Monday, July 21

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:28-29

I have been told, why worry over the various doctrines that are purporting Christian values. Why fight and argue against false, misleading doctrines? Why worry about the continued and baseless attack on Christian values, morales, and desires for this once great nation called America. After all, if God is big enough to overcome (as I believe He is), then all we really have to do is sit back and focus on the basics.

I am faced with a dilemna, whereas I know there is a doctrine that is being preached without a sound biblical basis, althought there are biblical truths scattered within the pages, and the charge of two newly redeemed souls that are thirsty for knowledge. Knowing the brother in charge of the teaching is seeking after God, desiring to know and pass on the knowledge of what he has found but who is possibly blinded by that very same desire to see hearts changed and lives rediscovered to realize the danger imposed.

Do I simply give grace, knowing that God is in charge...the souls I care for are saved through the grace and blood of Christ.....and say nothing? After all, the brother is teaching with the intention of good. He truly wants to see lives transformed and souls revealed. And I cannot blame him, after all....the experience of watching God touch a young heart was inspiring to say the least and exciting to be a part of.

But the burden of responsiblitity has not dropped away with the 'saving', rather it has increased just as a father's desire to protect his newborn child does as the baby grows. You don't hand the keys to a car to a tottler, after all.

Such schisms are dividing churches left and right in denominational circles. The inclusion of gay and lebsian pastoral staff within the Anglican church is only the biggest news item today, but thousands of congregation members are leaving their home churches, searching either for a doctrine that remains true to the Gospel or one that fits their views of the Bible; either as a book of rules or a book of principles. Breakaways from the denominational shifts in policy and biblical 'understanding' are prevailent throughout the world as decisions are made upon a 'refreshed' look at the Gospel and Scriptural documents.

The non-denominational movement of the eighties morphed into the 'seeker-friendly' and now the 'emergent' movement as people are seeking spirituality in widely differenting ways. Doctrines of 'prosperity', 'multiple methods to heaven or universalism', and even a 'spiritual humanism' dot the landscape of faith in America. Faith is less an assurance and more of a personal outlook on life, demanding that things unseen be defined in any way possible and those who seem to have the most 'philosphical' sounding explaination are flocked to by those who feel less knowledgable.

Just as the Israelites in the Old Testament broke the Abrahamic covenant, America has turned its back upon the very foundations by which this risky idea of a Republic was formed. Years of using faulty, fragile, and even inferior 'buliding materials' are creating the crisis that the Church and even its country is facing; immorality and self-perservation.

The silence of Adam in the Garden of Eden has grown to become the silence of a nation of men ill-equipped and wounded, devalued by society and cultural indoctrination and taught that they cannot live in accordance with the design they were created by. Men were to be spiritual heads of the family, with a warrior heart that causes them to go into the chaos and disruption to defend beauty and order. But it is man's own abuses and ignorance of that 'position' that has caused so much disention and disruption. Submission isn't a biological requirement, but a sign of a godly woman who lives her design (for that see Proverbs 31), helping and keeping her husband who is her partner (remember the rib-- from man's SIDE, not from the nose or from the foot!) accountable to God to live his call---- to love his wife in the way Christ loved His church, with a servant's heart....to the point of death.

But you don't hear that in the church, where it will make someone very mad to hear it. If you go back and look at the BIBLICAL language of submission, you find something other than what it is said to mean today.

In the weekly devotional from OutOfTheWild author and founder Matt Lobel, www.outofthewild.com , he speaks of this problem men have; of ceding control to others not only in their marriages and their lives but also in theircalling as spiritual leaders. Control isn't what it seems, according to Matt. And I think he has it right...........

From OutOfTheWild devotional: Fully Submitted "This struggle is central to our rebellion against being called to service by God. At the core of this battle is our willingness to trust. After all, if you trust in the goodness of God to provide all that you need, you will be able to submit yourself unconditionally to His will."
This is why there are so many men who live unbiblical lives as men, as fathers, and as husbands. We haven't surrendered our lives fully to God, developing a servant's heart and living to the model presented through Christ of a godly man in all we do.

"Seldom do we understand the full implications of truly surrendering our lives." Matt continues, "Our first surrender is usually a simple acknowledgement that we need Him in order to obtain salvation. Surrendering in this way does not necessarily change other areas of our lives."

Only through submission to God, "unconditionally and completely", does our lives become what God designed us to be. This is true for women as well as men, but men are the ones who surrendered first in the Garden, men have to take the first steps to restoration.

If I accept this 'mission' from God, to be entrusted with the hearts of two of His newest children, then I myself must make sure that I have submitted to the authority of God. Not just in the biblical doctrine issue, but in every area of my life that is either exposed or hidden from view of these two souls or even others. I must be open and honest, subjecting myself fully under the authority and power of my God, committed fully to His plan.

Living as a man in pursuit of God, neither perfect or without strongholds, but under the construction of the Spirit to demolish or destroy such impurities. This is where change will occur and God will be reflected in my life as it is displayed to others.

I will trust in God to do what God wills. In all things. If He calls me to defend the Kingdom that doesn't truly need defending, I will gear up and go to the front lines. If He calls me to defend the defended, covered in the grace of Christ's salvation, then I will plant my shield upon the dearth of the ground and defend until relieved.

I will not do what I feel is best, but rely on what God tells me Himself, verbally or in the Word. Fearfully and reverently following my God.

Prov. 3:5-6 (NKJV) Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.