Healing Notes
Healing Notes
Deal with your stuff, Part 1
The defeat of God’s people at Ai helps shed even more light as to the nature of “stuff.” In the Biblical record Joshua cried out to the Lord because God’s people had gotten whipped by the armies of Ai. Answering Joshua, God declared that their defeat was because one Israelite had transgressed His covenant. He identified the man as Achan, who had taken some of the accursed things. God said he had both stolen and deceived, and he had put it among “his own stuff” (Josh. 7:4-11).....
Deal with your stuff, Part 2
In our discussions about traveling the trail towards wholeness, we stated that the first step was to be totally sold out to God. If you recall we felt God saying, “If you’re not sold out, you’re going to bail out.” After this we said the next step was to be committed to “dealing with your stuff.” Then, in our last conversation we hopefully helped everyone better understand exactly what we meant when referring to the term “stuff.” This being said, I hope everyone is still tracking with us.
At this point in time, many maybe asking – “so what do we do to deal with our stuff?”
I believe there are at least ten things or steps we can take to get us started on our journey to wholeness. The steps will help us identify, process, and deal with our stuff, which include those sometimes very deep issues that would hinder our path to wholeness.
God's Call to Wholeness
Few people realize the gospel of Christ is a call to wholeness. Jesus issues the call in His sermon on the mount. Matthew recorded this God idea in his documentation of Christ’s teaching where He said:
“Therefore, you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.” (Matt. 5:48)
"According to Jesus our Father in heaven wants us to be just like Him, complete, whole and having all the essential qualities for a rich fulfilling life. And it’s all based on wholeness. Think about it, you know our heavenly Father does not operate from a dysfunctional, unhealthy, or incomplete core. He doesn’t have any emotional hang-ups or psychological problems. His wholeness is part of the glory of His person."
Answering God's Call to Wholeness
...every person’s journey to wholeness begins with selling out to God. Recently, in asking God about where we should begin in moving toward wholeness, I sensed Him saying – “you need to sell out, because if you don’t sell out, then you’ll bail out.”
In reflecting on this word, I realized that through my over thirty-two years of pastoral counseling experience, there were many that I had worked with that bailed out of their personal journey to wholeness. While there were many reasons for their bailing out, the one major reason was that they were not sold out to pursuing the path to their personal healing.
The Price is Right
By the world’s standards, and Satan’s, everyone has a price. The question is-- what is the right price? In the wilderness we can see his methods when he was tempting Jesus. He was continually probing Jesus’ to see if He had a need that could be manipulated. Ultimately, the devil took Jesus up on a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory (Matt. 4:1-9). Then he made his sales pitch, saying – all these things I will give you if, You will fall down and do things my way. At this point, Jesus basically said – get lost! There was no prize the devil could offer to get Jesus to compromise and cross over to his way of thinking and doing things. Jesus didn’t have a price, but do you?
Discerning or Undiscerning Watchmen? A Heart condition.. .
Undiscerning--The state of America is directly related to the state of the Church. And WE are His Church.
Our government has not been discerning because WE have not been a discerning people. God says that to be “undiscerning” is a sin. Romans chapter one is a discussion of righteousness and details a long list of behaviors that God detests and calls sin. In verse 31 he calls “undiscerning” a sin!
Some within the Western Church today have opted for a soft-spoken gospel presenting a “Jesus that just wants to love everybody.” This presentation of Jesus is full of mercy but speaks very little truth. Thus, when truth is injected into the lives of church members – it is quickly dismissed or censored with “that’s too harsh, critical, or unloving.”
Did you know--God is in the Moving Business
This morning the Lord woke me and I heard the words, “Pilgrim!” Then “My people are like that—they have all their stuff in boxes that they keep hidden away in their hearts and they won’t unpack them and let me get at their stuff!”
WOW! God is in the moving business! He takes us from where we were to where He wants us to be!
Pursuing the Freedom to be Real
When we hunger for, embrace, and pursue the truth, seeking to live in it and by it, something strange happens to us. Gradually, we begin to operate and dwell in new dimensions of freedom.
....However, living from the heart and the freedom to be real can elude us if the work of the Word or the Holy Spirit is short-circuited in any way. As a consequence the original obstacles that God intended to be removed remain and hinder our efforts at authenticity and genuineness. Actually, Christians in this state are like spiritual cripples, outwardly appearing as though they have it all together, when in reality they’re not functioning on all cylinders.
Liberated by Truth
…“If you continue in my word you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:32)
As we drink in His word we take in that which is in His heart and graft it into our own hearts. Thus, we enter into heart to heart activity with God. As this happens the liberating power of His word is released into the depths of our personhood. When this occurs, we experience freedom at some of the deepest levels of our existence.
Healing the Heart of America…Its Time!
We want to continue sharing from our heart with you concerning the changes ahead for this ministry and what we sense the Lord wants to do in our nation. We sense the Lord is zeroing in on heart issues—individually first, then families, communities, and ultimately the nation. But it begins with each of us—we have to get our hearts right before we can help anyone else—family or friends.
“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it flow the issues of life.” (KJV)
As a nation we have NOT kept and guarded the heart…We believe the Lord is saying:
“The Healing of America begins with the Healing of First Nations people.”
A Christmas message for families in the midst of adversity…
In this Christmas season where everyone hopes for a miracle and our nation is facing an uncertain future, it is the story of this other type of hero I want to tell you about. His name is Dusty and he is our youngest grandson. He has always been special. I know all grandparents feel this way—but this one is ours and this is our story!