The Band of Bullies

Walking down the street you are heading towards home. It has been a delightful day with areas of victories and successes to be proud of. And then it happens before you can realize it: you are in danger. A bunch of guys come out, seemingly out of the blue, and surround you! This band of bullies begin the initial taunt and jeering of your character and personality. You stand there stunned asking yourself, how do they know my weaknesses like they do? There is an obvious leader who decides to confront you by saying to you, “sissy, what are you going to do about it?” Your heart races, and the fear for your life begins to take view asking yourself internally “What should I do? Where can I run to? Who is going to help me?” So, the gang leader again approaches you and this time physically pushes you in the chest saying “loser, what are you going to do about it?” And before you know it this bully has your arm twisted behind you back which causes an intense sharp pain in the arm as you crouch over facing the ground attempting to levy the pain away. Taking advantage of your position of weakness, the bully gets really close to your ear and whispers, “hey loser, what are you going to do now?” This band of bullies are now in full force laughing and making belittling comments about who you are and your predicament. One of many probable thoughts running your head is how did I ever get into to this? And more importantly, a thought that if I get out of this, I will never in my life time walk down this street again.Feeling helpless, powerlessness, ambushed, overwhelmed and fearful are common themes in recovering from sin. Such experiences occur when sudden attacks corners us, like being surrounded by the band of bullies. Their main goal is to remind you of your past behavior and who you were when in the throngs of a familiar pattern of sin and acting out. This band of bullies knows nothing of edifying, encouraging or mercy. For that is not their job. The band of bullies job is to remind you and distract you from the Truth that God has offered mercy for all your sins, even your vices. And this band of bullies know that if they can distract you enough from the Truth of mercy, emotionally you will spiral and not experience victory in your behavior, thoughts and feelings.Mercy is a powerful word in that it is received, as it is accepted. God so desires you to grasp that His mercy is powerful and wants you to take it in to be part of you. When we sit in the shame and guilt of past behavior, tormenting thoughts and feelings feeds a defeated attitude. In that we then become polarized, stuck in the moment. U2, a famous rock band from Ireland, wrote a song entitled “Stuck in a moment” which was written after a friend of the band completed suicide after a long battle with his “demons.” To summarize the idea that being “stuck in the moment” is the twisting of the arm by the enemy and we place our face to the ground in a powerless moment. But crying out for help and receiving that mercy from God empowers us to not be “stuck in the moment” but moving towards better and hopeful moments. Being “stuck in the moment” can be pure helplessness but not powerlessness. Your prayer life has a strong part in the ushering the power of mercy into your life, and maybe more forgiveness towards yourself.One can encourage people to take the mercy God offers, but it takes faith to accept that mercy in spite of life events and situations. God offers mercy to you irregardless of your situation brought on by you or by a band of bullies. Crying “uncle, UNCLE, UNCLE,” will not release you from the enemies clutches. It is relying and believing on the mercy of God that you can say “Jesus help me” or, “God help me,” and/or “Holy Spirit, help me I am in danger” chases off the band of bullies. God’s mercy is the element that will pick you up no matter what befalls you. It is the key to your accepting and receiving forgiveness from God. Even though He gives it, you have to receive it by faith.Continuing with the introduction story: So you are facing the ground and the band of bullies are in full force, so you call out, “God help me.” Then in a powerful quiet approach, three blurred figures come towards the band of bullies. This blurred three approaches with synchronized momentum as they come quickly from behind the leader of the band of bullies, who has no idea what is happening. But then he sees that his troupe is breaking apart and then running off, leaving him all by himself to deal with this blurred three which comes into focus as One. As He approaches, makes eye contact and states, “Flee, NOW.” The leader releases your arm and struts off saying with a defiant attitude, “yeah, whatever, I’ll be back, you’ll see.” As he walks away you fall to the ground narrowly miss hitting your face as your one un-injured arm supports the hard landing. This Helper is now reaching out to you offering comfort and encouraging you to sit and recover because He will keep watch for you. You are too weak to get up now, “rest with Me” He says. Then He reaches out and takes your arm over His shoulder and supports you to stand. He brushes you off, and walks with you home.On the way home, you finally recognize who it is. It’s your Heavenly Father. “Dad” you say, “I am so embarrassed, they made fun of me and all that I was.” He responds, “First my child, I love you for who you are today and who you will become tomorrow and lastly I can assure you I will deal with that band of bullies in due time.” He smiles and you both continue the walk home. “It is sure a long walk home,” you say. He responds, “yes, but I am here right with you to support you if you let me, I wont force myself on you, please don’t do it alone.”

James 4:7

Guilt and How to Feel Forgiven

1. Remember that what God has forgiven, you have no right to continue feeling guilty about. In other words, if God has forgiven you, then you must be willing to forgive yourself.

2. Confess the guilt as though it, in itself, is a sin. When you refuse to accept God's forgiveness, you are saying that Christ's sacrifice was not enough to handle your sin.

3. Discipline your mind to stop thinking about whatever keeps making you feel guilty. satan wants to keep you bound up in guilt so you will be ineffective for God.

4. Pass along that forgiveness to others. Comforting others with the same comfort that you have received helps greatly in the healing process.

5. Give yourself a break. It takes time. There will be setbacks, but with patience and persistence you can break the stranglehold of guilt and unworthiness.

Without Love

Speaking the Truth in Love?

What does it mean to speak the truth in love?Have you ever noticed that those who claim to speak the "truth in love" rarely are compassionate, loving people?

Wonder why that is?

Rarely do I see the love.As a mater of fact, most often when I hear someone saying, "I’m just speaking the truth in love" I can be fairly sure it’s not about love or truth. It is frequently about manipulation, control, or some distorted, ego-centric ideal of truth, which isn’t really truth.

It reminds me of Jack Nicholson in the movie, A Few Good Men. You may recall when on the witness stand his character said, "Truth, you want the truth? You can’t handle the truth!" For some reason this high-ranking officer assumed he possessed and controlled the truth. Like many folks in religious circles, he justified his actions as truth while hiding behind his hatred and power.

And that is where the problem lies.

Without love,there is no truth.

For, according to Jesus the supreme reality, the ultimate meaning and value of existence-- the truth--is love.And love appears to be the truth that many can’t handle,especially for those so caught up in speaking the truth.

In You I am well pleased

I was reading in Luke 3 and I thought this was really cool! Starting at vs. 21. Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus was also baptized, and while He was praying, heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon Him in bodily form like a dove, and a voice came out of heaven, "You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased."

The first thing I noticed is that this account of Christ's baptism is unadorned compared to the other gospels. John isn't even mentioned! I also found it interesting that it said He was in the act of talking to God when heaven opened up.

What really blew me away was the end of verse 22 where the Father says,"You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased. Why would God say He was pleased? Is it because He is holy? Or is it because He is a good teacher?
I think God chose to speak aloud in front of the masses for the first time in over 400 years because Jesus was willing to humble Himself by identifying Himself with the Gentile people. Who were these people? As John the Baptist said back in Luke 3:3, they were being baptized of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. They were non-Jewish sinners that Moses' law could not save. And as we all know, Jesus was sinless! I think that's why God was so proud. Jesus led by humility. There was no need, but He set an example for us, even at the beginning of His ministry.

Waiting on Heaven

Waiting On Heaven
If I should die upon a day and there soon be forgotten.
I'll soar above to old friends dear and play on clouds of cotton.

Of pixie dust and fairy lands and dreams of come what may
-all childish tales I've left behind for promised crowns to lay.

With lions and lambs and streets of gold and banquets where we feast,
I burst with joy to know someday I'll sit with the King of Peace.

JG