Wednesday, February 5, 2014
Spiritual Backbone: Standing Alone
Last class Dr. Wright spoke of "blessing" as being the fellowship I have with God. Later in the class, he spoke of the nature of the decision to go to Bible school when it is not approved of (by family and friends). You and God, God and you...Dr. Stevens called this "Spiritual Self-Autonomy." You do not stand alone in self-sufficiency; but due to your relationship with the source of life, your dialogue with the Person of Truth, and the Baptism of the Spirit into Christ's organic Body/family/bride/Church, YOU CAN TRULY STAND ALONE...without the acceptance or confirmations you think you may need, and against things that you think are insurmountable. This is very important; to know that because of SITTING in receptivity, and WALKING practically as a Spirit filled believer in small steps of faith, you are being prepared to STAND. This is not just a phenomenon in Bible stories, but something integral to life as a believer on a fallen planet. What issues does God address in our hearts as he develops this spiritual backbone in us?....give a verse please.
David A. Laflamme
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God addresses the truth that we stand or fall before Him and He is the one who makes us stand (Romans 14:4). God also reminds us that our sufficiency is from Him (2 Cor 3:5, 9:8), that we are accepted by God in the Beloved (Eph 1:6 - if God's accepted us, why are we worried about acceptance from man?). I also am comforted that He who began a good work will complete it (Phil 1:6), and that it's God who works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure (Phil 2:13), and that our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth (Psalm 124:8)! I could go on and on...to those who've received (have), more is given... Can I hear a big spiritual "woo wee!"
ReplyDelete"Woo wee!" an issue that might be addresses is the fact that our source of strength to sit walk, and stand is in Christ, He is the One who will not fail us. David had bee failed by friends and persecuted by enemies (Ps 69), but he looked to God alone for strength, Psalm 62:5- my soul wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my Rock and defense; I shall not be moved. Ps 70
Delete;6 - by thee i have been holden up by the womb. God is the one who keeps us: where we sit: in the prescence of Christ, where we walk: in our calling, and leads us to where we stand equipped with the whole armor of God.
"Woo-we...", Phil 1:6 is my verse in Christ; you and I (all of our body, and the universal body of Christ) are complete in him...we do have strength though the spirit, equipped with the armor of God to fight the spiritual battles of this world....looking to our "home" in heaven that is to come. We are constantly being transformed into Christ's likeness....what a promise! Thanks!
DeleteNate McFarland also touched on it in Chapel. He mentioned how our families may ask when will you start your ‘real life’? It must be our own personal conviction to walk with God wherever He will call us. Whether it is bible college, the mission field, a ‘weird’ job... As we fellowship with the Lord, He calls us to be transformed - NOT conformed to the world, Romans 12:2. God used this verse to bring me to bible college. He renews our minds by the Spirit through the Word. It is Christ who satisfies our deepest needs and loves us unconditionally. When we are standing in positional truth by faith, eternal security becomes alive in our hearts and we realize our lives do not need to be validated by anyone but the Lord. The natural desire for approval is transferred from fallen people to a perfect, holy God. Eventually we will stand before Him alone, Revelation 20:12. Now we live, if we stand fast in the Lord, 1 Thessalonians 3:8.
ReplyDeleteI love what you said Mary! Our desire for natural approval disappears and we only want to please Him. It is so freeing to realize that I do not need to strive to make people happy in this world. I just want to know my Lord and Savior and grow closer to Him. People will not always understand what I'm doing but I know the reason I came to Bible College which was to get to know God. We have all started our "real lives" and it is with Him :)
DeleteAny time I think on standing in Christ I always like to refer to Eph 6 as a whole. it addresses how we stand(In Christ bearing His armor) and how we are to prepare our hearts to stand in Him v. 1-9. I personally like to put the armor on before the man beneath it is yielded to God(This is pride). v1-9 really illustrates to me what being yielded(humbled) to God looks like and v.10 we finally will put on Christ and the armor of Light. And in all we pray,stand together with the body of Christ and speak boldly, the gospel of truth.(v18-20).Pride will always make me feel sufficient, but when Satan attacks from all fronts and the fiery darts come in I will always fall because it is only a man trying to bear Christ's image by my power not God's. A walk with Christ is a walk of humility.
ReplyDeleteJohn 3:30 tells us that Christ must become greater and we must become less. So really, what issues in our hearts doesn't that line address? We're not important, He is; our needs aren't to be met, His are. How can our sins be the main focus of our lives when we should really be concentrating on the grace given us through Christ?
ReplyDeleteIf you're looking for an idea of what this line means, John paints an amazing mental picture in the verses prior to 3:30 of how the best man's (me) only priority is to serve the bridegroom (Jesus) throughout the wedding process (life). So, we didn't actually come to Bible college to better ourselves, we came to better serve Christ. Still, we can get caught up in the pride of our decision to come here, ESPECIALLY when we faced dissent from our closest family and friends. Long story short, it's not about our decisions and circumstances that brought us here, it's about serving Christ however we can while we are here.
Yes - less is more - John 3:30!
DeleteFamily just at times doesn't understand...but God is in control...can think back over some real trials related to this thought...but God be praised, he has the victory...it's the waiting, the patience, the knowing that he will come true that tests our faith....but the trial of our faith is more precious than gold, his strength is made perfect in our weakness, he does work together all things for the good to those that are called, and love him...Thank you Jesus!
DeleteBefore I came to Bible College I had some family that hated God and church and were completely against the idea of me making that decision. Last year they came to the Easter play and our relationships have grown. For now our families may just be observing our life while God is using US to show Christ. I love how God is so big and He does above and beyond what we could even imagine :)
Delete“Who will have the final say over our life – that’s what is at issue in the choice.” (P. Wright, class 2) That’s what is always at issue in my heart. “My son, give thee my heart…” (Prov 23:26). I came here “that I may know Him…”(Phil 3:10 - this verse is especially powerful in the Amplified). With all my heart I wanted a deeper, more intimate relationship with Christ. That is the only thing that enables me to stand, no matter what I am faced with.
ReplyDeleteIt is true that we don't need confirmation from people around us for a situation, it is important to listen to what God has to say instead of your friends or parents. In 1Kings 19:12 Elijah heard God speaking in a still small voice. An aspect God could test us in is weather we are listening to his still small voice or if we are just listening to the people around us. Are we able to quiet our souls enough to hear from him?
ReplyDeleteWow...that's loaded. It's almost like the greatest pinnacle of human existence is when you're actually attentive to the PERSON of God
DeleteAre we listening attentively? Do we allow time for the spirit to minister to us in this busy, confused, broken, fallen, desperate, diseased World? Yes Lord here am I is our call, and his faithfulness is everlasting to everlasting! Amen!
DeleteIt's an amazing thing knowing that our lives aren't based on something temporal but on the eternal. If we are listening to the voice of God we can be sure that what we are doing is right. When our lives are based off of truth, nothing else matters, opinions don't matter, peoples thoughts don't matter. The only thing that matters is the Word that God has spoken to us! When we are listening to His voice its as if we don't hear any other noise around us.
DeleteThis blesses me tons, thanks! I feel like sometimes its hard to 'hear God speaking'. Like we expect to feel something huge, when most of the time (for me at least) its just asking God to calm my soul then reading His Word by faith. He somehow brings in a rest and peace i could never describe. Its really amazing to stand in His truth and grace in faith, not because i see Him or feel Him (feelings and sight change), but standing in His unchanging Word.
DeleteThe thought of being quiet enough to hear God's voice is amazing. It is so easy to become busy and let life get so loud we can no longer listen to what God is trying to say to us. Resting in the quietness of God and listening to His voice is so comforting. We always have someone that talks to us personally, who has our eternal best interest in mind, and He guides our every step.
DeleteWith you on that, Robin! We can feel frustrated by the busyness of life, it becomes easy to get caught up in the flow of it all. But when we really set time apart to be completely quiet, inside and out, before God and just listen to Him and be still before Him, He is faithful to lead us and to show us the way forward.
DeleteIt is true that we don't need confirmation from people around us for a situation, it is important to listen to what God has to say instead of your friends or parents. In 1Kings 19:12 Elijah heard God speaking in a still small voice. An aspect God could test us in is weather we are listening to his still small voice or if we are just listening to the people around us. Are we able to quiet our souls enough to hear from him?
ReplyDeleteLiz Groenewold
I feel like that situation is all-too common. So many times we have different voices telling us contradicting things and trying to splay our body and mind into so many directions. Still, we must simply turn off our hearing, become deaf to the ways and words of this world, and listen for that "small voice". You'll know it when you hear it, but until you do, you can feel lost under a tree, just searching.
DeleteI feel that not receiving praise from the world is a good sign in our lives. We are like the disciples. Jesus tells us to follow Him and we go. We do not know the next steps: where we will live, where we will work or how we are going to make it in Baltimore city but we know this is where we were called. And we take those scary steps out onto the water and we sink but then He rescues us! This life of faith is way out of my comfort zone but I know He has the words of eternal life and is waiting to save me over and over again.
DeleteJohn 6:68- "Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life."
"I/We can truly stand alone," what a promise to us in Christ!
ReplyDeleteThere isn't any issue God doesn't deal with through our heart relationship with him; it's truly amazing that he knows us so deeply. But what a plan, he's for us, we're the head and not the tail, Phil 3:10, is the desire of my heart, to "know him", to fellowship with him, to be in his prescense...really just practicing for heaven, and eternity.
Thanks be to SOD, practicing the opportunity to know the Word and God's eternal promises to us with opportunities to experience his victory in our lives.Also as we are hid in the body, so God uses iron to sharpen iron in us...look out flesh, as we choose his increase, you're going to die and decrease...all in the love, grace and mercy of God...Amen!
The more I know about God, the more thirsty I feel myself to know more about Him. His Word is life. Unbelievers can not understand this. We are salt and light for this world. Mat. 5:13-16
ReplyDeleteI love how we get in that cycle. I was talking the other day with someone, and they brought up how maybe that's what "our God is a consuming fire" means. I don't think i can say that forsure, but the principle still fits that God wants all of me, and once I hop into that cycle, I get to start exploring something infinite and eternal. It's so much bigger than me.
DeleteI love this thought in Matthew that we are a light unto the world. When a believer is filled with the Holy Spirit and thinking with the mindset of Christ our actions and lives tend to appear different to others. Matthew 5:16 "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in Heaven". Let the light of Christ shine through you unto others.
DeleteA main issue I think that God addresses is our motivation. If He is our source and we are deriving who we are on His person, then our motive is pure (Matthew 5:8). We are not seeking for self attention but we are seeking Christ. When He is our motive and He is our reason to live, nothing in this World can take us away from that. To the World this life that we live makes no sense, to surrender all to the person of Christ makes absolutely seems crazy to the unbeliever but to us as Christians it becomes the very thing that we are longing for. It is a process none the less, but God knows and when He is our motivation, He will bring us to that place of complete surrender.
ReplyDeleteSometimes when I am questioned about why I'm in Bible College or what am I going to do once this part of my life is over it can sometimes make me think like what is going to happen once it is over? But its just a plan of the devil to get us caught up into natural thinking to separate us from truth. If we just rest in the fact that God has a plan for our lives nothing else matters (Jer 17:7). It doesn't matter what certain family members or friends say because this life that we live is eternal and I think we can all say that we are here for a greater purpose beyond ourselves. Because of that fact, we as are able to stand alone.
ReplyDeleteFor many years I have been searching for God. I have turned to Islam back in 1959. I studied Islam for many, many years. I studied the Arabic language, bought a Quaran and learned to read it thinking I could learn more about God. However, all for nothing. Of course many years passed and at the ripe young age of 74, the Holy Spirit introduced me to the only true way to get to know God. That was when I learned "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me ' ( John 14:6)
ReplyDeleteGod addresses many issues in our hearts as He develops a spiritual backbone in our lives. In the case of Moses, God addressed his personal unbelief (Exodus 3:1-5), his fear of what people thought about the message God gave him (Exodus 4:1-5), and his insecurities with himself (Exodus 4:10-17).
ReplyDeleteAs Pastor Love has said, God must break us before He can use us. Sometimes that breaking can be our personal views on things, our circumstances in life, and idols in our hearts. Kayla Wade
Tossed around by all winds that blows my way, living without the true knowledge of the Word of God. I have made the choice to be a follower of Christ becoming pure and holy through believing and obeying the Word of God (Heb 4:12 ) Jesus prayed for all who would follow him, including all people we know and will know us. He prayed for unity, protection from evil one and holiness.( John 17:11-17) Knowing that Jesus prayed for me gave me the confidence.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the biggest ones I got to see God working at in my life recently and then consistently is trust. When I dig through different areas of Scripture like Matthew 6 or Philippians, or really anywhere that God's faithfulness is mentioned, it gives very real promises towards how God will take care of me in time, but I think my biggest encouragement in tests of faith and trust is reading through different psalms and realizing that if I am honest, God has provided before now, and He wants to provide even when I don't think He can.
ReplyDeleteI believe that I gained my Spiritural background a few years back at a Missions Conference when I heard my call to come to Bible College. After that conference I knew that was what God wanted me to do. I then became determined to go to Bible College, despite family objections. I just knew to stand my ground because I knew God's will for me was to come to Bible college, get to know Him more and to serve Him. Ever since that decision, the small steps I have made as a New Christian has been an integral part of me becoming more spiritually mature.
ReplyDeleteOpposition is hard to face regardless of whom it comes from, but it becomes even harder to bear when it stems from those closest to you. Opposition from family has been a difficult issue for me to address this semester. My family is supportive of me attending Bible College and furthering my walk with God, but I have received numerous concerns about me not being able to do anything with this degree or not being able to support myself later in life. Satan uses people and their mouths to portray his mindset on us, even believers. While there is no malintent from my family expressing their concern, Satan is projecting doubts and fears to me. Acts 5:29b "We ought to obey God rather than men". While we need to be respectful to our family and their concerns, our purpose in life is to follow God and seek after Him, not the approval of men.
ReplyDeleteWhat your family is expressing is the "view of security" that is how our natural minds think. How will you support yourself? Where will all this lead? A College degree never assures any of this at all, all things being equal, you, like Mary, have the better part, which will not be taken away. pw
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of a spiritual backbone I think of Paul in Galatians. "For before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision." Even Barnabas had became "carried away with their dissimulation." (Gal 2:13) Paul confronted Peter at his own church before anyone else was infected with this wrong thinking, hypocrisy. Paul said, "They walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel."(vs.14) They didn't walk in the princible of Christ tearing down the wall between Jews and Gentiles. Paul faced Peter in verse 14, he didn't have sentimentality towards them because they were freinds, but understood his obligation to truth first and acted upon that. He didn't spare the Word and wasn't fimilar with it.
ReplyDelete