Living free

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8: 36

I find it very difficult to visit zoos, animal or safari parks, in fact anywhere where animals are kept in captivity. Once you’ve seen animals in the wild, seeing them in captivity is hard because you know they were not born for this. 

I understand of course that protecting endangered species in zoos is a way of possibly safeguarding their future and zoos do have a huge educational purpose to fulfil for the vast majority who are not fortunate enough to see them in their natural habitat.

Having said that, I remember the story of a polar bear cub talking to its parents: 

 ‘Mum, Dad aren’t we polar bears?’

‘Of course,’ they reply.

‘Aren’t we meant to live in the Arctic?’ 

‘Yes,’ they reply.

‘So why are we living in London Zoo?’ 

Many animals in zoos are of course born in captivity which is meant to give credibility to the fact they are content, and certainly once animals start to breed in captivity, many animal experts feel that is a sign that they are settled. However I can’t help wondering, and of course we will never know, if something within them always craves for the savannah, the jungle, the sea, the desert, the Arctic, the Antarctic, the place they would naturally call home. Every animal seems to be ideally suited for their habitat even when that habitat seems incredibly hostile to our human eyes. Just watching a David Attenborough nature programme reveals that to us. 

Each one of us was born in captivity and until we let Jesus set us free from our habitat of sin, guilt and shame we will always be living captive. Once saved, Jesus doesn’t put us into his zoo but releases us to be all that he created us to be. We are meant to be free - free body, mind and spirit. God has such an amazing plan for each of us. 

Our final home will of course be heaven, ultimately the new heaven and earth because this is where we were created to live, on the redeemed earth totally restored to it original plan and purpose and something within each one of us craves that home. In the meantime though each of us has a habitat that God has called us to live in.  What is sad is when Christians settle for less than God has called them to.

Sometimes Christians remain living in the old self of sin not realising that Jesus has redeemed us from that old life.  Now, if anyone is enfolded into Christ, he has become an entirely new creation. All that is related to the old order has vanished. Behold, everything is fresh and new. 2 Corinthians 5: 17 Passion Translation. What a great promise that is, and one that the devil will do all he can to keep us from realising. 

There are times when Christians allow circumstances to overwhelm the Word of God. Too often believers would rather submit to their circumstances than realise that what the Word says is true. The Bible is called the word of truth. Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free’ John 8: 31 – 32.  Taking hold of the Word, declaring it into our lives releases truth and freedom. 

Finally Christians can be content to settle for less than what God has created them to be. They would rather live in the captivity of comfort than find their real place of destiny. Like those in the parable of the sower, they hear the word but are choked by worries, riches and pleasures of life and they do not come into the full fruition God desires. 

The Christian life is not an easy life but it is so worthwhile and God has a beautiful plan and purpose for each of us individually as well as corporately. My heart is that we do not live either geographically, or spiritually and emotionally anywhere but right slap bang in the middle of what God has called us to be. So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God Ephesians 3: 16 – 19. 

Deep in love with Jesus

Sitting at Your feet is where I wanna be

I'm home when I am here with You

Ruined by Your grace, enamored by Your gaze

I can't resist the tenderness in You

I'm deep in love with You, Abba Father

I'm deep in love with You, Lord

My heart it beats for You, precious Jesus

I'm deep in love with You, Lord

These words from a song by Michael W Smith touch something deep within me. So often the love of God is very theoretical – we know it to be true but we don’t feel it. Yet love is an emotion and should be felt. It’s not a piece of information.

For years this was my situation. I knew in my head that God loved me. I could pray with great conviction God’s love for another but I just never felt it. I kept talking to God about this. I knew that if only I could feel God’s love, so much else would fall away; feelings of inadequacy, guilt, shame and condemnation. These just would not be able to exist in the warmth of God’s loving gaze.

At this point I just need to say that feelings are not a reliable indicator of truth. Feelings follow truth not the other way around. What do I mean by this?

 ‘Feelings are just feelings. Nothing else,’ my boss used to tell me. He is a Godly man but this saying drove me mad. My feelings were very important to me and I felt that they were a very accurate gauge of reality.  Over the years I discovered by painful circumstances that he was quite right. 

What he meant of course is that feelings are in fact a very poor indicator of both reality and truth. Feelings can make us slaves to lies and whilst I am not for a second suggesting we ignore feelings, they need to be used as what they are – a pointer to our emotional or physical condition at that moment. They can be a signpost to blessings or problems but they are not necessarily an indicator of truth.

‘I feel so alone and rejected’ shows our emotional state. The truth is that Jesus said He would never leave us or forsake us.  We are not alone or rejected. 

So feeling God’s love is vital because the truth is that God loves us so passionately, deeply and dearly that we will never fathom it. We ought to feel his love but so often our feelings condemn us. It is at that moment that declaring the truth is vital.

The truth is that God loves us. The truth is that we are his dearly beloved children. The truth is that we are the apple of his eye. The truth is that there is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The truth is that we are saved by grace; there is nothing we can do to earn or keep God’s love. The truth is that as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

It was at this point I got my breakthrough. God had forgiven me but I had not forgiven myself. I still condemned myself for my many mistakes but if God had forgiven me, who was I to hold myself in the bondage of unforgiveness? As I released myself, the feelings followed the truth and I knew God loved me and I could feel it.  It was a wonderful moment.

Now, like Michael W Smith, I love to sit and enjoy God’s adoring gaze, to reflect on his great tenderness and acceptance of me; to know I never need to do anything to earn this love but I can just sit and bathe in it.  What a blessing to know that God will never reject me, abandon me or get cross with me. I am his precious child. Hallelujah!

Higher than our ways

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”  Isaiah 55: 8 - 9

I love the fact that God’s ways are nothing like our ways because his ways are full of grace, truth, mercy and compassion.  Every time I read an account in the Bible of Jesus’ dealing with people, he treated them with love and not with the judgement, criticism and condemnation that man would use.  His way with adulterers, sinners and tax collectors was so different that the religious people complained about it all the time.

Everyone wanted to stone the woman caught in adulteryer to death which the law did not require (John 8: 2 - 11). According to the law, both man and woman were ‘to be put to death’ (Leviticus 20:10).  Jesus dealt with her differently.  First of all he confronted those who had caught the woman with their own hypocrisy and then he instructed her not to sin any more. 

Jesus always had an answer to the tricky questions. The Pharisees hoping to trip him up, confronted him with whether to pay taxes to Caesar or not. He just took a coin and instructed those listening to give to Caesar what was his and to God what belonged to him. Anyone else asked that question would have probably tied themselves up in knots over whether it was right to support the invaders and conquerors of their country which is what the Pharisees wanted. Jesus again confronts their hypocrisy and cut to the heart of the matter and those trying to trip him up were not just silenced but amazed (Matthew 22: 15 - 22).

When Jesus and his disciples were watching everyone give their gifts into the temple treasury I am sure the disciples would have been impressed with those giving great gifts but Jesus turned their attention to the widow whom most people would have overlooked and the two tiny coins that she gave. Jesus commended her for her outstanding generosity and re-aligned the disciples’ thinking on giving. The amount you give is not what matters.  It is how much you give out of what you have that is the true test of generosity. 

The disciples, like all of us, were constantly impressed with the outward appearances.  They drew Jesus’ attention to the magnificence of the temple (Mark 13: 1 and Luke 21: 5) and Jesus again re-aligned their thinking by prophesying the destruction of the temple which happened in AD70. Jesus wants us to focus our lives on matters of eternal significance. So many wonderful empires and buildings have come and gone. What matters is the eternal truths of God’s word and living our lives by them not being impressed by passing glories. 

God constantly seeks to re-align our ways and especially our thinking to come into agreement with his ways and thinking.  I am amazed at how often my thinking about God is so faulty and yet with love and grace he redirects me to his truth and then helps me change the way I think and therefore the way I live. 

God’s Word is a wonderful book which cleanses our minds as we read it. The Holy Spirit uses it to point out truth, convict of sin and instruct us in better living. He never condemns or tries to control or manipulate us. God is not cross with us or seeking to tell us off or punish us.  We have nothing to fear from God. His single aim is to liberate us from sin and its effects so we can walk in freedom and truth and fulfil the plans and purposes he has for our lives. 

Heaven or hell

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  John 3: 17 – 18.

Hell is not a word much in evidence these days except perhaps as a euphemism for a hard time; I had a hell of a day or it was hell.  However no one mentions hell as a place, a destination. It is considered at best politically incorrect or at worst downright rude to talk about hell.

Yet the reality is that hell is the eternal destination for most people because they have not chosen the alternative. Everyone will go to hell unless they receive God’s gift of eternity spent with him in the wonders of heaven. This gift comes free because Jesus paid for it completely.

No one wants to believe hell exists which is hardly surprising but if it does exist then people hope it will be a place of partying and doing everything ‘miserable sinners’ love to do together. Unfortunately nothing could be further from the truth.

The Bible makes it abundantly clear that hell is a place of eternal punishment and torment. The worst thing is that this will be away from God and everyone else. There is no partying in hell – partying is in heaven with Jesus, the angels and all the other believers. 

The tragedy is that no one needs go to hell. Everyone can go to heaven but only if they accept Jesus’ gift.  Most people hope to get to heaven by their good works but the truth is that no one can ever do enough to satisfy a perfect God – only Jesus did that.

As Randy Alcorn recounts in his book Edge of Eternity: I (Jesus) loved you as you were but I loved you too much to let you stay that way. Rather than give up on you, I gave myself up for you. I chose to go to hell for you rather than go to heaven without you. The gift I extended to you is free but not cheap. It costs you nothing. It cost me everything.

Christians used to be happy to talk about hell but I think it usually came liberally laced with condemnation, judgement and hypocrisy. No one wanted to listen to that.

People need to know how much God loves them and has a wonderful plan and purpose for their lives. They do not need or want to be told they are sinners – they know that. What they need to know is that there is a Saviour who came to rescue them from their sin and its consequence.

Christians who know the love of God and live in it are a powerful witness to those still struggling to make sense of life. They can talk about the terrors of hell and the wonders of heaven with Godly conviction and love.

Christians have been intimidated and become embarrassed to speak about hell for fear of offending people. The thing is though that thousands are going to hell daily because we have been frightened into not talking about it.

Today I believe as Christians we need to learn afresh how to speak about heaven and hell in love and grace and talk about the wonderful gift  of eternal life in heaven that Jesus holds out to all who come to him.

I believe the Holy Spirit will help us if we trust him to be our teacher and guide. Let’s not be put off from declaring the truth but with great grace let’s promote truth about eternity as God gives us opportunity. 

Breaking limited mindsets

Show me your ways O Lord; teach me your paths

Guide me in your truths and teach me, for you are God my Saviour and my hope is in you all day long. Psalm 25: 4 – 5

One thing I have noticed recently is that when we are learning something new and trying to assimilate some new information, we always try and place it within our existing frame of reference; by which I mean our existing body of information and experiences. This is fine until we find the framework inadequate for the task. For instance I would be unable to place information on the law of thermodynamics within the limited framework of my Primary School science knowledge.

When this happens we can either try to adapt the knowledge till it does fit or discard it as incompatible at this time. Unfortunately this can happen with our knowledge of God and reading the Bible.  We read something that just does not make sense to us or fit in with our present thinking so we either try and adapt the truth or discard it.

I know I have read some bits in the Bible which I really don’t like so I may discard them. Giving out of lack is a good example. My frame of reference says giving out of lack leads to greater lack. However these verses from Psalm 25 show us the better way. When faced with uncomfortable truths we need not let our frame of reference hinder us but rather ask God to expand it to incorporate things we have previously found too hard to include. Alternatively we can hang the truth on the frame for further consideration and meditation. I now know that giving out of lack or plenty leads to greater blessing than we can imagine.

God has so much to share with us and so many wonderful truths to reveal to willing hearts and minds but we must not limit ourselves.  God is so patient but our world needs the wisdom of God revealed through lives that are ready to open their minds and spirits to truths from the throne of heaven.

One area that has challenged me is the area of healing. We know God is our healer yet we walk in so little of that reality. Our hand stretches for the pain relief for headache before we even think to pray. I want to see healing as part of my and the Church’s everyday life not an occasional occurrence. Both Jesus and the disciples walked in amazing healing miracles and so I want that to be part of life – without excuse.

I want to encourage us that if there is an area of Godly truth or revelation that you really want to see God move in, do not let your frame of reference hinder or deter you. Rather ask the Holy Spirit to guide you and show you his ways so that we may see the breakthroughs we long for. God has so much in store for us and the world needs Christians prepared to break out of traditional and limited mindsets and break into fresh truth to bless them.

 

Grace and truth

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1: 14

Jesus always operated in grace and truth. He never denied or overlooked sin; he never said. ‘That’s alright, it doesn’t matter’ He always dealt with sin but in grace and truth. 

I love a story Bill Johnson tells in his book The Supernatural Power of a lady who came to the front in one of their worship services but ‘her movements did not seem to flow from the Holy Spirit’. Instead of confronting the woman and telling her to sit down, Bill got the leader of their dancers to begin to dance on the stage ‘to break something in the spiritual realm’ that was not of God. Immediately the other woman collapsed on the floor and they were able to pray for and minister to her. The lady had ‘real sincerity and a heart that was right but she needed deliverance and salvation’. They dealt with the situation in truth but with great grace.

In another story I heard there was a new café for homosexuals about to be opened somewhere in America. Many Christians wanted to picket the place to show their outrage but one group of Christians instead asked if they could help in any way. Naturally the homosexuals were very suspicious but the Christians showed their seriousness by getting some new T shirts printed for them. On the opening night they just served them in the kitchen. The café staff were just blown away by the sincerity of the Christians’ faith and their obvious love for them and some came to faith themselves as a result.

Unfortunately many Christians feel the best way to deal with other people’s sin is to point it out and castigate them but this rarely works. For instnace, there is nothing more upsetting than Christians shouting at homosexuals that they are perverts and going to hell. Coming in an opposite spirit – a spirit of love and grace – is a powerful testimony. People need to be loved and accepted, just as we do, not have their weaknesses and failings, sins and compromises pointed out by people less than perfect themselves. They need to be dealt with graciously.

Let’s encourage one another to be gracious to others and to show them the love and mercy that we all need. 

The truth shall set you free

And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. John 8: 32

One of the hardest things to do as a Christian is live by the truth of God’s words and not by our feelings. I have a Christian friend who was always telling me that feelings were just feelings – nothing more – by which he meant that they could not necessarily be trusted. This used to infuriate me because my feelings were very real and I felt very reliable. The truth is feelings are important but they are also very unreliable and should not just be used as an indication of how things are.

I have found on many occasions when I have felt that something was not right between me and someone else, the best thing is to ask them if something is wrong. Frequently there is nothing wrong; it was just my feelings misleading me. Occasionally there is something amiss but if we talk about it we can be put things right and iron out any misunderstandings.

The devil would much prefer we live in the midst of muddles and misunderstandings, and grievances real or imagined. He does not want us living in the truth and especially with regard to our relationship with God. This is because as we walk in the truth of who God is and who we are, chains of rejection, hurt, bitterness, resentment, unfulfilled ambitions, grief and so on fall off and we are set free to know that God’s love is very real and very reliable.

If there is one truth we need to really get hold of it is that God only wants good things for his children. Which father arranges horrible things for his child? This does not mean God will not discipline us but he does this 'as a Father who delights in us' not because he is a mean, nit-picking disciplinarian. He does it because he wants us to walk in freedom not bound by sin, either ours or another’s or its consequences. Jesus said, ‘which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!’ Matthew 7: 9 – 11.

God wants good things for his children and God works good things for his children. As Mark Stibbe says, ‘he is the world’s greatest dad’. Whenever you catch yourself thinking or feeling something negative about God, stop. Replace that thought with a new thought about the goodness of God. It is literally life transforming – for you!