Inside Out

The weeks battling with Satan over my health, just like I always like to say, the Lord fights in all battles, we simply stand still & receive the victories. It is important to proclaim from your mouth, believe in your heart & a miracle you need, a miracle you will receive Amen?! I truly believe the God we serve is a good God, so close, calling Him Father, even Abba, seems to be distant; He is our dear Daddy in Heaven! Who constantly bless us with His mercy & loving kindness, Oh How Great is our God...

Jesus changes our nature from the inside out! "A new heart I will give you & a new spirit will I put within you, & I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh & give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you & cause you to walk in my statutes, & you shall heed my ordinances & do them." Ezekiel 36: 26-27 [Amplified Bible] Jesus doesn't send us to obedience school to learn new habits; He sends us to the hospital to be given a new heart. Forget training; He gives transplants...

You want to go to Heaven? Doesn't matter how religious you are or how many rules you keep. You need a new birth; you need to be "born of water & the Spirit." God gives no sponge baths. Washes us from head to toe. Paul reflected on his conversion & wrote: "He gave us a good bath & we came out of it new people, washed inside & out by the Holy Spirit." [Titus 3:5 MSG] Your sins stand no chance against the fire hydrant of God's grace. But more in needed. Jesus is not content to clean you; He indwells you. Jesus deposits within you "His power, which mightily works." [Col. 1:29]

Don't for a microsecond think God does this with you. Washing the outside isn't enough for Him. He places power on the inside. Better stated, He places Himself on the inside. God is constantly working in us Amen?! Religious as Saint Peter's Square, but feeling just as old? Pious, but powerless? If so, may I remind you of something?

When you believe in Christ, Christ works miracle in you. "When you believe in Christ, He identified you as His own by giving you the Holy Spirit." [Eph 1:13 NLT]. You are permanently purified & embowered by God Himself. The message to the religious person is simple: It's not what you do. It’s what Jesus does. Jesus has moved in. And in time we can say with Paul, "I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me." [Gal. 20:20 NLT]

If that is true, Godwyn why do I still sputter? If I'm born again, why do I fall so often? Why did you fall so often after your first birth? Did you exit the womb wearing cross-trainers? Of course not. And when we started to walk, we fell more than we stood. Should we expect anything different from our spiritual walk?

But I fall so often I question my salvation. Again, we return to your first birth. Didn't you stumble as you were learning to walk? And when you stumbled, did you question the validity of your physical birth? Did you, as a one-year-old fresh flopped on the floor, shake your head & think, I have fallen again. I must not be human?

Of course not. The stumbles of a toddler do not invalidate the act of birth. And the stumbles of a Christian do not annul his spiritual birth. Do you understand what God has done? He deposited a Christ seed in us. As it grows, you will change. It's not that sin has no more presence in your life, but rather that sin has no power over your life. Temptation will pester you, but temptations will not master you. What hope this brings! It's not up to us! Within us abides a budding power. Trust Jesus!

Do you like the old person or the new? Do you count yourself as having a new heart or old? You have a choice to make. You might say, "I can't climb stairs; I'm too weak." Does our choice negate the presence of a new heart? Dismiss the work of the surgeon? No. Choosing the elevator would suggest only one fact- we haven't learned to trust out new power. It takes time. But at some point you've got to try those stairs. You've got to test the new ticker. You've got to experiment with the new you. For if we don't, we will run out steam...

Religious rule keeping can sap your strength. It's endless. There is always a class to attend, Sabbath to obey. Ramadan to observe. No prison is as endless as the prison of perfection. Her inmates find work but never find peace. How could they? They never know when they are finished...

Christ, however, gifts you with a finished work. He fulfilled the law for us! Bid farewell to the burden of religion. Gone is the fear that having done everything, you might not have done enough. We climb the stairs, not by our strength, but His. Jesus pledges to help those who stop trying to help themselves.

"And I am convinced & sure of this very thing, that He began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ [right up to the time of His return], developing [that good work] & perfecting & bringing it to full completion in you." [Phil. 1:6 Amplified Bible] Break every strongholds of the Devil & trust the power in you, Christ the hope of Glory!

Inspired By:

Max Lucado

DTPs

Remember viral infections were treated by doctors & quarantine meant the isolation of diseased people & pets? No Longer. Nowadays computer get sick. I was infected with gastric flu that brought me down a single week, yet I pushed on with my work leading to stairways of nowhere. I was diagnosed with ulcers deep in the throat that generated high fever, dizziness & great fatigue. Finally my system ‘crashed’ resulted in the much needed rest...

Think of our mind as a computer made to store & process massive amounts of data. Think of our strengths as software. Pianists are loaded with music programs. Accountants seem to be born with spreadsheet capacity. Fun lovers come with games installed. We are different, but we each have a computer & software, & sadly, we have viruses. You & I are infected by destructive thoughts...[I was suffering in depression silently]

Computer viruses have names like ILOVEYOU, Klez & Chernobyl. Mental viruses are known as anxiety, bitterness, anger, guilt, shame, greed & insecurity. They worm their way into our system & diminish, even disable, our mind. We call these DTPs: destructive thought patterns. Do you have any DTPs? When you see the successful, are you jealous? When you see the struggler, are you pompous? Ever argue with someone in your mind? Rehash or rehearse your hurts? Do you assume the worst about the future? If so, you suffer from DTPs...

What would our world be like without then? Had no dark or destructive thought ever entered your mind, how would you be different? Suppose you could relive your life sans any guilt, lust, vengeance, insecurity, or fear. Never wasting mental energy on gossips or scheming. Would you be different?

Oh, to be DTP-free. No energy lost, no time wasted. Wouldn’t such as person be energetic & wise? A lifetime of healthy & holy thoughts would render anyone a joyful genius. But would you find such an individual? An uninfected computer can be bought - but an uninfected person? Impossible. Trace a computer virus back to a hacker. Trace our mental viruses back to the fall of the first man, Adam. Because of sin, our minds are full of dark thoughts. "Although they knew about God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile & their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools" [Rom. 1:21-22 NIV]...

Blame DTPs on sin. Sin messes with the mind. But what if the virus never entered? Supposed a person never opened Satan's emails? What would that person be like? A lot like the twelve-year-old boy seated in the temple of Jerusalem. Though He was beardless & unadorned, this boy's thoughts were profound. The boy name Jesus...

Why? What made Jesus different? The Bible is silent about His IQ. When it comes to the RAM size of His mental computer, we are told nothing. But when it comes to His purity of mind, we are given astounding claim: Christ "Knew no sin" [2 Cor. 5:21] Even the demons declared His unique status, "I know who you are-the Holy One of God!" [ Luke 4:34 NIV]...

The loudest testimony to His perfection was the silence that followed this question. When His accusers called Him a servant of Satan, Jesus demanded to see their evidence. "Which one of you convicts Me of sin?" [John 8:46]. Ask around my circle of friends to point out my sin, and watch the hands shoot up. When those who knew Jesus were asked this same question, no one spoke. Christ was followed by disciples, analyzed by crowds, criticized by family & scrutinized by enemies, yet one person would remember Him committing even one sin. He was never found in wrong place. Never said the wrong word. Never acted the wrong way. He never sinned. Not that He wasn't tempted, mind you. He was "tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin" [Heb 4:15]...

Lust wooed Him. Greed lured Him. Power called Him. Jesus-the-human-was tempted. But Jesus-the-Holy God-resisted. Contaminated email came His way, but He resisted the urge to open it. The word sinless has never survived cohabitation with another person. Those who knew Christ best, however spoke of His purity in unison & with conviction. And because He was sinless, His mind was stainless. DTP-less. No wonder people were "amazed at His teaching" [Mark 1:22 NCV]. His mind is virus-free...

But does this matter? Does the perfection of Christ affect me? If He were a distant Creator, the answer would be NO. But since He is our Savior & redeemer, the rely is a super sized YES! We are made to be like Christ! God's priority is that we be "transformed by the renewing of your mind" [Rom. 12:2 NIV]. You may have been born virus-prone, but you don't have to live that way. There is hope for your head! Are you a worrywart? Don't have to be one forever. Guilt plagued & shamed stained? Don't have to be one forever. Prone to anger? Jealousy? Jesus can take care of that. Jesus can change your mind...

God answers our prayers. He changes the man by changing the mind. And how does it happen? By doing what we are doing right now. Considering the glory of Christ. "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit" [2 Cor. 3:18]. To behold Him is to become like Him. As Christ dominates your thoughts, He changes you from one degree of glory to another until - hang on! - you are ready to live with Him. How Great is our God! Amen?!

Heaven is the land of sinless minds. Virus-free thinking. Absolute trust. No fear or anger. Shame & second-guessing are practices of prior life. Heaven will be wonderful, not because the streets are gold, but because our thoughts will be pure. So what are you waiting on? Apply God's antivirus. "Set you mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died & your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." [Col. 3:2-4]

Inspired by:

Max Lucado