Good Morning, My Friends… Last week Pam and I took a turn from our normal work vacations and actually spent a week resting and enjoying white sand, palm trees and the ocean at Destin Fl. What a blessing that was! The day before we left, I wrote an intended blog for last week- having it set to be published on Monday (4-26) as usual. Unfortunately it didn’t publish, but when I got home I discovered my computer had powered down. I can only assume that was the reason.
Part of my relaxation and enjoyment was preparing for a new class I will be teaching at Grace Church – St. Louis called “Steps to Freedom”, which will begin May 15th. It is based on Neil Anderson’s classics, “Victory Over the Darkness” and “The Bondage Breaker.” I have read the books numerous times, but with my chair in in the ocean and a gentle wave massage, they took on a whole new meaning. As the name of the books and the name of the class imply, it is about being set free from bondages that keep us mired in Darkness and void of the abundant life Jesus promised.
I feel particularly privileged to be able to work with both non-believers and struggling Christians. With the non-believers I just expect misconceptions because they haven’t been exposed to the Truth of God’s Word. And believe me, if you are a product of this morally and spiritually bankrupt world, the teaching of Jesus sound as preposterous today as the Sermon on the Mount did 2000 years ago to that culture. But unfortunately, I have also discovered a prevailing misconception among struggling Christians that can keep them mired in darkness for years – or even a lifetime! But the good news is… freedom – glorious freedom – is definitely available through the Truth.
And this is the misconception: “getting saved is going to change my life”. I liken this misconception to the 1956 movie, “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”, except in this case they believe the Holy Spirit is going to take over and direct their life, change their circumstances, and lead them to the promised-land. But the sad truth is, if you have relationship problems, financial problems, health problems, job problems before you get saved, you will sadly find yourself in that same predicament the day after salvation.
The misconception here is rooted in the faulty understanding of “justification” (a happening – it’s instantaneous) and “sanctification” (a process – a life-long process). At the moment of re-birth (a happening), we become a new creation in-Christ: our sins are forgiven; “the old is gone (our sin nature) and the new has come” (the Holy Spirit) [2Corinthians 5:17]; we are grafted into God’s family – we become a child of God; we are worthy and acceptable in God’s eyes; we are covered by the blood of Jesus – we are a Saint; we are “heir to all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly realm” (Ephesians 1:3). All of this is instantaneous.
However, accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior is just the first step in a life-long journey (Sanctification) to become more Christ-like. It’s a process…a process in which we must participate daily. Paul refers to this as dying to “self”: “I have been crucified with Christ. I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2: 20) The lack of understanding of our role in the Christian walk will keep us stymied, frustrated, and even wondering, “can I really do this?” Make no mistake, that last sentence is a truism.
But once we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, our journey begins. But uh-oh…we also find we have a target on our back. We have made a decision to leave the Domain of Darkness and move into His Kingdom of Light, and we have a formidable enemy who is going to go into warp-speed to try to shipwreck our efforts. He will use every lie and deception to fill our minds with doubt, fear, guilt, shame a remorse; he’ll tell us “we can’t…”, “we’ll never…”, we’re” less than”… Now add to that we still live “in the flesh” (our learned independence from God for as long as we were non-believers – and there is NO mental delete button). Now add to that the fact that we live in a fallen world that exalts the teachings of man over the teachings of God, and you can clearly see the challenges ahead.
But fear not! We serve a loving God whose Word tells us we are already victorious! When we stand on a platform of faith built on these truths, our whole attitude becomes fortified.
Luke 10:19: “I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy…nothing will harm you.” John 16:33: “Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” 1John 4:4: “He that is in me (the Holy Spirit) is greater than he (satan) that is in this world.” 1john 5:18, “I am born of God, the evil one cannot touch me.”
God knows we will struggle with this process of sanctification. He knows we are only dust. That’s why his salvation plan for us includes the indwelling Holy Spirit. But we must first understand what the Holy Spirit does and does not do. The Holy Spirit does not change our lives or our circumstances for us. He does, however, empower us to change these things. For instance, since we live in these fleshly bodies, whatever actions, reactions, thoughts, desires we developed in our natural state (before re-birth) are still ingrained in our mind. These were our coping skills for the world. Unfortunately, they are still in us, and we will inherently default to these old behaviors until we learn, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to make different decisions based on God’s will rather than our will.
Prior to re-birth, we just followed our natural-self – our sin nature. We didn’t plan to sin; we didn’t think about sinning, we just sinned because we lived for our self and our own lustful pleasure and were independent of God. But now we have to start making intentional choices as we march down the path of sanctification. Now we have choices we didn’t have before. If our motivation is to become the person God created us to be, or to bring honor and glory to God through our thoughts or actions, we can call on the Holy Spirit – God’s gift to us – to empower us with wisdom, patience, courage, strength, perseverance – whatever it is we need to overcome the old, ingrained behavior. His promise to us is… we will receive his power. Ref. 1John 4:4 above.
As a follower of Jesus Christ, the more we turn to the Holy Spirit and ask him to illuminate the path that brings honor and glory to God, the more enhanced our spirit-filled walk will be. Jesus promised us an abundant life, and Galatians 5:22 tells us a life guided by the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. It’s all about us getting ourselves out of the way so Jesus can live his life through us. These are the goals of Steps to Freedom and “Victory over the Darkness!”
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May God Bless Ya…
Dan Presgrave (a.k.a. Pastor Dan)
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