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Showing posts with label Christ as Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Christ as Life. Show all posts

Thursday, March 5, 2015

Farewell Mr. Spock: Live Long and Prosper


This past week, one of the most recognized actors in our day, Leonard Nimoy, died at age 83.  Most everyone in the United States will remember him primarily for his role as the beloved Mr. Spock in the 1960’s TV series, Star Trek, a series which continues to be shown on TV to this day.  Mr. Spock was known primarily for three characteristics.  1. He lived by logic and reason with little or no emotion.  2. He could render an enemy unconscious with his Vulcan Nerve Pinch.  3. He used the Vulcan Salute accompanied by the words, “Live long and prosper”.

What most do not know is that the Vulcan Salute and the words, “Live long and prosper” originated from Leonard Nimoy’s upbringing in an orthodox Jewish home.  The salute he used in the Star Trek series was created by Nimoy himself from the Jewish Priest’s hand pose as a blessing that he saw over and over as a child.  Numbers 6:24-26 was the blessing which accompanied that sign which Nimoy translated to “Live long and prosper.”  Who knew all of that was Biblical in origin?

Another hand symbolizes the blessings God has given to us as well as Christ followers.  That hand is the nail pierced hands of Jesus Christ because of His death on the cross for our sins.  The ancient text from Psalms 22, especially verse 16, accurately prophesied that Jesus’ hands would be pierced for us, along with His feet.

Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet.

This piercing of His hands which held His body to the cross provided removal of our sins.  This made it possible for God to give us the greatest blessing we will ever receive, a blessing which truly will cause us to live long and prosper, not only in this life but in the one to come.  That blessing is Jesus Christ uniting Himself to us, bringing us from death to life.  He is our life right now, according to Colossians 3:4.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Jesus Christ in us is our only functional source of life, meaning He is the well from which we are to draw life from so our earthly existence can have true meaning, making it work and then blessing others.

Included in this blessing is eternal life which is something we already possess because we are united to Jesus Christ according to 1 John 5:11-12.

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.

And more importantly, because we are united with Jesus Christ, we have a never ending treasure for now and for later.  Jesus Christ in us is our greatest treasure.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. 2 Corinthians 4:7

How can we better enjoy Jesus as our treasure and as our functional source of life for everyday living?  We choose as an act of our will (regardless of our feeler at times)  to proclaim Him  often,  reminding ourselves that Jesus is our one and only true  source for life.

Believe it! It's the Gospel.

Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2015 Mark Maulding but feel free to pass it on!

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Dealing with Feeling Discouraged

   Billy Graham is quoted as saying, "The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, 'O God, forgive me,' or 'Help me.'"  I am very grateful for the candor of this man whom God has worked through to share the gospel with hundreds of millions of people.  I can certainly relate.  Can you?
   Discouragement means to lose courage, to lose confidence or to lose "heart".  The mental picture I get is that our confidence in Christ and His purposes for our lives is wrestled away from us.
    When I lost my ability to smell several years ago, developed putrid, moment by moment, "phantom smells", and couldn't taste food, I struggled.  I drifted far too long in the fog of discouragement.  Eventually, God led me to blue skies as I learned to be content in Christ without the pleasure of smell and taste.  Eventually, He also gave me a solution eliminating most of the phantom smells.
    Discouraging thoughts are tempting thoughts.  Agreeing with them quickly disheartens us leaving us feeling like an emotional glob of yuck and muck.
   One of my staff recently shared that they experienced several weeks of discouragement over a family situation that was growing worse by the week.  As they sought the Lord about why they felt so discouraged, He showed them that they were agreeing with tempting thoughts of self-blame, self-condemnation and spiritual passivity.  Once they understood this, they claimed their "already won" victory in Christ and returned to experiencing Jesus as their joy.
     We can be discouraged by many things when we agree with our enemy's interpretation of them. Here are some examples:  a negative comment someone made about us; an unexpected financial need; a child's rebellion; conflict; unresolved loneliness; habitual sin; and more.
    What is God's way out of discouragement?  Simply put, it is to start agreeing with God based on the Gospel instead of our enemy.   First and foremost, because Jesus is our Life (Colossians 3:4), no other person or situation is.   He lives in us.  He is our first love. He is our ultimate source of love.  He is our confidence.  He is our provision.  He rules this world with sovereignty.  He loves us.  We can do all the things God has given us to do through Christ living through us.  Based on these truths, we can pray a prayer telling Him we trust Him, even when we don't feel like trusting Him.
     It's an issue of focus.  For example, I run trails for fitness.  Sometimes when I run, I have pains my wife describes as "niggles".  They are temporary and usually go away as the run continues.  When I first started running, I would focus on these little pains wondering if I had hurt myself.  It seemed the more I focused on the pain, the more intense it felt.  When my wife, an experienced trail runner, explained that it was a "niggle", I learned to disregard it, keep running and soon the pain disappears.
     Discouragement is like that.  As long as we focus on the person or situation, the intensity of our discouragement increases.  However, when we seek the Lord about the source of our discouragement, hear His answer and get refocused on Him as our truth, the discouragement is exchanged for Jesus as our peace.
    When you find yourself discouraged, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you the reason why.  It's usually not the situation but the lie(s) we believe about it.  Then, claim your already won victory in Christ over it and confess to Him that He alone is your life, peace, joy, etc.  You'll find yourself  "en"couraged.  But if you get stuck, we would love for you to contact us for a free counseling consultation whether live or online. 

Live Free In Christ,
Mark Maulding, President and Founder
www.GraceLifeInternational.com

Copyright © 2013 Mark Maulding

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Dealing with Feeling Shame

   Shame is sometimes confused with the feeling of guilt. Guilt is the realization we have done something wrong. Shame is a feeling of deep angst in the recesses of our soul. Because of our mistake, our sin or someone else's sin, we wish we could evaporate away from being so embarrassed. It is fueled by the belief that there must be something really wrong with us to have done something like ________.

   When I was in junior high school, we had a pep rally for the basketball team of which I was a part. I was placed under a blanket with my legs crossed during the entire pep rally until just before the end. At that moment, I was supposed to jump up and throw the blanket off and the crowd in the gym was supposed to go wild. What actually happened was that my crossed legs became numb so that when I jumped up and threw the blanket off, I fell down in front of hundreds of a packed gym and could not stand for about a minute. The place erupted with convulsive laughter. Talk about feeling shame!

   On a more serious note, before I knew Christ as my Life, I had some real bondage to lust and pornography. It was my inner secret that I hated. Being married during this time and being in full-time ministry, I definitely felt devastating shame at times.

   Today, I discovered that even in the midst of writing this, I had a place of shame I was unaware of. I made many mistakes parenting one of our kids, who are now all adults. I reluctantly faced those mistakes and sins a few years ago when Ellen lovingly told me what I was doing. I had asked for her forgiveness and my child's. And God began to change me in this area as Christ lived through me. Yet, there it was today as Ellen and I talked about that child. Shame was lurking in the shadows of my mind having hidden there for years. I had not recognized it until our conversation. Thank you God for your love in revealing this as I was writing this!

   How does God want us to deal with our shame? For me, I immediately remembered that Jesus had already forgiven me for these parental sins and mistakes. Though I told Him a long time ago that I was sorry for these sins, today I said, "Jesus I accept your forgiveness for them". We know that when Jesus died on the cross for us, we were forgiven for every sin - past, present and future. Colossians 2:13, "You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins". NLT Next, I forgave myself by saying, "Mark, I forgive you for the mistakes you made with ______." Why? We are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Mark 12:31 Finally, I acknowledged to God by faith that Jesus' death on the cross has already removed my shame. 1 Peter 2:6, "For it is contained in Scripture, "See, I am placing on Mount Zion a Cornerstone, chosen, and held in honor, and he whose faith rests on Him shall never have reason to feel ashamed." WEY

   How about you? Have you let the good news of the Gospel of grace pluck your shame from your soul? If not, how about settling that right now? Don't let shame have a place in you any longer! Jesus has exchanged your shame with His forgiveness and peace. Why don't you pray something similar to what I prayed above? If you can't get through this or feel shame about something someone else has done to you, please contact us so we can walk with you.

Live Free In Christ, 



Mark Maulding, President and Founder 

www.GraceLifeInternational.com 
All Content Copyright © 2013 Mark Maulding