Death to Life; Darkness to Light

08 Monday Apr 2024

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Hello Readers!  Welcome to Renaissance Woman!

This week’s post is another installment in my study on the Whole Armor of God as described in Ephesians 6:10-18a and my particular focus is still the Helmet of Salvation.

The Greek word soterian is translated as salvation and means “to save, deliver, heal, preserve, make whole, rescue, safety, defense.”  The related word soter means “deliverer, savior”.  This entire family of words not only describes who Jesus Christ is but what He has done and continues to do in each of our individual lives.  I have been pondering the significance of salvation being referred to as a helmet and what it then means for our thoughts to be saved.  As I read Ephesians 6:12, I think of our wrestling against principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this age, and spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places and how this wrestling takes place in our minds.

In last week’s post, I wrote: “Because we are in Christ, we are seated with Him in heavenly places.  How can that be since as I write this I am seated in my office chair in the office space inside my house?  We are seated with Him in the Spirit.  In this realm of Spirit, we encounter a spiritual enemy whose sphere of influence is our minds.  But, this enemy is a defeated one because Christ, who is our life, has destroyed the works of the devil.”

Am I making two contradictory statements?  How can I say Jesus Christ Himself is our armor, that His victory is complete therefore ours is complete in Him, and we are now seated with Him in heavenly places and at the same time say we encounter spiritual hosts of wickedness in the same heavenly places and our Christian lives are ones of warfare?  Which is it?  Both are true until our thoughts are utterly saved although a better word is renewed.  Just this morning I was reminded of Colossians 2:13-15 which says, “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us.  And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.  Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.”

This then is the truth.  Whatever power or ruler or principality or spiritual host we might encounter is disarmed.  Colossians 2 also says, “For in Him (Jesus Christ) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him who is the head of all principality and power” (see verses 9 & 10).  That is worth repeating: He is the head of ALL PRINCIPALITY AND POWER.  All means all.  Therefore, there is no other power-and that includes the Devil-who Jesus Christ is not the head of and has not disarmed.

How many of us know this?  How many of us have ever had it taught to us by our religious leaders?  Are we taught that Jesus Christ has disarmed and triumphed over every principality and power or are we told our enemy is so powerful it has the ability to deceive the majority of humanity and drag them into hell?  If it is true that Jesus has disarmed principalities and powers, triumphed over them, and is now the head of all principality and power, why is there still so much evil and suffering in the world?  I don’t wish to offer up pat answers, especially when suffering is so terrible and personal.  What I will offer are a few passages of scripture and a prayer the Holy Spirit increases our understanding.

The first is in 1 Peter 5:8 but I am going to quote from verse 6: “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”  I can’t find a passage anywhere in the New Testament where any of the Writers suggested they were worried about or afraid of the enemy.  James says “resist the devil and he will flee from you” (4:7).   What then could Peter mean by referring to the devil as a “roaring lion seeking whom he may devour?”  That certainly sounds terrifying but, taking all of this into consideration-principalities and powers being disarmed, Jesus the head of all principalities and powers, yet our enemy roaming about like a roaring lion-I would say our enemy is disarmed but still possesses a voice and a sphere of influence in which to use it.

That sphere is death and I am referring to death as a state of mind.  Before you close out of this post, consider these passages of scripture.  Romans 8:6-11 says, “For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.”  At an earlier place in this same letter, Paul writes, “Therefore, just as through one man sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned-For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law.  Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come” (Ro. 5:12-14).

This concept is repeated in 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 which says, “For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Hebrews had this to say about death: “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

I hope you can see the picture being painted by these scriptures.  Every human being on this planet has partaken of the life of Adam in that we are all flesh and blood and subject to death.  These scriptures don’t only refer to the physical death we are all subject to but also to a way of thinking that is death called being carnally minded.  The devil had the power of death and thus power over the carnal mind.  Disarmed he might be, but his voice is that of a roaring lion and, for those who have not yet come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, this voice resonates in their minds and causes terrible fear.

Those of us who have come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ are no longer carnally but Spiritually minded.  John 5:24 & 25 records Jesus saying; “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.  Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live.”  1 John 3:14-20 says, “We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren.”  “There is no fear in love,” John writes later in this same letter, “but perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4:18).

The Greek word metanoia has been translated as “repentance” in most of our Bible translations.  It means “to change one’s mind”.  I don’t see it as merely thinking different thoughts though we humans have great powers of self will and the ability to train our minds to think a different way.  No, I see metanoia as changing one’s mind within the framework of Philippians 2:5: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus.”

There is a passage in 2 Corinthians that says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.”  To be Spiritually minded is life, the Spirit is the Lord, and we have the mind of Christ.  Our thoughts then are joined to the One who disarmed all principalities and powers.  He is our Deliverer and Savior who protects our minds like a helmet.  Any thought influenced by the spirit of this world merely pings off the helmet that He is.  He keeps our minds safe while He renews them.  As our minds are renewed, we are transformed into His image.

Talk about mental health!  Isn’t it wonderful?

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville Tennessee, 1990

Quench Not the Spirit

01 Monday Apr 2024

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Hello Readers!  Welcome to Renaissance Woman and another installment in my bible study on the Whole Armor of God.  I am still looking at the Helmet of Salvation and, in this week’s post, am pondering the significance of Salvation being a helmet.

I wonder about the Apostle Paul’s letters.  Were they correspondence he dashed off in answer to questions?  Were his words ones he agonized over?  Did he have any idea his every jot and tittle would be scrutinized thousands of years later as we all take his advice to the Philippians and “work out our own salvation?” Did he have specific reasons for listing off the Whole Armor of God as he did?  Was “the helmet of salvation” intentional?  I suppose it doesn’t matter one way or the other: what matters is what the Holy Spirit shows each one of us as we study the Bible for ourselves.  I find salvation being a helmet significant.

The Greek word translated as “salvation” is, in its various conjugations; soter, soteria, soterion.  The root is sozo and the meaning conveyed is to save, deliverer, heal, preserve, make whole, rescue, safety, and defense.  The Greek word soma meaning “the body as sound, whole” is also related to sozo and so thinking of our salvation in terms of Jesus Christ our Deliverer rescuing and healing and preserving and making whole our physical bodies is accurate.  However, Paul describes salvation as a helmet which means we are delivered, healed, preserved, rescued, and made whole in our minds.

As I was meditating on the Helmet of Salvation, I began to see various quotes and hear Believers speaking on the importance of our thoughts.  The stress wasn’t just on the importance of what we think but how what we think flows out of us and into our world through our words and actions.  Several of the Bible Teachers I’ve followed for years have made the point we are actively creating the world around us as we speak out the thoughts in our minds. Luke 6:45 records Jesus saying, “A good man out of the good treasure of this heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil.  For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” The importance of our thoughts cannot be underestimated for whatever we are thinking is brought forth.

The emphasis of Paul’s Spiritual Warfare passages is on thoughts.  “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” he writes in 2 Corinthians (10:4-5) and then in his passage on the Whole Armor of God: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12). 

No, wait a minute, I can hear some of you saying.  These passages are speaking of the Devil and his minions.  Spiritual forces, certainly, I agree; but the truth that I find has been passed over is where these spiritual forces are and just what they are affecting.  I have already posted studies on the 2 Corinthians 10 passage so am going to focus on Ephesians 6.

Before I can do so, however, I must quote two passages from Romans.  The first is found in 8:6-7 where Paul writes, “for to be carnally minded is death but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.  Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God nor indeed can be.”  The second is Romans 12:2 where Paul writes, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

I don’t know of any Believer who would not agree that we are changed when we first receive the Revelation of Jesus Christ as Son of God and Man, Lord and Savior, Risen and Ascended One who lives forever.  There is no way to stay the same when we see Jesus as He is.  But the how of “being transformed through the renewing of your mind” is where I am seeing Believers living far below all that is ours in Christ Jesus.  The how is summed up in read your Bible every day, pray at least (insert set amount of time) per day, and go to Church.  The focus is on training our minds on thinking a different way.  And, I agree it can work, but who can deny walking this path is one of success and failure depending on the power of the temptations of any given day?  I see the writers of the New Testament promising so much more. 

In the fourth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he expresses the same though as he did in Romans 12:2 but, this time, writes: “and be renewed in the spirit of your mind” (Eph. 4:23). In chapter 2 of this same letter, Paul writes; “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others.”

Before the Holy Spirit opened our eyes so that we might see Jesus and turn from darkness to light, we walked according to the course of this world.  Our minds were affected by a spirit not of God.  We couldn’t help it.  We were born into this world and, from our earliest days, the ways of this world formed the thoughts of our minds and thus how we would be in the world.  But now, we know there is a new Spirit at work in us.  This Spirit is the Spirit of the Living God and is the source of a new mind and new way of thinking.  We do not have to train our minds to think different thoughts: we let the same mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus (See Philippians 2:5). 

Paul doesn’t just make this point in his letter to the Ephesians.  Our new life in the Holy Spirit is described throughout Romans 8: “who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit…for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death…for those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit…But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you.  Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.  And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness.  But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you…for if you live according to the flesh you will die but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”

The secret is Spirit.  How crucial it is we don’t quench the Spirit for it is now the Spirit of the Living God who is the source of our thoughts! No longer is it the Prince of the Power of the Air, the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Because we are in Christ we are seated with Him in heavenly places.  How can that be since as I write this I am seated in my office chair in the office space inside my house?  We are seated with Him in the Spirit.  In this realm of Spirit, we encounter a spiritual enemy whose sphere of influence is our minds.  But, this enemy is a defeated one because Christ, who is our life, has destroyed the works of the devil.

I don’t think the Bible in any way suggest “the mind of Christ” is something that overpowers ours.  We don’t cease to be as Christ lives in us and we are conformed to His image.  What I see the Bible describing is a covenant bond akin to marriage.  Picture a married couple living and loving for years.  They can finish each other’s sentences and there are times words aren’t even necessary for communication.  They have grown together into one.  Our covenant with Jesus is the same.  His mind doesn’t wipe ours out: we grow in union through the covenant bonds of love until we are so One we think the same thoughts.  I’ll have to continue this thought next week (if God allows!) so will close with this:

 Jesus Christ, who IS our Salvation, has not only delivered us from sin and death but delivered us into His life.  We are joined to Him, are of one Spirit with Him, and everything that is His is ours: His life, His victory, His mind. In his letter to the Colossians, Paul gives thanks to the Father who “has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light” and “has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love” (Colossians 1 12-13).  Has delivered.  Now.  It’s all ours because He has lavished His Spirit on us and poured His Spirit into us.

There is a beautiful promise of God recorded in Ezekiel.  As you read it, take some time to let it sink in that the promise is fulfilled in Christ Jesus and is our state of being now and forever:

“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.”

Amen.  It is so!

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville Tennessee, 1990

Brought to Rest

25 Monday Mar 2024

Posted by in Studies, Whole Armor of God

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Hello, Readers!  Welcome to another week and another post on Renaissance Woman!

In last week’s post, I mentioned I was facing some difficulties.  Storm clouds were gathering on the horizon of my life and I didn’t know what was going to happen.  I still don’t.  There have been a few flashes of lightening and rumbles of thunder but the storm has not erupted in full fury.  It could be the storm has merely been postponed or it could be it will all come to nothing.  I didn’t know what was going to happen last week and I still don’t know.

All of which has got me thinking about salvation.  “Put on the Whole Armor of God,” Paul writes in Ephesians 6.  “Take the helmet of salvation…” What do we think of when we think of salvation?  The Strong’s Concordance lists soterion (G4992) as the Greek word translated salvation in this passage which means “defender, defence, salvation.”  Soterion comes from soteria (G4991) which expands a bit on the definition: rescue, safety, deliver, health, salvation, save, saving.  The Strong’s says soteria is derived from soter (G4990) which means “a deliverer, God or Christ”.  Soter comes from sozo (G4982) which means “to save, deliver, protect, heal, preserve, save (self), do well, be (make) whole”. 

I find all of these definitions interesting and even helpful but what truly matters is what I believe about Jesus and salvation.  Do I believe salvation is something Jesus made available to me before He went off to be with the Father in some far off heaven somewhere and now I must believe and have faith in order to receive the salvation He’s made available?  Or, is He Himself my salvation and thus salvation is my reality as His life is lived in me through and by His Spirit?  To me, these are two opposite belief systems even though they might use the same words.  The first points us to Jesus because He is away from us.  Jesus is in heaven (wherever that is) and that’s where we’ll get to go when we die.  The salvation He has bought for us is summed up in our being saved from hell.

In the second, there is no separation because He is not away from us.  He is not God with us in the way that He was God in flesh walking the shores of Galilee all those years ago but neither is He God in heaven waiting for us to die and join Him.  He is God with us inside of us through the Indwelling Holy Spirit.  Thus, His salvation is not something separate from us we have to receive through our believing and having faith.  Rather, He is our very life (see Colossians 3:4) and therefore it follows that the salvation He is is also our very life.

The scriptures make it plain (to me anyway) that Jesus Christ IS salvation: it’s not something He has and bestows on us.  One of my favorite passages of scripture is found in Isaiah and echoes both Psalm 118 and Moses’ song recorded in Exodus 15.  Psalm 118:14 says, ‘The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.”  Exodus 15:2 says, “The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.”  Isaiah 12:2 says, “Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid; For YAH, the Lord, is my strength and song, He also has become my salvation.” 

There is a story related in the second chapter of Luke’s Gospel.  “And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.  And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.  So he came by the Spirit into the temple.  And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said; ‘Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel’.” (See Luke 2:25-32).

My salvation then is a person whose very name means “Yahweh is salvation” (see meaning of Yeshua below).  This person is not separated from me.  I don’t have to go to a meeting place and get a dose of salvation to help me through the week.  Jesus Christ, who is my life, alive in me in and by His Spirit, means salvation is my state of being.  There is no situation I face where His salvation is not because He faces the situation with me.  His presence is always with me therefore His salvation is immediate.

What does that look like?  It looks like Christ in me, the hope of glory.  It looks like my being transformed into His image from glory to glory.  It looks like the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guarding my heart and mind.  It looks like all things being worked together for my good.  It looks like me living and moving and having my being in Christ Jesus.

While this is the truth of Christ in us and us in Christ, we still live in a world that abides by thought processes and ways of being that do not conform to-or even recognize-the life of Jesus Christ.  This world lies in the power of the evil one and those whose minds are still conformed to the patterns of this world will behave accordingly.  I read something in William Gurnall’s The Christian in Complete Armour which I do agree with but only partly.  Speaking on Ephesians 6:12, William Gurnall writes, “we wrestle not against flesh and blood…The Christian’s state in this life [is] set out by this word ‘wrestling.’…It is single combat.  Wrestling is not properly fighting against a multitude, but when one enemy singles out another, and enters the list with him, each exerting their whole force and strength against one another…The permanency or duration of this combat…lies in the tense we wrestle. Not, our wrestling was at first conversion, but now over, and we passed the pikes; not, we shall wrestle when sickness comes, and death comes; but our wrestling is; the enemy is ever in sight of us, yea, in fight with us.” (Gurnall, Vol 1. Pgs. 112-114).

 I read this and felt tired.  There is a modicum of truth to it.  We believers head everyday into a spiritually hostile world.  If Jesus were in some far off heaven somewhere bestowing salvation on us, it would mean we would have to conduct the warfare in our own strength to the best of our own ability with moments of refreshing from heaven.  Perhaps there would be victories but there would be the inevitable failures as well.  Since He is not: since He is in us, He is in our experiences with us.  He is our deliverance from the place we find ourselves.  He is our armor and He is the Victorious One.  I’ve already studied the word “stand” in Ephesians 6:10-18a but it doesn’t hurt to be reminded that the word is a covenant word and it means “made to stand”. 

“In the world you will have tribulation,” Jesus tells us, “BUT! Fear not!  I have overcome the world” (exclamation marks mine).  He gives us rest, even in the midst of the battle.  He is our armor.  He is our salvation.  He is all of these things to us right this very moment because His Spirit is in us and we are thus joined to Him.  The Spirit is the One who makes everything of Christ ours in every moment of our lives.  And so, my closing message for this week is Quench not the Spirit!  Let us cast all our cares on Him!  We may have to remind ourselves we have done so but there is nothing wrong with that.  We remind ourselves as often as we need to that, in this moment, Christ is our strength, our song, our light, and our salvation until we no longer need reminding.  He is our Helmet of Salvation, transforming us through the renewing of our minds!

It is so!  Amen.  

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Yeshua (יֵשׁוּעַ) – What is the Meaning of Jesus’ Name? – Path of Obedience

Gurnall, William, The Christian in Complete Armour, Seventh Printing, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts, 2021

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville Tennessee, 1990

A Time For Words

18 Monday Mar 2024

Posted by in Personal Essays, Studies, Whole Armor of God, Writing

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Welcome, All, to Renaissance Woman and the post that almost didn’t happen!

I did NOT feel like writing this week.  I love words but I find them utterly useless at times, especially when I am at my most vulnerable and emotions are raw.  Better to wait until the experience is over and it can be considered in a less emotional light.  There are few Christian teachers who speak of their experience while still going through it.  Most testimonies are after the fact, shared from the other side of the experience.  These testimonies-knowing how someone got through their experience-are valuable and I am grateful for those willing to share.  However, there are times where these same testimonies can feel like a dash of cold water.  I wonder if a testimony shouldn’t be the testifier crawling to the front of the room, screaming until he or she runs out of breath, and then stating, “But, in Christ…”

I am not on the other side of my experiences.  I have no idea what is going to happen in the upcoming days.  I don’t know what sort of situation I am going to walk into.  I can imagine them.  The last few weeks have provided enough fodder for my imagination recognize very real possibilities of ruination and despair looming on the horizon.  Will the clouds gathering be ones bringing storms and chaos or will they dissipate into nothing?  I don’t know.  I do know I do not face impending storms alone or unarmed.  I know Jesus Christ.  I have a past full of situations and experiences where He has proved Himself faithful.  Why then, do I still struggle?  Why have there been moments over these past weeks where I have dissolved into tears?

To answer that, I return to my recent study on obedience.  Hebrews 5:8 states that Jesus, “though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.”  The Greek word translated as “obedience” in this passage means “attentive hearkening, compliance, submission, to listen attentively, to hear under as a subordinate, to heed or conform to command or authority”.  I think about Jesus having to learn to hear the voice of His Father.  I think about the words “compliance” and “submission” and I imagine Jesus having to choose to listen to what His Father was saying.  I think about the words “heed” and “conform” and I imagine Jesus having to not only hear and choose but then do those things the Father was saying.  God has not been silent in the things I have suffered over the past weeks.  My problem is He hasn’t been saying what I want to hear.  “Let this cup pass from me,” is my cry.  My Father’s answer is “no” and then He sends me Romans 5:1-5:

“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.  And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.”  “In the world you will have tribulation,” my Lord and Savior says, “but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world” (see John 16:33).  He also says “lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (see Matthew 28:20). 

This is not what I want to hear.  I am tired.  I am in pain.  I do not want to glory in any tribulations.  I do not want perseverance or character produced in me.  I want Him to make all my difficulties go away.  The fact that His answer is “I will go with you,” means I still have to go through the difficulties and there have been moments where I have broken down and cried.  I am not ashamed of having done so because Jesus also cried.  Hebrews 5 speaks of the necessity of a high priest needing to “have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray, since he himself is also subject to weakness.”  This chapter describes Jesus as “a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death…” 

“Vehement cries and tears”.  I find that beautiful.  He does not scorn me for my having cried.  He knows tears.  He knows what it is like to receive a “no” from His Father.  He had to learn obedience.  And, being perfected, He is the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.  What does salvation look like in each specific difficulty?  I don’t know.  I don’t have any idea what Jesus is going to do and that is incredibly hard.  If He’d just tell me exactly how He was going to bring me through…

Exodus 14:13 says, “Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord.”  Moses speaks these words when the Israelites find themselves in dire straits.  Death is certain whether at the hands of the Egyptians or in the depths of the sea.  Did any one of them imagine the waters of the sea would part for them?  The scriptures certainly appears to answer with a resounding “no!”  Did Daniel expect an angel would come and shut the mouths of the ravening lions?  This story is told from the king’s perspective and he certainly believed Daniel’s God could save him from the lions but the story makes it clear the king wasn’t sure if Daniel’s God would.  Daniel 6:18 describes the king spending the night sleepless and fasting and verse 20 records him asking, “…has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?” 

I find a similar thought in the answer Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego gave to a different king.  Facing death (a fiery one this time), they say; “…our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king.  But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”  These two stories show an unshakable belief in that God can deliver His people from any situation, but there is still the question of will He?  I would add what form can we expect that deliverance to take?

I do not expect to face death in the upcoming week so am not seeking to be dramatic.  I have the same questions though as I face difficulties that can’t be ignored.  I know our God is able to deliver me but will He and what form will that deliverance take?  I don’t know.  He doesn’t say.  His assurance is that He is with me. 

There has been another facet to my experiences I feel it’s important to address.  The enemy has not ceased his attacks during these times.  If anything, I feel as if they’ve intensified.  I cannot stress too often how the battlefield is in our minds.  The Accuser sought to bring me down using my own thoughts.  “Hath God said,” didn’t work because I know the Voice of my Shepherd and yes, He hath said indeed.  So, the enemy used another tack.  “We don’t deserve the love of God…” I had heard a Christian teacher say.  The enemy picked up on the word “deserve” and the onslaught began.  My thoughts were something like this: “You can’t expect deliverance.  In fact, you should expect bad things to happen to you because you’ve sinned in the past and your sins have hurt people.  The Bible says, ‘if you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind’ and that is what you should expect.  Oh, He will go with you certainly but He won’t deliver you because you don’t deserve it.”

The rest of the Christian teacher’s quote was “He loves us, not because we deserve it, but because He is love” which was something the enemy left out.  The only way to combat these attacks is with words and in these instances words are critical. “It is written!” was the battle tactic Jesus Himself used when facing the Adversary in the wilderness.  It is written, because I am in Christ I am a new creation: old things have passed away and behold! all things have become new.  Love keeps no record of wrongs.  As far as the east is from the west, is how far my transgressions have been removed from me. Nothing can separate me from His love.  Jesus was delivered up because of my offenses but was raised because of my justification.  I am justified by faith and have peace with God through my Lord Jesus Christ.

I still have no idea what the next days hold for me.  It could be storms and chaos or it could be the things I have feared never come upon me.  I know I am not alone.  I know He is Faithful and True.  I know He has promised never to leave nor forsake me.  I know He has promised there is nothing that can take me out of His hand.  I know that He will work everything for my good because I love Him and am called according to His purpose. I know I will emerge on the other side more conformed to His image than I am now.

I will close with this:  “I sought the Lord, and He heard me, And delivered me from all my fears.  They looked to Him and were radiant, And their faces were not ashamed.  This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.  The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.  Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!” (Psalm 34:4-8).

Note: The passages quoted in my “It is written!” reply are 2 Corinthians 5:17, 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, Psalm 103:12, Romans 8:31-39, and Romans 4:25-5:1

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville Tennessee, 1990

Outside the Camp

11 Monday Mar 2024

Posted by in Poetry, Writing

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I’m taking a brief break from my study for this week’s post. I had a busy work week and couldn’t devote the study time my subject deserves. Instead, I am sharing a poem I wrote some years ago (reworked a bit for this post). I was reminded of it as I have conducted this study and especially as I have seen the Greek word translated “obedience” means “attentive listening”. Hearing the Voice of God, knowing that He is revealing Himself, is wonderous. I can remember when He began to teach me about Himself some 20 years ago. There was a period of time when all I could do was marvel that the God I had learned about was real and alive and talking to me. He wasn’t some artifact I went to a museum called “church” to reminisce about nor was the Bible a textbook used to study Him like a specimen.

However, not everyone responds to God’s revelation of Himself in the same way at the same time (See 1 Corinthians 15:20-23). Trusting and following after the revelation we receive can be lonely and even painful when those we wish to have close relationships with aren’t seeing the same things we are. It can feel.

Except…He will never leave us nor forsake us. His Spirit lives in us and it isn’t possible for us to ever be alone. It’s important to test everything because not every spirit is from God (1 John 4:1-5) but God isn’t out to trick you: He is patient and He is kind and He will confirm His word to you. If the time ever comes when you have to rise up and walk in the light you have been given and no one else will walk with you, know you do not so alone. God Himself goes with you and in you and there are many of us already outside the camp (Hebrews 13:13). I hope this poem both blesses and encourages you all.

Outside the Camp
I am one of many sheep at rest
The others are asleep, I think
I alone lie here, distressed
The Voice won't let me sleep a wink.
Come out! Come out! Come out to me!
Abandon the darkness and the damp!
Oh, the song I will sing to thee
My life is warmth: my word a lamp!
The other sheep all laugh at me
They all have heard the calling too
"The voice is that of the enemy
A wolf who will devour you".
The Voice does not make me scared
He assures me I won't be alone
But I don't know if I'm prepared
To go outside on my own.
I can already hear His song
I'm sure His Voice is one I know
Something so beautiful can't be wrong
Oh, does no one else desire to go?
There is not one who'll go with me
They all say I've been led astray
If it's devoured I'm to be
So be it. He calls. I must obey.