Gen. 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

(REVIEW: taken from yesterday’s devotional, “Where Are You?”)

“In the flesh” does not describe being in your body, but rather the spiritual state of being cut off from God IN YOUR BODY. It’s as though your being (soul and spirit) has fallen down into a large box, with tall sides and no windows. That is being IN THE FLESH. People scoot along in life, from within their fleshy confines, colliding into one another, crying out from within, but seldom being understood or truly understanding. They are like prisoners separated by walls, building relationships with each other by tapping code on the fleshy walls of their cells. This picture of futility illustrates the dramatic comparison between what we have and what we were supposed to have - what we could have.

In Romans, Paul sees this dilemma precisely, and cries out for deliverance from it:

Rom. 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

And though we live in this body, in the Holy Spirit, we are no longer confined, confused, unseen and unseeing. If you can grasp it; what once only the periscope of imagination considered, now Jesus has given us: lifting us from concealment to revelation, and from the Opinions of the Box to the Freedom of the Truth!

The First Couple had a largeness about them that was similar to the properties of a candle. Rather than a sealed container with boarded over eyes, their bodies were more like the wick of a candle. The prominent feature of their being wasn’t the fairness of their flesh, as is often depicted in children’s Sunday School pictures, but rather the radiance of their souls, ignited with the glory of God. Adam and Eve were “not ashamed” because they were not in the flesh. The phrase, “in the flesh”, has become a popular way for Christians to refer to being carnally minded. But in reality, the biblical concept of being “in the flesh” goes much deeper, and speaks to the very curse that sin brought upon us. Being “in the flesh” is literally having your soul/spirit, disconnected from God, and boxed up inside your body. In that state, the spiritual life and divine glory that once clothed Adam and Eve is stripped away and your flesh is all that you are now in touch with. Gone, is the state of spiritual awareness, innocence and sense of glory. So being “in the flesh” actually refers to the way we are arranged, as a result of sin. Rather than our souls being dominant and empowered with the glory of God, our bodies reign over our souls, and our souls exist blindly shackled to the cravings of our bodies.

All of Romans ch. 8 speaks powerfully to the truth that Jesus has literally lifted the believer from being in the flesh, into a new place of “being”. But let’s focus on this one verse:

Rom. 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

By saving us, Jesus has given us relocation. Before we could have our citizenship transferred from Earth to Heaven, we had to undergo a change of nature, because “fallen sinners” cannot enter Heaven.

1 Cor. 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Your relocation occurred first in your very being, as Jesus changed your nature. God raised your soul and spirit from its fleshy dungeon to His position of Sonship in Jesus. Infusing you with the Holy Spirit, He has literally taken you OUT OF THE BOX without taking you out of your body. In other words, He gave life and Light back to your soul and rearranged your being, so that you are NO LONGER IN THE FLESH.

Col. 2:10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

Col. 2:11 In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:

Col. 2:12 Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead.

Eph. 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

The place where you “sit” speaks of the place of your authority.

Luke 10:19 Behold, I have given you authority…over all the power of the enemy, and nothing will injure you.

Jesus gave you a positional relocation that is not just legal but it’s vital. Through the New Birth, you really do have a oneness connection with Christ. Your body is no longer authorized to act as jailer over your soul. When Jesus became your Savior, you entered a blood covenant with Him, as the Lord of your soul. In that relationship He has joined with you, as the Holy Spirit, and extended sonship status to you as a joint-heir to the Kingdom of God. And as a restored child of God, the full privileges of access to God’s Presence and blessings have come to you.

Rom. 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

Rom. 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

But as wonderful as all of this is, Christians still have a very difficult time grasping the truth that they are no longer “in the flesh”. Because we are living in our bodies and in a sin-toxic world, we still feel the temptations of the body. And through the language of our physical weaknesses, Satan speaks with all his diabolical effort to challenge our new Life and our Heavenly position. Remember what Jesus said:

John 8:44 …the devil…he is a liar, and the father of it.

Everything Jesus has said about the New Creation is true for you! You have undergone a positional change in Christ. You are no longer a prisoner of “The Box”. You are no loner “in the flesh”. You no longer need to be ashamed. Your soul has been washed in the blood of Jesus and clothed with sonship. Don’t let the devil chase you down with the nakedness of your old existence. It may take a process of time for the comprehension of your new life in Christ to sink in, but the reality of your change of nature is already a fact in Christ. You should defend your position against every claim of the devil. If you sin or fall short it doesn’t mean that you have been jettisoned from your heavenly relationship with Christ, and re-incarcerated in your flesh. Even though a moral failure may leave you feeling crushed, the truth is that your own conscience has sustained a bruise, your grip on His Word has been loosened, but His relation to you is unchanged. Don’t let the Accuser of the Brethern convince you into behaving like a “Box Dweller”. Repent; get up; and keep going. Why? Because you are NO LONGER IN THE FLESH…so don’t think and walk like an incarcerated sinner.

Rom. 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Rom. 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Rom. 8:9 But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

Stay On The Path!

John 1:22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

John 1:23 He said, “I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

Would to God that you might say of yourself, “I am a voice”. When the truth of Jesus becomes so clear, that in light of declaring it, everything else in life becomes insignificant by comparison. The truth that Jesus makes real to you makes everything else seem trivial. When Jesus’ Gospel first begins to shine in your life, it cast the world in a beautiful light, and you begin to enjoy everything around you with renewed meaning. But as the brightness of His word intensifies in your heart the world starts to wash out in the light. The attractions of the world start fading to the background at the emergence of a message.

You are becoming a Voice. Everything within you, – your skills, energy and passion are beginning to rally around a developing Word in your spirit. Let it arise. Let God bring it forth in you. With the zeal it causes in your heart you will undoubtedly make plenty of mistakes, but God will be with you. He will teach you. And as long as you remain passionately devoted and humbly submitted to Him, none of your shortcomings or enemies will prevail against you. You won’’t be perfect, but you will be passionate. You won’’t be compulsive, but you will be compelled.

The life of a Voice is a focused life. For you, everything is in the Word God has given you: the answers, the provisions, the grace, and the success. Your feet, your hands, your pursuits your money, will all be converted to the cause of your Voice. Everything will be invested in the utterance with which you’’ve been entrusted.

You will begin to attract attention from people who never looked at you before. And you will begin to make enemies who were previously unaffected by you. The Word in your Voice is a lightening rod. It draws the faith of searching souls and the resentment of controllers who are threatened by you.

Nehemiah was such a man. He lived 450 years BC and served as cupbearer to Artaxerxes, King of Persia, nearly 1000 miles from his homeland in Judah. His life was in a definite set pattern. Yet upon hearing that Jerusalem was in ruins, Nehemiah’’s heart began to burn as the Word of God stirred within him. The Lord began to raise up His Word of Restoration within Nehemiah, and Nehemiah began to fast and pray for the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem. He could have dismissed the divine dealings, – rationalizing that someone closer and better suited should bear this concern. In a short period of time God had arranged for Nehemiah to be sent, with the King’’s blessing, to restore the walls of Jerusalem. Nehemiah had found his voice. And he would need it. Because when he reached Jerusalem the broken state of the walls wasn’’t nearly as severe as the broken condition of the Jews who lived there. So Nehemiah opened his mouth with all the passion God had been percolating inside of him, and he rallied the people together to work. You can read about it in Neh. chs. 1-6.

This would be a perfect fairy tale except, like all similar conditions in real life; there was great opposition to change. There were non-Israeli leaders who had enjoyed a vested interest in the dilapidated condition of the Jews. These men vehemently opposed, objected, coerced and even threatened Nehemiah, along with any who helped him. Suddenly Nehemiah, The Voice, found himself living an entirely different life, in an adventure that earned him serious new enemies. And when you allow God’’s words in you to become that prominent, that they rise up and take you with them, you too will find yourself following the Voice God has germinated within you.

The new enemies Nehemiah had attracted sent messengers to him as he led the people up on the walls in the rebuilding project. They tempted him to come down and meet with them – planning to ambush him. But this is what Nehemiah, The Voice, said to them:

Neh. 6:2 that Sanballat and Geshem sent a message to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together at Chephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to harm me.

Neh. 6:3 So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”

Neh. 6:4 And they sent messages to me four times in this manner, and I answered them in the same way.

When you find your Voice, you too will become a different person. The opinions and urgencies of others will no longer command your attention. You will serve a higher purpose and follow a clearer path. Nehemiah completed the wall in an amazingly brief period, and went on to lead the people through revival, to a new level of faith and living. This obscure cupbearer to a foreign king, is credited with saving the nation of Israel from certain extinction; all because he found his voice. He faced a people drowning in defeat and complicity. He withstood enemies of change and endangered his semi-comfortable life for a cause that he allowed God to stir him up over, but could have ignored. Nehemiah is the perfect example of the Voice of God being raised in a man. Why? Because the mission wasn’t forced upon him. The “problem” wasn’’t threatening him, per se. Yet Nehemiah let God stir His concerns in his heart. Nehemiah became God’’s servant in the matter, and wasn’’t trapped by circumstance, to have to react. Instead he was compelled by divine unction to become A Voice.

The world today needs Voices from God.

Stay On The Path!

John 1:22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

John 1:23 He said, “I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

To have a voice the world will hear you must understand your value in Christ.Then you must possess a vision that compels you with a sense of purpose. God speaks to the world through us. And the message He expresses must have more than words; it must convey itself in a living messenger. Our life must speak.

Every Christian must realize that there is a purpose hidden in their salvation. God has laid hold of them so that they can lay hold of it:

Phil. 3:12 …but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that (purpose) for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

There is a “that (purpose)” behind the saving of every Christian.  And there can be no greater sense of purpose than that of finding your Voice and fulfilling it. To find your Voice you must find your Vision. And finding your vision is not a quest, it’s a resolution.  Jesus brought your Vision with Him when He entered your life. You don’’t seek it, you pursue it. You don’’t search for it, you decide upon it. It’’s specific. You lay hold to it. Your vision is not a revelation, it’s a decision.

That vision comes into focus from within you. For some it’s a slow evolution; yet for others it can be a spontaneous eruption. But whether a slow boil or flash flood produces your vision, one thing is always true: it is THERE waiting to be acted up.And since your vision comes from God, you must go to God to understand it – to fulfill it. Believe me when I say, you will NEED God when you begin to conceive of your vision, because it is HUGE – much larger than you. God always gives us a vision that big for 2 reasons:

1. Because it makes us have to go to Him for it’s fulfillment, and

2. Because it stretches us beyond failure, beyond our own self-reliance

As you begin to make sacrifices in the pursuit of the vision God put in you, transformation will occur. Every time you reach the limits of your own leash and cry to go farther, it will cost you a little more of your independence. You will leave more self-centeredness behind to enter a new phase of maturity.  So that from the authority of new life, gained by the death of the old life, your Voice will emerge.

Heb. 11:24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter;

Heb. 11:25 choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin;

Heb. 11:26 considering the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward.

Heb. 11:27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.

These were the steps Moses took as he reached beyond himself to lay hold of the vision God placed within him. The vision changed him. Dramatically.  Moses already had greatness in the eyes of men, but he followed a vision of greatness that God put in his heart.

Acts 7:22 “And Moses was educated in all the learning of the Egyptians, and he was a man of power in words and deeds.

Acts 7:23 “But when he was approaching the age of forty, it entered his mind to visit his brethren, the sons of Israel.

Acts 7:24 “And when he saw one of them being treated unjustly, he defended him and took vengeance for the oppressed by striking down the Egyptian.

Acts 7:25 “And he supposed that his brethren understood that God was granting them deliverance through him; but they did not understand.

Acts 7:26 “And on the following day he appeared to them as they were fighting together, and he tried to reconcile them in peace, saying, ‘Men, you are brethren, why do you injure one another?’

Acts 7:27 “But the one who was injuring his neighbor pushed him away, saying,‘Who made you a ruler and judge over us?

Acts 7:28 ‘You do not mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday, do you?’

Acts 7:29 “And at this remark Moses fled, and became an alien in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

Acts 7:30 “And after forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush.

Here is the story of man broken and transformed by his vision. And obviously his transformation involved a bit of personal zeal and tragic failure.  But that didn’’t kill the vision. And I’’m not convinced that it delayed it either.  When a vision is big enough you’’ll change your life, friends, work and habits to fulfill it.  If you’’re not willing to do that then the vision isn’’t big enough.

Moses eventually found his Voice. And what a Voice it was: he was the Oracle of God to his generation. And when his Voice came, Moses knew for certain, his value in God.  And so far as having a vision, Moses had bid his entire life on it, –failed to achieve it, –and when God finally handed it to him, Moses, in fear and trembling became totally dependent upon God. By the time he got back to Egypt, Moses was the vision. He wasn’’t pursuing it, he was being it.

In your life, there may not be a multitude of slaves that God wants you to lead across a desert…, or maybe there is.

Stay On The Path!

John 1:22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

John 1:23 He said, “I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

To have a Voice, one the world will hear, requires two things:

Value and a Vision

From a sense of personal Value we speak with confidence that we are braced against the grace of Jesus Christ. We are secured in the knowledge that God’’s love for us authorizes our right to speak – gives us a “say-so”. Secondly we must derive our Voice from a Vision; one that reveals a sense of personal purpose: a kind of divine calling. Secured with Value and led forth with Vision, our personal interest then becomes stretched beyond self, and we are able to speak with divine authority, to things greater than us. But without being firmly rooted in God’’s evaluation of yourself, and without being led up by His Vision, you simply become like all the people of the world, who speak of matters beyond themselves, but cannot seem to do so without injecting “Self” into their observations. They are simply prattlers, exercising their opinions without any divine authority. Without Value and Vision, people who think they have a Voice must base it in academic authority, popularity or the talent of talking. But in the end they are all lumped together with those who simply speak among themselves, changing nothing.

Jesus, on the other hand, and those who have become His oracles, speak to the world from a totally different place. And the difference is apparent:

Matt. 7:28 When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching;

Matt. 7:29 for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.

Luke 4:22 And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?

To find your Voice you must find your Vision. The beginning of every Christian Vision is in the general context of the Great Commission:

Matt. 28:19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,

Matt. 28:20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

The Vision for every Christian life is found somewhere within the general purpose of Disciple-Making. Your vision is that particular way in which you will make the Gospel known to the world. It beats within your heart and releases passion whenever you focus upon it. Though your vocation may be that of a house painter, entertainer or business owner, that does not define or limit your vision. Many people struggle, trying to reconcile their vocation with their vision, thinking that they must work in the Ministry to fulfill the call of God. But Vision and Vocation do not necessarily need to be at odds.

Col. 3:23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,

Back in the 1970s, when I was a young Pastor in Connecticut, there was a very prominent Christian leader who was being used of the Lord to influence thousands of people for Christ. He crossed all denominational lines, speaking to churches, conferences and groups. This man was not a minister but a donut maker. And the entire time he was fulfilling his Vision and being a Voice to that region, he kept making his donuts. His example was very powerful precisely because he was a donut-making servant of God. He had a Vision of what God wanted him to do and didn’’t let the demands of his vocational responsibilities limit it. Rather instead of trying to keep them separate, he simply overlaid his vision on top of his vocation.

Every Christian must realize that there is a purpose for their salvation. God has apprehended them and there is a reason for it:

Phil. 3:12 …but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that (purpose) for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

There is a “that (purpose)” behind the saving of every Christian. And there can be not greater sense of fulfillment than that of finding your Voice and fulfilling it. To find your Voice you must find your Vision. And finding your vision is not a quest, it’’s a resolution. Jesus brought your Vision with Him when He entered your life. You don’’t seek it, you pursue it. You don’’t search for it, you decide upon it. It’’s specific.  You lay hold to it. Your vision is not a revelation, it’’s a decision.

More tomorrow, so until then…

Stay On The Path!

John 1:22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

John 1:23 He said, “I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

Satan wages an effective battle against the Church simply by inspiring a sense of insignificance in those who believe the Gospel. We MUST help you discover your value to God. As simply as I can state this, the point must be nailed down:

God most definitely has a profound interest in you knowing how valuable you are to Him.

And the way to capture the revelation of your value is to let God tell you how much he loves YOU. Go directly to Him in a prayer-quest. Ask Him to open your heart and your comprehension. Ask Him to tell you Himself, who you are to Him. Set your heart to seek God. Put yourself on a fast and push everything else to the background. And go forth to cast your life upon His altar. Push past all the voices of life – go out into the wilderness and seek Him as your refuge. He will meet you there.

Psa. 27:7 Hear, O LORD, when I cry with my voice: have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

Psa. 27:8 When thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I seek.

If this sounds simplistic just remember that His voice brought life to all things. When His “still small voice” breaks forth into your conscious mind it blows away the darkness and lies that bind your soul. When he speaks it’s nothing like the words of men. When He speaks to you the benefits of His healing grace are imparted. He instills value in your conscience with His Word. Consider the words of a man who let God love him, and drew his destiny from that love:

Psa. 43:3 O send out Thy light and Thy truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Thy holy hill, And to Thy dwelling places.

Psa. 43:4 Then I will go to the altar of God, To God my exceeding joy; And upon the lyre I shall praise Thee, O God, my God.

Psa. 43:5 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him,The help of my countenance, and my God.

David’’s soul was in despair. He couldn’’t catch a break. Despite his best intentions and efforts everything went against him. He felt worthless, rejected and that he had no “Voice” of any significance. But David also knew that his soul was in trouble.  He knew he was depressed with a deflated sense of worth and value.Perhaps you see no value in your life. King David was there, where you now are. And he knew that a fresh perspective, a few days off, or a “rest” weren’t going to heal this brokenness. He knew where he had to go to heal his soul. He knew he needed to recapture his sense of Value and NO ONE BUT GOD could give that to him.

Psa. 43:3 O send out Thy light and Thy truth, let them lead me; Let them bring me to Thy holy hill, And to Thy dwelling places.

That’s where YOU must go: to God’’s “holy hill, and to Thy dwelling places.” Determine to go on a prayer-quest, to bring your malnourished soul to The Healer – the One Who loves you. For He has already sent out His “Light and Truth” to find you and bring you to His holy hill, His dwelling place.

We have made a costly error in measuring our value through life’’s experiences.  Our relationships, families, marriages, skills, successes, failures, popularity, respect of others, are not meant to be places we go to get a sense of value. Our personal value can only come from embracing what our Creator/Redeemer has said personally to us. He alone is “The help of my countenance, and my God”.

Before you can find your “Voice” you must find your Value.

Stay On The Path!

John 1:22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

John 1:23 He said, “I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

There are so many Christians holding onto their faith in Jesus but without any sense of personal value. It’’s so sad – like a marriage without romance. Without a sense of value, every trial seems like a personal rejection. Life’’s thread of disappointments just seems to confirm the feelings of insignificance. Without a revelation of your value, the thought of being or doing anything remotely great or worthwhile seems like an unattainable ideal. Everything seems more important than you. It’’s painful to press ahead everyday when you’’re dragging around the feeling that the world would experience no loss without you. And yet there are many Christians who, despite what they know in their head, feel this way in the secret recesses of their hearts. It’’s more than a crying shame; it’’s a crippling disease of faith. For how can anyone arise with a “Voice” if they have no sense of Value? Their words – regardless of how accurate or truthful – will fall powerless to the ground, because they are spoken from a heart of insignificance. To overthrow the power of the Gospel, Satan doesn’’t have to lure believers into false beliefs; he simply isolates them with thoughts of unimportance.

But a revelation of our personal value is at the foundation of what Jesus gives to us. Upon it He develops our vision and our “voice”. Value is exactly what He seeks to instill within us, with proclamations such as:

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Luke 12:6 Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God?

Luke 12:7 But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Luke 12:32 Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Luke 7:28 For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

As simply as I can state this, the point must be nailed down:

God most definitely has a profound interest in you knowing how valuable you are to Him.

Tomorrow I will tell you how to capture the revelation of your value.

Stay On The Path!

John 1:22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

John 1:23 He said, “I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

In all the experiences through which people search for meaning; of all the skills we develop to achieve fulfillment; none will free us from inner frustration, until we find our Voice in God. Your Creator has made you as a living message, and your life should say something. In fact your life is saying something right now.But it may not be speaking the powerful message of redemption. Yet that is the very message the Lord entered the world with which to free us. Lives lived in the affect of His redeeming love speak sweetly and powerfully to the world. You’’re to be His oracle, His living epistle.

1 Pet. 4:11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God…that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ…

When people have found their voice they have found more than a message, they have found themselves. In order to have your voice you must have a sense of your own value and a view of purpose. Value and Purpose come together in you to create a spiritual epiphany and focus your voice. In the simplest terms, your voice is what your life is saying to the world when everything within you comes together in a common purpose. Most people never consider that their life should even say anything. It’’s nearly impossible to achieve a true state of spiritual wellbeing and contentment by acquiring things, knowledge or experiences.Not until we begin to view the worth of our lives in terms of giving out to the world – finding our voice – can we start to live in a state of godly comfort.  Jesus taught the receiving, gaining, was achieved by giving. In His kingdom the greatest lives are lived by servants. Everything in them points toward a message, and they are ever aware of it. It’s a whole different way of negotiating the terms of their existence.

To find your voice you need 2 things: a Word and Unction. Both of these come from within you but they aren’t created by you. They’’re God inspired and you have to do business with Him to get them.

A Word…

What’’s YOUR word? God is always forming His Word in us. The Holy Spirit is ever at work, making real to us the Words of Life. Our conformity to His word in us produces a living message. That becomes your “say-so” – the authority of “your voice”.  Jesus had this distinction. Paul had it. Every Christian who has ever gone forth in life with a message in their heart from the Lord has had it. It comes from knowing what Jesus has said.…

Heb. 13:5 …for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”

Heb. 13:6 so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What shall man do to me?”

His “saying” becomes the basis for our confident say-so. What the Holy Spirit speaks to you becomes YOUR word.

Paul used the phrase “my Gospel” in Ro. 2:16 in referring to the Gospel he preached. The fact is that the Holy Spirit had revealed the wondrous insights of the Gospel to Paul so that it became his Word.

An Unction…

You need more than a Word; you need the power of utterance – the anointing to speak it. Some call it passion but it transcends emotion and springs from the indwelling power of God. Unction isn’’t great speaking skills it’s the presence of Heaven in your words. It can’’t be learned; it’’s caught, not taught. Paul, with all his expert oratory ability and training prayed for unction:

Eph. 6:19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel,

Eph. 6:20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

When Unction has been united with a Word in your life, to produce a message in you, it’’s very hard to do anything else but be “the Voice”.

A young man asked an old preacher how he might know if God really wanted him to preach or not. The old oracle simply answered, “If you can do anything else, then do it.”

Stay On The Path!

John 1:22 Then they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?”

John 1:23 He said, “I am A VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS, ‘MAKE STRAIGHT THE WAY OF THE LORD,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

All the men and women that God used had a “Voice”. Most of them hadn’’t found their voice until God took hold of them. When God found them, some were fearful, like Gideon. Some were insecure, like Moses. Some had been deceived, like Paul.  Some were indifferent and unavailable, like Esther. Yet in the Hands of God, each one found their unique voice, through which they spoke to their world. There is nothing quite like speaking to the world and having the world listen. They certainly will not all agree, but you won’t be ignored. It is no small honor to be the voice of God’’s message. There is quite possibly nothing else in life that can compare.

1 Pet. 4:11 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God…that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ…

One who is given a voice in the Hands of God doesn’’t just speak to the world from behind pulpits. In fact, most of the men and women who spoke God’’s messages to their generation did so within the flow of life’’s commonly traveled roads. The world isn’’t going to come to church, so God gives people in the church a voice and sends them into their the world.

In all that we seek to receive in church we should seek to obtain a voice.

It’’s good to be a part of church and come for understanding, refreshing, even correction. But in all that we reach for in church, how many of us come seeking to find our “Voice”?

Eph. 6:19 And (pray) for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,

Eph. 6:20 For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

When you begin to find your voice your path narrows – options fade – but the road ahead becomes more clear. For you find your voice on the same path that you discover your value and find true purpose.

When the Pharisees asked John the Baptist to give an accounting of himself he quoted Isaiah 40:3 in response:

The voice of him that cries in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

Jesus had refered to John saying:

Luke 7:28 For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist

I’’ve always been deeply impressed that the man Jesus cited as the greatest Prophet of the Old Testament had distilled his identity down to that of “The Voice”. Not The Body, The Brain, The Heart, The Hand, or any other function. But he was elevated to the high status of “greatest among those born” by allowing his life to be guided under the Hand of God to become an oracle.

Finding your voice and becoming an oracle of God is a concept shrouded in misunderstanding and fantasy.You would imagine some mystical process that fashions people into a strange and disconnected pilgrim.What could be more damaging to the Gospel than to associate the business of delivering God’s words with bizarre people. We have also made a terrible mistake leaving the job of speaking to the world for God, in the hands of professional clergy. That leaves the vast majority of Christians simply focusing on “living right” in a lost world. They never consider that there is a voice within them waiting to be awakened by the Hand of God. The most common places of their daily lives are the very paths God desires to enter and meet people.If the world only hears from God by the voice of professional preachers, where then will it learn of His love for them? The world needs for you to find your voice. Tomorrow we’ll begin to look at what goes into finding your voice.

Stay On The Path!

Heb. 2:10 For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

Let’s review from yesterday…

The phrase, bringing many sons unto glory, is one of those great statements of purpose that open a highway to the Throne of God. It cuts through all the lesser explanations for our salvation and presents us with the BIG PICTURE: SONSHIP. It was never God’s intention that we should be born a man and die a grocer.

…All the forces of Hell and all the influences of life, work together to throw a blanket of confusion over our heads. To prevent us from seeing “our glory”. I know. It sounds strange to speak of “our glory”, when we should be praising the glory of God. But what is the glory of God?

…It is the reflection of His greatness, the revelation of His purpose. All creation speaks of His order and greatness, BUT WE reveal His deep personal attributes and purpose, which is LOVE. God made us, risking the rebellion we’d commit and the mess we’d produce, because LOVE can settle for nothing less than our creation.

Now hear this, if nothing else has rung a bell of revelation in you yet: In order to bring us back to glory…back into our environment…back to our function…the Father made us sons of God.

Continuing on…

Sons…Children….Heirs, not drones, sophisticated animals, or creatures for amusement. We are very much like God, apart from our flawed nature and darkened spirits. Divine connectivity was designed into us. Our spirits were a hub for fellowship with God before the Fall.

Gen. 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Adam wasn’t alive until God breathed His breath into him. The word for breath in the Hebrew text is “Spirit”. Adam’s spirit was alive, aware and full of the Love of God.

Prov. 20:27 The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, searching all the inward parts of the belly.

Man was not only fashioned by God but he derived his being, his life, from the Spirit of God. And despite our fallen nature, we still feel traces of His Presence in our being, calling us to our “glory”. We were fashioned to fellowship and created to commune, with our Heavenly Father. Our calling to “rule and reign” was never intended as an independent ability. We were made to rule WITH God, not apart from Him.

Rom. 5:17 For if by one manís offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.

Apart from a sonship relationship with our heavenly Father, our attemps to rule in life range from frustrating to disastrous. We don’t do well without God. And that’s why God came to us the way He did, in Jesus Christ. He became a Son to offer Sonship to us, through Himself. He didn’t show up in the sky bellowing frightening orders and convincing us of His deity. Because, though convinced into submission, many of us would not have responded from a willing heart of love. That is definitely not the kind of relationship God wants with us. If that’s what He wanted He could go scare some chipmunks into submission. No, God came as Jesus the Son of God, to offer you Sonship. You are ordained to inherit Jesus’ relationship and position with the Father. Take a deep breath and think about that. Jesus came to die in order to not only pay the claims of sin, BUT TO LEAVE YOU AN INHERITANCE. And what did you get? What did He leave you?

Rev. 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

He left you His relationship with the Father.

John 17:22 And the glory which thou gave Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

John 17:23 I in them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them, as You have loved Me.

Notice in Jesus’ prayer, just moments before His betrayal, He associates giving us His “glory” with sharing in His Sonship. Remember, the glory of any living thing is it’s intended function - doing what it was designed to do. Jesus refers to His glory - the glory of the Son, and prays to impart it to us by inheritance through His death. HE IS PRAYING HIS LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT! Too few Christians have understood what Jesus came to give them. They have received Him but don’t know what they have in Him. Much less, have we considered the depth of grace and boundaries of this sonship which binds us to the Father. If we KNEW who we were we’d pray differently, act differently, live differently, love differently, believe differently.

John 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If you knew the Gift of God, and who it is that said to you, Give me to drink; you would have asked of Him, and He would have given you living water.

No there is the million dollar “IF”.  “If you knew the Gift of God.” You say you know Jesus, but do you know The Gift?…the inheritance? What did you get? What do you know? Read the will again. Read your New Testament again. This time overlay it with Hebrews 2:10, and watch the topography of sonship rise from the scriptures. That’s YOU they’re writing about!

Heb. 2:10 For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Stay On The Path!

Heb. 2:10 For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

God’s purpose in creation can be seen in our transition from knowing God as Creator to meeting Him as Father. The phrase, “bringing many sons unto glory”, is one of those great statements of purpose that open a highway to the Throne of God. It cuts through all the lesser explanations for our salvation and presents us with the BIG PICTURE: SONSHIP. It was never God’s intention that we should be born a man and die a grocer. All the forces of Hell and all the influences of life, work together to throw a blanket of confusion over our heads. To prevent us from seeing “our glory”. I know. It sounds strange to speak of “our glory”, when we should be praising the glory of God. But what is the glory of God?

Eph. 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:

Eph. 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints (God’s people…

God created glory into everything He made. And the glory of each created thing is it’s function. The glory of the eagle is to fly. The glory of the Salmon is to swim. And the glory of man is to fellowship with God, and partner with Him in ruling over His creation. That is what we were designed to do. Everything about us - our ability to dream, our desire for passion, our drive to excel, our need for intimacy; these are all engineered into us to enable us to walk with God. And these very qualities drive us into futility and the frustration of unfulfillment, when we walk apart from God. The reason for this is simple.

Every glory has it’s environment that God created in which it will function. Take the creature out of his environment and his glory will not function. Eagles cannot swim under water. Their environment is the sky. The Salmon won’t survive in the air, much less swim in the sky. The Salmon looks pathetic and defeated in the air, but put him in the river and watch his glory in action. Likewise man was designed to be gloriously effective in a certain environment. That environment is the Presence of God. The physical location of that environment was originally the “Garden”.

Eze. 28:13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God;

And this environment of fellowship between God and His man, was to expand as man exercised His glory.

Gen. 1:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

But man took himself out of the presence of God. He stepped into a world of blindness and confusion. He became like the fish-out-of-water, gasping and flailing for survival rather than living powerfuly in glory. When we, in the environs of His Presence, walk in our glory, exhibiting our God-given abilities, IT GLORIFIES GOD!! It reflects back on the Creator.

So at this point let’s answer the question we opened up with, “But what is the glory of God?” It is the reflection of His greatness, the revelation of His purpose. All creation speaks of His order and greatness, BUT WE reveal His deep personal attributes and purpose, which is LOVE. God made us, risking the rebellion we’d commit and the mess we’d produce, because LOVE can settle for nothing less than our creation. And LOVE will provide nothing less than our salvation, to redeem our fall. LOVE chased us. LOVE paid the price to purchase us back from the claims of sin.

Now hear this, if nothing else has rung a bell of revelation in you yet: In order to bring us back to glory…back into our environment…back to our function…the Father made us sons of God.

Heb. 2:10 For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

This elevation to Sonship is the very original purpose of our creation. This is the design of LOVE.

1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

You will never be more complete in any relationship than you are as a child of your Heavenly Father. You will never coordinate your skills, passions and mental powers more perfectly than when you are walking with your Heavenly Father. Through Paul the Apostle and Mother Theresa and all the thousands of unnamed men and women who have radiated the glories of God, whose sacrificial virtues exalted the Savior, the world has seen the flickering lights of glory from the doorway of Jesus.

Rev. 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

More tomorrow…

Stay On The Path!

Heb. 12:28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

Heb. 12:29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

Have you ever noticed those old painting depicting the Day Of Pentecost, and the disciples being filled with the Holy Spirit? They always seem to show the disciples with something resembling a little flame, emanating from an invisible Bic lighter, sitting on top of their heads. A little flame, as if it had just resulted from the striking of a match - a little flame, which will undoubtedly, soon go out. Why a “little” flame? Why is it that every opportunity man gets to depict God, he ends up shrinking Him? It seems the obsession of religion to shrink God. Perhaps downsizing is a result of the subconscious tendency to reduce everything to the status of a tool of humanity – to put a handle on every experience, leaving man large-and-in-charge. That’s OK, God designed us to be large …and in charge; but not larger than Him.

Perhaps the fixation with shrinking is motivated by a pragmatic impulse to quantify everything –- make it researchable, less fearful. Whatever the motive, whether intentioned or automatic, we most definitely like to shrink God. And the little tongues of fire are just the beginning. We also shrunk the “Light” with which we are to illuminate the world!

Matt. 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.

Once again, check the paintings. We’’ve reduced the light to a little round halo that tops off the pious Christian’s outfit like a fashion accessory. That little light-disk doesn’’t display God. It just makes the wearer look religious

And what about anointing oil? You know, the kind used in the Old Testament to represent the choice and anointing of God, upon a person’’s life.

1 Sam. 16:12 …And the LORD said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he (David).

1 Sam. 16:13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward.

Psa. 133:2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron’s beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments;

That practice of anointing use to be big and messy, and represented the complete takeover of one’’s life, by the touch of God. There was no hiding the fact that you’ had just been anointed. But today, we have “the Dab”; easily wiped off and barely visible. I’’m not suggesting we should be emptying a bottle of Wesson over the heads of people, but we ought to challenge our insistence upon shrinking every symbol and sacrament of God.

What about water baptism, used to illustrate the immersion of one’’s life into the Christian commission? It’’s a good thing that water baptism is not required for salvation, because in many churches today they would never tolerate a real immersion. By the time the baptized gets back to his seat, the water has evaporated off his forehead. No wet clothes to have to change, and best of all, the church doesn’’t have to see you with your hair plastered to the sides of your head. Miniaturization of God has certainly helped us maintain our dignity.

And didn’’t Jesus “break bread” and pass the loaf around? What’’s up with kneeling down and sticking your tongue out for a wafer so thin it melts on contact?! Understandably, these are only symbols, but our use of them reveals our insistence upon shrinking God.

All these miniaturizations reduce God to a human experience, instead of us being swept up into a God experience. God reduced Himself once, to become Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And Jesus further humbled Himself to become the sacrificial Lamb for you and I, on Calvary’’s cross. Yet the Bible declares that the world could not contain the books if all His works had been chronicled. Isaiah 9:7 says that, ““Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end…”.” In Ezekiel 47 we see the River of God, beginning to trickle from the His throne and expand into a giant flooding river of life, as it proceeds into the world.

In His going forth, God is never reduced, diminished, or thinned out. Unlike every other element in the Universe, slowly spinning down to die, resistance never wears down God. Paul says in Romans 8:2,

“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”

All creation is subject to the law of sin and death, yet God, through Christ, split the membrane of death, like He owned it. The Universe is stretched between His thumb and pinky. Our symbols relate miniaturized versions of the truths they represent, and shrink our own faith till it’’s not a threat to the status quo. But you can’’t shrink God. Jesus is as small as He gets.

Stay On The Path!

John 14:19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.

John 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

The Christian straddles 2 different realities, in 2 different worlds: The reality of circumstances in the physical world, and the reality of God’’s Truth in the spiritual Kingdom of Heaven. For most people, circumstances seem more real and authoritative than the statements of God’’s Word, because they force themselves upon us. Life happens without having to go looking for it. But the promises and blessings of God’’s Word seem distant and unreal, because they must be sought and chosen; and they don’’t automatically fulfill themselves in our lives, just because they are God’’s will.

The same is often true of some of the natural advantages in this life. They are available, without discrimination, to whoever may pursue them. But most people never receive them simply because they either don’’t believe they can, or they’re more interested in other things. So it is, that just as many advantages in the world seem obscure and unreal to most people, so also does the reality of God’’s promises. Whether it’s the natural opportunities of life, or the wonderful blessings of God, the good things of life seem far less real to most people than life’’s unhappy circumstances.

1 John 4:4 Little children, you are of God [you belong to Him] and have [already] defeated and overcome them [the agents of the antichrist], because He Who lives in you is greater (mightier) than he who is in the world.

The realities of God supercede the conditions of His created world. Yet it is not just God Who wills, but believers who insist upon the supremacy of His will, who determine that God’’s reality overrides the seeming tyranny of circumstances. To live under the benefits of God’’s reality depends upon you applying this simple progressive statement of truth:

1. Spiritual life is controlled by Faith…

2. Faith is shaped and controlled by Concept…

3. And no Concept is more critical to Faith than that of your Oneness with Jesus.

Eph. 3:17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith…

Grasping the concept of HOW Jesus Christ lives in you, is the absolute most important understanding you will ever have in life. Everything of any eternal consequence will depend upon your grasp on that truth. If you properly understand the concept of HOW Jesus is in you, and you in Him, then your faith will truly bridge the gap between Earth’’s circumstances and Heaven’s promises. It could be said this way:

You will have to stand on the revelation of Christ in YOU, if you ever hope to reach, see and experience the glory of God, that is yours.

Col. 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:

Here is a simple, visual demonstration you can perform, to illustrate for yourself the proper understanding of our oneness in Christ.

The Egg vs The Kool-Aide

Jesus as an Egg……

You are a pitcher of water. Drop the egg into the pitcher. Jesus is now IN you but the natures (elements) don’t mix. Egg remains egg, and water remains as unaffected water. No matter how much you stir it there is no oneness. His purity remains intact, and so does your sin-conscious identity. In this model you are nothing more than a religious container. There is no oneness between you and God. You might as well be sack.

Jesus as Kool-Aide……

Pour the Kool-Aide powder into the water. The Kool-Aide and water are instantly blended, changing the water to “Kool-Aide”. If you drink from the pitcher with the egg, the water is the same. It tastes and looks the same. But if you pour a glass of the Kool-Aide you don’t get water. You get something new.

2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh andnew has come!

Tomorrow we’ll look at some of that newness, so until then……

Stay On The Path!

Prov. 18:21 Death and life are in the power (hand) of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

The hand that receives the blessings of God is in your mouth. God’s Hand is in His mouth. Jesus, who is called “The Word of God”, is God’s Hand of healing, salvation, Help and blessing.

Words, and the mouths that form them, from the hearts that conceive them, hold the greatest powers of the Universe.

In Proverbs 18:21, the translators used the word “power”, from the original ancient Hebrew word for “hand”; when describing the power of the tongue. From the Strong’s Concordance:

3027. yad, yawd; a primitive word; a hand (the open one - indicating power, means, direction, etc.)

A very simple and accurate paraphrase of the verse could read like this:

Prov. 18:21 Death and life are in the HAND of the tongue: and those who learn to use it will eat its fruit.

When God built the Universe He used His Hand - …the Hand in His mouth.

Heb. 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

God built with His Hand - …the Hand of His tongue. At 186,000 miles per second, light proceeded from the mouth of God, as He said, “Let there be light!”

So powerfully creative is the Hand of God in His mouth, that you never see in scripture, examples of Him speaking recklessly, or issuing meaningless words that He regrets saying. The reason is simple:

Heb. 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

God knows that His tongue is a hand. He knows every Word He speaks comes to pass. By the same token, we have been made in His image and likeness. In other words, we should act like Him and reflect His character. We’ve been designed by God to do so. And that’s why He says so much to us in His Word about our tongues. He knows that the hand in our mouth can build or tear down with greater force than the hands our arms support.

The words we speak form a hand that gives and receives. Think about it. Do you really want to give what your words declare? Do you really want to receive what your words state? What do you want to give? You must select words that are able to hand it out.

Prov. 10:21 The lips of the righteous feed many…

Words that form a hand are found in the heart. Whether loving, angry, joyous, judgmental, blessing or complaining, these words come from what we believe. When we speak from our beliefs we speak with the force of a hand.

Mark 11:23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

It is with the hand in our mouth that we walk hand-in-hand with Jesus. Here is an amazing verse that makes this point so powerfully:

Heb. 3:1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;

The word, “Profession” is this word in the original Greek text:

3671. homologia, hom-ol-og-ee´-ah; from the same as 3670; acknowledgment:–con- (pro-)fession, professed.

In its simplest form, “profession” means to say the same thing as God. Jesus, as the great Apostle (Sent One) and High Priest of God, is the Hand of God joining with the hand of our mouth, when we say the same thing as God. That concept is powerful; because it transcends the limitations of education and social position, and places the great blessings of God before all men equally. Anybodycan now take hold of the endless mercy and powerful graces of the precious Lord Jesus.

Deut. 30:14 But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.

Rom. 10:8 But what does it say? “THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, in your mouth and in your heart”–that is, the word of faith which we are preaching.

Stay On The Path!

Heb. 12:1 Therefore, surrounded as we are by such a vast cloud of witnesses, let us fling aside every encumbrance and the sin that so readily entangles our feet. And let us run with patient endurance the race that lies before us,

Heb. 12:2 simply fixing our gaze upon Jesus, our Prince Leader in the faith, who will also award us the prize. He, for the sake of the joy which lay before Him, patiently endured the cross, looking with contempt upon its shame, and afterwards seated Himself— where He still sits—at the right hand of the throne of God.

Heb. 12:3 Therefore, if you would escape becoming weary and faint-hearted, compare your own sufferings with those of Him who endured such hostility directed against Him by sinners.

Heb. 12:4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted so as to endanger your lives;

Heb. 12:5 and you have quite forgotten the encouraging words which are addressed to you as sons, and which say, “My son, do not think lightly of the Lord’s discipline, and do not faint when He corrects you;

Heb. 12:6 for those whom the Lord loves He disciplines: and He scourges every son whom He acknowledges.”

Heb. 12:7 The sufferings that you are enduring are for your discipline. God is dealing with you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

Heb. 12:8 And if you are left without discipline, of which every true son has had a share, that shows that you are illegitimate, and not true sons.

Heb. 12:9 Besides this, our earthly fathers used to discipline us and we treated them with respect, and shall we not be still more submissive to the Father of our spirits, and live?

Heb. 12:10 It is true that they disciplined us for a few years according as they thought fit; but He does it for our certain good, in order that we may become sharers in His own holy character.

Heb. 12:11 Now, at the time, discipline seems to be a matter not for joy, but for grief; yet it afterwards yields to those who have passed through its training a result full of peace—namely, righteousness.

Heb. 12:12 Therefore strengthen the drooping hands and paralyzed knees,

Heb. 12:13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put entirely out of joint

Heb. 12:14 but may rather be restored. Persistently strive for peace with all men, and for that growth in holiness apart from which no one will see the Lord. (Weymouth Translation)

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

So far we have looked at the fact that Christians in our culture live in the pursuit of happiness rather than holiness. But God makes clear in the text that He is more concerned for our holiness than our happiness, because true holiness leads to freedom from futility and fellowship with him. We have also looked at the fact that it’s our nature to avoid correction because it initially causes grief. Hence the warning from the text above is: “do not think lightly of the Lord’s discipline, and do not faint when He corrects you”. So today let’s consider the statement in verse 8, which says, “And if you are left without discipline, of which every true son has had a share, that shows that you are illegitimate, and not true sons.”

There should be no mystery about why so many Christians secretly fight strong feelings of spiritual insecurity. When the pressure of trials bring their influence to bear, a great deal of our theology immediately disintegrates. We believe much more than we practice, and the sieve of daily life quickly separates what is true from what is real in our faith. We profess many things that we have never consistently proven. And I say this not to cast condemnation upon us, but because it leads to a very important revelation:

Theology can not give you the sense of legitimacy that only divine discipline can produce.

Heb. 12:8 …discipline, of which every true (legitimate) son has had a share…

Our theology must never emancipate us from the Savior. God’s correction always reminds us of how dependent upon Him we are. But even more important than that, is the fact that His correction literally brings us into the inheritance of our sonship.

Heb. 12:7 …God is dealing with you as sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline?

Our sonship will always be IN Christ and never beside Christ, or even behind Christ. We are legitimate only IN Christ. The New Covenant is a blood covenant between God the Father and God the Son. We are adopted not adapted. Therefore His disciplinary dealing will ALWAYS have this one directional influence in it. And that is, that His reproofs will always correct our relationship to Jesus and not just punish us for breaking a moral code. The Old Testament Law dealt with our relationship to a codified righteousness, and as such it revealed the impossibility of man ever being saved by relationship to law. That’s why the New Covenant embodies righteousness in the man, Jesus Christ, Who is God the Son. Him, we can have a relationship with.The Old Testament punished law-breakers in the futile hope that they would keep it. In the New Testament God chastens sons so they will be what they are: sons, and not act illegitimately.

Our sense of legitimacy does not come from how much we know or how convincingly we speak. In fact, our legitimacy cannot be maintained at all by the accumulation of truth. For the reality of faith is that it’s actually God Who makes us Sons through our obedience to Him.

Phil. 2:13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Far too many Christians attempt to close the gap on their own sense of spiritual insecurity (illegitimacy) by learning something new. We tend to live from sermon to sermon, teaching to teaching. We think it, therefore we possess it. But the object of the New Testament isn’t truth. It’s Sonship. And our sense of legitimacy comes as we allow the Father to DEAL with us in the Truth. It’s the divine dealing we submit to, and not the knowledge we receive, that proves the legitimacy of our sonship. It is this very sense of legitimacy that forms the foundation for our daily operational faith, and that is why divine discipline is so necessary, because it frees us to believe what we believe in; to act on what we know; to live as Sons of God.

Stay On The Path!

John 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

John 5:2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.

John 5:3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.

John 5:4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.

John 5:5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.

John 5:6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

John 5:7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

John 5:8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

John 5:9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

(from the previous devotioanl, “Where There Is No Man”)

“It is the nature of sickness to be oppressive. In making us weak, it causes us to look to men for help. And when it drags us beyond the reach of men, affliction lays its seeds of hopelessness in our soul. But it is contrasted against the very backdrop of hopelessness, that Jesus’ presentation shines brightly.  Where there is “no man”, there is Jesus!”

“The attitude of Heaven had formed itself into Jesus. He clearly, and without conflict, spoke from His heart, from the mandate of His mission. “Will you be made whole?”

What is Jesus, if He is no bigger, no more powerful, no more willing, than our unbelief and doubts? Certainly we are confined by the limits of our faith. But Jesus has a will and ability that far exceeds our fear-formed theologies. Jesus said one thing:

Matt. 8:7 And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.

But then man has penned a million words of caution, restriction, exclusions and disclaimers. Well-meaning Christian teachers have surrounded these, and other such powerful claims of Jesus, with the quicksand of theological motes, all in an effort to protect God and people from disapointment and accusation. Most believers today no longer even expect God to heal, much less believe that He has already provided it in Christ. They are so conditioned by the words of men there’s no expectation towards God. Sadly, most suffering believers just gaze hopefully at the slim chance of an inexplicable stirring pool.

Let’s revisit the man at the Pool of Bethesda one last time. It’s probably the last time he himself will ever be there. He is stranded at this mysterious pool of limited healing opportunities. Not unlike our churches today. There’s the knowledge that people get occasionally healed, but one could hardly call it an expectation. The healings happen sure enough, but they are so unpredictable and arbitrary. It’s more like people get healed by accident rather than on purpose. I wonder if it’s easier on the Pastors and Teachers to have people mysteriously healed by the occassional stirring waters. That way, no one has to say anymore than, “Well, we can’t understand His ways, but God will choose, from time-to-time, to heal someone.” It’s easy then. There’s no responsibility to relate with Jesus and take Him at His Word. We can just leave healing in the realm of “providence” and “souvereignty”. Which is a fancy way of saying, “Don’t get your hopes up, because God hasn’t attached any promises to this pool.”

Well, that would be nice and tidy, except for one thing: you’ve got Jesus loose and roaming around the Temple. And there’s no controlling Him. Everytime He personally confronts the afflicted, He offers them healing and deliverance. How do you keep that under control?!! To show me the Jesus of exceptions, exclusions and disclaimers, you have to take me to the mountainous pile of man’s theological comentaries. But to take you to the Jesus of consistent Healing, all I have to do is take you to the Bible. We like to tell people that the Bible is for today. We tell them that Jesus’ words of salvation are potent and relavent today. But then we turn them away from His words of healing and the consistent pattern of His delivering power; claiming that those words were only relavent then. Yet there’s not one solid direction from the Master’s mouth, that authorizes us to discount His offer to heal the sick, or religate it to special people during a short period of time. How completely and utterly opposite of everything He said and did! What if we told people to forget about the Pool Of Bethesda and start dealing directly with Jesus? What if we told people to stop waiting for a “special anointing” and start seeking the common Savior. Do we have the courage to tell the truth about Jesus? The truth that He is Heaven’s “YES!” to our faith’s petition for help, healing and deliverance?

2 Cor. 1:20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

There was NEVER any sincere petitioner, who faced Jesus with a need for healing, that was ever turned away. Whether He went to them, or they came to Him, the result was ALWAYS the same. Always. Despite our modern theologies, I think there is a stronger case to be made, based soley on the evidence of scripture and the direct statements of Jesus Himself, that the sincere can not but get healed in the Presence of the Lord of Life!

Stay On The Path

John 5:1 After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

John 5:2 Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.

John 5:3 In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water.

John 5:4 For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.

John 5:5 And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years.

John 5:6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

John 5:7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

John 5:8 Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.

John 5:9 And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

If you went to Heaven today, do you think you would meet “Blind Bartimaeus”, “Simon The Leper”, or “The Woman With The Issue Of Blood”? Of course not. Not only has God removed their condition of sickness, but also it’s no longer their identity. They’re now “Simon the Whole” and “20/20 Bartimaeus”. But God saw him as “Simon The Whole” long before he became whole. While he was still a leper, God saw him as healed and whole.

Rom. 4:17 (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.

The eyes of God see with the perspective of His Will. Is God wrong to identify us according to His view of us, rather than labeling us by our temporary conditions? Conditions that linger may take on a sense of permanence in our minds, but they’re still temporary in the mind of Him whose will usurps them.

Mark 5:39 And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.

I doubt seriously that you would accuse Jesus of irresponsible thinking. Yet you might accuse someone who thought and spoke like Him of irresponsible thinking. Why is it OK for Jesus to speak from Heaven’s perspective, but wrong for us? Surely it’s not because He’s Jesus and we’re not. Because if you take that position then how in the world do you then turn around and explain that we are called to think, act and believe as He did?!

Mark 11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

Mark 11:23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

This mind-boggling statement from Jesus is surely limited to those “mountains” which God has said should be cast into the sea. And that certainly includes the personal example He demonstrated without exception, that of healing sickness. Concerning healing, He has set a solid precedent.

The man at the Pool of Bethesda had a deep-seated, lingering disorder. This was no momentary affliction. It was a “Boundary-Setting Illness”. When people have such afflictions, the infirmities define the boundaries of their lives. The infirm and crippled person may courageously expand their limitations, by playing guitar with their feet, painting with their mouth or playing sports in a wheelchair. But still there are boundaries which limit their abilities. However sickness may control your living, it should never define your life. Jesus healed Bartimaeus because the Bartimaeus God saw wasn’t blind. Jesus just put him into the condition God saw him in. And Bartimaeus BELIEVED He would do it! Can Jesus put you into the condition God sees you in?

When Jesus went in to heal Jairus’ daughter, she had died by the time He arrived, so they told Him it was too late, she’s dead. But Jesus didn’t see her as dead, and he said as much:

Mark 5:39 And when he was come in, he saith unto them, Why make ye this ado, and weep? the damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.

And look at the reaction He got from the mourners. It’s the same reaction we get today from Believers when confronted with the same faith:

Mark 5:40 And they laughed him to scorn. But when he had put them all out, he taketh the father and the mother of the damsel, and them that were with him, and entereth in where the damsel was lying.

Sometimes you have to just put out the doubters, and get Jesus in there alone with you.

Mark 5:41 And he took the damsel by the hand, and said unto her, Talitha cumi; which is, being interpreted, Damsel, I say unto thee, arise.

Just like Lazarus, Jesus talked to this girl’s corpse as though she were alive. Because in the mind of Him, whose will counts the most, she was alive. He had said so! What has He said about you? Check His Word, not the mourners’ opinions, but God’s Word.

Mark 5:42 And straightway the damsel arose, and walked; for she was of the ageof twelve years. And they were astonished with a great astonishment.

Of course they were astonished. They defined her as ‘dead’, while He defined her as ’sleeping’. He defined Lazarus the same way:

John 11:11 These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friendLazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

And in the mind of Jesus, your condition is as temporary as sleep. He came to awaken you from your temporary condition. Sickness may control your living, but it should never define your life. It may describe ‘how you are’ for the moment, but it must never define ‘who you are’. Jesus communes with you on the basis of ‘who you are’, not on the basis of ‘how you are’. When Jesus visited the man at the Pool of Bethesda, his life had been completely controlled by his condition. And no doubt that in his thinking, his own identity was defined also by his illness. So Jesus approaches him with a most peculiar question:

John 5:6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole?

“Will you” be made whole? Not, ‘can you be’ made whole. ‘Can’ addresses the man’s ability, which of course, is overwhelmed by the condition. But Jesus engaged the man on the one level that his sickness could not control: his will. Of course the man didn’t possess the ability to make himself well. But now he was faced with Jesus, Who did have, not only the ability but also the will to heal him. Upon gazing into the compassionate eyes of the Son of God, the man lifted his own will from the paralyzing arms of sickness, and placed it into the Hands of Jesus. The sickness never had a chance!

Stay On The Path

Heb. 1:8 But of the Son he says, Your seat of power, O God, is forever and ever; and the rod of your kingdom is a rod of righteousness.

Heb. 1:9 You have been a lover of righteousness and a hater of evil; and so God, your God, has put the oil of joy on your head more than on the heads of those who are with you.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

(from yesterday’s edition)

“The opposite of love isn’t hate, but indifference.” - Ellie Wiesel (Holocaust Survivor)

Indifference to evil is not only the opposite of love but the indication that love is vacant. No true love can tolerate evil. No true love can abide neutral in the presence of evil and continue to call itself “love”. For love, by proper definition, springs from love for truth and righteousness. Love for God is the fountainhead of all true love. So hate for evil is the natural flip side to love for righteousness. The one who has no capacity to hate what is evil has no ability to love what is righteous.

The failure of our leaders to hate evil is one of the greatest corruptions of our modern culture. When men and women, with no ability to identify evil for what it is, head up our nations, sit as judges, write laws, teach our youth, lead our congregations and form our public policies, we have no defense against wickedness. When poor children are left under the guardianship of mothers with no internal revulsion for wicked men, they always become their helpless victims. It is the most grievous of all abuses, when the protected are sacrificed by stewards of authority who refuse to stand against wickedness. Judges who release child-molesting beasts upon society should serve in the jail cells with them when they re-offend. While self-distracted people whine and moan about gas prices, our society’s refusal to hate and react against evil is quickly depleting our most important energy resource. Hand-wringing collegiates run around foaming over destruction of the environment, but have no concern whatsoever over the erosion of our real context for survival: loving righteousness and hating evil.

The evil of Islamic fascism only succeeds because the stewards of free nations lack the orientation to see evil, the heart to hate it, and the will to defeat it. In America the Executive branch of Government is the only one with a will to fight this evil. The President (Bush) struggles in an uphill battle because he has to drag a reluctant and obstructive Congress and Judiciary behind him every step of the way. Why? Because they cannot bring themselves to see evil for what it is. “Sympathy For The Devil” may have to replace our National Anthem, as evil is being given a massive makeover by the combined forces of government, academia, the press and the entertainment industry. With the exception of the church (and that just barely), all the great centers of public influence are working in concert to smear lipstick on the evil pig and give it a facelift.

Treating rebellion against God as a virtue has long been the practice of public leaders. This was King Saul’s big problem. God had left him with instructions through the Prophet Samuel, to wipe out the Amalekites. But King Saul failed to discern the evil of the Amalekites and spared their king and livestock. When the Prophet Samuel arrived at the battle scene King Saul presented his compromise as some kind of elevated act of conscience. He excused his disobedience to God as an act of righteousness, just as many today do when they defy the claims of God by presenting their so-called morality as a higher love.

1 Sam. 15:22 And Samuel said, Has the Lord as much delight in offerings and burned offerings as in the doing of his orders? Truly, to do his pleasure is better than to make offerings, and to give ear to him than the fat of sheep.

1 Sam. 15:23 For to go against his orders is like the sin of those who make use of secret arts, and pride is like giving worship to images. Because you have put away from you the word of the Lord, he has put you from your place as king.

1 Sam. 15:24, 30 And Saul said to Samuel, Great is my sin: for I have gone against the orders of the Lord and against your words: because, fearing the people, I did what they said…but still, give me honor now before the heads of my people and before Israel, and come back with me so that I may give worship to the Lord your God.

No morality that fails to hate wickedness, has ever known righteousness.

No morality that fails to spit-out wickedness, has ever tasted righteousness.

But righteousness is not a collective political condition. You can’t get righteousness out of 100 hypocrites who agree to social reform. Jesus said that love for righteousness has to be practiced at home before it can be exported to the marketplace.

Luke 6:41 “And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?

Luke 6:42 “Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye.

Tolerating the works of wickedness, when they appear within the sphere of your own responsibility, is a sure sign that you’re not operating from a Love for Righteousness. This was the downfall of the kingdoms of Israel & Judah. Ultimately it wasn’t their failure to school or correct the ungodly nations around them, but the refusal to purge evil from their own midst, that brought the downfall of the Jewish kingdoms. Knowing the difference between true righteousness and evil obligates us to be stewards over our own responsibilities before trying to school others.

The downfall of the Jewish Pharisees was that they tolerated compromise with evil in their own lives while enforcing strict religious codes on others. This is why they were the only people that Jesus publicly denounced as hypocrites. While the Jewish leaders imposed the harshest sanctions against certain sinners, they shamelessly tolerated their own sins and those from whom they stood to gain political advantages. So their so-called love for righteousness was a front for their own tolerance for evil.

Tolerance of wickedness reveals the absence of righteousness.

So tolerance of wickedness IS wickedness.

“The opposite of love isn’t hate, but indifference.”  - Ellie Wiesel

Looking at history, we can see that the Hand of God had raised up many leaders because of their love of righteousness and hate for evil, but was later removed when they began to tolerate corruption. To be exalted by the Hand of God, with His anointing upon your head, one must share His virtues and reasonings. This is what was said of Jesus:

…therefore God, thy God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.

The world likes to use Jesus as an example of love to promote their agenda of false righteousness. They site His sayings about love, in attempt to use Him as an endorser of social tolerance for sexual sin and political pacifism. The wicked hate scrutiny and always try to divert the condemnation of righteous judgment by criticizing it as unloving. They use the symbols of righteousness to cover themselves. Every counterfeit endorses the genuine by their existence. It’s no small wonder that evil hides itself within the gutted shell of love. A love with no allegiance to God is a convenient cloak for every self-justification. So true love is known by it’s fruit – including hate for evil and the will to oppose it.

2 John 1:6 And this is love that we walk after his commandments.

Stay On The Path!

Heb. 1:8 But of the Son he says, Your seat of power, O God, is forever and ever; and the rod of your kingdom is a rod of righteousness.

Heb. 1:9 You have been a lover of righteousness and a hater of evil; and so God, your God, has put the oil of joy on your head more than on the heads of those who are with you..

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

“The opposite of love isn’t hate, but indifference.”

- Ellie Wiesel (Holocaust Survivor)

Indifference to evil is not only the opposite of love but the indication that love is vacant. No true love can tolerate evil. No true love can abide neutral in the presence of evil and continue to call itself “love”. For love, by proper definition, springs from love for truth and righteousness. Love for God is the fountainhead of all true love. So hate for evil is the natural flip side to love for righteousness. The one who has no capacity to hate what is evil has no ability to love what is righteous.

Edmund Burke is universally credited with the famous maxim:

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

Although no one has been able to nail down that exact quote in any of Burke’’s writings, the following quote is taken from Burke and amounts to the same point:

“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”

However stated, the message is universally true: Evil will, so good must! No sentiment, which presents itself as good, noble or lofty, while at the same time, refusing to see evil and hate it, can ever claim to be love. It is misguided philanthropy at best and heartless self-interest at worst.

The byproduct of prosperity is forgetfulness. Those who inherit the prosperity, which their forefathers fought evil forces to obtain, all too often act as though they themselves invented peace and are worthy of it. They look with contempt upon the battles fought against evil as they lift themselves up in erudite condescension.They see themselves as “too good” to hate evil. But they are, in reality, unworthy of the peace they have inherited and sure to lose it to the evil they ignore.

Jesus is exalted because He loves righteousness and hates evil.

Heb. 1:9 You have been a lover of righteousness and a hater of evil; and so God, your God, has put the oil of joy on your head more than on the heads of those who are with you.

But there are those today, who claim that their love has no room for hate. They say that because of love they have been elevated above hate and are free from it.They have become elevated above the ability to hate anything, and they see their position as being superior and an example of true love. In the name of tolerance and in an effort to respect everybody, they bind themselves into a paralyzing inability to act against evil. They have become so objective that they can’’t even stir themselves to be angry at it. But objectivity that fails to brace itself against the righteousness of God, and position itself upon the mount of His Word, is doomed to float weightless without a point.

2 Tim. 3:1-7 But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self…holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; and avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.

This false objectivity, this failure to love righteousness because it might conflict with someone else’s ideas and appear intolerant, is not love. It’’s indecision. It’’s immorality by default.

For love is not the absence of hate, because hate in itself is not sin. Some hate certainly is sin.

Titus 3:3 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another.

Hating God is sin. Hating righteousness is sin. Hating those who love righteousness is sin. The humanistic repulsion against righteousness, and the natural tendency to rebel against it, that is a hate for righteousness, and that is sin.

1 John 5:17 All unrighteousness is sin…

So how can one say he loves others but by not hating evil he fails to love righteousness. By his “love and understanding” for evil he takes sides against God and His righteousness.

Luke 11:23 “He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.” - Jesus Christ

But Hate has its place too. Hate for evil is the appropriate response of love for righteousness. The two are inseparable.

So where do we apply this tension between love and hate? Do we attack the world like crusaders, righting the wrongs?

Some answers tomorrow, so until then……

Stay On The Path!

Gal. 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Gal. 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

We become godly by living as a true worshipper of Jesus, allowing the Holy Spirit to flow through our lives. Not by honing “godly qualities” or developing righteousness. Putting our heart-felt efforts and prayer into relationship with Jesus, rather than the development of spirituality is what really gets us there. We’ve said it for so long as a cliche’, “It’s relationship with Jesus, not religion that God wants.” Since the Fruit of the Spirit is the moral attributes OF Jesus, and not like Jesus, then we can not grow this fruit, we must steward this fruit.

John 15:4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.

Our walk with Jesus, that thing that should be the greatest source of happiness in our life, becomes our deepest frustration when we strive to make ourselves holy. All the Fruits of the Spirit should be approached with a joyous excitement, by thinking, “Wow, look at all I have access to!”. But what ought to be a source of joy becomes a trap of condemnation, when we say instead, “Wow, look at all I have to DO!”.

Paul warned about the terrible trap of self-righteousness. We often think of this as the sin of proud people. But often, it’s the occupational hazard of conscientious Christians who simply try too hard.

Rom. 10:2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.

Rom. 10:3 For not knowing about God‚’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

This is too true of many sincere believers. They know that God requires righteousness, but they don’t understand that He has given it to us through relationship with His Son, Jesus Christ. So they can’t relax in faith, and they try to please God by becoming righteous and developing the Fruit of the Spirit. But the Fruit manifests in us as self-reliance gives way to Christ-reliance and the Holy Spirit is able to empower us with the strength of Jesus’ moral excellence. So the Fruit of the Spirit is the result of nurturing our relationship with Jesus, and not the by-product of engineering our walk with God.

Stay On The Path!

Gal. 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Gal. 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

(quoted from yesterday’s devotional)

Jesus didn’t just leave us the example of Kindness, He left us the Spirit of Kindness. That’s why it’s called a Fruit of the Spirit. And it’s the cruelty of religion, under which people toil to attain moral perfection from human corruption. Like making a silk purse from a sow’s ear. But what joyous freedom when the truth sets you free to realize that the Spirit is at work in you to induce Jesus’ moral forces in your heart, to bolster your own weak virtues. You’ll always be a better steward of the Fruit than a grower of the Fruit.

Christians must get a hold of this concept: Trials do not develop the Fruit of the Spirit within us. The Fruit of the Spirit is already matured in Christ. Trials merely bring us to our knees where we both realize and remember. We realize that from within ourselves there is no moral excellence that can perform God’s righteousness. You have to start there. And then we remember in the moment of the trial, that God loves us, and our sufficiency is from Him. In short, the love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, which sustained Him through His earthly trial, are resident in us. These are all the moral attributes of His Love towards us.

As we let him love us by humbling ourselves in truth and worshipping Him in prayer, His character arises with our weakness upon His shoulders. It’s His love, His joy, His peace, His patience, His kindness, goodness and faithfulness, His gentleness and self-control that go to work in us. Nowhere in scripture are we told that God expects us to grow these fruits or develop these qualities. Does He expect us to manifest them? Yes! But by yielding to them as good stewards of our relationship with Him; not by cultivating them. He has furnished us with all the moral excellence of Christ in the Spirit He has given us.

2 Cor. 3:5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God,

2 Cor. 3:6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

Look again at 2 Co 3:6. Our adequacy does not come as a result of doing our best to follow the letter of the Word (commendable as that motive may be). But we don’t begin to achieve adequacy until we allow the Holy Spirit to flow in us with the Life of Christ. Moral perfection and excellence are already realities in the Holy Spirit. God is simply looking for yielded sons and daughters through which He might display them to the glory of His Son.

The Fruit of the Spirit doesn’t even arise as a result of denying self in the fires of trial. It’s not death but Life from which the Fruit springs. It’s the Life of the Spirit that we yield to, which carries the Fruit into manifestation. The only thing our trials do is bring us to a point where we finally break from insisting on doing it all ourselves.

Trials simply serve as an opportunity to peel our white-knuckled grip from the controls so we can take God’s Hand.

We give into the Lord through repentance over self-works and accept His grace by allowing the Spirit to work. What utter joy and relief to finally come to the point of this realization. This is the insiders’ secret to Christianity!

2 Cor. 12:9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

More to come tomorrow, so until then…

Stay On The Path!

Gal. 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Gal. 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

Look at that list of enviable qualities and understand correctly what you are considering. These are manifestations of the Jesus’ character, not human virtues. The Bible clearly states that…

Is. 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

The Fruit of the Spirit are not manners to develop but forces of grace to use. And in using these divinely imparted graces we may conform under their influence, but we’ll never achieve them apart. For these fruits are not achievements but stewardships. They flow from the Presence of God as the very forces of Christ’s life. They are ridden, not developed. From the very heart of the scripture comes the principle of God’s Spirit, issuing forth the forces of Life, as divine currents, flowing through the lives of faithful worshippers:

John 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

John 7:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive…

John 4:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springingup into everlasting life.

Prov. 4:23 Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.

Wise and happy is the Christian who learns that Love is not a level of performance but a gift from the Father - one that is given to be used. Love will fill the heart of a recipient, empowering him to act under it’s influence. Joy is not human happiness - dependent as it is on happenings. But it’s the indelible and irrepressible state of God’s confidence. When you learn to receive it from God you can have it even when you’re unhappy.

Is. 51:11 Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

It doesn’t sound like they cheered themselves up, but Joy was upon them.

Many believers think that the Fruit of the Spirit is developed under the pressure of trials. You hear many Christians saying that God has them in the vice of trials, or the furnace of affliction, or breaking them in the valley in order to develop the Fruit of the Spirit in them, or the character of Christ. But if all this impressive death-to-self produces the Fruit of the Spirit then maybe these pure and noble qualities do exist in the filthy righteousness of man after all. And maybe all we need is a sufficient crushing until we’re ready to give into our “good side”. Maybe the arduous religion of death and legalism is what we really needed all along. For those who think this way, here’s Paul’s comment:

Gal. 2:21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Paul taught that we are able to successfully endure the violent cycles of life, yet remain consistently governed by the Fruit of the Spirit, THROUGH the power of Christ, not for the approval of Christ.

Phil. 4:12 I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.

Phil. 4:13 I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Jesus didn’t just leave us the example of Kindness, He left us the Spirit of Kindness. That’s why it’s called a Fruit of the Spirit. And it’s the cruelty of religion under which people toil to attain moral perfection from human corruption. Like making a silk purse from a sow’s ear. But what joyous freedom when the truth sets you free to realize that the Spirit is at work in you to induce Jesus’ moral forces in your heart, to bolster your own weak virtues. You’ll always be a better steward of the Fruit than a grower of the Fruit.

Tomorrow we’ll learn a little more, so until then…

Stay On The Path!