had listened to you; you were trying to tell me so many things, and I refused to listen.

I failed you as a father by not coming to your aid when that thug slugged you in the face, and I humiliated you by locking you in the car with all my friends looking on. Son, please, I beg of you to forgive me for that. 

Son, please forgive me for stepping aside as mom mentally emasculated you. I deeply regret not encouraging you to defend yourself, not only with your hands but with your words also. I can see how the damage carried carried all the way into manhood. I now know that if I had been the father you needed you would not have lived in fear, especially a fear of me. I would have worked with you as you learned to stand your ground. I did not know how to do this well, so we both would have learned.

Son, I would have had those talks with you about sexuality. Again, we both needed to learn something, but the biggest area effecting both of us, would have been the lesson on boundaries and how not to cross them. I am so sorry for I crossed yours all the time, and I did not prevent mom from crossing your boundaries either.

Given the chance to do it over we could have practiced communication skills; I by listening to you. Again, please forgive me. If I had known I would have done things so differently. 

Son, it is never to late to say I love you, and I do. A lesson that I have learned to late is that a real man is not ashamed to show his love to his son, especially his first born. 

I love you

Dad.

Sunday morning Bible study. An in depth conversation about the mercy and grace of God.

This morning's men's Bible study, a continuation of last week's, covered John 13:18-30. An odd place to end, but it is what it is, and I am not the leader. Sometimes it is good that we do not carry on with longer passages.

This was one of the better meetings we had. 

One brother is fairly new, and I was pleased to hear him asking the same kind of questions I would have asked. (I have to remind myself to let others talk.)

John 13:18 NIV "I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: 'He who shared my bread has turned against me.'

Judas is the one who specifically shared the bread with Jesus that night in the upper room.

Let me explain, and this is my thinking. 

Judas died before the age of grace; that means he was under the law. Now I am not a Jewish scholar, so I cannot say whether he died as a lost soul or not. But I see where there could be an out for him.

In death, Jesus went and preached to the captives. Ah, ponder that for a moment.

Psalms 68:18 AMP: “You have ascended on high. You have led away captive a train of vanquished foes; You have received gifts of men, yes, of the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell there with them.”

We see this theme once again in Ephesians 4:8 AMP: 

“Therefore it is said, When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive [He led a train of vanquished foes] and He bestowed gifts on men.”

Is it possible that Judas was there when Jesus showed up? 

Absolutely, Jesus, the God of love that gave his life as a sacrifice for a world that neither knew him nor, for the most part, wanted him.

What if Judas was merely misguided by the enemy? 

He was not the first or the last. If none of the other disciples got it, then Judas did not either, so I am going to lean toward a God of mercy because “mercy triumphs over judgment.”

You might notice that I did not attempt to discuss the aspect of suicide. My own father verbally sends anyone who commits such an act to hell. 

Really? 

I seriously doubt that very many people who do this are in their right minds to begin with. So let's just say that they are mentally compromised. 

Another aspect of suicide has nothing to do with suicide at all. Jesus died once for all, so by his own words we know that the world will not be judged for sin but for their lack of acceptance of him as the sacrifice. Again, none of the disciples got that concept until later.

What will it take to show that Jesus took the penalty for sin away?

The other side of this coin, and many have said this, is that there is the possibility that Judas was made for this one thing only. While I do not have the theological background to state this in one or two words, the concept alone fights against what I understand about God. I have had far too much mercy shown to me to think that God is anything but merciful to those who run to him. 

If Jesus came into the captivity of hell, showed himself to them as he really is - the majesty and glory of the Father- and stripped Satan of his power right there in front of them. How many would continue to deny that he is God there before them?

'He who shared my bread has turned against me.' Obviously there is a point of turning against the Lord. I see the topic of Judas as a can of worms that, in the face of judgmental people, I do not wish to open.

John 13:19 NIV: "I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am.

He was speaking of Judas (the context), but the statement applies to so many things he said. He wanted us to believe that He was God and that he was telling the truth.

If you paid attention to the way God presented himself to man throughout Scripture, it almost always came with the statement, “as for me.” God was always telling them beforehand; 

why? 

So they would believe that he is who he said he is, and that he could be trusted. In Genesis 17, He reaffirms His promise to Abram.

Genesis 17:4 KJV: "As for me, behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations."

In John 13, He tells the disciples, once again, that He will leave the world soon. 

John 13:1 NIV: "It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end."

When you think about how many times the Pharisees had tried to kill him, you can begin to see that everything had led up to this moment. Jesus was not about to let Satan change the game plan.

John 13:20 NIV: "Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me." 

This too opens a can of worms. The Greek word translated accept is: lambanō Thayer Definition: 1) to take 1a) to take with the hand, lay hold of, any person or thing in order to use it.

Obviously,  we are not to capture those sent and chain them in our basements. Clearly Jesus is referring to the words and deeds. 

Now ask yourself, what did the Apostles/disciples of Jesus have that would anchor the Torah in their minds? 

They really only had experience from their time spent with Jesus, so they conveyed what they heard and saw, and they saw the most amazing things.

Now consider. Is He telling us that the receipt of the person with the message or the belief in what they convey is the way to Jesus? 

I think the answer is obvious: the belief in what they convey. So all my concerns about how poorly I deliver the message suddenly seem irrelevant, especially when God has his hands on it. 

How can it be difficult to convey a message when you are merely re-telling, excitedly, what you have witnessed and heard? 

The problem comes when it is a second-hand story. That is not a bad thing, but when challenged about 'what did he say next' and you do not know because you were not there is when things get uncomfortable, as you may suddenly realize that this is not your story. Hmmm! 

My suggestion to you is to make it your story by accepting Jesus Christ as your salvation. In receiving Jesus Christ, the messenger, one receives God.

John 13:21 NIV: "After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, 'Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me."

They were still clueless. 

To turn against him does not necessarily mean that you are going to betray him. Imagine their thoughts. 

He rattled their cages severely; I wonder why? 

Surely he knew how that would affect them. And in the very next verse, John, who had been leaning on him, describes everyone in the room looking around the room in disgust at the others.

John 13:22 NIV His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant.

John 13:23 NIV One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.

John was being polite. He was writing about himself. When you consider the emotions that John must have gone through during the Jesus years. He was called one of "the Sons of Thunder", not necessarily a good thing, for he was more than willing to call fire down upon an entire town for their refusal to let Jesus in, and Jesus let him have it for his misdirected zeal. 

What would you feel if you were leaning against Jesus and he made a statement like that? 

Would you pull yourself away as you said to yourself, 'what reason would he have to distrust me?'

John 13:24 NIV: Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, "Ask him which one he means."

However they were sitting, Peter was able to catch John's eye. We cannot say that John was not also looking around the room in disgust at the others. 

Did John have some level of trust with Jesus that the others did not have? 

Don't know. What we do know is that they had no clue, so if Judas had given them reasons to distrust him, they did not see it or care.

One of the things we learn about Judas is that he had stolen from the money bag they carried. Obviously someone saw that; either they did not care,  or no one said much. As long as you were being taken care of, would it matter?

John 13:25 NIV: Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?"

I am amazed at the relationship we see here. A grown man, quite possibly putting his weight into Jesus, and Jesus does not mind. It is hard not to think with a human mindset as I read this. The devil has corrupted our minds so that we cannot think about this setting in a proper way. And there is the manly thing where this should never happen. I think that my twisted thinking is an example of the devil polluting relationships with sexuality and corruption. Does that mean I want to lean into you? Not hardly, but I am a little jealous of John's relationship with Jesus, because I want that.

John 13:26-27 NIV: "Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. (27) As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, "What you are about to do, do quickly."

How could Jesus not have heard everything they said? 

He heard, and he answered Peter. His movements were deliberate and may have even caught Judas off guard. 

As soon as he took the bread. 

Wow. Dynamics are going on here that are widespread and overwhelming. What do I do with this?

John 13:2 NIV :The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.

I think my perspective needs to be that John wrote this. Yes, inspired by the Holy Spirit, but almost 60 years later, everything is in retrospect. One might assume that our human understanding has to come into play. We also have the historical account of Judas making the deal with the Pharisees to frame the reference.

John 13:28 KJV :"Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him."

One of the things we see here and beyond Jesus' death is that the guys did not get it. It wasn't until he began reappearing to them that they began to understand. 

Did he talk in parables at this point? 

No. He was clear and direct, and still they did not understand. Compare this with us, the modern-day believer. Nothing gets past us; yeah right.

Here is the problem we all have. If Jesus, and by extension the Holy Spirit, speaks to us and tells us what to do, do we listen and do what he says? 

 From experience, I can tell you that I did not. Your curiosity asks what my outcome was. Well, I got my trophy-looking wife. I can tell you that trophies merely hang on the wall and offer little to no relationship with you. You merely look at them from a distance, pointing out some of their unique characteristics, but the relationship is now dead and merely a memory of the hunt. While I got what I wanted, I lost the greater prize, and that was bible college. I wonder how different my life would be if I had stayed with the original plan. Another aspect of my first marriage was that I either became co-dependent or it really reared its ugly head. My life no longer was dependent upon God but upon her and whatever emotion she was feeling that day.

John 13:29 KJV For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor.

One of the points we made during bible study this morning was that John pointed out that everyone was staring at the other. 

When you think about this process of Satan entering someone, what was happening as they stared at each other?

What if this works.

Proverbs 7:10-12 KJV: "And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtle of heart. (11) (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house: (12) Now is she without, now in the streets, and lies in wait at every corner.)"

If you will allow me to equate this to the deceiver and his tactics, then we see that he is subtle, attractive, a constant threat, and he lies in wait. So it only makes sense that the devil would jump on this opportunity to infiltrate the boys. 

We do not witness any discussion about the problems the guys had with Judas stealing from the money bag, but if it made it into scripture that he had been, then surely they knew it. 

The only thing that makes sense about their lack of reaction would have been if, while with Jesus, every need they had got met, and we had men with families and single guys. All these needs would have been different. 

This should not be a new concept to an established believer because the theme of God meeting your every need (not want) is all over the scriptures. The Jews who would have had to memorize the scriptures would have been aware of the passages in Deuteronomy which promised that God would bless those who invested their time and lives in him.

1 Peter 5:8 KJV: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour:"

So they sat there stunned and confused. Staring at each other, playing out scenarios in their minds that fueled their arguments. If they knew about Judas and his stealing, they surely would have stared at him, and John probably would have made note of it. But then there was Matthew, a former tax collector, a man who worked for the Romans when they found him. 

What was to say that he had not gone behind their backs to make a little more money? 

All of this was conjecture and untrue. 

Jesus knew what was to come with Peter, and that conversation was only moments away but not part of the equation at the moment.

John 13:30 NIV: "As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night."

I cannot even imagine what Judas felt at that moment. Some will tell you that he was a Zealot and wanted war with the Romans. 

One of the things we see as we read the New Testament is that all Israel, with few exceptions, anticipated a warrior messiah, and Judas was merely trying to force Jesus into that role. 

That might have been the case, but can we be certain? 

But what if Satan really entered him, and the hideous convulsions that television portrays are what happened? 

I think most of us never realize when we have let the enemy in, merely passing off our lousy behavior to far too many beers, not sleeping well, or a lousy day at work. Truth is, most of us made a quiet but active choice to give in to the enemy's game plan.

Now,  as I read these passages and give them some thought, I see Jesus Christ, directed with purpose. Destined to give us life that was about to cost him in terms of indescribable pain and eventually death. 

That death was in two forms, but keep in mind that our life was his determined purpose. That speaks nothing less than mercy regardless of the side journey called Judas takes us on.

Nothing in scripture is a side journey, nor is it pointless. It is there for a reason, and if it challenges our judgmental attitudes, then it served a purpose. I say this because one of the men, who demonstrates a lack of understanding when it comes to mercy, decides to throw in some commentary stating, "how am I supposed to deal with a church that permits homosexuality in it."

Stop there. 

No church, that I have seen, hangs a sign outside that says 'this is a church full of homosexuals.' And, even if there were, would you or I know it? 

So really his problem is that he sees their acts as an unforgivable sin and that they cannot be allowed or condoned.

I have to admit this 'brother' got my hackles up, and here is why. I have a family member who decided to live a homosexual lifestyle, and I do not wish to see them perish. But the point is Jesus forgave them of their sins that day on the cross. Jesus stated that he would not judge them for sin, but his word would. They (meaning anyone outside of Christ) will be judged for what they did with Jesus. For example: Did you accept him as the price paid for your sins, accepting the love of the Father, and now you are waiting for a life with him because of the hope you now have? If you did that, then the relationship with the Father began, and like a flower blossoms progressively.

There are no categories of sin. Sin is sin. You don't get to sin a little and get by with it; it's all bad if you are going to live under the law. So to say that homosexuals are at the top of the list and only bound for hell is wrong.

I can tell you that I have allowed my anger to so enrage me that I was willing to kill. Thankfully I did not, but scripturally to think it is to do it. So have I committed murder? Yes, and according to this brother's rules I am destined for hell. Fortunately, he is not in charge. 

My sins, and the sins of the homosexual are covered just the same. 

Having spent a little time in a 12-step group, I have come to understand a couple of things: 1st, the church is full of sinners saved by grace. They are living, or should I say hanging on by a thread, one day at a time, and 2nd, the alcoholics will tell you that their days are consumed by the thought of where will I get my next drink.

The brother says, “why don't they just stop it!” Oohh, wouldn't that be easy if it worked. Allow me to point something out.

2 Timothy 2:24-26 KJV: "And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, (25) In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; (26) And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will."

People are caught, often at will, by the devil. 

Yes, there are many dynamics to this equation, but telling them to stop will not work for them and demonstrates nothing more than your lack of concern for those caught. 

Besides that, they cannot see the freedom you might see.

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 KJV: (3) But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: (4) In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds  of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

So what should be your approach? 

Try showing some grace and mercy. 

As I sit in my step group, a Christ-oriented one, a man says, “I am not a believer, and I am struggling to believe.” Without grace and mercy, the leader could take the narrow-minded approach and tell him to get out, but no; he tells the man, “you are in the right place.”

A blog I read spoke about a lesbian who went to church after church. Why? Because she knew something was amiss but did not know what to call it or how to resolve it. Divulging the “sin” only got her judged and thrown out. Are you serious! Absolutely.

How about using this approach next time? 

Throw an arm around them and tell them, “you are in the right place.”

A personal experience. At work, a brother in Christ got hired on, and I was excited because I thought I now had someone else that I could share the mercy of God with. 

I quickly perceived that my attempts to share with him were met with clear boredom and disinterest, so I quit. 

One day he comes in early and stops to tell me that he has had a failure. I replied, “we have all had failures, so pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and carry on.” He goes to explain that this was a moral failure, apparently making it worse. I asked him if he intended to have a lasting relationship with this lady; to which he replied, “oh no!” 

Now here is where I have to draw some kind of a line. I cannot just pat you on the back and say that's okay, because it isn't! You do not have the right to hop into bed after bed, using people. That is not who we are.

This saga with the guy from work takes on a whole different atmosphere if I were in an in-depth relationship with him, but I am not, so I find myself limited to what I can say to the man.

If you do not understand that we have an enemy who is after our souls, then allow me to enlighten you. Satan is in the business of destroying anything that looks like Jesus. Seeing that we were made in God's image is strike one in Satan's book. Accepting Jesus into our lives places us in Christ; that is strike two and ups the ante. You should understand that he is pulling out all the stops in this case. Read your Bible, and you will find this to be true.

The battle is a daily one, and all this strife and condemnation we dish out only prohibits us from being able to share the love and life that is Christ with others, playing right into the hands of Satan. 

Sharing the love of God, his mercy, and the hope in him is our mission above all others.

Related articles

• True Love
• Turn To Jesus in Prayer

• Luke 9:28-36 (arietta18.wordpress.com)
• Sunday Sermon: Mission Brief (jimkane.wordpress.com)
• Study Gods Word (wiggooch.wordpress.com)
• Is being a Christian about keeping all the rules? (pastorchucks.wordpress.com)
• Bible Figures: Judas Iscariot (christianity.answers.com)

What is my true motivation? - A short blog

Am I trying to put the fear of God into lazy Christians? Perhaps. Jonah hated the Ninevites; wanted them dead. What do you suppose his motivation was as he walked through their town declaring God's judgment upon the people? Fear, perhaps.

Slightly off topic.
Went to dinner last night, by myself; took my bible and read as I ate. Had a great time doing that. The overly drunk, romantic couple did not even bother me. Started to leave and I hear someone calling my name. Before I could turn around I have a hand on my shoulder. It is one of the guys from Friday morning bible study. This man is very knowledgeable, and knows his Greek, beside that he is really funny.
He asks me if I am going in the morning. I said if you are, I will, and I told him that I am really beginning to struggle with going there, due to the "leader".

Now back on topic. I wish I could put the fear of God in this "leader", for he preaches opinion, asks questions but does not want any answers, refuses to see anything other than what his "mentor" tells him, and brings confusion to everyone sitting there. Aside from the fact that he won't shut up.
Yep, I think the fear of God would do the trick; NOT.

The man at the restaurant was the only one there this A.M. when I showed. Immediately he asked me what I had been reading, so I told him Ezekiel 37 and 38. You want to know what he said? Of course you do. Do we really have to read and talk about that confusing book. I try to stay out of the old testament, besides, it's old, and is it really relevant to the book of Revelation.
Are you kidding me!
I cannot believe he even said that.
Why am I still here?
Are these guys a mission field?

Here is what goes through my mind, and trust me on this, I AM NOT Full of myself. "Blessed are your eyes, for prophets and kings have longed to see what you see."
Am I the only one that sees this stuff?
Am I the only one listening?
Why does God insist on me being nice?

Breathe deeply, straighten up your back, get determined, educate yourself even better, solidify your answers firmly in the word, AND stand your ground. I have called you to be a watchman upon the wall, and I the Lord will strengthen you and give you the words to say. I have not called you to argue foolishly with pharisees, but to bring light and life to those who will hear it. Be diligent and prepared with an answer, for the time is short. Do the work of an evangelist, and preach the good news. Be proactive with your faith. Stretch out your hands and I will put them to work.

How do you know?

"How do you know that is was God that answered your prayer?"

It may be natural to feel challenged when someone asks "how do you know?"; I do the same thing all the time. People make statements, but do not demonstrate a pattern consistent with the statement, or it seems so brash that you want to know why they made it. I am not asking a question like that because I am lacking a relationship with the Lord, but I certainly do want to know what theirs is.

I recently asked a young man, "how do you know God is real?" I ask myself that question frequently. Why? Because there are times when I get too focused on the world going on around me, and there is very little that the world shows me that gives me hope. In fact, if I focus on the world for very long I find myself wondering if this life that scripture teaches about is real, and coming as He promised.

How do you refocus, especially when they are coming at you from all sides? David had the same problem. (Read 1Samuel 30) Having been given this town by the Philistines, David and his men settled there with their families. They went out to battle and returned to find the town in ruins and every trace of their families gone. What did the, so called, mighty men do, turn on David, expressing their desire to now kill him. This was one of those days, the kind in which everything goes against you.

In midst of tremendous pressure, scripture tells us that David encouraged himself in the Lord. I have no idea how he did that, and a limited idea of  what he said, but instead of crawling under a rock he turned to God, asking shall we pursue? His response to the worms that wanted him dead was let's go get our families back, and off they went.

My perception of God and how I respond is wrapped up in what I know of God and how I respond.

I have visual images in my head associated with God in action throughout the bible. No, I do not memorize scriptures, that borders on the impossible for me. As I read things in scripture I can see them, and that is what I remember.
I know that Christ's coming was prophesied long before he came.
I know that he came.
I have a strong concept of social life during the time of his birth, and that Mary took a tremendous amount heat for continuing to profess that Jesus, this baby within her, was the son of God, not Joseph or some other man.
Don't believe that. Then why, when they came back to their home town for the census, did none of their kin folk take them in? 
I have the scriptures, promises that tell me of a future with Him.
We have eyewitness accounts of his death, and those that could attest to his resurrection.

So in my minds eye I walk the path that Jesus walked through this earth, demonstrating to folks who struggled to believe, that He was God, and that his  word was true and believable, by doing exactly what he said he would do.

Then the responsibility falls on me, because I must believe. There are always those who will not believe, and although that is not be beneficial to you, especially in stressful situations, I can at least understand it. Israel had the same problem, even as they were leaving Egypt, after 420 years of slavery.

Consider Jonah the prophet. Sent to declare God vengence and justice upon a people that Jonah hated. Jonah also feared them and fought going to deliver the message, hence the fish swallowed him up. After delivering the message, the people repent and God turns his anger away, withholding the destruction that Jonah had promised would come. Jonah thinks this makes him look bad because it appears that God does not do what he said. But there is more to the story than meets the eye.
Jonah has probably long since died, and Nineveh has returned to it's evil ways, and history records that God did exactly what he said he would  do and wiped that city off the face of the map.
   
As for myself, some of us live in a quiet seclusion, and because of experience, do not perceive the world as a place that encourages us to share all the details of our testimony. And yet, I have seen God's handiwork in ways, contrary to what man wanted, seemed to be in direct response to my prayers. (Prayers are oft times wrapped up in our anguished cries for help.)

I had a friend who opted for the wild side of life when he was younger, and found himself before a judge, facing a maximum prison sentence for drug trafficking. His daddy prayed, and the oddest thing happened, he was sent home a free man. He turned back to the Lord, grateful for what had happened and turned his life around. He does not brag about that to very many people. I believe that we have varying degrees of severity in our heads and will readily accept people back into our graces who have murdered by driving under the influence, over some other crime.

So then, what do we base our perception of whether God is involved in the answer to our prayer upon? We seem to base everything upon our perceptions and responses, which is the outcome of what our senses tell us. We choose to use our five physical senses to evaluate whether God moved or not; how ridiculous is that. Although God gave man those physical senses they cannot possibly be an adequate judge of how God can be perceived or who he is, for God tends to work outside of the physical realm as well work within it.
We know from scripture that God is a spirit. That in itself reaches beyond our comprehension, but even there we tie our understanding to what we think is the world of ghosts. Have no doubt the spirit world is very real, therefore God is very real, for how could the inventor of something have less of a reality.

If I have faith in Him, is not my faith the result of what my senses have registered? I hear someone speak of what He has done and I take hope. In doing so I have used my sense of hearing. I read his word, applying it to my own life, and I have employed the sense of sight. Should God's intervention be one that I can feel, (if only we could ask Lot about that) then once again my senses have come into play. We have what we call instincts. Those intincts, interacting with our senses can move us toward someone or quickly away from those we sense danger from. We might call that an inward voice, scripture refers to that as the voice of the spirit speaking to the soul of man.

Scripture tells us that during the days of Samuel the seer, that Israel came under attack by the Philistines. This happened many times, but this time Samuel prayed and God responded, with lightning (look up the destructive power of lightning sometime), and with earthquakes (the ground did not merely just shake, it opened up like a bad movie, and swallowed many). Men were burned, seared, deafened, had their clothing blasted off of them, and killed by the amperage. Israel understood that this was the hand of God, and yet there are always those that would say how do you know that God answered this prayer.

In any situation there would have to be a correlation between the request and the answer. I have prayed a simple a simple prayer of "God reattach this tendon to its proper place", and watched as the balled up tendon moved back down the arm to where it was supposed to be. Did that hurt, I imagine so, but the response to the prayer was immediate. I have also cried out to God for help and watched, in fear, as God worked out my prayer over the course of many long months.

Sure, I prayed for my marriage to be restored and my family returned to me, but that did not happen. What God is doing in the background I do not know. I would not change what I have now for anything. I do not think that anything happens by chance, but that it is all part of God's intricate plan. A plan that has a future, even if it is with him in paradise.

I suppose that if there is a bottom line in this, it is that our knowing that God was involved in the answer stems from faith. Faith is built upon trust and relationship, and without faith it is impossible to please God, and believe that He was the one who moved in your behalf.

Ozzie

How do you not know?

1 Corinthians 10:3,4 (NIV) They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.

Here I am, all these years later, with history as my insight, and I am saying "how could they not know?"
Answering my own question, how could they have known? Would I have known and understood?

When Jesus walked along the road to Emmaus, beginning in the law and ending in the prophets, he verbalized to those disciples about who he was, and what would become of him. Beginning in the law and ending in the prophets. That would have covered Genesis through Malachi. Trust me, it was not a dry story. Let me give you an example: In 1 Samuel 30 David and his men have returned to their hometown of Ziklag, after a long battle. They expect their families, a good meal, and some rest. What they find is the city in ruins and their families gone. At this point the men turn on David. How David encouraged himself in the face of this rebellion I do not know, but he did, and they all go in pursuit of the raiders.

Let's for a moment put flesh and blood on these men. When they came back to Ziklag, home in sight, there is no sense saving any of the lousy rations you have been eating, because there will be a steak on the table, waiting for you when you get there, and these men are coming back hungry. Because of this, they have little food, if any and they are all exhausted; not just tired, but battle fatigued.

All head out to rescue their families, but 200 cannot go on and David allows them to rest by the brook Besor while the rest continue on in pursuit and an eventual battle that they win. On their return they gather those that waited by the stream, incapable of participating with the vigor of others. In their heads they may have only hoped to get their families back alive, and that would have been more than enough, but David, going against the popular opinion of those who did not believe they should get much of anything in terms of reward, splits the booty, equally between everyone.

Consider this abbreviated saga in light of our redemption. There are many of us that are not on the so called front lines of battle. There are some that are incapable of doing what others do (for a variety of reasons), and yet scripture tells us that as over-comers in this life there is a reward.

(Do not get discouraged here, for there are plenty of us that feel like we have not overcome anything. The men left by the brook had to have felt the same way. Certainly those that fought in the battle that freed their families did not feel that the "brook sitters" deserved anything, but David, who is repeatedly referred to as an analogy for Christ, did.)

Those that sat by the brook did not merely lie down, whining I don't want to do this, they were out of energy, and incapable. This scene has our redemption written all over it. We are all incapable of saving ourselves and therefore our David is Christ. We have done nothing to deserve reward and yet he has given it to us. We have lost our families and yet family will be restored in the kingdom. And most relevant of all is the fact that the men that gathered themselves to David were the losers in the worlds eyes. These were the guys that were in trouble, lost their jobs, lost their families, lost their homes and land, and you can pretty much guarantee they had lost their pride along the way.

How are we any different? Sure you can act arrogant, boasting about your earned Doctorate, and how you flaunt your money, but the truth is you are broken and irreparable without God.

God redeemed us, just as he redeemed these men.

This is a work in progress, as I suppose all these writings are.

Related articles

• Making The Best Of Trouble
• Decide Decisively
• Encourage Yourself
• List of Remarkable Bible Battles (with Powerpoint Study)
• Day 52 - Matthew 14:1-12; Mark 6:14-29; Luke 9:7-9
• Who Is Your Enemy
• Inquire of God

Thoughts and commentary on John 5:18

John 5:18 For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

" For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him"
Does that register with anyone. If this was where we started reading we would miss out on a tremendous amount of drama. Drama was not exactly John's purpose in writing. John fully intended for you see Jesus as God. Jesus had just told them that God was his Father. If they were reacting badly to the bed roll, imagine their reactions now. If picking up firewood was worthy of stoning, certainly this arrogance demanded more.

This certainly implies something that John had not previously spelled out for us, and that was that they had already tried to kill him, and had not diminished in their vigor to do so.

"..not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father,.."
Jesus own disciples have not been with him for that long, and none of them really believed that he was the Son of God until after he was crucified.
Imagine yourself standing there listening to this exchange.
There is that possibility that John's head screamed out "what did you just say".
Many would have walked away at this statement. Why do you suppose they stayed? It did not matter that God said the Messiah would come. None of them expected that He would come in this manner.

In baseball we give a man three strikes and then call them out. Was this strike two or three? They had tried to kill him before by attempting to throw him off a cliff, but Jesus escaped.

.."making himself equal with God."
That is interesting because it seems like an external assessment, made by someone else, perhaps John. It might be that John is restating what he heard the Pharisees screaming out. There is no doubt that they were loud and vocal. They probably did their best to disrupt whatever he said from that point on, by going into argumentative rants.

Think about the time Jesus walked into the temple and the man with the demon speaks out against Jesus, saying "what have we to do with you".
No one said speak for yourself, and we all read that assuming that the crowd may have felt that this loud mouth was appropriate and spoke for the crowd.

Did Jesus say he was equal with God?
That seems to have been their assessment. He definitely declared God to be his Father. It must have been an entirely cultural understanding to say that the son was no less than the father. What does that say about the town drunk? He also told them directly that he and the Father were one, so I suppose we could say that.

John 10:33 (NIV) We are not stoning you for any of these, replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God."

For the Jews to go so ballistic over this it would have to lean toward a violation of blasphemy against God. We have some clear direction about taking God's name in vain, although there is huge argument as to what vain is. Here is a case where leaders rose up against Moses, and by extension God.

Exodus 22:28 (NIV) Do not blaspheme God or curse the ruler of your people.

Numbers 26:9 (NIV) and the sons of Eliab were Nemuel, Dathan and Abiram. The same Dathan and Abiram were the community officials who rebelled against Moses and Aaron and were among Korah's followers when they rebelled against the LORD.

I give you this because scripturally there was a basis for the Pharisee's anger. This sounds like there is no room for argument, and yet Jesus has a response to this. If you take the time to read Numbers 26 you will see a rebellion against authority by refusing to recognize those that God had placed there. They attempted to subvert God's authority and were ultimately and quickly eliminated.