The Antidote for Weakness

Think of the weaknesses that you have:  the flaws, the failures—especially the ongoing ones—and the ugly things done to you that have caused you to attempt a projected strength, making you hide on the inside untouched in weakness. 

Jesus is the antidote for weakness because He takes the hate out of it; He takes the poison and uselessness out of it because He shows up in it.  If we’ll turn to Him on the inside and listen, even just a little bit, then we will notice that He jumps on the stage inside of us and says, “Here I am!  I am the one for this, and I am with you.  I find no fault with you!  Have you forgotten that I am easy to be with and gentle with you? I’m not ever here to put burdens upon you; I’m here to remove them!  Always.  I am and will always be all about security and rest with you.  You can count on it.”

Matthew 11:28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

That’s how it is with Jesus on the inside.  We’re not empty.  We’re not helpless.  We have Him, and He is the antidote for weakness.

(For much more about the “benefits” found through weakness, see Chapter 13 in my book (God’s Astounding Opinion of You), “The End of Pretending” – Receiving Frustration’s Gift to You.)

(This is a transcript of yesterday’s video, “The Antidote for Weakness,” and is for those who might rather read than watch.  To see the video, scroll down this page, or click http://youtu.be/x4kIgaXWq8Q.)

The Antidote for Weakness

Got 2 minutes?  If you don’t like and resist weaknesses but suffer from them nevertheless, you’re set up for something terrific.  This is for the weakness sufferers—you and someone you know. 

Ushers In The Pain

With this world’s financial markets faltering again, and with some people in religious circles proclaiming doom in the month of September, I am reminded that we are not here to avoid the pain of this world, try as we might.  We are here to walk with people, to care for them, to tell them the truth about Jesus, and to usher them through their days and onward.  We are The Ushers of this world, and we’re going to be needed.  I don’t mean the ushers that greet you at the door with a big smile and who help you find a seat and a classroom for your kid.  Not those.

The loudest voices of this world right now will shout about what we should have done to avoid this pain—what you should have done to avoid this pain—and how you can avoid it in the future.  If you listen long and believe it much, you will sink into a snare of despair that will falsely identify you as being of this world, and your only hope will be like theirs:  claw your way out of this pain.  Do whatever it takes.

But you are not of this world; neither is your hope, neither is your mission.

My finances are hurt today.  Yours might be, too.  The money we thought we had, we don’t.  We share that pain.  But let’s usher each other through the pain to the identity and security that’s never threatened and from which we get everything:  sons of God and life in Christ.  That’s who we are.  That’s where we are.  That’s what we have.  And that’s what works for us.

So do what you must with the stuff of this world; that’s important.  But you and I cannot get life, we cannot get power, we cannot get grace on the inside from the outside—by managing the outside.  It won’t work.  It’s a deception, and nobody lives well in deception. True satisfaction and effectiveness for you and for me is with Jesus on the inside.

Jesus feels our pain today.  Jesus hears the voices that shame us and falsely identify us, and falsely identify our security and our way to it.  And Jesus ushers us through it, empowering us, gracing us to usher others too. 

Here’s a big chunk of scripture that has influenced and affected me many times:

2 Corinthians 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort.
8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.

So on you go, ushers in this world, ushers in the pain.  Usher on, my friends.

(This is a transcript of yesterday’s video, “Ushers In The Pain,” and is for those who might rather read than watch.  To see the video, scroll down this page, or click http://youtu.be/qRj8Pcdoegw.)

Ushers In The Pain

Are you feeling the fear and pain of this world?  Do finances and End Times have you on edge?  Take 5 minutes to clear your head and free your heart from the craziness that has no place with you.

The Best

Knowing Jesus is the best adventure and treasure we have. If we would keep the focus and intent of our days right there, we'd engage in far less bickering and worldly angst and enjoy far more love and miraculous grace.

The Church

Some of my friends are very angry at the “institutional church,” and not without reason. I’ve felt it, too. But I deeply love the church and many of them regularly collect inside a building. That's not a problem, but sometimes stuff happens to them while there that’s the problem. I say, know who the church is and love wildly. That's going to be wonderful and that's going to hurt. Both. But there’s nothing new about that. So we’ll need regular care from the Holy Spirit, who reveals to us the beauty of people as well as the mud that smears them, concealing them even to themselves. We are His workmanship, even in the institution.

Make The Distinction

If you accuse me, a new creation son of God, of being prideful, deceptive, covetous or arrogant, then I am not who you think I am and you cannot help me. On the other hand, if you accuse me, a new creation son of God, of being struggled with flesh-born pride, deception, covetousness and arrogance, then you've got it right and you can help me. The former misidentifies the source of the problem and only frustrates me, while the latter knows and prefers the new creation me, being fouled up by the flesh, which is not me. Make the distinction and you can help me. . .and a lot of other people, too.

Starting Point

Here’s something to remember: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”  That’s your starting point today, and really, every moment of every day.  If you’re hearing or feeling anything else, it is not from God because He always begins with what He has done for you.  That’s always His starting point with you every day, throughout the day.  That just might make a difference for you in those days, don’t you think?

But maybe you’re asking, “What about when I fail?  What about when my behavior stinks or my thoughts about myself and about you are terrible and ugly?  What then?  What happens when, after the 438 time that I’ve promised to not do something (or to do something, as the case may be), I blow it again?  What then?  What’s my starting point with God?” 

Same place:  “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”  Same starting point. 

Of the New Covenant letters, 19 begin with essentially the same vital truth that we do well to remember and to emphasize for each other:  “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” 

Everything starts with Him, so it’s wise if you start with Him, too.

(This is a transcript of the video, “Starting Point,” and is for those who might rather read than watch.  To see the video, click http://youtu.be/aULNZciNi7U.)

Remember Your Eyes

With all of the information and opinion bombarding you every day, here’s a quick refresher that will help bring you back to health and sanity.

Finding Superman

A friend recently asked if I would explain the ways Christians put themselves under the yoke of the law, please the flesh and fall from grace.  That’s a huge question, one that I’ve written about extensively in my book, “God’s Astounding Opinion of You,” but here’s my short answer.

If a Christian believes that he is the flesh, instead of believing that he has been made a new creation spirit who experiences the flesh, then he will regularly make war upon his presumed self (the flesh) as a means toward spiritual growth—a way to become better.  You might hear this in sayings like, “I’ve got to put myself on the cross,” or “I’ve got to deny myself,” or “I’ve got to surrender.”  These kinds of sayings often indicate that the Christian believes he is still a bad self, and has to do something dramatic to that bad self. . .because Jesus’ giving him a new self was insufficient or ineffective?  So the old self didn’t go, and the new arrive?  Do you see how twisted that thinking is in light of what happened to us in Christ at the cross and through His resurrection?  (See 2 Corinthians 5:17.)  Are we new or not?

When this thinking takes on form and becomes how he navigates his days, he falls from grace.  In that template (war), he will measure himself by fleshly successes and failures, which are the measurements of war and legalism, while his true self, the one created in the likeness of God and which is discovered and matured in knowing and enjoying Jesus (in other words, faith in Christ), that self languishes and is frustrated.

Do not attempt life at the command of the remnant of your former self, the flesh, which always and only corrupts.  Instead, be transformed by the renewing of your mind, and put on the new and true self.  Walk in who you are.  Think of Superman, jumping into a private place or a private inner moment, not in order to change but to come forth again—to announce—who he actually is, and you’re heading in the right direction.

Grace is not only a perfect position in which we live, but a perfect power that works in us.  Christians have become obedient from the heart—it already happened—from within, from our true self (see Romans 6:17).  So it’s vital that you know it and take advantage by seeing to your heart.

The real you is not the one you see, nor the one you can command to behave righteously.  The real you is the one you received at new birth, which this world cannot see and cannot touch, but which is empowered by the Holy Spirit in you as you offer yourself to Him, whether by reading or by talking with Him or by singing, anything like that toward Him because you know about Him, and you know where He is and where you are with Him—on the inside, together.  He is there, and so are you.

I hope this helps.  See you later.

(This is a transcript of the video, “Finding Superman,” and is for those who might rather read than watch.  To see the video, scroll down this page, or click: http://youtu.be/Aroc-hj4DnQ.)

Finding Superman

Got 4 minutes?  “If I’m so special to God, then why do I feel like a Super Loser instead of a Super Hero?  What’s making me weak and miserable?”  Have a look at the latest from my video channel.

The End & The Beginning

I spoke at New Hope Church, Penasquitos, California, last Sunday, and am thankful that they let me speak for over 50 minutes – whoa – on a topic of great importance to me. If you’re looking for a message this weekend, consider this one. You can download it at: http://www.newhopechurch.com/media.php?pageID=41

Keep Using Your Eyes

Don’t let anyone focus you where God is not focused.  Don’t go into their blindness.  Trying to see life in the way that someone who is focused upon passing away things does will not work for you, since your vantage point is far better and true.  Listen to people, but don’t exchange your vision for theirs.  In other words, keep using your New Creation eyes.  They work.

Colossians 3:1 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Repenting of Ace Ventura

Is there a way to enjoy God and to rest in confidence about Him that you can find in your daily life?  There is, and God is working to help you enjoy freedom from useless labors that hijack you and carry you into fear and anger. Find out what Ace Ventura has to do with it.

http://surrenderedimage.com/Blog/repenting-of-ace-ventura-35049