Soul Detox by Craig Groeschel

    I just got finished e the book "Soul Detox" by Craig Groeschel.  Craig is the founding pastor of Lifechurch.tv and creator of YouVersion bible app.  This is the first book of his that I have read.  Craig has a very easy to read writing style which made this a fast read.  I also liked how he dealt with some issues of great importance and sometimes overlooked.  Such things such as dealing with negative thoughts, envy, fear, comparing ourselves to others and resentment.  He also has a section on toxic influences and materialism which I found very appropriate especially around christmas time.
     One of the verses that I thought of but wasn't mentioned in this book is Matthew 10:16 which says to "be shrewd as serpents, and innocent as doves,"   I thought of this verse because more than anything else this book reminded me that I am to be intentional about the way that I live my life.  I am to be aware that as a christian I am living a lifestyle that conflicts with the world's values and that there are many stumbling blocks out there. Matthew 18:7 tells us that it is inevitable that stumbling blocks will come.  But, Jesus tells us to deal assertively with them being aware that they will hinder our spiritual growth.  Jesus goes to the extreme of telling us that if our eye causes us to stumble then to throw it out.  That's pretty gross, but the point is not to go around with one eye, but to deal aggressively and shrewdly with it.  Not to see how much sin we can get away with or to settle for a lukewarm attitude toward it, but to be wise about the devil's schemes.
    I was reading this morning about how friendship with the world is hostility toward God James 4:4.  We can't have it both ways.  Soul Detox made me take stock of what areas of my life need to change or where have I made compromises in my life.  There are a lot of sins and areas where christians make excuses or say something like "everyone else does it."  Whether that is watching rated R movies or gossip or greed or envy of what others have or simply holding on to grudges.   In another verse in James it says, "He jealousy desires the Spirit which he has made to dwell in us." James 4:5.  I believe he becomes jealous when we allow other things into our hearts and minds that have no place there while settling for less of his Spirit than he wants to give us.
    One of the gifts I can give the Lord this christmas is all of my heart. Cleansing away those things that I have allowed to creep in and compromised on.  Not so that I can be saved, but in order that the Lord might deepen His relationship with me and reveal more of Himself to me.  Again in James 4:8 it says, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, purify our hearts, you doubleminded."  Did you see that promise?  If I draw near to Him than he will draw near to me.  I want that, don't you?

Jesus Knows Our Hurts

    I realize that it has been about two months since I wrote on this blog.  I changed jobs with the agency I work with from an intensive in home  team lead to outpatient therapist around the beginning of August.  I have been trying to build up my case load and get to know my new clients the last two months.  I have been continuing at times my study into Romans and found a passage in Romans that struck me as interesting.
    In my work as a therapist, I meet people who have experienced intense rejection.  Parents who neglect their children or children who have experienced trauma.  It is unfortunately more common than you may realize.  What I found from my reading in Romans 10:13-21 is that the Lord Jesus has also experienced rejection.  He can understand us and minister to our hurts and dark places because he has been there.  Not only that, but as the perfect son of God He did absolutely nothing to deserve it.
    Unfortunately, this rejection of the Lord runs throughout scripture.  From the time when the people said they wanted a king over them in 1 Samuel and rejected God as their king.  To multiple times through Israel's history when they chose idols over God.   It led John to say in the gospel of John "He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him." John 1:11.  It led Jesus to cry over Jerusalem because as Jesus said, "you did not recognize the time of your visitation."  It led the Lord to say here in Romans about Israel that they are a "people who continually provoke Me to my face." Is 65:3a.
     The guilty party is not just Israel.  Every time I turn my back on God and want to do things my own way I am guilty also.  Our own pride, as it said earlier in Romans, doesn't want to obey God and doesn't even know how.  I think this has its foundation in human pride.  Our pride holds us back from feeling indebted to God by accepting salvation as a free gift rather than something that can be earned.  Would pride cause us rather to try to find a way to earn it, even when our good deeds are filthy rags to God?  Do we realize that our pride alienates us from God?
    I find it comforting to know that Jesus was willing to become the "man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" Is 53:3  He was willing to identify with his creation.  I should realize that if I have experienced rejection from others, he has experienced far more.  He knows exactly what that feels like.  Yet, his overwhelming grace and love provides mercy for me instead of unforgiveness or anger.  He keeps reaching out to us despite the fact that we fail Him so often.

Jesus and the deaf and dumb

31 Again, leaving the region of Tyre, He went by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, through[m] the region of the Decapolis. 32 They brought to Him a deaf man who also had a speech difficulty, and begged Jesus to lay His hand on him. 33 So He took him away from the crowd privately. After putting His fingers in the man’s ears and spitting, He touched his tongue. 34 Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed deeply and said to him, “Ephphatha!”[n] (that is, “Be opened!”). 35 Immediately his ears were opened, his speech difficulty was removed,[o] and he began to speak clearly. 36 Then He ordered them to tell no one, but the more He would order them, the more they would proclaim it.

     This story above is in Mark 7:31-36.  It tells the story of a man who was deaf and also had a speech impediment.  I was thinking about this story and how sometimes Jesus spoke a word and people were healed.  Other times, the person who was healed wasn't even there.  There really is only one common component to all of the miracles and that is that someone had faith that Jesus could and would heal.
      We don't know how much this man himself knew Jesus.  But, the story goes that they were begging Jesus to touch this man.  The man himself could not hear the begging on his behalf.  After thinking about it, I think this is why Jesus healed this man in such a unique way.  More than him being healed, he wanted the man to know who it was that was healing him.  So, that there is no mistake about it since the man cannot hear he touches him.  The man knows more than anyone that it was Jesus touch that caused the healing.
      To me, this says that Jesus meets us where we are.  As a young christian you may need the neon sign and sign post that tells you God is near.  He will indulge sometimes and give us signs and impressions to let us know He is near. As a mature believer, we shouldn't need the neon sign from God to know he is near.  We walk by faith and get aquainted with his quiet voice and moves with the Spirit.  We put aside childish things to grow in faith.  But, God still meets us where we are.  He knows when you need more and how to touch you uniquely.
    More than anything else, he doesn't just want to heal you.  Healing the body is temporary.  All of us at one point or another is going to die.  The body gets older and it starts to break down.  Like a tent, it is temporary.  Jesus wants more than the healing of the physical, but also the healing of the spiritual.  He wants to touch you, but touch you in your spirit and soul.  He wants to invade your life and touch every part of it.  He wants us to be willing not to hold anything back.  To be able to trust Him enough to give Him all of us.  Be that unique believer, the one who radically trusts Him with everything knowing that you are in good hands.  

Reconciled and Accepted

Romans 5:10-11  "For  if, when we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!  Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation." 

      Over the last few months, I have been looking at the book of Romans.  It has seemed to me that as I studied this that one of the main ideas that comes up is reconciliation.  In other words, what is our spiritual stance before God now.  Not just when we get to heaven, but now.  In his book "Classic Christianity" Bob George talks about this and he points out that as a believer, I am not only forgiven, but accepted in God's eyes now.
       I think this is important because if we are not careful as believers we can get into the trap of the "performance wheel" that characterizes many other relationships.  The "I will accept you if" relationship that many people have.  And if I believe that God holds the same standards and God wishes for me to be holy then I probably look at my life and realize that I fall short of that goal.  So, it may be that we think that surely God must be mad at us.  I know that I have felt that way at times.  Trying on  your own to live up to impossible standards is frustrating.  And it is hard to get excited about worship and loving God when you think he might not approve of you.
     This is one of the great lies of the devil.  Having not been successful in taking your salvation.  The accuser of the brethren will try and steal all of your joy.  How many believers do you know who are truly joyful in the walk with the Lord?  It seems we are characterized more by a frown and judgment than we are by joy.   Maybe it is because we are doing what we are doing trying to earn the Lord acceptance when we already have it?  When you think about it, it would seriously change our motives for the good that we do if we realize that God already accepts us, loves us and wants to give us more than we can ask or imagine.  Few believers that I know really radiate that kind of love and acceptance that is ours in Christ.
     George points out in his book that all of our sins, past, present and future were nailed to the cross and dealt with on the cross.  God describes us as believers in new ways.  Paul uses this term over and over again particularly in Ephesians when he says we are "in Christ".   This is now how God sees the believer, not as a sinner, but as "in Christ" and reconciled.  Therefore it says in Romans 5:1 "Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."  So, these old sins and regrets and mistakes, past, present and future have been dealt with by Jesus.  And I no longer have to fear God or be afraid of him because I fall short.  I can have boldness and confidence to come before him because of what Jesus did.
       I believe that God wants us to live in the assurance of this acceptance.  That God sees us as new creatures in Christ.  The old is dying and the new is being lived out.  This doesn't mean that I should not try to live for him or that I don't need to repent of some sins.  Unfortunately, the church looks too much like the world today.  We seems to have lost our power and confidence in the Lord.  I am seriously concerned when I look at the state of the church today.  Most churches are stagnant or dying.  But, could that be because we serve out of a sense of fear rather than joyfully knowing that God accepts us?  It is clear to me that we need to change our mindset about who we are in Christ.
      I believe as beloved children that God wants us to live in and enjoy Him as children of His.  George tells another story about John John, the son of John F. Kennedy when Kennedy was President of the United States.  I remember seeing a picture of John John sitting under the Presidents desk playing while the leader of the free world was working.  John John had access to the President not because of what he did, but because of whose he was.  He could confidently walk past all the security and people trying to get the Presidents attention and get into his father's lap.  In the same way, I believe God wants us to have confidence that we can come before him because we are His.

The mystery of predestination Romans 9

⁶ But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. ⁷ Neither are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants.^[e] On the contrary, your offspring will be traced^[f]through Isaac. Romans 9:6-7, NIV

     It would at first appear that there is a great shift in chapter 9 of Romans.  In the last few chapters, the focus would be on the way in which a person is justified before God.  Now, in the next three chapters, Paul focuses on the Jewish people.  He talks about a hard subject which is predestination and election.  He talks about how he is full of sorrow because of the lost state of the Jewish nation.  He doesn’t hate these people.  Rather, he says he would rather be accursed than to see these people lost.  He has a great heart for them.

    But, justification is still the point of these verses.  IN verses 1-13, Paul talks about how even though many are descendants of Abraham, not all are descendants of the promise.  The promise he is talking about is through Jacob and then through Isaac.   He says these people are ones through whom received 8 blessings of God including the covenant, the temple service, the law and the prophets.  God had a special relationship with Israel.  They saw the pillar of fire of God’s presence at night and the cloud by day.  They heard his voice on Mt.Sinai and heard his thunder.  Yet, this does not and will not justify them.  Anymore than church attendance, giving, what Bible I read or what I do will justify me.

    While there is some elements of this chapter that are a mystery to me.  How to reconcile the free will of man and the sovereignty of God is something that is a bit of a mystery.  There are many mysteries in the Bible.  That is because God is infinite and we are finite.  Try explaining the Trinity to people.  There is no graphic or explanation that is perfect.  That is because God is unique.  Or try explaining the problem of evil and how Satan is a created being.  Let me know when you have a perfect answer, I would love to hear it.  There is an element in which God is a mystery and infinitely greater than our understanding.

    One of the struggles of this chapter, is that it makes God in some ways sound cold.  That God would pick some people and not others.  That is the struggle of election.   The Bible affirms both free will (at least in a limited way) and God's Sovereignty, so we should accept both.  We should also keep in mind though that God doesn’t have to pick anyone.  We’ve already seen that there is no one in earth that is acceptable to God earlier in Romans.  The fact that he picks anyone is a gift of mercy and grace.   It isn’t our responsibly to question God, but rather to be grateful for accepting us and demonstrating that gratitude by living for him each day. 

Other resources

Sermon on Romans 9 by Ray Stedman  http://www.raystedman.org/romans1/0020.html

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%209

Desiring God ministries sermons on Romans 9 http://www.desiringgod.org/sermons/by-scripture/romans/9

http://executableoutlines.com/ro/ro_09.htm

We Overwhelmingly Conquer

"But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us." Romans 8:37  

        My study today was in Romans 8:31-39 one of the most uplifting parts of the letter to the Romans so far.  Paul is talking about who we are in Christ and the victory that is ours because of what Christ has done.  He starts verses 31-32 by saying that God was willing to give up his only son, so why would he not also be willing to freely give us all things?  It is another rhetorical question.  The answer is obvious.  The one who has not withheld the very best that he has will have no hesitation in giving the rest.
    Not only that, but God who is judge over all is the one who justifies us.  As it says in Romans 8:1, There is now no condemnation.  This is all as it relates to the one who is "in Christ".  Not only that, but our prayer partner, is Christ Himself who intercedes for us verse 34.  In Romans 8:26 the spirit inside of us intercedes with groans too deep for words, but then also another part of the Trinity, Jesus also intercedes for us.  We have some great prayer partners!
     Paul mentions some trials that many believers in Rome were going through and that Paul was going through at times.  1 Corinthians 4:11 makes it clear that Paul and his associates faced floods, persecution, hunger, poverty, and all sorts of trials.  His quoting of Psalms 44:22 in verse 36 means that the believers were seen to some of those in Rome as sheep to be slaughtered.  Much as in some of the world christians are martyred today.  We shouldn't assume that these things are signs that God is against us.  Paul makes it clear that there is a war going on in this world and there are evil influences on it as well as good ones.  Paul does not want us to be unaware of that, but to put on the full armor of God, so that we can resist it Ephesians 6:10-17.
     This is important to remember that we are not promised a life of ease and problem free on this world.  I think the promise of this chapter and the gospel itself is that God can use many of those trial to build within us those qualities that he wants us to have.  Peter talked about this in 1 Peter 1:7 where he talked about our faith being proven as through fire.  He also mentioned in 2 Peter 1:5-8 that these adversities can build within us qualities such as knowledge, perseverance, patience, self-control and faith, which will keep the believer fruitful and make us the men and women of God that he wants us to be.  I have to trust God that He is working and can use all of these things for His glory.
     Paul then goes on to an exhaustive list of things from seen to unseen, height, depth, death and life, angels and demons and everything in between.  None of these created things can separate us from the love of God who it says makes us "overwhelmingly conquer" through Him.  The word "overwhelmingly conquer" is one word in the greek which is hypernikao which means to be more than a conqueror, to have a surpassing victory.  We didn't and don't just conquer, but we overwhelmingly conquer.  It isn't a minor victory, it is overwhelming.  Nice to remember when things aren't going that well sometimes.

Waiting for Glory to Be Revealed

    These verses in Romans 8:18-30 mention three things that are or will be groaning: creation, the believer and the Spirit.  The creation groans because of the affect of sin.  Creation was created by God and was originally called "good" by God.  But, now has experienced the groans and pains of childbirth, waiting until the glory that God will reveal when he will one day return.  Notice though that verse 18 tells us that whatever suffering we are undergoing now is not to be compared to the glory that will be revealed.

    I've wondered to myself if those who talk about global warming have ever researched these verses.  Pollution and toxins in the air are increasing and should be our concern because we are stewards of the world around us.  God gave us that responsibility as humans in the garden of Eden.  But, there is an effect on creation that exists even more than pollution or coal ash spills and it is sin.  The good news is that God is going to return one day and undo all the damage that sin and the effects of it have done on His creation.  In the meantime, christians should be at the forefront of doing what we can such as recycling to help the environment.

    The second groaning is that of the believer.  In 2 Corinthians 5:1-9 it describes the body as a tent.  A tent has a lot of limitations and is temporary.  Our bodies are also not eternal.  As we get older, it tends to wear down and cause us pain.  We bear an image, Paul says in 1 Cor 15:49 of the earthly, but we shall bear an image that is heavenly.  Part of the groaning is that our spirit longs for that day.  That day when sin and death will be no more and God will wipe away all tears Revelations 21:4.  One gret verse that I found is in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 where it tells us that the light affliction that we now suffer is producing in us something of great weight of glory.  It isn't something seen, but rather it is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is permanent is unseen.

     The third groaning is the Spirit, which intercedes for us.  This should encourage us because the Spirit always knows the will and mind of God.  His prayers are always answered because it is always according to His will.  God can bring about good even when bad things happen.  We should remember that we are called, justified and glorified.  I like how the word "glorified" is not in future tense here, but is a present tense reality. 

Related verses Col 3:4; Titus 2:13; 1 John 3:2; Jer 12:4,11, John 14:16, 17:22; 2 Cor 4:17.