Bullets, Authority and Ownership
Grace and Peace in the Lord Jesus Christ,
Oh no! I'm quoting out of the Bible again! Duck for cover!
20All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, 21in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. 22He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. 23The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence. Ephesians 1:20-23
Christ has authority over everything. How sweet is that? Nothing can be done without His approval. No action, no temptation, no hardship, no blessing. Hang on a sec. No blessing? Hey! That means that God has approved every blessing and gift we've been given. And if God has approved that then that means that He wants us to have it. Now, a note of caution, if God gives you a blessing it is because He expects you to use it for His glory, if you don't eventually it's going to be taken away.
Now, back to the hardship stuff because we all know that is harder for us all to accept. We all (or hopefully all) know that God works all things for the benefit of those who love Him. Well, that includes hardships. Hardships are what refine us, they are what teach us, they are what make us the best that we can be. From what I understand we can be refined in two ways. The first more nice way is just polishing up on what we already have.
The second painful way is being torn apart and having an 'infection' removed. Some situations in our lives cause us to react in ways that aren't beneficial to us, like being bitter over being picked last all the time (or something). Well, when we let those things sit without dealing with them then it's like you've shot yourself (or perhaps forgot to hold up your bullet proof armour while being shot at) and you've just let that bullet sit there. Now maybe in the heat of things you don't notice that that bullet is sitting there and you just go on about your regular business. BUT WAIT! Something happens and you're attention is drawn to the wound (which your flesh has already covered over). Now, you've still got that bullet stuck inside you and it's causing an infection. You can do some things, but you can't do everything you should be doing. The bullet needs to come out so that you can heal properly. So, God uses something to cut the wound open again (ouch!). Then comes that thing (I don't know what it's called) that is used to go in and get the bullet out. Now the main bit (hopefully) gets pulled out, but what happens if all the pieces aren't gotten out? Well, eventually you'll notice another infection and the same thing will happen again. If you ignore it then it will get worse. Keep in mind though, that the bullet is going to be the hardest, most painful part of the process and once that is dealt with then it's going to be much easier to deal with the rest. And once the metal has been removed then you can go on and get healed and function properly. Isn't that wonderful! *realizes this is not at all what she was planning to talk about* Ok, so I'm going to wrap this up....hmmmm.....ummmm....Just keep in mind that infections are bad and God doesn't let us get more bullet wounds then we can handle and we are much pulling the bullet and any other bits out as soon as possible instead of letting it sit.
Ok, I'm going to write a brief (hopefully) paragraph about what I orginally intended to. Christ is the core of the church. He is what empowers it and what drives it. If you are not being driven by Christ then why are you in the church or trying to help it? Everything has been put under Christ's feet so that He has authority over it. Keep in mind what His body is, that's right, it's the church. Meaning that the church has authority over every power, principality, etc. No, I don't mean go to your government official and demand they listen your authority, but you can pray that they will submit to God's authority. Every spiritual power is under our authority, meaning that we can command demons and angels. Bind demons and loose angels. Now, keep in mind that you reap what you sow, so if you decide you want to do this backwards it's going to end up badly for you. God has already won the victory. We don't need to be intimidated by the spiritual. God has already won!
The church is how the world is able to know God's presence. It is through us that people are able to come to the knowledge of Christ. It is through us that they are able to know His love. It is through us that they are able to see the passion and joy of a life dedicated solely to Him. It is through us that people can see that they can only be truely fulfilled and truely at peace when we have died to ourselves and live as though nothing, not even ourselves is owned by us. We belong to Christ and we should live like it. Hope I have managed to keep your attention with this long post. Sorry about the length, I think I need to work on keeping things short. ;)
Blessings and Breakthroughs!
Oh no! I'm quoting out of the Bible again! Duck for cover!
20All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, 21in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. 22He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. 23The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence. Ephesians 1:20-23
Christ has authority over everything. How sweet is that? Nothing can be done without His approval. No action, no temptation, no hardship, no blessing. Hang on a sec. No blessing? Hey! That means that God has approved every blessing and gift we've been given. And if God has approved that then that means that He wants us to have it. Now, a note of caution, if God gives you a blessing it is because He expects you to use it for His glory, if you don't eventually it's going to be taken away.
Now, back to the hardship stuff because we all know that is harder for us all to accept. We all (or hopefully all) know that God works all things for the benefit of those who love Him. Well, that includes hardships. Hardships are what refine us, they are what teach us, they are what make us the best that we can be. From what I understand we can be refined in two ways. The first more nice way is just polishing up on what we already have.
The second painful way is being torn apart and having an 'infection' removed. Some situations in our lives cause us to react in ways that aren't beneficial to us, like being bitter over being picked last all the time (or something). Well, when we let those things sit without dealing with them then it's like you've shot yourself (or perhaps forgot to hold up your bullet proof armour while being shot at) and you've just let that bullet sit there. Now maybe in the heat of things you don't notice that that bullet is sitting there and you just go on about your regular business. BUT WAIT! Something happens and you're attention is drawn to the wound (which your flesh has already covered over). Now, you've still got that bullet stuck inside you and it's causing an infection. You can do some things, but you can't do everything you should be doing. The bullet needs to come out so that you can heal properly. So, God uses something to cut the wound open again (ouch!). Then comes that thing (I don't know what it's called) that is used to go in and get the bullet out. Now the main bit (hopefully) gets pulled out, but what happens if all the pieces aren't gotten out? Well, eventually you'll notice another infection and the same thing will happen again. If you ignore it then it will get worse. Keep in mind though, that the bullet is going to be the hardest, most painful part of the process and once that is dealt with then it's going to be much easier to deal with the rest. And once the metal has been removed then you can go on and get healed and function properly. Isn't that wonderful! *realizes this is not at all what she was planning to talk about* Ok, so I'm going to wrap this up....hmmmm.....ummmm....Just keep in mind that infections are bad and God doesn't let us get more bullet wounds then we can handle and we are much pulling the bullet and any other bits out as soon as possible instead of letting it sit.
Ok, I'm going to write a brief (hopefully) paragraph about what I orginally intended to. Christ is the core of the church. He is what empowers it and what drives it. If you are not being driven by Christ then why are you in the church or trying to help it? Everything has been put under Christ's feet so that He has authority over it. Keep in mind what His body is, that's right, it's the church. Meaning that the church has authority over every power, principality, etc. No, I don't mean go to your government official and demand they listen your authority, but you can pray that they will submit to God's authority. Every spiritual power is under our authority, meaning that we can command demons and angels. Bind demons and loose angels. Now, keep in mind that you reap what you sow, so if you decide you want to do this backwards it's going to end up badly for you. God has already won the victory. We don't need to be intimidated by the spiritual. God has already won!
The church is how the world is able to know God's presence. It is through us that people are able to come to the knowledge of Christ. It is through us that they are able to know His love. It is through us that they are able to see the passion and joy of a life dedicated solely to Him. It is through us that people can see that they can only be truely fulfilled and truely at peace when we have died to ourselves and live as though nothing, not even ourselves is owned by us. We belong to Christ and we should live like it. Hope I have managed to keep your attention with this long post. Sorry about the length, I think I need to work on keeping things short. ;)
Blessings and Breakthroughs!
posted by L @ 4:30 PM
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