WHY DOES IT SEEM SO HARD TO BELILEVE?

Now that I've got the title to this particular newsletter, where do I go from here, dear Lord?

Let's go back to the beginning when this first came to mind. I was reading from a calender I have in my office that has quotes from Oswald Chambers. One particular day gave Galatians 5:24: "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." Chambers' comment was: "The natural life is not sinful. It is not a question of giving up sin. But of giving up my right to myself, my natural independence and self-assertiveness, and this is where the battle has to be fought."* Then the next day it was Proverbs 28:20: "A faithful man shall abound with blessings." Here, Chambers' comment was: "To be faithful in every circumstance means that we have only one loyalty and that is to our Lord." These two items started me thinking. How can I, "myself", crucify the flesh? Am I faithful in every circumstance? Where does my loyalty lay?

These are questions that I've not necessarily thought about before in relation to believing. But, don't our lives - the way we live them - reflect something of what we believe? Don't replies to statements and/or questions from others say something about who or what "I am"? And does this all say something about what or who I believe? Or shouldn't it?

When we accept Jesus as Savior we become His disciple.

To be a disciple means to be devoted to Jesus. "Discipleship means personal passionate devotion to a Person, Our Lord Jesus Christ", says Chambers*. Our personal wants and desires must be willfully put aside - or we must willfully decide not to give into them. This is what is meant by " to crucify the flesh." We must put aside anything that would keep us from doing or being what we have been called by Jesus to do or to be. The attitude of "I want" is a selfish desire of our own selfish self This attitude or state of mind keeps us from fully being Jesus'. Even our relationships with family and friends can keep us from being fully His. Our feelings for our husband or wife, children, brothers, sisters - anyone or anything - and our relationships with them, can keep us from allowing Jesus to work His Work in us. These relationships cannot be the most important focus in our lives. Jesus must be first. When we choose Him over everything else, we will make a difference in the lives of those we hold dear to our heart. This difference could be a matter of life or death to them. When Jesus took up residence in our hearts, our old person or "self' died because we said "Jesus, I accept you as my Savior .... My Lord". Our "old self' died through the act of Jesus on the cross. We became alive in spirit through Jesus' gift. Now we are alive! We have life eternal because Jesus gives us this through His death, so we ourselves do not have to die as he did - for He paid for our life by His Life.

So now, we have to say in our mind which still thin" as it used to in our old "dead self ', " I have made a decision 'to life' through Jesus." This is not easy. Our minds have been conditioned by our past actions and attitudes..... going back to our childhood. The old thoughts we had are just that - "old thoughts'. They come from where we were - not from where we are now. This takes an alert willful action by our "new' life. All our possessions are not ours, but His for we are His, and all we have is His. Just as all that is His is ours. He is the creator of all things. All His mercy, all I-Us grace, all His righteousness, all His comfort, all His love, all His provisions are ours - any thing that we may need at any time. And any time we tell God that we want to be what He has called us to be .... which is to be in agreement with His will for us .... that we would be obedient to His Voice in our lives .... He will enlist all of His Creation to help us .... from every star in the sky to every grain of sand upon the shore. All these come to our aid because we are His. So we have to tell our mind that our source of all things is God and not what we "think" we can do. For we can do nothing apart from God. Yes, God has let us - in the past - do what we wanted - or what we thought we wanted at the time .... but all these decisions are what brought us to the place where we finally realized that Jesus is what we needed. Now our life should reflect that this "new person" exists.

Our minds will always "battle" for the old way ... (it's easier) ... for we have not been taught that our minds have to be dealt with. Why else did Paul say in Philippians 2:5: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus". His mind was always on His Father and what He wanted. Likewise, our minds should always be on Jesus and what He wants. Jesus was quite often in prayer to His Father, seeking His Will. "Prayer is the exercise of drawing on the grace of God".* So let prayer be a daily exercise ... an exercise for the "new mind."

Have you ever seen people who reflected the fact that Jesus was in control of their lives? Ever notice that they seemed to “glow”' or "smile" even when at rest? This, to me, seems to speak of a close walk with the God of the Universe .... this assurance they have .... is so real that it's reflected in their physical person. I wonder if any one could say that about you or me someday?

It is really not hard to believe, but our mind would like us to think it is. It doesn't want to change. But we have changed and therefore, we need to take charge of our minds and make the changes. God will help us all the way and in any way we need. This may be a battle that may seem to last forever, but that's only the way it "seems". We just need to keep resisting the old thoughts and attitudes and then we'll be learning more about being faithful in every circumstance and becoming true disciples of Jesus. When these old thoughts come in, just say, "I rebuke these thoughts in the name of Jesus and do not accept them in any way in my mind, body or spirit. I cover my thoughts in the blood of Jesus." And remember that accepting Jesus as Savior is only the beginning of a wonderful, awesome adventure with the God of the Universe.

As we renew - make new - our minds, we can begin to live what we believe. We will reflect what we believe. We will reflect Jesus. We will reflect love." ”Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God", I John 4:15. What a beautiful place to be....... abiding in God....

So Now What?

So now that we know believing is really simple. and we don't have to work at it, we just give it up to Jesus. Now we start the process of changing our mind. We make a decision to be what He has called us to be, whether it's a better parent, spouse, worker, student or just a better person. Again, He will help us all the way .... as much as we need and as much as we allow Him to do so. God is a gentleman. He never forces His Will on us. We must first desire His Will and then ask Him to do it.

We need to spend time with Him and get to know Him. It's not hard. Perhaps we should learn to practice His Presence. He's always there whether we choose to acknowledge Him or not. We may not see Him, but we know He's there. He is still there, so why not just talk to him?

Talking to him while driving is easy - as long as no one is with us ... but why not be bold and talk to him even if someone is there? Take walks with Him, trips with Him or even plan a special visit to the mountains or seashore. Yes, even cry on His shoulder and fall asleep in His arms. He'll never leave you. We may leave Him .... something can happen and we fall into the "old me" mind shape. Then all of a sudden we know something is wrong, We need to stop and think and realize what we have done. We apologize to Him, ask forgiveness and pick up where we left off. By His grace, we'll learn from this experience .... and the next .... and the next .... until one day we are all His, We have only one loyalty - to our Lord Jesus. We will find there is no limit to the depth, height or width of God. He is endless. Thank God that He IS!

From the Bridegroom

Jan. 1. 1997 "Seek My Face ... There are no chains on you except what you put there - what you allow to stay there. (Look inside and tell me what you see.)....I loved you enough to die. How much do you love Me? ... Will you count all as lost to press toward the mark of my Highest calling?

STAND IMMERSED IN MY GRACE

Look at Current Events

"Over and over, the world communicates to me. Over and over, but it's never telling me the truth"** The words to this song are so true. All the "stuff' that comes through the newspaper, radio or TV is only the truth as someone else sees it or wants us to believe is. God is the only Truth that can be believed. His Spirit is talking, too, but we need to decide to listen to Him. He is the only One that can show us the Truth in anything that is going on around the world. Time is short and mankind will not acknowledge God in any of it. Just look at all the different weather conditions, the floods, the fires, the earth quakes, the volcano eruptions and "other" signs. Man can try to contain the weather if he wants, but God is the only one in control of anything and He's in control of everything - whether man chooses to believe it or not. Mankind is living its own lie .... and mankind will die in its own sin. Believers in Jesus Christ if they are open to listen to His Spirit - will be given discernment of things that are true. And we will be given many opportunities to pray and intercede for God's truth and purposes to be accomplished in many lives and circumstances. God does not want one to be lost. One of our prayers could make the difference. So wait, watch and listen and PRAY that you may know God's heart in matters concerning your part in His Plan.

God's Chosen People

Those who love God have a special call upon their lives for the people of Israel and His Chosen. What a special favor God Almighty has given us. Only His Love can reveal what we need to pray for His Own. To be entrusted with such an assignment is a privilege. May those who love God and pray for His people begin to see them as He sees them - even from the beginning of time - redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb, Jesus. For they need Jesus as much as anyone. Only those who know what it's like without Jesus know how much they need Him. So let us pray that they may find the Messiah, Jesus, even in all they are going through. May He reach down and touch them - keep them safe in body and spirit - for Himself, until they come into the full knowledge of Whose they are.

So pray children, pray, pray, pray.

Bottom Line

Learn to live the redeemed life Jesus has given you. "If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever - the Spirit of Truth ... because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in My Father-, and you are in Me, and I am in you. Whoever has My commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves Me. He who loves Me will be love by My Father, and I too will love him and show Myself to him." John 14:15, 15, 17a, 20, 21 NIV

Choice

"...Before we can be filled with the Spirit the desire to be filled must be all consuming. It must be for the time the biggest thing in the life, so acute, so intrusive as to crowd out everything else. The degree to fullness in any life accords perfectly with the intensity of true desire, We have as much of God as we actually want. One great hindrance to the spirit filled life is the theology of complacency so widely accepted among gospel Christians today ..."*** So, how much of God do you want? It's up to you. He's told us we can have as much of Him as we went. We - you and I - determine how much of Him we receive and when. May you have ALL of Him all the time. This is my prayer for you - for us all - that we may have ALL. Be blessed by and in Him.

*My Utmost For His Highest, Oswald Chambers Classic Daily Devotional, Oswald Chambers, Barbour and Company, Inc.
**”Spirit To Spirit”, song, words and music by Lori Wilkie
***The Divine Conquest, A Barbour Book, 1950, A. W. Tozer.