I have a real problem with forgetting to thank God for the new life I have now. It's so easy to forget where I was when God came for me. It's so easy to forget the mess my life had become @ that time. When we forget where we came from we also drift away from God into indifference & complacency. Jesus warned the church @ Ephesis that they didn't love God the way they did when they first came into His kingdom, & advised them to go back & start all over again. I think we could all benefit from that advice. The kingdom life is all about conscious choices we make that soon become a reality in our lives. When we drift into spiritual lethargy, we aften fail to see the little blessings that come our way from day to day as God's providence for us. We need to make a conscious decision to be grateful for the things God sends our way, both good & bad; not one day a year, but all day every day. Today would be a really good day to consciously give thanks to God for bringing you out from where you once were to where you are today, & for all the many blessings He's brought your way over the ensuing years.

You don't just one day decide to get your life together & it changes folks. God has to draw you into that new life before you will ever see any real & lasting changes in your heart & life. I know this line of thought isn't popular to most of us who want to maintain some degree of control over our own lives & the course they take; but the truth is God takes controm of an out of control life, & that life begins to change. Nothing real happens any other way. I struggled to live the christian life for years because that was what I was led to believe all my childhood christian life; but it never did work. There was no real & lasting change anywhere. There never will ve through self effort. Start to finish change is something God does in a man or woman's life. If your life is going nowhere fast, if you're struggling to live the li8fe you know God wants you to live & it's not happening; quit struggling, let go & let God. Quit trying to live the christian life yourself & let God make you the man or woman He wants you to be. Just tell him the truth. If you don't change me & my life God there will never be any real & lasting changes.

The apostle Paul was a very wide man who came to realize there was nothing good in himself @ all; & that he could not live the life God wanted him to live. The first step to becoming the man or woman God wants us to be is recognizing the futility of trying to bring about any real & lasting change ourselves.

Gal 3:3 How can you be so stupid? Do you think that by yourself you can complete what God's Spirit started in you?

One of the problems I have with AA is the idea that recovery & sobriety is a joint operation between God & man. Self effort can accomplish nothing real & lasting in the life of the needy. Start to finish, salvation & sanctification is a work God's Spirit does in your heart & life. When you begin to see real changes is @ the point where you finally gove up & recognize like the apostle Paul that there's nothing good in you upon which to build @ all. I believe in 4 very real steps that put you on the road to recovery, on the way to a brand new life: 

(1) God opens your eyes & causes you to see your life through His eyes

(2) You are genuinely grieved by what you see in your life

(3) You humbly recognize you can bring about no real & lasting change in your own heart & life

(4) An all consuming desire is birthed in you for change, & God's Spirit begins to lead you into those changes.

When I try to do what only God can do, I get in His way. I bind God's hands & limit what He can do in my heart & life. The reason there is so little change in the hearts & lives of most believers today is because they are trying to do what only God can do. Are you one of those people?

Let go & let God

John is caught up into Yahweh's throne room & he sees 24 elders seated on thrones in Yahweh's presence, & 7 Spirits standing in Yahweh's presence. Interesting to me @ least because of a decision rendered hundreds of years ago that rendered a king in Israel insane & caused him to wander in a field like an animal for 7 years. What interests me so much is whose decision this was.

Dan 4:17 This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

7 Spirits standing in the presence of Yahweh, & the Bible names one of them elsewhere.

Amazingly enough, Our God nowhere denies the existence of other gods but merely forbids us to worship them. I choose to serve the God of the Israelite people, the God of the Bible. His name is Yahweh, & in spite of popular belief He is not unknowable. In fact He is very clearly described in the book of Daniel;

Dan 7:9 Thrones were set up while I was watching, and the Eternal God took his place. His clothing and his hair were white as snow. His throne was a blazing fire with fiery wheels, Dan 7:10 and flames were dashing out from all around him. Countless thousands were standing there to serve him. The time of judgment began, and the books were opened.

Amazingly enough our God can actually be seen here & is given an actual physical description. Far cry from the tradition that you can't look on God without being destroyed wouldn't you say.  He's wearing clothes which also intimates  He has an actual physical body. He's even described as having white hair. Just so you know that this isn't jesus being talked about here;

Dan 7:13 As I continued to watch the vision that night, I saw what looked like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven, and he was presented to the Eternal God. Dan 7:14 He was crowned king and given power and glory, so that all people of every nation and race would serve him. He will rule forever, and his kingdom is eternal, never to be destroyed.

Jesus arrives later to receive His kingdom from the almighty God; but this isn't Jesus. My life is dedicated to making God & his kingdom just as real as I can make it. I want people to know there is an actual physical God that we have to deal with @ some point & time. I pray that each of you will decide to deal with this God here & now & not face His judgement later.

Finally after 36 years of waiting, the VA gave me a 30% disability rating. My wife thinks I got shafted; but I remember the 36 years I couldn't get much of anything from the VA because they had taken my disability rating away from me. 30% will help a lot with the cost of most of my medical needs now that I'm 56 years old, & that can be a major blessing now. We owe 3 major bills, & the back pay check will pay off those debts & maybe help us to get a piece of property I want to build on. In every situation we have a choice; we can be thankful for the blessings we have, or we can complain. I choose to be thankful for every blessing I receive from God. No matter how bad it seems right now, things could be a whole lot worse. 

and the truth will set you free

This reminds me of one of my own favorite statements If what you believe isn't changing you then maybe it's time to change what you believe. If what you believe isn't making you a new & better person then maybe you need to believe something else. The truth sets men free. No matter what controls your life the truth will break the hold that thing or person has on your life. If there's bondage in your life there's something wrong with your belief system. This brings me to another one of my own sayings The proof of any system of belief is the effect it has on the hearts & lives of those who believe it. What it all comes down to is What kind of person have you become since believing? If you're still the dame old mean unforgiving self centered person you always were then there's something wrong with your beliefs folks. There will never be any real & lasting change in our hearts & lives until we get real about the need for those changes.

The original body of believers were like one great big spiritual family that really cared about one another. Noone did without because those who had more than enough took care of those who had too little to meet their needs; & they did it with their whole heart. Believers really cared about other believers. When was the last time you cared enough to pray for someone's needs until you knew God had heard & answered your prayers? You can't even get believers in our churches to really pray for each other any more, let alone reach out to those members who are in need. Paul defined true spirituality this way;

1Co 12:26 And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.

What this means is when a member of our church is suffering we should know about it without that person saying anything because we are connected spiritually. It's not that we don't have the capability of being connected that way spiritually. If we're truly born again, we have that spiritual life within us, but we're not allowing that spiritual life to influence our lives on the outside folks. I know I may tend to sound like a broken record, but I want to see something real, something that works, a ministry that impacts lives & changes people; & I haven't seen that in my over 26 years as an ordained minister. I do believe however that God is trying to bring us all into a place where that kind of ministry can happen today. I don't know about you, but I hunger to be a part of something that really changes lives.

The Greek from which we get born again in our Bibles is gennao anothen which means quite literally receive new life from above. The apostle John refers to it as an anointing.

1Jo 2:26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. 1Jo 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

What it actually amounts to is a whole new kind of life within you, a special connection to the kingdom of God which allows you to communicate with God's kingdom & receive the teaching you need to enter into a brand new & better life. When Paul talks about the resurrection from the dead, he makes it clear that this flesh & blood sinful you will not be resurrected; only the sinless & perfect spiritual you.

1Co 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 1Co 15:43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

That's what Paul refers to when he says that the man who is in Christ is a new creature. He says old things pass away & all things become new. The flesh & blood you is the same old sinful person it always was; but there's a new you on the inside that isn't corrupt & sinful. When you allow the new you on the inside to influence the old you on the outside, then your life on the outside will begin to change as well. Paul knew the old man would always be prone to sin; but he also knew that the new man on the inside could help him to control the old man on the outside were he to let him. The reason the majority of us are such failures as believers is because we're still trying to serve God on the level of the flesh & blood or old man. The old man can't even understand the reality of God's kingdom as revealed within His word; let alone live the kind of life He wants us to live.

Joh 7:24 Don't judge by appearances. Judge by what is right.

We're all prone to form opinions of people & situations based on first impressions or gossip; but we should strive to see every person & every situation in our lives through God's eyes. God sees beyond the things a man or woman does to see why they acted that way, why they did what they did. He never judges two men or women the same way. He never judges two situations the same way,

1Sa 16:6 When Jesse and his sons arrived, Samuel noticed Jesse's oldest son, Eliab. "He has to be the one the LORD has chosen," Samuel said to himself. 1Sa 16:7 But the LORD told him, "Samuel, don't think Eliab is the one just because he's tall and handsome. He isn't the one I've chosen. People judge others by what they look like, but I judge people by what is in their hearts."

Only when we strive to see situations & people through God's eyes can we deal with people compassionately & mercifully as God does. It's not enough however to see others through God's eyes. We must strive to see ourselves that way too. It's so easy to get so hung up on our own fraults & failures that we not only never see our potential, but fail to live up to that potential as well. Remember God doesn't see you or me as we are. He sees the man or woman we can be with His help. He's not so hung up on what we're doing right now that He can't see what we are capable of; & you & I need to strive to see each other through God's eyes as well. He's not so hung up on what we do that He can't see why we did it; & god will judge each of us accordingly. He never judges two people the same way. Think about that today.

It wasn't that God was blessing or cursing the Israelites. It was a case of being naturally blessed or cursed because of the choices they made. When their choices lined up with the will of God they were blessed. When their choices went contrary to the will of God they were cursed. They suffered the consequences of their choices. It's all about consequences. If you are truly saved, God has delivered you from the penalty of your sins, eternal separation from God & eternal life; but the consequences of your sinful living still follow you. I still suffer right now from years of wrong living when I was younger. The pregnant girl who got saved is still very much pregnant. The consequences of her wrong living didn't just go away. On a daily basis I have an example. My wife & i were drinking coffee Thursday in Clovis New Mexico, when a homeless man came in. We felt specifically led to help that man, so we did. We gave him $10.00 The very next day we received an unexpected $200.00 blessing. It's not a case of just going out & giving away your money & being blessed. it's a case of doing the will of God & being blessed when you do. We wanted to ride to New Mexico yesterday to look @ property because we were closing the store early; but we didn't have the money to go. Friday, some people who had really done us wrong a while back were renewing their wedding vows & we brought them a really nice gift. Yesterday morning a sudden repair job came in & I earned $50.00 in less than an hour. Why? Again. because we were doing the will of God. He tells us in his word to do good to those who despitefully abuse us. I've gone through months of curses @ times for the same reason, I'd clearly gotten out of the will of God; & the curses didn't end until I got back in the will of God. We were created to serve God, & we are blessed when our lives lin e up with the will, plan, & purposes of God for our lives quite naturally folks. Believers gripe all the time about all of the wrong things happening in their lives when they are serving God; but are they really striving to do the will of God in their lives?

I find about 75% of what's being taught in our churches today has very little if any real significance to me as a believer. The most important thing for me to know as a believer is that God actually exists, & that He rewards all who diligently seek Him. In fact, He said this about that subject;

Jer 29:13 "When you come looking for me, you'll find me. "Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else",

When you find God, you find everything you need to start over & get your life on track & headed somewhere. I know I repeat myself a lot; but what I'm saying bears repeating. 4 things need to happen to you as a believer; (1) God opens your eyes & causes you to see your life the way it really is. (2) You are genuinely grieved by what God reveals to you. (30 You realize you can bring about no real & lasting change in your own life through self effort. (4) An all consuming desire is birthed in you for change, & God begins to bring about that change. When you getrealwithgod, God will get real with you. I'm reminded of what God told a church in John's day; You don't love me like you did @ first. Go back & start all over again. One church has no real relationship with God anymore. Another church is no longer serving God with their whole heart. In Joshua 24:15 we're admonished to serve God with our whole heart faithfully. We're to get real about serving God folks. We're not getting anywhere with God simply because it's no longer important to us to serve God. We're just going through the motions, & our hearts aren't in serving God @ all. If God seems distant it's probably because He is; but guess who moved. I stand on a very simple promise every day now, God will be there when I seek Him with my whole heart faithfully. Theologically, I need to know that Jesus dying in my place qualified me to receive a brand new kind of life from God. If I have that life in me I'll make it to Heaven. If I learn to yield to the influence of that life within me, I can experience a little bit of Heaven now.

If you or someone you know might benefit from my teachings; but you may not be active @ this blog site; feel free to email me & request that I put you on my believers mailing list. I want to influence as many lives as I can with the simple truths God has shared with me that have helped me to get my life back on the right road & headed somewhere @ last. Please forward my email list to anyone you think might benefit from my teachings.

josephwaynefreeman@yahoo.com

Thanks

Wayne Freeman

Subconsciously we all tend to draw lines with God, locking up areas of our lives & not giving God access to those areas. A life is a lot like a house with many rooms; & we're barely letting God inside the front door of that house. God wants to influence every area of our lives, every situation in our lives, every decision we make in life, every relationship in our lives; but we draw lines & allow Him only so much access in our lives. We get mad @ God because things aren't going right in a certain area of our lives, & if the truth were known we haven't allowed God access to that area of our lives @ all, if we have it's been a very limited access.

Pro 19:3 We are ruined by our own stupidity, though we blame the LORD.

We get mad @ God over situations & crises we ourselves create. We get mad @ Him when we are dealing with the consequences of the choices we've made in life. I deal with consequences right now of years of wrong living in the past, health problems from years of abusing my body when I was younger. I'm striving to bring God into everything that's going on in my life now; but it hasn't been so long ago that I was locking God out of most of my life as a believer. If we want the life God wants us to have, if we want the blessings He's promised us, & to get rid of the curses we've brought into our own lives, then we need to bring God into every area of our lives consciously. We need to start making right choices. I wouldn't care to venture a guess as to how many Christian marriages today are cursed because of wrong choices in the past, or marrying an unbeliever in the present. How many businesses fail because of the union of a believer with an unbeliever there. Do we allow our beliefs to govern our practices in business? Do we allow our beliefs to govern our career choices, our relationships, our marriages? W#hy do we get angry with God when none of this works out if we're going to lock Him out of that area of our lives?

Doubt stops God dead in His tracks. Remember however, the believer's life isn't about feelings. It's a bout chopices we make. You must choose to believe God rewards anyone who seeks Him diligently. Then you must act like you believe

PUSH: Pray Until Something Happens

Here's another little prayer tidbit for you;

Jam 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

The effectual & fervent prayer of a righteous man gets things done. Effectual means get to the point & fervent means wholehearted. Remember this, the only righteousness that counts is faith in the blood of Jesus that results in the new birth. If you're truly born again & you get to the point when you pray & pray that prayer with your whole heart, then expect results & keep praying until something happens.

If you needed a thousand dollars, & you not only knew I had a thousand dollars, but that I'd give it to you when you really need it, would you give up if I didn't answer the phone the first time you called ? Or, would you camp on my door step until I came home? That's the kind of faith we need to have in God, the kind of faith that keeps us seeking Him until we hear from Him.

Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Far too many faith teachers conveniently forget verses like this that teach us the need to keep praying until God moves.

PUSH: Pray Until Something Happens

The reason most believers have no more faith in God than they do is because they've never done that; they've never prayed until something happened. What about you? Some actually teach that anyone who prays more than once about anything just doesn't have enough faith to get results. That means Jesus didn't have enough faith to get anything done either then. He prayed twice for a blind man, & would have prayed again if the blind man hadn't been healed. There are no such things in the Bible as gradual healings. Either someone got healed when men prayed, or they didn't. Some would tell you that you don't have enough faith; that's why you don't get healed when they pray for you; but a blind man in the temple clearly didn't expect a healing when Peter & John prayed for him, & he was healed in spite of his unbelief. In Mark 16:20 we're told healings & miracles are God's signature guaranteeing the messages we preach indeed came from Him. They always seem to happen either just before an important message is preached, or just after one, in the Bible. If you need a miracle, try being where the truth is being preached. Still, God is sovereign & does what he pleases, not what men command Him to do. Every prayer we pray must be an appeal for mercy, not some kind of self righteous demand. God isn't intimidated by our prayers into acting, & He's not intimidated by our self righteous demands into doing something he doesn't want to do. When I pray, I consciously remind myself that God is going to do something for me because of the merit of the blood of Jesus, not for any other reason. I don't deserve anything from God, & I never will. It's only His mercy & compassion that motivates Him to do anything for me. Want results when you pray? Remind God of his mercy & compassion. Make sure you're putting your faith in what Jesus has already done, not in anything you yourself have done or promise to do if God will only do what you want. 

Ever wonder why Christianity never seems to really change people? Maybe it's because Christianity is like Basking Robbins; everybody has their own particular favorite flavor of it. I have a saying;

We'll travel halfway across the world to hear what we want to believe; but we won't cross the street to hear the truth.

When a thousand believers believe a thousand different things, someone is wrong. Why is it so hard for me to admit I may be wrong about something? When we all believe different things, someone isn't being taught by God. How do we remedy that situation? John, writing about deception in the churches said this;

1Jo 2:26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you. 1Jo 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.

If we are truly born again, we have a new kind of life inside of us, the very life of God; & that life or anointing is there to influence our lives & get us where God wants us to be. When we learn to tap into this resource & benefit from it's influence, our whole lives will take on new meaning, & we will find ourselves on the road to recovery, beginning to live the kind of life God has wanted for mankind since the very beginning.

When I'm in control, my life is out of control

Jer 10:23 I know, GOD, that mere mortals can't run their own lives, That men and women don't have what it takes to take charge of life.

I've said this before, but it bears repeating. Jeremiah had to be one of the smartest men who ever lived. Why? Because he recognized the truth that he didn't need to be running his own life. If I were to describe an exact point where a man's life begins to turn around & get back on course again, it would be the point where he realizes he doesn't need to be running his own life. The man who realizes he is messing up his own life is the man who finds himself on the road to recovery. There will be no real or lasting change in my life until I quit trying to run my own life. All real & lasting change is merely the fruit of God's control in my life. There is a Hebrew term from which we get the word trust in our Bibles which means quite simply lean on God with your whole weight like a crutch. What we really need as believers is the attitude of servitude. It's very simply recognizing the sovereignty of God. Recognizing God's right to rule. Now or later, all of us, Satan included, will submit ourselves to the authority of Yahweh, the supreme elohim or God. It's not meant to be tyranny; but instead a trust relationship. We simply recognize God can be trusted to run our lives. We on the other hand cannot.

It's really hard to let go of things a lot of times. Some things are so important that you just can't let go of them. I'm struggling with letting go of my VA pension decision & letting God have it right now. It seems like my whole life is on hold waiting for this pension. I have a son & dughter in law, & 3 granddaughters I've never seen. I want to get them all out here with us; but I can't do anything as long as this decision about my pension is on hold. What I'm trying to remind myself of is that God isn't limited to any one source to meet these needs in my life; but subconsciously I'm still limiting God to this one source. The same thing is happening with my wife. She wants to get out of the town we're living in; but she's limited by the sale of her half of a hardware store here. That's on hold too. We all tend to lean to our own understanding when we're in the middle of trials like this. We find it almost impossible to let go & let God have control of these things in our lives; but God won't touch our lives until we do. Maybe God wants us right here where we are. Maybe that's the whole thing; & we're resisting God's will for our lives. I don't know; but I do know this is one of those situations where I don't know what to pray for & need divine intervention in my prayer life. God has even made provision for that as well;

Rom 8:26 In certain ways we are weak, but the Spirit is here to help us. For example, when we don't know what to pray for, the Spirit prays for us in ways that cannot be put into words.

In times like these I have to remind myself to rely on the intercession of the Holy Ghost, consciously asking God to have Him pray for me according to His will. I find myself praying for God's will to be done in my life even now; & only His will. Life involves choices. I can stress myself out, worrying about all of this; or I can pray until I get the peace of God that assures me He's on the job & working in my behalf.

Have you ever wondered how a holy God could be merciful to anyone as sinful as you & I are? God doesn't see us the way we see each other. God looks beyond all of our faults & shortcomings, & failures, to see our potential. He's not hung up on what we are. He sees what we can be with His help. He's able to look beyond all the wrong things we do to see why we act that way; & that is the basis for His great mercy toward undeserving sinners like us. What if you & I could stop judging people by first impressions, by what they seem to be on the outside, & see what's in a man or woman's heart instead? That's just one of the many fruits of salvation when we allow it to have it's perfect work in our hearts & lives. We begin to see others differently when we are able to see beyond all of our own faults & failures to see ourselves through God's eyes. There are no mistakes in God's word; & it says to love our neighbor as ourself. You can't love anyone else until you can learn to love & accept your own failures & shortcomings the way God does. Until t6hen you will focus on the faults & failures of others to justify your own shortcomings & failures. You subconsciously need to prove they are worse than you to feel better about the sin in your own life. God wants to give us new eyes, to help us see the world & the people in it a new way, the way He sees those things. Will you let Him?

A lot of presumptuous faith teachings in the body of Christ today would deny the sovereignty of God; but I have discovered the man or woman who would truly get somewhere in God's kingdom must not only acknowledge the sovereignty of god; but yield himself or herself to that authority. I know this won't set well with many of you, but man was created to serve God. God wasn't created to serve man. The very first man in the Bible was placed in a garden to be the gardener of God.

Gen 2:15 The LORD God put the man in the Garden of Eden to take care of it and to look after it.

To get to the place where God wants us to be our faith must rest on the merciful & compassionate nature of God to the point where we no longer question anything He sees fit to do in our lives, trusting Him to cause even the worst that happens to us to result in good for someone. Jesus enduring the agony of the cross was not very beneficial to Him, but it's accomplished salvation for all of us who are truly born again children of God. Think about that.

3 words involved in our relationship to God & His kingdom folks; (1) fear: ya-re or yaw-rey; reverence or respect (2)sincerity:ta-miym or taw-meem; entire or truth, complete or full [with your whole heart] (3) truth:e-meth or eh-meth; stability, trustworthiness, or faithfulness 

[My paraphrase] Respect God & serve Him with your whole heart faithfully

It's possible to serve God with your whole heart, but not serve Him faithfully. It's possible to serve God faithfully, but not with your whole heart. One thing I don't see a lot of in the church world however is respect for God. Far too many believers have relegated God to the position of little more than a glorified bellhop who exists to do their will & jumps every time the ring their little prayer bell. Another wo5rd here we tend to totally disregard is serve. God is not the servant of man. Man was created to serve God. God placed Adam & Eve in the garden soon after their creation to take care of His garden. They were created to perform a service for God. Man exists to serve the kingdom of God. God doesn't exist to serve man. The sooner we get the right attitude toward God & His kingdom, the sooner we find the life God created us for, & the joy & peace He wants us to have. What about you? Does your attitude toward God suck? Maybe today would be a good day to adopt the right attitude toward God & His kingdom. It's merely an act of your will, a choice you make. You simply choose to put your life in God's hands & serve Him doing His will, fulfilling His plans for your life; not trying to fit God into your own plans.