Romans
"So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin…." Absolutely hopeless! Frustrated defeat. I want to obey. I need to obey. I have victory right? I have been liberated, Christ won, I am set free…..right? Whhhyyyyy and how loonnnnggggg will my flesh betray me? How long before I can walk rightly with my Father? When my flesh betrays…why can it win? Never. I am a sinner. I will never be able to walk rightly with my Father. I am beaten, I am broken, and unable to help my self. Helpless Wretch. I will forever be stuck in this inability to know my Father, in this distance from him, unable to do any single thing about it. I have been abused. Sin has taken what is a good thing, and used it to beat me. I am helpless. Wretched Mess. How can I live without Papa? I can’t! I can’t! I can't... Is there anything…anything, that can save me? help at least? \\\\Mercy Mercy Mercy….\\\\ He who sits enthroned between the cherubim in the inner sanctuary of the tabernacle, on the mercy seat...(not the judgement seat. No, the priests did not sanctify themselves for judgment by God in his presence for never ever having been able to obey the law. They bowed their faces, their hearts before the mercy seat). The ark of the testimony. The testimony, testimony, testify O people to his mercy. The tabernacle was built for mercy. For worship. For mercy. “Build me a temple O people, so that I may pour out mercy on you. I know you, I know the law, and I have mercy unending.” For mercy was my savior nailed to a cross, mercy that my sins would be taken off my face, off my back and impressed into him with every whip slash, with every claw that shredded his flesh he cried mercy mercy mercy…. “Father forgive them for they know not what they do…” His eyes hold the promise. God’s eyes are waterfalls, and in his eyes the rainbows from the mist hold the promise. [Mercy mercy mercy…] “Deep calls to deep, at the roar of you waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me” Psalm 42:7 Its the only thing He’s ever cried. Adam to Rapture, It's all He always cries. Mercy Mercy Mercy… “For God consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.” Rom. 11:32 /////-/////-/////-//////-//////-//////-/////-/////-/////-/////-///// “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” Rom. 8:1 No condemnation! No condemnation! Freedom! Christ took the condemnation, and I am under a different law now. This is not just freedom within in the first law, the law that says sin deserves death. This is not just victory over sinful nature; I am under the law of life. Therefore, am I in place of God to judge myself, if God has already cried mercy? Am I God? I am no longer bound to sin, and punishment. Though I sin, I have no condemnation, and I can “approach the throne of Grace with confidence that I may receive Mercy and find grace to help in my time of need.” Heb 4:16 Oh that every christian, every person might know! The Hope and Inheritance that we have in Christ. Freedom! The law of life breaks in. It breaks chains. It breaks barriers. It barges through boarded up windows. Mercy mercy mercy. It's safety. The new law is a new kingdom. A new way of life. How long will we go on as Christians living in bondage? Hope! Inheritance! Freedom!
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Hebrews BUT GOD Sometimes God blows up long embedded mindsets. Heb. 10:12-13 [because] He sees his children in the light of who He is, not who they are. Heb. 6:9 [and] He does not condemn but empowers. Heb 11:11 Hebrews was written to a people who’d messed up like it was their job, and were on the verge of messing up again, this time for good—Stubborn, thick skulled, air heads. Like Me. Yes I identify with the gentile church because I am a gentile, grafted in, but I also identify with Jewish Christians, because I’ve been in the faith, I’ve grown up in it, I know better. This is a brutal awareness of human condition. It’s a mindset switch- becoming Heaven minded. It’s a BUT GOD. Human condition, is wretched. Unable, unlovable, provoking, and completely helpless to do anything about it. BUT GOD -whatever He is, He is relentlessly. He is sneaking and seeping into every part of me and loving me into fullness. My past is loved, my now is loved, my future is absolutely loved-no matter what happens. This is God. He is relentless. Relentless in restoration, relentless in tenderness, relentless in hope. He is my only hope of Glory. God looked on the Jewish Christians and essentially said, “Oh Beloved, lift up your drooping head! It’s been a long road, hard and dry. They wronged you, you’re hurt. You sinned and hurt yourself, and just because it’s your fault doesn't mean it doesn't hurt. I know, I haven't missed a thing, not a moment. I was beside you every breath.” There is a validation in his eyes, that fills the longing to be loved. The longing to know that someone knows, someone understands. The longing for someone to see me for what I could be, not what I am because I know that somewhere I have a capacity to be better, but then again, it doesn't matter because I would only be better to be loved, and I am already loved. He is relentless in love. It’s like when Christ finally fulfilled the old Law and brought in the new covenant, the dam of God’s love just straight busted. No sin can keep him from loving us now! Every look into his eyes is a fluttering breath of hope that makes my heart double pound. He see’s me through who He is, not through who I am. “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive…” Whatever! Sarah laughed in God’s face when he told her she’d conceive, told him it wasn't possible, that her circumstances were too much—she was way too old, and for all of her oldness she’d been barren her whole life. And if that wasn't provoking- she gave her servant Haggai to Abraham to bear a son in her place. She was not having a child. Hebrews 11:11 says “By faith Sarah…” BUT GOD focuses on her success, on her steps, on the exact moment she said yes and took faith. Into her empty hurt from years of unfulfilled promise (lack of faith) he relentlessly pours love, and nudges her forward with hope, a glimmer in his eye. Long embedded mindset: Circumstances are reflective of God’s faithfulness and favor=successfully blown apart. Becoming Heaven minded is essentially thinking the way God thinks. When He thinks of me, he knows me, and he sees me for what I could be, and for what I am because He’s God and he loves that just as much, but he sees me for what I could be. He does not condemn me, but empowers. I see me with my small eyes, and in my earnest longing to be like him, in my striving for holiness, all I see are my blemishes sticking out like a sore thumb. I see the blaring short comings, the stumblings, and the places I biffed it completely, and I turn away in disgust and contempt for myself. He touches my shoulder and lifts up my chin so that my eyes meet his. Double pound. “BUT GOD” He whispers. And I see Jesus on the cross, I see the curtain in the temple being torn, I see the pressure of ‘SIN DESERVES DEATH’ crumbling, and I watch as the dam busts and hope pulses through my veins again. Those waterfalls come at me and I let the promise wash over me. The promise of mercy, of grace, of hope. Because… BUT GOD |