Apostlic Intent

2 Corinthians 5 ESV

For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.

So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience. We are not commending ourselves to you again but giving you cause to boast about us, so that you may be able to answer those who boast about outward appearance and not about what is in the heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.

From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

Five years previous to this 2^nd letter being written to the Corinthians the Apostle Paul began the community of Christ in Corinth. In other words, Paul performed the work of an apostle by being the Father who birthed the community of Christ there among them, however, this was an initial work needing to be more complete as he did not stay with them to disciple and nurture them into becoming mature in Christ as a community.

 However, he did commit to disciple the house of Stephanas who became the first fruits of Achaia according to (1Corinthians 16:15). Achaia was the larger region of Corinth or Corinth was a city in Achaia. Evidently Stephanas, Fortunatus, and Achaicus were the believers among them that continued to minister in proxy for Paul and were the ones who took his letters to them.

In his absence the mother church in Jerusalem took it upon herself to send some more affluent teacher apostles or those they thought had more communicative skills than that of Paul to Corinth.  As a result, the community drifted from Paul’s fatherhood to the adaptation of these more social savvy orators.  In doing so, they became more drawn to the super fluent apostle gifts or manifestations of spiritual gifts without being first challenged in their personal life of holiness and commitment to learning the character and nature of Christ.

In other words, they skipped over discipleship or Christ being formed in them to the outward manifestations of spiritual gifts without a commitment to the cross life of dying to self and carnal inhibitions as evidenced in his first letter of chapter three verses 1-3, “But I, brothers, could not address you as spiritual people, but as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for it. And even now you are not yet ready, for you are still of the flesh. For while there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not of the flesh and behaving only in a human way? For when one says, “I follow Paul,” and another, “I follow Apollos,” are you not being merely human?”   

This is even more evidenced with his words  from 1Corthians 1:10-17:   

“10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.

11  For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you.

12  Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.

13  Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?

14  I thank God that I baptized none of you, but Crispus and Gaius;

15  Lest any should say that I had baptized in mine own name.

16  And I baptized also the household of Stephanas: besides, I know not whether I baptized any other.

17  For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel: not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.”

            Verse two of chapter two in his first letter he says, “I am determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” Paul is saying everything in us as a community must flow out of this.  It has been said, “Give a church spiritual gifts and you will have a church full of strife, jealousy, and dissension. Give a church Jesus and you will have a church full of spiritual gifts.”

            This gives reason as to why Paul also says in Galatians 4:19, “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,” The work of Christ in us is more about the needs of others than it is our own need to be recognized and pined over as though we are the stuff everybody is looking for.

            Getting to our text of 2Corinthians 5 the apostle gift bringing maturity to an overgrown child in Corinth brings them back to how we are to see each other in Christian community. It is in the timeline of the cross and the price it has paid for us to become all that Daddy God has in His heart for us to become. What we are and who we are is not as important as to what and who we are to become in Christ Jesus.

            There are those in the Body of Christ today that are as carnal as they were in Corinth that wants the “neon lights” in spiritual gifts to define who they are by saying “I am already there;” I am all that and then some without any evidence of a holy life.  In other words, they want to wear the name without the inheritance that secures name.

            I am not talking about becoming so righteous that we become cynical and judgmental towards those who have out grown their britches.  I am talking about seeing each other as Christ sees us. The Scripture tells us that the testimony of Christ is the “spirit of prophecy.” His testimony is a foretelling, even a forth telling.  When satan, the church, or any other entity tries to define us compared to our past or our present, they are operating outside of the spirit of prophecy.  The testimony of Christ is what Daddy God is making us to become.

            It is like the children song we sing, “He’s still working on me to make me what I ought to be.” Sam Elliot has said, “We are never too old to become what we should have always been.”

            We must see each other in the light of  What Father God intends for us to become.  

Dr. Jill Taylor

While I was traveling the globe, I still thought my core issue was mental health. But, perhaps spurred by that trip to Antarctica, I've come to understand that the two issues of mental health and global health are closely linked -- if not one and the same. Similar processes we use to improve our mental health can help us make better, more responsible decisions as a society -- by focusing on the compassion and integrity of our right brain, rather than the judgment, punishment and deception of our left brain.

The better we understand the choices we have been making, either consciously or unconsciously, the more say we will have in the world we create. Neurocircuitry may be neurocircuitry, but we don't have to run on automatic. -- Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor

To use a powerful metaphor, we have two magnificent information-processing machines inside our heads. Our right mind focuses on our similarities, the present moment, inflection of voice, and the bigger picture of how we are all connected. Because it focuses on our similarities, in my mind she is compassionate, expansive, open, and supportive of others. Juxtaposed to that, our left brain thinks linearly, creates and understands language, defines the boundaries of where we begin and where we end, judges what is right and wrong and is a master of details, details and more details about those details. Because it focuses on our differences and specializes in critical judgment of those unlike ourselves, our left brain character tends to be our source of bigotry, prejudice, and fear or hate of the unfamiliar.
What this means is that the mean little voice inside my head, the one that is critical of self or others and judges everyone and everything in a negative way, is a part of my neurocircuitry. The question is, what say do I have in who and how I want to be in the world. Do I have the power to choose being kind over being judgmental? Do we have the power to be open rather than based in our fear? Of course we do, and the better we understand the choices we have been making, either consciously or unconsciously, the more say we will have in the world we create. Neurocircuitry may be neurocircuitry, but we don't have to run on automatic.

Drawing From the Wells of Salvation

Drawing From the Wells of Salvation

(Genesis 26:1-14 ESV)

Now there was a famine in the land, besides the former famine that was in the days of Abraham. And Isaac went to Gerar to Abimelech king of the Philistines. And the LORD appeared to him and said, “Do not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell you. Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father. I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and will give to your offspring all these lands. And in your offspring all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.”

            So Isaac settled in Gerar. When the men of the place asked him about his wife, he said, “She is my sister,” for he feared to say, “My wife,” thinking, “lest the men of the place should kill me because of Rebekah,” because she was attractive in appearance. When he had been there a long time, Abimelech king of the Philistines looked out of a window and saw Isaac laughing with Rebekah his wife. So Abimelech called Isaac and said, “Behold, she is your wife. How then could you say, ‘She is my sister’?” Isaac said to him, “Because I thought, ‘Lest I die because of her.’” Abimelech said, “What is this you have done to us? One of the people might easily have lain with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us.” So Abimelech warned all the people, saying, “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.”

            And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. The LORD blessed him, and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy. He had possessions of flocks and herds and many servants, so that the Philistines envied him.

            Our text begins with a famine similar to Abraham's in Genesis 12:10-20. The difference between Abraham’s and his son Isaac’s is Abraham fled to Egypt whereas Isaac remained in Canaan and made the best of it. History of the text reveals that Abraham had passed away and this event took place while Esau and Jacob were very young.

            All this is very important to note. First of all, it reveals to us in that our connections with God are the same regardless of what humanity may serve us. Life on earth is real and authentic and the necessities of life do not change from one generation to the next. We all face the need to eat and drink, to survive, and having to contend with other humans to do so is inevitable in the process. Whether we face this in Egypt outside the promise or Canaan inside the promise these necessities remain the same.

            Actually, famine is a great example of all this. It is usually a famine of sort that drives us to acknowledge God. This is why our country is on a verge of a spiritual awakening. It is when we exhaust our means with our necessities that we have no alternative than to resort to God for our answers or solutions. Necessities have a way of demanding the true source of which they are met.

            Beyond our human necessities our need to connect with God is as important and called for on all levels of life. Whether it is food or drink, relational, emotional, rejection, or acceptance, love is the common denominator that gives quality of life in all these necessities.

            The source of love is God for God is love.  All these necessities can be met without love, however, without love they are empty and leave’s any human craving for more until love comes and makes it all worth while. Greed, jealousy, control and other factors of such becomes enemies to the quality of life that every human deserves and every human long’s for.

            Until love serves our necessities our necessities will continue to serve us every evil intent, for there are only two suppliers to necessities; love and evil, these two are the only two driving forces in humanity.

            This is why our text becomes a story of how from one generation to the next, love and evil is present and the choices we make will determine which will take charge and become the master of our necessities.

            In Egypt or Cannon, in the church or out of the church, in the world or out of this world God is God.  These places do not determine or define God; Love is the only defining element in any place we find ourselves with God.  This is why Jesus prayed this over His disciples. “Father, do not take them out of the world but keep them from the evil of this world.”

            Love or evil can be present in any place, any generation; there is no place on earth that can determine whether love or evil will dominate. Dahlonega, Georgia or Atlanta, Georgia, it is all in the choices that we as humans make for ourselves and the decisions we make towards others in our actions and reaction to each other. Once again, Life on earth is real and authentic and the necessities of life do not change from one generation to the next. We all face the need to eat and drink to survive, and having to contend with other humans to do so is inevitable in the process.

            Isaac was in pursuit of one of the greatest necessities to humankind, water. Water holds everything together in the human anatomy; everything will fall apart and cease to exist without water. To deny a human of water is to deny their need to existence.

             When those needs to exist are threatened we as humans have a tendency to resort to anxiety and fears, and when we do, we also have the tendency to deny we have. Envy and strife are usually at the root of these fears as evidenced in (James 3:13-18 ESV) “Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”

            Unfortunately Isaac’s pursuit of water (his greatest necessity) for survival began with a lie. His perception of taking hold of his necessity hinged on anxiety and fear. In so doing, he armed the Philistines with the ability to expose their perception with contempt. Perception is the seed bed for fear and for envy and strife.

            It was not until Isaac got to his third well that he was able to take hold of his necessity without having to be confronted by the herdsmen in Gerar. It took two diggings for him to come to the place that he was willing to accept his ownership in why he was facing opposition or struggle.

            He was caught up in the same fear possessing his promise as his father. Abraham’s was a lie mixed with truth, his progressed to a lie straight out. Notice, the lie was not to God, it was to the humans he had to face in possessing his promise. This goes to show us that we can eventually possess our promises even when we go side ways on it. We must keep digging till we can come to grips concerning our ownership in the issues we have with others in the pursuit.

            Since Jacob was born before or during this pursuit, it would be advantageous for us to acknowledge that he named one of his son’s Jacob (Jacob means: “sub-planter” one who gets what they want through schemes and plans). Wow, he labels his own son with the family curse. 

            However, as the story unfolds we see God had a plan to change his name to Israel (Israel means: “God prevails” יִשְׂרָאֵל). Evidently, God is prophetically, with this story, showing us how through the “Spirit of Prophecy” He eventually gets us to where His heart desires for us to be. The name He gives to denote this desire is “God prevails.”

            A prophetic word concerning this comes to us from Micah 7:18-20 “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.”

            “…he will subdue our iniquities…” This is a promise. In the Hebrew this means He will wrestle it out of us as He did with Jacob. Revealing the truth to Jacob, He was showing mercy to his belated grandfather.

            In this case it is not us prevailing, it is God prevailing in us that gets us to the promises He has spoken to us. Generational tendencies submitting to anxieties and fears slowing us down from our pursuit calls out to mercy from God on the behalf of our for-fathers and mothers, and becomes the expense in providing the truth to us when it is revealed. 

            Faulty perceptions about humans in our lives are always the clog in the wheel slowing us down. Isaac’s perception was met with a truth calling his hand on why his occupation in the land demanded validation with a lie. The scripture does not reveal how his perception changed nor when the Philistines perception changed. We know from the story the struggled ended with Rehoboth.

STILLNESS

STILLNESS

PSALM 46

To the chief Musician for the sons of Korah, A Song upon Alamoth. God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.

2  Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

3  Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

4  There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.

5  God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.

6  The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.

7  The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

8  Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth.

9  He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.

10  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

11  The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

          This psalm of trust and thanksgiving focuses on the God of Israel; He is their refuge and strength in the present time of trouble in verses 1-3.   Verses 4-7 deal with the city of God (Jerusalem), their security; of course, the earthly city here represents the city of God coming down out of heaven, or it can represent the actual city of God in heaven.  Verses 8-11 represent the deliverance of God, their peace; bringing it all back to the fact that God is our refuge and strength in our present times of trouble.

          In the Hebrew tongue the word trouble here means in a figurative speech tightness or trouble; this word was used in their language to describe the conflict between ourselves with an adversary, adversity, affliction, anguish, distress, tribulation, or just trouble in general.

          Regardless if we are dealing with an adversary, adversity, affliction, anguish, distress, or just a tribulation of sort; it becomes a tightness in our lives and we carry it around in our chest until we have worked through it and found the peace we need to endure it. 

          Usually the tightness we carry in our chest concerning our trouble is more about us than it is our adversary, our adversity, our affliction, our anguish, our distress, or our tribulation.  Therefore, is not the removing of these oppositions that solves the tightness or conflict we deal with in our troubles; it is when we manage to see the connection of lust or desire in our own flesh with our oppositions, that our hearts are turned and we find the refuge and strength that is found in God.

Psalm 4:2-4 declares, “O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn my glory into shame? how long will ye love vanity, and seek after leasing? Selah. But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him. Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.”

When His glory should be transforming us and working change in us, we at times turn His glory into shame.  This is when we are eaten up from the floor up with vanity and walk in denial concerning our partnership and ownership to the troubles we are experiencing. 

The scripture in the King James Version calls this leasing.  In the Hebrew tongue this means we are living out lies; leasing in the translation reveals our inabilities to own our contributing portion to the troubles we are experiencing.  In other words, rather than owning any space for ourselves; we rent our space out to the enemy, giving rights to the enemy to establish a stronghold in our mind concerning our tragedies.  

Consequently, it is when we quiet ourselves and become still that God can become our refuge and strength in a web of deceit such as this.  When we decide that being godly is more important than our own will, is when we can stand still long enough to have a truthful conversation with ourselves.  I call this siding against our selves for the sake of truth.

This is the violence the scripture is talking about concerning the advancement of the Kingdom of God in the life of the believer.  “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12). 

God’s Kingdom cannot come into us unless we are willing to learn the art of siding against ourselves for the sake of truth.  It is not standing against the enemy that we see truth; it is standing against ourselves that we see truth; in return, that gives us the power and the authority to stand against the enemy.

Jacob’s wrestling with the angel all night was in realty a violent moment with his own self.  He had to come to terms that everything he had gotten in life up to that moment was through lies and deceit; even Jacob’s name meant “sup planter” and he had a grove of ripened deceitful fruit hanging ready for harvest when he encountered the creature from heaven.

It is not a wonder why we many times find ourselves lying quietly on our beds, still and resolved that only God can make a difference in the mess we have made of ourselves.  It is in this stillness of recognition and “awe” that God positions Himself to take charge on our behalf; simply because, God will not act outside of truth and the correct recognition of that truth.  “And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

          When it comes to understanding scripture, it is much like holding a diamond in our hand; as we turn the diamond, there are different cuts reflecting many perspectives that the diamond holds.  For example, we must consider the textual content, the author, and the historical content that scripture holds.  When we do, we get a broader perspective and come closer to seeing the original intent and content of that scripture (Dr. Thomas).

          I remember when we visited the national site where the star spangled banner was written; we sat in their theater showing us the history behind the song.  I had heard that song and sang it in school and other places all my life.  However, after that visual aid and cut on that song, it brought a much deeper meaning to me; the song took on new life and revelation.

          This spiritual song; Psalm 46, was historically written during the attempted invasion of Jerusalem by Sennacherib during the reign of Hezekiah in 2 Kings 18-19 and it seems to anticipate the next song Psalm 47, which is a song of God’s kingship, and thus ultimately refers to the millennial reign of Christ.

          Alamoth here in our text literally means maidens and probably infers that the song should be sung by soprano voices, and that the song was designed to be expressed from a female heart; the need for God’s masculine relationship as the groom and the safety He provides to His bride.

          Knowing the historical and textual content to this scripture gives us a deeper meaning to this song.  The back drop is laid here with the Assyrian King Sennacherib, he sends to Judah the only military strength left in Israel his diplomat Rabshakeh to make a speech against King Hezekiah the present leadership and the nation itself.  His goal was to strip them of any trust they may have had in their God to protect them.

          Rabshakeh speaks outwardly in the streets not in his own Aramaic tongue; rather, he speaks to them in the Hebrew tongue.  This lends to the fact that he was defying the leadership of their people by not speaking diplomatically to just their leaders, but rather to the people as a whole.  In his speech he speaks against their God Yahweh; he reminds them of how Hezekiah had stripped the temple gold to pay their dues to the Assyrian empire, defaming Hezekiah to his own people saying, how can your God support your King after such an act against Himself. 

          What Rabshakeh did not understand was that our God is more about relationship than the outward religious practices that represent that relationship.  The more he spoke against Yahweh and his leader Hezekiah, the more he sealed God’s heart against them.     

          The Assyrian king was after Jerusalem their capitol, their symbol of security and peace, the very heart of Israel.  The small Hebrew nation was compiled of 12 tribes of Israel divided into two kingdoms, the northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom.  Some of the tribes have already been taken into exile; yet, Judah was practicing the Deuteronomic blessings under the leadership of Hezekiah.  Therefore, God by that blessing had obligated Himself to prosper and protect them.   

          When we are in the battle for our thoughts and we are facing the fray; with all the different things slapping us in the face it is hard to focus on trust; nonetheless, Hezekiah held out to the end.  The Assyrian kingdom even mockingly offered to give Israel and what was left of it chariots and horses to defend their selves; Hezekiah stood still before His God, and Hezekiah’s representatives kept silent towards their accusations.

          As a result, God sent His angel and destroyed Sennacherib’s military without Judah lifting one spear or sword against them.  Sennacherib went back to Nineveh the present capitol of the Assyrian empire. 

          Now this song Psalm 46 has a deeper meaning; to know why it was written and when it was written; its historical purpose speaks to us.  Our God will do battle for us against all odds if we can manage to “be still.”  My spiritual Mom once said to me, son you can be going wide open in the natural and still be still in your spirit.  Being still against the odds that are against us gives God the opportunity to deal with those odds.

          There is no happy sin in me, and the sin that is in me will remain unhappy till the wrestling match is over.  Even if it looks like the whole world is going to drop off into the ocean; God will find a way to preserve us, God will find a way to heal us.  It is in the stillness and the quietness of our souls that God shows Him self strong on our behalf. 

              

FRIENDS

You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
(John 15:14-16 ESV)

There is a relational transition in Christ moving us from being servants to being friends. This transition gives us the ability to read the heart and mind of Christ, it is when we begin to have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16).
Answering the Call of God to repentance is where we learn, submission, obedience, and to be servants. Once we have learned and are consistent in obedience is when Jesus makes His choice to call us friends.
Jesus also said, “For many are called, but few are chosen” (Matthew 22:14). Many have answered the Call of God and are still in the transition stage of repentance, constantly having to learn submission and obedience.
This does not mean that those who are chosen are above learning submission and obedience. It just means their will has been broken and they are learning submission and obedience on a different level.
Jesus said, “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30,) and it is said of Him “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Hebrews 5:8).
Everything is relational with God. He is Daddy and we are His children and He refuses to have disobedient children. Daddy puts the whooping on us to remind us that we are His, and He means for us to act as though we are His instead of acting like we are rejected abandoned bastards with no authority over us.
Our will must be broken!
Christianity is not us asking God into our hearts, it is God asking us into His (Zumwalt).
Abraham was noted as a friend of God (James 2:23) and Jesus longs to call us friends. The word “friend” Jesus uses in this scripture means an associate. An associate means to join as a partner, to connect or join together, to connect in mind or imagination.
When we give up our right to choose our will over God’s is when we are up for promotion from servants to friends. Consequently, God must first have us as servants with submissive hearts so He can connect us to His mind; connected associates fulfilling His heart as an extension of His will and purpose (friends).
Fully servants - Fully Friends - Servant Friend to the Master Friend.

HOLINESS

HOLINESS

Holiness is who I am in You Jesus

 

Holiness is what I do only if it is You doing it through me

Holiness is Your passion for me capitalized in my passion for You

Holiness is my home away from home it is the longing in my heart to be where You are

Holiness carries me when I am broken apart and when I think it’s the end Holiness is my fresh start

 Holiness is simply You

-Joseph Robinson-



LOVING KINDNESS A song of the heart taken from meditations on Judges

LOVING KINDNESS

God’s Loving Kindness a covenant that can never be torn from His heart

Father God makes choices He is committed to and intends to see through to the end

He did not make this choice without first counting the cost

 Knowing the loss with His own blood He predetermined to pay that cost

Nothing can stop His Loving Kindness

His predetermined will is not changed by rejection it is fulfilled in acceptance

It is a great loss to be rejected a great and precious inheritance when accepted

It is not His will that any should perish

This is the one and only predestined will He has chosen for us all

With His Loving Kindness we are gifted to repent

It is not a gift we give to Him it is a gift He has given to us

The ability to change is there for the taking and if we would only try we would find

His Loving Kindness will never leave us forsaken

DELIVERANCE AND HEALING

Deliverance and Healing

Psalm 107:20

“He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions.”

Isaiah 53:5

“But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.”

The connection between deliverance and healing is this:

When it comes to the human spirit, deliverance is never complete without healing and healing can never take place without deliverance.  The two are parallel to each other; the two assist and complement each other. Whenever there is a need for deliverance there is also the need for healing.

It is as simple as this, deliverance opens the door for healing; once the demonic or evil influence has been taken from us, then we are free to deal with the issues in our will that had given invitation to the evil presence and had given them the authority to torment and plunder us.

The healing process is establishing discipline, it is healing our desire to change and be different. It is letting go of the stronghold; it is when we choose to stop holding strongly to the desire in our flesh that demanded our weakness to over take us.  Actually, healing is a process that demands tending to, this is where we are transformed, and this is where our thinking is renewed and established (Romans12:2). 

Furthermore, we must keep in mind that deliverance and healing are just vehicles taking us to wholeness.  We can further understand this in the biblical definition of salvation or what it means to be saved.  The Greek word “sozo” for saved or saving has a three fold meaning: it means to be delivered, healed, and made whole.

Everything we receive from God is dynamic in nature. This means it never becomes static; it never stops becoming, growing, or moving, it never stops being active. Everything we receive from God is full of life and is continually growing into maturity or becoming more.

Therefore, initial salvation is just the beginning of an eternal process of growing into wholeness and maturity.  Deliverance and healing are the two agents taking us there.  We must see them as dynamic in nature also and that these two will always be present as long as salvation is present.   

When the seventy reported back to Jesus with the excitement of casting out devils, we find that Jesus saw something they could not see. Their testimony was more about their authority over demons than connecting the broken to the healing touch of heaven; the presence of Father God bringing His life that has no end.

Luke 10:17-20

17  And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.

18  And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

19  Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

20  Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.

            Jesus said, “…rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven.”  Our significance in the ministry of deliverance is not our authority over devils; our significance is that we ourselves have been touched by the healing touch of heaven. We ourselves have been set free and delivered; fully delivered when the healing touch of heaven changed our operational Geographic’s from that of this wicked world to that of heaven’s kingdom; from the world’s system to the system of heaven.

Our name is now written in heaven; our positional purpose is to give to others what heaven has given and continues to give to us. We have been connected to Daddy God; our whole being has come into our place with Father God.  Deliverance is removing the obstacles keeping us from being connected to God while healing becomes the embracing and acceptance we all long for in Father God.

Once again, the seventy was more intrigued with the power and authority they had over the devils than the relational ability to connect the broken to Father God, the rejected and hopeless to Father God. 

There is somebody underneath the oppression, depression, obsession, regression, or even the possession. Consequently, the object or the subject is the broken person underneath it all.  We should never allow ourselves to focus on the sin, the evil, the wickedness, the presence of the spirit that is fostering the bondage; we must focus on the person who is hurting, broken, and cannot help themselves.  With our names written in heaven, we are to bring to them what heaven has brought to us.

Acts 10:38

“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.”

It takes the anointed presence of the Holy Ghost to practice what Jesus practiced.

Romans 8:16-27

16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

19  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.

20  For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope,

21  Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?

25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

26  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

27  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

The anointed presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives is the living process of the anointing taking hold of us as believers.  He is our comforter, in the original language of the Bible this means He is the one who walks beside us, He is the one who points out to us what we must learn and how we must apply what we have learned. 

One of the greatest things we learn as believers is the Father’s love.  Jesus said this: “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me” (John 6:44-45).

Our journey with Jesus begins with the Father’s love.  A deep revelation in our heart that we are no longer strangers, no longer orphans without a father to love and instruct us; a father to establish boundaries for us, boundaries that identify who we are and provides protection in our maturation towards becoming the anointed one’s (little Christ), Christians.

Being Christians in the original language of the Bible means we become “Little Christ,” “Little Anointed ones.” This means we become the anointing of the Father’s love.  Being “Little Christ” means we bring the kiss of heaven to this twisted world we live in; we become connectors connecting the lost and lonely to the Fathers love.

“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God” (Vs.16). The presence of the Holy Spirit gives us this witness, it is Him that courts this revelation in our heart; we are the children of God. Being God’s children means we become heirs of God, we become joint heirs with Christ (the anointing). 

Jesus learned obedience by the things He suffered (Hebrews 5:8-9). This means in the crucibles of His life is how He obtained the anointing of obedience. The three and a half years of obedient anointed ministry was preceded with thirty years of crucibles squeezing this anointing into Him.  If He being the only begotten of the Father obtained the anointing this way – then we must know we being adopted into this heir-ship would also receive the anointing this way.

The glory that is revealed in us is what we learn in the Father’s love. His love that keeps on loving when we are excited about being His children, when we are struggling and fall short of that glory as we learn the anointing.  Just when we think we have learned, another crucible comes along demanding our obedience to another level we did not know.

The creature that is full of expectation waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God (that is you and I), are longing for the revelations we have learned in the Father’s love.  It tells us in verse 20 that the creature is subject to vanity. It is those that are full of themselves that Jesus calls to the cross saying, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23).

To become the little anointed ones is to learn how to empty ourselves of ourselves that we may be filled with Him, His way of thinking, His way of living, and His way of ministry.

This is what I am trying to get us to see about the seventy that was celebrating their power and authority over demons rather than imparting the healing touch of heaven. The power and authority we have over demons is just a tool for deliverance that sets us up for the healing ministry Father God has called us to, and that ministry is the ministry of reconciliation.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:17-21 ESV).

Being reconciled to God is the exchange of the old for the new.  It is taking everything in the past and burying it by connecting ourselves to Father God. Reconciliation is the desire God puts within us to change from being what we have been to becoming what He has chosen for us to become.  Age has nothing to do with it; we are never too old or too young to become what we have always should have been.

Turn to someone and say, “I am not who I was – I am who I am becoming in Christ Jesus.”  “…The new has come…” and, all this is from God.  Our becoming is not a work of others in us, not a work of ourselves in us, this new work is a work of God in us; As our text puts it – “…All this is from God…” Ephesians 2:10 declares “…we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works…”

The only work we do in all this is simply work with God as He works in us.  This is what it means to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.  We must fear Father God and give Him His rightful place in our lives – we must tremble at His Word as it is revealed to us and in us (Isaiah 66:5). Paul says, “Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily” (Colossians 1:29). 

Reconciliation is working with God as He works in and through us.  In this work we become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.  This makes the new work in us a work of righteousness. 

It is in the vices of life that this work of righteousness takes place. For instance, it is when we are faced with a vice that His virtue is released; where our actions would have been an old way of doing things we somehow change and our actions become a new way of doing things.  This is not us doing the work; it is the virtue of God released in us as His grace enables us to be different, it is the new that has come to replace the old. Consequently, repentance is not a gift we offer to God it is a gift given to us by God.

We see people different, we see their actions differently; no longer do their actions become a threat to us, rather, their actions become an opportunity to us.  There is no need to rile when we have been reconciled.  Negative actions from others now become opportunities for a new reaction from us.  This scripture actually calls this “newness of life” – “Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life” (Romans 6:4).

This was the old me, now this is the new me.  Turn to someone and say – “the new has come.”  When your friends say – “what has happened to you?” You can say, “The new has come, I am a new creature in Christ Jesus.”

Our past will bury itself as we focus on the new.  We cannot focus on the past and expect the new to take place; the key is this, if we have been afforded the new, then the ministry of reconciliation would be to afford others with the new.

Reconciliation involves a changed relationship because our trespasses are not counted against us.  We are now to announce to others this message of God's grace.  You can be different; you will be different by the grace of God. Affording this does not mean that we ignore the present actions; it simply means we afford them the same newness that was afforded to us when Jesus became our choice for life.

Jesus did not ignore the act of adultery in the woman caught in the act; He simply did not hold it against her by offering to her the new – “Go and sin no more.” 

This is what we should be offering to those in our lives.  Quit holding the past over them whether they are sinner or saint – just quit it! Our ministry is the ministry of reconciliation. We cannot help it if people do not change; at the same time, it does not excuse us from offering the new, and offering the new is to stop holding the past over them. Believe they can change – it is called the spirit of prophecy – it is a testimony that defies the way things have been done to believe there is a new way of doing things.

Is it true that some people will choose to never change? Yes! Should that change how we act as believers.  No! Somebody has got to believe that God can and that God will.

He has given to us the ministry of reconciliation (2Corithians 5:18). Once again, the goal of deliverance and healing is to bring us to wholeness or wellness.  The cross calls us to this anointing and it is the cross calling us to this ministry.

“…he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

He was wounded for our evil actions and He was bruised for the reasons driving those actions. A transgression is the action and iniquity is the will driving the action.  When we are healed in our will is when we will be healed in our actions.

Once again, notice, the wound is for the action and the bruise is for the reason driving the action.

Luke 8:1-3

8:1  And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and showing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God: and the twelve were with him,

2  And certain women, which had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities, Mary called Magdalene, out of whom went seven devils,

3  And Joanna the wife of Chuza Herod's steward, and Susanna, and many others, which ministered unto him of their substance.

  Jesus healed her of evil spirits and infirmities (let us unpack this).  The infirmities in us are the weakness in our flesh, mind, and pride.  The association our infirmities have with evil spirits is simply the rights we have given to them in our fallen-ness.

Being delivered is being set free from the demonic strongholds that create havoc in the areas of our weaknesses; being healed over the reasons they were given the rights to do so is being healed in our will concerning those weaknesses. 

Often we form ties in our personality with the spirits that have attached themselves to the influence our will lends. Therefore, the evil spirit that is present is not the original problem; sin always originates and is fostered out of our will. We usually “will it” before we “act it out.” “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:14-15). 

We will sin into our lives and by the grace of God we will sin out. Just because we get rid of an evil spirit creating havoc with our weaknesses does not mean we are immediately cured of the sinful acts our weaknesses are creating.  The will was present before the evil spirit arrived and the “will” will be present long after the evil spirit departs. 

Consequently, this is the reason the human spirit can be as wicked as evil spirit’s can be at times. The difference between the two is this: We have been given power and authority over demons (Luke 10:19); they have to do what we tell them to do in Jesus name.

On the other hand, there are times when we tell a human spirit what to do, they will choose to do the opposite; reason being, the human spirit has been empowered by God to make its own choices. Furthermore, the only rights demons have are the rights we have given to them. Being healed of evil spirits is when we relinquish those rights. Therefore, healing is on the other side of deliverance taking us to wholeness taking us to wellness.

Father God sent His Word to heal us and to deliver us from all our destructions.  Jesus the Word made flesh dwelt among us as the only begotten of the Father.  Now we carry His Word as those who are adopted in His family, we belong to Him; we are now the Word in flesh dwelling among the broken.

Jesus said, “They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance” (Mark 2:17). This is our ministry and this is our purpose as believers in this sin sick world; we are carriers of His presence. The Word is in us waiting to be sent.