Theology that justifies unbelief

The scariest thing for me right now is Christians who come up with a theology that tells me that the Gospel of Jesus is left without power. It was in times of the apostles and Jesus, but now God doesn’t do it. Are we carrying a different Holy Spirit from the apostles?

If you assign ten new believers the task of studying the Bible to find God’s heart for this generation, not one of them would conclude that spiritual gifts are not for today. That is something you have to be taught.

What is scary about it is that we justify it. If we are able to come up with the justification for unbelief it’s okay not to believe because right now I have a reason (even though the reason is not biblical). Most of it comes from hurt & fear, not a revelation or the Word. The Gospel without demonstration of its power is half-gospel.

‘Yet I dare not boast about anything except what Christ has done through me, bringing the Gentiles to God by my message and by the way I worked among them. They were convinced by the power of miraculous signs and wonders and by the power of God’s Spirit. In this way, I have fully presented the Good News of Christ from Jerusalem all the way to Illyricum.’

Romans 15:18-19

Paul says he fully preached the gospel by the power of miraculous signs and wonders. We can’t preach the full gospel without demonstration of it’s power. Jesus didn’t just preach, he also healed. If we take the healing out of the equation we are left with a powerless church and powerless disciples. If the devil can’t separate you from Jesus he will do everything he can to make you ineffective. Let’s not justify unbelief.

Resource: if you tended toward the belief that the miraculous, including various spiritual gifts, ceased early in Christian history, here is a great resource. It’s a PhD decertation that addresses this issue.

https://www.amazon.com/Cessation-Charismata-Protestant-Post-biblical-Monograph-ebook/dp/B006VXOLP0/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1531229387&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=ceccesionalism+of+the+charismata

Max Bieliaiev

Something that costs me nothing

It was one of those days.

Not the kind where you are floating on Cloud 9, with sunshine and rainbows overhead.

It was the kind of day where you want to go into a room where no one else can see you and scream your guts out. The day where it feels like God must be mad at you, because everything seems to be going wrong.

It was my day off, just the kids and I. A spontaneous idea visited me: what a great day to take the kids to the pool.

Or so I thought.

It seemed so easy. All I had to do was get them ready, gather our stuff, and get them in the car. No big deal.

Well, no big deal mutated into a great ordeal.

I imagined in my head that we would be out the door by 3:30 pm and arrive at 4 pm— a thought that must’ve made the universe laugh because here I was…

It was 5:30 pm and we still weren’t at the pool, in the water, having the fun I imagined.

Earlier, I thought we had everything we needed but some of our swim items were in my wife’s car, inaccessible. No big deal. I adapted and got the kids ready. Throwing on my athletic shorts instead of swim trunks, we headed to the car.

After more than an hour of getting ready, we arrived at the pool: the kids got changed but the thunder roared. The pool was closed for 30 minutes. No big deal. I adapted and brought the kids outside. We waited.

My new plan: Stephanie, my beautiful wife, was going to meet us for dinner. I’d strap the kids in the car, drive to dinner, and we’d come back to have our fun.

Then the drama unfolded in less than 15 minutes. It went something like this:

– I can’t find my car keys, anywhere. My wife needs to bring a spare.
– The pool is locked up and I can’t go get them.
– My kids are whining and upset about not going to the pool.
– My son runs and falls on the concrete, bruises his nose, and busts his knee. He’s wailing.
– He wants daddy to hold him, while my hands are full of pool items.
– I pick him up to comfort him and he pees all over me.

I’m standing there on the grass, shirtless, with two crying kids, two big bags of stuff, I’m locked out of my car, and I don’t even know if we’re going to be able to go to the pool.

Now it was a big deal. Why are you doing this to me God? I just couldn’t handle it anymore. I had hit so many walls, it was like everything was against me. I just wanted to have a good day, but this sucked. I felt like God was mad at me or something.

I just wanted to cry.
This was a hard moment. I wanted to scream. I had lost my peace.

Can you relate? Have you ever felt the pain, the hardship of “life” and just wanted to throw in the towel? (Mine was a beach towel). It’s a tough spot to be in.

Reality can be that way. The flames get intense and the heat of the moment is tough to handle. It’s like the settings are on MAX.

Life is like a refining fire.

“Gold and silver are tested by fire, and a person’s heart is tested by the LORD.” -Proverbs 17:3 (GNT)

Here is a description to note:

“A refiner uses a fire to heat metal to a molten state; then he skims off the dross [scum formed on the surface] that floats to the top. The refiner’s fire is, of course, maintained at an extremely high temperature.1”

Extremely high temperatures. Goodness gracious. That’s intense!

This was a common practice several thousand years ago (you can still find it today)—all of the scum, impurity, and waste are taken out of metal to purify it (bring out the good stuff) to a state of higher beauty.

You are the gold. Life is the fire. But did you catch the first sentence on this line?

You are something that cost you nothing.

Before you even drew breath, and the air of the world around you went into your lungs, you were made precious. The prequel to your story, the pre-header to your life’s work, was written before you took one action.

“God had a dream and wrapped your body around it.” -Lou Engle

You began as a dream on God’s heart. Your creation was the fulfillment of that dream. You were made precious to God.

For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” – Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

It is inherent, found within you.
It IS you. Nothing can take it away.

Not your mistakes. Not your past. Not your labels. Not what others call you. You are gold.

It’s what defines you.

It was all handed to you, before you even did anything to deserve it (or not deserve it). And you can’t take it away. You can’t mess it up or fail it away. You will always be you. Gold.

It cost you NOTHING. You are something just because the Father dreamed of you in His love. You are a gift to Him, an offering that brings Him joy. When you get this, it shifts your entire perspective. And it is required to move into the destiny God set forth for you.

The man who knew he was something.

There was dude who knew this. He knew he was gold to God, even when he had a “loser” job tending sheep. He knew who God was and who God said he was.

He was a chosen one. A champion.

His name was David: He defeated lions, bears, and a giant with a sling made of animal hair.2

He conquered armies and rose to greatness as a celebrated king.

He had it all. And it was thanks to his God who loved him:

“The Lord is my light and my salvation—
   whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
   of whom shall I be afraid?” -David, Psalm 27:1 (NIV)

He got it and he was “the man” because of it. He was loved by the people, his army knew no rival, and he had great riches. He was a powerful man.

But in his greatness, he forgot who made him that way.

Picture this: you’re 67 years old, super rich, incomparably famous, you’ve dominated your enemies, and you’ve got more than you know what to do with.

You are on top of the world.

It may go to your head a bit if you’re not careful, and that’s what happens to David.3

One day he decides to “count his fighting men” (2 Samuel 24:2). He thinks he’s awesome and wants to confirm his “awesome-ness.”

He’s become a little confident in his own ability. Is this a good idea? His men don’t think so, but he goes through with it anyway. He gets himself in trouble and violates what God has asked of him.

He forgets who he is. Rather, he forgets WHOSE he is. And it brings consequences.

It costs him.

And when those consequences bring victims (his people), he finally finds himself asking for mercy.

Facedown on the threshing floor.

“I have sinned; I, the shepherd, have done wrong.” -David, 2 Samuel 24:17 (NIV)

It hits him: he’s messed up. What have I done? What am I going to do now?

He looks to God and the angel of the Lord stops. Where?

At a threshing floor.

A whole book could be written of the depth of this symbolism, but for our purposes, a simple description will suffice:

“In biblical days there was no machinery, so after the harvest, the grain was separated from the straw and husks by beating it manually. First there had to be a flat surface that was smooth and hard, and this was known as the threshing floor. The process of threshing was performed generally by spreading the sheaves on the threshing floor and causing oxen and cattle to tread repeatedly over them, loosening the edible part of cereal grain (or other crop) from the scaly, inedible chaff that surrounds it…”4

So, to sum it up, when a farmer grew grain, he would lay it on the threshing floor and let horses, oxen, or bulls trample the crud out of it. Why? To make room for the ‘good stuff.’ To do that, the waste (chaff) had to be trampled out.

I can hear the message loud and clear: Get on the threshing floor.

Sounds similar to the gold and the furnace, doesn’t it? Surrender to the fire.
David hears it and he proceeds to make an altar right there. Next, the plot twist that follows blows my mind.
The guy who owns the threshing floor offers David everything he needs for the sacrifice: the floor, the animals, the supplies—it’s handed right to him, because he is a VIP.

Awesome! He’s got everything he needs to proceed. Nevertheless, David has something else in mind:

“No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” -2 Samuel 24:24 (NIV)

I will not give my God something that costs me nothing. Those are haunting, challenging words.

So, he gets facedown on the threshing floor and offers himself to God.

The depth of my worship is determined by how much I will surrender to the fire.

“I need to take the pain of loss, confusion and disappointment and hold them really close to my heart and in that context, give God praise. In heaven, I won’t have any confusion, pain, loss, disappointment, the only opportunity that I have in all of my existence to give Him an offering that costs me is now.” -Bill Johnson [paraphrased with grammatical errors fixed by me]

Life is costly.

Its fires will shape you into the son or daughter you’re meant to be. In spite of this, it is painful. It will cost you.

But you matter to God. And your heart is the gateway to experiencing everything He has for you. True worship begins with the heart.

Consider these words:

The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORDlooks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 17:7 NIV)

“These people come near to me with their mouth
   and honor me with their lips,
   but their hearts are far from me. “(Isaiah 29:13 NIV)

Everything you do begins with your heart, even your worship.

shallow living = shallow worship

For almost twenty years of my life, I thought I was garbage, not gold. Shame was my inner voice.

It kept me from experiencing all God had to offer me. I was in hiding, keeping myself in the dark, so no one could see the real me.

Meanwhile, I was studying at Liberty University to receive a B.S. in Worship and Music Studies: Worship Leadership.

However, my life was mostly “B.S.” as I hid my shame and ran to pornography. The man on stage was not the same man in his dorm room. I was a hypocrite.

My relationships were shallow; my life was shallow; and my worship was shallow.

It cost me. Years of missing out on so much life had to offer. That God had to offer. What a waste.

Yet, the man who he thought he was garbage was still gold to God.

Almost 10 years later, I stopped hiding, and I came to the end of myself. I put myself on the threshing floor.
I stepped into the fire.
I faced the pain, the shame, and came out on the other side.

“The gates of your greatest breakthrough are formed from your greatest struggles.” -Bill Johnson

Stepping into the fire opened up the door for me to truly embrace myself, as precious. As worth it. The shame was silenced.

I began to believe in myself, to believe God.

Now, my worship is more real than it has ever been. Deeper than I could’ve ever dreamed. I can sing the songs I’ve been singing my whole life with real experience. I’m closer to Jesus than I’ve ever been—He’s real to me.

I want to give Him everything.

It is in the place of greatest sacrifice that God chose to make His home. It is the place most precious to Him.

The threshing floor David used would make the ground where the Temple is built by his son. The place God chose to house His glory, the sign of His favor and blessing.
Yet, there’s someone else who understands the beauty of sacrifice:

“During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him” -Hebrews 5:7-9 (NIV)

In the garden of Gesthemene, Jesus pushed through all of the pain, He stuck with those who let Him down, and He said “not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42-44).

He surrendered everything to the fire; He sacrificed His Body and His blood.
And now, it is in body and blood that He decided to make His home, a people of His own, for all eternity.

You are something that cost Him everything.

The place of greatest sacrifice becomes the biggest door for the favor of God and His kingdom to come into your life.

It begins when you believe in Him but it continues the rest of your days.

How much will you surrender to the fire?
You are gold. Something that cost you nothing.
You are precious. You cost Him everything.
Life is a fire and you are the offering. Will you offer Him something that costs you nothing?

The gift of yourself is enough for Him. Still, give Him a gift that He is worthy of.

Something that costs you. I’ll leave you with a quote:

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left, and could say, ‘I used everything you gave me’. -Erma Bombeck

– Justin

1https://www.gotquestions.org/refiners-fire.html
2Check out the sling here: christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-slingsforkids.html
3You can read the whole story in 2 Samuel 24 and its parallel passage 1 Chronicles 21.
4www.gotquestions.org/threshing-floor.html

Building Trust

I recently graduated from college. Yep, I officially reached that point in life where you receive that four-year degree and realize two things: 1) “Thank the Lord that I do not have to write another essay EVER. AGAIN” and 2) “Oh my gosh, what am I supposed to do next???” Now, my next step will be working as a teacher, but that’s not what I mean. Let me explain.

When I moved my tassel from right to left on graduation day, I felt overwhelming relief and joy. I had successfully completed four years of schooling to achieve something amazing that the Lord had called me to do. And as I turned to wave emphatically at my parents, I knew without a doubt that I had made the right choice: to trust the Lord with my life.

You see, my four college years were pretty incredible. I learned how to become fascinated with the process of constantly discovering and came to understand the value of always growing. But it was far from easy. In fact, completing college was the most difficult learning period I have experienced to date, and those years certainly did not come without a number of tearful nights where I lay awake questioning what I was doing and fearful that I was on the wrong path. Yet one thing I knew for certain, that I could trust the Lord, always.

Though it was weak in the beginning, my trust in my Abba (Father) grew tremendously over these past four years. Looking back now, I can see how He used those years to build in me a firm foundation of trust that will hold me up in my life ahead. College was the ultimate training for me, and I came out strong! Now, as I look at that second realization, I realize that whatever training the Lord has for me next, whatever challenge I need to face, whatever season I’ll endure, I know for sure that I can trust my Abba to be faithful to me through it all.

Okay, now you might be thinking, “That’s great Rebecca, I’m glad college was magical for you and you trust the Lord now, but what about me? I know I’m not that magical…” Well, my friend, here’s the big reveal: I’m not magical either (Sorry if that’s a disappointment). Those years were not just like the magical portal from the Lego Movie where I fell in as a ugly, yellow Lego Figure and came out the other side a confident and very much alive Lego Figure. If only it were that simple, but it’s not. The training I went through involved a lot of prayer, earnest seeking of the Lord, and constantly seeking the truth in His Word.

In short, learning to trust God isn’t easy (Again, sorry for the disappointment). I wish I could tell you that it was, but I’m an honest person. What I can tell you is that it is one of the most rewarding processes you can ever experience. Saying ‘yes’ to God, committing yourself to seeking Him in all things, and reminding yourself of His faithfulness in keeping His promises to you will lead you into the deepest trust that will always sustain you.

Saying ‘Yes’

This is the first step. No matter what you’re going through, you can certainly choose to say “Yes, God, I want to let You lead me through this.” “Yes, God, I choose to believe that You are in control.” “Yes, God, I need you to help me move forward.” It’s just that simple. If you know in your heart that you need to give God your situation and say “Yes, God, I want to trust you,” then please, don’t wait. Take some quiet time to pray and tell God that you want to trust Him. Put on some worship music, and just tell Him straight up what’s on your mind. He really wants to hear you and listen to your words. There are also numerous Psalms about crying out to God for help and declaring a ‘yes’ to trusting in Him (Read Psalms 3, 18, 25, 41, 42, to start).

Commitment to Seeking

This is the biggest step. It requires the most action and is probably the longest step time-wise. But, this is where the real training happens (or you could call it ‘God’s magical Lego-to-Alive’ portal, take your pick). Once you’ve said ‘yes,’ you need to act on it by reading the Bible on a regular basis, praying just as much, and working to learn more about what God is teaching you through this situation/season. I know it sounds like a lot, but it really is necessary and will produce tremendous growth in you as a believer in Christ. Because this can look very different from person to person, I would highly recommend taking some time to evaluate your daily schedule and decide on how you are going to seek God first within your day. This can be as simple as committing a specific time slot each day to reading the Word, praying, and maybe doing research on topics the Lord has put on your heart. If you feel lead to do so, you can also commit to a specific fast that may allow you to focus on the Lord more. I have many times committed to specific fasts or adjusted my schedule in order to reflect my focus on the Lord and challenge myself to actively seek the Lord according to my season.

This is a great way to build your relationship with God and nurture a deep trust and reliance on Him who will always be your strength. During this step, I would also encourage you not be afraid to ask God questions and take time to listen and seek the answers from Him. Again, He loves listening to us and is very willing to answer His children!

Reminders of Faithfulness

Finally, always remember what the Lord has done in the past, either for you, for your loved ones, for people in your church, or for people in the Bible. Again, this is another choice you must make: to remember daily that God’s faithfulness is constant. Focusing your thoughts on examples of God’s faithfulness in helping those whom He loves will strengthen your trust in His faithfulness to you. There are so many examples of the faithfulness of God in the Bible (not to mention the many Psalms that also declare it): God working in the life of Joseph to provide for the Israelites (Genesis 17-50) is a very detailed example. The book of Acts also details how involved God was in nurturing the growth of the early church and sustaining the apostles as they spread the Gospel.

 

In all things, always turn to the Lord. He is our strength and our peace, and as you grow in your relationship with Him and seek to trust Him more, you too will come to be filled with such confidence in what is next in your life, even if you don’t know what that is yet. If there is one thing I want you to take away from this, it is that the Lord will never give up on you. He loves you so much and delights in doing life together with you. Let Him in to nurture your heart and your faith, and you will find such amazing joy.

 

In love,

Rebecca