Husbands and the Word !

As we have been going through a difficult situation in our lives the Lord has been revealing some things "in the midst" of this situation. The Lord was reminding me of the center stage which His Word took in Creation, everything obeyed God's Word. Human beings were the ones given free will to choose to agree with God's Word or agree with another voice. In our culture we have so many voices: politics, Oprah, friends, church, our family, the news media, our own mind and bodies, our work, and many others. My point in all this is that we are going to believe some voice and it is out of this agreement that our life is guided then these seeds of belief come to fruition. We were designed to hear an outside voice to guide our life, give us truth, and communicate our value and purpose. God set this in place when in Genesis 1:28 He blessed Adam and Eve giving them their purpose, direction, and mission. The Lord began to speak to me about the importance of listening to His Word (both His spoken Word by the Spirit and written Word) as a husband. God's spoken Word (Rhema in the Greek) will never violate His written Word (Logos in the Greek) or it is not His Word. Adam did not stand in the truth of the Word of God but listened to another voice (Satan through Eve), I am also tempted to question or doubt the Word of God instead of stand. This was the first event of defilement where Eve was defiled/used by Satan to hurt another human being (Adam). Specifically in Genesis 3:17, Adam is told that there will come a curse as a result of listening to the voice of his wife over the Word of God. It is very important for me to listen to my wife in showing Christ's love (Ephesians 5:25-26) but is her voice to dictate my view of all of life? The Lord has been revealing the foundational role of His Word (John 1:14 - Jesus is the Word became flesh) for me as a husband. How do I discern what is happening in our marriage, our family, our ministry, our church, and the world? Looking through the lens of God's revealed Word, life begins to come into focus and then I can be led by His Spirit as to the direction to walk. We all have our opinions about the world, government, family, etc.. The revealed (John 16:13) Word of God is a solid foundation for life, Jesus being the Word became flesh talked about a house built on sand versus on Rock (Christ). As I have been asking the Lord for revelation into family, He has led me to put my focus on His Word instead of people's schooled wisdom. Too often the Christian life is viewed as a list of do's and don'ts rather than agreeing with God's view in all areas of life. God's revealed Word often clashes with culture, trends, religious ideas, and our own ideas about how life ought to work. But when the storms of life blow, the Word of God is a solid foundation (in the love of Christ) for whatever comes.

In His Grace,
Bret

Decisions for a Lifetime

The Holy Spirit spoke through me to a client, He said "The most important decisions of your life are made in the depths of darkness and on the highest of highs." As I was recently walking through a "Great Sadness" I realized that the decisions I make when my heart is hurting have a big impact on how I will live the rest of my life. If in the midst of hurt I decide to close my heart to protect myself from being hurt again, my ability to love and be loved will be impacted. In counseling I often see people in the darkest places in their life but in the midst of the darkness the Light shines brightest. God is light. It is at these difficult times which come in everyone's life where we can turn our face towards God, towards something to distract, or come up with our own internal solution. I love that God's promises are not only solid and true but He invites us to experience these for ourselves. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted and so many others. In the highest of highs when you feel on top of life, you also make important decisions. You may praise the Lord or you may praise yourself. These decisions have a big impact on your direction in life. In these moments who do we look to? I said who because there is a part of us (our spirit) that is designed for relationship with God. To look towards God is built into us, in pre-believers they don't know what to do with this deep desire. They often turn to lower ways to try to satisfy this desire. One of the definitions for sin is to "miss the mark". When you are feeling deeply lonely and you turn towards alcohol you have definitely "missed the mark". Alcohol then becomes an addiction, an addiction is simply something that becomes a god that is not God. In other words we are to be addicted to knowing and experiencing God, this brings continual experiencing of life (He who has the Son has life - 1 John 5:12) in our spirit. Some would say since you have God living in you through the Holy Spirit you don't need to keep receiving but this makes no Biblical sense. We have a choice to continue to receive from God or from other sources. A big part of receiving from the Lord is receiving His revealed Word, Jesus is the Word became flesh. In Isaiah 61:1-4 it talks about the Anointed One and what the anointing will do for people. Anointing is the empowerment or grace to do something you can not do without God. Many believe it is relegated to charasmatics or pentecostals but the Word is for all believers. Jesus is often went into the synagogues and shared this scripture and then demonstrated setting captives free, healing the brokenhearted, etc...(Luke 4:15-36). Jesus is the Anointed One, which is what Christ means (Cristos in the Greek) and it also means the anointing which was on Jesus to do what He did. Then throughout Paul's writings we are said to be "in Christ" which is covenant language meaning everything He has is given to us. Anointing also means the manifest presence of God (Holy Spirit). Why do I talk about this? I believe according to the Word of God that the anointing of the Spirit is what brings us freedom, revelation of who God is, strengthening, and healing to our hearts. It is not something you earn or only for special people. In 1 John 2:20 & 27 tells us that believers have received the anointing of the Spirit when you received Christ. I will lay more of a foundation around the anointing, please don't judge until you have more understanding.

In His Amazing Grace,
Bret