Archive for Spiritual Growth
God’s Presence
Posted by: | CommentsI believe two of the most important words in the Bible are “I Am.” This was God’s own description of Himself as He spoke to Moses from the burning bush. In these two words, God explains the way we are to experience Him and consequently, how we are to live. If we uniquely think of God as the God of the past, or uniquely think of God as the God of the future we will miss Him. While it is certainly true that God was present in the past and God will be present in the future, His personal presence is immediate and it is now. It is only in the present moment that we can deal with God’s purpose for our lives, because it is only in the present that we will hear Him.
Self Love and Self Concern
Posted by: | CommentsSelf love and self concern drive the thoughts that are not pleasing to God. This is a hard truth for us to accept because it seems right to us to be concerned about our welfare and our security. It seems right to judge others when they have transgressed against us. It seems right to be proud of the work we think we have done for the Lord and it seems right to tell others of our accomplishments. It seems right to take offense with others who cross some behavioral line that is offensive to us. All these things seem right to us but they are all things God commands us to avoid. These are the things of our self interest, not the spiritual interests of God.
Thought and the Sins of Self
Posted by: | CommentsThe seven deadly sins of self are fueled by self seeking thoughts. If we are serious about allowing God to crucify these self sins our thought life is what must be nailed to the cross of Christ. If we are not approaching our spiritual growth from the perspective of our thought life we are kidding ourselves and we are not growing as God wants us to grow. Consider that Christ commanded us to love God with all our heart, our soul and our mind! The mind is a thought machine and we can’t love God with our mind if we are thinking thoughts that are not pleasing to Him. We are to be thinking thoughts that are in God’s interest, not ours. This truth was powerfully revealed to the Apostle Peter when the Lord rebuked him saying:
But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” Mat 16:23
The context for this rebuke to Peter is very revealing. Jesus had been explaining to his disciples that He would go to Jerusalem and stand trial and be executed. Then, He would be raised from the dead. Jesus was explaining the reason for His life and ministry and the truth of who He was to the world. Peter did not like hearing this and said it should never happen. Peter’s rejection of this revelation prompted the Lord’s rebuke of Peter. Peter’s mind was on what he wanted – not what God wanted. Peter’s thinking on the matter seemed right to him, but his thoughts were in direct opposition to the will of God. This is an example of our own problem. We think thoughts that seem right to us, but they are not in the interest of God. Just as Jesus exposed the sin in Peter’s thoughts, the Holy Spirit must expose our sinful thinking so that we may see our thoughts as God sees them.
A Higher Authority
Posted by: | CommentsHow does a person go about taking a thought captive and making it obedient to Christ? This was the question I asked myself when I finally understood that God really expected me to do it. I took the matter to the Lord in prayer and asked Him to show me how to do such a thing. I needed specific instructions, not spiritual platitudes. As this matter became the key issue in my spiritual growth, God revealed a practical, simple way to do it.
The concept of taking thoughts captive must be understood in the context of spiritual warfare, because that is what it is. The enemy wants us to remain carnal and think in ways that will not glorify (reflect the presence of God in our lives) God. The enemy wants me to shake my fist at the rude drivers of the world and curse them. God wants me to love the rude drivers of the world and forgive them. This is the nature of the spiritual war we fight and our thoughts represent the individual battles we fight in that war. If we can’t win the battles of thought God will not be glorified in our lives.
As I prayed and meditated about taking my thoughts captive, God showed me that I must think of myself as a mere soldier in the spiritual war being waged. I am not a General. I am a Private on the front lines, sitting in my spiritual foxhole waiting for instructions about what to do next. One of the things a soldier must do is take prisoners from time to time. It is not the responsibility of the soldier to determine the ultimate fate of the prisoner. The responsibility of the soldier is to apprehend the prisoner and turn that prisoner over to higher authority. The soldier merely delivers the prisoner to a designated place of confinement. A higher authority manages the place of confinement and determines what will happen to the prisoner – what happens to the prisoner is not a concern of the soldier. After transferring the prisoner to higher authority, the soldier is no longer responsible for the prisoner and is freed to return to the front lines to await the next battle. I have learned the practical method of taking a thought captive is exactly the same!
As a soldier engaged in spiritual warfare I take up my post daily. I go to my spiritual foxhole on the frontlines of the war shielded by faith and armed with the truth of God. As a soldier in this war I come to understand that the war for me concerns the things I think. My thought life represents the individual battles I must fight. The specific thoughts I have that are not pleasing to God are soldiers of the enemy. My responsibility is to take them captive when they appear and deliver them to a higher authority. I am not responsible for what happens to those thoughts once I turn them over to higher authority. All I have to do is return to the front lines and wait for the next prisoner taking opportunity.
As I began to seriously take on my thought life, this model of spiritual warfare was the template I used to take my thoughts captive. Whenever I started thinking a thought I knew was not pleasing to God, I imagined that thought to be an enemy soldier. In my mind I put the thought in an enemy uniform and I apprehended the prisoner in the name of Christ. I literally said in my mind, “Thought of lust, anger, resentment, jealousy, ego, pride or self righteousness, I apprehend you in the name of Jesus Christ.” After apprehending the thought in this way, I mentally marched the prisoner at gun point to the protective custody of Jesus. Jesus is the higher authority to whom I conveyed the prisoner. I formed a mental image of a thought prison and I imagined the Lord standing at the door. I delivered the prisoner by saying, “Lord Jesus, I relinquish this thought of lust, anger, resentment, etc. to you, to do with as you please. Amen.” After surrendering the prisoner, I returned to the front lines to await the next battle.
As I began to follow this model and started taking my thoughts captive I was amazed at what happened. Sometimes, the Lord saw fit to release the prisoner I had just surrendered to Him and the prisoner would be waiting for me when I returned to the front lines. I did not let this bother me. I merely repeated the prisoner taking process. I did not concern myself with why the Lord did not keep the prisoner. I just accepted that it was my responsibility to recapture it and take it back to the Lord. Sometimes, I would have to take the same thought captive many times before it would remain in the Lord’s custody, but eventually the prisoner would be locked up and I would not see it again. This never failed!
When I first started taking thoughts captive it seemed like a full time job. There was an endless supply of prisoners to be apprehended and as fast as I would take one prisoner, more would appear. As I persevered in taking my thoughts captive my thought life began to change dramatically. God was faithful to remove them from my mind and replace them with His thoughts. Slowly and over time, I began to really experience a thought life that was more pleasing to God. My motives changed and I changed. Do I still have thoughts that are not pleasing to God? Certainly. What do I do about them? I take them captive and turn them over to Christ. Nothing has changed about the prisoner taking process. The thoughts that must be taken prisoner are just more subtle and they are more difficult to identify and judge.
Sinful Thinking Can Seem Delicious
Posted by: | CommentsThe greatest roadblock to taking our thought life captive and making it obedient to God is that sinful thoughts are frequently quite delicious and we find pleasure in thinking them. It is hard to judge and condemn something we enjoy. When I am driving my car and someone cuts me off and races away cursing my driving skills, my thoughts turn to anger. The savory fantasy of my thinking involves running the maniac down and giving him/her a piece of my mind. The theoretical conversation that runs through my head about that despicable driver is not based in love. My thinking is focused on revenge. The thoughts I have are wonderfully satisfying as I think of all the ways to bring the inconsiderate driver to their knees in shame, humiliation and defeat. God desires that I take those thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. God wants me to forgive the offensive driver and see him/her as Jesus sees them. My carnal thoughts of revenge have to be taken prisoner and replaced with the thoughts of Jesus. This is the path of learning to love as God would have me love.
The Things We Think
Posted by: | CommentsIf we are to take thoughts captive that are not pleasing to God we have to be capable of identifying and judging them. This judgment is enabled and made possible by conviction of the Holy Spirit coupled with the truth of scripture. Consider this:
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
In my carnality I resist the judgment of my thought life as sin. In my flesh I justify my thoughts as reasonable. After all, when another person wrongs me, is it not normal to be angry with them and think of all the things I might do to get even with them? What could be wrong with imaginary conversations in my mind about how I will confront my adversaries and gain victory over them? My carnal nature tells me this is acceptable and it revels in the fantasy of experiencing victory over those who have wronged me. Such fantasy is captivating and emotionally satisfying. I resist judging these kinds of thoughts as being unpleasing to God. I want to hang on to these wonderful visions of revenge and triumph. My carnality defends using the standards of the flesh. The following scripture seems to acknowledge that:
There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Proverbs 16:25
The way that seems right to a man is his carnality. A simple way to understand carnality is to see that it involves getting what we want when we want it. I have previously discussed carnality in some detail at this blog, but we must understand that the thoughts we think which are not pleasing to God are the thoughts that spring from our carnality. The desire to get or do what we want in our flesh triggers all the thinking that leads us into behavior that is not pleasing to God. These are the thoughts to be taken captive and brought into obedience to Christ.
Think Like Jesus?
Posted by: | CommentsGod’s purpose for all Christians is that we be conformed to the image of Christ. We are to do as Jesus does. We are to think as Jesus thinks. The Apostle Paul called this process, putting on the mind of Christ. Clearly, this places our thought life front and center in the process of being conformed to the image of Jesus. Simply stated, if I don’t think like Jesus, how can I can love like Jesus?
If we want to be pleasing to God we have to understand that rebellion and sin always find their power in the things we think. In the Genesis account of the fall of man this principle is clearly revealed. God told Adam and Eve they would die if they ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge. The serpent presented a question that kicked off a thought process for Eve (and Adam) that led them to question the truth of what God had said. Their thoughts became the supernatural incubator of their sin and rebellion against God. Eve thought the fruit was pleasing to the eye and she thought it was also good for food. She thought the fruit was good for gaining knowledge. So, because the fruit looked good and would taste good and might make them smarter she thought it would be a good thing to eat it. So, Adam and Eve ate the fruit and died spiritually, just as God had warned them. The sins of self spring to life in the same way.
All of us have issues in our life that we know are not pleasing to God and every one of them can be categorized within one or more of the seven deadly sins of self. Every sin of self is hatched in our hearts but it is nurtured and given power by the thoughts we think. The sin itself originates in our hearts but it is our thinking that justifies it and leads us into sinful behavior! Adam and Eve wanted to be like God. That was the sin in their heart. Eve’s thinking justified the behavior she believed would make her like God (eating the fruit). If Adam and Eve had been able to take their thoughts captive and make them obedient to God, they would have refused the fruit. They would not have sinned and they would not have died spiritually.
Take Every Thought Captive
Posted by: | CommentsFor though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete. (2Co 10:3-6) NASB
Are you willing to allow God to deal with you at the level of thought and motive? To allow God to deal with us at such a deep level begins with learning what it means to take our thoughts captive and bring them in obedience to Christ.
The truth is this: I think things I hate to admit I think. How about you? Years ago when I struggled with addiction, anger and depression, very little of my thought life was pleasing to God. My thoughts were nested in anger, resentment and getting what I wanted when I wanted it. My thoughts came in an endless stream and were constantly goading and leading me into behavior that produced spiritual beatings that tortured my soul and my spirit.
I once heard someone say they considered their mind to be like a bad neighborhood and they avoided going there alone! I’ve found a lot of truth in that remark. However, as I have learned to better submit to God’s purpose, the greatest single example of His work in me is the transformation of my thought life. I still think thoughts that I need to surrender to God but they do not begin to approach the character and nature of my thoughts as they existed long ago. The change in my thought life is factual proof to me that God’s grace has changed my heart to the extent that I am no longer the man I used to be.
Step 5 of Crucifixion: The Spear in the Side
Posted by: | CommentsThe final step in the crucifixion of Christ was piercing His side with a spear. This use of a spear was a bit unusual in Roman crucifixion. Typically, when the executioners grew tired of waiting on the deaths of those being crucified they would break the legs of the victim. This removed any ability to raise the body to get relief and suffocation came quickly. In Jesus’ case His time on the cross was shorter that what would normally have been expected. The severe beating He received no doubt contributed to the shortened time on the cross. The Roman soldier did not pierce Christ with the spear to kill Him. He pierced Him to see if Jesus was actually dead.
In the process of self crucifixion we are all going to experience some spiritual spears to see if we are really dead to the issues of self God wants eliminate. The spear will present itself as temptation and in the challenges of daily living. Satan will never stop His attempts to prevent God being glorified in our lives and His primary weapon is to stimulate our self-will in opposition to God. If we are truly dead to the self sin in question, temptation and trial will be overcome by faith and obedience to God’s truth. If we are not dead to the self sin we will disobey and succumb to the temptation. We will then reap and experience the consequences of our disobedience. In other words, the beating will continue until self-will is really dead!
The crucifixion of self is a long process that equates to living our life on a cross. The crucifixion of self begins by dealing with the grosser sins of behavior. The process continues far beyond behavior and ultimately attacks our sin at the level of thought and motive. It is when the issues that lie in our hearts are challenged that the crucifixion of self becomes fully engaged. God would have it that every instance of sin and self-will be taken to the cross and crucified. As each issue of self is defeated and crucified, the life of Jesus becomes the visible reflection that can be seen in and through us.
Step 4 of Crucifixion: The Fixing of Feet to the Cross
Posted by: | CommentsDuring crucifixion, as gravity pulled the body down, the natural response of the victim would be to push the body up and produce respiratory relief. To prevent that, the feet were also nailed to the cross and the legs of the victim were broken at some point. Pushing up to relieve the respiratory distress became very painful and soon impossible as the pain and exhaustion took over. The fixing of the feet was another mechanical technique in crucifixion that produced a forced obedience to the process and guaranteed the end result: Death.
The crucifixion of self becomes a reality as three things happen:
- We acknowledge the truth of God
- We accept the truth of God by faith and keep our hands out of His business.
- We affirm our faith in God’s truth by becoming obedient to it. It is the living practice of what Jesus said in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His passion: “Not my will but thine be done”.
It is by obedience that the power of faith in God’s truth is experienced. It is obedience that is sorely deficient in the lives of Christians today. As Christ’s feet were fixed to the cross, so must our own feet as we walk in obedience to God’s truth. The obedience requirement of the crucifixion of self requires us to walk through our sin and turn from it by the power of Jesus living in us. In other word, we allow him to walk out and live our lives for us, by faith.
The unwillingness to obey causes spiritual difficulty and produces the disasters and the spiritual beatings of daily living. We are commanded to love but we don’t. We are commanded to forgive but we don’t. We are commanded to be humble and poor in spirit but we remain haughty and proud. Without obedience, faith has no life. The book of James puts it this way: “Faith without works is dead”. The works of faith flow from obedience. Obedience is the final matter in the death of self. Without obedience, the Three Holy Lies continue to live and the life of Christ in us is suppressed.
