Un-balanced? (Grace and Truth)

As an Addendum to A Voice that Must be Heard - a friend of mine at church, who is very wise and balanced, said, during conversation on Sunday, that she has heard the speaker I referred to, Andrew Wommack and that he is very good. And when I mentioned that I could see potential imbalance and misleading by his teaching about claiming promises of healing etc, she pointed out that his ministry arose in response to people claiming how God had given them such & such illness.

As we discussed this we realised how it's so easy to become imbalanced in what you are believing; and that even the truth can be twisted to almost become a lie. (If a truth is used to counter imbalance, that truth can itself become over-emphasised, also causing imbalance).

For example; Law doesn't 'balance' grace... In Christ we really are free ... but, since the 1st century AD there have been movements trying to distort this teaching by; for example saying the 'body' is bad and spirit is good and therefore whatever you do 'in the body' doesn't matter... (a background against which the first letter from John - which emphasises living out our faith in obedience - was written). Verses which could be taken out of context to make people feel pressured about how they live out their Christian faith.

In John ch 1 grace & truth is mentioned twice (v 14 & 17) - when Jesus came he brought - brings - Grace and Truth.

We know that Satan is like a 'devouring lion' and he is called the 'father of lies'. What's the biggest truth that he is most concerned about defying? The grace that is ours. That those who trust in Jesus are saved/set apart/holy/created for good works/beloved of God/righteous by faith/intended to have a peace that 'passes all understanding'....

Are you believing a lie? You might not even realise, it's been so long standing it's become a stronghold that's allowed the enemy to take away your peace.A lie that you may lose God's approval... that things might/deserve to/always go wrong ...you don't deserve to be happy..or ...you deserved to be abandoned ...or to have things go wrong in your life.

(Or- the opposite maybe; a lie that you're a 'good Christian' because, for example, you've always served in the church, or done 'such & such'...are 'not really a bad person'. Forgetting that we can only be right with God because of our faith in Jeus)

A lie that you're missing some 'mark' because you sin ... because you get it wrong... because you know that you didn't honour God in your reaction at work... you don't pray enough ....because you know (deep down maybe) that you treated that person badly ... because of your past burdens & hurt loaded on you (by Satan) or inflicted on you (by people) that have damaged the way you see yourself...

BUT BECAUSE of all those things, Jesus died and was punished and rose again to have victory over Satan and as we talk to him every day and affirm His love and forgiveness for us we can live in freedom, in grace and truth and love.

I am beginning to realise that this is the destruction that Satan insidiously gets away with the most; one way or the other, many Christians are prevented from living that joyful, victorious walk, because they are believing a lie... WATCH OUT FOR THE LIES that try and deceive you and deprive you of the daily benefits & blessings that come from the grace that is yours in Christ.

A year old

Well, it's autumm, my favourite season; September, my favourite month. And hasn't it been lovely lately! (No more comments about the weather, I promise; one of my least favourite of mundane topics of conversation...can you guess who mentions it at work every day, hmmm? hmmm!)

Anyway, so am determined to put off the inevitable changing over of wardrobe until October at least; not for me the precipitate wearing of jeans and boots, oh no! (Maybe if I'd had a holiday this year I wouldn't be so determined to eek out the non-existent summer. Sigh.)

Anyway, point is, not sure if I'm not running out of blogging steam! (OH NO, i hear you cry!) Well that last one took ages of intermittent faffing with it when I got the chance, I just got bored with it in the end.

Also it's been a year - I been blogging for a year. (And what a year!) Maybe a good cut off time I'm thinking. (But, I'm not, absolutely not, affected by the comment of my friend who said ... "oh yeh, I read the one when you were going on about work". Going on about..? I do not 'Go on ...about'! tuh; outrageous! (Thanks for reading though Jen!)

Anyway, fear not... as always; I'll keep you posted.

Angry

Bear with each other & forgive whatever grievances you may have against each other; forgive as the Lord forgave you ... Col 3 v 13 ...

What I like about this verse is the way it encompasses the two sides of irritation & anger of my experience; sometimes it is just a matter of 'bearing' but other times it is a matter of 'forgiving' or getting with God about stuff that may be behind the over-reaction

Bearing with each other ...
Well, been really seeing fruit of healing for a while now, it's just ongoing & it's been wonderful lately (on the whole). The more God releases, the more I see that I had the need. But, flip, those character flaws still crop up! I have still been guilty of irritation towards my kind-hearted colleague opposite me. Bearing with people is probably always going to be part of my character-forming walk with God.

But, a week or so ago, when I was really struggling with her; feeling irritated & edgy with the poor lady, I realised there was something behind this reaction; I actually felt upset. (And it was manifesting itself in anger)

When we react irritably or angrily there may not be a reason behind it other than more character moulding to come... but sometimes (maybe often) there is.

Forgiving each other...
In my case, it wasn't actually a forgiveness issue, it was an inner healing one. But a lot of my inner healing has been about forgiveness at different times. I notice that the bible recognises anger as common and yet puts the onus on us to forgive; thereby avoiding any culture of blame.

Over time I have discovered that:
... my need to forgive someone might not be dependent on whether the other person is actually to blame for something. If there is a perceived hurt then you need to forgive them anyway. If your head is telling you they weren't really to blame but you feel angry/resentful/irritated... forgive them anyway. If you realise they're actually triggering an old hurt... forgive them anyway. If you feel hurt by them, then forgive them anyway!

...the power in forgiving someone - taking that step of obedience even if it's not felt by you yet. And it so often seems to lead to spontaneous praise for God. I personally have found it useful, especially with deeper issues, to re-claim biblical promises from God's word afterwards.

... when Jesus says we have to forgive 77 x 7 times he wasn't just exaggerating to make a point. It really needs to be as many times as it takes. (He was actually undoing the 'curse of Lamech' apparently!).


Who we are in Christ
The biblical key of course is being right with God. It's behind everything, the way we react to people and the way we react to circumstances. For me; not just being freed from resentments but also from lies I was believing about myself fundamentally, has completely changed the way I relate to people and react to circumstances and has gradually seen me rid of so much fear & anxiety that used to be a natural part of so many reactions.

Col 3 8 - 10 But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

At church a week ago, I was (wait for it ... wait for it...) feeling irritated (!) with someone distracting me from worship. But then; instead of descending into head discussions to the tune of 'sorry Lord I'm so rubbish, thank you for forgiving me...yada yada' I just prayed - (as per R Rufus testimony) 'thank you Lord that's the old me, but I am a new creation in you, the old has gone...(& the new has come'. Oh my word; the effect was so much more powerful than when I used to descend into the above head madness. I felt free from all annoyance and full of joy.

Feeling a bit irritated, edgy; something going wrong or someone getting on your last nerve? Ask God what's behind it. And if there's someone that's hurt you or an old hurt showing itself again; just take the step of faith to forgive them & ask God to help you feel it. Or turn to him to move on; maybe to move away from past issues that have been dealt with ... or maybe just to continue to move on into being that daily transformed & renewed child of God.

As a wise new Christian said to me once when I was relaying some of how God has dealt with stuff in me; 'surely if it gets us closer to God, it has to be good'.

The Language(s) of Love

So my mother insisted that this plant she bought for me the other day would survive even my (notoriously bad) ministrations; but, true to form - 3 days later I looked up suddenly to see it completely collapsed in a weeping heep as all the flowers were lying their heads on my windowsill. I duly watered it, as instructed, and it was actually amazing to actually watch the way the flower heads started to raise up. Literally; I actually watched as within seconds they began to lift up & revive.

And it made me think how if I feel 'droopy' & downcast like that one of the best things to 'revive' me is Words from people, of encouragement or friendship or love. And, conversely, the opposite - unkind words or put-downs can affect me the other way.

I'm only just realising how core 'Love' is to the Gospel message; so clear in the bible teaching that I've long been familiar with (1 Corinthians 13...John 13 v 34 & continued through his gospel & letters) but I know I'm not the only one who comes to new understanding of key teachings at some point, at different times. And I really think that the meaning of the word has become totally obscured by the world.
True love, shown in action, like putting other people first and being determined to forgive people that have hurt us...Jesus' injunction was so clear, when he knelt to wash the feet of his disciples; this was the example we are to follow (obviously, not just literally doing this all the time!)

Now the Love Languages book/idea is not a new one; I discovered it in 2004 when I travelled; several friends all brought it up. I thought it was fascinating - a real revelation for me, to realise how certain people who I didn't naturally 'gel' with maybe show & receive their love in different ways from me.

And- the Christian version of this book (Love Languages of God) takes it to a whole new level; by explaining how we need to try & 'take on' the love languages of our family/friends - understand theirs and reach them that way

So - the Love languages (of which, apparently, more than 1 can apply to each of us) are:

Words of Affirmation

Physical Affection (hugs etc.)

Gifts

Acts of Service

Quality Time

Mine are Words of Affirmation & Gifts, I think - and also Acts of Service. (Definitely NOT quality time!) My mother (for example...) is definitely quality time - and acts of service. If I buy her a gift, she'll say 'Oh, that's nice love' (!) but if I spend time with her - or cook her dinner - she feels totally loved/spoiled.


I think this can be a revelation - fundamental to know in your relationships with people who aren't like you; including spouses and close family members. It can so help us to understand others... when someone I thought a lot of just came out with a of couple of negative qualities they thought about me, I realised after a bit that it was just their way, and they didn't mean to hurt. Realising that never being affirmed by them with words did not make this worse (which is what I initially felt) but actually showed they were just not a 'words of affirmation' person really helped.

It's not an excuse; the other person's need may not be your 'love language'/ your natural inclination. It's not an excuse, for example, for someone who is generous with gifts, to not watch their tongue & criticise a family member who actually builds them up with words and clearly shows & receives love that way.
It's not an excuse for me not to visit my housebound friend & give her some quality time now that that is the only way I can serve her.

What a challenge to know those in our life enough (take the time) to gear towards them and what makes them feel good. What a good interpretation of Christian teaching to love others & put them first. And what a great way to help us understand and forgive those who, by negligence or lack of discernment have not made us feel loved or valued as we needed.

Classics Critiqued

Well I needed to cheer myself up after the last couple of days here; due to circumstances & shuffles I've been opposite a colleague who I'm very fond of generally but who has got me down this last couple of days - I'm hoping this will remedy itself soon.

So - here are some of the critiques of classic films that Empire magazine did in their article that tickled my fancy.. the idea is if you've not seen these films you'll read these and be able to pretend you did. Sorry if you don't like films and/or critics ... but I love both. I've seen all these films, which is why I appreciate these reviews; (I like the films but appreciate the irony inherent in the following...!)

Blade Runner
Genre: Damp Noir
LA 2019. It is raining. A cop comes out of retirement to hunt down four bio-robots but feels a bit weird about the whole thing since he's a bio-robot himself. We know this because some origami, a unicorn & Ridley Scott says so. Still raining.


Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Genre: Sci-fi musical
After a vision through the medium of mashed potato, a man leaves his family to attend a prog-rock concert by visiting aliens. He joins the band and goes on an intergalactic world tour. Disappears. A bit like Richard Dreyfuss' career.


Gone with the Wind
Genre: Long
Scarlett fancies Ashley. Rhett fancies Scarlett. Scarlett marries Charles. Ashley marries Melanie. Scarlett fancies Ashley. Rhett fancies Scarlett. Charles dies. INTERMISSION Scarlett marries Frank. Frank dies. Scarlett marries Rhett. Melanie dies. Ashley gets upset. Scarlett gets upset. Rhett sods off. THE END


Forest Gump
Genre: Stupid
A moron hangs around a bus stop bothering people with his memoirs. Flashbacks include conquering 'Nam, mastering ping-pong, meeting Elvis & inventing the Smiley. He remains oblivious to his achievements throughout. Could be subversive satire on Babyboomer generation. Or just plain annoying. Revealed to have son at the end. Son last seen in the White House.


King King
Genre: Monster travelogue
Giant monkey visits New York. Picks up girl. Has problem catching flight home.