Taking A Look Back

Pin It Originally: How To Add a Pinterest (Pin it) Button to your Blog/Website http://cs-doon.blogspot.com/#ixzz1ryXJUBEC

(Excerpt from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 11)

Taking a look back to where we have been in our journey from the Tabernacle Door into the Holy of Holies will always be profitable.  Seeing where you have been, and knowing where your are heading, is the key to living victoriously in the present!

"If we have been making spiritual adjustments during the previous chapters, then we are well into the journey of our lifetime.  This journey has taken us through Moses' Tabernacle, learning how it relates to our journey toward Christ-likeness and how to appropriate its applicable truths to our spiritual lives.  The Tabernacle, being likened to our hearts, the very place where God now resides, was a tool that we used, not only for discovering where we currently stand on this journey to whole-heartedness on this earth, but also for plotting the journey to our Heavenly home.

But the Tabernacle left us with some questions.  We discovered that we were at crossroads, needing to make a decision as to how we would live our lives.  Knowing where we are at [in the journey] leads us on to a choice as to which direction we will now travel.  The crossroads was an opportunity for us to clearly understand that we must consider our ways so that we might choose the correct spiritual paths for the rest of our lives.  But that chapter left us with yet another question--just how doe we continually choose the right path?

That question forced us to take a better look at our hearts, the Tabernacle of God.  If we were to consider our ways, it would be critical that we take a magnifying glass to what our 'ways' have actually been.  By filling in the cracked and damaged Heart Diagram with those things that keep us separated from intimacy with God, we soon discovered that our 'ways' have been bound up in gods, the sins that we bow down to and worship.  I doubt that your filled-in heart was a pretty picture.  I know that mine horrified me as I realized, with great clarity, just how sinful a place my heart was.  It saddened me, as I am sure yours did you, to see the gods that replaced Jesus on the throne of my heart.

But it was not going to be enough to just identify what was keeping us out of the Holy of Holies.  Something had to be done within our sinful hearts.  God definitely needed to be placed in the center of our hearts, replacing the sin and pridefulness, or we would surely fail in the journey.  Our attempts without God will always end up just exactly like our feeble attempts at New Year's resolutions!  As we returned to the Word, we discovered that God had a plan for us to dispossess the gods of our hearts by taking full vengeance on them.  They had to be dethroned!  It was the answer to yet another unspoken question.

What makes taking full vengeance on our sins and gods so difficult is that we are prone to disobey the commands of God, even when they are clearly spelled out for us.  We learned that there are spiritual consequences for not fully following all that God has commanded us to do.  The only way to be obedient is to understand and practice the discipline of surrender.  We learned that in surrendering to God, the power of the Holy Spirit is released from us, and that He is able to overcome sin and bring victory to our lives through that surrender.  This was what we learned from the Artesian Well.  Our life goal should be to live our lives surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ!"

These 3 Diagrams, of the Tabernacle's spiritual journey, of a sin-filled Heart, and of the power and victory we can experience in the Artesian Well's release of the Spirit by surrender, are to be used for your on-going spiritual growth.  God is calling you to maturity in Christ!

Reaping What You Sow

Pin It Originally: How To Add a Pinterest (Pin it) Button to your Blog/Website http://cs-doon.blogspot.com/#ixzz1ryXJUBEC

(Excerpt from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 10)

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap."  (Galatians 6:7)

"Do you see what your response is to be [to the enemy's deception and lies about the seriousness of our sin]?  God is calling you to surrender your sins and turn from them.  You are not to be deceived by the lies of the devil.  If you continue to make  excuses for not surrendering and repenting, God will eventually say to you, 'I will not be mocked!'  When you choose to sow for yourselves the seeds of denial of your sin and its corrupt influence, you will reap a bitter fruit of defeat.  But if you sow for yourself the seeds of repentance and surrender, from a heart that is broken and contrite, you will necessarily produce a different kind of fruit.  That fruit is victory over your sin and a powerful life in the Spirit that you will never know unless you turn from your sin and allow Him full control of your life.  Victory and power lie just around the corner for the one who will lay down the boastful pride of life for the purpose of surrendering to God's authority.  Persevering victory and power are the gifts of God for the truly broken-hearted, surrendered servant of the the Lord."

Are you interested in gaining victory over your sin?  Do you want to see what God can do through you?  Then God asks only one thing of you:  Remove all excuse to sin and replace it with real, heart-wrenching repentance and surrender to Him!  This response to your sin moves the heart of God.  In this, He will never feel that you are mocking Him!

Beginning next week (I am on retreat this weekend with my Women's Group) I will begin to explain to you what happens to the Holy Spirit when He enters us the moment we are saved, and what will be required of us in order for His power to be released out of us.  I will be using an Artesian Well to describe it to you.  The correlation is incredible!  You won't want to miss it!

Sacrifices The Delight God

Pin It Originally: How To Add a Pinterest (Pin it) Button to your Blog/Website http://cs-doon.blogspot.com/#ixzz1ryXJUBEC

(Excerpt from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 10)

"What will happen if we do surrender our sinful hearts to God?  Our surrender will lead to victory, perseverance, and power!  If we lack power and victory in our daily walk, we can most assuredly know that our personal surrender is lacking.  Psalm 51: 16-17 sheds some more light on just what kind of sacrifice God requires of us when we surrender.

For You do not delight in [animal] sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; You are not pleased with burnt offerings.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.

 God wants our hearts and spirits to be broken by our sinfulness.  He is looking for a broken and contrite heart in the one who comes to a place of total surrender.  This brokenness and contriteness must be so intense that it leads to real repentance, the turning away from that sin and toward the God of our heart.  This kind of brokenness is a deep sorrow and remorse for our sinfulness that is followed by the desire to never fall prey to that sin ever again. 

To be broken literally means to 'break or crush into pieces' and the word contrite  means to 'collapse'!  Is that how you have taken full vengeance on your sin in the past?  Have you ever been to that place?  Have you been broken to pieces by your sin?  Or have you ever collapsed from following after your sinful flesh,  your sins, your gods?  It is difficult in our pridefulness to get to that place of contriteness and brokenness.  We will try every form of evasion to avoid being ground to pieces, won't we?  Believe me, I know that from my own experiences!  True surrender and repentance are rare in the church today, it seems.  Yet we cannot offer God the correct sacrifice if we are never broken and contrite about our sin. 

Have you ever found yourself saying any of these things to yourself, as I have?

• "I don't need to do that because I'm already forgiven."
• "I am not all that affected by my sin."
• "Who cares anyway?"
• "I don't want to be labeled a radical Christian."
• "I am afraid that if I fully surrender, God will make me do something that I am uncomfortable with."

Maybe the enemy has spoken things to you that are different than these.  It doesn't really matter what has has spoken to you; they are still excuses if you listen to them and use them, and worse, believe them. 

Do you know what all these excuses are?  They are lies and deception from an enemy who would love for us to remain unyielded to God.  He stands to gain territory in our hearts if he can keep us from submitting to God's call to surrender.  If the enemy of of our faith  can make us believe, for any reason, that we don't need to take our sin seriously, then he will be thrilled to keep us from the power that is available to all who do surrender to God's full control.  He would love for us to never surrender anything to God!  He would love to continue to hold us captive in our sin!  He wants to keep us from the victory God has for us!"

For the believer, spiritual healing is all about the surrender that brings us victory over sin.  If you want to lead a victorious, holy life for Jesus, you must come to grips with the idea that it only flows from a heart that has been utterly shattered by its sin, and is now fully surrendered to Him.  There are no short-cuts on the way to the victory that Jesus can bring to our spiritual lives.

The Power Beyond Your Surrender

Pin It Originally: How To Add a Pinterest (Pin it) Button to your Blog/Website http://cs-doon.blogspot.com/#ixzz1ryXJUBEC

(Excerpted from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 10)

"Bernard Shaw played the What  If game shortly before he died.  'Mr. Shaw,' asked a reporter, 'if you could live your life over and be anybody you've known, or any person from history, who would you be?' 

'I would choose,' replied Shaw, 'to be the man George Bernard Shaw could have been, but never was.'

Can't you hear the remorse in the voice of George Bernard Shaw?  What was it that he regretted?  His regret was in not living up to the full potential that dwelt within him.  Can you relate to that?  Have you lived up to your full potential as a child of God?  Having looked at the topic of surrender in the previous chapter as the means of entering into the daily presence of God and walking in submission to Him by the Spirit, we now turn our attention to the vital role the Holy Spirit will play as we surrender our whole hearts to Him.  When we learn to surrender every sin in our broken hearts, and allow Him to live out the holy life of Christ through us, we will begin to see the message of this chapter:  There is great victory and power that lies just beyond our surrender.  By that very power we can become in Christ all that He intend for us to be and live a live with no regrets for who we could have been."

As we crucify our flesh and its sin, we begin to die daily.  And as we die, the Spirit is emboldened and released out of us to live through us a victorious and holy life.  We no longer have to 'try' to be victorious and holy; we just become that by the power we are surrender to, the power that is living inside of us.  That is good news for today!  We can have that life right NOW!

Removing The Yo-Yo From Your Spiritual Life

Pin It Originally: How To Add a Pinterest (Pin it) Button to your Blog/Website http://cs-doon.blogspot.com/#ixzz1ryXJUBEC

(Excerpt from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 9)

"Believing that Jesus is Savior and King is enough in our moment of salvation, but it is not enough the moment we desire to live the abundant life promised by Christ.  We must choose to make Jesus the Lord of our lives and believe that He is in charge of our lives, making a conscious decision and effort to surrender to Him based on that belief.  The enemy loves to use the lie that salvation is enough for a transformed life.  Believing that lie is one of the main reasons that so many Christians stay in the Outer Court of the Tabernacle (living only in the knowledge of our salvation, baptism, and eternal life) for so many years, enjoying its ease and refusing to step into the Inner Court of surrender and the deepening knowledge of and relationship with Jesus Christ.

Have you experienced a full surrender to the will of God?  Are you seeking to continually surrender your flesh and your will to God every day?  Or are you like a child playing with a yo-yo when it comes to your sin--you throw it out and a moment later you pull it back into your life?  When will you finally, once and for all, cut the string?  What is your answer to God's call to surrender and heart transformation?  Andrew Murray understood surrender like this, and in a public address titled Absolute Surrender, he said, 'God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him.  The condition fro obtaining God's full blessing is absolute surrender to Him.'

If you will heed His call, you are about to see what great power from the Spirit can be released from within you.  Interested?"

Over the next few days, I will help you discover the great power that lies within every child of God and how to see that power be used for God's glory.  In teaching you the concepts of releasing the trapped power inside of you, I hope to both challenge and inspire you to do what is required of you so that you will see the Holy Spirit explode out of you and touch a lost world!

THE RESURRECTED LIFE -- Day 33

Pin It Originally: How To Add a Pinterest (Pin it) Button to your Blog/Website http://cs-doon.blogspot.com/#ixzz1ryXJUBEC

Day 33:  Philip and Simon the Sorcerer (Acts 8: 1-24)

The death of his beloved friend, Stephen, clouded Philip’s thoughts.  How he mourned this dear man.  Philip had come to know Stephen as they took meals every day to the widows, taking care of their sisters who were alone.  “Stephen had such a pure heart.  How could they stone him?” Philip lamented in his troubled mind.  This one thing he was sure of—these evil men would never be able to stop the spread of the gospel.  Stephen’s death served only to make Philip and the other followers even more determined to carry out their individual calls to ministry.  The Voice of the Spirit even seemed to be speaking more loudly and clearly.

Hearing that Saul, one of the men who had been present at Stephen’s stoning, was now ravaging the church, Philip was compelled by God to leave and go to Samaria and preach the gospel of salvation.   Ministering in the Spirit and by His power, many Samaritans believed and were baptized.  One such man was Simon, a former magician who had made great claims about himself in the past.  He believed and was baptized when he realized that people were no longer amazed at his magic.  How he longed to do the powerful things that Philip was doing, so that the people would be amazed with him again.

When the disciples came from Jerusalem to see what was happening in Samaria, they laid hands on all the new converts, and they received the Holy Spirit.  When Simon saw this great sign, he came forward seeking what the disciples had.  But Simon’s heart was not right with God.  It was clearly focused on the wrong things.  He did not ask for the Holy Spirit to come to him because he needed the Holy Spirit and desired Him.  Instead, his heart was “Simon-centered.”  He offered to pay the disciples money if they would give him the gift that they had.  Simon was seeking the power of laying his hands on people so that they would receive the Holy Spirit.  He was not seeking the Spirit Himself.  Simon had believed the gospel message and had been baptized, but his heart had not been resurrected.   He was still in bondage to sin and pride.

Do you desire gifts you have not been given because they are more visible to others and seem more important?  Are you jealous of those who have what you want?  God knows every intention of every heart.  What does He see in yours?

THE RESURRECTED LIFE -- Day 6

Pin It Originally: How To Add a Pinterest (Pin it) Button to your Blog/Website http://cs-doon.blogspot.com/#ixzz1ryXJUBEC

Day 6:  Simeon  (Luke 2: 25-35)

How long Simeon had waited.  For his whole life he had been waiting!  In his wait he had been transformed into a holy man.  Two words described him accurately—righteous and devout.

Many years had been spent learning as much about his God as was humanly possible.  He never missed going to temple, where he sat under great scholars who interpreted the Scripture in a way that he could understand.  Simeon had learned so much through the ancient fathers of the promise, and the prophets’ words had taught him to be watching constantly for Israel’s consolation—the Holy One, the Messiah.  Because of his deep longing for God and his desire to know Him, Simeon had found favor with God, a favor that not many men had experienced.  This favor had produced a Power working in his life that he didn’t completely understand, but he had certainly learned to depend on it.  This Power had clearly spoken to him a message of hope—that he would not die until he had seen with his own eyes the very Messiah he knew was coming.  From that day on, Simeon’s hope in seeing Messiah was the foundation of all that his life entailed.  It was his only focus.

One day that same Power urged him with great persuasion to go immediately to the temple.  Long ago Simeon had learned to obey that powerful inner Voice, and he made haste to go to the temple at once.  Upon arriving, he contemplated the message of the Voice.  Why was it so necessary for him to be at the temple right now?  Anticipation filled him as he waited for God’s revelation on the matter.  And then the most  amazing thing happened!  In walked a man and his wife carrying a baby swaddled in linen cloths.  As his eyes landed on the infant, he knew at once!  This is the One!  Messiah has come!  Taking the babe in his arms, he blessed God for the fulfillment of His faithful promises.  Salvation had come to earth, a Light for the Gentiles and the glory of Israel.

Is the hope of seeing Jesus the motivation of all you do?  How much time are you willing to invest in studying God’s Word to know Him?  Are you attending studies on a regular basis where you can be instructed about God and the things of God?  Are you hearing and responding in obedience to the inner voice of the Spirit? What does your walk reveal?

Japan's Tsunami--A Picture of God's Power In Our Hearts

Pin It Originally: How To Add a Pinterest (Pin it) Button to your Blog/Website http://cs-doon.blogspot.com/#ixzz1ryXJUBEC

Not very long ago I watched a 5-minute video on Facebook of the tsunami in Japan that followed their recent earthquakes.  The images were disturbing from a human point of view.  My lack of personal knowledge of this particular type of catastrophic event kept me in an ignorant place,  thinking that if you were a good swimmer you might just have a chance to survive.  Moments into the video it became crystal clear to me that the powerful force of the water would have prevented any such thing.  The water crushed everything in its path.  My heart ached for anyone in its path, knowing death would be the primary result.  So vivid images were left indelibly inscribed on my usually optimistic thoughts.  

It is no wonder that those very images surfaced today as I read the Word this morning.  In 2 Samuel 5 I was reading again the story of David becoming the king of Israel.  Almost immediately war was eminent with the Philistines.  Not wanting to "do what was good in his own eyes," David sought God's wisdom.  Having understood God's response that he should surely go to war and soundly defeat his arch enemy, David did just that.  This was what David proclaimed after his unprecedented victory:

"The LORD has broken through my enemies before me like the breakthrough of waters."

I have read that verse so many times; I have used it in counseling others; I have used it to fight spiritual battles in my own life.  But this time, the Lord opened my eyes to see what David meant by that, by bringing the pictures of the tsunami to mind.  God was using what had been, and still is,  so devastating to Japan and the entire world to show me with great clarity what it means for Him to spiritually break through my enemies, the sin in my life that so easily entangles me.

As my mind hit the replay button of a horrible picture of death and destruction, God began to replace the cars,trucks, buildings, boat docks, trash, boards, and yes, even bodies, with pictures of my flesh.  The countless cars turning up on end became my self-sufficiency being destroyed just before sinking under the ferocious rising water.  The buildings that were crumbling from the force of the ocean against them became my self-reliance.  The unidentifiable trash swirling around in the raging water became the words and thoughts that are constant reminders that I am sinful in my innermost being.  And then God made the analogy for me.

When the power of the Holy Spirit is unleashed within a surrendered and repentant child of God, the sinful enemies that seek to destroy their spiritual walk are moved up and out of that believer's heart.  The Holy Spirit acts as a tsunami and destroys every evil thing in His path.  He breaks through the hardest of places in our hearts so that our hearts my be transformed, making them holy and pure.  But the believer must come to a place of repentant, sorrowful surrender if he desires this kind of victory over his sins.  

Do you want God to display the kind of power that will defeat your persistent sin?  Do you really want Him to annihilate your strongholds with His overwhelming force?  Your life, lived before others, will be the evidence of how you answered those questions.  And then you will be able to say, 

"The LORD has broken through my enemies before me like the breakthrough of waters!"

Saying Is Not Doing

Pin It Originally: How To Add a Pinterest (Pin it) Button to your Blog/Website http://cs-doon.blogspot.com/#ixzz1ryXJUBEC

Great acts of courage can elevate a man. Gideon humbly assumed the role of "judge" and fought for Israel's freedom. Israel wanted him to rule over them, and with great sincerity he refused, saying no man would be their ruler, only the Lord. But immediately he began acting like a king. Out of his spoils of war (that he required from each man), Gideon made an ephod for Israel to worship, and it became a snare to them.

There are many quotable quotes from Gone With the Wind, but there is one that applies here.  While this may be a more "formal" use of the language, the quote is perfect for today's blog.  Saying simply is NOT doing.

Gideon had chased an army, far larger than his own, 150 miles and defeated them, killed their kings, and secured peace, both militarily and domestically, for his nation.  When he returned to his people, they cried out for him to be their ruler.  With what appeared to be a sincerely humble heart, Gideon declared that neither he or his bloodline would be their ruler because the Lord was the only ruler that they needed.

When you read that passage in the Bible your first though, like mine, was that this is a man of great integrity.  It would be pretty difficult to turn down such a request, with all of its power, prestige, and financial blessing! My own heart was challenged as I question what my true response would have been. Yet Gideon declines.  I trusted in the true and humble integrity of a man who had been born into a family considered to be the "least in Manasseh."   And in his own family Gideon was also the "youngest in his father's house."  He seemed to know his place while at the same time knowing God's.

But something wasn't right in Gideon's heart.  His actions did not match his words!  While he refused to be become Israel's ruler, he had no problem asking each of his soldiers to give him part of their spoils.  Though they might have offered it to him because he had led them well, to ask for what was theirs revealed a heart that elevated itself above others.  What he received from them was more than 50 pounds of gold, making his "take" far greater than theirs. 

Not only did he require what was not his, adding it to his own portion, Gideon also took the exquisite ornaments and purple robes of the two Midianite kings and the neck bands of the camels of the Midianite army.  Then Gideon made an ephod out of the metals and set it up in his city.  The people were so enamored with it that they came and worshiped before it.  Gideon, the great judge of Israel, introduced another form of idolatry to God's people.  Gideon had led the army well in defeat of their physical enemies, but he led his people astray to worship the enemy of their heart!

Gideon's success as a leader brought out the "god" of his heart.  Success corrupted him to the level that he was able to convince Israel by his words of his sincerity of heart, when all along his heart was stained with pride, self-interest, self-elevation, and idolatry.

Integrity is heart- defining.  It can't be faked for very long.  What you say must be followed up with actions that are in line with your words.  Saying is not doing.  Integrity is the character trait of aligning your words with your actions. Do your actions match the words that you speak?  Can you be described by your actions as "full of integrity?"  Are you winning the spiritual battle in your heart?  Or are you just saying that you are?  Remember. . . saying is not doing!