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The psycho babble of self-esteem-worth-image etc. is in my opinion dealing primarily with ones soul and has nothing to do with one’s true identity in Christ.
It seems more the rule than the exception that so much misunderstanding or view of the Christian does just that, it revolves around our soulishness, the ying and yang, bio rhythms, personality temperaments flavours etc.
I love this quote and how it ties in with my observations of the co-mingled gospel that has permeated so much of what it means to be a Christian, similar to Jesus’ warning of, “beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.”
“The quest to establish an identity on the basis of our own self-sufficiency displaces the real thing in both people and churches. It is nothing less than identity theft.”
Appearances and behaviour have often been that which supposedly defined ones identity, in others it seems to be defined in a healthy sense of person hood derived from an abundance of possessions, social position, or individual achievement.
Our life (identity) does not come about because the abundance one has or the lack thereof!
Rich
We are the physical manifestation of our DNA – the double helix that defines our unique physical and biological characteristics and which carries genetic information from one generation to the other. This is why we as parents (both of us being brunettes) produced two brunette children.
Richard and I have a theory that some sort of spiritual DNA exists as well. Here’s our reasoning: scientists know that there are certain genetic markers on each DNA molecule that denote predispositions to a host of inherited conditions, Parkinson’s disease, for example. They also know that if people depart from a diet their ancestors consumed without deviation for eons, that they develop diseases unheard of in previous generations. On the same note, those whose ancestors were alcoholics have a genetic marker or predisposition to develop alcoholism themselves. In both these examples, diet and alcohol abuse seem to have somehow insinuated themselves as genetic markers on the actual DNA makeup over time. This is very intriguing!
Now here’s a wild thought: what if in the cataclysmic tsunami called the Fall of Man (and all have sinned fallen short of the glory of God) an invisible third strand intertwined itself to that DNA? For this strand to become attached to our biological DNA could not have happened in a vacuum. A choice had to be made available to Adam and Eve to accept or deny such an inclusion. Could it be that the choosing had to do with which fruit appeared most attractive to them - the fruit adorning the Tree of Life or the fruit adorning the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?
When the scriptures state we were born in sin and shaped in iniquity, it means our introduction to a fallen world began in the womb. This is articulated with succinct clarification in the following verse: “By nature we were children of wrath, sons of disobedience.” Apart from Christ the Word becoming flesh, not one person ever escaped this internal prison of religious bondage. When Adam and Eve ingested the forbidden fruit, it permanently altered, in a metaphysical sense, their genetic makeup. This is what we are referring to as “the invisible third strand”.
Jesus was quick to point out that those who unwittingly agreed with Satan’s thoughts and suggestions (Peter, the believing Jews, Pharisees, etc.) were under the influence of Satan. He wasn’t trying to be insulting; He was just stating a fact! After all, sin had resided within them since their conception. They had become so familiar with the voice of their father the devil that they mistook it for their own voice. As spirit speaks to spirit, so does flesh speak to flesh. The Light was exposing the invisible third strand on their DNA – not to condemn them but to save them! The point is that Jesus came to bring sight to those who were blind, but to those who claimed they could see their judgment would be that they would remain in their blindness.
Consider John 8. What in my opinion appeared to be a showdown was in actuality Jesus trying to open the eyes of those who were totally blinded so that they could see that they had been born slaves to sin. That’s why it’s so essential that we allow our minds to be transformed and to have Christ formed in us. If we don’t, we will continually be susceptible (in our souls) to the leading of the father of lies and may not learn to recognize the voice of our Heavenly Father when he speaks.
It is essential to remember that the arena in which we are attacked is located within our soul. Our spirit (if we have been born again) is permanently indwelt by Jesus’ spirit and will spend eternity in heaven. However, because we have been given free will, we have a choice in how much or how little we allow Christ to be formed in us in our soul - our mind, will and emotions.
We welcome your thoughts!
Rich/Margo
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Our longing to know who we really are-which is the source of all our dis-content, dis-ease-will never be satisfied until we confront and accept our solitude. There we discover that the truth of our belovedness is really true. Our identity rests in God’s relentless tenderness for us revealed in Jesus Christ.
I love the seduction that has not only seduced my soul but has been ravished by Jesus Christ!
Silence is not simply the absence of noise or the shutdown of communication with the outside world, but rather a process of coming to stillness. Silent solitude forges true speech. I'm not speaking of physical isolation; solitude here means being alone with the Alone, experiencing the transcendent Other and growing in awareness of one's identity as the beloved. It is impossible to know another person intimately without spending time together. Silence makes this solitude a reality. It has been said, "Silence is solitude practiced in action."
(From Abba's Child~Brennan Manning)
Rich
Don’t you just love it when the Father breathes into you fresh new insight (revelation) of Whose you are, which spills out into a most practical living expression of who you are? God IS spirit and He is seeking those who will worship –relate, engage - Him in spirit and truth.
“The love of God is not created— it is His nature. When we receive the life of Christ through the Holy Spirit, He unites us with God so that His love is demonstrated in us. The goal of the indwelling Holy Spirit is not just to unite us with God, but to do it in such a way that we will be one with the Father in exactly the same way Jesus was.” Oswald Chambers
The rich and deeply encouraging freshness contained within the statement above became a spontaneous and overwhelming fire within me.
According to Scripture, everything ‘created’ is going to be shaken, and that includes our physical lives, but the great (good) news is that our life is no longer restricted or confined to this physical condition. I love the thought that we are at our core, spiritual beings, sons of God the Father, having a human experience!
The first people Adam and Eve were “created” beings, made from the dust of the earth when God breathed into them the breath of ‘lives’ making them living souls. Even though God said regarding his culminating achievement, the creation of man, “this is very good,” Adam and Eve were not yet complete. Although they were perfect for where they were at that instant, they remained created beings.
It has always been the Father’s intention to have ‘birthed’ sons, not created ones, and that is why the birthing is so imperative. Yet it is shrouded and cloaked with a polluted and commingled alchemy of law and grace.
If we do not know and continue to experience in an ever increasing awareness of Whose we are, then I see Paul’s words being most relevant to us today: “Do not live any longer as the Gentiles live. For they live blindfold in a world of illusion, and cut off from the life of God through ignorance and insensitiveness.”
If there was no way possible for us to become alienated, to live in ignorance, cut off from the only true source of life, Christ in us as us, then why would Paul’s warning be relevant?
Rich
Our view of God is what shapes our lives!
If in fact the life of the Father is our only true source of life, then doesn’t it stand to reason that what God our Father is, is what we are?
Meaning, it says that the fruit (nature) of God being love is, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
It goes on to further describe God (our true nature) being love in this manner. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices in the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always perseveres.”
Here is something that needs to be considered, it says, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
Isn’t it interesting that Jesus said that the world will know you are mine, by your love one toward another!
How can we that have been birthed by God the Father and yet live apart from not only Who’s we are, but who we are?
Why do our actions so often not correspond to the reality established in Who’s we are and who we are at the core of our being?
Why is it that when we see ourselves living contrary to the nature of who God is, that we resort to what we still think is our default position and try to “be” more patient, loving, kind etc. as if it is something we can produce by trying harder?
Is it possible that our loving heavenly Father is dealing, going the distance, deeply infiltrating us, and going to the depth of the ingrained habitual sin habit pattern that has tried to define who we are?
What a wonder-struck sense awaits us as he continues to open the eyes of our heart to see, know that the Law of the spirit of Life has freed us from the gravitational pull of sin and death.
His nature is not an add-on, it IS! The works of the flesh ARE! The fruit of the spirit IS!
This is so much more than mere semantics, remember, it’s a revelation not a seminar. Much like the difference between “like verses as,” are we to “be Christ like, or AS Christ?”
It is so easy to settle for a facsimile (a form of godliness) rather than Christ living in us as us.
This IS everlasting Life that you know ME!
Rich
Why is it (merely a rhetorical question) that as soon as God does anything in engaging us, making Himself known to us that we immediately try and make it fit into a natural mind set?
Jesus said to Nicodemus, “You must be born again,” to which Nick says, “Are you saying I have to go back into my mother’s womb and be born all over again?”
Or when Jesus engaged the Samaritan woman, here is some of that conversation. “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." Jesus said to her, "Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.”You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
Is there now through the re-birthing a “new me, a new you,” that most of us are totally unfamiliar with, and yet this “new” person we have become is in sync with knowing and hearing the voice of this living God who has become our Father?
The natural minded man does not receive the things of God, hear or understand this reality that has invaded us in being re-birthed.
Without a continued revelation (man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that flows from the heart of our God and Father) is it any wonder that what Jesus is building (His church) has been through the carnal natural minded man turned into a grotesque and hideous monstrosity that so many flock to.
Rich
I liked what the person said regarding this picture, (that I felt so complimented my heart stirrings here) This scene is very common when it is snowing in Toronto: footprints in deep snow while there is a clear pathway just few feet away! At first it seems that person made a foolish mistake that made his walk much harder, or simply wasn’t alert enough to see the clear path nearby. But this scene is way too common to assume that; it rather seems that there are some people who would rather walk in the deep snow than the seemingly clear path that almost everybody else seemed to take.
Many are called but few choose to embrace His calling!
Those whom He foreknew, he has called according to His purpose, that we might be conformed (transformed) to the image of His son.
For to you it has been granted for Christ's sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.
This isn’t some morbid death and suffering fixation I’m talking about here, but rather a knowing that He has called us to BE His, and His alone.
None who have been received of the Father will ever miss heaven, but that is not our goal, it is far from His ultimate intention.
In becoming fully identified with Christ, we too will learn obedience through that which we will suffer, that’s a guaranty.
I am seeing so much more clearly the necessity of embracing the ‘divine’ struggles, wrestling’s Father in His great love for me has appointed for my continued transformation.
These most needed and crucial elements although very stressful, painful, have hidden within them my name written all over them, they are divine and sacred gifts of His esteem toward and for me.
They are all part of my ‘birth-right,’ He is going to use them as I continue to not frustrate His grace to bring definitive demarcation of Who’s I am, and who I am, without embracing these blessed tools of transformation in disguise, I will forfeit great loss!!
Into every fiery and distressful encounter we are being led into there are only two prayers we can offer, “Father deliver me, save me, or, Father, not my will but yours be done, BE glorified in me in this time of distress.”
Is it Him we want, then be prepared to embrace your death each and every time He blesses you with His divinely appointed gifts of Love.
Rich
I want to put this up for any interested, please go to the following link, Windblown Hope.
I love what Father is doing in making Himself known in the depths of this brothers being, as He so desires to do in each of my siblings.
Rich
A little child shall lead them!
What is it that has buried you alive, shattered you in a million pieces, enveloped you in an ocean of grief, disemboweled you with the heartless and cruel razor slashing of daily living, what is it that has caused you to become immobilized, detoured you from following Him?
Just hear the heart of the Father of our spirit in these words spoken by our dear brother Paul to BE your ability to take the next step forward: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised— who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Part of the meaning of the name Papa chose and gave to me, by my earthly parents is “bold.” Richard the Lion hearted. It derives from Proverbs 28: “The wicked flee when no man pursued: but the righteous are bold as a lion.”
The key word I am seeing in this verse is not bold, but “Righteous,” it is the Righteous One in me as that bold one!
This Righteous One in me is allowing me to partake of my birth right, my inheritance, He is becoming more and more my daily bread, His strength is becoming so perfectly displayed in my absolute, total weakness, it is His boldness that is taking hold of me and turning me into a mad man for Him.
It is becoming a roaring and intensified mandate within me, to see His freedom established in His saints the church which IS His body, spirit, soul and body!
Father is using whatever it takes to bring us to a “knowing” of Him in us as us, as our ONLY life, and for me this morning it was in beginning to read from the book of Daniel. The orchestra begins its musical score in a minor key, foreboding and tension fills the air.
A great ruler, King Nebuchadnezzar has just conquered Jerusalem and besieged it. In claiming as his sole possession all of Jerusalem and all within it, he takes along with his army many captives, but four Jews in particular, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, the names given to them by the prince of the eunuchs.
Here’s where the musical score takes on a major key, Daniel it says, “Purposed in his heart not to defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.”
Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. Please read all of this here.
My point in all of this is to point you to the One, the only One who is your ability to, ‘having done all stand’ or, to take the next seemingly impossible step forward in spite of all logic or myth understand.
I want to close this with a quote from He Loves Me by Wayne Jacobsen: “For the first time since that cruel day in Eden, God was sitting down with people he loved and they were not cowering in fear.
For centuries men and women had stood at a great distance from God, shamed by their sin and intimidated by his holiness. With only a few notable exceptions, people wanted nothing to do with the immediacy of God’s presence. When Mount Sinai shook with thunder and earthquakes, the people begged Moses to go to God for them. God was a terrifying figure, and feeling safe with him was unthinkable.
But God had never thought so. He was unfolding his plan to restore the fellowship with humanity that Adam and Eve had lost in their fall. In Jesus, he was able to sit down in the company of those he loved, and they were comfortable enough to engage him in a real conversation. What an incredible moment that must have been for Jesus, to be with people who were not so awed by him that they could not enjoy his presence.
Of course, it happened only because the disciples had no idea that it was God who stoked the fire as they sat around and laughed. For although we now know that Jesus was God incarnate on Earth, they had no idea, and that made all the difference.”
By His grace I intend to become that safe place for many to discover the Righteous One, their boldness, as I simply love them as he loves me!
Rich
There is a longing and desire Father God has birthed within my heart to want to know Him and that desire is all consuming in its relentless pursuit of me. It is this quest that comes under intense focus by the enemy of our soul, Satan in our flesh. It has always been his purpose to try and keep us from becoming a loved and adopted child of God, but knowing that he is powerless to prevent this miracle from happening; its intent becomes even more intense.In not being able to stop us from being received of the Father, he will do his best to keep us living out of our independent self.
It is in this arena of warfare we can easily loose sight of what, who is important. Our birth-right is only begun in being reborn, His ultimate intention is to fully form His son in us. We will be tempted to forfeit that which is eternal, everlasting for our fifteen minutes of fame.The following are more wonderful thoughts on the Father’s ultimate intention for our lives, shared by Bill from “The Life That is Real Life.”
Rich
Wealth, possessions are a great stumbling block for all of us, but more often than not most see possessions to be outer things, it is obvious that there is more to possessions mere physical wealth.
This is the issue of surrendering our life plans to the Father.
There is a very real realm in which we may exercise possession or ownership. This is in the possession and control of nonphysical assets. These are the things that many in the world (Christian and nonchristian alike) would not consider possessions covered by the poverty of Christ Jesus. On the contrary, I believe these nonphysical possessions are more to the point of Christ’s teaching on ownership than any physical possessions we may have. It is far more personal and closer to us individually to speak of our possession of reputation, position, understanding, ability and status than any physical object or resource we may have.
It is my belief that it is in the area of nonphysical possessions that people most often become derailed in their growth in relationship with the Father. More Christians have traded deeper relationship with God for reputation, knowledge, acclaim and position than ever did so for money. Yet it is in this area of physical wealth that the organizational church most often encourages people to “get poor.” The teaching of Christ in this area is clear. You cannot follow the Father totally if you insist on carrying the baggage of reputation, position, self-importance and self-sufficiency with you.
There is a clear implication here that Jesus speaks about a state of being rich in this story that includes not only material possessions but also personal attributes. In short, we are not “rich toward God” any time we allow our possessions to make us self-reliant. It is in this way that we allow what we have to cut us off from relationship with the Father. The Father is all and He can be nothing else. God will not consent to be anything else. We are cut off from relationship with the Father when we ask Him to be something less than the everything He rightly is in our lives. We do this by allowing what we have to make us something in ourselves apart from Him. It is at this point that we cease to grow with the Father. He is still our Father and we are still His children, but we are no longer abiding and relying totally in Him. At this point our growth in relationship with the Father slows and is in danger of stopping altogether.
We do not own any of the things we have care over. They have been given to us for our use in carrying out the will of the Father. In other words, we are given the things we have from the Father so that we may life as the Father wishes us to live. If our very life comes from and belongs to the Father, what can we claim to own ourselves? The Bible’s clear position on this is that we do not even own our life. (Job 12:9-10)
This is why Jesus was so insistent that He was nothing apart from the Father. We too are nothing apart from the Father. We can never claim to have any possessions, talent, ability, ministry or power that is “of us and through us.” We only have the Father’s life. The only way we can properly express the Father’s life is by allowing the Father to lead us in all things. In this way we show forth the life that is real life in a healthy and constructive way.
I really don’t know you. Who did you say you were?
What does it mean to be a new creation-creature?
Most of us seem to be pretty much in touch with reality. We know that real-estate is real (or is it?). Definitely there are different aspects or dimensions of what is real, but reality has to be much more than just what exists at the moment. I’m alluding to something that exists forever!
In being reborn, an invasion of unmatched magnitude took place within us. Scripture (2Corinthians 5:17) points to this hidden reality that has within it components for now as well for all eternity. Without the aid of our loving Father, bringing us to see and partake of this reality, we will continue doing and working with the same old point of reference - our natural understanding. Whatever unique set of events triggered this invasion and became a personal experience within a person, it stands to reason that reason in and of itself will not suffice to move us beyond what we have been persuaded to think we actually know.
There have always been those who are being awakened to a living reality that transcends mere physical or intellectual dimensions. These ‘feelings’ that subtly interfere with our limited perspectives are most unsettling to say the least. How can a general sense of God’s peace in our lives coexist with this sense of uncertainty? Is there something wrong with us, or could it be our Father awakening us to a deeper perceptive of our true identity?
My friend Bill Landon said: “I must confess that when I first heard Warren Litzman say, “There was never a you-you, I neither understood nor accepted the truth of this statement. What on earth can you mean when you say that the person I saw myself to be never really existed?”
This is the reality of our identity as God’s birthed children through Christ.
The disturbing and yet gloriously good news is that the Father is gently and firmly pulling back the curtain that has veiled our minds since our natural birth into the physical world and exposing us to the truth that our previous identity was a lie! Is it any wonder that this new awareness, albeit real, is the source of our feelings of distress and insecurity?
Here is something to ponder in terms of the replacement of our fundamental nature: “Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.”
These feelings of insecurity are actually caused by the one who has kept this false identity intact. It is not an evidence of weak faith. "It is not failed faith or any other defect on our part that either causes or is causing this trauma. The uncertainty or uneasiness this revelation brings is due to the enormity of the revelation. It is a wonderful testimony to what God is doing in us that the father can bring us to the place of receiving this truth without it destroying us."
More thoughts to follow.
Don’t you just love colouring? I read the following someplace: "Christianity is not about learning to live within the lines; Christianity is about the joy of colouring."
Rich
I should have started with this before posting “The Flesh is a Personality”, live and learn is what it is all about.
We should not be surprised by the fact that the idea of Satan in the flesh is inherently offensive to us in our worldly understanding. This offense is, in a curious way, one more bit of evidence that this is a true representation of our condition in this world. I can say this because Satan is a liar and the father of lies: John 8:44The most dreadful prospect for a liar is exposure. For this reason we would expect a swift and strong reaction of the flesh to exposure of its true identity. The clear light of truth is death to one who lives by falsehood. The only power a lie has comes from our belief in it. Once the truth is known and accepted, the liar and his lies can no longer exert any influence over our living.This is why Scripture tells us that the truth is liberating to us: John 8:32 Given the gravity of this situation, it would be naive for us to expect the truth about the flesh to come to us without some considerable resistance.
Recognizing the true identity and condition of the flesh is a great step toward the reduction of the evil one’s influence in our living. Once we see the true condition of our being we are well on our way to constructively dealing with Satan’s influence in our daily life. It is true that the devil will always need to be resisted but our proper recognition of his working in us makes that dealing much easier and more effective. Any danger that is recognized for its true potential for harm is not nearly as much of a threat as an unrecognized or unappreciated risk.
Another aspect of this truth that Satan dwells in our physical body as the flesh is our reaction to this truth. We have all been the victims of years of exposure to the lies of the evil one. This exposure to falsehood has biased us in our thinking and understanding of how the world operates. The last thing that Satan wants is for us to see the truth about anything—especially the truth about our need to be healed and spiritually completed. As long as the evil one can keep us convinced that we are spiritually healthy or at least very nearly good in our natural state, he can block us from turning to the one true source of life and spiritual health—Christ. This includes not only interfering with our salvation but also complicating our daily surrender to letting Christ operate as our only effective source for living.
I would be more suspicious of the validity of the idea of Satan in the flesh if it were easily acceptable to my intellectual understanding than if it came as it does with some conflict. The devil will never give up his resistance to God and to our well-being. The only way we can ever know if our objection to an idea is due to its truth or falsehood is by spiritual discernment.
Rich
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