Being un-discipled…

An important part of Christian discipleship is the process of unlearning the things we learned when we were being discipled by the World.

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Spiritual authority and spiritual food…

“This one comes out only by prayer and fasting…”  (Mark 9:29)

When Jesus cast out the demon — the demon His disciples couldn’t cast out — He said the above words.  But He didn’t actually stop to pray and fast at the scene of the deliverance.  That is because His life was FILLED with prayer, as well as regularly denying Himself various temporarily-satisfying things like food, as He chose to set ABIDING with His Father as His #1 priority.

“I have food to eat that you know nothing about.”  (John 4:32)

It was this abiding that released the power in that moment of deliverance.  And He was saying that we can walk in this same authority if we live the same way.

“He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit;”  (John 15:5)

 

In His LIGHT we see light…

“We are not yet what we shall be, but we are growing toward it, the process is not yet finished, but it is going on, this is not the end, but it is the road.” (Martin Luther)

“What we will be has not yet been made known.” (1 John 3:2)

There is a war going on.  A war between LIGHT and DARKNESS.  Darkness seeks to hide things.  It especially seeks to hide our destiny in God – the IDENTITY that we are called to be, in Him, in eternity. Some people say that because they were born a certain way, that that is who they are.  But we are all born into darkness, and this darkness obscures and confuses many things, including such things as our true value, our life and/or sexual orientation, our view of reality, etc.  That is why the past is such a bad gauge of REALITY.  Only when we allow God and His LIGHT/TRUTH REVELATION to define us do we start to get a glimpse of what our true identity and destiny will be.

“To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.” (Revelation 2:17)

Real Eyes…

re·al·ize (ˈrē(ə)ˌlīz): become fully aware of something.

Much of our time in this current age is spent remembering previous things rather than REALIZING Present things. Or, all too often, if we are engaged in the moment, it is in bondage to the unfolding, temporal, finite path of least resistance, as we move from one distraction to another, avoiding pain and embracing little pleasures.

But the more we let Holy Spirit have His way in the moment, the clearer we see Jesus — and the clearer we see Jesus, the more we fully, gloriously ARE (because the distorted regrets of the past and the phantom fears of the future have no room to exist in that REALity).

And I believe the age to come will be MARVELOUSLY like this. We won’t have to remember Jesus, or remind ourselves of His attributes — instead, we will truly, continuously REALIZE Him — seeing Him in His unfiltered Glory (We Realize with Real Eyes), as we are enabled by and saturated with the brilliant, penetrating, uncreated Light of LOVE.

“But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as he IS.” (1 John 3:2-3)

Spiritual cognizance…

“…men of Issachar, who understood the times and knew what Israel should do.” (1 Chronicles 12:32)
WE NEED WISDOM!

“You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky.  How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time?”  (Luke 12:56)
NATURAL WISDOM ≠ GOD’S WISDOM

“Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a “fool” so that he may become wise.  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: “He catches the wise in their craftiness”;  and again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”  (1 Corinthians 3:19-20)
WE NEED SUPERNATURAL WISDOM, NOT NATURAL WISDOM!

“But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.   So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect Him.”  (Matthew 24:43-44)
SO LISTEN PASSIONATELY AND DILIGENTLY!

Christ crucified…

When I am tempted to sin, I just remember Him bleeding for me on the Cross…
and that temptation is washed away in a River of gratefulness and love.
We must never forget what He did.
Or why He did it.