So, a couple of months ago, I was working away on some
reports (Normal day in every respect). Not really paying attention to anything
but numbers. Out of the blue a tsunami wave of despair came over me. I mean serious and sweeping. Knocked the breath out of me – it was almost
physical. I was just about to move into
the despair when God tapped me on the shoulder and said, “See how scared the
enemy is?” Sheesh, am I thankful God got
my attention. I began rejoicing and
praising!!! Now, mind you, this wave did
not cease – it was pretty relentless, but with every thought of hopelessness
that came through my mind I began to see the actual reality that God is unfolding instead and BOY DID I GET ENCOURAGED!!! I see how much the ground is being established and how it's moving the Kingdom forward and THAT matters to the enemy. It was fantastic and a great opportunity to practice
staying focused. If God had not gotten
my attention right away I would have been hurting. But, because He did, I did not get distracted
or caught up in enemy’s energy draining nonsense. AND I enjoyed seeing the progress and impact
of things and participating in rejoicing and praying in line with it. God you are SOO GREAT! I do get attacks at different times – I
usually recognize it quickly, but there are times where I sort of wander about
under the horrible cloud until I finally begin to see it and say, “Hey, wait a
minute!” Sometimes my flesh gets
triggered from old woundings and it’s completely me. But, the enemy of my soul also has a stake in
seeing me sidelined and distracted (it’s really all that’s left to him after
Jesus trounced him). He can’t possess
what belongs to Christ, but he certainly does try everything in his power to
keep those in Christ from being effective. He’s seems quite successful in this
with the church in some ways...but not for long!!!!
One place I see lots of sidelining in the church is with the
focus on shame. The enemy keeps God’s people
tied up in this a lot and it literally keeps people from living into their real
identities! In some church circles I
hear, “We know we’re not worthy and there’s nothing good about us”.
It is a fact that all of our worth is in and from God. Our value is established by how much God
loves us. He values us so much that He
gave His only Son for us! And, He wants us
to be forever one with Him. Now try to
wrap your head around THAT good news!!! We
are no longer in the same state we were before receiving Him either – heck we
are now on a road growing into the image of Christ! But some talk sure sounds like we ought to be
ashamed (Hmmmm…where’s that coming from?)!
We are a new creation and old things have passed away. I don’t mean to
say we should not get real about sin – but, people in the church generally are
not always getting real with their specific sins at all. In fact I would go as far as to say that in
some cases I suspect people who assign themselves to be the “attitude” police
are really fending off addressing specific sins by donning the mask of false
humility. Regularly saying “I’m not
worthy” sounds religious and humble. But, it’s a little insidious because we
may really feel it generally and yet making such a general statement sort of
lets us off the hook from the truly tough job of digging and uncovering very
REAL specific sin that still plagues us.
The church should be the safest place to be real about sin
(and OHHHH it’s changing!!), but, in some places it’s still about a contest to “look”
good enough to qualify for things rather than being real and authentic about
specific things that bind us in order to get free of them. God's working on these pockets of resistance. These places will not be immune to getting GRABBED and
thrown down on their faces in tears by the goodness of God. Nothing
wrecks like God’s goodness! It’s what
brings men to repentance!
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