Higher Perspective That Takes Some Work

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A “positive” perspective takes effort.  There are so many things that want to draw our attention to the negatives- from social apps, mainstream media, people we come in contact with but negativity can   come from us as well.

While growing up I dreaded school more then most.  Anxiety would race through my body even before my ear piercing alarm would go off.  No amount of studying seemed to calm the apprehension of a test or quiz day.  Change brought nervousness and queasiness.  Failure brought depression and frustration. 

I preferred solitude.  I still prefer a quiet place where I can “gather my thoughts”. 

Today I have to make an effort to be sociable with large groups of people.  I seem to be an observer of people.  I often pay close attention to people’s verbal tones and actions.  I still collect people’s actions like data- especially where I sense tension or some kind of judgment towards me. 

In these cases I have to fight the urge to withdraw.  I have to fight sinking into the quicksand condemnation.   I have to let go of “feeling less” then….

I always felt different and to this day I still sometimes feel awkward around others.  My mind at times seems to fail me -shutting my access off to its’ vocabulary banks where I easily forget people’s names and words causing conversation blunders.

Assessing these matters, I have pondered if these insufficiencies and failures have strengthened me in a strange way- where I have had to yield myself to God’s abounding grace instead of what wants to impede and deter from “higher/constructive” perspectives.    

It takes work to not fall into the habitual practices of the past.  It is probably one of the most difficult things we can do- to learn to submit, let go and accept God’s authority over our life so we can walk in the resilient buoyancy of God.     

Paul wrote, “To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of the faith with power.” 2 Thessalonians 1:11 NASB

 

We often look at out our calling in a broad sense but our calling is also “intimate” and “eternal”.  If you are a Christian, your calling is being a child of God.  There is no higher calling.  It is allowing to God to empower you in all things great and small in the day… no matter in success or failure, sickness or good health, richer or poorer, older for older and so on… 

Our calling is believing that God is the author and finisher of our faith…  He helps us become conquers over the old habits of self and the hindrances of this world.  We put our hard “investment/effort/work/” into trusting that the LORD is LORD of our life.

And in return for our hard mental work: Life has… goodness because He is LIFE, which is our higher perspective/power amongst everything else. 

Think of all the benefits there are to your soul, mind and body in living in our calling.

  

Grace

“May God’s grace be eternally upon all who love our Lord Jesus Christ." Ephesians 6:24
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To attain the realization of the grace we have received and continue to receive from God through our Savior Jesus Christ is good but more fruitful- is it to not just know of it but receive it and accept into ourselves daily.
 
For if we do not care for our soul in this manner, how in the world can we graciously and humbly give it to others -who we might think are undeserving of it?

Was the Nazi who was responsible for the deaths of Corrie Ten Boom's family members deserving of grace? 

The more we understand acceptance of God's grace, it seems- the less we try in ways of the flesh and the more satisfying our Christian experience is in the Spirit.  I find living in the mindset of grace frees us up- it stabilizes our emotions.  It is to know the peace of "grace".   It is to know Jesus better. 

A man by the name of Ellicott wrote that the power of grace increases when put it into use but diminishes when we neglect it in our life which we then neglect to give it to others.

Grace isn't excusing the wrong/sinful, or perplexing, misunderstood or what is mundane or what will soon one day become meaningless but grace is allowing the overwhelming abundant grace of God to empower you and I to overcome those things that bother and irritate the soul.... but still it's more... Grace is God's glorious resources intertwined in strengthening the tapestry of our life.

I believe grace to be "serenity" when attributed to really allowing God to be God of our lives.
Niebuhr wrote, "God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference."

Hope

As I thought about this special week, one thing kept coming to mind. 

It is a truth the world badly needs. 

It’s a truth we aren’t born with.

A truth that gives us a realization that comforts - brings peace and stability amongst all the unknowns in our life.

It’s a truth that is our lifeboat to our thoughts amongst the storms and struggles; it’s a safety net, a rising airship that lifts our mindset above all the sticky burdens and cumbersome thoughts. 

As Isaiah wrote “it” renews our strength.  Makes us soar like eagles, run and not grow weary and walk and not faint.

I think of martyrs who clung and lived in the “beyond”, who knew personally the words of the Apostle Paul who wrote, “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.”

What is the belief that has enable believers to endure even through harsh treatment, torture, and death throughout the ages?

What was this ultimate saving grace that empowered their mindset to transcend the natural? 

It was… “Hope”.

Every human desires hope. 

Some have unfortunately placed their hope in the things of this world only to pay dearly when those things fail them. 

Real hope isn’t some kind of “wishful” thinking but a confidence that wells up in the believer in Jesus Christ.   It is like the stiff wind that keeps our kite flying.  It is part of us but alien to us as well -for we could not manufacture or accomplished this hope by any means of our own.  It was gifted to us -when we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. 

For when we were part of the world and thought and lived as the world, we didn’t have this hope and oddly we instinctively looked for this alien hope as if were a genetic spiritual code built in us by our Creator and passed down through all generations of humanity.

Man has tried to satisfy this need in their soul in many things - by loving the things of world, which could never satisfy.

1 John 2:15 says, “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.”

It is apparent when it came to these individuals -when it came to the few grains of sand in their hourglass they were gripped by sadness, fear, anxiety, hopelessness, and ultimate emptiness.  No human means (money, popularity, fame, power, relations, self-righteousness) could save them… 

Before Christ, we had no spiritual passport to take us to a place our soul always yearned for- “a true reality of hope”.  We were stuck but thank God, when we called out to God from the dark hole we found ourselves in -God lovingly reached down and rescued us….

King David wrote, “I love the LORD because He hears and answers my prayers. Because He bends down and listens, I will pray as long as I have breath!” Psalm 116:1-2

When the Spirit of God rescued us, he took the blinders from our eyes, leaned over our shoulder and pointed us to a door of light- “a gate of hope itself” (Jesus Christ). 

In this there was this moment of clarity where we knew this was an invitation from God.  We accepted and in doing so received a great renewal that had it roots in hope and a love we are still yet beginning to understand for it is so great.

I ponder this in my heart… what is true wisdom?  What is true knowledge? What is true power? What is true authority? What is true peace? What is true joy?  Is it not hope living in all its abundance?

Take a moment…. 

The bible refers to hope as a confidence, a confidence in our salvation in Jesus Christ.  (1 Thessalonians 5:8)

Hebrews 6:19 says, “This hope is a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls.  It leads us through the curtain into God’s inner sanctuary.”

This hope in Jesus Christ anchors the soul to things that prospers it and keeps it away from what wants to steal from it.

This hope in Jesus Christ is to give us life and life more abundantly. 

The believer has been given the keys to God’s house.  So if our soul isn’t prospering – we must ask ourselves – “Where have I put my spiritual keys- where have we put our hope? 

Where is that spiritual access card that allows me to have access into the things of God like peace, love, joy, faith, renewal, confidence, grace and so on?”  Where have I put my hope?”  What have I mistakenly placed before God in my life?

John 3:17 “For God did not send his Son (Jesus Christ) into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.”

Jesus came into the world to save it and give it a lasting hope… but it is our choice to come to him be spiritually sustained by Him or not.  It is our choice to love darkness more then the light of hope in God.

Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Think about it…  This is a message for you who are saved and you who haven’t given your life to the Lord yet.

Hope are you living in it?   

Kingdoms

As bro Taylor gave us a message this morning…

I thought about certain moments in my favorite movies where the master, king, teacher, leader, lord confides in those he considers a true friend, brother, son.

Jesus says in John 8:35 “Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.”

When we give our lives to Jesus we become a son/daughter to God.  We became family members to an everlasting kingdom.

Jesus also uttered these words, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” John 15:15

Our Lord and Savior Jesus confides in us does He not?  He shares with us the mysteries of God to encourage and elevate our thinking/understanding beyond the pretenses of this world’s ideologies-walls that surround us.

We become ambassadors of Christ.  Our authority, rights, desires, needs come from God who is the source of all good things- His good, pleasing and perfect will.  We desire joy, peace, God’s gracious and merciful love, wisdom and we receive without limit as we yield everything - soul, heart, mind over to Him.

We are God’s domain after all… for He has translated us by His Spirit and blood.

The kingdom of God (not always ushered in with visible signs) comes in the knowing He has changed us supernaturally inwardly.   And with our continual hope and trust in Him we will be continually established in what God has intended in Himself.

Think about that last phrase for a second… “And with our continual hope and trust in Him we will be continually established in what God has intended in Himself”.

We “are” because of Him. 

For in us Jesus Christ’s Spirit (the Holy Spirit that reveals the deep things of God) lives in us…. We get to everyday by our choice to participate in the everlasting, renewing, strengthening things of God or not.

Robin Longstride, in the 2010 Robin Hood movie, speaks….

“If you're building for the future, you need to keep your foundations strong, laws of the land enslave the people to a king who demands loyalty but offers nothing in return, I've been to the South of France, Palestine and back, you build a kingdom the same way you build a cathedral from the ground up!”      

We used to serve the kingdom of darkness.  We used to serve the prince of darkness- Satan.   We willing participated in darkness and even let the tormentors of fear, hatred, lust and depression come sit at our table.  That kingdom never offered us peace. That kingdom never offered us peace.   That kingdom never offered us grace, mercy and undeserved love and privilege.  It was weak and faulty and always making us thirsty and hungry.  And we know that dark kingdom will be destroyed with time itself when the everlasting kingdom comes and takes its place.  A kingdom without time. 

A kingdom whose foundations are strong because they are set on God himself- Jesus Christ.

“And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What's more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.” 1 Peter 2:5

God is saying,  “Come…. mediate, confide and trust in Me.  Trust in my Son, Jesus Christ, as Lord and Savior.  The one who opens our eyes to see, our ears to hear, and sets us free from those things that want offer us nothing but enslavement.   And as we yield, trust, confide in God and His word- He gives us thought provoking, encouraging and elevating things of Himself…

Things that enrich, revive, liberate and last forever for the child, friend, priest of God.

Things that we can pass on and share with others- others who are endangered of an eternal doom because they are serve a kingdom of darkness instead of Jesus Christ who is the truth, the way and the life.  John 14:6