The Longer We Live in Darkness, The More the Lies We Believe in our Head Seem True

Years ago I led a mission trip to Bermuda. Yea, I know. You are thinking a mission trip to a beautiful island? That's really suffering for Jesus.  Well, somebody's got to do it! One night I was walking back to the home where I was crashing every night and there were no lights anywhere.  I started freaking out because every sound caused me to think that I was about to be jumped. Soon, I saw a dark figure headed straight for me. My thoughts raced just as fast as my heart raced. "Here it comes" I thought. I am definitely going to get jumped. As this island native approached, I prepared for fight or flight.  Then he said, "Hello" and simply kept walking. I had believed lies because in the darkness of the night my thoughts seemed like reality. While believing those lies, my feelings were following right along and made what I believed seem even more true.

This story illustrates what sometimes happens in our spiritual lives. The longer we live in darkness in any area of our lives, the more the lies in our head seem true.   This darkness is caused by our lack of understanding the Gospel.   Let me give examples of some common lies we may believe. 

"I have to obey God for Him to love and bless me."

Not true. However, this is a very common misunderstanding of the Gospel.  It's part of the toxic Christianity making Christians sick today.  The truth is, it's difficult not to obey God when we are confident that He already loves us with no strings attached and has already blessed us in Christ with everything we need to live our lives.  Who would you most likely obey from your heart? A parent you were afraid of or a parent you know loves you?  (Ephesians 1:3) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. 

"What I do defines who I am."

Not true. God uses birth, not behavior to define us.   Our spiritual birth defines who we are. Our faith in Christ gave us a new spiritual birth. Knowing who we are in Christ will positively affect every area of our lives."  Do you have a list of who you are in Christ to read?  Meditate on them and you will not medicate your low self-esteem with food, abuse of alcohol and drugs, shopping or legalistic Christianity!  (John 3:3)

Jesus replied, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again."

"I sin because I am not committed enough to Jesus."

Not true. While we certainly need to be submitted to God, being more committed to God often means deciding that we will try harder to obey Him. Instead, we need to rest in Christ by asking Him to live His life through us.  I remember asking a man in his late 20s to begin doing this and when I saw him next he said, "I experienced God's peace in a very tangible way." People will pay good money for some peace of mind! (Matthew 11:29)  "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."

Jesus said in John 8:32, "You will know the truth and the truth will set you free".  If His truth sets us free, then what keeps us in bondage?  Obviously lies!   Why don't we stop right now and ask God to show us the lies we believe about the Gospel, and ask Him to replace those with His truth.   

   

Believe it.  It's the Gospel!

Live Free In Christ,

Mark Maulding, President and Founder

www.GraceLifeInternational.com All Content Copyright © 2014 Mark Maulding

Free from Sin's Tyranny

    A man at one of my F4T Conferences told me an all too common story of how hearing a partial Gospel left him powerless to defeat sin. You see, a partial Gospel always produces a partial Christian. Not surprisingly, he became so discouraged with his failures; he gave up on ever being a good Christian and left the church. Interestingly though, he worked in an "end of life" area of a hospital where he took every opportunity to tell these dying people about the salvation offered in Christ. Yet, he remained miserable as sin controlled his body and his soul over and over without mercy. Over time, God gave him understanding that there was more to the Gospel than Jesus died to forgive our sins to get us into heaven. I could tell by the peace I saw on his face that day that he was living free from sin's tyranny.

   This freedom from the sin's tyranny is a great freedom God has provided for us in Christ. I use the word, "tyranny", because before we were in Christ, sin held power over us much like a cruel dictator. We were compelled to obey Him when we liked it and when we didn't.

   Jesus gives us hope by saying, "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." John 8:36 NIV Much like my friend above, many of us are surprised at how sin continues to control us, with some of the same old sins, even after we become Christ-followers.

   Has Jesus really freed us from sin's power over us or is that an illusion? Yes! He really has set us free. Here's how. The good news of the complete Gospel is that the part of us which was under sin's tyranny was put to death on the cross with Christ. Romans 6:6 says, "Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him..." The old self was our old nature or old identity in Adam we showed up with on planet earth.

   Romans 6:7 declares, "He who has died is freed from sin". Notice it does not say he "is free from sinning" but is free from sin, meaning free from sin as a power to tyrannize us. Sin referenced here means an unholy power in us but it is not our old nature because that is dead and gone. Sin here is like a generator whose power lines were cut in half when we died with Christ. Being resurrected with Christ as new creations, we have a new power source - union with Christ!

   This is the key to victory when we are tempted to default to that sin we often go to, especially when we are under stress. Do you know what I mean about the particular sin we end up in bed with when we are under a lot of stress? I can almost see you shaking your head "Yes". When we are tempted like this, our old dictator, sin, is offering to benevolent to us so we won't feel so stressed out.

   I have one of those sins which I tend to default to if I'm not vigilant. It's fear. Fear tyrannized my life for many years. And it still can if I allow it. Here's how I am learning to overcome it as my understanding of the complete Gospel grows.

   When tempted to be controlled by fear, I talk to the Lord saying something like this, "Father I know that I am not a fearful person in my identity in Christ. I choose to believe what you say about me rather than what my circumstances are saying. Jesus please handle this by living through me right now!"

   I pray this way based on Romans 8:15 which says, "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out 'Abba Father". NASB We all came into this world destined to live a life of fear because our old nature was as a slave of sin. The good news is that our new nature - our new identity in Christ yearns to experience the love of Abba Father which replaces more and more of our fears. Though I know this, I admit to you that it is still a mental wrestling match with circumstances screaming that I should be afraid and the Holy Spirit saying gently, "Mark, you are not a fearful person but a peaceful person whose very nature is to trust Me". This greatly helps reminding me that we are not in a power struggle with sin but a truth struggle.

   How about you? What is that sin which keeps beating you like LeBron James would if you played him in a one-one-one basketball game? Jesus HAS already freed us from sin's tyranny by changing who we are deep within but we have to believe it, and then talk to Him about it when we are tempted. You CAN overcome that sin - not by will power, rules or more dedication to God, but by the power of the cross. Be careful! You don't want to make this a formula. Sin is not defeated through a formula, rather by a relationship with God through our union with Christ. Let freedom ring!

Live Free In Christ, 

Mark Maulding, President and Founder 

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

Dealing with Feeling the Fear of Failure

   At age 19, I began to run in the "Fear of Failure" marathon. Like any serious runner, it motivated me to strive to always do more. I compared my success to others keeping a record of who was better and who was worse than I. Self-criticism fueled my relationship with God, with people and my work. This marathon eventually produced so much anxiety that it depleted my body of serotonin. Like a runner who "hits the wall" and can't finish the race, I hit the wall of depression.

   Fear of failure is a common malady. The lie behind this is: "I will have value if I succeed but I will be less valuable if I fail". Value is a God-given need. Yet, most of us find ourselves trying to meet this need our way instead of God's way, which usually ends in conflict and frustration.

   Our way is to train our minds to equate our value with our performance. We think that good performance equals greater value and vice-versa. God's way is to equate our value with what He was willing to give to bring us into His family. He gave the most precious possession He had when He gave His Son to die in our place. Romans 8:32 says, "Seeing that He spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all, how will He not through Him freely give us all things."

   Let me put it this way. It is God's performance which gives us value, not our performance.

   This is actually cool because it liberates us from the weight of performance based value so we can live from value based performance. And we do this best when we are depending on Jesus Christ to perform through us by asking Him to live His life through us daily, and believing He is."

   I recently ran in my first 5K trail race. I thought it was just a fun run until a few days before. I run trails for fitness and wellbeing with no desire to compete. When I found out it was an actual timed race, I said to my wife, "Oh no! I didn't want to run in a race." Then I told her I was just going to have fun. When the race started, I had no ambitions of winning nor was I afraid of losing. I simply wanted to finish the race without stopping! As I approached the finish line, I couldn't catch a 10 year old boy but I finished. I was so surprised when they later announced that I came in 3rd place for my age group. I almost fell to the ground laughing! Because my value is in Christ and not in my performance whether running or otherwise, I can joyfully exclaim, "I'm number 3! I'm number 3! I'm number 3!"

   Rest in your value in Christ today and go perform with Christ living through you. You'll be a much better employee, employer, parent, spouse and friend who can actually influence your world for God's Kingdom.

Live Free In Christ, 

Mark Maulding, President and Founder 

www.GraceLifeInternational.com 

All Content Copyright © 2013 Mark Maulding