Who IS that guy?

Imagine you and your colleagues are at your workplace minding your own business, when a guy walks in to talk to your boss. No big deal. No one pays much attention. Then, imagine that one of your co-workers rushes in to inform you that he saw the guy emerge from a chauffeur-driven limousine complete with a police escort. Suddenly, your eyes widen. Your attention is aroused. “Who is that guy?” you all wonder.

Now, imagine you and a dozen friends are sitting around a campfire, laughing and joking, enjoying a starry night and some tasty snacks. You’re all having a laid-back evening with the guys. Someone just told a hilarious joke, and you’re all gasping with laughter and wiping tears from your eyes.

No one has the slightest inclination that one of your buddies sitting around the campfire, laughing and joking with the rest of you, is in reality the Son of the Most High God.

That’s how it should be within Christendom! We should all aspire to be that nameless, faceless person who has no reputation, who doesn’t stand out (nor has any desire to), content to fit in and be just ‘one of the guys’. There should be no line of demarcation, no visible differentiation between us and ‘the world’, no badges or buttons, nothing that would set us apart as being a Child of the Most High God.

I’ve heard it said that if we feel we have to add anything to the title of ‘Child of God’ that something’s amiss. Everything we are is because of the Life contained within our spirit. We have nothing, are nothing, will never be anything BUT nothing apart from that Life. We are all on a level playing field. There are no ‘haves’ or ‘have nots’.

Then why is it that this hierarchy exists within Christendom? One would think that having broken free from the restraints of organized religion a believer would be content to be ‘just one of the guys’, but such is not the case. There are many ‘free range’ believers who had established a name for themselves within the institutionalized church, but who continue to promote themselves outside the IC as being someone who’s just a tad superior to the common, run-of-the-mill believer. They just establish a new following. People flock to their seminars. They buy their books and tapes. They’re widely quoted. They’re perceived as being ‘somebody’. They use terms such as ‘my ministry’ ‘my calling’. They have ‘teachings’ and ‘series’ and inwardly enjoy the deferential treatment they get.

Now, not all formerly high profile, out-of-boxers fit this description, and I am not criticizing the folk who do. We are all subject to deception by the evil one. Satan is wondrously capable of distorting our self-image, and consequently we can justify anything. What we and others might perceive to be ‘God’s anointing’ may simply be pride and self-centredness - which translates into a desire to be noticed and to have others think of us as being special, set apart or on a higher spiritual plain. What is nameless and faceless about that?

Margi

Possessions

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.