Disappointment & Regret

We are discovering that the journey of becoming who we already are throws up the recurring opportunity to experience disappointment and regret.  When we step out in faith on the basis of who we are in Christ we experience the joy of victory but we can also encounter the agony of defeat.

Disappointment gives power to the things we do not understand.  The next step is that we begin to trade truth for lies.  Then we create a theology to cover what is not happening.

Mystery is exactly that – mystery.  If mysteries could be understood or explained they would no longer be mysteries.  Western Christians have been conned by their culture to believe there is an answer to everything.  Therefore, we are not content to live with mystery.  Even if our explanation or understanding is wrong we are “comforted” by the thought that we have found an explanation.  For example, someone is not healed so we explain that God must have another plan He is achieving through the sickness.  However, Jesus never left anyone sick or infirm to teach them a lesson.

Life is full of mystery.  Resist the drive to understand or explain what has no explanation. Living with mystery, when it is a mystery, is better for your faith than embracing disappointment.

Disappointment has a cousin called regret.  Like disappointment regret has the power to torment the mind and chain our soul to the past.  The experience of regret has been described as being like driving a car forwards for 100km while constantly looking backwards!!  I am convinced none of us would consider doing this.  With this in mind why not decide today that you will no longer be a person who lives with regret.

Lord, release grace that leads us out of disappointment and regret.

Until next time may you be blessed with Gods’ favour and life.

My Life (8)

It is extraordinary to me how different cultures can be even when countries are so geographically close to one another.  It intrigues me when I consider how distinct languages have developed amongst people groups who virtually live side by side.  There are mind sets that too mark and identify a culture.   Things held dear in one culture can so easily be affronted by an innocent and unknowing transgression by a member of another culture.

Yet, when it comes to matters of faith and loving Jesus the similarities are striking.  It must be the love that is experienced when the divine touches the human heart.  No matter our language and cultural differences one touch from God changes everything.  The human heart universally responds to love and adoration, obedience and a desire for others to have a similar expression.

I have found I can worship my God and my Father with any people group in the world, even when I don’t understand the words.  The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead not only indwells all believers but leads all believers so that we cry out Abba, Father.   We have a natural desire to yield and surrender to the love we have found.  We learn to stop eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and begin to eat from the tree of life.

Let’s purpose in our hearts to advance the Kingdom above building and defending our church affiliations.  There is only one church.  Our unity both releases the glory of God and displays love to the world.  I am sure that non-believers resist the gospel of the Kingdom due to the work of the evil one.  However, is it possible we make the evil one’s role in this regard easier because we allow ‘church culture and language’ to undermine the outcomes of unity of heart, that is, love and glory?

Until next time may you be blessed with God’s favour and life.

My Life (7)

Today I am in Cambodia.  I have been travelling here, at least once a year, for the last 17 years.  During this time the role I and our church play has been expressed in different ways.

I love the people of Cambodia. I love what God is doing here.  I am inspired by the way God’s people preach the gospel in the face of opposition and adversity.  There are many groups of foreign missionaries who are effectively equipping and empowering the indigenous Khmers to “be Jesus” to their communities.

It has been our privilege to “connect” other Aussie churches to these local Khmer based groups.  I have been thrilled to see so many from our own congregation come to Cambodia and be changed.  There are those who have made long term commitments to be involved.  Business guys who have both bought and started businesses in Cambodia.  Women who are focussed on rescuing Khmer girls from the sex slave trade.  Children who have changed the lives of Khmer children by sponsoring them.  Then there are my heroes who live and work within their own culture.  Unknown to many here on earth but who are greatly admired by their Father in heaven.

As a country Cambodia is still recovering from the trauma of the Khmer Rouge.  Great economic progress is being made in Phnom Penh but poverty still abounds for 80% of the population who live in villages. Yet they are a beautifully resilient people.  In contrast to their history they are open and friendly people.  Like so many in the world they long for a better life but find contentment in what they have.

Would you join with me in praying for the significant penetration of the gospel into every aspect of Khmer culture.

Until next time may you be blessed with God’s favour and life.

Becoming Who We Already Are (5)

In our quest to become who we already are the power of our mindsets is extremely important.  I would observe that many Christians are “stuck” in knowing who they really are in Christ as a result of the work of the cross, because their thinking is informed more by the Mosaic covenant than the New covenant.

Who we are in God’s eyes and how we access the promises as a matter of right and inheritance is governed by the covenant we are living under.  During the epoch of the Abrahamic covenant, access was on the basis of being born right or one’s Pedigree.  Just as Prince Charles will be the King of England, with all its power and privilege  for no other reason than the family he was born into, so Abraham and his family line were related to God.  This is why when Abraham lied to Pharaoh he was blessed but when David lied (under Mosaic covenant) he was punished.

During the epoch of the Mosaic covenant access was on the basis of behaving right or one’s Performance.  God’s people were rewarded for obedience and punished for disobedience.  The issue of being worthy for God’s service and use was determined by how someone lived.  Righteousness was achieved but under the New covenant it is received.

During the epoch of the New covenant, that is, now, access is on the basis of believing right or one’s Position.  Our position in Christ is the key to our identity.  God has qualified us to be sons (Colossians 1: 12).  God is no longer counting our sins against us and we are the righteousness of God in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5 : 17 – 21).  Our righteousness before God is based on the behaviour and obedience of Jesus on our behalf.  We are holy, blameless and beyond reproach (Colossians 1: 21 – 22).  We are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ. (Romans 6: 11).

We do not become who we already are from a Mosaic covenant mindset. We do not need to behave right as an act of being worthy to access the promises of God.  We are already worthy because Jesus identified with us at our worst so we could identify with Him at His best.  We are to be son conscious not sin conscious.  As we believe who we already are we become who we already are.

The sin that inhabited our old nature does need to be addressed as it has deep roots.  We need the daily work of grace to conquer sin.  We need Jesus to be formed in us therefore we repent of sin but as an act of learning not as a method to avoid disqualification (Romans 6: 3 – 7).

Until next time may you be blessed with God’s favour and life.

Becoming Who We Already Are (4)

Martin Luther was at the heart of the reformation that resulted in the Protestant Church being birthed.  He challenged the theology and practice of the Roman Catholic Church by asking the big questions: “What must a person do to get to heaven.”   In simplistic terms this has spawned a focus on the gospel of salvation and the church seems to have lost sight of the gospel Jesus preached – the gospel of the kingdom of God.  Equally the gospel of salvation has tended to create believers who see their faith as a “Get out of jail free” card that will remain valid and current if they ‘live right’.

If the Lord tarries for a further 200 – 300 years I believe that church historians will identify the days we are living in as another period of reformation. The big question I believe the Spirit is currently asking is: “What must a person believe and experience for heaven to invade earth through them.”  The answer to this question orientates a believer to the gospel of the kingdom.  It demands a response to honestly engage with scriptures like:

John 14: 12
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.

John 20:21
So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”

John 10:37
If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;

To live as a follower of Jesus is much more than attending church, being part of a small group or tithing.  It is even more than living an upright and moral life.  The Christian life includes these and releasing the kingdom through heaven coming to earth.  The high water mark of Christian living and church life must shift from what we can do with giftedness to what God can do through us because of yieldedness and obedience. Becoming who we already are begins with right believing not right living.

Until next time may you be blessed with God’s favour and life.