Phil. 3:12 Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

Passion is a great thing. It seems that so much that is done, is accomplished through passion. People with passion have always egged me on.  I get fired up around them.  When I meet someone like that I just want to take them home, and keep them around me all the time.  Sometimes we call it, “being on fire”; and tend to see it as simply being consumed with God. When I meet people who are in that state, it draws me into that place of abandon with God.  I’m definitely not one of those people who get jealous, threatened or condemned by the presence of someone who’s burning in their zeal for God.  Just the opposite; I become highly motivated by them.  I guess I’m pretty “easy”. 

However, there is an interesting side to passion that usually doesn’t show up in public.  And that is emptiness.  It’s as strange a condition as passion itself.  And it seems to also occur in the lives of everyone who is possessed by passion.  From Abraham to David; from John the Baptist to Paul; every passionate follower of God experiences emptiness.  Passion is a renewable commodity, but it’s not perpetual. No one gets “set on fire” and then just goes-for-God the rest of their life.  Paul describes a more realistic view of the pattern in our text:

“Not that I have already obtained it…but I press on in order that I may lay hold…”

The man motivated by passion has to exert effort to turn from his goal.  He has to make an effort to fail.  But apparently he also has to climb those mountains before he can just jet down the other side.  In short, there are plenty of times when he has to make an effort to succeed; times when he must “press on”. 

So where does the motivation to press on come from?  David, Elijah, John the Baptist and Paul, all experienced times when they just seemed adrift, disillusioned and anything but passionate.  Where do you go when passion’s fire isn’t burning? 

The secret rests in one word Paul used in his text:

“…but I press on in order that I may lay hold of that …”

“That” is a reference to the calling of God upon your life.  All true servants of God understand “that”.  It is the thing that keeps them moving forward when the passion isn’t burning.  It is the invisible fuel of faith, the inexplicable power of obedience, propelling you forward, not allowing you to quit, and pursuing the passion when the fire isn’t burning. 

The ugly secret that every high-octane evangelist hides, isn’t concealed immorality, but emptiness; and how they deal with it.  It is the true secret to passion.  For passion is the result of pursuit.

“That (call)” has already taken hold of you.  Paul basically said that he pursued that call with which Christ had taken hold of him.  The call was not just on him, it was in him.  It possessed him, and it possess YOU!

You can press against a lack of passion through the power of your calling.

Don’t base your ministry, your pursuit of Christ or your response to His commission, on passion; because passion comes and goes.  Don’t make your walk with God dependent upon a “burden”, because what will you do when you don’t feel this burden?  Base your obedience upon the call.  It is the call with which Christ laid hold of you.  And the call will keep you going, when all your personal reasons to follow Him have run out.  No greater praise can you render than to love Him through your service, when you are stretched beyond your passion.

Stay On The Path!

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Challenge, Conviction & Encouragement by Nick Champlin
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Acts 7:20 In which time Moses was born, and was exceeding fair, and nourished up in his father’s house three months:

Acts 7:21 And when he was cast out, Pharaoh’s daughter took him up, and nourished him for her own son.

Acts 7:22 And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.

Acts 7:23 And when he was full forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel.

Heb. 11:24-26 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

Heb. 11:27 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.

Heb. 11:28 Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.

Heb. 11:29 By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

In the Western world, the Evangelical Church has worked so hard at becoming “relevant” to modern culture that the resulting Christian Culture is a distraction from Christ.  In other words, you have to fight through Christian culture to get to Christ.  One of the worst paradigm shifts that we have undergone, in the past 25 or so years, has been the transition from serving Christ to fulfilling self, as the goal of faith.  Self-sacrifice made in the sincere service of Christ brings freedom.  But living for self-fulfillment, in the name of Christ, leads to slavery.  Jesus came to free us from the inevitable deadness of a self-seeking life.  Consider carefully the trap that Paul warns us to avoid in his first letter to Timothy:

1 Tim. 6:3 If anyone advocates a different doctrine, and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness,

1 Tim. 6:5 …who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.

“Gain” here is a reference to financial prosperity.  But by extension, there is an underlying assumption here that the goal of the believer is to be better positioned in life, as a result of his connection with God.  The truth, according to Jesus’ teaching, is that being put in a position of blessing is indeed something that the Father promises.  But it’s to those who seek His Kingdom and not their own fulfillment. Self-fulfillment is not the goal of our faith, but a result of our faith.  Exalting Christ is our goal.

Matt. 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?

Matt. 6:31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?

Matt. 6:32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

Matt. 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Paul continues in his admonition to Timothy, to conclude that the pursuit of gain results in slavery.  So we can see that God isn’t condemning prosperity and wellbeing, but rather choosing it as the goal of our faith. 

And now, this is where we have come in our discussion of Spiritual Revolution.  In the 1970s and early 80’s, the Evangelical Church was a movement, a hunger-driven spiritual juggernaut that swept the social and political society of America (and beyond).  In those days believers were driven by a great hunger to see Jesus exalted in the world.  And they were willing to lay aside the pursuit of their own interests to see the Kingdom of God arise in their generation.  And indeed, the Kingdom did arise.  Churches flourished with unstoppable growth and the influence of the Evangelical and Charismatic churches seemed limitless, as even the political world lay defenseless before the advancing Church. 

But something happened in the process of “possessing the land”.  Something terrible.  Instead of a glorious awakening that would bring blessing to the whole world, as the Gospel was unselfishly offered with great irrefutable testimony, the Church blew the dividend it had paid such a price to gain.  The opportunity to really be an example of Jesus and bless the world, just seemed to fizzle to nothing and vanish, as one ministry after another was found operating for the glory of its own success.  It was like the great “happening” that never happened.  It wasn’t the sacrifices of the 70’s and early 80’s, but the successes of subsequent years, that sterilized us. 

Right at the point where a great thrust could have occurred, a switch was thrown in the tracks and the juggernaut drove off into spiritual obscurity.  We missed the mark.  We shifted our aim and fell short.  Somehow the Church began to lose sight of its true wealth, which rested in the ability of its members, to lay self aside in order to exalt Christ.  Living by faith, and obeying the Holy Spirit’s leading had been the true joy of the average Christian. The Spirit had been moving, and the world was noticing.

But now, 25 years later, the movement has long since been ground into church-ianity and the disease of serving man has metastasized through the Body of Christ, bringing the Church under slavery to the goals of modern culture.  We’ve gone from a spiritual house to a social center of human resource.  The modern world views Christians like the Egyptian aristocracy viewed the Hebrews: “You exist to support us, so keep those bricks coming.”

Back when we were a movement, faith was our daily fuel.  We prayed and sought and believed God for everything.  It didn’t matter that we could do things under our own power, we were serving the Lord and so faith was needed to believe God for His provision, so that He was glorified.  But once self-fulfillment became our objective – once pastors began assuming that every opportunity was theirs to seize, for the advancement of their ministry, faith became of little value.  The Church has been making bricks to win the approval of modern culture, rather than being living stones for the glory of Jesus Christ. 

And now, the church has set itself up for a great falling away from the faith.  Whole denominations are splitting, and churches are fracturing, as the worldliness to which they have pandered now demands their service.  One of the greatest prophetic warnings, poetically portraying the price that’s paid for accepting self-centered leadership, is found in Judges 9:8-15.

Judg. 9:8 One time the trees went forth to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, Reign over us.

Judg. 9:9 But the olive tree said to them, Should I leave my fatness, by which God and man are honored, and go to wave over the trees?

Judg. 9:10 Then the trees said to the fig tree, You come and reign over us.

Judg. 9:11 But the fig tree said to them, Should I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go to wave over the trees?

Judg. 9:12 Then the trees said to the vine (grapevine), You come and reign over us.

Judg. 9:13 And the vine (grapevine) replied, Should I leave my new wine, which rejoices God and man, and go to wave over the trees?

Judg. 9:14 Then all the trees said to the bramble, You come and reign over us.

Judg. 9:15 And the bramble said to the trees, If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade; but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.

The message is clear, and history has born it out: when God’s people allow themselves to be led by self-serving leaders, or guided by self-centered purposes, the result is servitude to a purpose for which they were never intended.  Faith is the heritage of free people, who serve God.  But those who fall under the spell of church-ianity have little need of faith to make bricks.  The world will tell you how it wants its bricks made, and once you’re committed to making them you’ll have to revolt to stop.

In Moses’ day, God’s people did not serve the purpose for which they were intended.  They had become the slaves of Egyptian culture, and until God freed them they existed to bless and support the Egyptian lifestyle.

Today many churches have similarly become the servant of modern culture, and bogged down with serving the lifestyle of blessing and wellbeing, rather than living for the exaltation of Jesus Christ.  As the Church increasingly employs its energies toward the prosperity of the world, faith is becoming unnecessary and an oddity, rather than our daily lifeline.  Christians are turning more and more to human reason and strategic thinking, for decisions that should involve faith in God’s Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit. 

Paul warned of a day of deception coming upon the world, a time when the moral and intellectual climate of the world will be so unstable that it will be nearly impossible to grasp and hold onto the Truth.  In this upside down world, where good will become bad and bad will become good, such a persistent state of spiritual vertigo will exist in the church that a great falling away from the faith will occur without even being detected by all but those who actually walk in the Light.  As the rest of the Church and the world spin off together into delusion, you who are truly thirsty for God will span a spiritual revolution as you contend for the faith.

Revolutions happen when people with a non-negotiable ideal find the present state of things intolerable.  Christians fight the fight of faith will not settle for religious imprisonment.  Spiritual revolution is not simply a rebellion against religion, but a quest for spiritual reality.  It’s fighting through Christian culture in order to lay hold of Christ.

We are entering that day when Christians who live by faith will have to fight through the accepted goals of self-fulfillment, in order to obey God, and take their place in His Kingdom – and in history.  Faith will demand that the accepted path of Christian Culture be rejected in order to choose the path of life. 

Look at our text concerning Moses.  He had to revolt against his Egyptian heritage in order to follow God’s leading in his heart.  The first step of faith he took led him into a spiritual revolution that others would follow.  God had created Abraham’s people for a purpose and serving Egypt wasn’t it!  There was NO WAY that they could continue to serve the purposes of Egypt and be the People Of God.  God called them to walk away and serve Him, but Egypt wasn’t about to let them go without a fight.  The Children of Israel never struck in rebellion against Egypt.  The revolution had nothing to do with seizing Egypt, but rather leaving Egypt.  And likewise today, look for a spiritual revolution.  It’s coming.  Millions of hungry Christians are going to get up and walk towards the sound of His Voice.  They won’t fight against the institution.  They’ll simply leave off making dead bricks for man’s glory, to be the living stones of Jesus’ Temple.  It’s unavoidable.  As large segments of the Christian Church surrender to modern culture true believers will be forced to God.  Join the revolution!

Stay On The Path!

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Challenge, Conviction & Encouragement by Nick Champlin
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Dan. 11:32 And by smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action.

…but the people who know their God shall prove themselves strong and shall stand firm and do exploits [for God]. - Amp. Bible

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

We are living in the day of Sampson-like leaders, who are gifted with natural abilities but possess weak souls. And they appeal to a Barabbas Generation - people who gravitate towards sinners and shun the righteous. Look at the preferences and allegiance of a Barabas generation…

Mark 15:6 Now at the feast he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested. 
Mark 15:7 And the man named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection. 
Mark 15:8 And the multitude went up and began asking him to do as he had been accustomed to do for them. 
Mark 15:9 And Pilate answered them, saying, Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?
Mark 15:10 For he was aware that the chief priests had delivered Him up because of envy. 
Mark 15:11 But the chief priests stirred up the multitude to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead. 
Mark 15:12 And answering again, Pilate was saying to them, Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?
Mark 15:13 And they shouted back, Crucify Him! 
Mark 15:14 But Pilate was saying to them, Why, what evil has He done? But they shouted all the more, Crucify Him! 
Mark 15:15 And wishing to satisfy the multitude, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus scourged, he delivered Him to be crucified.

The Barabas generation is easily manipulated by a political clergy and strangely attracted to rebels. The righteous are not secure at all in the hands of the Barabas generation. Jesus wasn’t. Even though they had welcomed and hailed Him, they quickly threw Him over for a popular anti-establishment radical.

2 Th. 2:1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 
2 Th. 2:3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away (departure from the faith) first,

In studying the social chemistry of the Great Falling Away, predicted in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-2, the Barabas Generation meets the Sampson Leaders. Today’s modern Christian Culture provides a breeding ground for adulterous Pastors. Like Sampson, they have no resistance to the practice of adultery. “Gifted” church leaders who commit adultery, and remain in power, inspire immorality. It will become impossible to prevent the Great Falling Away when the stewards of the Covenant and its people have lost their sacred reverence. 

Dan. 11:32 “And by smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant.

The pastor of a very large independent evangelical church in city recently left his wife & family, ran off with a woman in church and simply never came back. To the shock of his congregation and family, he was just “gone” one Sunday morning.

Another pastor of an old large Evangelical church within miles of the other, also ran off with a woman in the ministry there, and started another successful church a few miles up the road. 

Our metro area also has one of America’s large, fast-growing churches, with a Pastor who left his first wife, while pastoring, years ago, to run off with the woman who is his current wife. Now their ministry is flourishing and his current wife is a leading women’s international conference speaker. 

These guys ditch their wives WHILE IN THE MINISTRY, to run off with other women, and it only seems to boost their ministry. And all you seem to hear whenever an objection is raised against this behavior is, “You can’t judge! or, “He’s only human.” 

Adultery among pastors is barely a bump in the road to success anymore. People seem absolutely willing to overlook on-the-job-adultery, as a disqualifier for ministry. Many people today gravitate towards pastors who are adulterers and seem to better relate to them. 

The fiery faithless preacher is an encouragement for compromised Christians who are fed up with confrontation and instead, only want to be supported.  From among these ranks will the Great Falling Away take place.   this very hour, true Christians are being convicted, and the people who know their God will display strength and take action.  A spiritual revolution is brewing…

More tomorrow…until then…

Stay On The Path!
Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Challenge, Conviction & Encouragement by Nick Champlin
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Dan. 11:32 “And by smooth words he will turn to godlessness those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action.

…but the people who know their God shall prove themselves strong and shall stand firm and do exploits [for God].  – Amp. Bible

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

The Bible talks of a day of deception – a time when the moral and intellectual climate of the world will be so unstable that it will be nearly impossible to grasp and hold onto the Truth.  In fact, such a persistent state of spiritual vertigo will exist in the church that a great falling away from the faith will occur without even being detected by all but those who actually walk in the Light.  It will seem as though those who really know their God have become the defectors, as the rest of the Church and the world spin off together into delusion.  Clear-thinkers and Truth-tellers will appear to be outcasts in a world where all authorities will become polluted with lies and no one will even seem to notice. 

Only those who know their God will have the ability to take action in the day of deception. 

In such a time as this true Christians will be forced from the beds of compromise in a revolt of sincerity.  Their hearts will not be able to find comfort in modern Christian culture, and it will become intolerable to them.

Christians will find prayer, Truth and the Presence of the Lord, as their only reliable access to reality, and will emerge from the sleepy social norm in pursuit of it.

We are headed into a great apostasy, which will provoke a revolution…a spiritual revolution. 

Revolutions happen when people with a non-negotiable ideal find the present state of things intolerable.  It was the stalemate between Saul and Goliath that brought David to prominence. And the stalemate between the modern church and the World will force the manifestation of those who know their God. 

Christians who know their God will not settle for religious imprisonment.  Spiritual revolution is not simply a rebellion against religion, but a quest for spiritual reality.  It’s fighting through Christian culture in order to lay hold of Christ.

As institutions and churches fall into the fog of relativism, the individual Christian himself will have to take action on behalf of his own needs.  Each true believer will have to challenge everything and no longer drink from the unfiltered streams. Christians who know their God will become the portable church in the day of institutional delusion.

 Jude 1:3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend (fight) for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.

Jude 1:4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Tomorrow we will continue on the road to spiritual revolution.  Until then…

Stay On The Path!

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Challenge, Conviction & Encouragement by Nick Champlin
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Heb. 10:35 Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

1 John 5:14 And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he hears us:

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

Confidence is one of the greatest gifts in life.  The ability to speak and move forward with certainty is the indicator of a healthy soul.  True peace and happiness is reflected by confidence.  Confidence is the heart-condition of one who knows he’s loved.

The opposite is true also, that uncertainty and indecision are like a virus to the soul and leave everything weak and sickly.  If confidence is the fruit of being loved then torment is the byproduct of fear and uncertainty. 

Everything you do requires confidence.  Confidence is the voice of faith.  The position of your confidence indicates the state of your heart. 

1 John 3:18 Little children, let us not love [merely] in theory or in speech but in deed and in truth (in practice and in sincerity).

1 John 3:19-20 By this we shall come to know (perceive, recognize, and understand) that we are of the Truth, and can reassure (quiet, conciliate, and pacify) our hearts in His presence, whenever our hearts in [tormenting] self-accusation make us feel guilty and condemn us. [For we are in God’s hands.] For He is above and greater than our consciences (our hearts), and He knows (perceives and understands) everything [nothing is hidden from Him].

1 John 3:21-22 And, beloved, if our consciences (our hearts) do not accuse us [if they do not make us feel guilty and condemn us], we have confidence (complete assurance and boldness) before God, and we receive from Him whatever we ask, because we [watchfully] obey His orders [observe His suggestions and injunctions, follow His plan for us] and [habitually] practice what is pleasing to Him.

1 John 3:23 And this is His order (His command, His injunction): that we should believe in (put our faith and trust in and adhere to and rely on) the name of His Son Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and that we should love one another, just as He has commanded us (the simple focus of faith and love; and not the heavy burden of serving regulations).

Notice the ability of your heart to be self-condemning in spite of your practices or God’s assurance.

The Condemning Heart…

Your own heart can be out of phase with God’s thoughts towards you.  Your own heart can be scarred by a thing called “sin-consciousness”, and be in need of healing.

Heb. 10:2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.

Heb. 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.

The consciousness of sin can linger long after you’ve been forgiven.  The human heart has a natural tendency to recoil in fear of the imperfections it feels when it comes into the presence of God.  Those fears can be legitimate or just the result of flawed imperfection encountering perfect holiness.  Sometimes our heart simply hangs on to the sense of guilt after forgiveness has already been obtained.  From our text we can see that it’s possible to have a heart that sinks in self-guilt even though God, who “Knows all things”, has not condemn you.  This is a condemning heart that needs to be rehabilitated to think according to God’s mercy.  You cannot simply allow your heart or emotions to drive you with sin consciousness when God wants to lead you with mercy. 

Your own heart’s attitude about yourself (before God) has the greatest impact on your confidence. 

Though your heart will tell you something is wrong, its ability to discern the problem, if there is any, must come from God.

1 John 3:19-20 By this we shall come to know (perceive, recognize, and understand) that we are of the Truth, and can reassure (quiet, conciliate, and pacify) our hearts in His presence, whenever our hearts in [tormenting] self-accusation make us feel guilty and condemn us. [For we are in God’s hands.]

What to do if you suffer from weak confidence:

1.  Know who God is, really – understand His ways – rightly divide the Word. Don’t just allow yourself to have a lop-sided view of God.  Because your understanding of God will dictate how much you are able to receive from Him and how much of a block you will make for yourself.  For example, most people view God as having an equal balance of judgment and mercy.  But if that were the case we’d have a 50/50 chance of catching God in the right mood.  But in fact, God’s mercy is above His judgment, and His inclination to offer forgiveness and grace surpasses His need to execute justice upon the guilty.  Knowing this  paves the way for confidence.

2 Cor. 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

Psa. 103:8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

Psa. 103:9 He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger forever.

Psa. 103:10 He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

Psa. 103:11 For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

Psa. 103:12 As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

Psa. 103:13 Like as a father pities his children, so the LORD pities them that fear him.

Psa. 103:14 For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

2.  Be a doer of the Royal Law: Love God and your neighbor.

3.  Do not over complicate your faith.  Stay focused on the basics – avoid the trap of legalism. 

4.  Pray effectively.  If sin has damaged your confidence rehabilitate it through repentance in prayer.  Don’t drag a self-destructive heart around with you.  God’ wants to purge your sin-consciousness.

1 John 3:19-20 …whenever our hearts in [tormenting] self-accusation make us feel guilty and condemn us. [For we are in God’s hands.] For He is above and greater than our consciences (our hearts), and He knows (perceives and understands) everything [nothing is hidden from Him].

Stay On The Path!

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Our Identification In Christ by Nick Champlin
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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 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!

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Challenge, Conviction & Encouragement by Nick Champlin
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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!

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Challenge, Conviction & Encouragement by Nick Champlin
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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 focus on love, which is used today to shape public policy and form a morality for judging society’s behavior, is based in accommodating people’s idiosyncrasies and not in respect for God’s claims. So love becomes defined and judged in terms of human desire rather than a God-centered morality. That’s why we find people advocating in the name of love, for such things as the rights of homosexuals to marry and chickens to avoid human consumption. And at the same time these advocates are usually demonstrating against displaying the 10 Commandments in public forums, and usually spouting something like, “You can’t legislate morality!” But the truth is that all legislation is nothing more than the ratifying of some morality into regulation. It’s total foolishness to say morality cannot be legislated because it is done everyday. The cry that we cannot legislate morality is really code for, “we don’t want God defining our morality or telling us how to love others.”

But loving others must begin with love for righteousness. That is what connects our love to God and to true virtue and makes it a helpful influence. It prevents our love from becoming “blind” and misguided. Guided by the love for righteousness, love for man will empower us to truly help people rather than hurt them or help them to continue hurting themselves, in the name of love.

Loving righteousness comes FIRST in the endorsement that Jesus receives in our text. It’s the fundamental motive, holding dear ALL of the virtues of God’s moral goodness.

Rom. 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loves another hath fulfilled the law.

Rom. 13:9 For this, Thou shall not commit adultery, Thou shall not kill, Thou shall not steal, Thou shall not bear false witness, Thou shall not covet; and if there beany other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shall love thy neighbor as thyself.

Rom. 13:10 Love works no ill to his neighbor: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Rom. 12:9 Let love be without dissimulation (hypocrisy, insincerity). Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.

So we see that, guided by the true love that comes from God and His righteousness, we will do that thing which is good and helpful, and if nothing else, we will avoid doing what is evil and destructive.

Rightness and Righteousness…

But to love righteousness one must know and understand righteousness. Righteousness does not just know what is “right”. But righteousness begins with a right relationship with God – one that brings your motives into balance with His righteousness. Without a reverent heart and tender conscience towards God, our knowledge of righteousness can harden into legalistic correctness and turn us into moral bullies. So righteousness begins with a posture of humility before God, to safeguard our souls against hardening under a know-it-all attitude. But then knowing righteousness requires a great ability to weigh and balance all the pertinent truths so that the path of righteousness emerges. Knowing righteousness requires that we understand the guiding principles of God’s purposes. This provides direction, when trying to sort out the right principles to apply and right way to go.

For example, under the influence of misguided righteousness (so-called), we see the most outrageous absurdities being practiced today, in the name of political or social correctness. The imbalances that we are asked to accept are so obtuse that they actually become oppressive to the cause of true righteousness, and an impediment to true love. When love for the Truth (as defined by God) is taken off the table, arranging our guiding principles into some practical righteousness becomes impossible.

True love must first love the Truth if it’s to be of any use.

2Th. 2:10 …because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

In explaining why people who have heard the truth end up under deception, Paul states that they failed to “love the truth”. People will be faithful to that for which they have their deepest affections. We are faithful to what we truly love. So for love to be grounded and ultimately helpful, it must first love the truth, for truth will keep our love righteous when simple affection, no matter how strong or sincere, can leave us vulnerable to error.

So love for righteousness is the foundation of true love. Jesus, Who in our text, was exalted because He loved righteousness, commands us to love by His own example:

John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

It is love for righteousness that will help us to keep from loving chickens more than people and allow us to love and treat our homosexual neighbors with God’s love, without being intimidated into agreeing to a warped definition of marriage in order to prove it.

Loving righteousness is far more than longing for its benefits or position (peace, prosperity, happiness, etc). But it’s looking deep into all its ways, discerning its virtues, and falling in love with its superior qualities. It’s having such a love for God’s carefully balanced arrangement of truth that you will look to Him for guidance in your love.

In short, you can’t love righteousness without knowing just what it is about righteousness that is attractive to you, and being convinced enough by it that you let it order your life and govern the way you love. It’s not love for being correct. And it’s not love for only one aspect of righteousness or just one side of truth. But love, true love, for righteousness, is really love for God, Who alone can show you how to love in a way that is good and righteous.

More tomorrow, so until then…

Stay On The Path!

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Challenge, Conviction & Encouragement by Nick Champlin
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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 morals of modern culture are possessed by an almost militant preoccupation with acceptance, as the arbiter of all goodness. Love is defined primarily as accepting others without making any value judgments about their behaviors. In modern culture, the highest expression of love is the ability to tolerate what we are naturally or traditionally apt to reject. In short, people take personal affirmation as love. And if you withhold approval you are withholding love.

As much as we need and crave approval and support, there is something we need even more, and that is direction. What good is a love that makes you feel good with an affirming pat on the back, as you march off in the wrong direction, but won’t encourage you to choose another path?

Love was once weighed in terms of righteousness. People who loved you helped you, with an eye on a higher purpose than simply making you feel good in the moment. Good parents often endured the fall from popularity with their children, for long durations, as they held their sons and daughters to standards of decency and respect. They endured the lack of reciprocated love from their children, in order to serve them with what they truly needed at the time. Love use to be essentially understood as a high affection, fueled and governed by righteousness.

But in most homes today the militant demands of those who must be accommodated are served by the weak needs of those who must be popular. This usually translates into children, or immature spouses, getting the others to do what they want them to, in exchange for the shallow satisfaction of fleeting popularity. I say, “fleeting” because the selfish are never satisfied, and must always be served.

But if God, as He reveals Himself and His character in the Bible, is to be considered as the Author and true measure of love, then let’s rouse ourselves out from under the intoxication of this cheap knockoff, under whose spell we’ve fallen, and awake to take hold, before all love is replaced by indulgence.

First let’s start with the fact that love is a command. It is not essentially a human emotion, but rather a command to follow a standard regardless of whether the human emotion is there or not.

1 John 3:23 And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

John is referring to Jesus’ talk with them at the Last Supper…

John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

John 15:17 These things I command you, that ye love one another.

Obviously the Lord is saying that love must be approached as an act that is doable.One can abide in God’s love by doing the things He is commanding. This means that God’s love will work in us, even when we don’t feel motivated by affections, if we will simply follow His commands, from our heart.

John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love…

The reason why the power of love will actually work in us as we act in love according to His prescribed commands is that God Himself is love. True love is the essential nature of God. To understand true love, as it is distinct from human selfishness, we must look at the virtues of God Himself. These qualities, these fruits of the Spirit, are the manifest values and acts of love, because they are the manifest values and acts of God.

1 Cor. 13:3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

1 Cor. 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant,

1 Cor. 13:5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,

1 Cor. 13:6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;

1 Cor. 13:7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

1 Cor. 13:8 Love never fails;

Notice that love is not “giving to the poor”, or any other such act of social charity that people hold others hostage to in the name of love. Love MIGHT feed the poor.But feeding the poor is not what love IS. Love begins at much higher plane before it ever makes peanut butter and jelly for street people. It begins with the recognition that God is its author, along with a healthy reverence for His views.There are many people who know very little about God’s views, but they have an inner regard for Him and if they knew what His views were, they would matter to them; and God knows it of them. This is why some people who know a lot about God’s views very seldom walk in love, while some others, who may know little about His views, walk more often in love, because from their heart they regard what little they do know as a sacred command.

With our stewardship of love as a critical issue, the Day of Judgment should be very interesting, to say the least.  And lest we turn on one another in judgment, let’s remember that the command to love begins with loving God.

Matt. 22:37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

Matt. 22:38 “This is the great and foremost commandment.

God knows who loves Him.

If love is a command then there must be a right and wrong way to love. Tomorrow we’ll look into it, so until then…

Stay On The Path!

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Challenge, Conviction & Encouragement by Nick Champlin
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Gen. 34:16 Then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people

Welcome To The Light-Washed Path,

Daughters hold the real key to blending families cultures and societies. You can conquer enemies with sons but only daughters, who raise the sons of the next generation, can change a society. All men and women were once babies in the arms of a young mother.

There is nothing more valuable to a society and a culture than it’s daughters. Just as individual women bear children, so our daughters bear the future of our society. If you want to affect (either for good or evil) a community, a society, a nation or an entire culture, simply gain control of its daughters. For the spirit of the next generation, rests within the character of our daughters. 

Today’s daughters are tomorrow’s mothers. Our daughters will produce and nurture the character of tomorrow’s children. Their spiritual, emotional and mental health will cradle the next generation. Daughters determine the morality of society. Sons may go forth with might, but their grandparent’s daughter molded them. 

Satan knew exactly who to go to in order to gain control of the human race. Eve wasn’t singled out because she was ignorant or inferior, but because she was influential. The entire development of societies is a cycle that is most vulnerable at the point where its daughters are developing. However our daughters are molded, will determine how the rest are molded. 

Then you will make the next generation of boys to become better husbands and fathers. Society will become stronger…better. 

But if you become corrupted with materialism and immorality…

If your immaturities are caved into, or you are simply handed over to popular culture to be sexually exploited…

If you are abused and dominated, beaten down and made to be insecure…

Then the society, which you will soon cradle in your own care, will be infinitely weaker and vulnerable to corruption.

Daughters, the Devil knows how valuable you are. If he can damage you, he knows that he can damage the future. And in order to ruin your life, he depends upon you, and all the rest of us, underestimating how important you are. 

The greatest weapon against young women today is the attack on their self-esteem.  It’s in the nature of girls & women to give and receive care. At the core of your being is the strong sense of belonging. You are naturally relational  The need to give and receive love is absolutely fundamental to your nature. And Satan tries to gain control of you by influencing the way you channel your natural desire for relationship. 

There’s a very specific reason why girls are used for selling everything from munchies to music. It’s because men’s desire to watch girls and girls’ desire to be accepted, generates the power to control money, morality and society. Modern culture is trashing our daughters’ lives by driving them to pursue acceptance, instead of investing themselves in the pursuit of purpose. 

In other words, daughters, we, society, genuinely need your natural ability to love, give and receive care. That is a divine and high purpose. 

We need you to know that true beauty is a set of virtues that lie within you.  

For it will be you, from whom the children of the next generation will inherit these qualities.

This is a simple appeal from the heart to our daughters:

Know your own worth before God…

Do not use the opinions of others to calculate your own value. God loves you, and His love for you makes you a treasure. People are blind, and they usually won’t accurately see your importance. Usually people view you from the standpoint of their own self-interests, and what they want from you, without concern for you. So you will have to know who you are, and take control of your own destiny.

If you see yourself as valuable and important to God, you will treat yourself as His daughter, and never lower yourself to be used or abused, by the peer pressure of friends, just to have some attention. 

Know what true love is…

Know the difference between giving and receiving true love, and just giving people what they want from you. True love has godly purpose in it, and it lifts people up. Channel your own natural desire for relationship and acceptance into what exalts righteousness, and don’t waste it by just giving into what others want from you. Never allow yourself to be used as a way for someone else to satisfy their sexual desire, just to have some acceptance or love from them. You will never really be loved that way. And no matter how much you give, it will never satisfy them, or fulfill you.

Don’t allow your tenderness to become embittered…

Society needs the full strength of your nurturing abilities. Never let your ability to give and receive love to become ruined by bitterness. For in so doing you will become a carrier who will infect many others. 

Heb. 12:15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;

Prov. 4:23 Guard your heart more than anything else, because the source of your life flows from it.

Don’t suppress or dumb-down your wisdom…

Never lower your intelligence to gain acceptance from carnal-minded people. If you give yourself to people who will never really see you, you’ll become invisible to them, and forced to live the identity that they have imposed upon you. 

Be the exceptional girl…

If no father (or mother) has ever let you know how beautiful and valuable you are, what a treasure your life is, then make Jesus your Father, and let Him put the worth and value in your life. Become His daughter and you will become the exceptional person you were made to be.

Stay On The Path!
Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Outreach & Evangelism by Nick Champlin
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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,

The River of God is used throughout the Bible as an analogy of the presence of God working in the life of a believer. And it certainly fits in the case of the Fruit of the Spirit.

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…)

Ezekiel saw this river trickling from God’s throne and increasing in depth as it progressed into the world. David saw this river distributing life to the people of God. And Jesus said this river would dwell in you and flow from within your deepest being. Picture a river flowing from a high mountain down into a populated valley and meandering through all its different properties. None of the peoples’ properties in the valley below created the river, nor the water and fish it brought them. Yet the same river flowed through each parcel of land, bringing its nourishment to all.

The Fruit of the Spirit is no different. It flows from the Holy Spirit into each believer’s life, bringing bounty that was not created in his or her territory. The waters are always fresh and constantly being renewed. The patience, kindness, joy and other Fruits of the Spirit are likewise ever flowing fresh into the Christian’s life. They are not the over-fished, limited stale ponds of morality found within the boundaries of each person’s life.

Rev. 22:1 And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb,

Ezek. 47:9 ”And it will come about that every living creature which swarms in every place where the river goes, will live. And there will be very many fish, for these waters go there, and the others become fresh; so everything will live where the river goes.

There is a peace and gladness that comes with realizing that the Holy Spirit will supply you with the very forces of the moral character of Jesus Christ. It’s literally like being plugged into His virtuous nature.

Psa. 46:4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, The holy dwelling places of the Most High.

No valley dweller here below knows how to make the river flow, nor do they have to. It just does. Nor do you have to do much more than simply receive Jesus’ love and His fellowship with you daily. Just maintain a consistent yielded heart and praying mind, and as His love affects you the Fruit of His Spirit will arise in your character. The river carries its own ‘flow’ with it. The valley homesteads don’t do much more than to keep their riverbeds clear of obstruction and their waters unpolluted. In other words, God’s patience will flow through you if you don’t choose anxiety instead. Tomorrow we’ll look at how that works. So until then let’s…

Stay On The Path!

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Our Identification In Christ by Nick Champlin
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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 cliché, “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!

Nick Champlin

nickchamplin.com

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Our Identification In Christ by Nick Champlin
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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.

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

2Cor. 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!

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Our Identification In Christ by Nick Champlin
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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 springing up 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!

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Our Identification In Christ by Nick Champlin
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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,

The fruit of the Spirit is the characteristic of Christ manifest in us as we yield to the Spirit’s influence. The fruit of the Spirit is NOT our human virtues, sufficiently honed, until they resemble the character of Christ. The fruit of the Spirit isn’t so much the development of human character as it is the stewardship of God’s character. You don’t become more patient as much as you yield to patience. James writes (Amplified Bible translation):

James 1:3 Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.

James 1:4 But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play anddo a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing.

The idea here is that Patience is a virtue of Christ that is ready to operate in the life of the sincere Christian. It is there as a fruit of the Spirit - a manifestation of divine character, on tap in the believer’s life. The reference is not so much to any virtue of patience native to the believer, but rather to the indwelling quality of the Holy Spirit. The admonition isn’t to be patient as much as it is to allow the Spirit’s patience to rise in you during a time of trial. This principle is true of all the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, longsuffering (patience), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. They are all forces of the life of Christ, residing in you, and not just goals for your own virtues to attain.

It is so easy to misunderstand the scriptures that talk to us about being Christ-like. So many Christians have the misguided impression that the way godly character develops in a follower of Christ is by struggling under the pressure of trials to develop our own character until it resembles the images of Christ’s character, which the Holy Spirit illuminates for us. But not only is that wrong, it leads to religious futility and bondage. Hear what Paul cries in Romans:

Rom. 7:18 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot perform it. [I have the intention and urge to do what is right, but no power to carry it out.]

Paul then goes on into Romans chapter 8 (click to read text) and explains that his freedom came as he allowed Christ in Him to provide the goodness of character, as he walked after the power of the Holy Spirit. The idea being that the Holy Spirit enters the life of a believer, bringing with Him the full influence of Jesus’ character, and ready to provide us with the fruit of His character as we yield to Him.

Paul struggled through great trials trying to be Christ-like and develop the fruit of the Spirit. But he couldn’t do it, and was driven to frustration trying. Unfortunately, at this point many Christians give up, feeling they are failures, or worse yet, that God has failed them. But Paul went on to realize that the Holy Spirit had already brought the qualities of Christ into his life, and all he needed to do was learn to yield to them. What a great concept. We get to display Christ’s character, as our own, without having to make our own virtues - rotten as they are - produce perfection.

Years ago as a Pastor, I was moved when a woman in our congregation stood up in church and exclaimed that she was weary of being so unhappy in her walk, and realized that she had been trying too hard to please God. She went on to say that surely the Lord had a resting-place in Himself where she could be what He wanted from her. My wife herself also experienced those struggles, being frustrated between the expectation of godly character and the failure of human virtue. Until she realized that trials were not designed to force our flawed character to become Christ-like, but rather to bring us to dependency upon the Holy Spirit. For He is ready to release the power of His character in us when we yield to Him.

She was so right. The fruit of the Spirit isn’t what we become so much as it is what we possess. Tomorrow we’ll look at the how-to portion of this simple, but great truth. Until then…

Stay On The Path!

Nick Champlin

Tags: A list of devotionals by chronological order, Our Identification In Christ by Nick Champlin
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