Recently, a man says to me, “Why do we so often defer to anyone and everyone except God?”

You know, that’s a real good question. Why do we do that? National Geographic has published several articles in the last year which consistently made scientists out as having discovered everything from the origins of the universe, to the source of happiness. The titles, as advertised on the cover, would lead anyone to believe archeologists and scientists have found the true source of everything, yet when you read the article, the writer is careful to use words like, “probably”, “maybe”, “it’s possible”, “we think it might be likely”. The articles almost always exclude God in any fashion, and point the reader to everything NOT God. Through that kind of publishing people are influenced to defer to scientists, archeologists, their family doctor, college professors, or even the pastor of their church, virtually anyone above God. Why?

In the Hebrew word used in Leviticus 19:15, scripture reads, “You shall not be partial to the poor nor defer to the great, but in righteousness shall you judge your neighbor.” For “defer” or “deference” in this case, it doesn’t mean to prolong or procrastinate but to hold another up above others. In the word itself, God has hidden a more specific explanation, meaning that when we defer to another, we are making a conscious choice to open to God for life, or to be closed to Him for our own alienation. The word represents a giant life-determining fork in the road as the beginning of greatness or the beginning of degradation. The path of our lives have many intersections, many circling back to the main road, and some which lead off into only God knows where. Who we choose to defer to isn’t a small fork in the road but a major, galactic intersection. It may seem small that little five letter word “defer”, but the direction we aim our feet determines our heart and mind set, and is easily seen in how we conduct ourselves and the details of our lives. Who or what we defer to influences what we see and hear, and the more we are influenced, the more we steer toward our deferences. Jesus said in Matthew 13:12, to those who have, more will be given, and to those who have not, even what they have will be taken away. That’s like saying, the more we go towards the influence of our deferences, the more we’ll be influenced by those we defer to.

In the end, either we defer to God or we defer to the world. i don’t believe for a second that we can defer to God a little and the world a little. In our heart of hearts, many seem to believe there is some sort of middle of the road of faith … i think that’s called being “luke warm”, which is to never really buy into all the Lord has, and never really buy into all the world offers without God. And i can say with confidence, there isn’t anyone smart enough to do life without Jesus. Regardless of what we may think, there really are only two choices, Heaven or hell. Who’s side are you on? It’s the same question God asked Adam in the garden when He said, “Where are you?” He wasn’t asking for a geographical location, He was asking, “Who’s side are you on buddy? My side or the devil’s side?” It was a choice Adam and Eve made, consciously choosing to defer to the snake over the word of the Lord.

For what reason do we often defer to anyone but God? Anger? Unbelief? Self-centeredness? Hurt? Indifference? Probably all of those and more if we’re honest.

In my efforts to not be hurt by others, the enemy often accuses me of being indifferent, and i’ve struggled with believing i actually was. Here of late, i’ve discovered something though. i know i defer to God with all my heart and i’m peddling my little tricycle just as hard as i can go in the name of Jesus, but yet i struggle with believing i’m indifferent versus caring too much. i’ve realized my apparent nonchalance is not indifference, but trust. i’ve also realized my own tendency to go over the top to maintain favor, or to defer to everyone i encounter, being Mr. Go-Along-To-Get-Along. Often, i find myself among others in ministry who are viciously, while smiling, competing for roles of power, working day and night to build an incredible Christian resume. They seem to operate under the theological assumption that they use their gifts for the greatest opportunities to the fullest capacity, which results in success driven leadership. We defer to them because they often “imply” to us, in the way they treat others and how they present themselves, that we should defer to them … and we even defer to that implication, thinking it is “the way you’re supposed to do this thing”. We need to defer to God instead of deferring to someone who has a knack of turning everything into an emergency where they are the only ones who are skilled firefighters.

i say we should defer to God and God alone. Not what does your pastor or some scientist think, but what does God think? Like when Elijah encountered the dry bones. The Lord asked, “What do you see”, Elijah’s heart was revealed in his deferring to God by his reply of, “You know Lord, You know.”

Ask yourself, how much effort do you spend, making sure you maintain that other person’s favor in order to keep the relationship? If you didn’t defer to them, would they still be onboard with you? In our society, our identity is measured by our contribution, and it’s actually easier than we think to translate our standing with God to a platform of performance. It feels more like a contortion than deferring. Believe me, “they” don’t “know”, but God does and He’s the only one we should defer to, first and last as a habit.

What do you think?

Pondering….what a pondersome thing to ponder upon.

Pondering is powerful stuff. When i was a kid i was told to let my mind wander to imagine life from a different angle, then, by another adult, i was told to stop daydreaming because i wasn’t present in the room at school. It was very conflicting. Yet, to this day, pondering the Lord is my great addiction. There are not many things in this life i can do all i want till i’m satisfied, and pondering and chasing after Jesus is number one…and two, and three on the list of priorities. Interestingly, pondering on the Lord always leaves me satisfied, and always inspires my need to know Him more, all at the same time.

Luke2:19, “But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” The Greek word, “sumballo” (soom-bal-o) is translated “pondered” here, and it means “to combine together for comparison.” For us, the word represents our method, which the Lord has given us, that we would learn to come to conclusions, whether for good or not it speaks of a process. To “ponder” the days events is to remember the words and events of the day, do a comparative analysis searching for God’s direction, in hopes that it all might yield more light to the astonishing unfolding days of our lives. As we ponder, we keep adding to our valuable treasure pile, holding it all as possibly important. We put some things on the back burner and some things to the front as we unpack our ponderings, spreading them out on the table of our heart to make “circumspect decisions”. We take it all out, roll it around, consider it this way and that … each time rearranging the pieces a little differently. As i ponder the events of the day in the evening, i might put the morning phone call from a friend in front, behind the scripture i read. Then upon remembering a dream from the other day which seems relative to things in the moment, i might file it visibly behind the first two. A few days from now, i might rearrange it all until the word of the Lord begins to come clear, with every rearrangement held up to the Lord and compared to the other valuables in my bag.

That is pondering from God’s perspective. It’s not just dreaming of whatever and letting anything float through our minds, it is more specific and is a tool God invented to help us “work out our salvation with fear and trembling”. Note the words in Philippians 2:12, “work out”, which means to lay your hand to, think, consider and take action in order to accomplish it. In addition i’ll add that it also implies to not ignore the things which hinder you, in the sense that we’ll have to “live with it, until we deal with it.” What are you willing to live with which is not good, in order to avoid being uncomfortable and inconvenienced?

In 2 Kings 19:14, Hezekiah has received a letter from the armies of Syria which had surrounded the city to destroy it and take captives. Scripture says, “Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; and Hezekiah went up to the house of the LORD and spread it before the LORD.”

You see there where he “spread it before the Lord”? That is a Hebrew idiom meaning he split the letter up in parts and pages to get a better circumspect view, then made an invitation for the Lord to join him in pondering the events of the day. In the following verses, he goes on to ask God for His wisdom and help. Not only did he spread it out to ponder, but in vs16 he talks to the Lord about it all just like he’s making conversation. He’s basically saying, “Look at this ridiculous letter. Check it out Lord, this is just crazy, and what’s worse, this arrogant king-person is calling you names, and that’s just wrong, wrong, wrong. What do you wanna do here, ‘cause i’ve looked at this from all different angles and the path on what to do is just not clear.” He had pondered to a conclusion that only God knew what to do, and he believed the answer would come.

Sometimes, we need to, “mature an idea, uninterrupted, brooding on the matter”, letting our thought patterns become more like a staircase than simply filling out a block diagram. Many things the Lord extends need to be treated like wine. Don’t get in a hurry, let it mature, trust that the Lord will make it come clear in due season. You’ll see.

In Acts 4:15 it says they “conferred with each other”. The word “conferred” is the same word translated as “pondered” like the example of Mary. They combined ideas, good and bad, made good points and argued over counterpoints to decide an issue. A similar scene can be observed in Luke 24, where two men were walking to Emmaus, and scripture says they “talked, and discussed” as they walked, in other words, it wasn’t idle chatter, they were deep in a serious conversation, pondering the recent things which had happened. They discussed, and reasoned together with the intent of understanding the heart of the Lord. Then Jesus appeared and began to explain it to them, though in the moment they didn’t recognize Him. At the proper time, the eyes of their understanding were opened. It was a huge AH-HA moment.

In Acts 17, when Paul was in Athens, vs 18 says he “conversed” with the philosophers who gathered to exchange ideas. The word “conversed” is the same word previously translated “ponder”, meaning that Paul listened, laid out ideas, points and counterpoints, they spread out their ideas so they could see them and held each one up, comparatively, to see if it, “held water”, so to speak. They pondered together.

Proverbs 4:26, “Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure.” That is a slightly different word, which means to “roll flat, fold back together, revolve, and weigh,” like someone kneading dough. That is God’s idea of pondering. It is a tool which the Lord gave us to help make good choices in life, yet there are many who simply take the words of a respected person for granted without “working out” what the Lord is saying to them, specifically. No one but you are responsible for the people you prefer to defer to, concerning what you believe, how you came to that conclusion, and why you think it’s a good idea, which is called “epistemology”.

If we don’t hold each piece of our ideas, thinking, and insight up to the Lord, rolling it flat, weighing the information, then folding it all back together again, what are we actually doing except blindly following along. The Lord never, ever, asked for blind followers.

What do you think?

          Today the idea of prosperity is on the table. i know what i think it is, but what does the Lord say about it?

So much of my life has been spent struggling to keep my head above water in keeping the bills paid. Don’t get me wrong, the Lord has always made a way, sometimes quite spectacularly, nevertheless, being well and being able to provide for my family has always been such a stinkin’ struggle it is unbelievable. i’ve never considered myself a prosperous person, at least according to my definition of what i thought it meant. You know … i’ve been wrong. i’ve realized in the last few years that i’ve been merely surviving, and God says i’m supposed to be prospering.

So, one day, while walking, i entered into a conversation with the Lord out of concern because i knew i had spent most of my life merely surviving and wondered out loud as to what He meant when He used the word “prosperous”. Shortly, a question or two floated across my mind. “If your bills were paid, would you see yourself as prosperous?” Yes. Then i wouldn’t have to worry if we’ll pay the electric bill or not. That would be amazing. “If you and your wife were the spitting images of health, would you see yourself as prosperous?” Yes. Then i wouldn’t be so troubled about if we couldn’t work, how would we make money to pay the bills. That would also be amazing. “If you drove a nice car, had heat when it was cold, had hot and cold running water, comfortable furniture, a great smart phone, your bills paid in advance, and were gloss-photo examples of health, then would you see yourself as prosperous?” Uh oh. Now i’m beginning to see where He’s going, and i’m suddenly, none too comfortable.

When i got home, i set off on a journey to better understand God’s view of prosperity, and for a large part, it’s not what we think, nor is it what we are often taught. Isn’t it absolutely absurd to teach other believers that if they aren’t wealthy, they are on the outs with God, or that there is sin in their life. i find that especially cruel to burden people with that sort of crazy doctrine. How would we explain that kind of thing to the believers who live in desperate places, or is our man-made idea of prosperity only for the elite in America?

Straight out of the gate, David declares in Ps33:12 that any nation whose God is the Lord is prosperous, prosperous often being translated as blessed. Jesus is our perfect and just weight by which we measure our well being. He called Himself “the door”, so through Him do we possess our righteous reflection, through Him is all our aspiration of well being, continually capturing our breath as unto the Lord. THAT is prosperity. Christ alone is our standard of humility, and by His living in our heart, we exude the impression and spark of His person. THAT is living in prosperity. Jesus is the image through and by whom we come to covenant peace, wholeness, beauty, and a perfect heart in the eyes of the Father.

13 times in Matthew Jesus used the word “blessed” which is to also say “prosperous”. That is prosperous in the sense of parents with fine children, mothers with admirable sons, and a bridegroom who has won an excellent bride. It is used in the sense of those who have found great joy in love, and those who have good wisdom and understanding. With prosperity comes a striding of honor, not strutting in self-elevation, but striding of honor. God appointed honor and respect is also called prosperity. The Lord considers us prosperous when our inner Christ-likeness is visible.

Proverbs 20:7 is translated using the word blessed for prosperity, so we can say the children of those who are righteous and walk in integrity are prosperous. A prosperous person is one who walks in fullness of life, or the fullness of your space, has honor and wisdom, wisdom being a consistent mark of prosperity from cover to cover in the Bible. A lack of wisdom is also an earmark of poverty. Near to the Lord is to be prosperous, and far from God is to be among the poor. Jesus said in John12:8 the poor will always be with us, and the use of poor there doesn’t mean those who don’t have stuff, but more a spiritual, moral, or ethical poverty.

How many times have i been told by some well meaning soul, that the reason i wasn’t prosperous was because there must be sin in my life. Their idea of poverty was barely having enough money, not having a nice car or a comfortable place to live and influential friends. Friends, if we think material possession is prosperity, God has told us different and we have refused to listen, which, again, the word “stupid” comes to mind because we have refused to listen.

The Lord says a little about being well off, fat, and having plenty of everything, and many times that is right on. But by far and large God’s idea of prosperity is seen in the wonderful word picture of Gal5:22-23. The O.T. idea of prosperity, and this is amazing, so listen, the O.T. picture of prosperity is of an ox, that is so robust, and has a neck that is so massive, it literally snaps the yoke from it’s neck. THAT is God’s idea of prosperity. His intent is to make you and i so robust and massive, all yokes of bondage snap off our necks. Pretty incredible, and way different than the picture of prosperity we’ve been often taught from the pulpit.

Having lots of stuff and your bills paid doesn’t necessarily make you prosperous, it just makes you having lots of stuff and your bills paid. More importantly, do you exercise wisdom and understanding, are you prosperous in your having received the message of salvation? Our strength for right conduct is indicative of thriving prosperity. Outward success is aligned as “fleeting earthly happiness”, and there is a rebuke in Malachi 3 to those who decide that they are prosperous according to outward success.

We are prosperous in Christ, the humble door, reflection and image of righteousness, who is alive in us. You and i, as children of the most high are highly favored, and greatly blessed. We are prosperous not merely surviving.

What do you think?

Prayer is the breath of our spiritual life. A Christian life without prayer is like not breathing and expecting to continue to live. Prayer is our lifeline to God, it is something we, as Christians, must do regularly, even as often as we take in air. A wise man once said, “… Prayer is the breath of a newborn soul, and there can be no life without it.” Many people speak of having a “prayer life” as casually as they speak of breathing, but it isn’t just some structure or form of our spiritual life, but the thing we do which keeps our life in Christ going. It is a lifestyle, not just a “thing” we do.

There are many advantages of living under the banner of God’s love, one of those wonderful benefits is answered prayer. In Matthew 16:9-13, Jesus outlines how to pray and what to pray. In prayer we acknowledge God’s sovereign fatherhood when we say, “Our Father, who is in heaven.” We get to praise Him by name for His name represents His nature, we praise His very being when we say “Your Name is holy, sacred and set apart” or “Hallowed be Thy name.”

In our time of prayer we use that time for confession, repentance or the pursuit of the path home, forgiveness …. and asking God for His grace in our relationships with other people; our forgiveness of others goes hand in hand with God’s forgiveness for us. Psalms 103:3 “Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies”. If we expect our prayers to be answered, one of the keys is that we forgive others, as seen in the words of Jesus in Luke 6:37 “…Forgive, and you will be forgiven”. Probably, one of the most powerful prayers anyone could give voice to is one word to God, “help”. And we can’t be rethinking His answer. Many times we ask the Lord a question, what He said was “not now”, but we rethink it to meaning “no”. Friends, not “no”, but “not now”. Be patient and listen for the rest of the story from Him. Easier said than done, but it is wisdom,

Through prayer we align with God and He keeps us on the path of His kindness and purposes, keeping us in His power and anointing, and defends us from evil. He answers our prayers for help and in Him we find “lovingkindness and our fortress, He is my high tower and my deliverer, My shield and the One in whom I take refuge” (Psalm 144:2).

We are guaranteed God will hear us and will answer us in 1 John 5:14,15, “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” In John 14:14, Jesus said, “If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.”

In Psalm 86:7, David said, “In the day of my trouble I will call upon You, For You will answer me.” This is still true for us today. He may not answer right when we want Him to, but He WILL answer.

Answered prayer, our petitions we hold up before the Lord will be and are addressed. It is a feature of our relationship with God Almighty that is completely unique within any, ANY system of belief. The universe doesn’t answer people’s questions. It has no voice, no eyes, no ears, no compassion, no mercy, no judgment, no purpose, no dreams, no ideas, no personality. The universe is deaf, blind, and dumb with no ability to rescue you in your time of need, But. God, our God, not only does give us hope, mercy, purpose, dreams, ideas, hearing and seeing, He has all those things and more. His listening ears are always listening, and He even answers our prayers. These are a few of the things God gives to us His children, with abundance.

1. Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
   That calls me from a world of care,
   And bids me at my Father’s throne
   Make all my wants and wishes known.
   In seasons of distress and grief,
   My soul has often found relief,
   And oft escaped the tempter’s snare,
   By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!

If you ask God, He will answer. Test Him out, talk to Jesus, He has exactly what you need. The Lord will always act in your best interest, He will hear you when you call, and He will answer.

i’m Social Porter for Living In His Name Ministries.

Many people today say they have no visions to speak of, but i’ve got this idea rolling around in my head that says just because we don’t recognize them doesn’t mean they aren’t there. i believe if God didn’t give us vision first, we wouldn’t have any ideas. Those ideas had to start someplace and come from someone. It certainly wasn’t the inanimate “universe” which planted the seeds of dreams and visions in us. And if we think we are the generator of such things, we should take Romans12:3 more seriously. The universe doesn’t hear, see, comprehend, or impart knowledge, wisdom, insight, ideas, or vision, and to think it came from ourselves is down right self-centered. It is God who makes us alive, not ourselves, and not the universe.

Trust God to open the eyes of your heart and soul to see what He sees. Vision is one of God’s attributes. When Jesus comes and takes up residence in our hearts, with Him comes vision, the ability to perceive distant things, and even to understand what it is we’re looking at.

Vision and the idea of vision is so important that companies have what’s called a “vision statement”, which is a description of what an organization would like to achieve or accomplish in the mid-term or long-term future. It is intended to serve as a clear guide for choosing current and future courses of action. We, as people in general, don’t mind if a corporation has vision, and we understand if someone says a business failed because it had no vision. But if people, as individuals say “i have visions”, suddenly the general public starts to back away and that person gets labeled as “odd” or “peculiar”. i say, if you’re a believer and have accepted Christ as your Savior, you’re supposed to have vision, and if you don’t, you need to explore the question, “Why not?” Is vision truly not with you, or is it that they are and you’re just not noticing, which is highly likely the rest of the story.

When people have no vision they are called blind, but what do you call people who have eyes for everything but the Lord? Or people who see but don’t understand what they’re looking at, as in to them it doesn’t make sense, but they seem satisfied to just marvel and then go off to the next vision or dream. Sometimes our vision happens in our sleeping dream place. i know one fellow who dreams so often and so big, he doesn’t care anymore and literally wishes they would all just go away.

It’s odd to me that often, the truth is, we have vision and we see our options before they happen, but because the vision doesn’t make sense, it doesn’t occur to us to ask the Lord to clarify … instead we ignore it all until it’s faded away, barely a memory.

And one more little tid bit as to the idea of the presence of God, what do we mean when we say “presence”? Did you know that the word for God’s presence directly relates to the idea of seeing and having visions? Very interesting indeed!

To me, vision is being able to see where you’re going, to see what’s up the road ahead, in both literal and figurative senses, or to have actual visual insight into the deeper meaning of things, and, one definition of pro-vision is anything which supports the accomplishing of the vision. When vision means being able to see your options before they happen…that would be called foresight.

Understanding foresight and hindsight would be “insight”, and being able to compare the path your on with where you’ve been would be “hindsight”. Hindsight helps us have insight into who we have become, but you know like i know, we cannot live always looking back in hindsight alone.

So, here we go, we have three kinds of sight which comprise understanding … foresight, insight, and hindsight.  We, as the people of God, need to begin to, more diligently, employ our foresight and insight, with a good balance of hindsight. i believe it is important to perceive the common word in the three elements of understanding, which is “sight” or “vision”.

This is important: We need to have a vision of where we’re going, foresight, so we know how to be where we are, insight. More than ever, we need to have insight with God and ourselves, understanding what the vision inside and outside of ourselves means. How can we take action if we don’t understand what to do?

Another way to see “foresight” is when the scriptures use the word “providence”. Ah yea, now there’s a word to understand and God is the exclusive owner of providence in the universe. Oh sure, there’s lesser version among men, but the buck stops and the feet of Jesus because He has all the providence. In my life, some say, luck, i say providence. Quite literally providence means foresight, to consider in advance, sort of like having a provision made in advance of your arrival.

All through the O.T. it is easy to see how God is always working directly with us, upholding everything with, what i think of as fatherly care, guiding all our affairs to accomplish His plans, even to the degree of causing nature to be controlled by His purposeful order which sees to it that the divine ends are reached. He foresees what we think of as history, and appoints what or who He needs to in order to achieve His purposes. Because of this, it is wisdom for us to realize that, truly, our lives are in God’s hands, like it or not.
If we have a living relationship with Jesus Christ, then we are those who, by faith, live a life of communion with God and cannot help but know more of what is on his mind than other people who don’t know Him. Through Christ we have practical knowledge and wisdom to consider all circumstances and possible consequences. Oh that we would all be more circumspect.

Hosea 14:9 “Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them.” To say “let him understand these things”, means we employ foresight, insight, and hindsight, and to ask “Who is prudent” addresses the mental putting together of what is perceived, the act of connecting the dots so to speak. Oh, look, there’s a great definition of “prudent”, or one of several, all closely related to the other. “The mental putting together of what is perceived, the act of connecting the dots so to speak.”

We have lots of hindsight, we need more foresight and insight- we need insight into our hindsight, so we are able to put to work what we have learned, but we can’t get lost in hindsight. That would be like driving forward by looking in the rear-view mirror. Navigating by your rearview mirror doesn’t work, at all.

Too many, w-a-y too many people are stuck in hindsight. i mean, they often project their history into their future and call it the “present”. i believe we can safely say that what we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history. So, so many are stuck remembering all the things they didn’t do, shouldn’t have done, couldn’t have done, ought to have said but didn’t, etc, etc. If God says in Hebrews 8:12 “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins I will remember no more”, if He doesn’t remember all our wrong in His hindsight, then who is it which continues to remind us of all our errors? We can’t be a saint AND a sinner, wheat and chaff both.

 The vision of hindsight: The problem facing most people and businesses today is that it certainly seems most are driving using the rear window to navigate. They’re steering based on where they’ve been, and maybe, just maybe they occasionally catch a glimpse out the side windows for what’s happening to them in the now. They don’t seem to know where they’re driving, they can’t see the sharp turn in the road ahead, predominantly, believing their future is mostly defined by their past. Ha! Not! The front window on the car is large so as to have a good vision of where you’re going, foresight. The view through the front window encourages foresight and insight. It is true that hindsight is part of the picture, but really hindsight is only a small part of the vision God wants us to grasp.

Vision is about knowing where we’re going in order to know if we’re there, where ever “there” is, and even more vital, knowing if we’re off course or if we’re any closer to our goal. Philippians 3:14, “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” To say we “press on toward” speaks loudly about going forward and looking forward. Do you have vision, one worth pressing forward about, and how close do you think you are to your prize? Remember: Eyes on the prize! Focus ahead.

When our vision of the Lord and His word are no longer performed with a singleness of eye, it is called, di-vision. We are riddled, from our government to the church, we are riddled with a multiplicity of vision – or di-vision. When people have split vision, divided loyalties, separated love, and a general lack of God-centered continuity, ladies and gentlemen, we have something called chaos and confusion….and boy-howdy does hell love to exploit those who are divided, split, separated, and disloyal.

The Lord, not the universe, not your spouse or boss, but the Lord alone gives us vision. It comes by dreams, concepts arising in our minds which could be called a “closed vision”, or sometimes, right in front of us in front of our eyes-– which would be called an “open vision”. i’d say most of the time, sight comes in the form of foresight and insight, like something surfacing in our minds… like a knowing that rises to the surface from deep waters. When that happens, pay attention! God is moving! We begin the road of insight by praying and asking Him to reveal what it’s all about. There are so many many believers who love to talk about their dreams and visions, but honestly, very few spend much time talking about what they did with it all, you know, the part where the insight is put into motion. The Lord wants us to participate WITH Him, not get all caught up in the “look what happened to me” part, like little children who live in a circus world and just walk around and marvel at the sights. We say, “Oh, oh, i had a dream!” Ok, well…What will you do with it? God is not speaking to us just so we can say “Wow” a lot.

 Insight is illumination, those “Ah-ha!” moments.

Most folks love to entertain the idea of having a vision, and we love to picture ourselves as “seeing” amazing and wonderful things, and often with ourselves being the center of pleasant, and uplifting visions. But that’s not always the case. In Daniel 5, the scene opens with the king making merry with all his pals, laughing and drinking. Then the King did something terrible, he called for the chalices, plates and bowls of gold and silver to be brought, which his father had taken from the Lord’s temple in Jerusalem. Daniel 5:4-6 reads, “As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone. Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lamp stand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his knees knocked together and his legs gave way.”

Yep, i’d say this vision, an open vision at that, wasn’t going so well for the King. Can you imagine being so shaken at seeing something that your knees knocked and, as the King James says, “the joints of his loins were loosed”? The guy very literally was coming apart. In the end they called for Daniel to interpret. They said that Daniel was a man of “insight, intelligence and wisdom,” and in vs 12 Daniel was said to have “a keen mind, knowledge and understanding, and also the ability to interpret dreams, explain riddles and solve difficult problems.” God had given it to Daniel to perceive the inner nature of things, or see into a situation. Daniel was a man of “insight” and it was called “understanding”.  Listen, if we DO believe sound doctrine is cover to cover, yet we don’t believe God speaks to us anymore, doesn’t do miracles, and doesn’t employ the gifts of the Spirit, then all i can conclude is some of us are reading a redacted Bible. Think about that.

Do you have insight? If you know Jesus it is one of His attributes He shares with you, simply by having a relationship with Christ. Anyone who tells you God doesn’t give visions, heal, or speak to men anymore has a foundational lie in their pockets.

i think more than a few of us actually have the gifts of “foresight” and “insight”, but more often than not, we don’t trust what we see, so we declare we have “no sight” rather than risk being wrong with our insight.

When most of us were children, if we accidently knocked over the milk at the dinner table, we were punished. If we knocked over the milk intentionally, we were punished more. Our conclusion was that no matter what, we were going to get punished and the best thing to do was simply not risk anything. i believe the Lord is calling us to risk with Him, to come out of hiding and risk, and maybe, just maybe what we’re seeing and discerning could possibly be correct.

We’ve got to stop throwing the baby out with the bath water. We’ve been trained to not risk, and i believe by far and large we are a nation of none risk-takers … as a nation, and as the Body of Christ, that really needs to change.

 Foresight – the perception of options before they happen. When God gives us foresight, then we need His insight to perceive the inner nature of what we see, and follow after what it is we have perceived.

Proverbs 2:2-5 “turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.”

Let me add a little bit of caution: If any of us thinks that because we have foresight we suddenly are qualified to give ourselves a title, (buzzer) we…are….wrong. Insight and foresight are a privilege, and if we give ourselves a title and declare ourselves, our privilege becomes pretense. It is an adulterous thing to have a gift from God and and use it to entitle ourselves for our own glory… Oh, and on a side note, if we think we must have sex in order to commit adultery, (buzzer) we … are… wrong. The Bible says in Revelation 19:1 “… glory, honor and power belong to the Lord our God!” Do we realize how many people have foresight and when no one gives them any credit, they get offended and quit? C’mon, that’s what silly little children do but it happens and all too often it’s simply too easy to just go in your house and quietly shut the door. Honor and glory belong to God, and the Lord will honor who He honors. Proverbs 27:2 “Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips.”

Foresight – i suppose firstly, we must admit the Lord has opened our eyes and we have witnessed something in the distance. i believe there are “spiritual binoculars” for any and all believers who are brave to look and see. You’ve heard of having ears to hear? i’d like to add “having eyes to see” also.

We must decide within ourselves that foresight is ok. If foresight and insight are NOT ok, but only hindsight is ok, that means all we ever perceive is our past with no view of the now or future as God has laid it out. Aren’t you interested in what God sees that’s ahead?

If God said foresight and insight are ok, then what is our problem? Is it that only “brand name” people have it? Nooo. Do we feel unworthy of vision? Is it that “others may, but I may not?” That is propagating the victim mentality and we must stop the momentum of our victim-hood.

We can’t continue to read a redacted Bible, jumping over the parts which make us uncomfortable, if we ignore the bells and pomegranates at the hem of the priests robes, if we cut out the giftings God has given us, as revealed in 1Cor12, Rom11:9 and other books, we have denied ourselves the full bounty of our amazing, and super-natural King.

Do you have the courage to admit maybe you do have some God given foresight, and sometimes you really do have insight about this or that? Of course, we must check ourselves carefully, but all too often the church says, “Watch Out! Be careful! Just – Don’t!” They tell us, “Ohhh, you better be careful what you pray for!” or “Have you been trained? Are you qualified?”, or “What if you’re wrong?”

Ok, and what if you do get it wrong, ‘cause i can assure you it will happen? We forgive ourselves, and simply, try again. You know, i fully believe the way we get good discernment is by learning from employing poor discernment. Similarly, i’m also convinced that we learn to make good decisions by having learned from making poor decision. “Learned” is a key word there. The Lord doesn’t fault anyone for trying and failing, but He does have a problem with those who fail to try. If we know the Lord our God loves us and cares for us, why do we think He’s going to punish us if we have audacious faith? That’s what earthly parents have done maybe, but God is not them and that’s not what He does. Risk with God and be audacious with your prayers. Risk with God and open your eyes to see. Risk with God to find His gifts in you…be audacious and at least try.

These are the days that if you will ask Him, He will answer, and He’s not going to whack you because you had the nerve to believe Him and trust Him. i believe you’ll find God has gifted you with foresight, insight, and hindsight, it is there. Be brave my family, be brave and risk with God.

If we are not practiced at Godly things, then we are becoming practiced at worldly things.

Our sight and faculty, that’s foresight, insight, and hindsight, they are three parts of understanding we must practice to make perfect. Take a chance and risk with God, make it your procedure and form.

What is your practice, in the late hours, when it’s just you and God? What is your habit in the evening? My friends, don’t let your eyes get used to the dark.

i’m Social Porter with Living In His Name Ministries, thank you for coming by this evening here at Outposts, broadcast semi-live from the late evening cascading banks of the Okluhwahhah River, where the trees gently lean down, and every evening is pleasant.

Enjoy the remainder of your evening, let Jesus give you the rest your heart needs. Let Him occupy your eyes and ears as you go your way. Be strong and courageous, lift your hands, and thank God for His goodness towards us this week. Drive carefully. Don’t forget God cares about the details of our lives. You know, the Lord has a great deal He’d like to talk to us about. Like i said, Think About It and Amen.

         In much of scripture the word “imagine” is used in reference to the wrong which men dream of. If we were honest, i believe most of us imagine domination, manipulation, we imagine control, seduction, surrender and gain at the other persons expense, or whatever comprises the vanities of men. But God, oh, there’s that phrase again, but God, is the originator and designer of imagination, and it was never meant to be such a dark thing as most of us may use it for. When we would rather think on the preferences of the Lord rather than what we can consume upon ourselves, suddenly our imagination can become the exclusive providence of God and the enemy has no control.

What would the Lord have us to imagine, if we were to possess a sanctified, dedicated, exclusively-for-God’s-purposes-dream-machine? What would we imagine? In order to discuss the idea of “imagine” from God’s perspective, we’ve got to be willing to entertain the idea of “what if”, in a righteous way, of course. So let’s play. “What if” as in “what if God is really who He said He is?” If He is, then we’ve got to do something about all our “yea but’s” which restrict and constrict our understanding of God. So, it’s a good question, “What IF God is really who He said He is?”

Imagine, in another “what if” scenario, YOU are really who God says you are. If we’re going to play the “what if” game, then, in this case, we’ve got to take the entirety of the New Testament as being relevant and true. We need to get over the old, “I’m just a poor old sinner man” teaching, calling ourselves worthless, resolving our internal conflicts in order to see ourselves as valuable. Valuable enough that the King of the Universe would not only die and then live again for us, but that He also, ALSO, by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, has freed us from our sins and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father. i understand that all that goodness may be more than some can bear. At some point though, we must begin to see things as God sees them without the overlay of poor teaching. What the Lord has to say is infinitely more important than men.

What if you and i traded our regrets for God’s possibilities? How would our lives look if the disappointments and regrets didn’t bind us up and dictate how we conduct ourselves towards family, friends, and the rest of the world?

What if what Jesus said in Matt24:30 is true? Just try and imagine how that’s going to go. When the amazing Son of God appears, and in that instant all the people of the earth will see Him coming in the clouds, the hearts and minds of people everywhere will suddenly realize they were wrong, and God was right and there is no challenge to that. He is SO God and we are SO not.  Imagine how that will impact all politics and all other religions. Any kind of atheism will be wrong, and right there before their eyes will be all the reasons why everything they did NOT think about God were wrong. If we think mankind is doing a giant cover up about things now, i say, we ain’t seen nothing yet. On that day, darkness won’t just be wrong, it will be SO wrong, and God won’t be merely right, He’ll be SO right..

What if you find out one day, all the things you missed out on, which God had for you, were not attained, all because you insisted, heels dug in insisted to do things your way? Maybe we should ask the Lord to show us where our plans have swept us in another direction other than His, and what can we do to get back on track with Him?     What if the Lord opened your eyes to see that all the things you think you’re such a failure about, weren’t actual failures in His book, but doors which opened more clearly to God’s plan of your destiny? Rock bottom may seem a terrible place, but you know, it also looks like a great place to start a foundation. Donald Miller wrote that, “All the trees are losing their leaves and not one of them is worried.” They don’t see losing their leaves as a failure, but as the changing of the seasons to be more beautiful in what’s to come.

What if we choose to NOT believe in God and do what He says? In 1Kings18:21, Elijah asked a question which i think is still very relevant, “How long will you go limping around at the fork in the road, sitting on a fence? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.” And the people did not answer him a word.” Regardless of the world’s view, there are only two perspectives, God or the devil, and we can easily see that by rejecting one we automatically choose the other, and there are no alternatives.

What if we really believed, trusted God to do what He says, and took Eph3:19 literally?  “That you may really come to know, practically, through experience for yourselves, the love of Christ, which far surpasses mere knowledge without experience; that you may be filled, through all your being, unto all the fullness of God, having the richest measure of the divine Presence, a body wholly filled and flooded with God Himself!”

What if we prayed with real audacity, not being afraid to talk to God and ask Him for anything? Just imagine the possibilities that would open up. Can you imagine what it looks like to actually do something with all your heart? Do we do anything with “all your heart”?

In 1Chron4:10, Jabez cried to God saying, “Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and You would keep me from evil so it might not hurt me! And God granted his request.” That’s not just a vision of owning property, or being the big-time leader of a big-time congregation, with everyone knowing your name. See it as a prayer of asking God to expand your vision and dreaming, beyond what is presently in your field of view. Imagine! Enlarge the place of your tent, and let the curtains of your habitations be stretched out; do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. Dreams and imagination are God’s idea, they are His invention and He gave us the power to dream and imagine. Ask Him to help you make room for the “more” of God.

What do you think?

Thanks for tuning in. i’m Social Porter and this is Outposts, it is no accident that, as you were channel surfing, you stopped here. Hopefully you’ll sit a while with me to look a little deeper into the word of God, inspiring you to look further than simply seeing just paper and print. Sure, haven’t we all sort of been uninspired to even look further than the pulpit at one time or another. i think everyone suffers from a heart full of “don’t want to” occasionally, and for different reasons. Truly, people get tired and lose interest for a multitude of reasons. Often we well understand the good reasons to give pursuit to the Lord, but we just get tired of the chase and sit down, hoping God will re-invigorate our hearts, raise up our passion and inspiration towards Jesus, who was and still is passionate about our wellbeing, in hot pursuit of everyone who even might believe in His name. The son of God knows that if we don’t cling to Him, we have no other possibility but to cling to death, and i find that a very unattractive option, don’t you?

Here lately, i’ve had a thought which says, “i can’t think of too many things more frustrating than spending my time doing something which produces nothing.” i used to be the most frustrated person you ever met. i spent a lot of effort, i mean real physical and emotional capital trying to get somewhere that ended up being nowhere, and as a result, i was weary, frustrated, and short tempered. Sure, i’d wear the happy face at church, “Good morning! Praise God! Amen brother!” and i’d sing the songs with joy and a smile, raising my hands, closing my eyes in imaginary bliss…but inside, i was a mess.

How many of us have spent time on the phone with some company representative trying to square up a billing error, only to be run around and around and around. We labored to accomplish something, all that explaining, and talking, only to be no further along with possibly even fewer answers than when we started. Indeed, it is very frustrating spending time doing something which produces nothing.

Guilt, anger, fear, and blame produce no good fruit. i think we’ve really got to stop doing things which go nowhere and do nothing. All four go in a circle, and i bet you could ask anyone who is constantly assailed by the “horrible four” if they are tired of it all and they would answer, “Yes! i am exhausted!”

There are some things, we as the church, really need to talk about, and i don’t mean just hear a good sermon, i mean sit down in small groups and discuss more than once. There is a great conflict in the body of Christ these days that needs resolving, and it’ll take more than just doing church once per week to bring resolution. Are you up for those conversations? i don’t mean the kind of meeting where someone in amazing authority points out the faults of others, that just makes everybody mad and never solves any conflict. But the sort of conversations where we are honest with ourselves and look to the Lord to help us overcome our hurdles. Do you understand what i’m talking about?

So, forward we go into the program to discuss, in brief, guilt, blame, anger, and fear, the horrible four and the value of looking up to God instead of down to the ground.

           Some of us are not only worn out, but maybe even physically ill from living life under the back-breaking burden of the horrible four – guilt, blame, anger, and fear. There are no pills or drug therapies to actually solve any of the four. The medication may knock off the sharp, cutting edges, but it doesn’t mean the root problem has been resolved. A medical doctor may attempt to give a diagnosis and then prescribe pills, but in the end, all things remain the same. Drugs don’t resolve it. Did you know that approximately 40 people, every day, die from taking prescription pain and/or psychotropic medications? And yes, the estimate is “every day”, and yes, i think that number is highly likely very conservative.

And how different are the crash symptoms when quitting the use of prescription meds as compared to suffering from guilt, blame, anger, and fear? The horrible four are powerful, and may very well be even MORE powerful than prescription medication.

When the horrible four have a firm grip on our soul, they can present as sleep disturbances, like alternating between insomnia, sleeping too little, or hypersomnia, sleeping too much. There are other evidences of their grip on us … eating too much or too little, anxiety and irritability, panic attacks, fatigue, we often just can’t seem to feel happy, depression, and even suicidal thoughts. Interestingly, those are the same crash symptoms when someone stops taking psychotropic medications.

You may think i’m kidding around some, but absolutely not. i’d like us all to seriously consider to think carefully, and ask the Lord to help us start living a life which produces good fruit, to be more effective, and stop the wheel spinning caused by the horrible four.

Up until the last few weeks have i done much research into understanding a particular character from 2 Samuel 9 whose name was Mephibosheth. What an amazing example of guilt, blame, fear, and maybe even the anger of frustration this fellow represented. The attitude the man had towards himself was so destructive. Not only did Mephibosheth suffer from poverty of spirit and soul, but he also lived in Lo-debar, a sad, poverty-stricken place with a name which meant “no pasture”, “no word” or “no communication”, just a dead-end sort of place which went nowhere and did nothing. i would guess Lo-debar was probably a very frustrating place to live. i bet that if Mephibosheth lived in these modern days, some doctor would recommend he take psychotropic medications to deal with his guilt, blame and fear, not solve the problems, but suppress the problems, “oh, and be sure to make an appointment for next weeks so we can monitor how you’re doing”, yet nothing would actually be resolved.

The chapter opens with David asking if there was anyone left around to whom he could show his kindness for Jonathan’s sake, with the idea of kindness being the extended hands of grace and unfailing mercy of God.

It is evident that David wasn’t doing kindness for Mephibosheh because he deserved it, and in the same sense the Lord is kind and gracious to us, not because we deserve it but for the sake of Jesus. It is because of Jesus we have favor and blessing, not because we are so worthy, not because we went and got it because of our personal merits, but for the sake of Jesus, the Lord extends us abundant life. He ardently practices forbearance towards us, meaning He allows us all to continue to live that we might repent. His kindness leads us to repentance, for the sake of Jesus. And in a prophetic gesture, David was extending kindness and grace to Mephibosheth like Jesus would extend kindness and grace to all mankind.

David’s servant told him there was one son of Saul around, but he was crippled in his feet, in other words, Mephibosheth didn’t have it all together, he had problems more than just his attitude in addition to have a physical malady. i think the young man could have asserted himself and claimed his right as a son of Jonathan, but instead, he just camped out in Lo-debar and the spirit of Eeyore lived with him day and night.

Incredibly, when Mephibosheth came into the king’s chambers, he fell on his face, saying, “here i am”. David commanded, in vs7 saying, “I’m returning to you all the properties of your grandfather Saul. Furthermore, from now on you’ll take all your meals at my table.” The young man’s attitude spoke volumes. In vs8, Mephibosheth’s words spoke loudly, he said, “What is your servant, that you should show regard for a dead dog such as I?”

God is extending us all salvation and redemption, yet like Mephibosheth, we have an “i’m no better than a dead dog” attitude toward ourselves? Why? Where’d that come from?

           We cannot earn favor. When we are kind, merciful, or graceful to people, it is us giving to them what they have not earned or deserve. Similarly, when the Lord extends those same blessings to us, it is Him giving to us what we cannot earn and do not deserve. i’ve met more than a few really religious people in my years, and i can tell you they are all just tired inside from trying to deserve God’s goodness.

Do you believe your wellbeing is directly connected to your ability to get it right? i realize that is a kind of pokey question, but c’mon, be honest, what do you really believe and how did you come to that conclusion? For years i was convinced that i needed to get life right in order for the Lord to bless me, and if i wasn’t as blessed as i thought i should be, in my eyes, i had some sort of hidden sin holding me back, at least i was told that was the problem, and it seemed like a noteworthy possibility at the time.

i had no idea what that hidden sin would be. Oh, don’t you know i spent my days confessing stuff i hadn’t even done in order to try and cover the l-o-n-g list of potentially hidden sins i had taken special note of. And even then i would think to myself, “What if i’m guilty of stuff i can’t think of, which would mean i can’t confess it, and that means God still won’t bless me! What am i going to do?!?! What am i ever going to do?!?” i’m not saying we shouldn’t strive to do the right thing, of course, but if we think, somehow we’re going to get life right enough to make it to the next level, as if we’re in some video game, and we are wrong. God doesn’t see it that way. And if all things come to rest at the feet of God Almighty, King of the Universe, then we really need to see things from His perspective.

Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

i think, and this is just what i think, many of us need to leave out of our Lo-Debar and start knocking on the king’s door asking for what is ours by the blood of Jesus. i’m going to God in Jesus name, not my name, in Jesus name. My name never set anyone free, my name never delivered anyone, my name never drove off demons, and even less, my titles are worthless in Heaven. (My Titles) i believe people who need a title to operate are people who need to own something.

Listen up, you have every right to do everything God has asked and empowered you to do, in Jesus name, meaning you don’t need a title to accomplish God’s bidding. If the Lord said to do it, then you have God’s endorsement to accomplish the request of the King. If God made you an appointment, He will also make the provision to accomplish His request.

People need other people to have a title, yet God didn’t ask anyone to have a title in order to accomplish His appointment. If He told you that you can do something, then you can do it because He said so.

As long as we are only dating God, we don’t have the strength of His name, only when we are committed to His purposes do we get the power of the Name of Jesus.

Isaiah 53:4, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows;”, and vs10 says, “Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.”

Jesus bore our griefs, and made an offering for our guilt, and the will of the Lord shall prosper, SHALL prosper in His hand. We need not carry around the “i’m just a dead dog” attitude, defiled by shame, burdened by the millstone of guilt which is hung around our neck.

Let us declare, in the mirror, while looking ourselves in the eye, that we are the righteousness of God in Christ, even while we feel guilty, shameful, stupid, angry, or afraid. Let your mouth join with God in His declarations and promises. It is true, we can’t do anything about the events of our past, but we certainly can do something about cooperating with God concerning the future. Amen?

Hebrews 5:13, “…for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child.” Many years ago i attended a small rural church and there came a need for an additional deacon. There were two men that applied for the position. One had been a believer for 30 years, and the other about 10. When the church board made a decision, they picked the man who had been walking the walk for 10 years. The other fellow was furious, absolutely furious, and wanted to know what the deal was, after all, and these are his words, “i have been a Christian for 30 years, and in light of my long standing, why did the board pick the guy who “only” had 10 years in Christ?” Well, the board was reluctant to answer because they knew it would hurt the mans feelings, but he insisted, insisted they give him an answer. So, they did. They told him, “It’s a point of maturity. Yes, you’ve been a believer for 30 years, but you’ve been a 1 year old Christian for 30 years.” By that example of a real situation we can draw a very important question: Some of us have been at this a long time, but were we just marking time, being religious? What a waste of time, and there you have it, spending our time doing something which produces nothing, like living in Lo-debar with an “i’m just a dead dog” attitude. Have we gotten down to business with God, doing the work of being honest and being honorable? You know, i really believe God is raising the bar on honor, and with honor comes respect and dignity. And of special note here, respect and dignity are two different words in both Hebrew and Greek.

With an elevated position comes leadership, and with leadership comes the constant crossroads of divine power or corruption and righteous leadership has to choose to be kingdom builders instead of empire builders. Before dignity should be honor, God given honor, in that God given honor is grace as a door of life, and as God grows honor in us, He gives dignity to lead well. Self-gotten dignity, a platform of our own making, that manufactured persona which requires an “image management program”, is possible, meaning dignity before honor is probably the idea behind pride goes before a fall. If we’ve been at this for a while, and our concern is far more focused on our elevated position and significance, but we have neglected honesty and being a person of honor, that is the very definition of being religious.

Maybe this is part of what Paul was addressing in Hebrews 5:12, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God …”

Let’s stop living by our feelings and start living by what we know down deep in our heart. There is inherent power in the word of God, it doesn’t necessarily change the way we appear, and it may not change our feelings right away, but it does change the foundations of our heart which influences everything else about us. Never, never let your state define your standing. i may feel undone and frazzled today, this week, or for the last few months, but that doesn’t change my standing in Christ. I know i have been made right with God by the power of His word and the blood of Jesus, and even if the devil comes pounding on my door, intimidating me to cower, whispering defeat and depression through the windows of my house….am i going to believe the God of the Bible, or am i going to believe my feelings? Are you going to assume you’re worthless and no good, just a “dead dog” because it’s how you feel, or are you going to grab your Bible and believe what God says?? Much of the time how i feel is of low importance, not of “no importance” because “feelings” are part of life, but not nearly as important when compared to what God has to say. i know i’ve been made right with God by the blood of Jesus Christ. i believe emotions are important, but when emotions grip our very being, especially when they come out of woundedness and brokenness, we can easily be swept to a whole new depth that can challenge our everyday life of staying encouraged. Never let your state define your standing.

Somehow, we find it easy to justify feeling guilty, afraid, fearful, and angry, especially guilt and blame. With just a little self-examination and honesty, who doesn’t see that they are guilty of missing the mark, and are to blame for feeling blamed? i was brought up, in my early years as a Christian, to think it was necessary to at least feel guilty about myself a little. The unspoken teaching was “what kind of self-respecting believer doesn’t feel guilty about themselves somehow?” And the moment you start trying to not feel so guilty and blamed by declaring God’s promises about yourself, along come someone to set you straight, reminding you how your armor is slipping a little and they are just the special one to make sure you get it right. Oh, it’s true, you could have gotten it right but you didn’t and that special person felt it was their mission to make sure you get it right. Presto-change-o, guilt and blame have just found a way back into your life. Then comes the fear we’ll never be right enough to be right with God, and then comes the wave of anger, born out of the frustration of just going in circles, the frustration of spending time doing something which produces nothing. Boom! Back to Lo-debar on a rocket sled!

An amazing number of people walk through each day with the millstone of guilt, blame, and shame around their necks. Maybe we have not done the things we should have, or, we’ve done things which should never have been done. Truly, we cannot undo the past, and the memory of our own hurtful deeds can cause a lifetime of pain. For many, the seemingly harmless sins and offenses of our youth can weigh on our consciences forever and in the mind of others. Those same conflicts of our youth stick like super glue. Don’t you know the enemy uses offense to wound us all and we are so very available.

The burden of blame, shame and guilt is crushing. Within blame, there is an accusatory thrust who’s nature is to surround and bind our minds and hearts. Blamed and shamed people tend to blame and shame other people, and if there is no one to blame, they shame and blame themselves, even though there are no grounds for it. OH, how well do i know this! Our downward spiral needs to stop and we must stop the bleeding.

Hebrews 5:13-14, “for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.”

Read your Bible and spend time talking to God. We’ve got to know God’s word and have a working relationship with Jesus, exercising our powers of discernment which trains us by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. “Trained” is a key word there. It means “to make of sound mind, to fill the hand, to be set apart dedicated to learning a particular skill through practice and instruction over a period of time”. Yea, i like that definition!

As we’ve said before, if we’re not being trained in grace and the word of God, what are we being trained in? Trained in how our guilt can be more effective, trained in letting fear get a better grip in our lives, trained in how to justify our anger, trained to be more exact with our aiming finger of blame? You may laugh, but that is what the enemy will train us in if we let him.

Ask yourself, where does all that ungodly training go eventually? Play the whole movie. Does that training add up to God’s training? It is all spending our time doing something which produces nothing, nothing but more of the same. Are you tired of it yet? Are you exhausted from living a life in the grip of the “horrible four”, blame, guilt, fear, and anger? What does God say? We have to put on righteousness and stop bowing down to feelings. When you wake up in the morning and all that ugliness is in your ears, speak the word of the Lord, right out of your Bible and change the inclination of the day ahead. Once we start deflecting the love of God, our only recourse is to take up with the world’s standards to prove to ourselves we are unlovable and have no value, and that never ends up in a good place. Put on righteousness. In light of that, if Christ is our armor, how did you take that armor off in order to put it back on? And why would anyone want to take it off anyway? Think about it.

Let us extend our hands to those who are hurting. Get your hands out of your pockets and put to good use the grace and kindness God has given you.

Isaiah 52:7-10, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the LORD to Zion. Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the LORD has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem.” The LORD has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” Wow!

For a large part of my life i think i was just mad, ”It’s not fair”, “Why couldn’t i just be like other kids”, “They owe me for all the stuff that i didn’t get”, “i’m just mad and somebody is going to pay!” That’s living in the downward swirl of being a certifiable victim which goes nowhere and does nothing. Friends, we don’t live by feelings, we live by the Word of God. i just have to do this and that because they did such and such to me. Yea, that’ll teach ‘em! Listen, that was then, this is now and what is past needs to stop being so powerful in your now. Let your past be past and stop revisiting it just so you can taste all that bitterness and hurt again. Stop being such a victim. Surely you don’t really need all that drama again, so cut it out! You know, chances are good you weren’t the only one wounded, let it go and start breathing again.

i was just mad, wounded, guilty, blamed, and angry, until … i met Jesus who said i’ll make you one of my own, I have done what is more than fair and you can have it all. It doesn’t matter what you didn’t get or didn’t have if you’ve got God in your corner. Some of us need to get over what didn’t happen in our childhood and get on with what the Lord has laid out as our destiny. C’mon, get over it. Again, we can’t do anything about the history of our lives, but we certainly can do more to cooperate with God concerning our future, and take off that necklace of blame, guilt, fear, and anger. It never helped or encouraged you. Put on Christ who is our peace, strength, and hope and never allow yourself to wear the adornment of the horrible four again. Amen?

i’m Social Porter and this has been Outposts, cool jazz and contemplative conversation, just for you, right where you sit, where ever you’re sitting.

Be strong and courageous this week. God’s got training available for everyone who wants to participate. Get to know Jesus and study your Bible, the Lord will never steer you wrong.

Learn to relax and breath, speak life to yourself and others, and we’ll meet again soon. Amen, and amen.