Everyone is looking for happiness in our world, but few find it. Those who set big goals and achieve them often find that success doesn't bring the happiness it promised. True joy is not found in worldly success but in worshiping God.
I. How to Be Happy
A. Understand the Pull of the World on Your Life
1. The progression of the world
2. The pull of the world
3. The permanence of the world
B. Undertake an Aggressive Program in the Word
OVERVIEW
I read a book recently theorizing the two greater revolutions in this century were the communist revolution, now dead, and the Freudian revolution, now stronger then ever. Every year more than 4 billion dollars go into counseling in this country, as Americans seek to solve the riddle of their unhappiness.
Psychology is no longer the province of some arcane theorizing by Europeans intellectuals or a luxury available only to those who have enough money to buy professional consolation for their troubled egos. Nowadays everybody is either in recovery or in denial. We're all rehabilitating our psyches, getting in touch with our inner child, and joining support groups to talk about depressions, anxieties, compulsions, neuroses, and search for self-esteem.
The fact is, what we're trying to do in this country is to find happiness. The things we thought would make us happy haven't worked, so people are heading by the thousands to counselors to counselors. The search for happiness has caused a boom in the counseling industry.
How to Be Happy
Not long ago, ABC television ran a special called "The Mystery of Happiness." They went to those we would normally expect to be happy to find out if achieving their dream had changed their lives. For example, they asked a woman who had won $26 million in a lottery if she was happy. "Not really," was her response. They asked a European royalty and Pulitzer Prize winners if they were happy, but they weren't. They even talked with sports stars, but most of them could only talk about their dissatisfaction with their contracts. One guy, the quarterback of a Super Bowl winning team, said that after winning the big game, all he could think of was, "Is this all there is?"
I was amazed that non-Christians put this together, since the entire program pointed out the unhappiness of man. About all they could do was reveal how babies get happy when they get what they want and become unhappy when we take things away. But anybody can find out what God says will make mankind happy--just read Matthew chapter five. Jesus says to us that we won't find happiness in the things of the world. We can devote our lives to pleasure, accomplishment, fame, money, or anything else that the world values and promotes, but they won't make us happy. Instead, Christ offers a series of startling messages on how to be happy, stating things in complete opposition to what the world say will make us happy.
Happy are the humble. The world tells us not to be humble. We need to be self-assertive, make sure everybody knows how good we are, and tell our story. The world suggests we even brag a little, so that we'll get noticed. But Jesus says that it will be the humble who inherit the kingdom of heaven. God will resist the proud and exalt the humble. He will draw near to those who have a recognition that they are incomplete apart from God.
Happy are the hurting. The world says to avoid pain at all costs. Whatever we have to do to get rid of mourning, we should do it. Cover it up, ignore it, mask it, or pretend it's not there, because we want to stay away from pain. But Jesus says that the most profound experiences we ever have will come from pain. The greatest truths will be learned through suffering. Some of our most joyous moments will be when everything on the outside is dictating anguish in our lives. Happy are those who hurt, for they shall be comforted.
Happy are the harnessed. The world says that we can have it all. If we've got power, we ought to use it. Take every resource to the limit and grab for all the gusto we can. But Jesus says that real happiness is when your power is controlled by the Spirit of God. Joy comes in knowing we have power, but it is under control. We don't have to demonstrate power continually, regardless of the world's expectations.
Happy are the hungry. The world says that we don't want to be hungry; we want to be satisfied. We don't want to have anything lacking in our lives, since that's a sign of not being successful, so we need to get everything we can. We should gorge ourselves on things. We should drive ourselves to be successful in today's world. But Jesus says that true joy can never be found in material things. Happiness comes from having an inner desire to know God and to want to partake of His nature. Those people who fill themselves up on the Lord, rather than the world, will find real happiness.
Happy are the helpers. The world says that happiness is being served by others. The world is a triangle, and when we get to the top everyone below us will serve us. So we should do everything in our power to get above others. But Jesus says that He came into this world not to be served but to serve. He came to give His life away. Happiness is found in serving others, not in being served. If you want to be great in God's kingdom, learn to be the servant of all. Happy are those who are merciful to others, for they shall be ministered to.
Happy are the holy. The world says that joy is found in unrestrained freedom. Sex, drugs, and any pleasurable experience are lifted up as the ultimate goal and glorified as hallmarks of "freedom." Perversions are marched down Main Street in the name of free speech. This is supposed to give us a sense that we control our own destiny, that we can make our existence happy through the indulgence of sinful delights. But Jesus says that holy people are the ones who are truly happy. I've been a pastor for more than thirty years, and I've yet to meet a happy adulterer. We don't find joy through unrestrained passion. Happiness comes from having a clean heart and knowing that we are walking close to the Almighty.
Happy are the healers. The world says that we are in competition with our fellow workers and should build competitions, use politics, beat people, knock each other out and climb over the carnage to get to the top. But Jesus says that the happy people are the peacemakers, those who can heal situations rather than exacerbate them. Find people who are hurting and heal them. If you've got a problem with a colleague, mend it. Rather than dividing people, unite them. Happiness is found not in creating war but in establishing peace.
Happy are the harassed. The world wants us to conform to its image. It wants us to live by its standards. It is at war with God, and expects us to be, too. If we decide to stand with God, they'll attack us. They'll say bad things about us, harass us, and try to ruin our reputations. But Jesus says we ought to be happy when persecution comes, for it is a sign that we belong to God. We can be happy in the face of harassment, for we know that our lives must be making an impact or the devil wouldn't bother with us.
As I look over Christ's design for happiness, I'm struck by the fact that it isn't the list I would have created. This wouldn't be the formula for happiness that I would have suggested. But these are exactly the things that will bring happiness. The world is in direct opposition to God, so God's formula for success is directly opposite to the world's. We can have the blessing and benediction of God if we'll follow these principles.
Understand the Pull of the World on Your Life
The Christian life isn't easy. Just knowing the Beatitudes will not make us happy. We live in this world, but we aren't of the world. So while we're living in this culture, we have to learn how to live God's way, and that will create tension with our world. Psalm 1 helps describe how we can do this: "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners nor sits in the seat of the scornful" (v.1). There are three things to notice in that verse.
The progression of the world. There are people in this world who are ungodly; that is, they live life without God. They aren't going in any direction; they simply don't have God in their lives. The next step away from God is toward sin, and the psalmist says that there are people in the world who are sinners, overtly acting in opposition to God's truth. The third sort of people are the scornful, those who are rebellious against God and blasphemous in their attitude toward Him. As a person is pulled into the world, he is pulled away from God and toward sin and rebellion.
The pull of the world. Notice that the writer uses three words to describe the world's pull on us. First he talks about those who listen to the counsel of the ungodly, getting information from those who have no knowledge of God. Second, he speaks of the path of sinners, which is when we start following a path away from God. Third, he tells of the seat of sinners--those who have grown completely comfortable in their lives apart from God. If a man will look back over his life, he'll find that the things with which he used to be uncomfortable have gradually become comfortable to him. That's the pull of the world.
The permanence of the world. The author of the psalm says we first walk, or associate, with those separated from God. Then we stand with sinners, identifying ourselves with them. Finally we sit with the scoffers, making their lifestyle our own. This is the pattern of our world, and it's sucking Christians into it every day. Jesus stepped into this system and said, "I don't want My people to live like that in the world. Here is God's alternative." Then He explained how we can find happiness. By living out the Beatitudes, we can experience the life-changing power of God in the midst of an evil culture.
Undertake an Aggressive Program in the Word
The only way to survive in a world which tries to slowly poison our minds is to renew our minds each day. The psalmist says in Psalm 1 that the blessed man is the one who delights in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. When I open my Bible for devotions, I know that I'm looking at the very Word of God. It's different from everything else around me. What I'm reading is in a whole different universe. I'm getting a transfusion of heavenly culture into my system. I know that if I try to make it in this world, I'll get pulled down. I'll never be happy following the world's plan.
But when I came to Jesus Christ, the happiness of this world was ruined for me. I've got the Holy Spirit inside me, and I can never be happy unless I'm walking with Him. People can try to be happy, but they'll never achieve it apart from the Lord. Christians can try to follow the world's plan for happiness, but the only way to find it is to let the Word of God cleanse and renew them.
Paul said to the Christians in Rome, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind" (Romans 12:1-2). By allowing God's Word to refresh and transform you, you can begin to see the principles of Jesus Christ start to work in your life. You'll be blessed--happy. There is a path to happiness the world knows nothing about. If we spend our lives cultivating the Word of God, we'll find real happiness.
Did You Know?
The word blessed is actually eulogia in the Greek. We get the word eulogy from it, the message that is preached at a person's funeral service. A eulogy is a nic way of summing up all the ggod things that person has done and the positive impact they left on the world. For the Chrisitan our lives are to be a eulogy, blessing those with whom we come in contact and creating joy in the lives of others. That's what Christ has called us to in the world.
The word persecute is the same root word from which we get "pursue." It means to hunt something down, to chase after it. Before his conversion Paul persecuted the church, hunting down Christians and seeing to it that they were punished. As a Christian, you can expect that non-Christians will look for ways to demean you and will take pleasure in making your life hard.
Colossians 3:15 encourages us to let the peace of God "rule" in our hearts. The word rule is actually the term we use as "umpire." In other words, the peace of God ought to be the umpire of our lives, helping us know the right things to do and calling into question the mistakes we make.
The Greek word for "pure" is catharis, from which we get the word cathartic. In medicine, a catharic agent cleanses and infected area to make it pure. In counseling, a cathartic experience is one in which a person reveals his hidden feelings so that his soul feels cleansed. So to be pure in heart is to be cleansed from all evil; there is nothing bad or defiling left in your heart.
Jesus criticized the Pharisees for a complete lack of mercy. They would tithe, but they wouldn't show mercy. Without mercy, their religion became a selfish act.
The phrase "shall be filled" in Matthew 5:6 was actually a farming term. Those raising cattle used it to refer to fattening up their herds for slaughter. So a Christian who is "filled" has had his soul fattened up to fullness in the Lord.
An Excerpt taken from the Book "How To Be Happy According To Jesus by Dr. David Jeremiah
Jesus At The Well
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
God Will Take Care of You
"For He has said, 'I will never leave you or forsake you.'" Hebrews 13:5
May your troubled heart find peace and comfort in the knowledge that you are never alone. May God's presence ease your trembling spirit and give you rest. He knows how you feel. He is ever aware of your circumstances and ready to be your strength, your grace, and your peace. He is there to cast sunlight into all your darkened shadows, to send encouragement through the love of friends and family, and to replace your weariness with new hope.
God is your stronghold, and with Him as your guide, you need never be afraid. No circumstances can block His love. No grief is too hard for Him to bear. No task is too difficult for Him to complete. When what you are feeling is simply too deep for words and nothing anyone does or says can provide you with the relief you need, God understands. He is your provider ~ today, tomorrow, and always. And He loves you. Cast all your cares on Him... and believe.
~ Linda E. Knight
May your troubled heart find peace and comfort in the knowledge that you are never alone. May God's presence ease your trembling spirit and give you rest. He knows how you feel. He is ever aware of your circumstances and ready to be your strength, your grace, and your peace. He is there to cast sunlight into all your darkened shadows, to send encouragement through the love of friends and family, and to replace your weariness with new hope.
God is your stronghold, and with Him as your guide, you need never be afraid. No circumstances can block His love. No grief is too hard for Him to bear. No task is too difficult for Him to complete. When what you are feeling is simply too deep for words and nothing anyone does or says can provide you with the relief you need, God understands. He is your provider ~ today, tomorrow, and always. And He loves you. Cast all your cares on Him... and believe.
~ Linda E. Knight
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Let's Raise the Level of Prayer by Byron Paulus
As a child, I remember my pastor regularly calling our congregation to "extended seasons of prayer." Then, during my teenage years, our church transitioned to an "evening of prayer" on Wednesday nights. By the time I was an adult, prayer meeting night had largely transitioned to a Bible study. And before long, the prayer meeting vanished altogether.
At the same time, another dynamic was at work in Sunday worship services across the country. Most services gradually changed from including an ardent "pastoral prayer" to simply pausing for a "moment of prayer."
A recent national conference designed to ignite and foster movements of Christianity featured 73 widely recognized speakers and boasted over 60 workshops...but none were focused on prayer.
None of this is news to you, I'm sure. As a rule, techniques and tactics routinely receive far greater emphasis in evangelical circles than prayer. It's been this way for so long that it seems normal.
Of course, there's nothing sacred in themselves about prayer meeting nights or pastoral prayers; but let me ask you what I have had to ask myself in recent days: "Do my actions reflect that prayer is the most powerful force for change in the Christian life?"
For those of us longing for revival and spiritual awakening, this question is absolutely crucial. Church history demonstrates that there have been revivals without much preaching, but there has never been a revival without much praying. Revival and the practice of passionate, persistent prayer are inseparable.
It's one thing to know that this is true, and another to base our life and ministry on the power of prayer. Who are we spending time praying for revival with?
I will never forget the most fervent prayer meeting for God to revive America that I have ever attended. About fifty people gathered at 10:00 on a Friday evening and didn't finish until 7:00 in the morning. And they had been doing this every Friday night for fifteen year! But here's what astonished me even more--the prayer meeting was in Singapore!
Half-way around the world, a group of precious believers had more passion for prayer and more vision for what God could do through the spiritual renewal of our country than I did. And that, in a nutshell, is a sobering picture of the real obstacle standing between the church in America and the revival we so desperately need: We are not yet desperate enough to cry out to God in fervent prayer, nor are we convinced enough that God alone is the only answer.
Exactly 150 years ago, C. H. Spurgeon heard that revival winds were blowing here in America. With hope that revival might come to his congregation as well, he urged his people to redouble their intensity in prayer. His words serve as a timeless exhortation for believers everywhere who long for revival in their time:
We stand at a precipice in our culture and in the church that can only be crossed through prayer. May God use this issue of Revive magazine to raise the level of prayer for an outpouring of the Spirit and the manifest presence of God!
Byron Paulus
Executive Director
At the same time, another dynamic was at work in Sunday worship services across the country. Most services gradually changed from including an ardent "pastoral prayer" to simply pausing for a "moment of prayer."
A recent national conference designed to ignite and foster movements of Christianity featured 73 widely recognized speakers and boasted over 60 workshops...but none were focused on prayer.
None of this is news to you, I'm sure. As a rule, techniques and tactics routinely receive far greater emphasis in evangelical circles than prayer. It's been this way for so long that it seems normal.
Of course, there's nothing sacred in themselves about prayer meeting nights or pastoral prayers; but let me ask you what I have had to ask myself in recent days: "Do my actions reflect that prayer is the most powerful force for change in the Christian life?"
For those of us longing for revival and spiritual awakening, this question is absolutely crucial. Church history demonstrates that there have been revivals without much preaching, but there has never been a revival without much praying. Revival and the practice of passionate, persistent prayer are inseparable.
It's one thing to know that this is true, and another to base our life and ministry on the power of prayer. Who are we spending time praying for revival with?
I will never forget the most fervent prayer meeting for God to revive America that I have ever attended. About fifty people gathered at 10:00 on a Friday evening and didn't finish until 7:00 in the morning. And they had been doing this every Friday night for fifteen year! But here's what astonished me even more--the prayer meeting was in Singapore!
Half-way around the world, a group of precious believers had more passion for prayer and more vision for what God could do through the spiritual renewal of our country than I did. And that, in a nutshell, is a sobering picture of the real obstacle standing between the church in America and the revival we so desperately need: We are not yet desperate enough to cry out to God in fervent prayer, nor are we convinced enough that God alone is the only answer.
Exactly 150 years ago, C. H. Spurgeon heard that revival winds were blowing here in America. With hope that revival might come to his congregation as well, he urged his people to redouble their intensity in prayer. His words serve as a timeless exhortation for believers everywhere who long for revival in their time:
To your knees, you believers, to your knees. Will you lose the opportunity, Christians? Will you let men be lost for want of effort? Let us spend this week in special prayer. Let us meet together as often as we can, and plead the throne; and each of you in private be mighty with your God, and in public be diligent in you efforts.
We stand at a precipice in our culture and in the church that can only be crossed through prayer. May God use this issue of Revive magazine to raise the level of prayer for an outpouring of the Spirit and the manifest presence of God!
Byron Paulus
Executive Director
Thursday, July 1, 2010
You Have What It Takes (What every father needs to know) Part I
The Secret To Boys
Every little boy is asking one basic question.
You notice it in nearly everything he does. Little boy's love adventure! Whether it's making rope out of bedsheets to rappel down the side of the house, Batman style or taking his bicycle to a new level after his training wheels come off turning his corners a break neck speed, making skid marks and adding those extra sound effects that only he can do.
Look at the stories boys love, the games they play. They are full of battle and adventure and danger. They love to build things...and then blow 'em up. They love to jump off stuff. Every boy wants to be a hero. Every boy wants to be powerful, he wants to be dangerous, and he wants to know: Do I have what it takes?
That's the question every boy is asking: "Do I have what it takes?"
And when he grows a bit older, it turns to fast cars (the louder, the better), computer games of battle and adventure, and making the sports team. He wants to hit the home run in the bottom of the ninth. He wants to make a slam dunk just before the buzzer sounds. If he is academically inclined, well, then, he wants to come out on top. He wants to prove himself. And all through those years, when he's riding his bike with no hands or trying to look cool and doing all those other things that boys do, he is looking to impress you.
Because every boy shares the same basic question: "Do I have what it takes?"
And every boy looks to his dad to answer it.
The Secret To Girls
Every little girl is asking one basic question too. But it's very different question.
You can observe it there in nearly everything she does. They love to brush each others hair and go to tea parties. Sitting down over make-believe china, being very polite, and having "grown-up" conversations make the party an entirely feminine affair. It's all part of those relational games that girls create. Boys may have invented hockey, but little girls invented games like "wedding day" and "mommies and daddies" and "rescue the princess." You don't have to teach them to do it--it comes naturally. It's part of their design.
This is not to say that girls dislike adventure. They love to climb trees and make mud pies and all that. Many girls love to play sports. But there is something profoundly different between little boys and little girls. Watch them on a rainy day. Trapped inside the house, boys make up games like "terrorize the cat" and "urban commando." Girls cuddle and care for a favorite doll or stuffed animal, or they dress up the family puppy. Speaking of "dress up," that was a feminine creation as well. Give a group of girls a chest of gowns and shoes and Mom's costume jewelry, and they are captured for hours playing "princess" and "movie star" and generally being beautiful.
For her the question is very different from that of her brothers. Every little girl wants to know: Am I lovely?
And when she grows a bit older, she talks on the phone for hours and wants to know who is dating whom. While the guy is clueless about what to wear to the prom, it is a very big deal for a young woman. She watches shows about relationships, pores over fashion magazines and bridal magazines and loves to get flowers from a secret admirer. Why are flowers such a big deal for women? I have been sent flowers once in my life, and I thought it was weird. But my wife loves to get flowers. Have you ever wondered why? Because of what it says, I'm thinking of you...I delight in you. All through those years, when she's dressing up and doing shows for you and playing princess and trying to look beautiful and shedding tears over the fact that she might not be, she is trying to capture your attention.
She wants to know: Am I lovely? That's the question every little girl is asking. And she looks to her dad to answer it.
What A Father Needs To Do
I'm going to make fathering very simple: answer your child's question with yes a thousand times over again. It's not rocket science and it doesn't matter how old your children are age does not matter. They will always want to hear those words from you. This will remain true for the rest of each one's life.
Every little boy is asking one basic question.
You notice it in nearly everything he does. Little boy's love adventure! Whether it's making rope out of bedsheets to rappel down the side of the house, Batman style or taking his bicycle to a new level after his training wheels come off turning his corners a break neck speed, making skid marks and adding those extra sound effects that only he can do.
Look at the stories boys love, the games they play. They are full of battle and adventure and danger. They love to build things...and then blow 'em up. They love to jump off stuff. Every boy wants to be a hero. Every boy wants to be powerful, he wants to be dangerous, and he wants to know: Do I have what it takes?
That's the question every boy is asking: "Do I have what it takes?"
And when he grows a bit older, it turns to fast cars (the louder, the better), computer games of battle and adventure, and making the sports team. He wants to hit the home run in the bottom of the ninth. He wants to make a slam dunk just before the buzzer sounds. If he is academically inclined, well, then, he wants to come out on top. He wants to prove himself. And all through those years, when he's riding his bike with no hands or trying to look cool and doing all those other things that boys do, he is looking to impress you.
Because every boy shares the same basic question: "Do I have what it takes?"
And every boy looks to his dad to answer it.
The Secret To Girls
Every little girl is asking one basic question too. But it's very different question.
You can observe it there in nearly everything she does. They love to brush each others hair and go to tea parties. Sitting down over make-believe china, being very polite, and having "grown-up" conversations make the party an entirely feminine affair. It's all part of those relational games that girls create. Boys may have invented hockey, but little girls invented games like "wedding day" and "mommies and daddies" and "rescue the princess." You don't have to teach them to do it--it comes naturally. It's part of their design.
This is not to say that girls dislike adventure. They love to climb trees and make mud pies and all that. Many girls love to play sports. But there is something profoundly different between little boys and little girls. Watch them on a rainy day. Trapped inside the house, boys make up games like "terrorize the cat" and "urban commando." Girls cuddle and care for a favorite doll or stuffed animal, or they dress up the family puppy. Speaking of "dress up," that was a feminine creation as well. Give a group of girls a chest of gowns and shoes and Mom's costume jewelry, and they are captured for hours playing "princess" and "movie star" and generally being beautiful.
For her the question is very different from that of her brothers. Every little girl wants to know: Am I lovely?
And when she grows a bit older, she talks on the phone for hours and wants to know who is dating whom. While the guy is clueless about what to wear to the prom, it is a very big deal for a young woman. She watches shows about relationships, pores over fashion magazines and bridal magazines and loves to get flowers from a secret admirer. Why are flowers such a big deal for women? I have been sent flowers once in my life, and I thought it was weird. But my wife loves to get flowers. Have you ever wondered why? Because of what it says, I'm thinking of you...I delight in you. All through those years, when she's dressing up and doing shows for you and playing princess and trying to look beautiful and shedding tears over the fact that she might not be, she is trying to capture your attention.
She wants to know: Am I lovely? That's the question every little girl is asking. And she looks to her dad to answer it.
What A Father Needs To Do
I'm going to make fathering very simple: answer your child's question with yes a thousand times over again. It's not rocket science and it doesn't matter how old your children are age does not matter. They will always want to hear those words from you. This will remain true for the rest of each one's life.
You Have What It Takes (What every father needs to know) Part II
Healing The Wounds
Now, it's a simple fact of life that we cannot give something we don't have.
Although you may begin to see the weight or your life upon your son or daughter, at the same time you may sense a lingering doubt or fear or sense of failure inside. Because you, too, had a question growing up. You were once a boy and a young man, wondering if you had what it takes. How did your dad answer your question? What was his message to you, about you, as a man? Whether you are aware of it or not, that answer has shaped you into the man you are today.
But the fact remains--most fathers find it hard to validate their children, because they have a wound in their soul.
Now, this booklet is about how to love your sons and daughters. I want to help you offer what they need from you. But to love them well, to fight for their hearts, you have to first get your heart back.
When the Bible tells us that Christ came to "redeem mankind," it means a whole lot more than forgiveness. Simply forgiving a broken man is like telling someone running a marathon, "It's okay that you've broken your leg. I won't hold that against you. Now...finish the race." That is cruel to leave him wounded in that way. No, there is much more to salvation. The core of Christ's mission was foretold in Isaiah 61:
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to
preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim freedom for the captives and release for the prisoners. (v.1)
The Messiah will come, he said, to bind up and heal, to release and set free. What? Your heart. Christ comes to restore and release you. This is the central passage about Jesus in the entire Bible, the one he chose to quote about himself when he stepped into the spotlight and announced his arrival (Luke 4) This is what makes Christianity such really good news. God can, and wants to, heal your heart.
How can you first find the healing of your wounded heart? It begins with surrender. You might remember a famous passage of Scripture that goes like this:
I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in. (Rev. 3:20)
It is Jesus who is speaking, and the door he refers to is the heart. He asks your permission to come in. How simple...yet how life-changing. You simply invite Jesus into your wound; you ask him to come and meet you there, to enter into the broken and unhealed places of your heart. That is the first step--to take him at his word and invite Christ in, give him permission to heal all the broken places within you. Ask him to release you from all bondage and captivity, as he promised to do.
Next, you may find that you need to grieve. The wounds you received were not your fault, and they mattered. Oh, what a milestone day it was for me when I allowed myself to say that the loss of my father mattered. The tears that flowed were the first I'd ever granted my wound, and they were deeply healing. All those years of sucking it up melted away in my grief. It is so important for each of us to grieve our wound; it is the only honest thing to do. For in grieving we admit the truth--we were hurt by someone we loved, we lost something very dear, and it hurt us very much. Tears are healing. They help to open and cleanse the wound.
Then, you let God love you; you let him get real close to you. I know it seems painfully obvious, but I'm telling you, few men are ever so vulnerable as to simply let themselves be loved by God.
I once asked a friend, "Brad, why don't you just let God love you?"
He squirmed in his chair. "I have such a hard time with that, just being loved. If feels so naked. I'd rather be in control." Later he wrote me this:
After it all came crashing down, I was overwhelmed by sadness and grief. The pain is incredible. In the midst of that God asked me, "Brad, will you let me love you?" I know what he is asking. I feel anxious that I need to go e-mail all these schools and secure a future. But I'm tired of running away. I want to come home. I flipped through my Bible and came to John 15, "Just as the Father has loved you, I have also loved you; abide in my love." The battle is very intense. At times it is all clear. At others it is a fog. Right now all I can do is cling to Jesus as best I know how and not run from all that is in my heart.
Abiding in the love of God is our only hope, the only true home for our hearts. It's not that we mentally acknowledge that God loves us. It's that we let our hearts come home to him and stay in his love. This is what another man said to me after he opened the door of his heart to Christ:
My father never left; he just never had time for me or words of encouragement. He has spent his entire life making himself the center of attention. For the first time I understand why I am highly driven, why I never let anyone get close to me--including my wife--and why I am an impostor to most people. I broke down and cried. I feel the presence of God in my heart like I have never felt him before...the beginning of a new heart.
And, next, you must forgive your father. Paul warned us that unforgiveness and bitterness can wreck our lives and the lives of others (Eph. 4:31; Heb. 12:15). I am sorry to think of all the years my wife endured the anger and bitterness that I redirected at her from my father. As someone has said, forgiveness is setting a prisoner free and then discovering the prisoner was you.
You must understand that forgiveness is a choice. It is not a feeling, but an act of the will. Neil Anderson has written, "Don't wait to forgive until you feel like forgiving; you will never get there. Feelings take time to heal after the choice to forgive is made." You allow God to bring the hurt up from your past, for "if your forgiveness doesn't visit the emotional core of your life, it will be incomplete." You acknowledge that it hurt, that it mattered and choose to extend forgiveness to your father. This is not saying, "I probably deserved part of it anyway." Forgiveness says, "It was wrong, it mattered, and I released you."
The last step is to ask God to father you and to tell you what he thinks of you.
You see, no matter how old you are, no matter how much you have (or have or not) achieved, you still have a Question. Do you have what it takes? The only one who can really settle that for you is God. You must ask God. And you must stay with The Question until you get and answer. How will it be possible to validate your son and daughter when you are walking around with a huge question mark on your chest? Or worse, a gaping wound that screams, "Failure; Worthless; Crybaby!"
Oh, what wonderful stories I could tell you of how many times God has spoken to me and to other men since we've been asking The Question. My friend Aaron went to a park near our home and found a place of solitude. There he waited for the Father's voice. What he first heard was this: "True masculinity is spiritual." Aaron has for so long felt that spirituality was feminine; it put him in a terrible bind because he is a very spiritual man and yet longs to be a real man."
Remember, Scripture promises that the Father's voice is never condemning: "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1). Whatever he has to say to you, it will not involve reproach or rejection in any way. We are forgiven. God has given each of us a new heart (Ezek. 36:26; Luke 8:15; Rom. 2:29). That is what is true. Period. From that place we ask God to speak personally to us, to break the power of the lie that was delivered with the wound.
This is a small portion from the booklet "You Have What It Takes" by John Eldredge
John Eldredge states it comes from his book "Wild at Heart"
Now, it's a simple fact of life that we cannot give something we don't have.
Although you may begin to see the weight or your life upon your son or daughter, at the same time you may sense a lingering doubt or fear or sense of failure inside. Because you, too, had a question growing up. You were once a boy and a young man, wondering if you had what it takes. How did your dad answer your question? What was his message to you, about you, as a man? Whether you are aware of it or not, that answer has shaped you into the man you are today.
But the fact remains--most fathers find it hard to validate their children, because they have a wound in their soul.
Now, this booklet is about how to love your sons and daughters. I want to help you offer what they need from you. But to love them well, to fight for their hearts, you have to first get your heart back.
When the Bible tells us that Christ came to "redeem mankind," it means a whole lot more than forgiveness. Simply forgiving a broken man is like telling someone running a marathon, "It's okay that you've broken your leg. I won't hold that against you. Now...finish the race." That is cruel to leave him wounded in that way. No, there is much more to salvation. The core of Christ's mission was foretold in Isaiah 61:
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to
preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to
proclaim freedom for the captives and release for the prisoners. (v.1)
The Messiah will come, he said, to bind up and heal, to release and set free. What? Your heart. Christ comes to restore and release you. This is the central passage about Jesus in the entire Bible, the one he chose to quote about himself when he stepped into the spotlight and announced his arrival (Luke 4) This is what makes Christianity such really good news. God can, and wants to, heal your heart.
How can you first find the healing of your wounded heart? It begins with surrender. You might remember a famous passage of Scripture that goes like this:
I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in. (Rev. 3:20)
It is Jesus who is speaking, and the door he refers to is the heart. He asks your permission to come in. How simple...yet how life-changing. You simply invite Jesus into your wound; you ask him to come and meet you there, to enter into the broken and unhealed places of your heart. That is the first step--to take him at his word and invite Christ in, give him permission to heal all the broken places within you. Ask him to release you from all bondage and captivity, as he promised to do.
Next, you may find that you need to grieve. The wounds you received were not your fault, and they mattered. Oh, what a milestone day it was for me when I allowed myself to say that the loss of my father mattered. The tears that flowed were the first I'd ever granted my wound, and they were deeply healing. All those years of sucking it up melted away in my grief. It is so important for each of us to grieve our wound; it is the only honest thing to do. For in grieving we admit the truth--we were hurt by someone we loved, we lost something very dear, and it hurt us very much. Tears are healing. They help to open and cleanse the wound.
Then, you let God love you; you let him get real close to you. I know it seems painfully obvious, but I'm telling you, few men are ever so vulnerable as to simply let themselves be loved by God.
I once asked a friend, "Brad, why don't you just let God love you?"
He squirmed in his chair. "I have such a hard time with that, just being loved. If feels so naked. I'd rather be in control." Later he wrote me this:
After it all came crashing down, I was overwhelmed by sadness and grief. The pain is incredible. In the midst of that God asked me, "Brad, will you let me love you?" I know what he is asking. I feel anxious that I need to go e-mail all these schools and secure a future. But I'm tired of running away. I want to come home. I flipped through my Bible and came to John 15, "Just as the Father has loved you, I have also loved you; abide in my love." The battle is very intense. At times it is all clear. At others it is a fog. Right now all I can do is cling to Jesus as best I know how and not run from all that is in my heart.
Abiding in the love of God is our only hope, the only true home for our hearts. It's not that we mentally acknowledge that God loves us. It's that we let our hearts come home to him and stay in his love. This is what another man said to me after he opened the door of his heart to Christ:
My father never left; he just never had time for me or words of encouragement. He has spent his entire life making himself the center of attention. For the first time I understand why I am highly driven, why I never let anyone get close to me--including my wife--and why I am an impostor to most people. I broke down and cried. I feel the presence of God in my heart like I have never felt him before...the beginning of a new heart.
And, next, you must forgive your father. Paul warned us that unforgiveness and bitterness can wreck our lives and the lives of others (Eph. 4:31; Heb. 12:15). I am sorry to think of all the years my wife endured the anger and bitterness that I redirected at her from my father. As someone has said, forgiveness is setting a prisoner free and then discovering the prisoner was you.
You must understand that forgiveness is a choice. It is not a feeling, but an act of the will. Neil Anderson has written, "Don't wait to forgive until you feel like forgiving; you will never get there. Feelings take time to heal after the choice to forgive is made." You allow God to bring the hurt up from your past, for "if your forgiveness doesn't visit the emotional core of your life, it will be incomplete." You acknowledge that it hurt, that it mattered and choose to extend forgiveness to your father. This is not saying, "I probably deserved part of it anyway." Forgiveness says, "It was wrong, it mattered, and I released you."
The last step is to ask God to father you and to tell you what he thinks of you.
You see, no matter how old you are, no matter how much you have (or have or not) achieved, you still have a Question. Do you have what it takes? The only one who can really settle that for you is God. You must ask God. And you must stay with The Question until you get and answer. How will it be possible to validate your son and daughter when you are walking around with a huge question mark on your chest? Or worse, a gaping wound that screams, "Failure; Worthless; Crybaby!"
Oh, what wonderful stories I could tell you of how many times God has spoken to me and to other men since we've been asking The Question. My friend Aaron went to a park near our home and found a place of solitude. There he waited for the Father's voice. What he first heard was this: "True masculinity is spiritual." Aaron has for so long felt that spirituality was feminine; it put him in a terrible bind because he is a very spiritual man and yet longs to be a real man."
Remember, Scripture promises that the Father's voice is never condemning: "There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1). Whatever he has to say to you, it will not involve reproach or rejection in any way. We are forgiven. God has given each of us a new heart (Ezek. 36:26; Luke 8:15; Rom. 2:29). That is what is true. Period. From that place we ask God to speak personally to us, to break the power of the lie that was delivered with the wound.
This is a small portion from the booklet "You Have What It Takes" by John Eldredge
John Eldredge states it comes from his book "Wild at Heart"
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Healing Through Our Relationship With Jesus Christ
THE PURPOSE OF THIS TEACHING:
Our primary purpose this session is to have each participant examine their relationship with Jesus Christ and if it appears that they may not be truly born again, to guide them—hopefully immediately—to a true conversion. Secondly, we want to show how ultimately our healing comes out of our overall relationship with Jesus Christ.
TEACHER’S TESTIMONY
HEALING THROUGH OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST
INTRODUCTION:
This session will be a little different from last week’s: you won’t have to take
nearly as many notes. but the notes you take will be very important. You will understand why as we go along.
1. If you were to ask me, as sometimes people do, ‘How is a person healed?’, I would answer,“‘We are healed through our relationship with Jesus Christ.”
a. If the person is a Christian and accepted Christ years ago, but still struggles mightily with addiction, their real response to me might be. “Thanks for the pious Christian platitude, but what do I need your ministry for?”
b. If the person had never actually had a real relationship with Jesus, they wouldn’t know what I was talking about. I would be speaking in some evangelical jargon that might as well be Greek to them.
2. In this session, I'm going to try and address both types of people, and hopefully offer much more than pious platitudes. I’m going to offer some of the best practical help you have ever received.
3. First I want to address the second person--the one who doesn’t even know what a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is all about. I can sympathize with you because that is where I was for much of my life.
4. You may be like I was. Some of you may have an intellectual acceptance of God, but it has no practical effect on your life. You may have a religion, but that’s not what Christianity is. It is a relationship. You may have given as much of yourself as you are able to Jesus, but somehow you know it’s not enough. Somehow you sense in your spirit that there must be more. If you feel this way, I assure you there is more, and God passionately wants for you to be able to experience more of Him.
If you think there is a possibility that you may not have made that vital acceptance of Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, stay tonight and talk it over with one of us or later with someone else whose Christian faith seems to have a real impact on their life. Jesus said we must be born again to enter the Kingdom of God. (Now don’t get turned off by that phrase. That term comes from Jesus—not from some street evangelist.)
5. Others of you—maybe you—are born-again believers, but somehow you don’t have the
personal relationship with Jesus that you believe you should have. At least, to this point, it is not a personal relationship that has had much impact on your struggle with compulsive behavior. That can change, no matter how long you have been a Christian.
6. Let’s begin with asking, “What is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?”
a. First of all, it’s a personal relationship like with anyone else; it is more than intellectual. Somehow the heart is involved. There is mutual respect, caring and understanding. Think of the closest personal friendship you have ever had or dreamed of, and that is what it is like. There is a deep understanding of and appreciation for each other.
b. Why do we talk about this kind of relationship with Jesus, rather than with the Father or the Holy Spirit? In this respect, the Three are interchangeable. We could certainly be talking about our relationship with the Father or Holy Spirit; but, for practical reasons, most of us at first find it easier to relate to Jesus.
(1). He is God in human flesh, so He is logically easier to relate to. The Bible stresses the humanity of Jesus in Hebrews when it says: For because He Himself has suffered and been tempted. He is able to help those who are tempted (Heb. 2:18) and, For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence come near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:15-16)
(2). Also, many of us may find that our relationship with our earthly fathers greatly
hinders our relationship with our Heavenly Father. God presented Himself in the
metaphor of our father’s love and protection. For those of us who have not experienced such love and protection—or maybe experienced just the opposite, this can be a stumbling block. This is something for which there is no easy answer; but if this is your situation, you may find that as you are able to open to a personal relationship with Jesus, He will heal you to the point of coming to truly know the Father.
(3). David, in the Bible, of course did not know Jesus, but he did have a wonderful,
deep, honest relationship with the Father. Listen to some of his psalms, and see how wonderfully personal that relationship was:
He reached from on high, He took me, He drew me out of many waters. He
delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me; for they
were mighty for me. They came upon me in the day of my calamity; but the
Lord was my stay. He brought me forth into a broad place; He delivered me,
because He delighted in me. Psalm 18:16-19
For He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; and He has
not hid His face from him, but has heard when I cried to Him. Psalm 22:24
For my father and mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me up.
Psalm 27:10
This I know, that God is for me. Psalm 56:9
Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in His holy habitation.
Psalm 68:5
Because he cleaves to Me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because
he knows my name. When he calls to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him
in trouble, I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and
show him My salvation. Psalm 91: 14-16
Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free.
With the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can man do to me? Psalm 118: 5-
6
The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth
He also hears their cry and saves them. The Lord preserves all who love
Him; but the wicked He will destroy. Psalm 145:18-20
We can come to know the Lord as David did.
4. When we say that healing comes though a personal relationship with Jesus, what does this mean, practically? I think we can start to get a glimpse of this as we recall from last week what the deep needs are that drove us into our compulsion. Jesus is the only one who can meet those deepest needs. Consider them:
a. Love: His is the only love that is great enough to heal those whose brokenness is rooted in an unmet need for love. Most often, our addictions are a misguided search for love, often coming from a need so deep that nothing else can fill it. But Jesus can. Our need can meet
up with the One whose love knows no limits. It is boundless, and it is unconditional.
It is a love that will never hurt you. It is a love that will never use you.
b. Affirmation: He is the only one who has the authority to give us the affirmation that we crave. For so many, addiction is a problem of identity and we seek to be affirmed by others based on the world’s standards of acceptance. But the Bible says that we were created through Jesus Christ, and so He has the absolute authority to declare who we are. Jesus, the Son of the Father, brings us into the royal family, and affirms us, not just as sons and daughters, but as sons and daughters of the King.
c. Power: He is the only one who has the power to change our lives. How many years have we struggled to change—to change our thoughts, our feelings, our behavior? How many counselors, how many programs and schemes, and yet we remained powerless? But when
we surrender to Jesus, we come into contact with the very power that has overcome sin
and death itself. Addiction, compulsion, bondage—Jesus has power over them all.
d. Faithfulness: He is the One who will be our friend and comforter always. We place our loneliness, our needs for security and significance in food, and eventually that idol always
lets us down. Jesus does not. He is totally faithful. He will walk down the road of life with us, never despairing, never giving up on us, always with an inexhaustible supply of unconditional love.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Roman 8:39).
This is how we are healed through our relationship with Jesus Christ.
8. Then, how do we get into this kind of relationship?
a. First, we have to want it.
b. We may need a mustard seed of faith here, to seek and ask for something we don’t yet
fully understand. But that’s all right. He wants it more than you. He died to get back into
this kind of relationship with you.
c. Then comes the tough part—you have to pay for it. What do you have to give Him for it.
NOTHING. Nothing, that is, except for yourself. Jesus wants a wonderful mutual relationship with you—you living in Him and He living in you. He wants to call you His
friend, as He does in John 15:15. But we can’t start out that way. For Him to be able to
live His life out in us, we first have to give our lives to Him.
d. Most of you did that when you accepted Him as Lord and Savior, but I believe right now He wants something that has been terribly close to you, terribly precious to you—your addiction. If you are blocked in your healing and in your relationship with Him, the vital thing you must do is surrender that part of your life to Him.
9. That’s what I want you to do right now—to surrender your addiction to Him. And this must be done counting the cost. What does your addiction mean to you?
a. Is it your special fantasies—your faithful way of retreating from the world?
b. Is it your image; somehow users are a little superior to others?
c. Is it your being “different”; in a way that gives you an excuse to avoid all those things that you fear; those things that could bring you pain?
d. What is your god? Could it be your addiction? The Holy Spirit will show you.
10. If you surrender these things to Him right now, it doesn’t mean that you will be able to release all of them instantly—that you will come into immediate obedience. These things will take a while, but you are making Him Lord of them right now, and so, in His good time, He has the right to take them from you. At the level of your will and in your spirit you are giving them to Him. And you are counting the cost. Counting the cost now, you will not be as likely to come back later and say, “Oh, I didn’t mean that.” You may think you’ve already done this before, but I would wager that you haven’t completely. I believe the Holy Spirit will show you right now parts of your
addiction that you have not given to Him.
11. What I want you to do now, is to turn in your notebooks to the Prayer Journal page you are going to use this coming week. Now close your eyes and ask the Holy Spirit to bring to mind every part of your addiction that you need to release to Jesus right now. Take your time with this; it’s terribly important. As some part of your addiction comes to you that you believe you need to give to the Lord, write it down in your Prayer Journal so you will clearly remember what it is you are giving to the Lord. Then silently in prayer, offer it to Him.
SILENT PRAYER
12. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall be my servant also; if any one serves me, the Father will honor
him. (John 12:24-26)
13. You have made an offering to the Lord that can open up the personal relationship that is going to be the major source of your healing. Praise God!
14. Now what?
a The next step may be up to Him
b. You need to spend time with Him, to get to know Him more intimately. That means time in prayer, in the Bible, in church, and with His people.
c. Two things you are going to find out:
(1). Love is the greatest motivator to obedience there is. We will do so much more for
love than we will out of fear or a sense of duty. As you grow in your loving relationship with Him, it will become much easier to be obedient.
(2). The other thing is that while you are walking with Him—with your friend, Jesus--you
are on the path He has laid out for you. While you are on that path, you are in the place where many wonderful things can happen, including miracles.
PRAYER:
Father, I pray for each person in this program that they will truly come to know you in the deepest way possible; that you will, for them, be the support, comfort and friend, they need so much. I pray not only for their healing through their relationship with you, but that one day even this wonderful healing will seem insignificant compared to the joy of truly knowing you. In Jesus’ name. AMEN.
Scripture Memory Verse:
Hebrews 2:18 (NASB) For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has
suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
Assignment for the Week:
1. When you prayed in class, you were to write in your notes those important parts
of your addiction that you were willing to surrender to Jesus. Now, take a
separate piece of paper and copy those things that you surrendered. Pray again,
making these a true offering to the Lord, and then take the list and destroy it. As
a symbolic act either burn the list, or tear it up into tiny pieces and flush it down
the drain or bury it. Let this be like a sacramental death to this part of you.
2. In the teaching we discussed four needs of the overcomer that can be met
through his personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They were:
Love
Affirmation
Power (over sin)
Faithfulness
Select the one that you think represents your greatest need, and write a brief
prayer on your Weekly Prayer Journal sheet asking Jesus to meet that need.
Pray this prayer each day this week.
3. Daily review the Scripture verses in this lesson.
Our primary purpose this session is to have each participant examine their relationship with Jesus Christ and if it appears that they may not be truly born again, to guide them—hopefully immediately—to a true conversion. Secondly, we want to show how ultimately our healing comes out of our overall relationship with Jesus Christ.
TEACHER’S TESTIMONY
HEALING THROUGH OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST
INTRODUCTION:
This session will be a little different from last week’s: you won’t have to take
nearly as many notes. but the notes you take will be very important. You will understand why as we go along.
1. If you were to ask me, as sometimes people do, ‘How is a person healed?’, I would answer,“‘We are healed through our relationship with Jesus Christ.”
a. If the person is a Christian and accepted Christ years ago, but still struggles mightily with addiction, their real response to me might be. “Thanks for the pious Christian platitude, but what do I need your ministry for?”
b. If the person had never actually had a real relationship with Jesus, they wouldn’t know what I was talking about. I would be speaking in some evangelical jargon that might as well be Greek to them.
2. In this session, I'm going to try and address both types of people, and hopefully offer much more than pious platitudes. I’m going to offer some of the best practical help you have ever received.
3. First I want to address the second person--the one who doesn’t even know what a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is all about. I can sympathize with you because that is where I was for much of my life.
4. You may be like I was. Some of you may have an intellectual acceptance of God, but it has no practical effect on your life. You may have a religion, but that’s not what Christianity is. It is a relationship. You may have given as much of yourself as you are able to Jesus, but somehow you know it’s not enough. Somehow you sense in your spirit that there must be more. If you feel this way, I assure you there is more, and God passionately wants for you to be able to experience more of Him.
If you think there is a possibility that you may not have made that vital acceptance of Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, stay tonight and talk it over with one of us or later with someone else whose Christian faith seems to have a real impact on their life. Jesus said we must be born again to enter the Kingdom of God. (Now don’t get turned off by that phrase. That term comes from Jesus—not from some street evangelist.)
5. Others of you—maybe you—are born-again believers, but somehow you don’t have the
personal relationship with Jesus that you believe you should have. At least, to this point, it is not a personal relationship that has had much impact on your struggle with compulsive behavior. That can change, no matter how long you have been a Christian.
6. Let’s begin with asking, “What is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ?”
a. First of all, it’s a personal relationship like with anyone else; it is more than intellectual. Somehow the heart is involved. There is mutual respect, caring and understanding. Think of the closest personal friendship you have ever had or dreamed of, and that is what it is like. There is a deep understanding of and appreciation for each other.
b. Why do we talk about this kind of relationship with Jesus, rather than with the Father or the Holy Spirit? In this respect, the Three are interchangeable. We could certainly be talking about our relationship with the Father or Holy Spirit; but, for practical reasons, most of us at first find it easier to relate to Jesus.
(1). He is God in human flesh, so He is logically easier to relate to. The Bible stresses the humanity of Jesus in Hebrews when it says: For because He Himself has suffered and been tempted. He is able to help those who are tempted (Heb. 2:18) and, For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence come near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:15-16)
(2). Also, many of us may find that our relationship with our earthly fathers greatly
hinders our relationship with our Heavenly Father. God presented Himself in the
metaphor of our father’s love and protection. For those of us who have not experienced such love and protection—or maybe experienced just the opposite, this can be a stumbling block. This is something for which there is no easy answer; but if this is your situation, you may find that as you are able to open to a personal relationship with Jesus, He will heal you to the point of coming to truly know the Father.
(3). David, in the Bible, of course did not know Jesus, but he did have a wonderful,
deep, honest relationship with the Father. Listen to some of his psalms, and see how wonderfully personal that relationship was:
He reached from on high, He took me, He drew me out of many waters. He
delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me; for they
were mighty for me. They came upon me in the day of my calamity; but the
Lord was my stay. He brought me forth into a broad place; He delivered me,
because He delighted in me. Psalm 18:16-19
For He has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted; and He has
not hid His face from him, but has heard when I cried to Him. Psalm 22:24
For my father and mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me up.
Psalm 27:10
This I know, that God is for me. Psalm 56:9
Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in His holy habitation.
Psalm 68:5
Because he cleaves to Me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because
he knows my name. When he calls to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him
in trouble, I will rescue him and honor him. With long life I will satisfy him and
show him My salvation. Psalm 91: 14-16
Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free.
With the Lord on my side I do not fear. What can man do to me? Psalm 118: 5-
6
The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth
He also hears their cry and saves them. The Lord preserves all who love
Him; but the wicked He will destroy. Psalm 145:18-20
We can come to know the Lord as David did.
4. When we say that healing comes though a personal relationship with Jesus, what does this mean, practically? I think we can start to get a glimpse of this as we recall from last week what the deep needs are that drove us into our compulsion. Jesus is the only one who can meet those deepest needs. Consider them:
a. Love: His is the only love that is great enough to heal those whose brokenness is rooted in an unmet need for love. Most often, our addictions are a misguided search for love, often coming from a need so deep that nothing else can fill it. But Jesus can. Our need can meet
up with the One whose love knows no limits. It is boundless, and it is unconditional.
It is a love that will never hurt you. It is a love that will never use you.
b. Affirmation: He is the only one who has the authority to give us the affirmation that we crave. For so many, addiction is a problem of identity and we seek to be affirmed by others based on the world’s standards of acceptance. But the Bible says that we were created through Jesus Christ, and so He has the absolute authority to declare who we are. Jesus, the Son of the Father, brings us into the royal family, and affirms us, not just as sons and daughters, but as sons and daughters of the King.
c. Power: He is the only one who has the power to change our lives. How many years have we struggled to change—to change our thoughts, our feelings, our behavior? How many counselors, how many programs and schemes, and yet we remained powerless? But when
we surrender to Jesus, we come into contact with the very power that has overcome sin
and death itself. Addiction, compulsion, bondage—Jesus has power over them all.
d. Faithfulness: He is the One who will be our friend and comforter always. We place our loneliness, our needs for security and significance in food, and eventually that idol always
lets us down. Jesus does not. He is totally faithful. He will walk down the road of life with us, never despairing, never giving up on us, always with an inexhaustible supply of unconditional love.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Roman 8:39).
This is how we are healed through our relationship with Jesus Christ.
8. Then, how do we get into this kind of relationship?
a. First, we have to want it.
b. We may need a mustard seed of faith here, to seek and ask for something we don’t yet
fully understand. But that’s all right. He wants it more than you. He died to get back into
this kind of relationship with you.
c. Then comes the tough part—you have to pay for it. What do you have to give Him for it.
NOTHING. Nothing, that is, except for yourself. Jesus wants a wonderful mutual relationship with you—you living in Him and He living in you. He wants to call you His
friend, as He does in John 15:15. But we can’t start out that way. For Him to be able to
live His life out in us, we first have to give our lives to Him.
d. Most of you did that when you accepted Him as Lord and Savior, but I believe right now He wants something that has been terribly close to you, terribly precious to you—your addiction. If you are blocked in your healing and in your relationship with Him, the vital thing you must do is surrender that part of your life to Him.
9. That’s what I want you to do right now—to surrender your addiction to Him. And this must be done counting the cost. What does your addiction mean to you?
a. Is it your special fantasies—your faithful way of retreating from the world?
b. Is it your image; somehow users are a little superior to others?
c. Is it your being “different”; in a way that gives you an excuse to avoid all those things that you fear; those things that could bring you pain?
d. What is your god? Could it be your addiction? The Holy Spirit will show you.
10. If you surrender these things to Him right now, it doesn’t mean that you will be able to release all of them instantly—that you will come into immediate obedience. These things will take a while, but you are making Him Lord of them right now, and so, in His good time, He has the right to take them from you. At the level of your will and in your spirit you are giving them to Him. And you are counting the cost. Counting the cost now, you will not be as likely to come back later and say, “Oh, I didn’t mean that.” You may think you’ve already done this before, but I would wager that you haven’t completely. I believe the Holy Spirit will show you right now parts of your
addiction that you have not given to Him.
11. What I want you to do now, is to turn in your notebooks to the Prayer Journal page you are going to use this coming week. Now close your eyes and ask the Holy Spirit to bring to mind every part of your addiction that you need to release to Jesus right now. Take your time with this; it’s terribly important. As some part of your addiction comes to you that you believe you need to give to the Lord, write it down in your Prayer Journal so you will clearly remember what it is you are giving to the Lord. Then silently in prayer, offer it to Him.
SILENT PRAYER
12. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall be my servant also; if any one serves me, the Father will honor
him. (John 12:24-26)
13. You have made an offering to the Lord that can open up the personal relationship that is going to be the major source of your healing. Praise God!
14. Now what?
a The next step may be up to Him
b. You need to spend time with Him, to get to know Him more intimately. That means time in prayer, in the Bible, in church, and with His people.
c. Two things you are going to find out:
(1). Love is the greatest motivator to obedience there is. We will do so much more for
love than we will out of fear or a sense of duty. As you grow in your loving relationship with Him, it will become much easier to be obedient.
(2). The other thing is that while you are walking with Him—with your friend, Jesus--you
are on the path He has laid out for you. While you are on that path, you are in the place where many wonderful things can happen, including miracles.
PRAYER:
Father, I pray for each person in this program that they will truly come to know you in the deepest way possible; that you will, for them, be the support, comfort and friend, they need so much. I pray not only for their healing through their relationship with you, but that one day even this wonderful healing will seem insignificant compared to the joy of truly knowing you. In Jesus’ name. AMEN.
Scripture Memory Verse:
Hebrews 2:18 (NASB) For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has
suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
Assignment for the Week:
1. When you prayed in class, you were to write in your notes those important parts
of your addiction that you were willing to surrender to Jesus. Now, take a
separate piece of paper and copy those things that you surrendered. Pray again,
making these a true offering to the Lord, and then take the list and destroy it. As
a symbolic act either burn the list, or tear it up into tiny pieces and flush it down
the drain or bury it. Let this be like a sacramental death to this part of you.
2. In the teaching we discussed four needs of the overcomer that can be met
through his personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They were:
Love
Affirmation
Power (over sin)
Faithfulness
Select the one that you think represents your greatest need, and write a brief
prayer on your Weekly Prayer Journal sheet asking Jesus to meet that need.
Pray this prayer each day this week.
3. Daily review the Scripture verses in this lesson.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Encouraging Evangelistic Quotes
"The saving of souls, if a man has once gained love to perishing sinners and his blessed master, will be an all-absorbing passion to him. It will so carry him away, that he will almost forget himself in the saving of others. He will be like the brave fireman, who cares not for the scorch or the heat, so that he may rescue the poor creature on whom true humanity has set its heart. If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for."
---Charles Spurgeon
“ I do not believe that any man can preach the gospel who does not preach the Law...Lower the Law and you dim the light by which man perceives his guilt. This is a very serious loss to the sinner rather than a gain, for it lessens the likelihood of his conviction and conversion I say you have deprived the gospel of its ablest auxiliary [its most powerful weapon] when you have set aside the Law. You have taken away from it the schoolmaster that is to bring men to Christ...They will never accept grace till they tremble before a just and holy Law. Therefore the Law serves a most necessary purpose, and it must not be removed from its place."
---Charles Spurgeon
“People will never set their faces decidedly towards heaven, and live like pilgrims, until they really feel that they are in danger of hell...Let us expound and beat out the Ten Commandments, and show the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of their requirements. This is the way of our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount. We cannot do better than follow His plan. We may depend on it: men will never come to Jesus, and stay with Jesus, and live for Jesus, unless they really know why they are to come, and what is their need. Those whom the Spirit draws to Jesus are those whom the Spirit has convinced of sin. Without thorough conviction of sin, men may seem to come to Jesus and follow Him for a season, but they will soon fall away and return to the world."
--J.C. Ryle
“Just as the world was not ready for the New Testament before it received the Old, just as the Jews were not prepared for the ministry of Christ until John the Baptist had gone before Him with his claimant call to repentance, so the unsaved are in no condition today for the Gospel till the Law be applied to their hearts, for "by the Law is the knowledge of sin." It is a waste of time to sow seed on ground which has never been ploughed or spaded! To present the vicarious sacrifice of Christ to those whose dominant passion is to take fill of sin, is to give that which is holy to the dogs."
--A.W. Pink
“Even if I were utterly selfish and had no care for anything but my own happiness, I would choose, if God allowed, to be a soul winner, for never did I know perfect, overflowing, unutterable happiness of the purest and most ennobling order till I first heard of one who had sought and found a Savior through my means.”
--Charles Spurgeon
"Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell.”
--C.T. Studd
“ To try to win a soul to Christ by keeping that soul in ignorance of any truth, is contrary to the mind of the Spirit; and endeavor to save men by mere claptrap, or excitement, or oratorical display, is as foolish as to hope to hold an angel with bird-line, or lure a star with music. The best attraction is the gospel in its purity. The weapon with which the Lord conquers men is the truth as it is in Jesus. The gospel will be found equal to every emergency; an arrow which can pierce the hardest heart, a balm which will heal the deadliest wound. Preach it, and preach nothing else. Rely implicitly upon the old, old gospel. You need not other nets when you fish for men; those your Master has given you are strong enough for the great fishes, and have meshes fine enough to hold the little ones. Spread those nets and no others, and you need not fear the fulfillment of His Word, "I will make you fishers of men."
--Charles Spurgeon
"I simply argue that the cross should be raised at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town's garbage heap; at a crossroad, so cosmopolitan they had to write His title in Hebrew and Latin and Greek...at the kind of a place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because that is where He died. And that is what He died for. And that is what He died about. That is where churchmen ought to be and what churchmen ought to be about."
--George MacLeod
---Charles Spurgeon
“ I do not believe that any man can preach the gospel who does not preach the Law...Lower the Law and you dim the light by which man perceives his guilt. This is a very serious loss to the sinner rather than a gain, for it lessens the likelihood of his conviction and conversion I say you have deprived the gospel of its ablest auxiliary [its most powerful weapon] when you have set aside the Law. You have taken away from it the schoolmaster that is to bring men to Christ...They will never accept grace till they tremble before a just and holy Law. Therefore the Law serves a most necessary purpose, and it must not be removed from its place."
---Charles Spurgeon
“People will never set their faces decidedly towards heaven, and live like pilgrims, until they really feel that they are in danger of hell...Let us expound and beat out the Ten Commandments, and show the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of their requirements. This is the way of our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount. We cannot do better than follow His plan. We may depend on it: men will never come to Jesus, and stay with Jesus, and live for Jesus, unless they really know why they are to come, and what is their need. Those whom the Spirit draws to Jesus are those whom the Spirit has convinced of sin. Without thorough conviction of sin, men may seem to come to Jesus and follow Him for a season, but they will soon fall away and return to the world."
--J.C. Ryle
“Just as the world was not ready for the New Testament before it received the Old, just as the Jews were not prepared for the ministry of Christ until John the Baptist had gone before Him with his claimant call to repentance, so the unsaved are in no condition today for the Gospel till the Law be applied to their hearts, for "by the Law is the knowledge of sin." It is a waste of time to sow seed on ground which has never been ploughed or spaded! To present the vicarious sacrifice of Christ to those whose dominant passion is to take fill of sin, is to give that which is holy to the dogs."
--A.W. Pink
“Even if I were utterly selfish and had no care for anything but my own happiness, I would choose, if God allowed, to be a soul winner, for never did I know perfect, overflowing, unutterable happiness of the purest and most ennobling order till I first heard of one who had sought and found a Savior through my means.”
--Charles Spurgeon
"Some wish to live within the sound of a chapel bell; I wish to run a rescue mission within a yard of hell.”
--C.T. Studd
“ To try to win a soul to Christ by keeping that soul in ignorance of any truth, is contrary to the mind of the Spirit; and endeavor to save men by mere claptrap, or excitement, or oratorical display, is as foolish as to hope to hold an angel with bird-line, or lure a star with music. The best attraction is the gospel in its purity. The weapon with which the Lord conquers men is the truth as it is in Jesus. The gospel will be found equal to every emergency; an arrow which can pierce the hardest heart, a balm which will heal the deadliest wound. Preach it, and preach nothing else. Rely implicitly upon the old, old gospel. You need not other nets when you fish for men; those your Master has given you are strong enough for the great fishes, and have meshes fine enough to hold the little ones. Spread those nets and no others, and you need not fear the fulfillment of His Word, "I will make you fishers of men."
--Charles Spurgeon
"I simply argue that the cross should be raised at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town's garbage heap; at a crossroad, so cosmopolitan they had to write His title in Hebrew and Latin and Greek...at the kind of a place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because that is where He died. And that is what He died for. And that is what He died about. That is where churchmen ought to be and what churchmen ought to be about."
--George MacLeod
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