He enjoys living in you!

Col. 1:27, “to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

My unbelief astounds me! The fact that it astounds me is a revelation that I still think that in my flesh dwells some good thing. You see, I knew that Christ could live in the flesh of a man and conquer all things, but I never believed that He could live in my flesh and conquer all things. What was I thinking, that somehow, when Jesus moved into my flesh, His power was stripped away? What unbelief. Actually, when I had my last birthday, I just stopped and pondered. I never thought I would make it to that age. I didn’t think that He who had begun a good work in me would complete it. I didn’t think that He would prove to me that He was love. It was all proof of my unbelief. Well, I want to testify that He can live in your flesh. He has lived in thousands of people’s flesh, and He is more than able. And I will tell you one more secret: He enjoys living in you!

Eph 6:12, For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.

We attended a bullfight in Spain. I can’t say that it is an enjoyable experience, but it is an interesting one. Having grown up on and around a farm, the kill before butchering was never something that I looked forward to. Some would argue that the death of the bull in a bullfight is as humane as the death in a slaughterhouse. Well, amen, they both happen. After watching six bulls fight the matadors, my admiration for bulls has gone way up.

Religion is religion, and Jesus isn’t a religion, He is a relationship.

As a child, I was never allowed to even touch a bull. There was the temptation when feeding the cows and petting them to do the same to the bull. However, any advance toward the bull was met with a strong rebuke from my grandfather. He had hauled several and seen men gored; he never trusted any bull. The bulls in Spain enter the arena full of attitude, strength, and catlike quickness. They look for anything that is moving and immediately charge. The power is awe-inspiring to witness; they send every matador scrambling behind a thick wooden wall, and then they hammer the wall with their horns. I just had never witnessed that in a bull, nor had I seen that kind of endurance. It is impressive.

Because of the bull’s strength and superiority, the fight would take hours if the bull were not slowed down. Nothing about a bullfight is fair (the only way to make it less fair would be to remove one of the bull’s legs). Carrying a spear, a horseman rides in on a heavily padded and blindfolded horse. The bull will immediately head for the horse. The first bull we saw actually knocked the horse over and was able to gore it, even as the rider, falling down, drove the spear deep into the bull. Next, four matadors begin to wear the bull down by having the bull make a series of charges at the pink cape. When the bull is sufficiently tiring, another matador will come with two colorful skewers. He will let the bull charge him straight on and then jump, driving the skewers into the back of the bull and maneuvering sideways just in time to be missed by the horns. This is repeated three times. Still, the stamina of the bull at this point is awing. The matador, with his large, red cape, will now come out to work the bull until it finally has its strength bled out of it. With an air of satisfaction he draws a sword; the great beast bows its head, ready to charge one more time at the rag that has given it so much grief, and the matador drives the sword into the heart of the great beast. Some are better at this than others, but ideally, the bull’s demise is quick, and it drops, immediately dead. The whole exhibition takes around 15 minutes.
Personally, I think the matadors should wear little tight pants because they fight like girls.

OK, why all this talk of bullfights? I couldn’t help but think about our fight against the “rulers, powers, forces of darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness.” In Christ, the battle is won. On the cross He did not say, “To be continued!” He said, “It is finished.” We in Christ, like the bull, have the superior strength. However, the bull makes one fatal mistake by thinking the cape, a simple piece of lifeless rag, is the enemy, the source of its pain! I kept thinking to myself, If only you would stop fighting the rag, stop looking down, look up at the head, and move eighteen inches to the right! The battle would be yours. Even to its dying breath, the bull was eyeing the rag as the matador drove the sword deep into his heart. A physically superior creature defeated because of a wrong focus. How often in our spiritual battles the enemy has our focus on something other than him; we never pay attention to his ugly head.

So many times I have talked to couples ready to divorce over absolutely nothing but a rag. However, the enemy keeps poking and making them think that the rag is what is hurting them. It isn’t the rag! It is the one behind the rag. Move eighteen inches to the right, go for the head, and you will see the truth of it. Many times, I will stop in the middle of a situation and just say, “The Lord rebuke you!” I know the issue isn’t the issue; there is someone behind the issue and I want to go for the head. The believer has the superior strength, but it will do no good if it is focused in the wrong place. So many just bow and let the enemy drive the sword deep into the heart. There will nearly always be the need for 20% improvement in any relationship (the rag). Why let the 20% steal the 80% joy? On any given day, you should immediately be able to say three things that are right about your situation and about your mate. Well, again, we need grace to go for the head.

The believers in Spain, as in Portugal, have to labor. Christians are not embraced; Catholicism, with its religious spirit, has driven the least little desire out of the people to look for something spiritual. Therefore, Jesus just isn’t easily considered. I can’t say the people are hardhearted; it is just that their definition of Jesus includes suffering, crawling, misery, bondage, lack of joy, confinement, and total deadness. With that definition, why look any further into the prospect? Our friends have worked here for 12 years, and the end result, in part, is this little meeting that we are going to have in the morning. They have invited their friends and coworkers. They have done everything to make it a beautiful experience for them.

We are to be in a small room in a new “meditation” lodge. We will have four hours of teaching and then a vegetarian meal. Nine people arrive. Two are unbelievers. I have been told by the Lord the direction to take in the teaching. I will spend the first three hours talking about how we live, how we feel, what we think, and the struggles of man. I will not mention Jesus until the end. After three hours, it was obvious that Jesus had, as He always does, the right people there. If He gets all the glory, then He must do all the work, and He does. As I talk about Jesus, everything must be redefined, for the words that we commonly use have one meaning to us but another to them. Nearly every term has a distorted religious meaning. I just stick to Jesus, His uniqueness, His love, His difference, His life, and all that He is. Then we talk about His being our life. Not praying, “Jesus, help me,” but praying, “Jesus, come and be my words, my life, my love, my joy, my everything.” I wasn’t saying anything that I have not said a hundred times before, and yet, when I looked up, there were only a few dry eyes. The one girl, an unbeliever, came immediately up to me, and crying said, “Something has awakened in me! I knew I needed something; I knew I was being called!” The fellow, who we were really surprised even came, was right into it.

As we shifted to dinner, the topic was Jesus. One brother, with a beautiful heart, has labored for years and only has a few couples around Spain that have come to Jesus. He was excited and said, “This approach of life, of getting in the person’s skin, of showing in that context the need for Jesus, will be received. We will pray about putting a conference together for the couples I know around Spain.” Well, amen, I am also tagging along, building on the work of others.

Next we move to the house. I wanted to show my friends how the approach worked individually. That was great fun. Then the two “former” unbelievers showed up with dinner. We talked about Jesus until nearly 1:00 a.m. As I was being driven home, my friend turned to me, “In twelve years, that is the most openness that I have ever experienced with a group of people. It is the deepest conversation that we have ever had.” It excited me, and yet it vexed me, for I could see how he and his wife had suffered here in loneliness, going it by themselves, how much they forfeited to be with these people and to labor in such a religious environment. Again, the ugliest religion in the world is Christianity. There is nothing that will kill the spirit of man like the Christian religion. Why? Every other religion is made to be a religion. Christianity is centered in a great God Who lives through us. Try to make it a religion of lists, and the standard will become so high that the people will be wiped out; they then will focus on some insignificant speck that they CAN accomplish, as though it were of ultimate importance, in order to avoid the fact of their failure to be “like” Jesus. It becomes so obvious that at some time and place during the history of the Catholic Church, it became expedient, to the carnal, to have a “Christian religion.” This religion would stir the pride of the masses and make them forget that they should not be fighting for the earthly kingdom of a man and actually forsaking Jesus. The whole thing tends to sicken us in light of the fact that Jesus is alive (mind you, we wouldn’t have that light without the revelation of the Spirit, and this will always soften our criticism).

I have a silent disgust for all things religious. I suppose that I shouldn’t, in fairness, contain it to the Catholics, but Jesus is not a religion. He never wrote anything, and His emphasis was that there was no obstacle between man and God. Religion is religion, and Jesus isn’t a religion, He is a relationship.

I Tim. 2:5, For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.

“I don’t really care if they like me or not, I like them!”

Proverbs 18:19, A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city,
And contentions are like the bars of a citadel.
“You offended me!” It is always said in the form of an accusation and in a manner indicating the need to change the offensive behavior. After all, the most important thing is that people tiptoe around and never offend self. Heaven forbid, if self was offended. Pastors hear it all the time. The statement is actually said with a tone of spirituality. However, the statement reveals a pathetic, others-controlled person, not a spirit-controlled person. A man was taking a shortcut, found himself in the middle of a soccer game, hurried to get out of the way, and as he was running accidentally kicked the ball and a made a point. This man had not made a planned offense; it was all by accident. However, the team that was on defense started screaming, “You have ruined the game and given our opponents a point!” The man just stood in amazement. Why blame him? He was just running through, and the defense was terrible. If a stranger who doesn’t know the game can score, then the defense is in need of being fixed. If you keep getting offended by this person and that person–who are only stumbling and bumbling in front of you–fix your own defense. You are the one with the problem, not them. Oh, it sounds better to say they have the problem, but if they really do have an obvious problem and you allow them to offend, you are even in worse shape. You are surrendering your peace to a contentious person. You should be fit enough spiritually that no one can offend you. One fellow said to me, “I don’t really care if they like me or not, I like them!” Another statement that goes right along with what we are talking about is, “You made me mad.” What exactly does that mean? That I am your god and your happiness rests in my hands? Amazing! I didn’t know that I had that kind of power over you! The fact is this: You surrendered your joy to my behavior and your misery is completely and utterly consented to by your will. You allowed yourself to get mad, and instead of wearing your weakness, it sounds better to your flesh to indicate that I did it. I didn’t do it. You did it, and you are the failure. Men say that their wives make them mad. No one can MAKE them anything. They choose to allow themselves to be mad. Stop being deceived, take the blame, and take charge of your own happiness. Well, amen!

Eccl. 3: 11-15”He has made everything appropriate in its time. He has also set eternity in their heart, yet so that man will not find out the work which God has done from the beginning even to the end. I know that there is nothing better for them than to rejoice and to do good in one’s lifetime; moreover, that every man who eats and drinks sees good in all his labor—it is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him. That which is has been already, and that which will be has already been, for God seeks what has passed by.”
Loving fathers busy themselves making life easier for their sons than it was for them. I remember, as a child, wanting, in the worst way, a little motorscooter. As soon as my boys were big enough, I made sure that they got one. I have known more than one man who, not having a father himself, was driven to be the best father possible. Fathers delight in helping their sons and even sharing in the accomplishments of their sons. In short, fathers want their sons’ lives to be better than theirs. Could it be that God is also this way? Could it be that the life God has for me is actually better than His? It boils down to this: is it easier to be man than to be God? Look at the life of God. Man has never really paid for sin; it has been God that has been picking up the tab all along. His creation pays and He pays. The ultimate payment came when His only begotten Son died. God has taken all the responsibility to cause things to work together for good, to take what He has made and redeem it in every possible way. He is putting together a grand jigsaw puzzle. All the pressure is on Him. Would you really like to be God? Would you like one day to experience what it is like to be driven by pure love? Could you bear up under His sorrow? Would you have the wisdom to govern? I have concluded that my life, as a son, is much easier than my Father’s. I am just going to rest and enjoy all of His work. I think I will just enjoy my inheritance.

Can’t we all just look to Jesus and let the Spirit initiate what He wants?

Acts 2:1-2, When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Pentecost is worth enjoying. There was a time in the Church when Whitsunday (the coming of the Spirit) was celebrated more than Christmas (Christ among us). He is just as much in us as He is among us. In fact, what makes a person Pentecostal is the belief that He is residing within. Believing in gifts and miracles does not make one Pentecostal. Pentecost gives a deathblow to religion and takes Christianity completely out of the realm of religion. The move of the Spirit was not generated from within but from without. In the same way today if there were a move of the Spirit, it would be initiated by the Spirit. The proof that an expression is not initiated by the flesh is that those who have the experience will not point others back to the experience, but will point them to the One who gives the experience. To say a particular expression is of the Spirit and then to point people to the expression is proof that it is not of God. In religion, the experience becomes the focal point and the experience is fought for. In Pentecost, Jesus is the issue; people are pointed to Him, where they will get what they need. Personally, I never understood how there could be a move of the Spirit, and yet for me to have it, I had to work and move my flesh. If He came to the original recipients without the initiation of man, then why can’t He come to me without my initiation? Why must I be convinced, be in the right place, and believe a certain thing? Can’t we all just look to Jesus and let the Spirit initiate what He wants?

“And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, “She is my sister.” Gen 20:2

For those of you who are married, what are some of the words and concepts that stir in your mind when you hear the words “wife” or “husband”? When I say that I have a wife or call Betty “my wife,” many things come to mind, for there are myriad issues associated with the term “wife.” I think of the children, finances, the home, the emotional, physical, and mental aspects of our relationship, future and past events, good and bad, commitment, oneness, pains and joys, holidays, babies, ultimate goals, and more. After all, she is my wife.

There is much written on the relationship of husband and wife. However, I want to investigate an overlooked aspect of marriage, that of brother and sister in Christ. This is a greater relationship than marriage. In heaven there will be no marriage, for the earthly relationship of marriage will end on earth. “For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” (Mark 12:25)

When I look at my wife and call her sister, everything changes. Just as the word “wife” brings with it a multitude of feelings, situations, and actions, so does the word “sister.” She is my sister in Christ; I am her brother in Christ. Those two words, “sister and brother,” move us to a different realm with completely different issues and goals. Once I call her “sister,” I acknowledge that she is not my own; she has a Father and is a member of a family. As my sister we have a goal that goes above and beyond that of a married couple. God is the goal and the desire of our hearts; we must encourage each other in Him. Who did what and said what is not of ultimate importance; He is. All of the little annoyances of the day don’t matter. Earthly mistakes are not the issue. Security is not in finances or who was wisest with the money. Together, He is our goal. When offended, we recognize that we deserve to be offended until we cannot be offended, for of what use will we be in the kingdom if we still get offended? I can’t judge my sister, for, ”Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and stand he will, for the Lord is able to make him stand.” (Rom. 14:4)

There is something higher than marriage for a couple, there is another dimension, and there is a better place from which to relate. Sometime today, turn to your wife and call her “Sister,” or to your husband and say “Brother.” For too long we have only seen our mates as wife or husband, and there is more.

Gal.4:4
“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son”

I remember waiting and working to purchase a car and my grandfather telling me that working for the car was more fun than possessing it. He was right! There was more enjoyment from waiting, thinking, and imagining than from the actual possessing. Waiting maximizes enjoyment.

When a child is given everything he wants and not made to wait, the parent is actually cheating the child out of a blessing. We are made in the image of God, and God enjoys waiting. He waited for the fullness of time to send His Son. Why did He not send the Son the instant Adam and Eve fell? Waiting adds maximum enjoyment and benefit to the gift of the Son. He still sends the Son, in the fullness of time, into hearts of men today. So, wait in faith for the salvation of your child or husband or for personal freedom.

“But the Lord said to him,’ Now you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and of the platter; but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness.’” Luke 11:39

Self righteousness is simply my imitating the fruit of the spirit. If I am acting out, in my own strength, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, I am self righteous. We spend so much time describing the unrighteous but, self-righteousness is worse, and much more insidious.

Imitating the fruit of the spirit will not give you a standing with God. It only gives a standing with the Devil. It is for your glory. It has its roots in wanting to be seen. Recognize abiding and true fruit will be yours naturally.

What does it mean to live for Jesus? That is a good question. I don’t sit here as someone who knows all the answers, but I can give you my own experience. I find that to live for Him is just simply enjoy Him. It’s not about what I do, or don’t do. He wants to simply enjoy me, and allow me to enjoy Him.

When God revealed to me that He was not interested in changing me, but all He wanted to do was love me, the response this generated in me was amazing. I have come to see that His love for me has absolutely NO agenda. 1 John 4:8 says that God is Love. Because I know that God is Love, then I can look to 1st Corinthians 13 where God tells me what Love is. God equals love, so: God is patient, God is kind, God is not envious, God is not self seeking. As I read through that list of what God is, I have to ask myself, “Is this the God that I know?” My answers are often, “No!” Now, at that point I have a choice. I can stick with my false idea of who God is, or I can take God at His word and believe what He says about Himself.

But for me to enjoy Him, I first must know Him. The more I know Him, the more I love Him. The more I love Him, the more I want to know Him.

“He again fixes a certain day, ‘Today,’ saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, ‘TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.’” Heb 4:7

Man, for certain, possesses the present and in a measure the future. Man does not possess the past, ever! If we choose to live in the past, we choose darkness, and we exclude God. God will not move to the past with us.

Therefore, every time we venture into the past we venture there alone. In fact God calls us, always, to move from the past. To dwell in the past is to find yourself dwelling in a place where there is no hope. The Jews were in the world without a hope. That is, they were trusting on the things of the past, the law, the security of ritual and formula, neglecting what God was presenting to them in the present–Jesus.

Doesn’t it make sense that God wants to be the God of the NOW? We speak of a personal relationship. How can a relationship be personal if it is not a present relationship. To move into the past is to move away from God, and it is sin. Many today are counseled to relive the past, to mourn over it, work through it, and even warned that if they do not their life will remain in constant turmoil.

Here is my question. If the past created my problems why would I want to go back and live there again? In my office I spend up to one hour looking at the past. The lone reason, being, to understand it so we will never go back to it. Living in the past will always thwart growth. Start acting like a five year old and see how much those around enjoy you.

We are called from the past into the present. In the past you had wonderful successes and terrible failures, times of victory and times of defeat, times of great joy and unbelievable depression. Fine, now what? Today, hear his voice! The issue is today.

God says do something today and don’t live out of the past. “AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME.” Heb 3:15 You provoked Him in the past, true, but I refuse to discuss that. I want to discuss today. Yesterday is no excuse for today! Many use it as such. “I can’t love today because of emotional hurt yesterday,” “I can’t give today because of all my rejection yesterday; I need to take”, and “You wouldn’t expect that from me today if you only knew about yesterday.” As the plumber once said to the distraught lady, “Sorry, that just won’t flush”! It just doesn’t flush that past behavior and experience are keeping you away from a God who lives in the present.