Friday, February 27, 2015

Beyond Mercy's Gate

When the pain comes ( and it will), it's a chance to see with new eyes. It is an opportunity to be shocked awake by our grief. Don't let the agony go to waste. God is using it: He really is. The searing burden so foreign to our flesh, is directing you towards His position, where is found the truth of our poverty and the power of humility. Pride has no place in His presence. There is no holiness but His. So this call you are receiving is naught but unmitigated mercy to the undeserving.

He is expecting you. Your own expectations of some form of judgement will be overturned by your joy, when you comprehend His unreserved acceptance, and His rejoicing in your change of heart. Here is HIS joy, your acceptance of your deliverance, by His hand, through HIS works, and in His power!

He is searching out His sons. He calls, purifies in His own blood, and transforms, those He would have stand with Him. He has stirred up their souls and hearts with His own courage. Each of you is a piece of His own heart, entrusted with the family treasure of His good news, and His expectation of your overcoming of the world with, and in, His name! After you have entered Mercy's Gate, who's name is Jesus, live for the giving of the same mercy to your brethren!

Sunday, February 8, 2015

Caveat

They're at it again. It's a choice to misunderstand. Why should there be a change of system belief for those who feel it already works to their advantage? Some are on a righteous crusade of anger, to convert the world to a better place, by force if necessary, into what is no more than their own image. Those who undertake to define authority to their benefit, also twist the whole concept of submission into a biblically unrecognizable form.


If you think authority is the right to cause pain or fear, then you will also believe submission is obedience without question or regard for sensibilities. This is wrong. Punishment is no longer a factor for born again, blood redeemed believers. We can no longer be condemned because "that which is born of God cannot sin." What there are, still, are consequences. We experience those for the purpose of the "sanctification of the flesh", that learning process whereby we are purified to think as He does, to UNDERSTAND.

Submission is finding our joy in obedience to His goodness. God's authority is the route and order by which strength, blessing, honor, and freedom come to us. Receiving what He has ordained for our care is, simply put, surrendering to joy (even if the feel good part is sometimes delayed). Submitting is most of the actual transformation process. It's application makes of us the very goodness and holiness of God.

Those who pervert submission into something which can be imposed, have entirely missed the point. How does lacking understanding or agreement thwart the will of God? Violent forces may very well be integral to the act of creation, but these things should come from the opposition, not the brethren. As examples, you don't manhandle a butterfly newly emerged from it's chrysalis, to "help it", or it will die, nor do you inflict pain on a creature you are training when it gets the correct answer, or it will not repeat the action (and animals are much more AWARE than humans!) Our use, and therefore misuse, of force, speaks volumes about us. It tells others that we really don't believe what we are saying!


Someone who has come to a point of submission has come into agreement with God, so don't "kill the try" by being a discouragement to them. This trust makes him vulnerable. Actively following Christ must originate from their own initiative because they are convinced and convicted by the Spirit! It is purely consensual! "Your people will be volunteers in the day of Your power!" (Psalm 110)


So, what kind of a fear and anger narrative could compel you to overlook your brother's pain, and deny him the love of God, which is his birthright? Is it possible that the healing and reconciliation which you refuse him, has not yet been permitted  to visit the inner depths of your own being? Do you have barriers to the light, which you carefully nurture, in hopes of wresting things right, yourself? If you cannot see past that dark story to an understanding of Christ's example, then you are still part of the darkness. It still owns you. Are those who like to preach submission when others resist their abuse, unsubmitted to God, themselves?


In humility consider other better than yourselves.  Each should look not only to your own interests but also to the interests of others.  Philippians 2:3b-4
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.  Honour one another above yourselves. Romans 12:10
Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.  1 Corinthians 10:24
Be kind and tender-hearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ, God forgave you.  Ephesians 4:32
As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Colossians 3:12