Haiti Earthquake Relief

Donate online at www.haitiarise.org and I believe the Canadian government will match each dollar given by Canadian individuals. Also 100% of the donated money will go to Haiti and Earthquake Relief. There are no overhead costs. I know Haiti Arise staff personally and they can be trusted. If you want to know that all your money will make it to Haiti and make a difference, Give Here.

Milk to Meat

Swiss Psychologist Jean Piaget came up with a theory which has significant evidence to support it (whether the theory is true or not is not the point of this blog, the fact that there is evidence to support it is), the theory is that in the Sensorimotor stage of life from 0-2 years old babies believe that objects cease to exist when they are hidden. Their minds are not developed enough to process the information correctly. During this stage of 0-2 they begin to realize this isn't true, but they begin with this belief. If you are reading this, most likely your mind is developed enough to realize that objects do not cease to exist when they are hidden from you. You have grown up out of this belief.

In our spiritual lives, it happens so often that we act like spiritual babies. When we see God working we believe He exists but then so quickly forget when we can't see Him. We act as if He doesn't exist when we can't see Him work or feel His presence. If this is us than in many areas of our lives we are quite possibly in the Sensonimotor stage in our spiritual lives. Once we have grown up in our faith and developed or renewed our minds to the truth, we realize that God exists whether we feel/see Him or not.

Mother Teresa was a great woman in the faith. She is said to have gone through 50 years without feeling the Lord's presence, yet she held on to the truth. She was not a spiritual baby. When something was hidden she held on to the fact the it still existed. God exists whether we see/hear/feel Him or not. Let's come out of spiritual infancy and believe the truth.

Breastplate of Righteousness

God tells us to put on the "Full Armor of God" and part of that armor is "The Breastplate of Righteousness (Ephesians 6:14)." Wearing a breastplate is huge in a fight because it blocks body blows. Without it we will spend most of the fight on defense so that we don't get hurt.

What is the breastplate? The breastplate of Righteousness. We have a huge need in the body of Christ today to realize that we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. We have been made righteous through what Christ has done. We are in right standing with God. This righteousness doesn't come and go based on how we perform as Christians (whether we sin or not in situations), but is based on what Christ already has done. We cannot become more righteous than we are right now, and we cannot be less righteous. Not even when we go to heaven will we be more righteous. The only thing that makes us righteous (in right standing with God) is the blood of Christ. In the Old Testament animals were sacrificed and through their blood the people were temporarily put in right standing with God, but through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ we have been made righteous now and forever if we accept his blood offering. We become righteous when we accept Christ and will never again gain or lose any righteousness because we are completely righteous right now.

Our defense becomes Jesus and His righteousness. We no longer have to defend in our own strength or works. With the righteousness God has given us protecting us, we can fight the enemy offensively.

In general, The church, the body, has failed to realize this. We think we are miserable sinners saved by grace. Well we WERE sinners and we were saved by grace. Then we became brand new creations and Christ's blood made us righteous and we are saints. The body is not a bunch of sinners no different than anyone else, we are saints and the righteousness of God.

If the church of body of believers tries to fight spiritually without the knowledge of their righteousness, they will be fighting without their breastplate. No wonder the church is steadily trying to maintain their congregation size. Without putting on the breastplate of righteousness we spend most if not all of our time playing defense.

Christ told us to expand His kingdom. Expand means go on offense. Put on the breastplate of righteousness so you can stop using your sword for defense and let your breastplate do the that work. Use your sword to go on offense and expand the kingdom.

The Fear of the Lord

The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom (Proverbs 1:7).

The fear of the Lord = Taking heed, doing, and giving more honor to the things God says, His Word, than to anything men/women say

The fear of Man = Taking heed, doing, and giving more honor to the things men/women say over the things God says

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. There are two different "realities" in the world. One is "Truth" and the other is "Lies." If we believe God's Word is truth then we will reside in that reality and act out of that truth. If we fear men's/women's opinions of us over what God says then we live in the reality of lies. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. We can only begin to gain wisdom when we believe God's word is truth and are not swayed by anyone's opinion otherwise. When we reside in this reality of truth we will become wise to the degree of the amount of time we spend there. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Taking God at His word is the beginning to gaining wisdom.

Tree of Good and Evil

Adam and Eve both felt like they had to/could do something to become like God. The serpent came to them with his message and said, "in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good from evil. (Gen 3:5)"

The problem with this kind of suggestion is that it implies that there is something you can do to make yourself like God. The message that if we do enough then somehow somewhere along the line we will perhaps be accepted by God. This is fruit from the wrong tree. We send mixed messages like this all the time in today's church. We tell people to abstain from the evil on the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil," but we tell people to gorge themselves on the good. What we have been failing to see that the good from this tree will kill us just as quickly as the evil. It is still the same fruit! What we need is to switch tree's. Instead of eating from the tree that by our effort we can be accepted and in right standing with God, we need to eat of the tree of life which says that everything that was needed for you to do to be saved was completed by Christ. We need to eat the tree of Life. We need to realize that God has made us righteous (in right standing with God). We need to find our life "In Christ" because In Him we have peace, we no longer strive for God's favor since it is already ours, and our works come out of resting In Him. Let's stop fooling ourselves in thinking that the "good" from the wrong tree is good for us. Its just much more deceptive. Let's eat from the truly good tree the Tree of Life.

Some quotes taken from "The Revelation of Jesus Christ" by Lynn Hiles