Spring of the Spirit vs. The Pump of the Law

How did it happen? When did it occur?  One minute I'm living in the eternal spring of God's Holy Spirit, then, in a blink of an eye, I'm laboring at the pump of God's death giving Law.

I know better, or should. I know what it is to be filled with God's holy presence.

The Gospel Gone Wrong

I came across an article today on Fox News' website by Cal Thomas. The article was about the true meaning of Christmas. In the article Cal wrote

"The true meaning of Christmas is this: God took on the form of a human to die in our place, paying for our sins, so that humans who receive Him might be forgiven and be with Him forever."

There is just one problem with this statement; This is not the Gospel. Everything is fine until you get to the phrase, "so that humans who receive Him might be forgiven..." The problem here is that God's forgiveness was for the whole world, not just those who receive Jesus as Savior. You see the Bible says in 1 John 2:2

And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. - 1 John 2:2

You need to understand that the war between humans and God is at an end. That is why the angles came and proclaimed,

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
- Luke 2:14

So if God forgave the sins of the whole world, of anyone whoever lived, does that mean everyone is saved? No.

Salvation comes by grace through faith. (Ephesians 2:8) We have to choose to accept the gift of salvation. Faith is our positive response to what God has already accomplished.

And, if God forgave the whole world of it's sin, then the only thing sending people to hell is their rejection of Jesus; not their sins. For we are told to confess Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.

John 16:8-9 says, 

“And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me.” (This is sin in the singular, not the plural.)

Andrew Wommack said it best,

"The singular sin the Holy Spirit reproves us of is the sin of not believing on Jesus. That’s it. That’s not to say that the Holy Spirit will not show us that things we do are wrong. But He uses them to illustrate that we don’t believe on Jesus. The Holy Spirit isn’t nailing us every time we sin; He loves us back into faith and trust in Jesus. That’s the whole issue with God. 

What difference does it make in our lives if we accept forgiveness as something that has already been accomplished or not? There is a huge difference! It gives us security and peace, knowing that God isn’t mad at us and won’t be mad at us. Our sins are already forgiven—and not just the past sins we committed before we were born again. All of our sins—past, present, and even future ones—are already forgiven."

Now that's good news!

 

Why God Wants Me Sick: The Theology of Convenience

For some reason, God's people would rather slander the name and character of God than accept our own shortcomings. Instead of believing scripture that says that Jesus healed all that were sick, (Matt 12:15) we will go to great lengths, to the point of taking scripture out of context, to prove we're right and the Bible is wrong.

Before I continue, I want to make it clear that I do not belittle anyone who is suffering from on going health issues. I fully understand how frustrating and demeaning it is to have someone come up to you and say,"If you only had more faith." I also want to say that this is not a teaching on healing. This is an observation on human nature.

So why would we, as believers, rather justify our unbelief than face the fact that we fall short? The short answer is pride. We care so much about how we are perceived by others we would rather blame God then look bad. Think about it. Which position is easier to defend when you're standing in front of other people praying for the sick and you see no results? The position that the Bible says Jesus heals everyone and I just suck at doing my job or that God chooses to heal some and not heal others for His Glory?

You see, we like to think that because we were saved we are now somehow qualified and worthy do do God's work. We tend to get into a place where we start to think we are the chosen like it's a elite club. And for those of you who choose to grovel in your "unholiness," you can just stop now; for that is false humility and is a form of pride. I'm here to tell you that God hasn't had anyone qualified working for him yet and you aren't the exception. True humility is relying on God for everything and doing what he told us to do.

That includes healing the sick, raising people from the dead, opening blind eyes and deaf ears.

If you would like more information on God's unconditional provision for health and healing, visit God Wants You Well.

The Sovereign Heresy

Sovereign (adj.): Superlative in quality, of the most exalted kind; possessed of supreme power, absolute, enjoying autonomy. 

Until the NIV bible was published, the word sovereign was never used in the bible.  However, because of the misuse of this word, the notion of God controlling everything is one of the worst heresies taught and propagated by the church today.

Let me start by saying that not everything which happens on this earth goes according to God's will. I know that this is a tough idea to swallow; especially if you've been raised in today's church. Yet, nowhere in the new testament will you find this idea taught. In fact, there are many places in the bible where you find God's perfect will not coming to pass.

"The notion of God controlling everything is one of the worst heresies taught and propagated by the church today."

For example, when God led the nation of Israel out of Egypt and into the promised land. God was going to take them directly to their new home. However, the people rebelled against God and were stuck wandering the desert for 40 years(Numbers 14).  Or how about the passage in scripture which says, "...not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."(2 Peter 3:9) And yet Jesus said that wide is gate which leads to destruction and narrow is the gate to salvation. He goes on to say that few will enter into salvation.( Matt. 7:13-14) This happens regardless of the fact that God wants everyone to be saved.

So why, if there are multiple scriptures showing that God's perfect will doesn't come to pass, embrace this teaching? The reason is simple, it's a convenient theology. It allows people to take no responsibility for their actions and places all the blame for things going wrong on God.

There's just one problem; anyone who professes this way of thinking doesn't really believe it. One example of this is believers who are sick who will comfort themselves with the notion that God made them sick to teach them a lesson. This allows them to not face the fact that they are directly responsible for their health. However, if they really believed that God gave them or gave permission for their sickness, they wouldn't go to the doctor to get well. If they really did believe that God gave them their illness, then they would embrace the sickness because it was God ordained. No one, however, really believes this because they don't truly practice this.

This religious teaching of a "sovereign" God is not found in the bible. It is a tradition of man which makes God's word void in people's lives. And it is teaching like this I aim to destroy; for it does more harm than good.

Tools of the Trade

"Stand, therefore, having your loins girt about in truth, and having put on the breastplate of the righteousness, and having the feet shod in the preparation of the good-news of the peace; above all, having taken up the shield of the faith, in which ye shall be able all the fiery darts of the evil one to quench, and the helmet of the salvation receive, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the saying of God, through all prayer and supplication praying at all times in the Spirit, and in regard to this same, watching in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints." -- Ephesians 6:10-18 Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

Regardless of your trade, it's always a good idea to be familiar with the tools you will be using to do your job. This past week, the Holy Spirit corrected my understanding of one of the pieces of armor of which Paul speaks. This encouraged me to review this passage in Ephesians. As a warrior, I want to make sure I'm preparing myself properly.  

"If you don't know a tools purpose, you could be in for a long and disappointing day."

While being able to name your tools is a good start, if you don't know a tools purpose, you could be in for a long and disappointing day as you work on whatever task is before you. If a carpenter would try to use a hammer to drill a hole; well you get the idea. Most christians, however, fail to learn how to use the tools provided for them, let alone their names.

Belt and Breastplate

Paul begins by instructing us to gird our loins with truth. There are two questions that come to my mind; what truth and why a belt? The first question is relatively easy; John 17:17  tells us that, "Your word is truth." As to the belt, it was the foundation of Roman armor. An article on www.freebiblestudyguides.com states the following about this piece of armor.

"The belt—known as the cingulum or balteus—played a crucial role in the effectiveness of a soldier's armor. It was the belt that held the scabbard, without which there would be no place to put a sword. Imagine an overzealous soldier, fired up and charging out into battle—but without his belt, and consequently without a weapon!
In addition, the Nelson Study Bible says from the belt "hung strips of leather to protect the lower body." The Matthew Henry Commentary says the belt "girds on [secures] all the other pieces of our armor." Truth should cleave to us as a belt cleaves to our body."

 As we can see here, just as the belt was the foundation of the Roman's armor, so also is God's word to be the foundation of our armor.

Continuing on, Paul says we are to put on the breastplate of  righteousness. This righteousness is the righteousness of Christ; which we receive when we accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Shoes

"If we are to be effective in fighting the enemy, we must learn how to abide in God's shalom."

The third piece of armor which Paul talks about is perhaps the most misunderstood; "and having the feet shod in the preparation of the good-news of the peace."  Most who teach on this would say that this means to have ready your testimony and to be ready to share the gospel at any moment.

This common teaching comes from a poor translation found in many newer renditions of the bible. This is because the wording is a bit odd in the Literal Translation and the Kings James versions. So many newer translations have opted to replace the word 'preparation' with the word 'readiness.'

Sadly this confuses the matter even more. A better translation into modern English might look something like:  "Prepare yourself by abiding in the shalom which the 'nearly too good to believe news of Jesus Christ' provides." 

According to Strong's Concordance, 7965 Shalom means completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or discord. Shalom comes from the root verb shalom meaning to be complete, perfect and full.

Only the good news of Jesus Christ and the freedom from sin for which He provided can bring shalom.  And if we are to be effective in fighting the enemy, we must learn how to abide in God's shalom.

A great picture of what this looks like can be found in Mark 4:38:

And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? 39 And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. 40 And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?

Shalom comes not because circumstances change or that the storm has left. It is a supernatural peace in which every christian can learn to abide regardless of what is happening around us. It is this shalom which will give us a firm footing when in battle.

"Above all, having taken up the shield of the faith, in which ye shall be able all the fiery darts of the evil one to quench," 

Shield and Helmet

We are to pick up the shield of faith. But from where does this faith come? Romans 10:17 says that "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word." That's right, God's supernatural faith comes from his word. Knowing God's word produces the faith necessary to accomplish God's will.

Accompanying the shield is the helmet of salvation. This too can be a bit confusing. As this letter is being written to believers, surely this doesn't mean that we need to be saved; for we are already saved. The answer can be found in 1 Thess. 5:8-11.

8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

Paul tells us that we are to take hope in our salvation and we are to build each other up in the midst of our struggles. Because we have been saved, we can overcome anything the enemy throws at us. Even physical sickness and disease.

Sword

The final piece we are to equip is the "sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

"For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." -- Hebrews 4:12

God's word is a powerful weapon indeed. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that it is so sharp it can separate spirit from soul and it can damage flesh. God's word will also discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

For me, learning to stay in God's rest, his shalom, is one of the more difficult tasks. By nature my life is chaos. I pray that God will help me rest in is perfect peace so that I can have a firm footing each and every day.

My Purpose For This Blog

Before I go any further in this blog, I want to make sure that everyone understands what this whole project is about.

The promise of Heaven is not enough for me.  When I read the word of God I see people like Moses, Paul, and Peter living extraordinary lives I am moved to follow after them.  These men were not anything special other than the fact that they chose to drop everything and follow Jesus with all of their hearts.  And because they did, they witnessed Heaven come to earth.  And this after Jesus left this earth.

I am no longer satisfied by the promise of heaven alone.  I crave the supernatural life available to anyone willing to focus all of their life on a relationship with God singularly.

The words I write are a record of my journey into the eternal.  I have learned not to take the word of man at face value, and I have learned to test everything against the word of God.  If what someone teaches contradicts God's word, I say so.

I am not interested in winning arguments.  I'm only recording the lessons learned from my time spent in scripture. I condemn no one; only false teaching.  I do not write this blog at any one person or circumstance.  This about me seeking answers in God's word and recording what the Holy Spirit teaches me through his word.  I promise to be as honest as I can with my studies.  I will strive to use only scripture to interpret scripture.  I have not arrived.  However, I have left.  My understanding of God's word through men is no longer acceptable to me.

Because this blog is about me sharing God's revelation about his word, I will be disabling the comments.  If you wish to discuss the scripture I share you may do so by emailing me at gusmiddleton@gmail.com.

I pray that God's word will bless you as it blesses me.

Your servant in Christ Jesus,
Mark

Set Apart or Persecution Has Come

"Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolk, and friends;"

Luke 21:14-16

I have come to the understanding that the previous verses are a part of my life now as I choose to follow the Holy Spirit. "For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." (Hebrews 4:12)

This dividing of the soul and spirit will, and has, driven many people away. For it is a hard thing to be faced with the mirror of ourselves; the word of God. Many will flee from the light; for being exposed is not comfortable.

I hold no great bitterness at this prospect; only compassion. Because I choose to seek a close relationship with Jesus, I am set apart; as is anyone who diligently seeks after Him.

I can no longer rest in the promise of heaven alone. I must pursue the release of God's kingdom here on this earth so that others may come to know our Lord and Savior.

Thorn In The Flesh

Where people are in sickness you find frequently that they are dense about Scripture. They usually know three scriptures though. They know about Paul’s thorn in the flesh, and that Paul told Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach’s sake, and that Paul left someone sick somewhere; they forget his name, and don’t remember the name of the place, and don’t know where the chapter is. - Smith Wigglesworth

I must admit that when it came to this whole "Thorn in the flesh" issue, I too, was scripture poor.  I had heard many teachings on this subject growing up.  All of which said that God does not heal everyone.  This was taught regardless of scripture saying that Jesus healed all that were sick. (Matthew 8:16, Matthew 4:24)  In fact, you can't find a single scripture that says Jesus refused to heal anyone. So what is this Thorn to which Paul was referring? And why use this phrase at all?

If someone came up to me today and said I have a thorn in my skin, my first instinct would be to go and look for a pair of tweezers to remove some kind of splinter or small thorn.   I certainly wouldn't think that the person who said this was sick.  And I don't think that Paul would write a church complaining about a splinter.  It therefore must be some kind of metaphor, but for what?

It's such a strange turn of phrase.  Nowhere else in Paul's writing  does he use this phrase.  In fact the only place in the New testament I see this phrase is in 2 Corinthians 12:7.

And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. (emphasis mine)

I did, however, come across this phrase in the Old Testament in three separate books.   The first in Numbers 33:55

But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell.

The second reference can be found in Joshua 23:13.

Know for a certainty that the Lord your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the Lord your God hath given you.

And the third place it is found is in Judges 2:3.

Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.

In all three examples, this idea of thorns in the body refers to some sort of persecution; not sickness or disease. Also, Paul is very clear from whom came this thorn and what it is.  Paul said that the thorn was, "the messenger of Satan."; a demonic spirit.  Notice how Paul did not refer to it in this sentence as sickness or disease.  And we also see that the spirit was not sent from God but from Satan.

If Paul is clear about what the thorn is and from where it came, then why do people insist on saying that Paul had some kind of sickness?  I believe the answer lay in in verses before and after; where Paul writes he would "rather glory in my infirmities."  

In today's vocabulary, the word 'infirmity' almost exclusively means sickness or disease.  This, however, was not the case back in the 17th century when the Kings James Bible was written.  Back in the 1600's, the word infirmity meant more than a physical ailment.  It could also mean a weakness, failing, fault, or foible (a shortcoming in character).

You can even see how Paul uses the word in context and how it is referring to this second definition for the word.

Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities(lack of capabilities), in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. - 2 Cor. 12:10

Everything in this list is referring to either reproaches from others, physical needs like food and water, persecution, and other distresses.  Nothing in this list refers to sickness.  And when you read everything together and in context of itself, it becomes evident that Paul is not in anyway referring to being sick.

Now let us presuppose that you don't believe any of this.  Let's say that this honest interpretation of scripture using other scripture has had zero impact on your reasoning.  There is one other thing you must consider before claiming Paul's thorn.  You see, Paul says that there was a reason he was afflicted.  In 2 Corinthians 12:7 Paul writes, "And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations..."  Here Paul says he received this thorn because of the abundance of revelation he received concerning God's word.  Paul had a greater revelation of God's word than anyone else and Satan wanted it stopped.  And unless you can claim an equal revelation to Paul, you don't qualify.

Now before you start claiming that God wanted to humble Paul, lest he should be "exalted above measure," God can also exalt and lift people up.  Remember that this verse is not talking about God but about what Satan is doing in Paul's life.  Satan does not want God's word exalted.   Remember that the biblical definition of humility is dependence on God.  And Paul was very dependant on God.  God lift's up the humble and lays down the proud.  Paul was not proud.

Because of my study, I am more convinced than ever that God wants everyone healed and free from sickness and disease. I encourage anyone reading this to be honest with yourself in your studies and allow the Holy Spirit to reveal scripture to you.  Do not trust in the traditions of men.  For the traditions of men make the word of God void.  (Mark 7:13)

God's Word or What Happens When Things Don't Fit.

 "I will worship toward Your holy temple, and praise Your name for Your lovingkindness and Your truth; for you have magnified Your word above all Your name."

Psalm 138:2 (NKJV)

It is in the name of Jesus, or Yeshu'a in Hebrew, that we Heal the sick, make the lame walk, and the blind to see.  Yet we find that here in Psalms that God Himself holds his word more important than that of the name of his Son.

Why then are we so inclined to dismiss God's word when we can't seem to make it fit.  Either with our experiences, or with what we think we know about the world around us.  If we don't like the answer in the bible,  we simply dismiss it by saying, "You can't take everything in the bible literally or at face value."  This is not honest.

Let's be honest with ourselves for a change and admit that just because we don't understand how a scripture could be true or haven't experienced it for ourselves this doesn't necessarily mean it isn't true. We need to stop constructing false doctrine based on our experience and stick with the Word of God.

Confirmation

My shoulder hurts, a lot. Who knew that sleeping on your shoulder the wrong way could cause such lasting pain.  So I decided to see my Chiropractor/Sports Medicine Doctor but to no avail.  This is strange; as he can usually get results when others can't. The problem is that in two weeks I am to go home and visit my family.  And while home, I will be running in a Mudathlon. It's an obstacle course run through lots of mud.

Now, I am a big believer in the fact that God wants us well.  I know that he wants us healthy and well more than we ourselves do.  I also know that if we aren't receiving our healing; the fault most often lies with us; Jesus provided for everyone's healing, physical and emotional, on the cross.  However, we can be our own worst enemy at times and not even realize it.  So because I wasn't seeing any results I decided to break out the big guns and see if I couldn't gain some insight as to why I wasn't seeing any manifestation of my healing.

The Thursday before I was to travel home, I went to the healing rooms at our church.  It is an event that happens twice a month at which you can receive extended prayer for anything that ails you.  Now, because I know that when we as believers come together in prayer some amazing things can happen, I was fully expecting to see the manifestation of the healing which Jesus had already provided for on the cross.

As I walked into our church I was welcomed and asked to fill out a slip of paper on the reason I had come for prayer. I wrote down healing for my shoulder.  I was then asked to sit in the sanctuary and wait until it was my turn.  Not ten minutes later I was escorted back to one of the classrooms.

"A mighty warrior."

Upon entering the room I was greeted by the man and the woman who would be praying with me.  However, instead of asking me for what I needed prayer, they greeted me with amazement.  The woman declared that I was a mighty warrior. She told me that God had opened her eyes and she could see me; tall in stature.  She then looked up at where my true height was and her gaze was about a foot over my head.  The gentleman then stated that he too sensed a strong warrior presence emanating from me.

Over the next 3 days, my shoulder showed considerable improvement.  In fact that Saturday I was able to participate in the Mudathlon.  However, more important than my shoulder beginning to recover, was the word about who I was in the spirit.  This event confirmed what God had placed on my heart a few months earlier.  It was then that I began to see myself as God sees me.  I began to understand who I am.

No Accident

I had just finished attending a prayer meeting for an upcoming men's event being held at our church. As everyone was leaving and socializing, I had struck up a conversation with another gentleman about the upcoming event.  As we were walking out the door, the man with whom I was conversing asked my name.  I replied with my usual off handed response of "Just call me Mark or Gus. It doesn't matter."  The man stopped me and said that God had told him that my name was not accident but intentionally given.

We said goodnight and went our separate ways.  I, however, left with a clue; an insight into my identity. "Who am I?"  This is one of the biggest questions a person can ask.  It is the search for the definition of self. And it is a question to which many never find and answer.

So who is this "Mark," and what does my name have to do with who I am.  After all, I could have just as easily have been named George or Kevin.  Well it turns out that the name Mark is derived from the latin word 'Marcus' or Mars, the Roman god of war.

As a person of average height and who has cultivated a healthy midsection over the years, anyone would be hard pressed to see anything remotely resembling a warrior.  Even the Air Force refused to take me because of asthma.  There must be some mistake.  My brother is the warrior.  After all he flies Apache Helicopters for the Army.

Shortly after my discovery of the etymology of my name, God impressed on me that my brother Kevin and I were more than just brothers by birth.  He showed me that we were brothers in the truest sense of the word.  He showed me that we shared a common core; we were both warriors.

God sees us in the spirit as he is a spirit himself.  Our spirit is is the foundation of who we are.  It's what our soul, our thoughts and emotions, is built upon.  And just as with any building, the foundation determines what the rest of the structure will look like.

This is but the beginning.  Over the coming weeks I will continue to share more of the story and my passion.