How often do we flee when God tells us to give ourselves to those who have hurt us?

Romans 8:19-22 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. 20For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, _in hope 21that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.
Jonah 4:9-11, Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant?” And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.” Then the LORD said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and which you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight. Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?” In Scripture we see that creation has suffered by the hand of man and that redeemed man treats creation differently. However, the lesser will always give way to the greater, and man is the greater. It is amazing to watch as people show more compassion to plants and animals than to people, to live in a society where it is more important to protect a bird egg than the heart, mind, and innocence of a child or the life of a human fetus. Often the reason why people are that way is that they have been hurt by others, which makes loving a pet or a tree safer than giving themselves to others. I can only imagine the rejection and suffering that Jonah had experienced at the hands of others, so much so that when he was commanded to go to people, he fled. How often do we flee when God tells us to give ourselves to those who have hurt us? The amazing thing about Jesus is that where we fail, He succeeded. Though everyone rejected Him in the end, we see Him going forward to a cross to give Himself for all those who had hurt Him. We must admit where we are. After so much hurt, many of us have decided never to give ourselves to others again. However, if we invite Christ to be our love, we will find that what is impossible for us is easily possible for Him.

The fear is simple, that we will preach one thing and then do another, and thus discredit our message.

I Cor 9: 27 “But I keep charge of my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”
This is a beautiful, love-filled, strong warning by Paul, whose concern is legitimate. The fear is simple, that we will preach one thing and then do another, and thus discredit our message. As you know, we stand and fall on our definitions. The common definition given to that passage would lead one to believe that Paul was preaching law and judging his lack of hypocrisy by his ability to keep the law. I would be willing to assert that most who preach on this passage use it to set a standard that they don’t even keep, then draw the contrast between what the listeners do and what Paul did, and leave everyone bleeding on the ground as hopeless hypocrites. But what was Paul preaching that he didn’t want to go against? Are you preaching the same thing that Paul was preaching? Is your standard different from his? For Paul was preaching grace, love, mercy, hope, and, more than anything, a devotion to Jesus. I believe it is these things, being preached regularly, that he was afraid not to do and disqualify himself. Many preach grace, but then when they fail, they move farther away from Jesus. They have just disqualified themselves from the message they preach. When a Christian fails he must get up and move forward in the love of God. If he cannot, there is a big problem. In short, Christianity is different, much different.

As you wait in faith, He will meet your need.

“Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own?” In Matthew 20 Jesus tells a story now known by one and all. A man hires workers at different hours of the day; some work a long day and others a short one. In the end, every man gets paid the same. However, those that worked from the beginning were expecting more than the late men got, and they were rebuked, for the Master was free to pay what he wanted, and what was it to them if he wanted to be generous? Every man, from the one that arrived early to the one that arrived late, got exactly what he needed! The Master was much fairer, compassionate, and generous than anyone imagined; he knew the need was the same for every man, so he met the need accordingly. Since the first men were in need of a job, wouldn’t they have worked for less than their need? Couldn’t the Master have squeezed them and given them less than was needed? I believe so. The Master was generous with his initial offering to the men who worked the longer day. All the men were looking for a job; some found it in the morning and some in the afternoon. Which would you rather be? I would want to be the one that found it in the morning and knew my need would be met. Think of the stomach turning that the men hired last had gone through wondering if the day would end and their need would go unmet. Think of their having to go home to hungry children. These men of the afternoon were rewarded because they had a greater faith. They’d had to learn to trust in God and lean on Him all morning, while the others worked in the fleshly confidence that they would feed their families through their own labors. God rewarded the faith of the men who worked only a few hours by meeting their need, also. The story centers around men who had to wait with faith in God. “Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness.” As you wait in faith, He will meet your need.

But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.

Romans 13:14, But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.
If you hate your job, it is because you have emotionally quit it. It appears obvious that once you hate something, it will soon follow that you want nothing to do with it. Let’s apply this simple principle in a different way. If you hate your sin, it is because you’ve emotionally divorced yourself from it and want nothing to do with it. The next step is to acknowledge the fact of it and embrace your freedom. Many people would rather do what they want to do and beat themselves up in self-hatred later than do what the Lord is asking them to do and be happy. Why? Why do they spend a lifetime doing this?

Stop and start talking about Jesus.

John 12:34, “The Son of Man must be lifted up.”

There are so many popular programs in the West for building churches, with the idea in mind that more is better and is proof that we are on track with Jesus. Of course, Jesus emphasized the few and not the many. There is also a clamoring to see something spectacular outside of man because there is so little reality of the relationship with the Lord going on inside man. A fellow that I know was talking to his pastor and said, “I know a way to grow the church. It is a simple program that won’t cost much.” The pastor responded, “Have you noticed that the parking lot for both services is full?” My friend replied, “I noticed that the parking lot at Wal-Mart is always full on Sundays, also! My program is better; it is this, ‘If I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me!’” At that, the pastor walked off. However, the point was made. When we stop pointing to Jesus, we may have a crowd, but it is no different from the crowd at Wal-Mart. If you are teaching, preaching, or sharing and you feel the thing dying, just stop and start talking about Jesus. You will have a crowd, even if it is just one person.

Time apart with the Lord is not a luxury but a necessity.

We are commanded not to muzzle the ox. This passage is applied to the fact that a workman is worthy of his hire. However, in talking with many believers, I believe that it also can apply to our spiritual lives in a different way. In many of the countries that I visit, the people are working seven days a week. In Asia they are only now thinking of six-day workweeks. In the West, the cost of living has gotten to the point that both husband and wife must work, often only passing each other sometime during the day. These situations have spiritually muzzled believers. We are not given the time of refreshing that we need before the Lord. We are not allowed to eat of the Lord. It isn’t right. Every believer needs to take time away. If Jesus took time apart, then we, His disciples, surely need it. Time apart with the Lord is not a luxury but a necessity. One summer I finished my travels with a total of five days off from January to July; I’d only had a day here and there between trips in which to prepare for the next trip. In the end I couldn’t hold a cup of coffee without shaking. I took two weeks in the mountains to do nothing but pray. The shaking stopped, I was refreshed, and I was fresh in the Lord. I am seeing that is something every believer needs, not just half an hour in the morning, but a few days away from others. I know that thought is shocking to those who can’t imagine doing anything without their mates. However, remember that your wife or husband belongs to the Lord first and foremost before belonging to you. Time with Him will change everything. Everyone needs time to step back and watch what falls apart. Everything that falls apart is of man, and everything that stays is of His making. You will find that you can continue working if you are not muzzled.

If we do not invite Him today to live His life through us, we will discover that we have not changed, and God will use the ensuing failure to bring the point home.

Romans 7:18, For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.

Because of how religion infiltrates the Church, so few have a doctrine of failure. There is one very big problem with this: We all will fail! Most are emphasizing a one-time fix, meaning that some understanding or some conference will free a person from all future conflict. It is not so with us. Our system not only allows for failure but plans for it. The Epistles are written because Christians are failing, they are not getting it, but most importantly they have moved away from their focus on Jesus. Without their failures we would not have those books. We have all learned as they did through their failures. If they learned through theirs, is it not true that we will learn from ours? Do any believe that the early Church didn’t have failures? Paul uses the occurrence of believers’ going to temple prostitutes to explain the principle of oneness. He didn’t tell them they were hopeless; he told them why they should not be doing it and to stop. Peter was a tremendous failure after being taught by Jesus for three-and-one-half years. What do we learn about soul strength in our attempts to serve God from his example? What did he learn? If you are prepared for failure, when it comes (and it will) you will not have to enter into condemnation, unbelief, and become a Galatian. The flesh doesn’t change, but that really is a beautiful thing, because if I don’t want to walk with Jesus, I will be the same mess I was before . . . well, actually worse. With Adam’s life in me, wearing sin was natural. With Christ’s life in me, wearing sin is very abnormal and miserable. The hardest thing to get across is that we are not improving, but only abiding longer. I know a man that was in a mental institution, came to see Christ as his life, and as Christ flowed from him, people could see Jesus. However, he believes in a one-time fix, and now when he isn’t abiding he still acts very psychotic, but now it is more of a Christian psychosis and more “acceptable.” Well, amen. An elephant can live up to 100 years, and the reason it dies is this: It has six set of teeth. As it wears out one set of teeth, the next set comes in, and so on until it has no teeth, can no longer eat, and it dies. We, like the elephant, have many sets of spiritual teeth for eating at different stages of our life. There are teeth for the milk of the early things and teeth for the later things, and one day we will leave this body. Until then there is always something to chew, and if we chew long enough we need a new set of teeth. We have chewed long enough on heaven vs. hell. It is time to chew on the fact that Christ is in us. As we by choice invite Him to live through us, He will today, but for today only. I am not saying He is coming and going; I am saying we must choose to relate to Him in a certain way. If we do not invite Him today to live His life through us, we will discover that we have not changed, and God will use the ensuing failure to bring the point home.

“May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.”

I listened and thought to myself how true it is that the task can so easily become more important than the individual.

I Thess. 3:5, “May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the steadfastness of Christ.” A friend has made an interesting observation, saying recently he had been listening to several mission reports and support appeals in an attempt to find what was missing. He couldn’t put his finger on it but said there was something different from when he was a child. As he searched through the statistics and the financial and physical needs of missionaries and missions, the stories of conversion and the hardships, he finally noticed what was different. In none of the reports did he hear that the missionaries were compelled by the love of God or that they were madly in love with the people, and it was vexing to him. I listened and thought to myself how true it is that the task can so easily become more important than the individual. How easy it is to forget the greatest thing, love! That simple observation has driven me to my knees, not to generate love, but to bask in the presence of Love. For it is an appreciation of His love that drives me to love. The root of missions must be love.

“Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John, and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were marveling, and {began} to recognize them as having been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13

Are we happy to be in the company of the Unknowns? To go into the ministry of the unknown, ministering to the Unknowns? This is the true ministry of faith. He came, God in Man, unknown! He didn’t attempt to make Himself known, He wanted the Father to be known. Divine humility! Amazing! We too are to be unknown. We are making Him known.

Why are we unknown? Being unknown keeps us safe. Being unknown will keep the elect from kingdom building, self-righteousness, glory, and image. All these things must be broken at His feet. It is the kind of wealth that we don’t need and belong to Him. We must lose everything to discover the power of the life within. It is crucial that we are unknowns. Amazingly, we are entrusted with the greatest message and kingdom and no one wants to know us! We represent Him, we have direct access to Him, and no one wants to know us. We will judge angels and no one wants to know us.

A ministry of the Unknowns, a company of the Unknowns, all with the same vision to remain attached to the life of the vine, the life of the vine to flow out of the Unknowns. We are all one, yet all different; all tapped into the same life, not branch to a branch but a branch to the vine. The ministry of the Unknowns is a WITH ministry. Unknowns band together. Unknowns are not recognized. We work without recognition.

This world’s system is not an accident. It is all permitted. It is all in the plan of God. It is all there for a purpose: the breaking of kingdoms, righteousness, pride, strength, glory. It is all in the plan of God. Permitted. It is, well, nice, that He is using man’s stupidity. It all works to His end. Nothing is bad. This is the best possible life. How do we judge that things are good or bad? The soulish judge them on the basis of their outer life, their soul life. The soulish don’t like their outer life broken. They fight against being Unknown. However, everything must go that hinders the release of the life in me. Nothing is bad that accomplishes that. Being Unknown accomplishes that, and remember, we are known by Him!

“Therefore if any man is in Christ, {he is} a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” II Cor 5:17

“He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.” Eph 1:5

Often I hear of those who have generational curses. Their reason for present day calamity is because of the curse of an ancestor. The ancestor could have been cursed by God or a Witch Doctor; it doesn’t seem to matter. Whole meetings, sessions, are dedicated to breaking the curse. Where is this in the bible? Oh yes, there is one passage in the Old Testament. “God will remember….to the tenth generation.” (Deut 23:2)

This brings up a couple of points. First, in the New Testament, with all the idol worship that the Romans had introduced to the believers, there is not one occasion in the New Testament where a solution to a problem was the breaking of a curse. Second, if God has cursed someone, do you really think that a man could break it? Third, once born again, you are in a different lineage, the lineage of Jesus. God is your father. Is He cursed? No, He is blessed, Jesus is blessed, and you are blessed because you are in Him. There is no curse over you. The only curse, so to speak, is the curse of unbelief that allows the elect to be deceived into white magic to lift curses.