The "I Am" Life

Over the years I have heard so much about the “self” life. You know, “It’s all about me.” Well-meaning folks have taught that we should learn to deny ourselves so we can be free from this self-life. It sounds good and it sounds right. However, what are we truly denying? You’ve heard the expression, “Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.” If we’re not careful, we will find ourselves throwing out the very thing God wants us to retain.

If you don’t understand the truth of being born again and becoming a new creation, then the “self” that you see is probably the old self. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul says that the “old things passed away.” The Greek word for old is “archaios.” It means: original, primitive, ancient. It suggest a nature or original character.[i] According to Paul, the original sinful nature that focused on “me” or “I” is gone. There is a new nature that is different from the old.

There is, however, a programming that has been left behind from that old self. Paul mentions that “old self” in Romans 6:6, Ephesians 4:22 and Colossians 3:9. “Old” in those verses is the Greek word “palaios.” It refers to something that is “worn-out” as in our mode of thought, feelings and actions.[ii]

We have made the mistake of thinking our old self is still alive and well, when the truth is it has been crucified with Christ. The enemy has deceived us into believing it is still alive, so we spend a good portion of our time fighting sin through behavior management protocols.

The new man or new creation is a new “self.” This new self has been created in the image and likeness of God. If that sounds familiar, it’s because that was God’s original design found in Genesis 1:26. We now have His image restored through the work of Christ in His death, burial, resurrection and ascension.

In this new life we have the privilege of living the “I Am” life. Our new self is a co-union of God and me. That is the “self” from whom God wants us to live. This new self is not the old self-centered, selfish, sin-generating creature. The new self is “heaven-bent” on producing holy and righteous behavior that glorifies God. This is the heart of understanding Colossians 3:4, “When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.” (NASB)

Embracing the “I Am” life is not an act of arrogance or pride, but it is humbly believing what God says is true of us. Out of the “I Am” life flows the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23 and the characteristics of love found in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

When we believe the lies the enemy throws at us, we will struggle with "lust of the flesh." His biggest lie proclaims that we are our struggle. When we believe the truth, peace flows in like a light that invades the darkness.

We must trust our own heart for it belongs to Him. The battle is in our mind, not in our heart. Our heart longs to embrace the truth of who we are in Christ.

“ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” (Eph. 1:18-19a, NASB)

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[i] Strongs NT 744. THAYER'S GREEK LEXICON, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006, 2011 by Biblesoft, Inc. 

[ii] Strongs NT 3820. THAYER'S GREEK LEXICON, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2006, 2011 by Biblesoft, Inc. 

Happy New Year!

Well, here it is - 2015! We're almost half way through another decade. As I look back over the past year, there were some great highlights. However, there were also some moments I don't want to re-live either. 2014, though, is in the can. We can't go back and re-do anything, we have to let it go.

As I go forward, I'm not going to mess up my new year with regrets of the past or even doom myself to failure by making promises I can't keep. I've never been a proponent of "new years resolutions." They are promises you make to yourself that you are going to break. That will only lead to shame and guilt and those are poor motivators for self-improvement.

A lot of my mental energy last year went toward counseling and helping to write a discipleship book. As I looked back to see how many times I posted on this blog page, it was only five times. Now, I'm not going to sit here and beat myself up, however tempting that might be! Nor am I going to promise to you or to myself that this year will be better. Greg Brezina, the founder of Christian Families Today, tells us to submit our wills to the Holy Spirit in everything. That is my desire for 2015. I only want to do what He wants to do, nothing more, nothing less.

So, having laid that foundation, I want to change how I even write for this blog page. In the past, I would wait for some great profound spiritual/theological/inspirational thought before I would write. (5 post doesn't indicate I only had 5 profound thoughts in 2014!) This year I want to write what is on my mind, whether it is a spiritual thought, or how to season cast iron. Living Life is about living. Living is done daily and it is done at home, at work, at church, at the grocery store, at the bank, at the beach, at the mountains, wherever I am, wherever you are.

The enemy is always tempting us to believe we are bad because we did something wrong or we didn't do something right! And, we make the mistake many times thinking this is the work of the Holy Spirit! He (the enemy) is a tricky one. The Holy Spirit wants us to remember how holy, righteous, and perfect we are. This truth hangs up in the throat of many a Christian because it sounds too good to be true.

So, for 2015, I want you and me to enjoy our freedom in Christ. Let's not spend our time being an instrument of the enemy beating our own selves. Let's listen to what the Holy Spirit says about us and be safe in His opinion of us. If we do this, it will be a banner year.

Made For Relationship

“… Apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5b

The Bible is very clear that we are vessels or containers who contain the glory of God.  He designed us to contain and express His glory.  If I had a lamp with a light bulb, that lamp still needs power outside of itself to produce light.  It can’t produce the power, but it can receive the power and display that power through its bulb.  We are like that lamp.  We need God’s life in us to produce the fruit of His life.

When Jesus said we could do nothing apart from Him, He is saying we need Him to be our power.  Just as the electricity has a relationship with the lamp that produces visible light, we too have a relationship with Christ that produces His light.

Let’s not stop there, though.  By God’s design and purpose He wants to display Himself in and through us.  Just as the lamp needs the electricity, the electricity needs the lamp.  It’s not that God needs us - He wants us.  He said He could make the rocks cry out, but He would rather use us as the vessel of His glory than a rock!

We are the vessel and Christ is the power.  Our relationship with Him reveals the light.  What the darkened world needs is the light.  Going back to the lamp analogy, we tend to focus on the outward appearance of the lamp.  There are nice looking lamps, bold looking lamps, plain lamps and ugly lamps, large lamps and small lamps.  The one thing they all have in common, when the electricity is flowing into them, is light.  It is not the appearance of the lamp that overcomes the darkness, but the emanating light. 

I grew up believing that God wants to help me live a good life.  So I would pray, “God, please help me to be patient,” or “God, help me stop committing this sin I know You don’t like.”  Then I would continue to struggle with impatience and sinning.  This defeat would cause me to either question whether God was listening or if I was sincere enough in my prayers for help.  I suspected He was listening, so ultimately the focus was on my “depravity.”  In other words, I saw myself as broken, not good enough, and inferior.

Christ came to set us free from our depraved sin natures.  He did this by remaking us into a holy and righteous creature with new desires.  Our truest desires now reflect the very nature of God.  Our hearts soar with the desire to behave in a way that mirrors God’s behavior.

Too many prescriptions for victory involve making the vessel look better and act better.  Victory doesn’t come from the outside; it comes from the inside.  Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:7, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves…” (NASB) 

God made us for relationship.  The reason we can’t do anything apart from Christ is because we were made that way, just as the lamp cannot produce light apart from the power.  Our inability to behave righteously apart from Christ is not proof of a sinful nature; it is proof that we are totally dependent on Christ for life.  

We are now free to focus on expressing Christ’s life in our everyday life.  It doesn’t matter what our circumstances look like, Christ is able to navigate every condition, every temptation, every thought, emotion and choice.  If we could walk in victory simply because we desire to, we would not need Christ.  We were made for relationship and in that relationship with Christ His light (glory) is displayed.

Trust your godly desires; God put them there.  With those desires, He supplies the power.  You don’t have to manufacture strength, you get to rest in His strength!

Amazing News!

“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.  Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’  Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” (Gal. 4:4-7, NASB)

Imagine yourself as a slave or an indentured servant.  You would be enslaved to someone else with no hope of being set free.  There is a purchase price, that if paid, ownership could transfer to another.  However, you would still be a slave.  If you could somehow pay the price, you could set yourself free.  There is no hope of that happening; after all, you are a slave and cannot own anything.

Now imagine someone very wealthy coming along and paying that purchase price.  Now that the ownership has been transferred to your new master, your new master says, “You are now free!”  Wouldn’t that be good news?  That would be amazing news! 

Let’s not stop there.  Now imagine your new master going further and saying, “I want to adopt you as my child.”  What?!  It is remarkable enough to be bought from slavery and set free, it is something all together more marvelous for that former slave to be adopted as a child.  Now that you are adopted into this wealthy family, you are an heir.  You have all the benefits of being in this new family.  You have gone from being a slave to being an owner.

This is the word picture Paul was painting for the believers in the churches of Galatia.  He wanted them to understand that they were slaves to sin and were unrighteousness creatures needing to be guided and maintained by a law system, but no longer.  He wanted them to understand that they are now joint heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17) with the full benefits of being children of God. 

Paul continued to say that God has put His Spirit in their hearts.  So, God redeemed or purchased the slave, made them a child, and then put His Life into that child.  All three aspects are extremely important.  However, the third aspect is the most important because it is the ultimate goal of God.  Putting His Life into the creature is what God desired more than anything.  Before the creature can have God’s Life, it must first be a child, before that creature can be a child, it must be purchased out of slavery.

You may be thinking, “Why did God have to purchase anyone out of slavery?  Why didn’t He just create a new race of “free” creatures to make his children?”  I don’t really know the complete answer to those questions, but I do know that God chose to redeem Adam’s race.  He did not give up on Adam’s children, but demonstrated His love for them through Christ.  This is good news for us because we are all from Adam.  We are all Adam’s race.

Without a complete understanding of what Paul is saying to these Galatian believers, we (as the contemporary church) can spin off into an incomplete awareness of who we are as believers. 

If we stop at just being redeemed, that can lead to a continued slave mentality.  At best we may recognize that we have a new master, but we may find ourselves trying to please the new master through self-effort.  This can lead to a constant sense of failure because I can’t be “good enough” that gnaws at us day and night.  Or it can lead to just the opposite, a sense of pride that says, “Look at what I can do!”  The Bible does use the slave imagery in describing a believer (Rom. 6:18,22; 1 Cor. 7:22; Eph. 6:6; 1 Pet. 2:16), but even in those passages there is the implication of freedom. 

If we see ourselves only as redeemed and set free, we may attempt to get our needs met through our old “slave” ways.  This incomplete understanding of who we are leads to believing that we are still sinners to the core.  Our mantra could become, “we are just forgiven sinners!”  If that is the case, then our hope (at best) is future and not present.  Nothing has changed except for our destination (heaven instead of hell). 

Let’s add the next layer: being adopted as a child and becoming an heir.  At this point we can see that our identity has changed from slave to child.  We begin to see our rights as a child of the King.  However, if we stop at this point, we can build a belief system based on what we perceive to be Godly behaviors and then judge ourselves accordingly.  We also judge those around us.  We think or say things like, “If they were really a Christian, they wouldn’t ________.” Or “they would ________.”  This way of thinking causes us to compare and contrast.  Everyone may have a different understanding of what it looks like to be a Christian.

We need the full understanding of what God has done.  He has redeemed us from being slaves to sin and set us free from the bondage of living under the law.  He has made us His children and we have become joint heirs with Jesus.  The best news is, however, we have been given His Life.  None of us can live the Christian life without God’s Life.  Because we have been made alive through Christ, we can cry out from the deepest part of our being, “Abba, Father!”

This is the heart of God for us.  This is true freedom and true life.  Enjoy Him forever!

A Note From Ben

Here is a note from my friend Ben Brezina. His oldest daughter was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer back in the winter. Even though this has been a very heart wrenching trial for the whole family, it has been amazing to watch them walk out this journey with an amazing faith in God. Please be encouraged by Ben's heart as he shares what Father has been revealing to him through this journey.

It has been about six weeks now since the last time Katheryn had any chemotherapy or radiation. Even though the doctor visits and therapy sessions have continued, it has been nice to have a break from the cancer killing poisons entering her body and from all of us spending every day in hospitals, radiation rooms and cancer centers. Katheryn’s weight has inched up a couple pounds over the last few weeks through constant attention and continuous effort in enticing her to eat “just a few more bites.” She is still on anti-nausea medicine and appetite enhancers which, along with her healing process, causes tiredness. She has slept much over the last six weeks and on most days, is ready for bed by 6:30 or 7:00.

This afternoon, we go in for another MRI. These pictures are a critical piece of current brain cancer treatment. The MRI is like a status update. Where do we stand visibly in this fight against cancer? She has had several MRI’s already and will have many more over the next few years. It is both amazing to me and a huge blessing that we have access to a machine that can look inside her head and see if there is any cancer visibly growing again or if she is still appears free and clear.

Cancer is a disease which can be notoriously tough to eradicate. For all the stories of healing we have heard about, we have heard just as many where the cancer returns. Every child’s journey with cancer is unique. Katheryn’s type of cancer is particularly aggressive and has been known to regrow in under a month. Echoing in the back of my head is the memory of the doctor telling us that we have one really good shot at beating this type of cancer, but if there is a relapse, there is not much more they can do. So on the days leading up to MRI’s, there is always the temptation towards fear and doubt. Thoughts come into my head like: Are we going to find cancer today? What will happen if we do? These questions and concern for the unknown have come so many times over the last four months that I settled into a rhythm in handling them.

Most of my fear centers around losing precious little Katheryn or seeing her permanently debilitated. The feelings of fear are amplified by feelings of helplessness knowing that there is very little I can do to fix this. Even with the smartest  doctors doing the best they can with what wisdom and skill they have been given, there are still around twenty percent of children who do not beat her type of brain cancer. Of the 80% who survive, many face moderate to severe disabilities from the treatment. I have learned that when I set my mind on these things, my stomach starts to get upset, my heart rate begins to rise, and it begins to feel harder to breath.  Thankfully, there is a way out of this anxiety loop.

I have learned how to start using these physical symptoms in me as helpful indicators of my thoughts. The rhythm I am learning is to use the bodily effects of anxiety coming on as a trigger to quickly lead me into prayer. Through words spoken (either silently or out loud) I speak to God what I am thinking and fearing and desiring and present them to Him as a starting ground for conversation. I do not present them in a demanding way, or in a begging way, or in a bargaining way but in a hopeful way. Demanding, begging, or bargaining with God has never led me to inner peace. Praying in that way is essentially just one more way that I try to control a situation or circumstance that is outside my control to get what I think I need.

Instead, God is teaching me not to hope that everything that I desire will happen, but to hope in Him. As I bring each care and concern to God with trust in His goodness and love, He welcomes me in and begins to show me what He is doing in the world. (Philippians 4:6-7) He gives me glimpses of His infinate wisdom and His purposes. (Romans 11:33-34) He invites me to partner with Him in what He is doing. (1 Peter 4:10-12) He reminds me of His supernatural inner life He has given me to bear up and even be victorious in the midst of this trial. (Romans 8:35-39) He invites me to bring all my requests to Him and if they really are what’s best for me, He will delight in giving them to me. (Matthew 7:11) If they are not what is best, he asks me to trust Him that He has something better for me. (Romans 8:32, James 1:17) He invites me to think bigger than just today and tomorrow and invites me into His world of eternity past and eternity future. (Isaiah 55:8-10) It is in these conversations with God that the anxiety is exchanged for peace and joy is given in the midst of sadness.(Romans 15:13)

There is a story in the Bible that I have reflected on many times over the last few months. It is about an ancient Jewish king Hezekiah. Hezekiah loved God and trusted in Him. For this reason, he was one of the best kings Israel ever had. (2 Kings 18:5) When he was 39 years old, he became very sick. The prophet Isaiah came to him and told him to set his house in order because he was going to die shortly. Hezekiah wept bitterly and asked God to give him more years of life because of how much he had loved God and all the good that he had done in the land. God granted his request and gave him 15 more years. (2 Kings 20) But three years later, Hezekiah had a son named Manasseh who became king after him. Manasseh was the worst king Israel ever had. Manasseh murdered many innocent people and promoted so much idolatry that it devastated the land. This story is a great reminder to me of how limited our wisdom and desires can be when we look for our will and desires to be done.

I also think of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane on the night before he was crucified. Knowing he was to die the next day, He asked God if there was another way. He told God of His desire to be spared from everything that He was to suffer the next day. But in Jesus’ prayer he added that He wanted the Father's will to be done, not his own. (Matthew 26:39) The Father did not grant an extension of days for Jesus, but instead brought salvation to the world and great joy and rewards to Jesus. (Hebrews 12:2, Philippians 2:8-10)

So today as we head out to this next MRI, I am using every anxious thought as a opportunity to talk with God and receive from Him the grace and mercy for what He has for us today. (Hebrews 4:16) I am thankful for all of you who have used what is going on with little Katheryn as an opportunity to talk with the Heavenly Father about Katheryn and our family. I am thankful for all the requests that are being made on our behalf. We know many of you are praying for us daily if not hourly. Thank you! We feel your prayers in our spirit and know that they are powerful and effective. (James 5:16) We are asking God for another clean scan today with an open hand and a trusting heart.

Blessings, Ben

Serving Christ

What does it mean to “serve Christ”?  The word “serve” can mean performing duties or services; it can also mean attending someone as in serving a meal.  The word is used many times and in many forms in the Bible.  If you have spent any time in the local church, you have been asked to serve God in some fashion.  You may serve God by teaching a class, singing in the choir, going on a mission trip, feeding the homeless, or mowing the church yard.  And of course, all these activities are good and needed.

All of us learn from what we are taught, and more so, from what we have caught!  My idea of service, that I gleaned from watching others, is to do things for God and hope those things are pleasing to Him.  I’ve heard prayers like this, “Father, I pray our service is pleasing to You.”  The focus on this “service” is what I do.  If my heart is in the right place, then hopefully God will be happy with me.

Paul says in Romans 14:18, “For he who in this way serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved my men.” (NASB) When I read this verse it seemed to be suggesting the same old dogma: serve God and you will be acceptable.  However, the Greek word for “serves” in this verse is “douleuo.” It means, “to be a slave,” “to obey,” or “submit to.” 

If you owned slaves, what would you consider to be a great slave?  The perfect slave is a slave that does exactly what the master commands.  A disobedient slave is useless.  A slave who loves their master and has the best of intentions to serve their master by predicting the master’s needs is equally useless.  The master doesn’t need a slave who goes out there and tries to anticipate what might please the master.  The master needs an obedient slave that listens first, and then acts.

Serving Christ is not about you and I doing anything for God.  Because we are new creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17), our core desire is to serve God.  So how do we serve Him if it is not by offering our gifts and talents to Him?  Jesus Christ is the only person who has ever lived the “Christian” life perfectly; no human has ever come close.  The scripture tells us we have Christ in us (Rom. 8:10; Gal. 2:20).  Our only hope to live the Christian life is through Christ.  God is asking us to let Christ live His Life in, with, and through us. 

In every moment of our life, we must submit to or “douleuo” Christ in us.  We don’t have to anticipate what might please God and then activate our gifts and talents for Him.  I believe God appreciates our intentions, but this kind of service is ultimately useless.  This kind of service is focused on me and what I am doing for God.  Does this kind of behavior sound familiar?  The Bible calls it flesh!

Paul says in Galatians 5:13, "For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another."  "Serve" is the same Greek word. Isn't it interesting that Paul is talking about freedom and serving one another like a slave in the same sentence?  Our real freedom doesn't come from what we can do, but rather what He can do through us. That freedom requires us to submit to Christ.

Romans 7:6 says, "But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter."  Again, Paul is using the language of slavery to illustrate that true freedom comes from submitting to Christ in relationship.  The Law was about obedience to rules that brought a blessing if obeyed and a curse if disobeyed.  Our "serve" or submission is in the newness of the Spirit.  It is relational, not occupational.

We are designed to serve Christ.  When Christ (Emmanuel) lived His life here on this earth, He expressed God’s love to those around Him, those who came in contact with Him.  He did that perfectly!  He still has the same desire now.  He has placed His Life in each of us and wants to continue expressing God’s love to the world.  When we submit ourselves to Him in every moment, we are serving Him.  He is able to express His Life to those with whom we come in contact.  Because He is in every believer, He is connecting with more people everyday than when He walked this earth in the flesh.

I pray you see “service” in a new light.  Don’t see it as a duty, but simply an expression of Christ’s Life in you!