A few years ago I was invited to attend a church ministry with the Goad family at the Monroe state prison. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life!! I remember entering the inner section of the prison to perform some music for the inmates. There was a series of doors that we had to go through in order to get into the music room. One door would open but the other would not open until the door behind me closed. As that door closed another door would open and we would proceed from chamber to chamber until we reached the appointed room. In a lot of ways life is like this, it operates in a very similar way as these rooms did. We have to let doors close behind us like disappointments, failures or successes in order for the next door to open. For some reason we all want to play God and keep every door open. Unfortunately this can be harmful or distracting to the new future that is about to unfold for us. We seem to think that if we keep the doors open we can go back and clean up some of the messes or drag our success into our next project. Clearly this is not possible and there is nothing we can do about our past but there is so much that we can do about our futures. Where we are going is way more significant than our past anyways. If we have the right attitude, we will give birth to more in the future than we have lost or achieved in the past. The wisdom and humility will guide you to much greater
success in your vocations, personal development and relationships. All too often we allow adversities, disappointments and setbacks to deter us and before long we are not moving forward at all. Ever thought about why your windshield is a hundred times bigger than your rear view mirror? Stir up the gifts in you. The seeds of greatness are in your thoughts! Let your seeds take root by talking about the things you want to do and the people you want to help. So many of you have encouraged me over the past few months as I have gone through the most painful chapter of my life. Your words and prayers have lifted me up. Please do the same for yourselves. Together we can all help to heal the hurting soul of the universe.
Be a victor not a victim. Let those doors close and don’t let them keep you in bondage. Your past does not predict your future, it simply prepares you for it. Its not how you start its how you finish! Remind yourself that God loves you no matter what and he wants you to live a life of celebration and victory. Learn to block out the
negative things you hear in your head. I had a so-called
mentor/friend tell me I would be cursed if I made certain decisions! That I would never rise above it and never see my dreams come to pass! This so called Christian clearly does not know the same God that I know! We need to learn how to separate ourselves from hurtful people or situations. They are not bad people they are just in a season of their life that causes them to act this way. Have grace towards all people! Don’t get angry, just learn to love them from a distance. Life is too short to be pulled down by negative, jealous, cynical people. Some may choose to abandon you based on events in our lives.
Love them anyways! People may hurt you and some will leave you but your destiny is not tied to the people who walk away from you. We need to listen to the quiet whisper that is urging us to get up and claim our life of excellence. Have you ever sat in a movie like Rocky or Rudy or Gladiator and seen them down on the ground, beaten, bloodied and near complete defeat? What did you say under your voice? What were you whispering? What did you feel your spirit urging them to do? GET UP! COME ON! YOU CAN DO IT! YOUR ALMOST THERE! DON’T QUIT NOW! Am I right? Yes of course I am! Well then can you imagine what our God that loves us with agape love is whispering in our ears. Not only is he encouraging us to get up but he is saying; I love you! You are forgiven, you are worthy, I am with you, lets do
this together!!!. Isn’t that amazing!!
Now go take the time to be still and listen to the quiet whisper and be encouraged by his unyielding love and grace.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Does God punish us for our sins?
Once again we have to separate the word of God into two segments. The old testament and the new testament. clearly in the old testament God punished and brought his wrath down on man multiple times for his disappointment and anger in mans behavior. But you will not find any mention of God doing this or threatening to do this after the life of Jesus!! Many Christians live in fear of being judged or punish by the wrath of God. This in no way to live your life and not the way God wants us to live! Do you want your children to fear you?? Of course not, so why would God want it any different?
I remember a leader in my life saying once that God was trying to teach me a lesson or get my attention when we nearly crashed in our airplane several years ago. We had lost power to both engines at 27,000 feet and glided for nearly 8 minutes through clouds and mountain valleys. Fortunately the engines re fired at 2000 feet and we were able to make an emergency landing on one engine in ukiah california. I remember this man talking to several hundred people explaining how God will use tragedy or disaster to get your attention or even punish you for doing the wrong things. What an outrageous statement and an even more painful one to hear. After deep studies I can confidently conclude that this is not how our loving God works in these days after what Jesus did on the cross for all of us. Some even have said the tragedy of 911 is Gods wrath!! What an outrage!! Terrorism is the work of the Devil not our Lord that loves us completely. I dont think that God and a terrorist would agree on anything do you???
My friends, I can promise you that all of our sins have been punished on the cross. God is on our side and when he is for you then how can anyone stand against you?
Some people talk about the punishment of David for committing adultery. Let me remind you that David was under the old covenant and was dealt with according to the law not the testament of grace. In psalm 32:2 David said "blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin" this was also quoted on Romans 4:8. What do you think this meant? David was looking prophetically into the covenant of grace. He was describing you and me and how our sins are not judged but are washed away by the blood of Jesus. To not impute sin does not mean to never sin again It just gave us a place to go with our sins. Did Jesus die on the cross to free us from never committing a sin. Well I hate to break it you but if that was the purpose; he failed! NOT! It means that our sins will no longer be counted against you nor will you be punished for them.
So once again we are back to the question of will this freedom and grace and non judgement cause you to go out and sin freely?? I really doubt it! It has had the opposite effect on me and probably you to!! It has caused me to fall deeper in love with him. It should give us all strength and confidence to break free of any strong holds in our lives.
Remember this! We are all sinners. God does not have a measuring stick of sin like man does. They are all the same to him. Jesus said in fact! " you shall not murder, but i say to you that whoever is angry with his brother has sinned or whoever even looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery". Jesus showed us it was impossible for anyone to be justified by the law. Only He could fulfill the law on our behalf and justify us by grace. There is no curve system for sin. They are all the same and all we need is a relationship with Jesus to deal with them. God does not judge your failures.
All your sins were judged at the cross. Praise God! Now lets go serve and make a difference for him and all he has done for us!!!!!!!!!!!!
I remember a leader in my life saying once that God was trying to teach me a lesson or get my attention when we nearly crashed in our airplane several years ago. We had lost power to both engines at 27,000 feet and glided for nearly 8 minutes through clouds and mountain valleys. Fortunately the engines re fired at 2000 feet and we were able to make an emergency landing on one engine in ukiah california. I remember this man talking to several hundred people explaining how God will use tragedy or disaster to get your attention or even punish you for doing the wrong things. What an outrageous statement and an even more painful one to hear. After deep studies I can confidently conclude that this is not how our loving God works in these days after what Jesus did on the cross for all of us. Some even have said the tragedy of 911 is Gods wrath!! What an outrage!! Terrorism is the work of the Devil not our Lord that loves us completely. I dont think that God and a terrorist would agree on anything do you???
My friends, I can promise you that all of our sins have been punished on the cross. God is on our side and when he is for you then how can anyone stand against you?
Some people talk about the punishment of David for committing adultery. Let me remind you that David was under the old covenant and was dealt with according to the law not the testament of grace. In psalm 32:2 David said "blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin" this was also quoted on Romans 4:8. What do you think this meant? David was looking prophetically into the covenant of grace. He was describing you and me and how our sins are not judged but are washed away by the blood of Jesus. To not impute sin does not mean to never sin again It just gave us a place to go with our sins. Did Jesus die on the cross to free us from never committing a sin. Well I hate to break it you but if that was the purpose; he failed! NOT! It means that our sins will no longer be counted against you nor will you be punished for them.
So once again we are back to the question of will this freedom and grace and non judgement cause you to go out and sin freely?? I really doubt it! It has had the opposite effect on me and probably you to!! It has caused me to fall deeper in love with him. It should give us all strength and confidence to break free of any strong holds in our lives.
Remember this! We are all sinners. God does not have a measuring stick of sin like man does. They are all the same to him. Jesus said in fact! " you shall not murder, but i say to you that whoever is angry with his brother has sinned or whoever even looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery". Jesus showed us it was impossible for anyone to be justified by the law. Only He could fulfill the law on our behalf and justify us by grace. There is no curve system for sin. They are all the same and all we need is a relationship with Jesus to deal with them. God does not judge your failures.
All your sins were judged at the cross. Praise God! Now lets go serve and make a difference for him and all he has done for us!!!!!!!!!!!!
"thou shalt not vs. I will"
I am not sure about all of you but I have lived most of my life thinking that God was angry or disappointed in me. In doing so I avoided getting close to him because I was embarrassed or ashamed or felt unworthy of his love. The other reaction that would occur is that when I would fall I would run and hide from him thus making the problem worse because I would try to fix it instead of trusting in Gods love and grace. Many people like myself believed that God is a God of love, but at the same time believ that God would get mad at me and could perhaps bring his wrath down on me or lift is loving hand of protection based on my personal failures. This is crazy and confused teaching and does not represent how God really feels about us based on the new testament. This thinking is clearly old testament and based on the LAW.
God is not sometimes good and sometimes mean, sometimes happy and sometimes mad, or sometimes loves us and sometimes does not!!! We think that God is happy with us when we do good and angry when we do wrong. This is completely wrong but unfortunately a belief of many of us. Under the Law God demanded righteousness from man, but under grace God provided righteousness for us. Under law, everything depended on man and his obedience, but under grace everything depends on Jesus and what he did on the cross. The law demands but wont get up and help us but grace has already done everything for us!! Hallelujah!!
In Exodus 20 the Lord said around 20 times orders of "thou shalt not" as compared to what the Lord sais in the new covenant in the book of Hebrews. 8 "For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 9Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10 For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." so Basically the old testament law was full of shalt nots and the new testament is full of I WILLs.
Isnt this amazing!!! I think again that so many of us have this image of an old man with a beard and long hair. Sometimes happy and sometimes very angry. I am choosing, and would encourage you all, to create an image of God as just one simple word. LOVE. Perhaps the image of a loving gentle Jesus would be better for all of us. After all Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit are actually the trinity as one!!! Hollywood and church history has painted God in an image of an angry wrathful old man when in reality he/she is a gentle caring embodiment of love itself. first John 4:8 "God is love"
God is present tense love!!! You are forgiven already!! Stop being robbed of an intimate, open and loving relationship with God. Instead of avoiding him when we fail, lets just trust in him and know that he loves us anyways and is always here for us. His grace is greater than all our failures. Thank you God!! Your love and mercy brings me to my knees, fills my eyes with tears and makes me long to be closer to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!
God is not sometimes good and sometimes mean, sometimes happy and sometimes mad, or sometimes loves us and sometimes does not!!! We think that God is happy with us when we do good and angry when we do wrong. This is completely wrong but unfortunately a belief of many of us. Under the Law God demanded righteousness from man, but under grace God provided righteousness for us. Under law, everything depended on man and his obedience, but under grace everything depends on Jesus and what he did on the cross. The law demands but wont get up and help us but grace has already done everything for us!! Hallelujah!!
In Exodus 20 the Lord said around 20 times orders of "thou shalt not" as compared to what the Lord sais in the new covenant in the book of Hebrews. 8 "For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 9Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. 10 For this [is] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people: 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." so Basically the old testament law was full of shalt nots and the new testament is full of I WILLs.
Isnt this amazing!!! I think again that so many of us have this image of an old man with a beard and long hair. Sometimes happy and sometimes very angry. I am choosing, and would encourage you all, to create an image of God as just one simple word. LOVE. Perhaps the image of a loving gentle Jesus would be better for all of us. After all Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit are actually the trinity as one!!! Hollywood and church history has painted God in an image of an angry wrathful old man when in reality he/she is a gentle caring embodiment of love itself. first John 4:8 "God is love"
God is present tense love!!! You are forgiven already!! Stop being robbed of an intimate, open and loving relationship with God. Instead of avoiding him when we fail, lets just trust in him and know that he loves us anyways and is always here for us. His grace is greater than all our failures. Thank you God!! Your love and mercy brings me to my knees, fills my eyes with tears and makes me long to be closer to you!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Is Grace a License to Sin?
I recently have heard people say things like "too much grace in not good", that it will encourage people to sin and not hold them accountable. Has it ever occurred to you that there is sin going on everywhere anyways? Even with or without grace on the table. I recently had a preacher tell me that a grace doctrine is just an excuse to allow you to do whatever it is people want to!! Can you believe this??? Have you ever noticed that the greatest treasures are always surrounded by the most obstacles. That the greater the prize the greater the price will be. Call it a coincidence or the enemy trying to deceive us. I believe the enemy is working very hard to confuse us and separate us from the truth of grace in order to slow down our great commission. Well I believe God is raising up and entirely new army of leadership that will live and lead by grace and excellence. An army of people that will achieve abundantly, lead many and heal multitudes. The more of us that understand that the Law is about deserved favor (when you obey) and grace is undeserved favor. We will be blessed by believing on him.
John 1:17 kjv "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus" If the Devil can keep you under the law he can keep you defeated!!!! Romans 6:14 "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace". this means the more grace you receive the more power you have to overcome sin"
However I have seen a lot of leadership react to seeing sin by teaching even more law. That is like adding more fuel to the fire because the strength of sin is the law.. Sin is strengthened the more law is preached. They are trying to manipulate us by saying that even though we are saved we have to keep doing right in order to be righteous and be blessed. Righteousness is a gift! If it has to continue to be earned how could it be a gift?? There is nothing you can do that will make God love you more and there is nothing that you can do that will make God love you less!!
Let me be clear that a life of sin will ultimately lead to defeat and destruction. But it will not lead to a separation from Gods love! Our goal is the same, but the question at hand is how do we live a victorious righteous life? Some think it is by living more by the law but Jesus said it is through having a relationship with him.
I truly believe that as people begin to comprehend this incredible gift, his sacrifice on the cross and his unconditional love we will be moved deeply to fall more and more in love with him and thus live a better life." The more we know we are loved and never judged the more loyalty and commitment we feel.
Embrace this my friends, let this resonate in your hearts and souls. Do your own homework and seek only Gods truth. How do you think your father wants you to live, sad and defeated or elated and victorious? The answer is clear and simple.
John 1:17 kjv "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus" If the Devil can keep you under the law he can keep you defeated!!!! Romans 6:14 "For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace". this means the more grace you receive the more power you have to overcome sin"
However I have seen a lot of leadership react to seeing sin by teaching even more law. That is like adding more fuel to the fire because the strength of sin is the law.. Sin is strengthened the more law is preached. They are trying to manipulate us by saying that even though we are saved we have to keep doing right in order to be righteous and be blessed. Righteousness is a gift! If it has to continue to be earned how could it be a gift?? There is nothing you can do that will make God love you more and there is nothing that you can do that will make God love you less!!
Let me be clear that a life of sin will ultimately lead to defeat and destruction. But it will not lead to a separation from Gods love! Our goal is the same, but the question at hand is how do we live a victorious righteous life? Some think it is by living more by the law but Jesus said it is through having a relationship with him.
I truly believe that as people begin to comprehend this incredible gift, his sacrifice on the cross and his unconditional love we will be moved deeply to fall more and more in love with him and thus live a better life." The more we know we are loved and never judged the more loyalty and commitment we feel.
Embrace this my friends, let this resonate in your hearts and souls. Do your own homework and seek only Gods truth. How do you think your father wants you to live, sad and defeated or elated and victorious? The answer is clear and simple.
From LAW to GRACE
God etched in stone on Mt. Sinai the Ten Commandments so we would know his laws and therefore would have knowledge of what sin is, and drive home the reason for a savior. With out the law from God to Moses there would be no sin or knowledge of sin. Theses were not designed to make us Godly, they were made to expose our ungodliness and our desperate need of a savior. What has happened is the enemy has convinced so many to hold the law over our heads and make us feel constantly guilty and remind us of how unworthy we are. Many christians then literally arm the devil thorough this and drive us farther away and alienate us from our Lord and savior. But the truth is with Christ, and what he did for us on the cross, we have been redeemed from the curse of the law. We have been saved from this chronic outcome. Jesus has fulfilled the requirements of the law through his sacrifice on the cross. The moment you place the law of moses between you and God you are negating the finished work of jesus, for if righteousness could come through the law then Christ died in vain. The statement that" we have to keep the law to be blessed by God" is totally false. Or, the statement "Gods love in unconditional but his blessings are conditional" is also false. Salvation and righteousness is a gift not a reward for perfect obedience.
All of these false doctrines are what turns most people away. Many of us have hear "being a Christian is hard" . In actuality it depends on what law you embrace. Old testament or New testament. The law of Moses or the law of Jesus Christ. The authentic Christian life is actually a life of rest and peace. It is time we all stop trying to to earn our righteousness and just accept the gift. It is time to rest in the fact that you are forgiven for all past present and future sins in your acceptance of Jesus Christ as your lord and savior. God is not interested in mere obedience and submission. He is a God of love and all he wants is a deep loving relationship with us based on his eternal love.
Dont work to be blessed, work because you ARE already blessed. Gods way is to bless you first, and then the knowledge of his blessing gives you the power to really go for it in life.
I pray that we all find peace in knowing that we don't have to keep praying again and again for forgiveness because he has already forgiven us. PRAISE GOD AND NOW GO LIVE IN HIS AUTHENTIC LOVE AND PEACE FOREVER!!
All of these false doctrines are what turns most people away. Many of us have hear "being a Christian is hard" . In actuality it depends on what law you embrace. Old testament or New testament. The law of Moses or the law of Jesus Christ. The authentic Christian life is actually a life of rest and peace. It is time we all stop trying to to earn our righteousness and just accept the gift. It is time to rest in the fact that you are forgiven for all past present and future sins in your acceptance of Jesus Christ as your lord and savior. God is not interested in mere obedience and submission. He is a God of love and all he wants is a deep loving relationship with us based on his eternal love.
Dont work to be blessed, work because you ARE already blessed. Gods way is to bless you first, and then the knowledge of his blessing gives you the power to really go for it in life.
I pray that we all find peace in knowing that we don't have to keep praying again and again for forgiveness because he has already forgiven us. PRAISE GOD AND NOW GO LIVE IN HIS AUTHENTIC LOVE AND PEACE FOREVER!!
Grace
The enemy of our life is constantly searching for ways to separate us from the Lord. His number one tactic is to divide and conquer! If he can not steal our soul then his goal is to keep us from being a spokesperson for God. Once you are saved the only ploy he has against us it to keep us from sharing the Gospel of Christ. One of the more common techniques he will use our failure against us. So many Christians and Christian churches help out the enemy by placing so much guilt and condemnation on anyone that experiences failure that we spend the rest of our life ashamed. The devil knows that if he can make you feel incredibly guilty then more than likely you will not be a bold advocate for Jesus. If he cant steal your soul he wants to put a gag on your spirit. In many modern Christian environments there is little, if any, authentic grace offered. Think about this for a second, if someone had experienced any kind of failure in their life and yet at the same time was shown the power of the new covenant and knew that they were already forgiven, they would become an incredible spokesperson for the love of Jesus and the real reason and significance of his death on the cross. The truth that through his blood ALL our sins have been forgiven. Past present and future. That we are guaranteed eternal life in Heaven regardless of what happens in our lives. If we knew that this kind of grace would be extended by our Lord and by the people we love it is very likely that through that deep level of love and respect we would honor him by making better decisions in our lives. All he wants is a relationship. He does not expect obedience he just craves our love and communication. Gods love for us is not performance based. Gods way is not about what we do but its about what's already been done by our Lord who took the cross to wash all our sins. If Jesus could utter in some of his final words "forgive them father for they know not what they do.", then shoudn't we attempt to do that with all or christian brothers and sisters. If we can help people restore their love and faith quicker then they can be used by God more profoundly. So we should all be healers and restores! It may take some time to restore them in their name and form but their confidence in christ should start immediately.
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