This will not be a long post, I just need to as the saying goes "get something off of my chest"...
I have been tweaked recently by well meaning, sincere Christians who want me to help them raise money for someone in their congregation who needs medical treatment for some kind of ailment that doctors can't resolve. The hope is that by raising enough money they can send this poor tormented soul half-way around the globe to receive cutting edge medical treatments that will save them from all of their pain and sorrow.
My issue is not with receiving medical treatment. (I will leave that discussion for another day). My issue is with the notion of putting our hope in something other then the Gospel which Jesus demonstrated.
When's the last time you heard of a church advertising that they were hosting a community wide prayer meeting (and perhaps a corporate fast) for the express purpose of experiencing breakthrough in the area of physical healing? How many times in your life have you been asked to come over and anoint someone with oil, and pray for them that they might get well?
James tells us that this is what we should do, and that the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well. Jesus commanded that we go out and preach the Gospel, which includes healing the sick, driving out demons and raising the dead! God is a healer and He never changes. If the prayer offered in faith makes the sick person well, then are we saying that not one person in our church, or surrounding community of faith has enough faith to make a single sick person well? That is what our actions declare, and James also says that our actions are the demonstration of our true measure of faith. "I will show you my faith by what I do".
So, what are we doing? We are hosting fundraisers instead of prayer meetings! Our actions condemn us!!
We have taken on a false gospel which says that raising money takes just as much faith as praying for healing. This is what I need to get off of my chest. I declare this to both the seen and unseen realms. To those who believe and those who doubt. This is my confession:
Jesus heals! It is an abomination to His Name that we not rely upon Him for our deliverance and healing by anointing the sick with oil and praying for their recovery. Isaiah declared that Jesus would bare the shame of dying on a cross for the express purpose of healing ALL of our diseases. How dare we disregard such a gift and turn aside to trusting in human wisdom and ability. Christ is our only hope and salvation. He is the one who heals all of our diseases.
Jesus, on behalf of my sin and the sins of your people I repent for our lack of faith and trust in Your word.
Healing experienced through prayer is not a theology, it is the reality of Heaven, a reality which Jesus taught us to bring to earth through prayer. "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."
We must believe the entire revelation of Scripture, not just the part about the forgiveness of sins.
Thanks, my chest feels better.
Saturday, 28 August 2010
Friday, 13 August 2010
Love IS...
"Love is not an emotion, it's a choice" - Dan In Real Life
The other day someone quoted this statement to me and it really tweaked my spirit (but not in a good way). I was provoked with what I can only describe as a Holy jealousy for God's good name.
The idea that love is simply an act of the will and can exist without emotion is, I believe, an incomplete and immature understanding of love.
Now I know what some of you are thinking. "That's not what he meant! He meant that love is not birthed nor ruled by our emotions because our emotions can lie to us, deceive us and lead us astray. Love always loves, no matter what one is feeling."
This may be true, but I would suggest that we may be confusing three different things. Three different kingdoms, with three different Kings. The kingdoms of lust, law and love.
The Kingdom of Lust exists where emotions rule and reign. Intellect and the Holy Spirit are overruled by passions and desires of the soul and body to "feel" good. It is typified by the statement "if it feels good do it".
The second Kingdom, the Kingdom of Law, can be found where human will and intellect are perceived as King. This kingdom is not motivated by emotional outcomes and often takes solace in the presence of hardship for the sake of doing the "right thing". Where this king is present you will find deep rooted religion and legalism. It may understand the mission of love, but it has little or no revelation of the heart behind the mission.
Finally, there is the Kingdom of Love. A kingdom in which all things come under the rule and reign of the Holy Spirit, including His Desires, His Will and His Emotions. It is found where Jesus has been crowned King over the lives of normal human beings like you and I, and can be summed up in the statement "I know longer live, but Christ lives in me". It encompasses more then emotions or will, it is a place where love influences all aspects of our existence (body, mind, soul and spirit).
Therefore, we must restrain from defining "love" solely by emotion or willful response. Love is bigger then that. Love is what happens when the human heart, soul, mind and body all encounter the One True God. A God who is Loving, Wise and Affectionate. Through our relating to that God, or relationship, the Holy Spirit then produces love within you and I. For you see, love is a fruit of the Spirit, and can therefore only be produced by the Spirit of God.
But let us back-track a bit and look at what, and who, defines "love"?
1 John says that "God is (the definition of) love", and therefore His whole nature is what gives us our context for understanding His attribute of Love. Therefore, to ascribe that love can exist simply by the power of our own free will would mean that we would have to ascend to the belief that God is without emotion. It is to say that God is stoic, emotionless and of no affection.
However, we know this to be untrue, for the writer of Colossians states that God is motivated by pleasure/emotions. "It was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him..." 1 Colossians 1:19-20 (NASB).
But what about the "Love Chapter", 1 Corinthians 13? Is it not void of emotion and largely descriptive of choices?
When describing the greatest of all things, Paul, under the direction of Holy Spirit, used the Greek word "agape" to define the attribute of love. Agape, which we translate as "love/charity" is rightly understood as "affection", and Websters defines "affection" as being 'a moderate feeling or emotion' .
True love, as understood as "having the attribute of God", must be understood as being fully emotional! To say otherwise is to say that Gods love, and therefore His nature, can be expressed independently of His other attributes by a mere act of the intellect and will. It is to separate the attribute of His love from the expressions of His emotions; like the fact that His city is glad, in His presence is the fullness of joy, His eyes are a flame of fire (passion), His name is Jealous and He authored the vividly passionate Song of Songs!
God is a God who dwells amidst the full range of emotions, and He is motivated by experiencing pleasing emotions. I believe no other verse expresses His pleasure motivated personality like Hebrews 12:2 "....Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross...(NIV)"
God is motivated by affection, and our love, when mature, will also be affectionate. To say that we have love and remain without emotional affection means that we are either immature in our development as children of God, or, we are by human striving counterfeiting the Divine attribute - we are man-ufacturing our own form of love - making it in our own likeness and image.
God is love and all love comes from God and through God in the form of His Son and Spirit. Therefore, any expression that we deem as "love" that is void of affectionate emotion is misrepresenting the nature of God. In fact, any expression of love that does not uphold the attributes of God is a false-love, and the implications of that requirement within our present cultural definitions of "love" are far reaching.
This is not to say that all those who lack emotional affection are functioning apart from God; but it is to say that our love is incomplete. We must be diligent in reminding ourselves of the full nature of God's love, and continue to pursue the manifestation of His perfect love - love that is full of emotion.
Paul writes about this perfection in maturity in Philippians 3:12 saying: "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect (mature), but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." (emphasis added).
And why did Christ take hold of it? For Joy!
For God so loved the world that for the joy set before Him He endured the cross. Many of us know what Christ did on the cross, but we must also identify with why He did it. He did it for love - a love that was motivated by the emotion of joy.
True! Love is not merely an emotion; it is the very fountain of all pleasure by which God's perfect and pleasing will flows into both heaven and earth.
Never before has it been more important for His children to stand up and honor love and the name of the Lord, defending His true nature as the affectionate God of all love, joy and good pleasure.
Let us move beyond choice and enter into the affections of Christ and our glorious inheritance in Him.
Blessings,
Jon
The other day someone quoted this statement to me and it really tweaked my spirit (but not in a good way). I was provoked with what I can only describe as a Holy jealousy for God's good name.
The idea that love is simply an act of the will and can exist without emotion is, I believe, an incomplete and immature understanding of love.
Now I know what some of you are thinking. "That's not what he meant! He meant that love is not birthed nor ruled by our emotions because our emotions can lie to us, deceive us and lead us astray. Love always loves, no matter what one is feeling."
This may be true, but I would suggest that we may be confusing three different things. Three different kingdoms, with three different Kings. The kingdoms of lust, law and love.
The Kingdom of Lust exists where emotions rule and reign. Intellect and the Holy Spirit are overruled by passions and desires of the soul and body to "feel" good. It is typified by the statement "if it feels good do it".
The second Kingdom, the Kingdom of Law, can be found where human will and intellect are perceived as King. This kingdom is not motivated by emotional outcomes and often takes solace in the presence of hardship for the sake of doing the "right thing". Where this king is present you will find deep rooted religion and legalism. It may understand the mission of love, but it has little or no revelation of the heart behind the mission.
Finally, there is the Kingdom of Love. A kingdom in which all things come under the rule and reign of the Holy Spirit, including His Desires, His Will and His Emotions. It is found where Jesus has been crowned King over the lives of normal human beings like you and I, and can be summed up in the statement "I know longer live, but Christ lives in me". It encompasses more then emotions or will, it is a place where love influences all aspects of our existence (body, mind, soul and spirit).
Therefore, we must restrain from defining "love" solely by emotion or willful response. Love is bigger then that. Love is what happens when the human heart, soul, mind and body all encounter the One True God. A God who is Loving, Wise and Affectionate. Through our relating to that God, or relationship, the Holy Spirit then produces love within you and I. For you see, love is a fruit of the Spirit, and can therefore only be produced by the Spirit of God.
But let us back-track a bit and look at what, and who, defines "love"?
1 John says that "God is (the definition of) love", and therefore His whole nature is what gives us our context for understanding His attribute of Love. Therefore, to ascribe that love can exist simply by the power of our own free will would mean that we would have to ascend to the belief that God is without emotion. It is to say that God is stoic, emotionless and of no affection.
However, we know this to be untrue, for the writer of Colossians states that God is motivated by pleasure/emotions. "It was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him..." 1 Colossians 1:19-20 (NASB).
But what about the "Love Chapter", 1 Corinthians 13? Is it not void of emotion and largely descriptive of choices?
When describing the greatest of all things, Paul, under the direction of Holy Spirit, used the Greek word "agape" to define the attribute of love. Agape, which we translate as "love/charity" is rightly understood as "affection", and Websters defines "affection" as being 'a moderate feeling or emotion' .
True love, as understood as "having the attribute of God", must be understood as being fully emotional! To say otherwise is to say that Gods love, and therefore His nature, can be expressed independently of His other attributes by a mere act of the intellect and will. It is to separate the attribute of His love from the expressions of His emotions; like the fact that His city is glad, in His presence is the fullness of joy, His eyes are a flame of fire (passion), His name is Jealous and He authored the vividly passionate Song of Songs!
God is a God who dwells amidst the full range of emotions, and He is motivated by experiencing pleasing emotions. I believe no other verse expresses His pleasure motivated personality like Hebrews 12:2 "....Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross...(NIV)"
God is motivated by affection, and our love, when mature, will also be affectionate. To say that we have love and remain without emotional affection means that we are either immature in our development as children of God, or, we are by human striving counterfeiting the Divine attribute - we are man-ufacturing our own form of love - making it in our own likeness and image.
God is love and all love comes from God and through God in the form of His Son and Spirit. Therefore, any expression that we deem as "love" that is void of affectionate emotion is misrepresenting the nature of God. In fact, any expression of love that does not uphold the attributes of God is a false-love, and the implications of that requirement within our present cultural definitions of "love" are far reaching.
This is not to say that all those who lack emotional affection are functioning apart from God; but it is to say that our love is incomplete. We must be diligent in reminding ourselves of the full nature of God's love, and continue to pursue the manifestation of His perfect love - love that is full of emotion.
Paul writes about this perfection in maturity in Philippians 3:12 saying: "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect (mature), but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." (emphasis added).
And why did Christ take hold of it? For Joy!
For God so loved the world that for the joy set before Him He endured the cross. Many of us know what Christ did on the cross, but we must also identify with why He did it. He did it for love - a love that was motivated by the emotion of joy.
True! Love is not merely an emotion; it is the very fountain of all pleasure by which God's perfect and pleasing will flows into both heaven and earth.
Never before has it been more important for His children to stand up and honor love and the name of the Lord, defending His true nature as the affectionate God of all love, joy and good pleasure.
Let us move beyond choice and enter into the affections of Christ and our glorious inheritance in Him.
Blessings,
Jon
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