GRACE BLOGS COLLECTION
Do you struggle with anger? I had a bad temper for many years. I would explode over the littlest things at times. Something I’ve learned on my grace journey over this past 3.5 years is that it’s impossible to get free from a problem if you don’t know what’s causing the problem. After all, I […]
The post Anger Management appeared first on Sandra McCollom.
Have you ever been blamed or accused of something that you didn’t do? It’s a terrible feeling. Even if we did do something wrong, when someone points that out often times we are hit with shame and regret. It’s never a good feeling.
Yet, we so often times are quick to blame or accuse others. Many times we do this without even having all the facts. It’s just so easy to cast blame upon someone else.
There is always the opportunity to be an accuser or an advocate.
In the Bible, we are introduced to a character that uses blame, accusation and scapegoating all the time. He is known as Satan, or the devil. The word Satan is not really a name, it’s a title. In the Hebrew it is ha-satan – the satan. The word satan simply means adversary or accuser. To the Jewish people it was used as a term for anyone that stood in opposition to someone else. The ancient Israelites didn’t believe ha-satan to be a fallen angel. They believed that he was a messenger of God, used by God to give humans an opposition that would allow them to choose good or evil.
I believe that the New Testament gives us a more detailed view of the satan, and shows us that he is evil, purely bent on destroying the lives of humanity. Most Christians today believe that he was once an angel who rebelled against God, because he wanted to be God. God kicked him out of heaven, and for reasons beyond the time constraints of this blog, he now has access to earth and to humanity.
His primary tools against humanity are blame, accusation and scapegoating. He accuses people before God continually. He is always reminding God of the wrongs, sins, mistakes, iniquities and just general bad behavior that we human beings engage in.
And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan,
who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. (Rev. 12:9-10, emphasis mine)
It’s interesting that the blame and scapegoating game got its start with the very first sin of humanity. When Adam and Eve were questioned about eating the forbidden fruit (Gen. 2), Adam starts off by blaming God and Eve.
This woman that you gave me. Adam did not take responsibility for his actions; he blamed his wife. Eve blamed the serpent , which she actually had a little more ground to stand on with this because the serpent did, in fact, deceive her. She believed the lie. Adam, in my opinion, knew better and should have stood up and said no.
Blame, accusation and scapegoating. It’s always someone else’s fault.
Siding with the satan
It’s so easy to blame others. It seems that we human beings need things to make sense, and the easiest way for that to happen in a senseless situation is to simply blame someone. At least now we have a reason for something bad happening. It’s someone else’s fault.
This is so prevalent in America. To the conservatives, the liberals are to blame for all of our country’s woes. To the liberals, the conservatives are to blame for standing in the way of progress.
At the time of this writing, guns are to blame for all of the mass shootings that have been happening. Yet, to the gun owners and gun rights advocates, those opposed to guns are the problem.
In churches, people tend to blame the pastor or church leaders when things go wrong, while the pastor and church leaders tend to blame the people for not being committed enough.
Husbands blame wives for things wrong in their marriage. Wives blame their husbands. On and on it goes.
When we use accusation, blame and scapegoating, we become the satan to the one the we are accusing, blaming or scapegoating. We actually side in with the devil.
As the satan is accusing us before God, and we are accusing and blaming others, the satan could easily say, “See, even their fellow human being, their fellow Christian brother/sister says the same thing.”
God wants us to be an advocate for one another. Since we all understand what it’s like to have limitations, frailties, weaknesses, temptations and sins, we should be the most graceful to one another. Yet, many times, we are not graceful but judgmental.
When it comes to people being accused before God I would rather stand there in someone’s defense, even if they are wrong, than to be the one accusing them. When I stand there in their defense, I am acting like Jesus, our Advocate. But when I stand there in accusation, I am acting like the satan, our accuser.
Jesus stands between the accusers and the accused. 
He did it for the woman caught in adultery in John 8. In this story the accusers were right that, under the Law of Moses, the woman was to be stoned because she had committed adultery. It was a capital offense.
The crowd had truth on their side. This woman had been caught in the very act (where was the man?).
They had the stones in their hands. But Jesus didn’t go along with the crowd. Honestly, most of the time, the crowd is wrong!
Jesus reminds them of their own sin in a most interesting way. As they all leave, he turns to her and asks where her accusers are. She replies that she does not know because they all walked away.
“Neither do I accuse you!” Jesus replies. What an awesome statement. The very one that could accuse her. The very one that could have given her a lecture on the sinfulness of her ways does no such thing. Most Christians tend to focus on the “go and sin no more” statement (which is important), but I like to focus on the fact that Jesus didn’t accuse or condemn her.
In this very situation, to have sided in with the crowd would have made you part of the accusers, the satans.
To accuse, blame and scapegoat makes us the satan’s star witness.
Are you ready for a 30.000 feet overview that will help you live in joyful freedom?
First this…
Even though as believers we are not under law but under grace, we still have the effects of our old life under the law imprinted in our minds – that is a law mindset.
A law mindset is an old way of thinking that causes you to rely on your performance to make things happen.
Instead of relying on the indwelling life of Christ:
In short, you try to re-accomplish what Christ already has accomplished on your behalf.
A law mindset causes you to sin, make you feel condemned and gives you a sense you’re never doing enough.
Talking about frustration!
The moment you choose to believe the Gospel of Grace, however, you’ll experience REST, JOY, and FREEDOM.
To experience joyful freedom we need to be able to discern law from grace.
I’m going to give you a 30.000 feet overview so that you can sharply discern what is Old Covenant thinking and what is New Covenant thinking.
Here are 101 simple comparisons between the Old and New.
Click on the image to watch the Video:
This is 1 of 62 videos that are part of an online training course, called:
“Discover Your Radical Freedom In Christ To Live A Grace-Filled Life”
Dozens of people have signed up and are going through the course right now.
The feedback shows that the truth presented has a powerful impact on each person’s life.
If you haven’t check out the course yet, then now is the time!
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I wish you nothing less than joy, happiness, and freedom in your Christian walk!
Alongside,
Bas
Believers have the mind of Christ. Our problem is not a lack of information. Our problem isn’t even a lack of “spiritual” information.
I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:15
Did you catch that? Jesus has revealed EVERYTHING to you that he learned from his father!!!
You don’t need more information, Jesus has already taught you everything you need to know by giving you a new heart when you were born again. You need wisdom and instruction to apply what you know.
Wisdom is less about information and more about a way of seeing. The wise are able to shift their lens to God’s perspective. Christ’s finished work is the lens of God’s point of view. In Christ we are complete, lack no thing, have all blessings, have all sufficiency and are righteous before the Father. These are spiritual truths that God is seeking to establish in our physical and emotional lives. His spirit is continually instructing us in the application of wisdom but many times we are too distracted by our focus on the world to be in agreement with His wisdom.
Our “task” as believers is to yield to God’s inner influence (grace) and allow his wisdom and truth to shift our inner environment to Heaven’s environment. Heaven’s atmosphere is righteousness, peace and joy.
Wisdom isn’t necessarily information on what we’re supposed to do but rather an acknowledgement of what we are (in him). Wisdom is a manifestation in our hearts, minds and souls that brings us into agreement with God’s perspective of the world, our lives and our specific circumstances. Heaven says there’s enough grace to overcome temptation, Heaven says there’s more than enough provision to meet that need, Heaven says the blessing you think you lack is present in Christ who is in you. Wisdom will teach your mind to be in agreement with Heaven’s state of existence which will change the way you see your world.
When wisdom bears fruit:
We know what Jesus knows. The problem is we don’t always know how to apply of walk in the truth that he’s revealed to us. God says we can ask for wisdom and he’ll give it to us. Wisdom is not information, it’s a way of seeing situations through God’s eyes. You then need proper instruction to walk our truth. Make sure you’re not confusing instruction for information. You have enough information, seek instruction.
Godly instruction comes form many places but if you start from a place of completeness in Christ, then you can apply good instruction within the physical world to see success and fruit. Instruction is not works, just healthy principles to adhere to as we live life. Applying principles do not make God move or release blessings, they simply line up your thoughts and actions with your spirit so you’re not hindering the increase of the kingdom in your life.
Find good instruction and be diligent to move forward from a place of victory and completeness in Christ.
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The post Information VS Instruction appeared first on Forward Ministries.
I hate being wrong. I imagine that most people do. I have a funny little saying that I have used in the past that reflects my hatred of being wrong. It goes like this: “I am never wrong; I once thought I was but I was mistaken.” Cute, right? For a t-shirt maybe, but that attitude in real life can get me in a lot of trouble with those that know when I am wrong.
So yes, I like being right. But I am not always right. There are times when it is more important that I understand another person’s perspective, or reasons, than it is for me to be right. When I value being right over being loving then I am wrong, even though I may be right.
There have been times where I was right in a disagreement but I apologized in order to keep peace.
There have been times when I was right in my reasons, decision and actions, but took the blame in order to keep someone else from being shamed.
Unfortunately, there have been more times when I was determined to be right than to be understanding or loving.
I am always tempted to defend my desire to be right. But, my desire to be right can never overpower my need to understand.
America today is probably more divided over issues than I can ever remember in my lifetime. It seems to me that the more we travel through time, the more divided we get. We are divided over abortion, gay marriage, gun rights, taxes, illegal immigrants, and the list goes on. While I would expect our two party political system to be divided over issues, what I don’t expect is the deepness of that divide. The reason for the divide, in my opinion, is people’s deep desire to be right over the need to understand.
The same division is in the Church. It’s probably worse in the Church. Jesus’ prayer was that we would be one (John 17). It seems to be that we are not one but hugely splintered. Most of the divisions we use to divide ourselves are really stupid and insignificant. It goes back to our desire to be right rather than understand.
We don’t give people room to explore and journey in their faith. We don’t give people room to question and struggle with their issues. We don’t make room for conversations. Conversations make way for understanding.
For most Christians, everything is a black and white issue. You are either right or wrong. Being wrong often times will bring isolation, rejection and judgment.
On the other end of that yardstick are those that say you can do whatever you want and you’ll still be okay with God. That is not correct either. God’s grace enables me not to sin! It does not give me a license to sin.
Please don’t read what I am not saying. There is a right way to live. There are right doctrines to believe. There is a wrong way of thinking and living.
What I am saying is that it’s not my job to pounce on people with the rightness or wrongness of what they are doing. It’s my job to seek to understand them as a person, what they have been through, and to be an advocate. It’s my responsibility to listen to their story.
There are always opportunities to be an advocate or an accuser.
An advocate seeks to speak on behalf of a person out of understanding that person. An accuser will always want to focus on what you did wrong and why they are right.
I can’t help someone if I don’t understand someone. I can’t understand them if I am only seeking to be right.
Jesus Understands!
There are many things that I love about Jesus but one thing in particular is the fact that He understands us as human beings. He has walked in our shoes. He has faced our limitations and our temptations. He can sympathize with us because He’s been where we are.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. 16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Heb. 4:15-16)
Because Jesus became a human, lived as a human and experienced humanity in its fullness, he can certainly understand why we struggle. He was totally right when he lived on the earth. He didn’t do anything wrong. Yet, he was crucified. He could have brought down legions of angels and proven to them that he was right, but he didn’t ever exercise that right.
Jesus came to be one of us therefore he understands us. So, now, even when we sin and we are wrong, Jesus gives us grace and mercy because He always understands where we are and why we do what we do. That doesn’t excuse our behavior, nor does it get us out of the consequences of our actions. What it does do, is show us that God has made a way for us to get the help, grace and mercy we need, even though we were wrong in our actions, because he understands why we did what we did.
This is a valuable lesson for me to learn as a parent. I can try to argue my point of “rightness” wi
th my children over an issue, or I can seek to understand them when there is a disagreement or a rule violation.
The same is true in pastoring. I can counsel a person on the rightness/wrongness of their particular situation, or I can seek to understand their perspective and why they are doing what they are doing.
I am not saying that we should never tell people where they are missing it, messing up or even tell them that they are wrong. What I am saying is that in doing so, I must first seek to understand before I make a big deal over being right.
Being right is such a powerful drug in our lives. Have you ever said to someone, “I told you so.” Didn’t that feel good? It feels really good when you say that to someone that is rarely wrong. And it feels really good when you tell that to someone who thinks they are never wrong. There is just something intoxicating about being right.
But even a demonic spirit can be right about something. A wrong spirit can say the right thing.
When you seek to understand you are putting the other person first. You can never go wrong by humbling yourself to put someone else first!
May we seek first to understand before we seek to be right.
