How Can There Be A God If

I think mothers and fathers look at the pain that their children go through a little differently. I think, in general, mothers would do anything so that their children would not have to experience pain. Father’s on the other hand, with varying philosophies, believe that certain amounts of pain and hardships are good for their children and prepare their children for future hardships that they might have to endure in life.

Consider for a moment the many scriptures that speak of our faith being refined the same way that fine metals are refined (through intense heat) … 1 Peter 1:6-9 is one of them. Intense heat is ‘not’ comfortable! :-) Now consider a God whose long term objective is ‘not’ our comfort in this world (though He does often comfort us), but rather a goal of the eternal salvation of our souls.

If we allow the tragedies in life to turn our hearts toward God then what we call tragedies have not been wasted. Look to the long term objectives and promises … 2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Citizenship

If we are defined by one thing then we have focus, if we define ourselves by more than one thing then we do so with the detriment of being divided regarding some decision that we must make either now or in the future. We try to condone our self serving natures (me too) by self imposing a tier-system of one thing being more important than another.

I think about the examples we see in the New Testament scriptures. I have never read any disciple in scripture taking pride in their country or their citizenship. There were ones that admitted their worldly citizenship (for instance Paul as a Roman citizen) but only when it allowed an opportunity for God’s will of sharing the gospel with the Roman officials).

As for myself I am only a U.S. citizen according to the paperwork of the U.S. and the governmental rules of this world. In my heart and mind however I can borrow the words of a favorite praise and worship song; “This world is not my home, I’m just passing through” … Galatians 3:28

YOU Help the Poor !

The greatest benefit of serving those that are in need is that it will bring you toward a greater opportunity for a relationship with God.

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James 1:27, Acts 9:36, Acts 10.

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Notice how God not only ’says’ that “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and .. is …to look after orphans and widows in their distress”; but he also shows us in other scriptures how ‘He’ has reached out to those who have reached out to those who are in need.

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Also consider Matthew 10:42 and Mark 9:41.

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In mind of those last two, notice that it does ‘NOT’ say “anyone who gives money to an organization and has that organization give a cup of water in my name” … Instead it speaks to the individual doing it.

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When was the last time that ‘you’ gave to those that needed food and/or clothing. Jesus gave us an example to follow. His command is that ‘you’ follow that example. So, either you need to follow it or stop dirtying His name by not following it but still calling yourself a Christian. … ME TOO!

The greatest benefit of serving those that are in need is that it will bring you toward a greater opportunity for a relationship with God.

James 1:27, Acts 9:36, Acts 10.

Notice how God not only ’says’ that “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and .. is …to look after orphans and widows in their distress”; but he also shows us in other scriptures how ‘He’ has reached out to those who have reached out to those who are in need.

Also consider Matthew 10:42 and Mark 9:41.

In mind of those last two, notice that it does ‘NOT’ say “anyone who gives money to an organization and has that organization give a cup of water in my name” … Instead it speaks to the individual doing it.

When was the last time that ‘you’ gave to those that needed food and/or clothing. Jesus gave us an example to follow. His command is that ‘you’ follow that example. So, either you need to follow it or stop dirtying His name by not following it but still calling yourself a Christian. … ME TOO!

The Law is Spiritual. But I am Unspiritual

Pray that I will continue to keep in mind ‘today’ the great love that Jesus Christ gave so that I might daily be free from the law of sin and death. And that all of our brothers and sisters around the world will struggle relentlessly in the understanding of that great love. I pray that we will all be awake and ready. Fully aware that one of the schemes of the enemy is to rock us asleep while singing the great lullabies that will get us thinking about our jobs, our families, our friends, and our responsibilities. Satan doesn’t needs us to think about something vividly evil in order for him to be happy; as long as we don’t think about God in this moment, then the devil is happy.

“We know that the Law is spiritual; but I am a creature of the flesh [carnal, unspiritual], having been sold into slavery under [the control of] sin. For I do not understand my own actions [I am baffled, bewildered]. I do not practice or accomplish what I wish, but I do the very thing that I loathe [which my moral instinct condemns].

Now if I do what is contrary to my desire, [that means that] I acknowledge and agree that the Law is good (morally excellent) and that I take sides with it. However, it is no longer I who do the deed, but the sin [principle] which is at home in me and has possession of me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.]

For I fail to practice the good deeds I desire to do, but the evil deeds that I do not desire to do are what I am [ever] doing. Now if I do what I do not desire to do, it is no longer I doing it [it is not myself that acts], but the sin [principle] which dwells within me. So I find it to be a law (“rules of right and wrong” acting in my being) that when I want to do what is right and good, evil is ever present with me and I am subject to its insistent demands.

For I endorse and delight in the Law of God in my inmost self [with my new nature]. [Ps. 1:2.] But I discern in my bodily members [in the appetites and wills of the flesh] a different law (rule of action) at war against the law of my mind (my reason) and making me a prisoner to the law of sin that dwells in my bodily organs [in the appetites and wills of the flesh]. O unhappy and pitiable and wretched man that I am! Who will release and deliver me from [the shackles of] this body of death? O thank God! [He will!] through Jesus Christ (the Anointed One) our Lord! So then indeed I, of myself with the mind and heart, serve the Law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. … at Romans 7:14-25 AMP

Choosing God’s Best revisited

Once upon a time I wrote a post about “Choosing God’s Best” and said that I would like to write more about that later. … Well, I never got around to writing that ‘more’ that I was referring to, but I am glad that you were able to write in your blog about it.

I do have a comment about the “High Standards” that you refer to however. I find that there are many people, influenced by the world’s view on things, who have created this criteria for a person they are looking for and that criteria gets in the way of God’s choosing ‘for’ us.

Allow God to be the ‘full’ match maker. Drop the “check-list” and simply tell God make it clear for you whether He wants you to be single or to be married. In that total surrender to His will you will find that He ‘is’ able to make it clear to you and you don’t have to have any criteria other than Him.

Consider in Gen 24 how Abraham allowed God to choose a wife ‘for’ his son. His son  Isaac didn’t pick his own wife, and Isaac’s wife wasn’t even picked by his father. How’s that for not having standards. The only “standards” that you might see from this story is the criteria set by Abraham of ‘not’ getting Issac a wife “from the daughters of the Canaanites”.

I think that had to do, if memory is serving me correctly, with a command God had given about the influence that a woman might have in serving the god of other peoples. But notice the criteria that he set had nothing to do with social status or outward appearance.

The reason I mention this, and I do realize I don’t know you and I am making an assumption here, is that in the American culture that I am from, the use of the phrase “I have high standards” doesn’t usually apply to the idea that someone is looking for a man/woman who has a similar faith. Instead it usually applies to looks, age, social standing, financial stability, or whether or not someone has a vehicle.

Worldy man’s perspective; “God wouldn’t want me to be with a woman that I’m not attracted to would He?”.

Worldy woman’s perspective; “God wouldn’t want me to be with a man that couldn’t provide a good life for me and our family would He?”.

Both perspectives are skewed and twisted (custom designed ideological dementia from the father of lies himself). But I’ll leave any further ideas that I have about this for another time.

Disney Channel Christianity

It’s good to see that God has given you a faith. I don’t yet know what kind of faith it is because I don’t know you.

However since God has given me faith in 2003 I have taken seriously the charge; “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” … Heb 3:12-13

And as such I challenge every brother and sister in Christ to not accept the mamby pamby, Leave it to Beaver, Walton’s Mountain, Disney Channel christianity that seems to proliferate wildly like some fiendishly inspired disease.

A false Christianity that simply carries over from the “American Dream” that fed the imaginations of millions now repackaged as a form of Christianity pulled loosely from scripture promising health, big houses, “good” jobs, and advanced schooling at a “good” college for all of your children.

“Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised.

Pursuing God?

Trying so hard to avoid boredom.

I thought I was pursuing God because I “went to church” most Sundays, and occasionally on Wednesdays. However when I reflect back on life I consider all of the places I’ve been & everything I’ve experienced. I realize that I’ve spent 40 to 50 hrs/wk pursuing a career, 28 hrs/wk glued to the television &10 hrs a week sitting behind a computer.

I’ve spent more time trying to entertain myself than sharing the wonder of life that God has given me. I’ve been to Disney Land, Niagara Falls, Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, and Egypt. I’ve went to all the greatest places in the world but I didn’t spend five minutes a week sharing with someone the wonders God has done in my life. Not even 1% of my time sharing that Jesus Christ gave his life so I could be reunited in a relationship with God. … If my life’s time was a tithe I could not stand before God and say that I really appreciated what He’s done for me.

“I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.” … Philemon verse:6

It’s Good to Ask

It is good that our family is going through things that require us to ask for help. “Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it.” – Luke 18:17 … Think about it for a moment. Have you ever seen a child that had difficulty asking for help because of their pride and their desire to be self sufficient.

I was originally looking up something else in connection with pride when I found a blog entry about becoming like children. And then I believe that the Unique Person of God (the Holy Spirit) began to teach me as I was reading that scripture above in the context of pride. And I started to think how much I really need to set aside my pride and become more like a little child in so many more ways.

I should start getting to know the children that God has placed in my life and looking at them more. I should start learning from the way that God has made the ones that are closest to me before they lose too much of their innocence. And hopefully before that happens God will have given my wife and I another child that is old enough that I can learn from. Well actually wife to be, just nine more days to marriage.

Set Free To Follow Christ (by Clay Brown)

Set Free To Follow Christ:
Freedom from Pornography
by Clay Brown

I’m writing this, not as one who has finished the journey to freedom over sin, but as a man who faces trials and failures every day of his life. I’ve learned a great many things since I have faced my sexual addiction. Perhaps the most difficult lesson has been learning to deal with my failures. I don’t consider the issue of sexual addiction one I can turn my back on. I feel like a character from a western novel who never sits with his back to the saloon doors. My victory over this ugly sin has spanned mere months. When those months turn to years I may develop a different view.

I’ve traveled such a long way since coming to First Stone Ministries for help. It’s not just sexual issues that have been overcome since that day nearly two years ago. My walk with God was shallow and unimpressive. Days – no, weeks – would go by before I’d have any real spiritual time with my Savior. I was coasting and I couldn’t see the increasing distance between myself and God. How often we fall to the subtlety of Satan rather than to his bully tactics. “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” (I Peter 5: 8-9). Have you ever watched a lion on the hunt. The unsuspecting victim is busy filling its stomach with leaves or grass. Too engrossed to stop what he’s doing to notice the tale-tell signs of approaching danger, he will pay the price. How does the lion attack? Does he roar and charge head on from two miles away? I’m learning more and more to see those fields of tall, luring grass that lie off from the path I must walk. For if I stray from the my path I risk being devoured by the lion as he lies silently beneath the grass, waiting.

Like so many others, I was a child when the seed of sexual addiction was planted within me. My father loved me very much, but his own addictions led him to introduce me to pornography and masturbation. Once the seed of corruption was planted Satan nurtured and watered it through the worlds system. When I became a young man I left home and joined the Marine Corps. I was stationed for four years in Southern California. Drug dealers, strip bars, peep shows and hookers littered the streets outside of Camp Pendleton. My time and money went towards staying high and feeding my sexual addiction. I couldn’t identify my sexual perversion as a problem. You see, the world may give lip service to drug abuse, but no such concern is directed to ungodly sexual behavior. Since I didn’t have God to guide and advise me I was left to seek happiness as the world advertises it. Looking to the world for moral guidelines is like going to a dermatologist who thinks band-aids are a cure for leprosy.

Pornography’s hold on me grew stronger as I grew older. The effect this had on my sexual life was always obvious to me, even when I was unable to see it through the eyes of the Holy Spirit. One effect it had on me that I was unable to see until I was well on my way to recovery was my inability to be intimate with others. Godly sex is an extension of the intimacy between a husband and wife. Worldly sex is a perverse, destructive form of self-gratification. I remember sitting in Stephen Black’s office one evening when he said something that opened my eyes. He told me that whenever we sin sexually we’re hurting our very souls. I Corinthians 6:18 says, “Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body.” The way we treat others is a mere reflection of how we feel about ourselves. When we allow sexual sin to pollute us we’re damaging our image of ourselves to the point where we may loose sight of who and what we are in God’s world. If we aren’t able to see ourselves as God does then we can not react to others in a true spirit of love.

You would have thought that when I asked Jesus Christ to come into my life I would have instantly been cleansed from all my sins. Actually, in one sense this did occur. “And this is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” (I Corinthians 6:11). We are instantly washed by the blood of Christ at the moment of faith. Being transformed into the image of Jesus on earth (sanctified), however, is a gradual process. I used to daydream that God would appear in the midst of my troubles and shoot me with His “Acme Holiness Ray-gun”. I now see God’s wisdom more clearly than I did in those days of Warner Brothers cartoon fantasies. The painstaking method of sanctification has added strength to my walk with God that quick fixes could never have accomplished.

There is nothing as important in recovering from sexual addiction than our walk with god. Yet so many sincere Christians are trapped in this habitual sin. “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry each others burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:1-2)

God never intended us to be spiritual islands. Yet one of the destructive elements of this sin is that it isolates us emotionally. Before anyone can climb out of the pit of sexual sin they must reach up and grab the hand of another. I believe one of the greatest holes to be filled in the body of Christ is the shortage of laborers in the ministry of sexual recovery.

Brokenness is a prerequisite to spiritual victory. Taking the time to find First Stone Ministries, and keeping that first appointment with Stephen Black, was an extension of my brokenness. I had lost my wife, I was afraid of passing my sin to the next generation, and I felt a million miles from God. But once I made that first contact I was on the road to sexual freedom. God will deliver each and everyone of us from the sin that entangles us, but we must keep our end of the bargain. I’m reminded of the story of the slow-witted farmer who purchased a chain-saw. “This beauty’s guaranteed to cut down 40 trees a day”, the salesman boasted, “or we’ll give ya’ your money back.” “I’ll take it”, he replied. And moments later he was driving home with his new purchase. One week later, however, he was back in the store. “This thing don’t work”, he complained, “I’ve been workin’ my tail off and I ain’t able ta’ bring down more than five trees a day.” The salesman frowned at the saw. Then he took it and pulled the starter cord. Hearing the chain saw roar to life, the farmer jumped back in shock and exclaimed, “What’s that!” How often do we fail to use the power of God in our lives. I now realize, several years into my journey to sexual freedom, that my relationship with God ultimately enabled me to overcome my habitual sin. That may sound too easy to some, but like the slow-witted farmer we tend to get it wrong nevertheless.

Prayer, reading the scriptures of God and scripture memory have been the key disciplines to my building a powerful relationship with God. Freedom didn’t occur over night. The times I fell back into my sin were too numerous to count. Yet each time I did fall I got back up and turned to God. Continuing in God means not giving up. It means really wanting to put God first and the world behind us. “When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him,`Do you want to get well?’” (John 5:6) I never realized it until after the facts, but I didn’t have complete freedom over sexual sin until I truly wanted it. How often do we hear someone say they’d do anything to be free of a particular sin? But are they willing to put God first and the world behind them? Like so many things in life the answer to our problem is easy to understand but hard to practice. That’s because choices are made on 10% knowledge and 90% determination. Just as intellectual acceptance differs from true faith, true freedom over sin is a world away from lip service to the same.

I will never be the same since that moment I walked into First Stone Ministries like a wounded puppy, ready to face my sin. It wasn’t until I was well into my journey that I began to mature in my walk and experience victory. This journey will never end until Christ returns, and I’m glad for it. There are more meaningful endeavors than returning to the Egypt of our lives. That’s right, I don’t plan on bowing to Pharaoh ever again. I want to be where the presence of God shines, even if it means 40 years in the wilderness.

There is a tale about Abraham Lincoln before the Civil War. He happened upon a slave auction and noticed from the crowd the object of the next sale. A beautiful young black woman stood on the auctioneer’s stage. The bidding started and the men in the crowd began raising the price one after another as they appraised her with cruel stares. But with each bid Abraham Lincoln would raise it one dollar higher. As this continued the young slave girl eyed the tall awkward man with a look of suspicion and fear. Finally the last bid was made, and it fell to young Lincoln. Lincoln paid the auctioneer and the slave girl was brought to him. “Remove her chains”, he ordered her former captor. The girl rubbed her wrists and glared at her new master with uncertainty. “What ya’ goin’ ta’ do wit’ me now”, she asked. “Why, I’m going to sit you free miss”, he answered. “Free? What you mean, free?” “I mean you are a free person. You are no longer a slave.” Ya’ mean I can do whatever I want?” she exclaimed. Ya’ mean I can go anywhere I want?” Abraham Lincoln just smiled and nodded his head. “Then I want to be wit’ you!” she shouted. He looked down at her, puzzled. “You can go anywhere. Why would you want to follow me?” “Cause I wanna be wit’ the one who set me free.” When God set me free from sexual sin it was more than just a case of my overcoming a stronghold in my life. It was a renewal in my walk with God. It is the realization in my heart that I want to follow the one who has set me free.

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Updated: 13 July 2002

Strange to be Happy

I feel like it is such a strange thing to be happy. When I think about what God is giving me I am able to enjoy it. But when I am thinking about all of the things that I have done wrong, in spite of what I know better, I am disappointed.

But this is the time for me to be happy. I know it is because I can hear God speaking to me about it. But still, even though he is telling me that this is the time for me to be happy, it is still strange. It is strange to enjoy all of the things that God has given me when I am accustomed to being saddened by the good that I am not able to do. (Romans 7:21-25)

It is hard for me to let go of a habit that I have developed of taking a solemn look at myself; examining myself to see if I am keeping in mind the great sacrifice that Christ has paid for us. But there is a time for everything. (Ecclesiastes 3:1-4). I know it is good to take a solemn look at myself, but it is also good for me to laugh and to enjoy the many things that God has given me.