Category: Righteousness - IRONSTRIKES

Forgiving our fathers

6/9/2014

Time has come for us to forgive our fathers.

Paul warns us that unforgiveness and bitterness can wreck our lives and the lives of others (Eph. 4:31; Heb. 12:15). I am sorry to think of all the years my wife endured the anger and bitterness that I redirected at her from my father.

As someone has said, forgiveness is setting a prisoner free and then discovering the prisoner was you. I found some help in Bly's experience of forgiving his own father, when he said, "I began to think of him not as someone who had deprived me of love or attention or companionship, but as someone who himself had been deprived, by his father and his mother and by the culture." My father had his own wound that no one ever offered to heal. His father was an alcoholic, too, for a time, and there were some hard years for my dad as a young man just as there were for me.

Now you must understand: Forgiveness is a choice. It is not a feeling, but an act of the will. As Neil Anderson has written, "Don't wait to forgive until you feel like forgiving; you will never get there. Feelings take time to heal after the choice to forgive is made."

We allow God to bring the hurt up from our past, for "if your forgiveness doesn't visit the emotional core of your life, it will be incomplete." We acknowledge that it hurt, that it mattered, and we choose to extend forgiveness to our father.

This is not saying, "It didn't really matter"; it is not saying, "I probably deserved part of it anyway."

Forgiveness says, "It was wrong, it mattered, and I release you."

And then we ask God to father us, and to tell us our true name.

This blog post is excerpted from the book, Wild at Heart by John Eldredge.

BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.

Deepening intimacy with the Holy Spirit

6/4/2014

I grew up weekly affirming that “I believe in the Holy Spirit,” but that did not mean that I understood Him. Truthfully, I still don’t fully understand him, but here are a few insights that have helped me experience the Holy Spirit:

1. Holy Spirit is a person. The Holy Spirit is not an “it.” When the late Steve Jobs referred to “the iPhone,” he dropped the definite article. To Jobs, it was simply “iPhone,” as if to personalize it. I wonder if sometimes even in the language we employ to speak of the Holy Spirit, we don’t do the very opposite and depersonalize Him. He seems safer that way, right? But Holy Spirit is a person, one who can be known and can know us, as frightening as that intimacy may be.

2. Awareness is everything. A.W. Tozer once wrote “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” Tozer may be correct, but I wonder if he would have left out the phrase “about God,” if he were to have penned the sentence today. What if the most important thing about us is simply what comes into our minds when we think? In an age with so much mental clutter and so many weapons of mass distraction vying for our attention, our problem is not just that we think wrongly about God, but that we rarely think about God at all. Making room in our minds and our hearts and our schedules can be an invitation for Holy Spirit to fill these spaces.

3. Obedience is God’s love language. I think Holy Spirit likes it when I look stupid. I say that because He rewards it so generously. I’ve stood for minutes in uncomfortable silence in front of my congregation; I’ve jumped in a shockingly cold river fully clothed; I’ve given away guitars worth more than my vehicles, and I’ve started a church against the advice of a personality test, all because of a prompting by Holy Spirit. I’m not alone–Noah built an ark before rain was a “thing.” Abraham moved from his homeland before moving was a thing. Moses threw a stick on the ground before Pharaoh, and not to play fetch. When we obey, we trust Holy Spirit more than we trust our own inclinations. He likes that. The times I have knowingly experienced Holy Spirit most have been during the times of greatest obedience and surrender.

4. Honor is attractive. If you want someone to like you, it is normally pretty easy. Honor them. Speak well of them. Let your actions communicate that you are important to them. In worship, as we fix our attention on God, listen to Holy Spirit, sing majestic words about His many attributes, tell Him how much we like Him, He seems to be attracted by it. Honor and gratitude prepare the way for us to experience more of God, either by expressing our thoughts and feelings about God, or by realigning them.

5. The goal is God. Yes, Holy Spirit works in mysterious ways. No, we do not always know what He is going to do or to say or when, but there is a simple and predictable formula for experiencing more of God. Ok, here it is—Seek Him. He wants to be found. The Holy Spirit may work in unexpected ways, but He rarely reveals Himself to unsuspecting people. Study great outpourings and revivals, and you will find that none of them happened accidentally. Ask the apostles, the Moravians, or the 24-7 Prayer movement, and they would likely affirm that we tend to stumble upon God more often when we are looking for Him than when we are not. Living lives in which we are immersing ourselves in listening prayer, seeking God through Scripture, listening for him in books we read and in conversations with others–seeking God both through spiritual disciplines and in our everyday lives—will certainly result in our finding Him. Oswald Chambers provided a good example when he said, “My goal is God Himself, at any cost, by any road.”

So what is your goal? At the end of the day, maybe experiencing Holy Spirit isn’t easy, but it is simple—seek Him, find Him; don’t seek Him, well . . . you get the idea.

This post was written by Rev McAnally. You can find the original post here: http://seedbed.com/feed/believe-holy-spirit-5-keys-deepening-intimacy-holy-spirit/

Shooting myself in the foot

6/2/2014

When things go wrong do you look for someone or something to blame? I know I do. It's much easier to look outside of myself when things go wrong. That way, I don't have to spend time praying asking God to show me where my walk with Him needs to improve. I don't have to spend time listening to God's Holy Spirit telling me what needs fixed. It's just plain easier to throw somebody else under the bus or chalk it up to circumstances.

Recently, I have had a convergence of several things where I couldn't use my usual excuse (at least in my mind) of "it's not my fault." Granted these things that I did were not overt sin but more of just being uncaring, unfeeling, not considering how others might respond to what I say or do. These are things that should never have occurred and there is no one else to blame for what I have done.

How does this happen? I can name several things in my life that need to change... These things happened because of complacency, spiritual laziness, pride, ego, etc. You name it. Those things that I thought I have hidden away and only God and I know about it. Yet, I have found, that these hidden things take root. They end up coming out.

God is not going to collude with me. He's not gonna say, "Hey, this is just between you and me. I'm gonna help you not let these things pop out in your dealing with others." Nope.

God's more like, "you know those things that are just between you and me, those ugly thoughts you have of others? That indifference you carry with you about others? Well, those need to be gone from your life, not just hidden to others. Are you gonna play the Christian game or are you gonna be truly transformed? Oh, and BTW, they're not as hidden as much as you think they are."

What's interesting, when I was recently confronted about these things by people who are important in my life, I couldn't say anything but "I was wrong." At the time I did them, I didn't thing they were that bad. But gaining a perspective outside myself, what I thought was benign was actually very unfeeling. A cool thing (or maybe it's not as cool as a I think) is that these confrontations didn't come from a Christian perspective. I was confronted about these things from people who did not even touch upon my Christianity when confronting me. It wasn't something like, "you call yourself a Christian and you say/do those things?" No. It was simply from a personal standpoint. They didn't know it, but God was speaking to me thru them. I was nailed. I had no excuses. There was nobody I could throw under the bus. I shot myself in the foot. It was me.

One person said to me, "I know what you said, you didn't mean. After all, I know that you are man of integrity. I just wonder if you thought about how I might have felt when you said that?" What popped into my head was, "How many hits on my integrity can I take before people stop giving me the benefit of the doubt? How many more times can I do this and people will stop confronting me and just write me out of their lives?" Again, I could say nothing in my defense. I was clearly wrong. I apologized, asking for forgiveness. That's all I could do.

I am grateful that I have people in my life who are willing to give me second chances. I don't want to presume on their mercy. I don't want to have to ask for a 3rd chance, a 4th chance, etc.

Ultimately, I'm glad that God is a God of Second Chances (and 2,876th chances)... I don't want to presume on God's mercy either: "Yet, God keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me!" - Psalm 19:13

But when I do shoot myself in the foot I know that "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." - Lamentations 3:22-23.

God has forgiven me, my friends have forgiven me. Now I need to forgive myself.

BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.

Doing all you can do

4/28/2014

Perhaps you know of someone who has poured his or her life into someone in need only to have that person continue to make bad life decisions. All the love, money, prayer and encouragement that is possible to flow from one person can never seem to guarantee good results. I know two people in this very scenario right now. The Lord has been so faithful to answer their prayers -- only to see the person upon whom God has graced continue on what seems like a bad path.

What do you do when you've done all you can do? For some reason that one, quite perplexing question reminds me of a passage of Scripture, though the context may seem out of place: "and having done all, stand" (cf. Eph. 6:13). Paul, instructing us in times of personal battles of how to be "strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power," encourages us to take up the whole armor of God, "so that you may be able to withstand on that evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm" (Eph. 6:13 NRSV). But what does he mean by stand?

When trials and trouble come, we tend to fall apart, not stand; we tend to fall or break down, not stand firm. We battle, however, not from a place of potential failure but on the rock solid foundation of all that Christ Jesus accomplished for us. Our battles, if you will, actually belong to the Lord -- He will fight on our behalf. The ultimate war of good and evil, light and darkness, life (eternal) and death (eternal) has already been won by Christ.

When we encounter various trials, we do so from the perspective that our Conquering King has already won the victory. We are seated with (and are united in) Christ in the heavenlies (Eph. 1:3, 20; 2:6). What we battle now is the mere aftermath of the sin nature and some brazen rogue devils (who are given a measure of free will in our sovereign God's world). Still, we are called to the Fight, but our landscape and prospect are not as they once were.

What do you do when you've done all you can do? You stand -- stand in full assurance of the goodness, faithfulness, and promises of God to you in Christ. You stand -- stand still and know that He is God, that He alone can change the circumstances. You stand -- on your knees, continuing to pray, relying on Him to make a path where none yet seems possible. You stand -- firm in your faith, not wavering, because you realize that only God can make the difference. You stand -- in reality, realizing and confessing your own limitations, while you rely faithfully and solely by trust in God's limitless abilities.

You can't change the world; you're not God. You're not in control of the life and heart of any individual. You have a difficult enough time trying to keep yourself in line -- you can't make anyone else make right choices. Do what you're called of the Lord to do and leave governing the universe to Him.

Yes, that individual may be breaking your heart. Yes, you hate to see all of the consequences of the bad choices that are being made. You don't know whether to cry or cuss -- and perhaps you've tried them both! Maybe you want to give up. But giving up in the midst of the struggle never truly solved any bad situation. You must, for your own sanity and sanctification, realize that you can only do so much. When you have done all that you can do, stand.

This post was written anonymously. The original post can be found here: http://credendum.weebly.com/1/post/2014/04/doing-all-you-can-do.html

BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.

Internet porn & the decline of faith

4/15/2014

Joel J. Miller takes note of a new study positing the decline in religious faith with the rise of Internet use, but doesn’t buy the hypothesis that the Internet makes it possible for people to discover other viewpoints, undermining their own commitment. But he does think that there’s a more plausible reason to connect the Internet to faith’s loss.

Excerpt:

"Porn has been part of the Web from day one. And the stats for online consumption are staggering, even among Christians."

Disaffiliation should come as no surprise. We’ve already seen that porn makes prayer and beneficial contemplation impossible. Given the Christian understanding of the spiritual life, we’re not capable of simultaneously pursuing our lusts and sanctification. Such a pursuit causes internal dissonance, and the only resolution involves eventually conceding to the pull of one or the other. (I’ve talked about that before here.)

Personal testimony adds to the picture. In his book Samson and the Pirate Monks, Nate Larkin discusses his battle with sexual sin and its effect on his state of belief. The deeper he got the further away he felt from God.

As I’ve written before, if you accept the modern world’s view on sex, and abandon Christianity’s teaching, you will soon abandon Christianity. People don’t like to hear that, but it’s true.

This post was written by Rod Dreher. The original post can be found here

BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.

I'm giving up self-righteousness for Lent

3/6/2014

I’m giving up self-righteousness for Lent.

I don’t even know if you can do that. Does that qualify? I don’t come from a faith tradition that regularly observes the church seasons, but I see all my Facebook friends giving up sugar, or television, or even Facebook itself, and I think “that’s good….wow, that’s gonna be tough….I hope they can pull it off.”

What’s something I hold onto more tightly than anything? What’s something I could lay down as a sacrifice during this Lenten season?

My self-righteousness.

I know, I know. It sounds all existential doesn’t it? But the last few years have reminded me of something incredibly important.

I’m a broken mess.

Now you wouldn’t really know it to look at me. I’m not a heroin addict. I don’t run around on my wife. I’ve got a good job, live in a respectable neighborhood, do my best to love my kids and give my life to those around me. The addiction I migrate back to isn’t going to land me in any rehab I know of. It’s socially acceptable. In fact, it’s socially admired.

It’s my belief in me.

I want to fix myself. I want to earn my way. I want to be admired and respected. I want you to think I’m more than I am. I want my good deeds to outweigh my bad. I want to control my own destiny. I want to be my own Savior.

And even though I fail every single time, I crawl right back and try again.

I need the Gospel. I need Jesus. The only One who can really fix what’s wrong with me. The only one who can redeem the power and potential that’s inside of me.

I can’t. But He did.

Jesus did.

And so this Lenten season I’m laying down my self-salvation projects. And if it’s all the same to you, with God’s help, I’m not going to pick them back up again.

If you begin recognizing Lent today, don’t allow the ritual to lose its meaning. Let it point you to Jesus. He’s the only place righteousness can be found.

This post was written by Erik Cooper. For the original post, go to: http://beyondtherisk.com/2014/03/05/im-giving-up-self-righteousness-for-lent/

BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.

Restoration

3/5/2014

Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest—Matthew 11:28

“He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness” (Psalm 23:2-3). How does God restore your soul, brother? Where do you find rest? How are you most able to forget, even for a few moments, the pressures of this life? Where do you get reset and realigned? How do you connect with God most easily? Where are you most able to hear his voice or feel his guidance?

Is it in praying at your breakfast table in the early morning, before anyone else wakes? Or in reading Scripture on the treadmill or in your car over the lunch hour? Is it in a few minutes of stillness and solitude in the evening? Or in boisterous community around a table, with brothers or with family? Is it in walking or running or biking through streets or through hills? Is it in listening to music? Or in making your own, singing in church? Or in something else entirely?

Recognize that you were designed by God, uniquely, to have ways--even amid the busyness—to find him, to find rest and restoration through him. You were designed to, every so often, just come home. So, open your eyes. Search your heart. He has, no doubt, already shown you how.

Okay, so what do we do?

Think back on some times when you most felt God’s peace, most felt his presence. That you’ve experienced him in particular ways, in particular places, in particular activities, means he’s spoken . . . right to you. He’s given you permission to do those things, whatever they are. He’s told you he wants you to do those things—that you’ve got to do those things. Now, you simply must choose to do them… consistently and often.

Copyright © 2013 Gather Ministries, All rights reserved.

BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.

God hates racism

1/27/2014

I was at the gym the other day and while working out, I was watching some of the other people that were going thru their workout routine. There was a good mix of people there: old, young, middle-age, male, female, black, white, latino, asian and middle eastern. I'm glad that things have changed. No longer are we segregated into classes, races, ethnicities or genders.

As recent as 50-years ago, the civil rights movement started in the United States. Less than 50 years ago, you wouldn't find blacks and whites sharing a gym, a water fountain or a locker room. I'm so glad that things have changed and that there has been considerable movement away from such a segregated society.

As I was working out, I realized that I walked past a black guy, smiled, and said "how you doin'?" and he responded in kind. It was a pleasant interchange. Just like it should be.

But then I noticed another guy. This guy was of middle eastern descent. He was putting himself thru a very, very rigorous frenetic routine. He was in great shape. He was doing things with his body, stretches, lifts, etc that were simply amazing. However, you wanna know what went thru my head? I thought, "I'll bet he's training for jihad and is a terrorist."

I told myself, "that's a horrible thought, you don't even know this guy. Why would you judge him so?" Then it dawned on me... Young middle eastern men have become the new black.

It wasn't too long ago that white people looked askance at black people (unfortunately some still do) and wonder what they were up to, wondering when they will be attacked. I observed this man and no one spoke to him. I wanted to but he was working out so hard and concentrating so much on his work out that he seemed as if he didn't know anybody else was around. Plus, in gyms, it's hard to talk to people because so many folks have MP3 players and aren't there to interact with others. I know that's no excuse but I didn't speak with him. I should have.

Later in my quiet time with God, I heard God clearly speak to me about my attitude about the middle eastern guy in the gym. He told me that my attitude was wrong and that it is sinful to judge people so. I had to repent of the sin of racism.

I long to be able to see people the way that God does.
His love extends to all people and I need to be a reflection of His love.
Judgmental attitudes are not Christ-like attitudes.

God hates racism.

I hope I see that guy again. I want to say "how you doin'?"

BE HOLY.
BE A MAN.

Sunday Meditation

1/26/2014

I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight. Jeremiah 9:24

God delights in kindness, justice and righteousness. None of this is easy for us to believe.

Kindness is difficult for some of us to imagine because we do not have extensive personal experience with kindness. We can imagine God as a weak, codependent, ineffective being whose specialty is being relentlessly nice to people.

But what of the God who exercises kindness? What would that look like?

Justice is difficult for some of us to imagine because we have not had extensive personal experience with justice. In dysfunctional families justice is either chaotic or completely absent.

But what of the God who exercises justice? What would that look like?

Righteousness is difficult for some of us to imagine because we have not had extensive personal experience with righteousness. We do not have instincts for doing what is right, we do not delight in doing righteousness, we expect it to be boring, dreary and out-of-date. We may delight in caretaking and codependent niceness, but is that the same as delighting in righteousness? Probably not.

So, what of the God who exercises righteousness. What would that look like?

God is capable of delight. God is not the Unmoved One. God is the Most Moved of us all.

God's compassion and kindness are free and full.
God's commitment to justice is beyond all our imaginations.
God pursues righteousness.

Learning to share in God's struggle for kindness, justice and righteousness will require significant changes for us. It cannot be done in a one time event. It will be a life-time quest. We will forget and remember again. We will run away and come back again. But each day in the struggle we will grow in our capacity for delight. Until, in the end, when God's purposes are complete, we will be filled with delight at the triumph of God's kindness, justice and righteousness

God of kindness, I want to understand you better.
God of justice, I want to live in solidarity with you.
God of righteousness, help me to delight in what pleases you.
Increase my capacity for delight, Lord.
Let me discover you afresh today.

Amen.

Copyright Dale and Juanita Ryan
National Association for Christian Recovery

I can't wait to see you, Jesus, face to face

1/18/2014

Chasing down hot air balloons on Sunday morning
In pace with a familiar tune I reach for nothing less but
something more
All the day and the wind is at my back most of the way.

Holding conversation with a friend I know is near
Great anticipation fills my soul, it fills my heart, it fills the air
All the day and the wind is at my back ..

Oh, I can't wait to see you, Jesus, face to face
Nothing in this world can take Your place
All the pride of man laid low and all his works of gold
Nothing can compare with what You are
Let everything else go.
Let it all go.

And the wind is at my back ..

Oh, I can't wait to see you Jesus, face to face
Nothing in this world can take Your place
All the pride of man laid low and all his works of gold
Nothing can compare with what You are
Let everything else go.

Let it all go
Let everything else go.

These are the lyrics to the song, Let Everything Else Go by Phil Keaggy
To hear this song, go to: http://vimeo.com/68046057

Don't leave this page without hearing this song. It will quickly become a favorite of yours too!