This morning, I read a great article from Marissa Star about finding freedom. You can read the article here.
In her article, Marissa encourages people to fight for their freedom, and to fight hard. Way too many people just give up the fight. One of her favorite quotes (which might become one of my favorites quotes) simply says:
“It doesn’t take years–it takes choices.”
Dallas Willard has described our modern version of Christianity as the “Gospel of Sin-Management”, because of our propensity to think in terms of “what do I do about my sin?”. How do I stop, it? Is it sin if I…? What do I do when I do sin? How do I control my “besetting sin”? All these seem to be the central focus of christian practice. If not preventing or managing bad behavior, we are trying to foster “good” behavior. Read your Bible, Pray more. All these things seem so different from what Jesus seemed to say and do for people. How odd that the religion we named after Him promotes itself differently than He did.
From Alan Smith.
“I can’t afford to be more conscious of any problem than I am of his presence.” –Bill Johnson.
How often do I pray from a place of being conscious of a problem rather than of His presence? Too often.
When I am problem-focused rather than Kingdom-focused, I usually end up striving from a place of fear and unbelief. This usually produces fruitlessness in prayer, which then magnifies the unbelief. This process may produce louder and more fervent prayer, but rarely does it produce more effective prayer.
Faith comes from hearing God. Revelation results from turning toward Him, not toward a problem.
I’m most effective in prayer when my focus is upon pursuing divine encounter rather than relief from a difficulty.
Forgiving those who hurt you is for your restoration, not the restoration of the offender. Two particular persons you need to include on your forgiveness list. You and God
Forgiving yourself is very difficult for many people. They may have held resentment against themselves for years. Based on yesterday’s post, forgiveness is how you finally become released from the power of the pain of sins committed against you. This is especially true if you are the one who commiteed sins against yourself. Step back, agree with God about your past. God’s opinion is not that your behavior was acceptable, but that your behavior is covered and finishedand you are now acceptable..
