Wrestles with God

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, thus sayeth the Lord. I used to be afraid to use that phrase, “Thus sayeth the Lord,” but as I grow in my walk with Jesus–knowing His will, love, and plans for us believers–the more firm I stand in saying that in Jesus, we are free.

It’s easy to say we are free from the consequences of sin and eternal death, for that comes with the territory of accepting Jesus as our Lord and personal Savior. But what about freedom in other areas? We read the Word of God and sing the songs about freedom and deliverance, but are we reading and singing something not yet obtained? Why do we still feel bound?

We are free, thus sayeth the Lord. We know that we were once slaves, but the Lord sets captives free if they call on Him. Let’s look at Ezekiel 46: 16-17:

“16 This is what the Lord has said: If the ruler gives a property to any of his sons, it is his heritage and will be the property of his sons; it is theirs for their heritage. 17 And if he gives a part of his heritage to one of his servants, it will be his till the year of making free, and then it will go back to the ruler; for it is his sons’ heritage, and is to be theirs.”

We read in Scripture numerous times that our inheritance in Jesus is not second best material, but instead Jesus traded our sins and guilt in exchange for His inheritance of eternal life and glory. What was once the Son of God’s, Jesus, is also our’s, the Children of God.

There is no guilt. There is no shame. Every tear from our eyes, He will dry (Revelation 21:4). We are free in Jesus, thus sayeth the Lord.

We are, according to the Word, free from habits, depression, sorrow, anger, immorality, lonliness, and the list continues. According to Scripture, that is.

We are not only free from bondage, but we are also free to things, such as being free to worship, free to express ourselves, free to forgive, free to be who we were created to be. If you’re 27 and are very youthful, you are free to be youthful. God made you that way, so you shouldn’t question God’s sovereignity by trying to be something else. Express yourself. Let your cup overflow, and being led and filled with the Holy Spirit, be free in Jesus.

Freedom, thus sayeth the Lord. We are no longer slaves, so a slave inheritance is no longer your’s. We must acknowledge that we are now new creations in Jesus. The old has died and the new is come. You are free. I am free. The first believer that comes to your mind right now is free. The believer after that – they are free, as well.

Our faith isn’t regulated by do’s and don’ts, but rather by a passionate persuit for our risen Deliverer, the One who stirs our hearts with a frustrated love. How does He do that? By intimate worship of Him, is He able to commune with you and then breathe His adoration and will into your life.

It is not God’s will that we live as captives. I say this for two reasons: One, He loves you and paid too great a sacrifice, and two, His glory should be displayed as a divine revelation in and through our lives.

Thus sayeth the Lord: Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.

Steve Hudson is a layman for Souled Out Ministries Iowa, based out of the Magpie Coffeehouse. You can read his blog.

I believe there’s coming a time that Christianity will go through a second reformation.

There is an underground move of the Holy Spirit that is calling people to one unified purpose, and it’s like that of a spiritual militia. Like disgruntled, seemingly over-patriotic wilderness residents, there is an uprising of individuals who are no longer content with religion and traditional complacency. The stuff of earth is not important to these people, and they’re becoming resentful that supposed wise clergy is telling them otherwise.

People’s hearts are being stirred with passion for the King, and doing only the King’s will. These people are getting back to the basics of the old time Christianity, the Christianity that you find in the Bible; and they are setting their hearts on the eternal and spiritual, rather than temporary and earthly. Seeking God’s Kingdom requires us to see things in a worldview outside of what can be seen, heard, tasted or touched. Can a clay pot actually know the Potter’s mind and will? Let alone, can the pot know anything MORE than the Potter? This is impossible.

If you are a person who sees religion as a dead thing, or you just FEEL that there is something more to the services you attend, YOU ARE RIGHT! The times around the corner will be exciting times for the Christian Church! That is, people knowing Jesus personally and are developing an intimate relationship with Him without reservation. Church is not a building or a system or a set time of day. It is the believers themselves, and the group of believers they commune and walk with. THIS is the Church. THIS is the Body of Christ. It is very important that you are aware of this now. It is important that you keep an ear open to what God is doing with His Bride. “It’s almost like Jesus actually believes He purchased His Bride,” as Pastor David Hogan would say, jokingly sarcastic.

The refreshing move of God around the corner will blow our minds, and shake our worldviews. We all have our views based on nature and nurture, what we’ve been taught and what we have experienced. Allow me to tell you a recent, short story.

Sensing these things, and also reading up on some of these thoughts on websites that have to do with the “emerging church” and the “second reformation,” I’ve been drinking in the experiences of past revivals and renewals, such as the Great Awakening, Welsh Street, Pentecost, and even recent moves like Pensacola, Toronto, Australia and Kansas City. Amidst taking notes a few weeks back, I felt the Lord strongly impress in my spirit, “Why are you preparing for My move of Tomorrow by reading the newspaper clippings of Yesterday?”

How can I prepare for something I have never seen before? Like the military, I may know certain combat skills, know my weapon well, and have a sergeant who’s integrative, but if I don’t know the territory well and everything involved, everything I DO know amounts to nothing. What we know now about past revivals, the empowerment of the Holy Spirit, and the depths and dimensions of the spiritual realm, will amount to nothing when God pours this fresh oil on us. It will confuse us. It will baffle us. It will cause many to fall away. It will, most importantly, question our own walk with the Lord and our purposes.

We will basically have to choose if this is of God and what will we do with it. There will be stuff, I believe, that will not be found biblically; because Jesus promised that we will do greater things than He. There will be renewed hearts for the Lord. True believers, not merely those who are church attendees, will fall passionately and deeply in love with Jesus, and will be filled with the Spirit, and become bold and confident in their ministry to others in need. We might as well call it “Pentecost Part 2” because of the newness and empowering move of God in every TRUE Christian’s life.

There will not be legalism or stagnant religion anymore within this emerging group of believers. God’s creation is SO dear to Him that He sent His own Son to die for the justification of His creation and His holiness. Are we not to expect the God, Lord of the universe, to desire to see His bride pure? Are we so arrogant to think that God doesn’t expect us to see things as He sees them? Are we not to desire the Kingdom of God to be revealed in our own lives, given that we are living testimonies of His sovereignty and faithfulness?

The time is coming! We cannot really be prepared, but we can be open. 1 Kings 19: 11-12 speaks of the move of God’s Spirit being a Wind, then an Earthquake, then a Fire. After these things tore everything apart, THEN God’s soft voice came. Our nice hairdos will be messed, our worldview will shake, and our religious works will burn up. Then the voice of God will speak to His people. Hebrews 12:26 promises this for the Body’s future.

Who are we to deny what God can do? Who are we to put God in a box? Who are we neatly put His Spirit between the pages of 66 chapters? We welcome You, Jesus! We embrace Your move! Come and woo us, Lord Jesus!

Steve Hudson (Souled Out) NocturnalApostle@Hotmail.com

When I see the latest ad-cover for a film, or an album cover-design of recognition, I often give it a silent nod in response. A nod of knowledge, because out-there to the public rude as it may be, out-there I behold a mark of the product that is in promotion, and this is culture. We, inner-city folk like to call this -“representing the scene.” Down in S.London.

Unconscious and consciously I feel convicted to react or relate what is seen to something I have experienced or someone I have heard experience what relates to what we see in these ad-covers and designs. As I have said this is consumer-interaction, its culture.

Now when I see Christian art Christian representation of the apostolic times you know the type of medieval painted fashion with which the “Orthodox Church” surrounds itself and which also has been accepted as the standard artistic portrayal of Christian themes and characters worldwide. Whether its in pamphlets or in buildings this type of impression of the saints life, when I see this sort faith-based representation thrown my way I can’t help but say that I feel… well I don’t know what to feel, in fact I don’t what I am expected to feel, and who expects me to feel the way I am suppose to.

Okay some may accept these Christian-themed images because they seem so standard and recognised. So that I should feel from the image what tones it sets of the subject. But what can I feel from what I get? If its Saint -Jerome by the cave, I should feel from the image what I know of St. Jerome, correct? Or better, if its St. Peter and John by the temple as described in “acts”, then I should feel from the image their miracles described in the acts of the apostles, correct? And that from this I should altogether be convicted with passion and a higher sense of awareness with the brother-and-sisterhood of Christianity, correct? Not so in this case.

I must personally admit that with me this is not the case, very far from it in fact. The result of what I feel is not an attraction to the subject as such, but more of a little sting of disaffection, quite alienating altogether so to speak. I do not feel the warmth to my faith-related subjects in its art-forms the same way I do to cultural products in promotions, and the icon that represent those products. I could say that I feel disaffection pretty much for most -medieval art- anyway, but a lot of what they painted then, that has become the standard now mostly have to do with Christ or gospels. Some who painted were not even believers but painted faith-related subjects as an interest, I certainly hope not for the “heck” of it. The fact is that if medieval fashion in art was popular art and culture back then, hasn’t popular art moved on since in relation to the popular culture of today? But as far as Christian-faiths are concerned the medieval fashion of art still remains the same, those same icons and representation we take as grounded are still the ones used to portray and seek emotions within us believers of now, which I feel is disaffecting or distancing me.

Now I am a believer in what was spoken in the Gospels and by the prophets of God. I want to be as a much of follower of the Christian way as I will, but when I see that image of Him on the cross it pains me to admit it, (if I feel this then the All-Knowing God must also know too), that I can’t help but not share in the passion of His sacrifice on seeing Him portrayed on that cross. Inside me convictions are lost, and there is no impact when I see it the way I feel there should be. And I leave asking what does the image of him on that cross have to do with me, if I can’t feel anything or the Christ in me remains silent when I see it?

Because let’s admit it, if I were to be given a pamphlet or a message from a Christian what is normally the first thing I see? The image.

I am bewildered and hope that this is not what other believers feel when they view His sacrifice for all mankind in this image-based world.

Peace, from a Prisoner of Consciencern

http://www.geocities.com/resolution1948/index.html

Having spent 3 weeks off sick with depression, I’ve had more time than I’d like to think about a few things that have been pushing forward from the edges of my mind.

One of those things is Martha and Mary. I’m definitely a Martha. I spend way more time DOING things than I spend ‘in God’s presence’.

I hate the traditional kind of quiet time – I find it frustrating and I can’t keep my mind on what I’m doing, and then when I don’t manage it I feel guilty that I haven’t. I love to get into the Bible when I’m planning things for assemblies and youth groups and I hate that I don’t have more time to do that properly because work is so busy that a lot of it ends up thrown together at the last minute.

And the more I think about it, and about the fact that God made me the way I am for a reason, the more I don’t understand. Should I stop doing stuff and just sit? Is it really so wrong to be a Martha? And is it possible to be a Martha and still be in God’s presence as much as someone who can sit and rest and think and pray and have that elusive quiet time thing going?

Messy Spirituality by Mike Yaconelli is a book I’ve finally had time to read while I’ve been off and it makes me think so. It ends like this: “Life is complicated. Our schedules are hectic. Following Jesus is not always easy, nor is he easy to hear in the noisiness of our lives. Religion can be hard on our bones. My fervent prayer is that throughout this book you heard the crystal-clear voice of Jesus whispering, ‘I love you.’ May you hear him in your unfinishedness, your incompleteness, your incompetence – in other words, in your particular mess. He’s there, you know.”

I went to see The Passion and I thought it was really beautiful, but then I started to think that dying on a cross seems like a really funny thing for a God to do.

We (Christians) always say that it was necessary for the forgiveness of sins, but if this is the case then why? Why would God have to demonstratively show his love for us. Couldn’t he have done it any other way? Why did he have to suffer phisically for sin, when sin is usually an emotional or mental thing anyway. The more I think about it the more odd it seems to me. Maybe someone could help me understand the necessity of Jesus dying on a cross. Please don’t say just because it fufilled prophecy, because God could have created different prophecy to begin with. Cors

At 1.31am on Saturday 20th March I got several mailing list requests sent through to me which I think were sent by some kind of junk mail thing, so I’m ignoring them.

If you submitted these addresses, and you are a real person, please email me and I’ll add them to the mailing list!

Andy@GuiltyExpression.org

I believe there’s coming a time that Christianity will go through a second reformation.

We will see once again, as Martin Luther was disgruntled, discouraged people leaving outdated traditions to find something of substance. People are starting to awaken spiritually, and see that this physical world is not all that there is. People are starting to leave the faith of their forefathers for something tangible, for something ‘real.’ Face it.

If you’re a church attendee, look about you. If you don’t attend church, look within. People my age (27 in March) are not present. The teens usually go because they’re forced to, or it gives them something to do. People aren’t going to church to know God per se, but rather to acquire knowledge or fulfill obligations. Where’s the passion? Will we be told by Jesus Himself that He never knew us? Will all our works burn up and be counted as worthless rubbish, because we didn’t pursue a personal relationship with the King Himself? What is the future state of the Body?

We may not be in persecution times here in America, but historians are documenting that people in other lands are being killed for knowing Jesus more than any other time in our history. Also, world religions and cultic activity are on the rise. Christianity has a mission field being raised up; groups of people to be reached for the Kingdom of God.

This leads me back to the opening point. People are looking for something to fill the thirst of their spirit, for something that will feed the spirit–that was created by God–to hunger for Him. However, people arent finding spirituality in the Body of Christ, where spiritual intimacy SHOULD be. They see traditions and legalities without any realness, without any passion, without any concern for people, and perhaps without knowing Christ Himself personally.

There is fortunately a stir amidst believers, individually. I believe that there’s a revival around the corner. In our future, there will be hotspots in the world, in which they’ll be “named” like cities. But there “cities” won’t be based on population, but rather based on the intensity of God’s people’s love for Jesus; people individually intimate with God. There is an emerging church, a second reformation. There is an arising, unsilent group of people seeking to know Christ and not programs, and to love God without reservation rather than merely observing traditions.

Traditions and programs are only as good as their usefulness, and people are leaving the institutional organizations: “church.” CHURCH is now again being defined as a verb, as it should have always been, rather than a noun.

Sacred buildings will be empty. There’s a group of people leaving Man’s ministries and joining the living Organism called the Bride of Christ. People want something real. People want something to live for. People want, as they were created to want, something of substance and purpose, to know WHY they exist.

Let’s prepare for the future status of the Church! Let’s awaken ourselves to be a worldwide time-breaking, unified people who individually are in pursuit for Jesus; who will run hard after Him with everything we’ve got.

When that time comes, as Jesus mentioned in Matthew 24, when people (even church-goers) will HAVE to choose for or against Christ, I want to be firm in my choice for Christ! The grey, “ethical” areas are coming to be more black and white in the Kingdom of God, as He’s calling us to be a unified, holy, pure, mature Church, and I desire to be pleasing to my Beloved! I desire to be found as faithful and trustworthy. I desire for His will alone. I desire Jesus, and nothing else matters. Lord, bring on the end days where the true and faithful will declare Your name and Your glory, without guilt or shame!

Written by Steve Hudson. Contact me for more.

Paul in 2 Cor 12 v 2 talks about experiencing the third heaven. Jewish tradition talks about 3 or 7 heavens. Revelation talks about a ‘new’ heaven. Dante, back in the middle ages, had many levels of heaven and hell. Its good to see that through the ages man has struggled with trying to understand heaven. For me its a place that is ‘better’ than here?

Is it more than that?

I had a thought recently:

If you assume for a second that Christianity is completely right, then Islam, Judaism, Mormonism, Christian cults, etc. are distortions of that truth, but some other faiths can be seen more as being outright denials of it.

The one I know more about (although still almost nothing) is Buddhism, and I would say there the case for it being directly opposed to Christianity is quite strong:

Buddhism is about:

a) everyone is God (sort of).
b) you should remove yourself from the world because the world is suffering.

I think b), although I haven’t explained it at all well, is a straightforward denial of everything I think is true.

However, I find it (_especially_ b!) very attractive. If I had to choose a religion not on the basis of whether it was true but on the kinds of ideas I liked, I think I’d choose Buddhism.

What would you choose?

BTW if anyone with any knowledge whatsoever wants to contradict what I’m saying, go ahead – I’d love to learn but am too lazy to do the research.

I have recently been having what you might call “doubts”. It all started on our lab Christmas outing – as usual, I was closely questioned about being a Christian from all angles. I enjoy the questions about theology and so on, and I think I answered them fairly well, but the question that really stung boiled down to this:

How can you believe something so stupid?

At the time I talked about how yes, my beliefs are arbitrary in some sense – I can’t say why Christianity is true but Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and others aren’t, but I argued that atheism is arbitrary too, and that it goes against the weight of history – the overwhelming majority of people have believed in the supernatural. I held my ground ok, although I don’t think I convinced anyone!

It was only afterwards that I realised I had been knocked sideways by this question. It wasn’t intellectual content of the question that was the problem, it was the weight of the opinions of people whom I know to be intelligent, open-minded and sensible. How can I believe something so “stupid”?

I guess my first realisation was that I do believe it. It’s surprising how much one conversation can shake the foundations, but I was left still believing it, but wondering why I do.

Another thought I had was the fact that on issues like this, science (my collegues are scientists) is just as old-fashioned as Christianity. We both try and argue from an early 20th century position – using certainties and “facts” as if they are undeniable. The argument from the position that atheism is obviously true is dying out rapidly. Several of my collegues are struggling themselves with the fact that they are just as unsure as the rest of the world. One describes herself as “an atheist with a bit of wikka” (i.e. earth-mother hippie stuff) and another probably doesn’t believe in God but if he did he’d be a Quaker. People were really interested in what I had to say, not just as a curiosity.

So maybe their opinions weren’t all I should listen to. And, in a typically our-generation attitude, I turned to my feelings for some evidence.

And I found some.

Basically, it makes sense. When I look back at my life, I see God working in it. If I assumed God didn’t exist, lots of things just wouldn’t make sense.

I hate it when you hear a testimony where someone had some awful problems and then they were sorted out, and now they’re telling you about it. This article is starting to sound a bit like that, but that’s not really how it is. I am recovering from being knocked sideways, and I am feeling better, but that question hasn’t gone away. I know if I were in their position I would ask the same thing.

Yesterday I thought about it like a marriage. I have promised to my wife that I’ll stay with her no matter what. Even if I go off her completely, I have promised to work for her good – to love her in the practical meaning of doing things. Similarly, I’ve promised to serve God, and if I doubt he exists I want to stay faithful to my promise for as long as I can. (Of course, if I really decided he definitely didn’t exist I couldn’t go on with this indefinitely.) So I’ll go on, trusting my “experience” or “feelings” or whatever, and see if I can find something more reassuring sometime soon.