Sermon: Enlightened, Transformed, Healed by Beholding Jesus in the Word

Thank you, Pastor Gordon and the rest of the pastoral team for letting me speaking to the whole church today.

I really appreciate it!

All of this started out with the blessed opportunity to share a great testimony, which I will share again.

Thursday, April 21, I had a stroke! I am only 41 years old, and I had a stroke! I suddenly had trouble swallowing, and I felt numbness along the right side of my body. When I called 9-11, I could not speak or saying anything intelligible.

But instead of panicking or getting afraid, I remembered God’s Word, God’s promises for me, and I declared in my mind, even if I could not say it out of my mouth:

“I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.” (Psalm 118:17)

I have a picture on my door at home, and I declare another promise, that I will live to be 120 years old. That’s a promise we can bank on because of these verses:

“And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.” (Genesis 6:3)

The second time that 120 is mentioned, as in 120 years, takes place in Deuteronomy, when Moses dies:

“And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.” (Deuteronomy 34:7)

We can rest and receive this promise, because of what God has done for us through His Son Jesus!

Consider the last verse in Psalm 91:

“With long life will I satisfy him, and shew him my salvation.” (Psalm 91:16)

That last word says it all: Salvation!

We can trust and believe for long life, because of Jesus! He is our Life:

“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:4)

So, when I had my stroke, I called 911, and paramedics arrived on scene to assist me. By the time they arrived, all the symptoms were gone. I could talk, I could drink, and I felt no numbness in the right side of my body. They told me to go to urgent care, which I did. The doctor told me “You’re going into emergency. This is very serious. It’s better to have long period of aggravation than to take a chance, suffer later.”

So, there I was in the emergency room. And then they told me that I was going to stay for the evening. They didn’t know why I had a stroke. My blood pressure was OK, and they did some initial scans, and they found evidence of a suspected stroke. But that was it.

While I was in the hospital room, I started praying the first prayer that Paul the Apostle shares with the Ephesians church. That has been a prayer that I have been praying a great deal for the last year and a half:

“15Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; 17That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,” (Ephesians 1:15-18)

I want to see more of Jesus! I want to see Him!

I want to share with you the New Living Translation of Ephesians 1:18:

“I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.” (Ephesians 1:18, NLT)

In these really tough times, when there are troubles on every side, it’s so important to see Him!

Jesus is alive! He is alive in our everyday lives, because He is our life. I feel that many believers in the Body of Christ know that Jesus died for them, but they don’t see Him as a living, moving, active Savior in every day of their walk on this earth.

Now, the question comes up: how do I see Jesus? What is the best way to see Him?

Jesus Himself provides the way!

Turn with me to Luke 24: [Spence, I will tell you how to bring up the verses, one at a time---Luke 24: 13-24]

“13And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. 14And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them.” (Luke 24: 13-15]

Check that out! Jesus HIMSELF! Drew near!

 16But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.

Some people have suggested that Jesus withheld the two of them from seeing Him. I don’t receive that, because Jesus is the Light of the World (John 8:12). I will explain later why I think these two disciples did not recognize Jesus at first.

17And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? (Luke 24:17)

I want to park here for a second. Notice how Jesus, who has risen from the dead, purged all our sins, fulfilled so many prophecies, steps into the life of these two downcast disciples. He cares for your, believers, and now matter how bad the situation may seem, Jesus is there with you!

18And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? 19And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: 20And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. (Luke 24:18-20)

Notice how Cleopas refers to Jesus as a prophet. Yes, He served as a prophet during His earthly ministry. But Jesus did not come to earth to reveal God’s judgment against us, nor to remind everyone of their sins. He came to become sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.

The fact that Jesus was crucified, the worst death imaginable, was a really crushing blow to the disciples. And why?

21But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. 22Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre; 23And when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive. 24And certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the women had said: but him they saw not.” (Luke 24:21-24)

Notice that the disciples major focus is Israel. They saw Jesus as a means to an end. They saw Jesus as a political Messiah who would restore the glory of Israel. Don’t get me wrong. Israel is being restored right now, and when Jesus comes back, He will be reigning from Jerusalem.

But the focus is on Jesus, on Himself!

And Jesus gently corrects them:

25Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: 26Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? 27And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” (Luke 24:25-27)

When Jesus opened the Scriptures to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, He taught of HIMSELF!

He didn’t talk about having a good marriage, or how to improve your bank account, or how to get healing. He didn’t even talk about how to have great faith. Jesus is not a means to an end. He is the means and the end. He declares the end from the beginning. It’s all about Him!

He taught of Himself!

We want to be caught up in Himself! We want to see more of Himself! It’s all about Him!

“15Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: 16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. (Colossians 1:15-17)

Peter’s last words in the New Testament are:

“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.” (2 Peter 3:18)

Paul was really clear about his focus when he ministered to the Corinthian church:

“For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2)

I used to struggle with this verse, because it seemed to impractical to me. When Paul says that he knew nothing among them but Christ and Him Crucified, I immediately start asking “But how does that help me with this problem or that problem? What I am supposed to do with myself, with my life?”

The mistake that I made was thinking that Paul was talking about Jesus as though He is some static figure. But Jesus is alive, active, working in our lives, working behind the scenes caring for us! When we see Him in the Gospels, we see a living Savior who provides for our needs, who over-answers our prayers! (Ephesians 3:20)

He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8)

Now, I mentioned above how Jesus taught of Himself. He didn’t teach about faith, did He? It’s not that faith is not important.

But how do we get faith?

“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)

That’s the KJV, but let’s take a look at the NIV:

“Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” (Romans 10:17)

And here’s the American Standard Version:

“So belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

The original Greek reads “Rhema Christou.” It’s the Word of Christ, not the Word of God. We want to see everything in the Word through the Finished Work of JESUS! We need to see everything in the Word, from Genesis to Revelation, through the lens of the New Covenant, in which Jesus has paid for all our sins, and brings us into a New and everlasting covenant.

Let me take a little time to share with all of you what is in the New Covenant. We are all hearing about it, but what does it actually say?

“10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

This new covenant is all about what God does. It’s not about us keeping commandments, following the steps, but believing in Him, that Jesus has taken all our sins and has justified us, brought us into right relationship with God the Father, our Father!

Jesus himself—there’s that “Himself” again!—said to the Israelites during His earthly ministry:

“Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.” (John 6:29)

We have to rightly divide the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15)!

There are some passages in which God declares to the Israelites:

“I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me,” (Deuteronomy 5:9)

But that’s the Old Covenant! We are now longer under law, under the Old Covenant, but under grace, under the New Covenant! (Romans 6:14)

“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.” (1 Peter 2:24)

And

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Under the Old Covenant, God will curse those who don’t keep the law:

“Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of this law to do them. And all the people shall say, Amen.” (Deuteronomy 27:26)

But under grace, under the New Covenant:

“10For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 11But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. 12And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. 13Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Galatians 3:10-14)

Whenever we open up the Scriptures, we want a revelation of Jesus, our Messiah, who suffered, died, was buried, rose from the dead for our justification, and who ministers for us after the power of an endless life! (Hebrews 7:16)

Some may counter: How is it practical for us to look at Jesus in the Word? How does that help me?

Check out this wonderful verse:

“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Notice how Paul writes “we are changed,” or rather we are transformed. We do not transform ourselves. The Holy Spirit transforms us. When we see Jesus, when we receive greater revelations of Himself, He transforms us! God the Father shows us His Son Jesus! When we see Him, we are transformed from glory to glory!

Jesus is the answer to every problem, to every challenge, to every question we face:

“But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:” (1 Corinthians 1:30)

He is our new identity! We are in Christ, and Christ is in us! Therefore, we want to spend as much time as we can knowing Him, seeing Him in the Word!

“Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.” (1 John 4:17)

That verse is translated in accurately, because it is not our live that is perfected, but His love is perfected among us. That’s the proper translation of the verse there.

To wrap up, I want to get back to a point I brought up earlier. In Luke 24, Cleopas and the wife could not see Jesus, or rather they did not recognize Him. Why?

2 Corinthians 4 gives us the answer:

3But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 4In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.(2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

And we find the solution back in 2 Corinthians 3:

“12Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech: 13And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: 14But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 3:12-14)

When you show people JESUS in the Word, and stop looking for yourself or at yourself, you see what the Word is really all about!

Cleopas and the wife did not believe that the Messiah would suffer for our sins, and by His stripes, we would be healed. They were focused only the political restoration. They missed the other part. But I would also add, if people are going to the Bible to look for themselves, to look for tips on how to live, how to make ourselves right, we are going to miss Jesus. We are not going to see Him, and we will nto be transformed.

If you look for yourself, you are going to be depressed and frustrated. But if you look for Jesus, you will be transformed from glory to glory, fortified with His Wisdom, filled with a greater revelation of our Loving Father’s love for us, gaining a greater awareness of all that He has done for us, is doing through, and will do with us! AMEN!

And one last thing to tie together the revelation I received last week. I talked about living to 120 years old right? We know that Moses lived to 120 years, and his eyes did not grow dim, not was his natural force abated.

How was this possible? Because He saw Jesus!

“By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.” (Hebrews 11:27)

He renews our youth like the eagle’s!

It’s all about Jesus, and it’s all about seeing Him!

[Preached at Believers Victory International Church, Carson CA, May 1, 2022]

Look at Jesus, and You Look Away from Yourself

 

 

"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2)

We are not supposed to look at ourselves.

But the problem for so many of us is that we focus on "not looking" at ourselves.

We need to look at Jesus!

The word "looking" is ἀφοράω aphoraó in the original Greek, which means "to look away from all else."

We want to look at Himself, not at ourselves.

It's not about us. It's never been about us, our feelings, our thoughts, our trials, our troubles.

Jesus, who holds the Universe and everything in it altogether (Colossians 1:15)

There are lots of noises, fears, premonitions, concerns, regrets, bitter feelings, bad memories, worries, outrages that can well up insde of us.

For me, there was often drama in the back of my head. That's the locus for those distractions. For other people, they may sense something in front of their minds, on the side, etc.

All of these fiery darts can distract people in such terrible ways.

But again, the solution to these distraction has to be more than a mere negation. We need to look at something, or better yet SOMEONE better!

That Someone is Jesus!

He is the Author and Finisher of Faith! He is the one who inspires our trust, and causes us to rest from all our painful toil and self-serving slavery.

It's all about seeing Him at work in and around us. He is our life. He is our health, He is our new identity before God the Father:

"But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:" (Ephesians 2:4-6)

and

"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)

We have a new identity in Christ. We are a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

It's all about him.

We no longer look at ourselves, as though we have to compensate for God missing something or overlooking a need in our lives:

"1If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. 2Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 3For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." (Colossians 3:1-4)

Too many Christians are not looking to Jesus. They look to Jesus and something or someone else. They look to Jesus and their problems. They look to Jesus and other people in their lives. They look to Jesus and the church, their traditions, their past, the opinions of others, their memories.

All of this is doomed to fail. Jesus is our success, our life, our new Gospel hope. There is no reason, no right for us to look to anyone or anything else to see us through.

For this post, and I hope for all future posts, there will be less focus on myself, but more on Himself.

I will add this part, though: for a long time, I was quite confused about what the thoughts, drama, issues, hurts, worries that would emerge in the back of my mind. For too long, I was convinced that I had to do something about them.

Today, I realize how all of this is just focus on self. That is precisely what Daddy God frees us from when we look at Jesus!

We look to Him, and we look away from everything else, including ourselves!

All of the negative thoughts and feelings, all of the pains and the hurts, all of this mess just falls away as I look to Jesus!

He is indeed the End of all our Struggles! YES!

Dealing with Sexual Brokenness, and Where the Church is Still Missing It

 I just saw this article on CBN News:

From Ravi Zacharias to Josh Duggar, Why Leaders Fall toSexual Brokenness

It was written by Josh McDowell and Ben Bennett. They are two powerhouses of the faith, especially in the realms of apologetics and doctrine, especially to a secular age overwhelmed with anti-Christian sentiment.

The headline poses a worthy question: why are leaders in Christendom falling into sexual sin? Why is there this explosion of sexual perversion in the church, or at least so it seems?

Ravi Zacharias, Carl Lentz, Josh Duggar ... the list goes on. Why do leaders continue to fall into extramarital affairs, sexual abuse, and porn?

Why is this happening? Some research suggests that 40% of Christians are still struggling with porn addiction. This is in the Body of Christ! What is going on?

The aftershocks have been devastating, causing feelings of betrayal, deep pain, and trauma that make life in this new normal even more unbearable, uncertain, and confusing. This pain has led many into skepticism resulting in abandoning their faith.

I do understand the feelings of pain, but betrayal? Honestly, fellow believers in the Body of Christ need to stop putting their hope and trust in their pastors, in other people. This is a magnified problem. We are called to One Person: Jesus Christ. We are not called to princes, pastors, or potentates. We are called to One Prince of Peace.

Are these crises simply a matter of broken human nature, and might we be just a moment away from similar acts? Or is the reality more complex?

We would like to propose that many people suffer from a significant growth gap—a tendency to focus more on spiritual activity than spiritual identity. Many churches have a typical growth model where people are thought to grow primarily by external activity–-serving in church, praying, and Bible reading. There is a better way: one of internal maturation spiritually, emotionally, and relationally. We must deal with our pain and the unhealthy relational and family dynamics we grew up in, move from isolation to connection, and grow into who God has made us to be so that we will be able to love Him and others.

This is a profoundly correct assessment. Too many of us will think that someone is spiritually mature because they are doing a lot of "stuff." The issue is indeed identity! Who are we?

Do we see ourselves as Beloved Children of the Living God?

"And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God." (Romans 9:26)

Do we know that we are accepted (highly favored) in the Beloved Son, Jesus Christ? (Ephesians 1:6)

I submit that many Christians do not know this, or they do not believe it:

"And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." (1 John 4:16)

How often do we hear about God's love for us preached? How often do we hear about Jesus in our churches and in our pulpits?

After being sexually abused as a child and experiencing pain from my dysfunctional family, I (Josh) harbored deep hurts. When I became a Christian many things did improve, but eventually my unresolved pain caught up to me. Even though my ministry thrived, I didn't. I found myself exhausted, angry, and struggling to cope with unhealed emotional wounds. For example, whenever my mom complained about the abuse she received from my father, I bore the responsibility for stopping him and carrying the burden of my mom's emotional distress. Rescuing loved ones became one of the few ways I could gain my family's acceptance and love. Unfortunately, this behavior continued into my adult life; the world's problems were mine to solve. I remember this growth gap well. Do you find this familiar?

Notice how Josh McDowell talks about trying to earn acceptance and love. That is so contrary to the Gospel. We ARE already accepted in Christ Jesus! That is amazing! It takes time for our minds to be renewed to othis revelation. (Romans 12:2)

Although rescuing gave me temporary value and a counterfeit version of the acceptance God longed for me to experience, I was emotionally a wounded little boy in many ways. I had not outgrown that survival mechanism even when I was well into my fifties. My emotional growth was stunted because I hadn't dealt with unresolved parts of my story; this inhibited my relationship with God, myself, and others. Angry, exhausted, and struggling to go on, I needed serious healing.

Abuse in childhood leads to so much wrong believing in adulthood. Yes, indeed.

Similarly, I (Ben) grew up struggling with deep wounds, confusion, and trauma. I felt that I couldn't meet my dad's expectations, and I often faced his disapproval and intense anger. In addition, I was constantly bullied for being overweight and a Christian. Despite the decision I made to follow Christ at a young age, somehow I became a hostage to spiraling fear, anxiety, and depression that, at times, caused me to dissociate from the present.

There is so much condemnation, even in churches. There is such a focus on getting people to change their behavior (i.e. spiritual activity) rather than metanoia, i.e. change one's beliefs, one's thinking (i.e. spiritual identity).

Then came my struggle with food, porn, and alcohol, which unfortunately lasted through my first couple of years in full-time ministry. Although I constantly prayed, studied Scripture, and faithfully served at church, my struggles only escalated. Suicidal thoughts joined the cacophony of chaos inside my head. Could God really heal me and set me free? Could things ever really improve?

Yes, but He changes us, not we ourselves.

Our stories aren't anomalies. After 75+ years of combined ministry, we've seen so much brokenness, hurt, and addiction. The world is in crisis, and we need a radical move of God to heal our brokenness and bring about abundant wholeness. However, we won't experience this better life until we confront the root cause of this widespread brokenness. This is one of the reasons we developed the Wholeness Apologetic Model. Through research and biblical truth, this model details how we heal, experience freedom from unhealthy behaviors, and mature spiritually, emotionally, and relationally. Together, we are on a mission to help others break Free to Thrive—to live the abundant Christian life.

Now here come my concerns. There is all this talk about our living the Christian life. Christ is our live. We are called to a Person, folks. Not to principles, precepts, or programs.

Though I (Josh) had a theological degree, best-selling books, and a global ministry that reached millions annually, my own spiritual growth was stunted. On the outside I may have looked like a spiritually mature Christian leader, but that was a superficial appearance. A key principle of the Wholeness Apologetic Model explains that our spiritual maturity isn't determined by our level of knowledge about God nor by the number of good things we do or how much we pray, read the Bible, serve, or go to church. Rather, spiritual maturity is a product of our love for God, ourselves, and others, unmistakably resulting in Christ-likeness. Stated another way, mature Christians are emotionally and relationally whole Christians.

This paragraph is completely wrong. Our maturity is not based on our love for God. 

Spiritual maturity is based on our revelation of God's love for us! We need to understand more of how much He loves us!

This theme could not be made any clearer in Scripture, throughout the New Testament!

"We love because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19)

and

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10)

and

"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not." (1 John 3:1)

Notice that John wants us to behold the Father's love for us! It's not about our love for Him. It's all about His love for us.

And consider -- if someone is bogged down in addictions of some kind, John gives the reason why:

"15Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." (1 John 2:15-16)

Why do men and women in ministry still struggle with all kinds of issues, hardships, mental anguish, bondages, and addictions? The love of the Father is not in them.

It's not "The Love for the Father." It's about His love for us!

I am so frustrated that there are so many men and women of the Faith who are not focusing on Jesus and all that He is providing for us. There is such a strong insistence on putting more effort, more work, more struggle on the believer. "You need to love God more!" "You need to do more for God, and not just do more!"

And all this time, they are still missing the basic, wonderful wisdom of God's Word to resolve all these issues.

And let us never forget that Christ is our Wisdom, too, first and foremost! (1 Corinthians 1:30)

In the Bible, we see this model illustrated by Jesus in Luke 2:52: "And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man." In addition, Jesus shows the direct connection between our relationship with God (spiritual), ourselves (emotional), and others (relational) when he sums up the law: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind ... And ... 'Love others as much as you love yourself'" (Matthew 22:37, 39 CEV).

That is the law. That is not grace. That is not the New Covenant. Oh, foolish and slow of heart to believe! (Luke 24:25) It's so frustrating that so many preachers do not rightly divide the Word of Truth (2 Timothy 2:15). We are no longer under law, trying to relate to Daddy God based on rules and regulations. It's about relationship, and it is about reality.

So many Christians do not understand this wonderful movement, this wonderful transformation. They want to live under law, they want to still earn goody-goody points, when that is not of faith!

Bottom line, if we don't deal with our own stuff, other people will have to. What isn't healed will be revealed: Whether we knowingly hide our sins and unhealthy habits or are just unaware of the unresolved, unmet needs and pain from our past, everything will be brought to light—possibly with the devastating consequence of having God's name and our unhealthy brokenness publicly strewn across news headlines. Luke 8:17 conveys this principle best: "For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all" (NLT).

Who said anything about us dealing with our own stuff? If we could deal with our own stuff, Josh and Ben, then Jesus would not have needed to die on the Cross in the first place!

All this man-centered pop-psych is causing the church to go "Pop!"

After constantly feeling on the verge of emotional and physical exhaustion, I (Josh) finally hit my breaking point. I called Dr. Henry Cloud, a close friend and the best psychologist I know, and we began meeting weekly. Dr. Cloud helped me understand my heart's deep, unmet longings, which had been compounded since my childhood. Although I thought I had moved beyond my issues, I discovered problems I had buried alive and the wake of destruction that I had left behind.

Those unmet longings are met in Christ. Do they not see Him as real? Do they not recognize that Jesus is alive and is caring for them actively? We need to see more of Him, and know that He is for us. We need to stop doing more, and ask the LORD to help us see more!

"17That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: 18The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints," (Ephesians 1:17-18)

and

"16That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." (Ephesians 3:16-19)

I thank God for providing a friend and therapist to kickstart my journey toward healing and freedom. Henry helped me quench these unwanted behaviors in healthy, satisfying ways. Over several years, God healed me and gave me eyes to see myself as He did. And I also learned how to set healthy boundaries—to give and receive love and acceptance from God and others.

Let me be clear: there is nothing wrong with seeking out a Christian counselor to help deal with serious emotional pain. But connection with other people should at its core and mission point people to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of Faith (Hebrews 12:1-2)

After hitting bottom, I (Ben) also decided to go all in to overcome my past struggles. After years of trauma therapy, recovery groups, and counseling, I saw God bring understanding, healing, and freedom. My hurts from previous relationships found healing in healthy, new relationships as God and others began to meet my hunger for acceptance, safety, and love. Over time, I was set free from lifelong struggles with food, porn, and alcohol.

I submit that more people need to hear about Jesus. They need to hear about His perfect, unconditional unending love for all of us. They need to understand that God's love for us is not based on fancy or feelings, but is a real, rugged, righteous hug from the eternal Loving Father. We are not in love with a vision statement or a principle. We are called into loving family relationship with Jesus!

Jesus's invitation to us is to seek health and healing today. In turn, our goal is to create healthy communities that value who we're becoming over what we're doing. Finally, remember that Jesus's words tell us to not simply make converts but rather create disciples—"teaching them to obey everything I have commanded" (Matthew 28:20). Therefore, let's endeavor to reproduce mature disciples who are growing spiritually, emotionally, and relationally into the full measure of Christ.

Jesus is our health. Jesus is our healing. It shocks me to what extent men and women in the church still talk about all these other ideas and programs for helping people, when the truth is that we need to see Jesus. We need more favor, we need to understand the full extent of our new righteous standing, identity, and future in Christ Jesus.

I agree with both of the authors that the issues facing us in all our hurts and failures has to do with a lack of understanding of our identity in Christ. However, churches and leaders in the United States are still determined to focus people on themselves when we need them to look at Jesus! How are we supposed to know who we are, if we do not know whose we are?

When I started learning about the Gospel of Grace ten years ago, I had no idea how alive and active Jesus is. I did not see Him who has been from the beginning (1 John 2:13). I was so stuck, so caught in wrong thinking, wrong believing. There was so much baggage, indeed so much abuse from what I had endured, especially spiritual intimidation. My parents did not rightly divide the Word of Truth, and they had no knowledge of Old and New Covenants.

Without the revelation that we are no longer under law, and that the grace of God is superabounding fully in our lives, we are doomed, inevitably, to trust in our own efforts, to think that we struck, left to our own devices. For the longest time, I was convinced that I had to do my part, watch my thinking, feeling, and actions. I had to make sure that I did not lose focus on the Lord. I also did not know how to reconcile my new standing as the righteousness of God in Christ, yet I would still see bad actions, behaviors, and thoughts in my life.

This goes back to spiritual identity. Remember, I give Josh McDowell and Ben Bennett where they deserve it. I did not realize that who I am in Christ does not change, regardless of my behavior. Too many Christians today still judge their standing by their actions, rather than judging their actions by their standing. Worse yet, they do not realize that God is active and alive in their actions and lives. They think that God is still some figment of their imaginations, off somewhere far, far away, not interested in the so-called trivial matters of our lives.

None of this true. God our loving Father is deeply in love with each of us. He wants to commune with us so deeply, so intimately. He is working hard in every aspect of our lives. A life of faith is not about feelings, but it is not fantasy, either. Let's never forget that.

Most importantly, though, our new life in Christ is a new identity. We are now sons and daughters of the Living God. This does not change based on how we feel or what we think. Amen!

If people in the Body of Christ are still suffering with sexual addictions, the answer is Jesus. He is the end of our struggles. We need a greater revelation of Himself and His Finished Work. We need to continue preaching and delivering the grace of God to a heavily-laden, law-weary world stuck in their own efforts and failures.

Final Summary

Yes, the Church has an identity. Christians don't know who they are. But the solution to this problem is not to focus on themselves. If we want to know who we are, we need to focus on Jesus. 

"Herein is love perfected among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)

People really need to start meditating on this revelation. We need to focus on Jesus, not ourselves. Focus on His Finished Work, not our sins. Focus on what He has made us, not what we must do to remake ourselves.

Our New Identity in Christ -- As He Is, So Are We

  Thank You, Father, for your patience with me.

It has taken me so long to understand how fundamental, how unshakable is my new identity before You, in Your Son Jesus.

This has taken me a long time to understand.

For the last few months, little by little, You have guided me to be set free:

"9Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.

"10For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:" (Isaiah 28:9-10)

As I quote the verse, I notice the key element for those who understand doctrine: those who have been weaned from milk.

This metaphor indicates those who understand righteousness as a gift, not as a work:

"12For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. 13For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe." (Hebrews 5:12-13)

When we understand that we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21), we are able to understand more and more from the LORD, here and there and here and there!

That is where I am now! 

I am less and less hung up on this false notion that I have to think and feel a certain way to know that God is with me. I am no longer deceived by the falsehood which implies that if I feel bad, or get fearful, or something else happens, that somehow God may or may not be there for me.

It all now rests on the more profound understanding of this basic revelation: God is my Daddy, and I am His child.

I am indeed His Son, and that does not change, no matter how I feel or what I am going through. 

He was still my Father, and I was still His child, even when:

1. My mother left me at the airport when I was 14 years old.

2. My father did nothing about the abuses perpetrated by my mother.

3. I struggled with all kinds of perversions in my flesh. 

4. I walked off of so many jobs in my life, and wondered many times how I was going to pay the rent, or get through the month.

5. I got arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced.

6. A corrupt judge wanted to place me in contempt of court on a flimsy pretext, just to defend marauding Black Lives Matter bigots.

No matter what I am feeling, no matter what I am thinking, no matter what I am doing, and no matter what I am going through, I am a child of God. That is not going to change, diminish, or disappear in any way. 

This is truly wonderful for me. For the longest time, when things would get difficult, or I faced challenges of some kind, or I would get fearful.

Yes, especially when I would get fearful ... I often felt that I had done something wrong, or that God was automatically displeased with me when I would get afraid.

Now, I understand this verse very well:

"The king's wrath is as the roaring of a lion; but his favour is as dew upon the grass." (Proverbs 19:12)

A number of pastors have discovered that Satan's trick is to give the impression that God our Father is mad at us:

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:" (1 Peter 5:8)

However, we can rest assured that our Daddy God will never be mad at us again, because of all that Christ Jesus has accomplished on the Cross:

"For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee." (Isaiah 54:9)

Jesus took all the pains, hurts, punishments that we deserve. There is discipline, because our Loving Father cares for us, but He will never again be angry with us or rebuke us. AMEN!

So, I am more settled and resolved than ever, in the full knowledge that I am a child of God, that no matter what I feel, what I think, I am in Christ, and I am God's child.

In light of this increasingly profound revelation, God expounded to me this verse in a very important light:

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15)

I was so focused on "The Love of the Father", and that's right and proper.

But there was something else to this. We can understand God's love for us best when we understand that we are His children!

Why do we long for the things of this world? Why do the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life overtake us? We don't see ourselves as God's beloved sons and daughters!

Yet, if we want love perfected within and among us, then we need to rest in this solemn, wonderful promise:

"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)

As He Is, So Are We In This World!

It's amazing, wonderful, and remarkable how often I hear and receive continued, ongoing revelation from this verse! At the outset, I had started my Christian blog based on this revelation.

To this day, I am still learning so much from this verse!

For the longest time, I would get so caught up in how fearful, unhappy, or angry I would feel, and thus sense that I had to do something about those feelings in order for God to be present to me.

Now I am realizing an even greater revelation: God is for me, and He is for me so clearly and unshakably because of my new identity in Christ. I cannot be separated from my Savior. There is no way that I can be separated from my Father!

It's so simple, it's so amazing, and yet it has taken so long to get this wonderful, sovereign revelation to be established in me.

Then again, I should not feel bad about this. After all, Paul wrote:

"38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38-39)

"I am persuaded" ... it took Paul time to understand this revelation that we can never be separated from the love of God, and that this love is toward us as we are in Christ Jesus.

Furthemore, Paul prayed to the Ephesians:

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love," (Ephesians 3:17)

The Ephesian church was the most mature when it came to the revelation of God's love for them, and yet even then Paul prayed that they would be rooted and grounded in His love.

That's where I am today! Thank you, Jesus!

Made the Righteousness of God in Him

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

For the last three days, I have been meditating on my new identity in Christ.

For everyone who believes in Jesus, they are members of a ROYAL PRIESTHOOD (1 Peter 2:9).

Not just priests, but kings and priests, like wonderful Melchizedek, the King of Righteousness who was also the Priest of God Most High.

This is who I am. I am in Christ, and as He is, so are we in this world. (1 John 4:17).

It's amazing how often I was still tying my identity to how I felt, or what I was thinking.

It's very trying, and tiresome, that I have to revisit and repeat this challenge for myself, but as I continue to see Jesus, I do find that indeed, I am transformed from glory to glory, beholding Him! (2 Corinthians 3:16-18).

It's no longer about correcting or changing my thoughts or feelings. It's not about me. It's all about Him.

Jesus, it's all about You!

I get it now! There is no more "I have to do my part", and it was so insidious, since for years, I was constantly fighting all the noise and nonsense in my head. 

Who I am in Christ, has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with Him!

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Jesus became sin, that we might be made, not become, not transition slowly. We have been made the righteousness of God in Christ.

We are in Christ, we are complete in Him. He is our life. He is our new identity, our new self, if you will.

This revelation, I have written about, posted about, talked about for a long time, and it amazes me that yet still this new knowledge takes so much time to become full realized within me.

My standing as a righteous person has nothing to do with me. Our righteousness is a gift, a perfect standing, a new identity which does not go away.

But the struggles continued, and the question would come up: "Why do I still sin (verb)? Why are there still bad habits in my experience?"

Paul Ellis gave the perfect answer: "We are learning to walk in our new identities. It's no longer about our efforts, but His effort." 

It's such a temptation in our experience, in our walk on this earth, to think that we need to "do something more". That temptation has gotten in my way so many times. When I would have negative thoughts, feelings, emotions, recriminations. When I would remember bad people doing bad things to me, since memories will come and go in that fashion, I would get set off kilter, if you will, lose my balance, feel compelled to do something to get back to the stable station which I had enjoyed before.

But you cannot "go back" to what you already ARE. That confusion creates more pain. There is nothing more that needs to be done, in order to be righteous, or more precisely, to be made the righteousess of God.

Over the past few days, the sense of a golden crown around my head has become more apparent. I know that I am using a metaphor, but honestly, this is completely in line with what I was studying in Scripture yesterday. It started with this verse:

"She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee." (Proverbs 4:9)

"She" refers to Wisdom, but we see more importantly a pre-incarnate type of Jesus, who is our Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1:30)

That word "ornament", or wreath comes from the word "to join", from which the name Levi is derived. Levi was the priestly tribe. Here, we see an excellent type for our royal priestly status through Christ Jesus. Amen!

There is no need to go back and forth in one's mind to be safe and settled about who we are in Christ. For too long, far too long, I was convinced that my identity was tied up in my thoughts, my feelings. What madness, I know, but that is what I had believed.

Today, by the grace of God, I am what I am (1 Corinthians 15:10)

I am a king and a priest, after the order of Melchizedek, just like Jesus, because:

"As He is, so are we in this world!"

Set Free From Political Polarization, More Than Conquerors in Christ Jesus

  The 2020 Election results have been quite disappointing. I am not sure what to think.

At the same time, I recognize now that I have been following the up and down polarization of this race, and all the news, all the media, all the debates, the discussions, and it is making me very unhappy.

Why bother with all of this stuff?

For years, for decades, I was immersed in politics. I wanted to see "my side" win, and I would get such a buzz if my side won. If my candidates were successful, if the victory that I sought took place. Of course, down the line, I would find that winning elections is simply not enough. We see a generation of youth who think that socialism, communism, racialism is the answer to all our problems.

They are overcome with envy, sorry, victimhood. They see themselves as weak and beggarly, with no chances or opportunities in this life. How sad, indeed. Yet that is what they see for themselves. It's a great sorrow to see this.

All of this sense of lack, of loss is obliterated at the Cross!

"5Who is like unto the LORD our God, who dwelleth on high,

"6Who humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth!

"7He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill;

"8That he may set him with princes, even with the princes of his people.

"9He maketh the barren woman to keep house, and to be a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD." (Psalm 113:5-9)

The verse about raising the poor of the dust foreshadows what Jesus did for us:

"4But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Ephesians 2:4-6)

and

"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)

Our life is about the Finish, or rather the Finished Line!

We are not supposed to reckon our lives from our hardships, and then apply God's Word, God's promises to our lives. We start with God, with everything that Christ Jesus has prepared for us, and then see all our problems melt away or face resolution.

I am not supposed to look at the evil going on in the world, and then ask "Lord, when are you going to do something about all of this?" He is already on the job, working on it! Yes!

We need to start with the promises that God has made to us, which He has enacted for us through the Work of His Son! That's our starting point. That needs to be MY starting point.

That's why Paul would write:

"Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us." (Romans 8:37)

Consider what John writes, too:

"These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (John 16:33)

and

"Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world." (1 John 4:4)

and also

"For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." (1 John 5:4)

We have already won, and not just won, but we are more than conquerors through Him! Why do we pay attention to the fallout, the failures, and the failings of the world? Why do we pay any heed to the bad outcomes or the massive moral morass in our countries?

He has overcome the world! And we are more than conquerors in Him!

This is my starting point: Himself. YES!

Don't Do It Afraid--Let His Perfect Love Cast Out All Fear

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)

I love Joyce Meyer. She was the first person to teach me about the gift of righteousness, and that I am the righteousness of God in Christ.

However, she has come out with a new book "Do It Afraid", and I find that this is a little troubling.

We have a wonderful promise, an affirmation of how powerful God's love is in our lives. God's love is so powerful, that when we allow His love to perfect us, it casts out fear, throws it out of doors, so that it is not allowed with us.

Consider Paul's prayer to the Ephesian Christians:

"That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love ... " (Ephesians 3:17

We need to let Christ Jesus be at home within us. We should not think that we need to keep doing something so that He will stay within us, nor should we entertain toil and strife. Such self-effort makes Jesus not feel at home.

If Christ lives in us, if God is for us, who indeed can be against us? (Romans 8:31)

Why should we have any trace of sense of fear in our lives?

Consider what Paul wrote to the Philippians (and he wrote this while sitting in a jail cell):

"Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.

And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:6-7)

We should not have fears, tremors, tumults, upsets be any part of our lives. There is no reason we should tolerate fear in our lives at all.

Instead of telling people "Do it afraid", we need to deal with the deeper issue. Why are people afraid?

1. They do not know their identity in Christ. In 1 John 4:18, John writes that those who fear have not been made perfect in love. However, what does perfect us in His love?

"Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)

"As He is, so are we in this world." God the Father sees us in Christ. We are no longer in ourselves, we are stuck in our dying fleshly ways, nor are we to fall victim to the dead, fallen thoughts of the world. As Christ is, so are we in this world!

Consider also God's exhortation to us through the prophet Isaiah:

"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." (Isaiah 41:10)

We need to know that the LORD is upholding us, He is holding onto us, and He is doing so with His right hand of ... righteousness!

There's that wonderful word, that wonderful status that I have been writing about for the last few days. Because of all that Christ Jesus has done, we are not just righteous, we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21). Recall that Christ is our righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30). This is truly amazing. When we understand that before God, we are justified from all things, and that because of this supernatural, eternal gift of righteousness (Daniel 9:24)

Let's not settle for living life afraid. Let's rest in God's love for us, and Let His love cast out all fear!

My Blood Pressure is Decreasing, Because (Awareness of) His Love is Increasing

"38For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

I am learning so much more about the Love of the Father.

For years, I used to think that bad thoughts, bad feelings would hinder my ability to understand, to receive God's love for me.

I actually believed that God's presence, His loving caress, depended on how I was feeling and what I was thinking.

Can you imagine going through life thinking that how you feel, what you think, is going to affect your standing before God? The torture, the trauma that it created it was just beyond comprehension.

The tension, the trauma, the terror was so great.

I am finally understanding how real, how present, how prevalent God's love is for me. It's really exciting.

I can lose my temper, I can have wayward thoughts and feelings, and yet God's love is still there, still present, still refreshing and rolling over me.

For decades, I was stressed out internally, constantly playing catch-up with my feelings, trying to keep a lid on sexual temptations, lust, anger, fear, etc.

Fears was particularly damaging, because I feared that because I felt fear, that would make God angry and He would not answer my prayers.

This verse started to make so much more sense when I realized that my feelings don't block God's love:

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)

I used to think that there was something wrong with me if I was feeling fearful. Now I understand that any sense of fear was then undercut with a sense of condemnation: "Oh, you are feeling fearful now, therefore, God is not going to bless you!"

But that's now what "perfect love" is! He loves me perfectly, completely, and it is not dependent on me at all.

In fact, God's perfect love came first. It's not about whether I was fearing first. That never comes into the equation:

"We love because He first loved us."(1 John 4:19)

God loves me and cares for me not because of anything that I have done or will do, but because of everything that Jesus has done!

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10)

The Angel of Death passed over the houses of the Israelites with blood on their doorposts, regardless of how the family members may have felt. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, not our belief in the blood.

Now, we do need to believe in His gift of salvation. We are saved by grace through faith. It's not a work that we have done, and it's not some universal salvation. A gift has to be received, after all!

At any rate, the stresses, the pressures, the upsets, uptight sentiments which were so prevalent in my body caused my blood presure to go up! It's incredible! This kind of thinking and feeling was so common in my day-to-day life, that I hardly noticed it.

After suffering a stroke, after giving up all the diet soda, and after giving up much of the fast-food, I did notice that my blood pressure was going down considerably. I got off the blood pressure medication at one time, and then my blood pressure shot up again. It was really strange how this kept happening.

Since then, I have begun to realize that there were a number of stressors that had been working within me automatically. I was constantly looking at myself, trying to catch myself so that I was not fearful, angry, or falling into bad thoughts and feelings.

Now that I recognize that His love is completely independent of my actions, i.e. I don't earn it, I can let feelings, thoughts, bad ideas come and go. They have no chokehold on me, they no longer serve as a hateful stronghold over me, because I know that the love of God has taken hold of me.

Perfect Love Casts Out Fear -- More About What That Means

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)

I used to read this passage with a sense of judgment sometimes.

There were times when I was still afraid, or in which I would feel fear.

I then began to think: "I am not loving enough. What do I do to change this?"

The sense of fear was so great, and I wanted to do whatever I could to get rid of it.

The more that I learned that the New Covenant, the Gospel is about God's love for us, not our love for God, I began to realize that this perfect Love is not ours, but God's.

And yet still ... there were times when I felt great fear, and I didn't understand why.

The answer to this problem is found in the previous verse:

"Herein is our love made perfect (lit. love perfected among us), that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world." (1 John 4:17)

How is love perfected? That God sees us in His Son, that we have the same standing as Jesus, God's own Beloved Son? We are just like Jesus before our Heavenly Father!

We are Beloved, we are not shamed!

He does not see our sin, our struggles. He is not put off nor does He put us away if we fail.

We are accepted in the Beloved! (Ephesians 1:6)

This part was harder for me to settle in, or at least harder than I realized.

I had believed that I had to fix my feelings, get rid of my fears, not have bad thoughts so that I could come before God. If I was fearful, then I feared all the more that His presence, His life would not flow through me or in me. That lie created so much bondage in my life.

But now I realize that God the Father's love for me is perfect, because the work has been perfected at the Cross, and this work's perfection culminates in ... I am like Jesus to God my Father. He sees His Son when He looks at me!

That is love perfected, and when we understand that, all traces of fear are cast away. We know that He, our loving Father, our Daddy God, is on our side, and we never have to wonder if He has something sinister or untoward planned for us.

Furthermore, when I have a sense of fear or anger, or when I am struggling with something else, I know that I can come boldly to Him and seek His help, His mercy and grace, in time of need (Hebrews 4:16)

As soon as anyone of us understands that God will never condemn us for our sins against (Isaiah 54:9; Romans 8:1), we need never fear God again. We need never fear His wrath, His punishment, because He is now our Father, and all our sins have been put away forever!

It's Not About Our Love for God, But God's Love for Us

"We love because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19)

I wrote in a previous post about maturity in Christ Jesus.

We need to see how much God loves us. It's not about how much we love God.

We cannot give what we do not have. We cannot give what we do not think we have, either.

Consider what David declared in his final prayer as he passed on the kingdom to his beloved son Solomon:

"But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things come of thee, and of thine own have we given thee." (! Chronicles 29:14)

We cannot give but what we have freely received from Him.

Paul did not pray for the Ephesians to love more.

He prayed that they would understand how much God loves them!

"14For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 16That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God." (Ephesians 3:14-19)

Paul did not pray the following:

1. Do more for God.
2. Love God more.
3. Give more to charity.

Paul's prayer is incredible, and incredibly power.

To the best of my knowledge, this passage contains the only time when he wrote "I bow my knees", to show how earnest, how heart-felt, how emphatic his prayer is!

1. Be strengthened with might by His Spirit
2. Let Christ be at home in your hearts
3. Be rooted and grounded in love--His love
4. Comprehend, take into understanding His love in all directions
5. To know--to understand with greater awareness, even intimately--the love of Christ

NOTE here - it's Christ's love for us, not our love for Him. This revelation skips over so many people. We are so busy trying to love God, when we need to get "busy" understanding how much He loves us.

This deeper knowledge reminds me of a scene in The Wizard of Oz.

Towards the end of the movie, when Dorothy Gale returns with her three friends, she finds out that the Wizard is just an old humbug professor from Kansas. He doesn't really have any power, and there is not much he can offer to the four weary travelers who sought home, brains, hearts, and courage.

When the Wizard finds something for the Tin Man, he provides him a clock-working heart medallion.

Then the Wizards says:

“A heart is not judged by how much you love; but by how much you are loved by others.”

Many people I know struggled with this statement. Isn't love about what you do for others, not the other way around? Isn't love an action?

No!

Love is about our ability to receive -- from God the Father!

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 4:10)

Love is not about us or anything that we have done or will do.

God loved us, and He sent His Son to be our Mercy Seat. He is the atonement for all the sins of all the world. He loved us first!

Love is defined by what God did, for God is love! (1 John 4:7-8).

It's not about our love for God, but God's love for us!