We could probably all live the Christian life if the only scripture we had was II Corinthians chapters 3-5. Rich, rich direction for us all. In dealing with the fight against cancer that has stricken my body,  I seem to see layers in some of these verses that I thought I already knew. II Corinthians 4:8 uses words like this to describe trouble…”we are hard pressed”, “perplexed”, “persecuted”, “struck down”. Sometimes I have gone on to the victory after these words but I forgot to feel the pain of harsh words like “struck down”. Struck down hurts! These are real words. Real pain. Real intense. I know what it feels like to be “perplexed” at a deeper level than what I used to. I taught for years the victory that the Treasure in us offers being oblivious to the real struggle and heartache that my fellow brothers and sisters were carrying around with them. It’s ok to be temporarily perplexed. It’s part of living on this planet.

The vicious strain of being “hard pressed” just doesn’t let up sometimes. And I don’t even pretend to know what it’s like to be “persecuted”. In addition, I noticed that while in great trial I had misquoted many verses. Like “In every thing give thanks for this is the will of God…” I had mistakenly believed it to say “FOR everything give thanks for this is the will of God…” Now I see that there are evils that we don’t have to give God thanks FOR, but can still give Him thanks while we’re IN them. I had misquoted Romans 8:28 to say that “all things work together for my good”, but it actually says “all things work together for good”. So I’m seeing clearer now that good is always on its way for those who love God and are called according to His purposes. But  I am very cautious now in defining “good” by human standards. It might not be MY good that’s coming. God is good. That’s why good is always nearby. He weaves everything together for good, His purposes.

But let it be known that while “hard pressed” feels like the life is being squeezed out of you, you are not going to be crushed. You may feel totally “perplexed” by everything going on, but because of the Treasure in you, you have no need to despair. You may be under intense “persecution”, but you are not abandoned; you are not alone. You may be temporarily “struck down”, but GET UP; you are not destroyed!! Your fragile clay pot may be feeling the heat, but that’s where clay pots get their strength…through the excruciating fire!

I have experienced many years of ease. I have created much, if not all, of my own pain. I have experienced God’s giving-ness in times I was shaking my fist at Him. When the trees in the orchard are full of fruit and green leaves are everywhere it’s easy to praise Him. But when you look up and all the fruit is gone and there’s not one leaf on the trees, it’s hard to praise Him. However, with everything cleared out of the way, sometimes it’s easier to see Him. Hab. 3:17-19

Have you noticed that many companies promise to offer 24/7 support. I doubt their claims.  But Julie and I have seen 24/7 support from our Father. He is relentless in loving His children. And His children have loved on us like nothing I’ve ever seen in 30 years of ministry. It makes me cry to see how the love of Jesus surges through His body. So being “cast down” hurts. But like a good friend of mine says, “This isn’t a boxing match where you can just lean on the ropes and hope not to get hurt. It’s a BAR FIGHT and the enemy will kick you when you’re down. So get up, break a bottle, and go after the enemy’s throat!”

“So we’re not giving up. How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. There’s far more here than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can’t see now will last forever.”        II Corinthians 4:16-18  The Message

For More on this subject read “The Holy But” on our website and then get the book “The Rest of the Gospel”.

Lately, with my struggle with cancer, I have reconsidered some of my thoughts about suffering. It seemed to me that the biblical sense of “suffering” should be followed with the words “for Christ”. I surmised that if the suffering a person was enduring wasn’t “for Christ” then it wasn’t suffering as the bible described it. Perhaps it was just problems, trouble, or heartache…but not suffering for Christ.

Well, recently as I have looked at Paul’s descriptions of “suffering”, I see things on his list that I wouldn’t have put on my limited view of suffering for Christ. Near the end of II Corinthians 11 Paul begins listing ways that he suffered for Christ’s sake. Most of these made total sense to me because they were connected to persecution.

But some of these just seemed like being part of a planet that is cursed. Like one of his first ones is “working hard”. Is that suffering? How about “shipwrecked”? You can’t blame that on persecution. Then “spending a night and a day on the open sea”. Rivers and seas put him at danger and even bandits! My mind tried to embrace how these things could be considered “suffering for Christ.” The problem with my rationale was that the only “suffering” that was worthy to be called “suffering for the sake of Christ” was persecution.

I have friends that are persecuted around the world and I know that few of us have even come close to that in the U.S. So I needed to re-tool my thinking about suffering. Paul made it clear that suffering most definitely includes persecution, but it also includes anything that would slow the process of the expression of Christ’s life through us. We must be alert. We DO have an enemy that wants to thwart the progress of the Good News and keep us from impacting as many  lives as possible. That enemy will use any circumstance he can to slow us down. Sickness, weather, car troubles, other people, finances, etc. These all go under the heading of “suffering” because they can slow down the progress of the grace that we embody.

One of the dictionary definitions of suffering is “to sustain injury, disadvantage, or loss.” That’s exactly what the thief has come to do…to steal, kill, and destroy. Satan and his strategies come against us constantly to try to impede the progress of the Life of Christ in us. However, through adversity, we are more than conquerors because our Champion has come to give us Life and Life to the full! So we can join Paul in the next chapter and say, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” It is through the troubles of this life that we embrace our frailty and get the opportunity to express that the excellency of the power is from God and not from us. This is real life.

So at this point in our journey, I am becoming more aware that the things that come against us, our family, and ministry may not be persecution–but probably are suffering for Christ’s sake. These momentary troubles do not compare to the eternal business that Jesus has commissioned and empowered us to be about. Even when our ship has run ashore in the opposite direction from our intended destination, we are there to be expressors of the Living Christ. Ambassadors in a new territory. What a gift! What a life!

But lately, we have had to be cautious of our view of “reward”. Father has been telling us that reward has little to do with our comfort and lots more to do with the highest output of 0ur life (or even better…the highest output of HIS Life through us). The great reward is the greatest yield of a person’s life that can be had. This is where trust and dependence come in. We can’t produce the highest output for our lives by our own ability. And we certainly wouldn’t choose the “broken roads” that it takes to get there.

Even Jesus said, “let this cup pass from me”. No one wants to experience intensity, but sometimes that’s the road it takes to produce the highest redemptive output of our lives. “Not my will, but Thine be done” is the heart cry of those who diligently seek Him. Julie and I find it a hard thing to make our lips say it sometimes. But He is always good. Others may purpose things for evil, but He purposes things for good. Just like He has always said.

It would be hard to come up with a story like Joseph’s. Cruel brothers that sold him into slavery, falsely accused, prison convict, forgotten by others, then the greatest redemptive output of his life came to him. He ends up saving his own family and his whole nation by continuing to diligently seek His Father even through the intensity. So we’ve been praying, “not my will, but thine be done”.  “Have thine own way Lord. Have thine own way. Hold o’re my being absolute sway. Fill with Thy Spirit til all shall see Christ only always living in me.”

The NIV has it challenges sometimes in translating verses. However, it does a grand job of translating Galatians 3:3, “Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?”  The words here, “human effort”, are from the Greek word SARX. Paul is asking the believers in Galatia, “Are you morons? Think about it…did you begin your walk with God by human effort? Did you start this all off by what YOU did, or was your walk with God started off by what GOD did? Was it the Spirit of God that began the work or YOU?”

Well obviously it was God. Right? No human effort can re-life a dead person. Only resurrection power can raise us from spiritual death. (see Eph. 1 and 2) Well then, Paul goes on to explain that it is by this same Spirit’s work that we live. We live the Christian life the same way we got into the Life. It’s by the Holy Spirit’s work. Trying to add anything to the work that only God can do is a sham.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if the NIV would have kept their definition of SARX from Galatians 3 (human effort) when the same word is used in Galatians 5?  Then Galatians 5:16-25 would read like this, “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of human effort. ¹⁷For human effort desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to human effort. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. ¹⁸But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

 ¹⁹The acts of human effort are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

 ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified human effort with its passions and desires. ²⁵Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.”

Wow! What a shift happens in our minds when we realize the scope of this. As a matter of fact, the first illustration in Galatians is how Abraham was given a promise from God, but decided to try to create what God wanted by his own human effort. The whole struggle of the Christian walk is when we try to create what God desires by our own puny human effort. Notice that the first work (acts) of human effort in Galatians 5:19 was exactly what Abraham did to try to accomplish what God had already promised HE would do. Students of the scripture know the chaotic mess that ensued from Abraham’s petty attempts to do FOR God what God said HE would do. Our small attempts to do what God has promised to do Himself are clearly seen for what they are…disgusting acts of sin. Trying to manipulate our situation by creating a shortcut to the fulfillment of what God wants will only lead to chaos.

So…bottom line…our attempts to accomplish what God wants by our own energy and effort are weak. One of our mentors, Darrell Feemster, taught us over 25 years ago “What God requires OF you, He is IN you.” Human effort will always be at war with the work of the Spirit. And the work of the Spirit will always be at war with human effort. They will never be friends. To “keep in step with the Spirit” we must lay down our silly notion that WE can accomplish what God wants and bow our knees again in recognition that the only way we will accomplish what God wants is when He produces it in and through us. That’s Good News! It leaves us in a very dependent mode. We rely on Him alone.

Colossians 2:6 says, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him.” How did you receive Him? By grace (God did it), through faith (you received it), not of works (no human effort was involved). Then that’s the same way we live what God has planned for us. HE does it, WE receive it, and no human effort will get the job done.

Now don’t be mislead. You will sweat; you will labor; and you will work like never before. But it will be according to HIS working that works in you MIGHTILY! (Col. 1:29) Hallelujah!

We have a house that we’ve been renting in Colorado; hoping to buy it. But we can’t buy this one til the one sells in Texas. And our house deal in Texas was still in our name and we had no renters while we still owned the house! Crazy isn’t it? Maybe you’ve had some stress like this lately. Perhaps your kids are just wondering off the page and aren’t even living by the basics that you’ve taught them. Maybe your mother-in-law is driving you nuts! Or your health is scaring you these days.

Everyone has a different struggle. The question is, “Will you handle it, or will you hand it?” It seems that as long as we try to handle our situation…grab it…try to fix it, God takes His hands off. And as long as we keep our hands off, He grabs it and handles it. Now, it’s probably never true that He takes His hands OFF at any point, but it can feel like it. That’s for sure. However, as long as we try to MAKE it happen or fix things, He seems to let us til we’re totally depleted and take our hands off. Then in His gentle, loving way says, “I’ve got it. You can trust me.”

Psalm 40 says “I waited patiently for the Lord”. That’s an interesting phrase. Everybody waits on the Lord. He’s the Lord…what are you going to do? You HAVE TO wait on Him. The real question is whether we’re waiting patiently on Him. He is well aware of what is stressing us. He feels what we feel. He knows. Sometimes it may even seem that He is cruel. But He is Good. If we take our hands off, trust Him and wait on Him,  we’ll see what only He can do. That’s a whole lot better than taking it into our own hands and seeing what only we can do!

To operate from the position of rest instead of striving, we constantly whisper to the Lord, “this is not my deal, this is Your deal.” If we need to have two houses at once, deplete all our savings, and wonder how we can make the next payment, then that’s His deal. We are following up on all that He is placing before us, but still refuse to grasp it. He’s the Solution, not us.  We will wait patiently on the Lord. As Andrew Murray said years ago, “God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yeilded to Him.” Absolute Surrender

You know, He may never even change the circumstance. Father knows best. What we can be assured of is that “He will fulfill the plans He has for us”. Psalm 138: 7-8 He is a Rewarder, not a withholder.

If you get a chance soon, you should read the chapter “The Holy But” from the book “The Rest of the Gospel…When the Partial Gospel has Worn You Out”.  It’s a great explanation of living with your eyes fixed on Christ and not on your problems. It’s the best we’ve ever read on the subject–except of course Psalm 131.  

By the way, we still haven’t gotten the home in Colorado, but God has graciously given us an owner finance deal on our Texas house. We will keep trusting and resting in Him.

People ask us a lot, “what do you do when you’re trying to rest in Christ, depend on Him, and walk in freedom…then all HELL comes against you?” We usually answer with a question, “What were you expecting?” It seems that for some reason most believers have a Hebrew view of God. It goes something like this…If I am really walking with God then I will incur blessing as a result. If I’m not experiencing good things, then obviously I am not pleasing God.  This just isn’t the good news. As a matter of fact, you might expect that if you really do walk with God, you most certainly will face some of the greatest adversity that you ever seen.

Here’s what Paul said about it…”I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches.”II Cor. 11:23-28  Some of these awful things came from his own doing, some came through acts of nature, and some came through persecution. But let it be known…if you walk with Christ as your Life, you will face some grueling adversity. It is to be expected, and James says it should be imbraced as your FRIEND.

Paul goes on in II Cor. 12 to say, ”Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,

My grace is enough; it’s all you need.
   My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.”  The Message

Watching our mentors, we see this to be absolutely true. They have gotten slammed for years in their ministries. Of course they have had many blissful moments, as we have, but let it be known that when God is on the scene so is our enemy. It might even be said that the more Christ begins to express Himself in us the more pressure comes our way. Just like Jesus experienced after His baptism and the voice came from Heaven, “this is My Beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased”. Then the Spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness to be tested. He got to PROVE that He was who His Father said He was. And we get this same privilege of walking through pain, turmoil, and agony (at times) in order that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of of US! Hallelujah! It’s our weakness and inability that leads us to our greatest dependency. Only the unable need Another’s ability.

In the world that we influence, one of our greatest testimonies is how we love God, pursue Him, adore Him and trust Him even when we should (in their opinion) curse Him. It is what Paul calls, “always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus so that the Life of Jesus may be clearly seen in our mortal flesh.” By the struggle and adversity of this life the Treasure of Christ in us can shine brightly into the darkness. It’s hard sometimes to tell, but it appears that much of the time our Father SENDS the adversity. All we can say for sure is that we know our Father knows how to utilize every situation to His greatest glory and our highest expression of Him.

If you’d like to learn more about how to live in freedom through adversity, read THE HOLY BUT on our website from the book The Rest of the Gospel: When the Partial Gospel has worn you out.

There’s not one thing we can do to get God to like us more. He already likes us. He likes you so much that he thinks about you day and night. Psalm 139:17 says, “How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!” And Psalm 40:5 says, “Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare.” There really is no need to try to impress God. He is impressed with His Son, and if you are a believer, you are in Him…in Christ. So God is already impressed with you.

If that’s not enough good  news, God is not DEpressed by anything you do either. Turning your back on Him won’t mess with His mind. Doing some awful sin won’t make Him wring His hands wondering what He’s going to do with you. He doesn’t lose heart when you fail. He’s not a shunner either. God is not going to withhold His love from you until you straighten up and fly right. That’s not His method. His method is to pour more love. Love, love and more love is His way of doing things. You haven’t made Him depressed by the things you have done. As a matter of fact, He is graciously waiting for you to come to your senses and return for His embrace.

His love is really unconditional. Not many of us have experienced unconditional love from the people we have been loved by. There always seems to be strings attached. But not our God. He accepts us on the basis of His love not on the basis of our performance. Hallelujah!! “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” I John 3:1

www.walkit.org

As we teach the Life that is Christ (for to me to live IS Christ), we get asked by a lot of folks, “So which is it–Jesus or me?” The immediate answer is always, “yes!” They are usually asking, “When it comes to living the Christian life, I have to do something right?It’s not just Jesus”. We have heard our mentor, Charles Culpepper, say for 25 years, “It’s just Jesus”. To us that makes lots of sense. He is the Life. He is the Vine. We are the tangible expression of His life, the branches. He produces; We display.

Our mentor, Darrell Feemster, says often that “our responsibility is to respond to His ability.” That’s a good way of saying it. We simply respond to what He wants to do. He is the Source, and Energy behind what needs to be done. We stay in a dependent mode. Totally and deliberately saying to Him, “You are my Source”, on a moment by moment basis.

Jesus lived this way too. He is the prototype of how we live. Listen to His words, “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.” John 14:10.  And Acts 2:22 says, “Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know.”

So when Jesus was on earth in His own body He did the things He did as a man fully dependent on God. And that is what He is offering to us. He is offering a “no longer I, but Christ” life. It will be hard to separate which is you and which is Him because it is Him working through you, in you, as you. He is always the Vine; you are always the branch. He is the Water, you are the water hose. And out of your innermost being will flow rivers of Living Water.

One of the Walkit interns was talking about this the other day. They said, “I’ve been wanting to learn some new electric guitar licks lately. Do you think that’s Jesus or me?” The reply, “yes.”  That’s the way Jesus works. He might want to do something big, perhaps even miraculous, but most of the time He just wants to do the next thing that will lead us into the plans He has for us. Nothing flashy, just obedient. Being sensitive to what He is up to throughout the day is responding to His ability.

So our prayer has become something like this, “Lord, I want to see everything that you want to be about today. What do you have in mind?” Whispering that all throughout the day is a sweet way to live.
 

Proverbs 13:20 says, “He who walks with the wise will be wise, but a companion of fools will be destroyed.” We have seen over our 26 years of ministry that one of the best things we’ve done is to surround ourselves with great mentors and friends. God has utilized these comrades to help us stay on track, redirect us, and pull us out of the ditch when we derail. Some of our mentors and friends have been with us all of our ministry (see walkit.org/aboutus.htm

On the other hand, we have also let people choose us as their friends at times and found that those relationships have caused us great pain…sometimes taking years to recover from.

Psalm 16:3 says, “As for the saints who are in the land, they are the glorious ones in whom is all my delight.” Those who walk with God, allowing Him to express Himself through them,  are refreshement and replenishment to those who are pursuing Christ. Psalm 101:6 says, “My eyes will be on the faithful in the land, that they may dwell with me; he whose walk is blameless will minister to me.” Those who have consistently relied on God, stayed focused on Him, and abandoned themselves to the ways and holiness of Christ are the ones to allow the greatest influence over your life. 

Most worshippers, and worship leaders, struggle constantly with finding their total identity in Christ. Their is great danger in finding our worth or value from what people think of us or the flattery of untrustworthy sources. The “faithful in the land” do  not give us flattery. They may encourage us, but are sure to challenge us…sometimes even grill us…and make sure that we are walking with clear perspective. They will “dwell with us”. These kind of people, the faithful, are given free access to our lives through years of proven track record. But it has been our experience that these folks are few and far between.

However, the next verse in Psalm 101 says, “No one who practices deceit will dwell in my house; no one who speaks falsely will stand in my presence.” As we tell our own kids, “Don’t let people choose you as their friends; you choose your friends for yourself.” That works for big people too!