January 30, 2015

I believe that common sense and education by mentoring/apprenticing--i.e. discipling and being discipled are intimately linked.

Common sense is dying because the way we educate our progeny has been changed by powerful forces that do satan's bidding. Like Gnostics of old, we worship at the feet of knowledge for knowledge's sake--the belief that the one who has taken a lot of classes, knows a lot of "stuff", and has college degrees is the one who should have authority.

Jesus said, "Go, make disciples..." He did not say, accumulate or collect students.

If you read "The Peter Principle", you begin to understand why you may be thoroughly frustrated in dealing with people who have 'power', but no sense. You get a real sense of this just by watching brief excerpts of Congressional hearings. I cringe to think that our governmental beauracracy is LOADED with these kinds of air-heads. And I know that the private sector has their share as well; how often we see examples of..."It doesn't make sense, but the 'rules' say we must......" or "this is a new product, and although we don't know how well it will sell, let's buy 3 years of it to get the best per-unit pricing." The people who make those decisions have not proven themselves to be successful in the business world, but they do have a degree, and friends who have money and power.

I have been taught enough history to know that the D-Day invasion succeeded, in part, due to German beauracratic thinking, and, in part, due to American ingenuity. The German Army was not sent from Pas de Calais to Normandy in time because of Hitler's predisposition, and military red tape. The Americans succeeded because they knew the goals, both overall and those specific to each group of fighting men. They had the liberty to improvise a Plan B if something went wrong. That 'America' almost doesn't exist anymore.

January 28, 2015

Religion is always an issue of bondage. That's because the word origin for 'religion' is a return to the law. You know you are in a "religious" system when the key issues have to do with FORM over SUBSTANCE.

Relationship is always an issue of the heart and of discipline.

January 24, 2015

So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God. You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.  (Hebrews 6:1-2)

The true Kingdom of God runs counter to all our fallen human-hood wants to believe is the 'natural' course of things. For us to go forward in His Kingdom, we must go back--back to the basics--including time with Him in prayer [not just the recitation of our laundry list of wants] and His Word. Re-read the Sermon on the Mount; look at who the "Blessed are's" really are; "You have heard it said....but I say to you...." . These cannot happen without an inner regeneration of the heart by Jesus through the Spirit.

All the rituals we believe will fix the problem are just hollow. We require God to do a fresh work in us to be truly content, to be truly at peace.I grieve at the demonized people who have no God ordained way of dealing with their own sinfulness and their own flaws. They keep doing the same things, day-after-day, week-after-week, and nothing changes; and they don't understand why.

January 21, 2015

Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  (Genesis 1:26-28)

Our Heavenly Father is not like a lot of our earthly fathers.

We all know [or know of] men/fathers who became so exasperated with their children that they took away an assignment or responsibility--usually in a big huff. I even know a man who was so frustrated with his wife's way of folding towels that he took that job away from her and did it himself.

Now, our Heavenly Father desires that we be enabled and equipped to do what He has called us to do. So He patiently takes us "around the mountain again." ...until we learn to do it right--to do it His way.

GOD HAS NO PLAN B! When man sinned, the sin problem had to be dealt with. That's why Jesus came. But it did not mean that our assignment to "Have dominion" got scrubbed. The Church has been allowed to believe that, once we are saved, we're just waiting to go to heaven. And we don't understand why the world is "going to hell in a handbasket."

January 16, 2015

Bill Gaither wrote...."let freedom ring through the lonely streets where prisons have no key".

Many today are enslaved in a prison of their own making. They bought "the lie" of the devil that said, "if only you do______ , then you will be great, you will have pleasure, you will be rich, (etc.)." Worse yet, they suffer the insanity of "doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."

"Whom the Son sets free is free indeed!" It takes a Person, not a doctrine or a denomination.  If you are one of those, HE is your way out. But you must admit that you are a slave, turn against the "tar baby" that entrapped you, and call upon HIM. HE can free you, HE wants to free you, but you must desire to belong to HIM.

January 2, 2015

We were created to have relationship with Him--God, our Creator and Father. We were also created to bring Him glory by being the humans He created us to be--in His image. The Western Church has failed in its responsibilities to bring God glory by the way we live. We have done this by allowing ourselves to be convinced that our relationship with God is merely 'religion'--a set of privately held beliefs and the rites and rituals which we have made up to go along with those beliefs. The result is a church which is shrinking in numbers of committed members and weakening in its influence in our society and culture. Jesus said that we were to be salt and light.

To live is to grow and to grow is to change.  The Word talks about going from faith to faith and glory to glory.  This means that I am supposed to be becoming more like Jesus.  It does not mean that I have a greater intellectual, or politically correct, set of doctrines I believe in.  For us to MAKE a difference, we have to BE different--and not just different for difference's sake. There's a lot of folk out there who color their hair, tatoo their bodies and wear weird clothes (or not much clothes) just to be different because they crave the attention.  I need to carry myself in such a way that the Jesus-in-me either attracts or repels people, because Jesus attracted or repelled people. People are rarely neutral about Jesus.

December 27, 2014 (Lengthy)

A Moral Superiority Apart from the Person of Jesus Christ:  There ain't no such 'animal' !!

God gave man the most precious of gifts at creation--the gift of choice. He placed within the garden two trees, the Tree Of Life, which was to personify Jesus (John 14:6, Rev. 22:2), and also the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God told man not to eat of that second Tree or he would die. The serpent lied to man and said that he would not die, but that he would be like God, knowing good and evil (Gen. 3). The woman was deceived and the man freely ate and both of their eyes were opened. The sad fact is that the devil told a half-truth [at best] for they became like God knowing good and evil...but that was as far as their "God-likeness" would go. Their being made in God's image was marred, and they did indeed die.

Across this nation and around the world, you have untold numbers of people who--either as individuals or as groups--are committed to proving their own righteousness apart from the person of Jesus Christ. For some it is a political agenda, for some it is a doctrinal agenda (maybe from the Qu'ran; maybe from that person's understanding of the Bible) and maybe it is just a personal agenda/vendetta. And this will offend some--it's not even WWJD.

It is, what did the person Jesus Christ tell you to do or not do when you met with Him in your prayer closet? For some of you, you really don't know what to do with that paradigm. Jesus said "My sheep hear My voice" (John 10:27). He did not say my sheep will read what the gospel writers put down as what I said. God has not stopped speaking. If we are not hearing, it's our responsibility to get in relationship with Him in such a way that we DO hear Him. It is only as we hear and obey that we will have peace, because it won't be about us, it will be about doing what He said.

He can be found and He can be heard if we devote ourselves to finding Him (Jer.29:13) He wants to speak to us more than we want to listen--but we must first decide that what He has to say will have more weight than our own self-talk. He will forgive and heal and cleanse and change, but we must first accept the fact that we must turn from our own rightness and accept His correction and His changing of us (Is.64:6).

Relationship requires change and growth. In eternal terms, it requires the intervention of God (and that's our choice). Relationship with God takes place within the framework of a Covenant. Like a marriage, it begins at a point in time, it begins with a commitment. But it will require the rest of your life...in more ways than one.

Jesus is my righteousness. If I am in the wrong, He is more than able to bring me up short and correct me.

The most "not-at-peace-within-themselves" people I know are those who are driven to rise up each day to find more proof [if only to themselves] that they are right and others are wrong.

And, yes, there are those who claim to be Christians who fit that pattern (Westboro Baptist Church comes to mind as an extreme example).

As Jesus told Peter (John 21:22) "what is that to you? You follow Me."

Today's post for January 23, 2016

We cannot be changed or transformed apart from deliberately embracing all of God that we can stand at each point in our lives. Each day, we must enter His presence, like stepping into a scalding hot shower, and allow Him to cleanse and warm us for as long as we can stand it. Only HE can transform us into what He has always intended for us to be.

Today's post for January 22, 2016

Editor's note:  I know I've already posted much on here for the first day of this blog's existence, but I did want to share one post that my dad posted earlier today.  

Not sure how long it will take for me to catch up to the present day, but I hope what I've posted so far has given you some thoughts to consider.  

Thanks again for visiting this site; please bookmark this site and tell your friends!  

God bless,
Chris

God WANTS us to be spiritually mature and discerning. Only mature disciples can effectually further the Kingdom and push back the gates of hell. So we must ask the Spirit of God to teach us HOW to discern evil. We must learn from God HOW to deal with that evil so that we are neither overwhelmed nor corrupted by it. We must ask Jesus to show us and encourage us how to push back against that evil in a righteous and victorious manner.

December 18, 2014

Sadly, most people today do not understand the true meanings of words like 'authority', 'service', 'responsibility', 'leadership', 'sacrifice' and the like. Many of us recognize that certain people in positions of power are doing wrong and even doing evil, but they cannot explain exactly why.

John Bevere has wisely observed that authority is given to serve, not to set one's self apart. When men and women in public office do wrong and do evil, it is because they seek to use the power of their office to benefit themselves and their friends in a selfish manner--at the expense of those they rule. ( "Ready to RULE from Day One" comes to mind.)

It's a SPIRITUAL THING!! Jesus demonstrated that He was the ultimate leader: He sacrificed ALL for us. Multi-million dollar vacations at taxpayer expense do not constitute sacrifice.

December 8, 2014

Can I trust you with my sins?

Ultimately, I think this is the question that everyone who comes to Jesus wants to know. We have been told that confession is good for the soul. And it is--but repentance is even better. 

Let me challenge us who call our selves believers or disciples: Can someone trust you with their sins?--Are you approachable enough that someone who is willing to unload their "mess" knows that you are available and equipped by the Master to help them with that overpowering task? For "He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin" He has taken my sin away!! But only when I am filled with Him can I be transparent. Only when I am filled with Him can I represent Him--be His ambassador. For He alone is what the world, and each individual in it, needs.

November 21, 2014: Believing or Becoming

Romans 8:29 tells us that God's plan for His children is to conformed to the image of Jesus. So much of the Church and so many Christians have a minimal impact and don't know why. The First Century Church did not seem to have that problem, even though they were seen by many as either heretics or cult members.

What we believe is important, but not nearly as important as WHOM we believe. The New Birth is essential ( see John 1 and John 3 ), but we dare not think of it as synonymous with a procedure, a protocol, an ordinance or a sacrament. It is our surrender to God and our embracing of the Covenant He offers on HIS terms; it takes place in our heart and spirit.

We become like those we spend time with. When I spend too much time with just myself, I become set in my ways. When I spend time in His presence, listening to His voice and obeying His promptings, my heart softens and I sense myself becoming more pliable to His intentions. Jesus says in Revelation 3:20 that He stands at the door and knocks. We cannot become like Him apart from Him.

November 15, 2014

The Christian life is not about subscribing to a set of propositional truths. It is about being transformed into the image and likeness of Jesus--being God's ambassadors to a lost, dying, insane world. This means that we WILL be offended, often intentionally. The hard part is not breaking from our role--not stooping to "their" level. When we misstep and do that, we merely prove that we are not yet re-formed into His image. Even on the cross, He forgave ("What wondrous love is this..."). People were either attracted to or repelled by Jesus, because even though he was 'human' He wasn't like them.

Jimmy Evans teaches the insightful truths that our most basic needs are acceptance, identity, security, and purpose. Until we are spending time in HIS presence, we won't have those basic needs met. And only as those needs are met in Him, then the real change in each of us will take place.

We must each be a representation of HIM, first and foremost, then be the unique creature that God has created each of us to be, whatever that may be. Great cooks, lovers of flowers or animals, organizers, honest salespeople, musicians...whatever. As much as we dearly love the gifts God has placed in us, those gifts...and what those gifts make us...must not overshadow the God we are to represent. 'Being' must precede 'doing'. This cannot happen apart from faith--trusting God by obeying Him--which comes by hearing (not merely reading or supposing) what He speaks to each of us..

November 1, 2014

One of God's greatest Bible teachers was known to say that "Nothing has been taught until something has been learned." That truth stands in stark contrast to how communication is seen and practiced by so many today in every phase of human activity. 

Picture, if you will, a small child at a bowling alley with his family. He has been given a bowling ball commensurate with his weight and size. He walks with it up to the line, and drops/lobs/pushes it in the direction of the pins as best he can. And often what we see is the child then turns around and walks away. Regardless of whether the ball goes into the gutter or knocks a few pins down or not, he has "completed the task" because he did what he was told to do. 

How often have we observed or been on the receiving end of that kind of communication. Whether or not the message gets through--much less is understood--is not the 'problem' of the communicator. They did what they believed was all they had to do. It's not their fault if the intended recipient received the message, understood the message, or not. How drastic is the contrast with God and His Word. 

In Isaiah 55:11 God says that His Word will not return to Him 'void' but will accomplish all that He sent it to do. Selah

October 25, 2014

The need for the old / wrong / sinful to break / 'brake' in order that the "new" [to us] / right / holy to be begun in our lives. (Sometimes, this will not be God's first attempt at correcting some area of our lives.) Witness the Israelites in the desert. Beware that it was unbelief in God that kept so many from inheriting the land that was promised. Belief in God is not merely an acknowledgement of His existence. It is a submission to His Will in our lives as we both read His Word and obey His voice as His Spirit prompts us inside our spirit.

October 15, 2014

For many years, both before and after I was saved, both before and after I was baptized by God's Spirit, I ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; there's still a part of me that leans in that direction. At this late time in my life, I have come to realize that God the Father desires for me to 'eat from' The Tree of Life--who is Jesus. We 'become what we eat'. My son in law can tell you all about that. I have come to realize that my testimony--my witness--rests on the manifestation of CHANGES that God has brought about in me. It is not the correctness of my doctrine, or the logic of my theological arguments. We all receive a measure of Faith, but like muscle or skill-sets, it must be exercised in order to grow. We must hear His voice, we must obey His voice, and we must look for and discern the confirmation that comes with and from our obedience. Like the cross, there is a vertical and a horizontal element to that. I have to pray [yes! more than I do]; I have to worship Him out loud both by myself and with others; and I have to give and receive from others in His Body. Jesus and Paul speak of believers as part of His Body, and the necessity for unity and mutual submission--giving to and receiving from each other what each of us has been given by God. God is love--He is truly a loving Father--He is for Real and he insists on a personal relationship (that's what a covenant is). If we refuse to obey, if we refuse to change, if we resist the power of His love to transform us into the image and likeness of His Son, we'll have no part in Him now or in eternity.

October 11, 2014

Being born again does not make us "nice people". God never intended that it should. Nor is heaven filled with "nice people". The new birth remakes us into His image--but not [immediately] complete. Just as babies require time to grow into mature humans, so also people born again by the Spirit and power of God require time to mature. It's just that, as we mature, we don't become "nice people"-- we become more like Jesus. And as we become more like Him, we won't be any more socially acceptable than He was. 

Society is consumed by image and pretense and the superfluous. Society doesn't think it needs God--it's doing OK on its own, thank you very much. Society is dedicated to the proposition that it--and its individual members--can improve themselves if they just have the right amount of education or government or money or whatever. 

Jesus attracted those who knew they could not save themselves or heal themselves--body or soul. Jesus attracted those who had come to an end of themselves. 

The saddest people--the loneliest, the most not-at-peace people I know are those who are consumed with themselves and consumed with propping up the facade. People who have no time for God or His purposes. I am a work in process. I'm not completely 'there' yet. God help me! 

If I will obey God, I will appear strange or crazy or distasteful to people around me--even to some who know me or are related to me. But if I will obey Him, I will understand Him better, and I will bring some amount of 'HIM' to somebody who needs Him--who need to believe in His love more than their doubts; who need to trust Him more and themselves less; who need to believe that there is still hope for them, and that God's love has the power to change them. Ultimately, those who know the Father's love finally have reason to love and accept themselves--because it rests on what HE says and not on what they have done.

October 1, 2014

I saw a bumper sticker this morning that just said "skeptic", and I thought to myself, "Well, maybe about some things, but not about everything." We close our eyes IN FAITH that our hearts and lungs and body parts will function in our sleep as God designed them to. We sleep IN FAITH that we will awaken to find our homes pretty much as we left them the night before. When the world is working as it should, it's operating on principles of FAITH. I have FAITH my employer will pay me; I have FAITH the groceries I buy won't poison me; I have FAITH that people will be faithful in their promises and attitudes towards me. And it deeply disturbs me when I find my government is not being FAITHful to perform their duties and use my taxes carefully and honor the oaths they took when they assumed office.

YES! This world was INTENDED to operate on FAITH...and, YES! It should bother us tremendously when people deceive us and fail to do what they say or imply that they will do.

FAITH is a part of the character of God; He intends for it to be a part of our character, too.

September 26, 2014

We ARE Victorious in Christ Jesus. The assignment of our adversary is to attempt to convince us that this is not so. We must press into Jesus--His person and His Spirit and His character--to be like Him in an ever increasing way. When our efforts, or our endeavors are thwarted, we must know that God knows about this and has better plans for us. The greatness of God is in turning that which satan meant for evil and defeat into good and victory, despite the appearances.

This can be very frustrating, because people that we have loved and cared about will--in ignorance--cooperate with our adversary, thinking that they are, rather, doing the will of God. Do not "throw in the towel", but rather recognize that God is shaping us and refining us and preparing for us a new assignment. May God, in His mercy, give us the Grace to forgive and release these people. By releasing them, God has liberty to intervene in their lives and in their thinking to bring about the correction that's needed.

We ARE seated with Him in heavenly places to the degree that we join ourselves with Him and His purposes.....calling those things that be not as though they are as we surrender to being His children by Spirit and character.

September 13, 2014

Proverbs 16:18 says that " Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall." I know a number of people with this problem.

You can find them in workplaces, and families, and churches, and social groups you belong to. Sadly, for many of them, this has been a lifelong problem/issue. These people are usually difficult to be around or get close to. Some of them act like they are better than you, or that you 'owe' them something. Some of them just walk around looking "down their nose" at most everyone else. Some act like in a resentful way--like you are trying to displace them.

All of this flows out of feelings of insecurity or feelings of inferiority.

Some of them had a parental figure that they could never please, no matter how hard they tried. Some just got focused on what they believed were their own deficiencies and got stuck there, always trying to prove that they weren't so bad after all. Perhaps the saddest of all are those who believe they are "saved" or "are going to heaven" because they are members of a church or denomination, or they believe certain doctrines, or they had a particular experience.

Jesus said, (John 10:27) "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me." If Jesus is your shepherd, Savior and Lord, you have the ability to [spiritually] hear His voice; you know you belong to Him, and you seek to follow Him. There is in that relationship Acceptance and Identity and Security and Purpose. If you truly trust Him, how you feel about yourself, how others feel about you, what talents you may or may not have, all these MUST become SECONDARY!

If you are one of these proud people, there is room for you to repent and be changed. You can live a life of much greater harmony and peace with those around you. You can take off the man-made suit of armor you have tried to rely on and live freely in the identity JESUS HAS FOR YOU.

And, if you are one of those who is subjected to living around, working with, or dealing with a prideful person, let's pray that God will break through the stronghold of faulty thinking that keeps these people enslaved to a bondage and a false self image they were never supposed be chained to.

Introduction...

"I really don't know how to "work" this facebook thing. Please be patient as I only have limited time to do anything on it/with it."  -Dan Collick

And, with that post on September 9, 2014, my father began his adventure on the social network site Facebook.  In the 16 months since his first post, he has learned his way around the site and has done well in providing us with some great words of wisdom and spiritual anointing that have been a blessing to those who have read it.  Of course, most of the material he posts are links, graphics and other material from other sources...but he has been known to provide some posts that are truly anointed by the Holy Spirit.

As I start this blog, I will do my best to start from his humble beginnings back in August and September of 2014 and work my way from there.  In the meantime, feel free to enjoy and subscribe to this blog as I will keep it updated on a regular basis.

I leave you with a quote he posted early on in his Facebook adventures:

"Holiness, not happiness, is the chief end [goal] of man." -Oswald Chambers