Mean Christians, Struggling Christians, Cross bearing Christians.

What is a Christian?

A Christian isn't necessarily a kind, loving, generous, caring, person. Often you'll hear the words - 'They can't be a Christian they're horrible!' And you'll hear others say, 'If they're a Christian then I'm glad I'm not one, they are the worst!' And then there is, 'I can't believe they are a Christian, look at them, listen to them!'

We've developed this idea that being a Christian means attaining a state of benevolence and keeping that state of benevolence without losing it. Being a Christian means appearing loving no matter what.  We've all met these Christians who are everything we imagine a Christian to be, and yet we only know others by what they reveal to us.

That always smiling, laughing and happy Christian cries constantly in the privacy of their own home.  That soft spoken, always speaking a kind word Christian goes home and yells and swears.  Is this true for all, NO!  There very well could be the always smiling, happy, laughing Christian who is always like that - rain or shine, inside their home and outside. However, we just don't know.

Being a Christian means being a believer of Christ and striving to walk that narrow way, bearing the crosses that are ours to bear.

No one was given an instant personality change upon accepting Christ as their Savior.  The newness of a Christ walk may temporarily alter a personality, but newness wears off.

If a person struggles with gossiping before being a Christian, the truth is they may become an even worse gossip after becoming a Christian.  If a person is hateful before becoming a Christian they may be even more hateful afterwards.  How can I say this when it's supposed to be the opposite?

When a person declares their belief in Christ and asks Christ to lead their lives it is truthfully just as if a soldier in a war asks to be sent to the front lines.  What happens on the front line? It is there where the worst of the war takes place, the most dangerous area you can be in exists there. A Christian immediately draws the attention of Satan- REMEMBER you cannot believe in Jesus without believing in Satan, it's impossible.  Instantly the enemy attacks and it's not just without outside situations but more often the internal battles.

The hateful person won't WANT to be hateful and will often despair of being hateful with the inability to stop. Should they give up and forget about Christ and being a Christian because they are horrible and can't seem to change? This is what Satan desires most of all. If Satan can cause us to despair of ever being that 'ideal' Christian person, then he owns us.

Truthfully, maybe the hateful Christians, maybe the worst of the worst of those claiming Christ as their Savior are more Christian than the nicest Christian you may know. The bottom line is we do NOT know the heart of a person.  The Bible tells us 'by their fruits' we will know them. That bitter, seemingly evil person who claims to be a Christian may have a lot of fruit we don't even see or know about.  What is the fruit of a person--

Mat 7:16  Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Mat 7:17  Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
Mat 7:18  A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
Mat 7:19  Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
Mat 7:20  Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Do the actions of a bitter, evil Christian speak for them when their mouths, their attitude can't? Is the results of their life nothing but the spread of evil? Or is the same bitter person who seems far from Christ-like- the one who spends hours praying for others, who is willing to give of themselves in ways not outwardly obvious?  If you see the evil growing from these people, evil they've promoted and encouraged then perhaps they are truly not Christians, but a lot of time struggling Christians who love Christ, who believe in Him and His salvation are waging a battle with an enemy we can't see- and thery would not promote or encourage evil at all!

So much seems out of our control. Our evil tongues are just that -  evil.  And we all have tongues. Short of yanking them out, they are going to be instruments of evil all too often.  We cry out to be truly God's children, followers of Christ and yet we behave in ways we WOULD NOT.  If we embrace our evil and call it GOOD then we are not truly Christ followers. If we abhor our own evils and seek to be rid of them, we are Christians who are fighting a fierce battle!

One thing we have to remember, and by the grace of God we will - is this -

Mat 7:1  Judge not, that ye be not judged.
Mat 7:2  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
Mat 7:3  And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?
Mat 7:4  Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?
Mat 7:5  Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

We can NEVER judge another person's eternal life, never. We can judge their actions to be right or wrong, good or bad but NOT their eternal life.  They may act unChristian-like as we imagine a Christian must be, but we could be allowed to see that part of their cross bearing, their struggle - all in order for us to have the opportunity to pray for them, not condemn them.  Maybe we need to witness their behavior so we can turn and look at our own as we struggle.

Christians can hurt others, but it isn’t something they do with the intent to inflict pain. Christians are sinners in need of a Savior. All people need prayers, those who appear Christian and those who say they are but don't appear to be, and those we are not and don't even want to be.

We all need prayers as we struggle in this awful sin ruled, satan run world!

Please, Lord, please help us to be Yours! Save us from ourselves!

Who are you at your best?

Who are you at your best? Is being kind-hearted important to you? Is being forgiving necessary when considering yourself at your best? Do you need to be happy to be at your best? Can you be in tears and be the person you imagine you want to be? What defines you at your best?  If you could stop time for a moment and become that person you are at your considered best- would you? Do you despise yourself when you are not you at your best? When you let the worst parts of you rise up and rear their ugly heads does regret quickly follow? Does regret happen sometimes instantly as you are consumed by those ugly monsters- who are nothing like the you that you long to be? If you truly could define yourself, make yourself the person you'd like to be minus all your worst traits what would that person be like?

Seriously, I want you to think about what you would be like without your soulical-self in control of you over your spirit-self.

What are you like when you do NOT put yourself first, when your self-serving tendencies do not dictate your actions?

We are NOT going to change completely, so if you're waiting to suddenly wake up and be another person altogether that's not what being led by the Spirit means.  We will forever be ourselves in a spirit-self, SPIRIT led way. The UNSELFISH parts of ourselves we've been allowed to glimpse while still being us, this is us.

Truly we will still laugh, we will still cry, we will still have all the emotions we have in various circumstances and telling ourselves that they will disappear and we'll never be angry again if we are being led in and by the Spirit is a lie.  The lie Satan will goad us into believing is that we cannot be happy, sad, or all the emotions in between if we are being led by the Spirit. 

Read what God's word and what Watchman Nee has to say about this… 

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'Even though the body of sin has been destroyed, we still yield our “members to God as instruments of righteousness” (Rom. 6.13); just so, when natural life is sacrificed to death, we shall find renewal, revival and restraint of the Holy Spirit in all the faculties of our soul.

It cannot therefore imply that henceforth we become wood and stone without feeling, thought or will because we must not or cannot use any of the parts of the soul.

Every part of the body as well as every organ of the soul still exists and is meant to be fully engaged; only now they are being renewed, revived and restrained by the Holy Spirit.

The point at issue is whether the soul’s faculties are to be regulated by our natural life or by the supernatural life which indwells our spirit.

These faculties remain as usual.

What is unusual now is that the power which formerly activated them has been put to death; the Holy Spirit has made God’s supernatural power their life.

Let us amplify this subject a bit more. The various organs of our soul continue after the natural life has been relinquished in death. To nail the soul life to the cross does not at all imply that thereafter we shall be completely lacking in our thought, emotion and will.

We distinctly read in the Bible of God’s thought, intent, desire, satisfaction, love and joy. Moreover, the Scriptures often record that our Lord Jesus “loved,” “rejoiced,” “was sorrowful”; it is even recorded that “Jesus wept,” that He “offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears” in Gethsemane’s Garden. Were His soul faculties annihilated? And do we become cold and dead persons? Man’s soul is man’s own self. It is where one’s personality resides and whence it is expressed. If the soul does not accept power from the spirit life, then it will draw its power for living from its natural soulical life. The soul as a composite of organs continues, but the soul as a life principle must be denied. That power must be consigned to death so that the power of the Holy Spirit alone may operate all the parts of the soul, without interference from the natural life. '

The Spiritual Man- Watchman Nee

Rom 6:13  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. 

Joh 12:23  And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. 

Joh 12:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. 

Joh 12:25  He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. 

Jesus crying-

Joh_11:35  Jesus wept.

Jesus in agony-

Luk 22:39  And he came out, and went, as he was wont, to the mount of Olives; and his disciples also followed him. 

Luk 22:40  And when he was at the place, he said unto them, Pray that ye enter not into temptation. 

Luk 22:41  And he was withdrawn from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, 

Luk 22:42  Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done. 

Luk 22:43  And there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. 

Luk 22:44  And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. 

Jesus rejoiced-

Luk 10:21  In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight. 

Jesus loved-

Joh 13:23  Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. 

Joh_19:26  When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!

Joy-

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith

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We truly need to be Spirit led- our spirit  being led first and foremost, and our soul-self next and our body.

You can tell if you are being Spirit-led or Soul-self led by whether or not your carnal nature, your flesh nature is in control. If self is being served first, you are not being led by the Spirit.  There is so much more we need to learn, and God will teach us through the Holy Spirit, through faith, through HIS love.

More tomorrow all by the grace of our loving God!

In Jesus Christ our Lord, our Savior now and forever!

We are tested.

'Often we are unconscious how powerful our self is until tested in regard to material matters. At times it seems we require more grace to lose our wealth than to lose our life! Earthly things truly represent an acid test for soul life. God’s children who indulge in eating and drinking and in ease and comfort need a deeper cutting away of the cross to free their spirit from the bondage and influence of the soul and to be free to live in God. Any who still hanker after the things of the world have yet to learn how to lose their soul life through the deep penetration of the cross.'  The Spiritual Man - Watchman Nee

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Society tells me I'm allowed to desire all the things I desire and it screams at me that it's NORMAL. 
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People around us tells us that it's fine to do worldly things. If we admit our guilt and desire not to do these worldly things we are again reassured that everything is fine. We hear it so often it is easy to believe the what we are told by God is evil, is now good. So much evil is now called good and if people dare to call that declared good- evil then they are looked upon as awful, horrendous, terrible, heartless people. No longer is evil- evil and the cup is almost entirely full to overflowing. As it was in the days of Noah it is now. As it was in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, it is now.

We are each 'tested' in regards to material matters- this is truth!

We are TRIED.

Jas_1:12  Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

1Pe_1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ

And our CROSS is just that a CROSS- an instrument of DEATH that we bear- if it were a GOOD thing, then we wouldn't have to BEAR it, it wouldn't be a burden to bear but a joy to take hold of.  We take up a cross DAILY and that cross is the willingness to put to death our flesh nature, our carnal nature, our soulical-self all in order to allow the spirit to lead us.  This willingness to pick up our cross is all part and parcel of denying ourselves all worldly treasures that long to get their hooks in us and never let us go.

What do you have in your life you are simply NOT willing to give up?  What people, what things, what treasures?

Remember this--

Mat 6:19  Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 

Mat 6:20  But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 

Mat 6:21  For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. 

Let us lay up our treasures in heaven- let us think of our heavenly treasures as the cross is laid before us daily and by the GRACE and MERCY of our LORD, through HIS love that we don't deserve, let us pick up that cross.

Losing our possessions...

'Often we are unconscious how powerful our self is until tested in regard to material matters. At times it seems we require more grace to lose our wealth than to lose our life! Earthly things truly represent an acid test for soul life. God’s children who indulge in eating and drinking and in ease and comfort need a deeper cutting away of the cross to free their spirit from the bondage and influence of the soul and to be free to live in God. Any who still hanker after the things of the world have yet to learn how to lose their soul life through the deep penetration of the cross.'  The Spiritual Man - Watchman Nee

Do you believe what Watchman Nee wrote, that bit we just read?  Do you agree that those of us who have a life of relative ease- plenty of food, in fact food to the point of excess, plenty to drink and many comforts to make our lives easier have a harder time than those who have very little and next to no comforts?  In some respects it has to be true, right? Yet in others we can tell ourselves that those who have little are in a constant state of want.  Is that true? Or is it those who have already who always seem to want more, to want better, to want the best there is?  We live in a culture that tells us we should want more, constantly. We compare ourselves to  the rich, the famous, the important, and we are taught to want that. We are taught it by many things- tv, books, peers, family, movies.  So even when we truly do have a lot compared to those who have very little, we believe we need more. We fear losing our possessions. We make plans for losing them, insuring our possessions so we can get them back again should we lose them.  And all this is normal to us. 

So, to ask the question again- Do we believe what Watchman Nee wrote about 'requiring more grace to lose our wealth than to lose our life?'

I believe it.  For me personally, I believe it. I know how incredibly hard I find it to give up things and I know all the reasoning I come up with as to why I shouldn't have to give up my things, there are so many excuses I use and I believe them.  Society tells me I'm allowed to desire all the things I desire and it screams at me that it's NORMAL. 

More on this tomorrow, by the grace of our loving God.

In Jesus' name!

The world is contrary to God.

From yesterday--

'He whose self life has been sacrificed to death is cut loose from the things of the world. Gaining spiritual life is conditional on suffering loss.' - The Spiritual Man- Watchman Nee

Mat_16:26  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Do you want to gain a spiritual life? How important is it to you to have a spiritual life? Seriously, do we even care about our spiritual lives? How often do you think of your spiritual life?

These are questions that need answering.

What would YOU give in exchange for your eternal life?

What good does having ANYTHING if we do not have eternal life?

… How much do we DAILY TAKE UP OUR CROSS and how much do we let Christ work in us? Do we separate the two? These are many questions we need to consider.

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It shouldn't be how much, it should be how often do we take up our cross, and how often do we let Christ work in us? Do we separate the two?

Christ should ALWAYS be working in us, yes?  If Christ is working in us always then when we take up our cross it is still Christ working in us. We need to LIVE for Christ. We truly need to DENY ourselves, and you know what, our SELF will fight against denying ourselves and come up with a million reasons why we don't need to do that. And yes, I mean a million excuses. For every opportunity that arises for us to deny our soul-self, there will be several reasons for us not deny it and every one of those reasons will NOT come from Christ. We can be foolish enough to believe they do, but they don't and never will.

Why are we to give up stuff we want?

We need to comprehend whether the stuff is good or bad for us first, right?

We need to comprehend if the stuff will take the place of Christ in our life in any way.  If we are being drawn away from Christ and the love of Christ, from living in love, in the SPIRIT as Christ would have us live then WE are to deny ourselves from what is drawing us away.

The world and the things of the world ARE contrary to God.

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 

1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 

1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. 

Mat 6:24  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 

Jas 4:4  Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. 

Col 3:2  Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. 

LOVE NOT  THE WORLD.

LOVE NOT THE THINGS THAT ARE IN THE WORLD.

Lusts of our flesh- our flesh desires- and these can be any and all things we desire MORE than our Savior!

Please Father, please, help us to DENY self, help us to TAKE UP OUR CROSS, help us to know what is of the world and what is of You. HELP US! We would follow our own wants, we despise having to give up our desires, help us to despise those desires!

Please, Lord, please!

In the name of our SAVIOR Jesus Christ, our LORD!

Spiritual Life.

'He whose self life has been sacrificed to death is cut loose from the things of the world. Gaining spiritual life is conditional on suffering loss.' - The Spiritual Man- Watchman Nee

Mat_16:26  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

Do you want to gain a spiritual life?

How important is it to you to have a spiritual life?

Seriously, do we even care about our spiritual lives? How often do you think of your spiritual life?

These are questions that need answering.

What would YOU give in exchange for your eternal life?

What good does having ANYTHING if we do not have eternal life?

Can we detach ourselves from the things of this world? Can we suffer the loss of things, anything that would keep us from a true spiritual life?  At what point are people going to call us crazy? We need to LIVE in this world, with our loved ones - Jesus would NOT want us to divorce our spouses, ignore our grown children, turn our back on our co-workers- because we come into truth we do not follow warped ideas of truth. The heart of our Savior is loving each other, and that love is connected to Him, through His cross. That love is selfless not self-serving. Yes, we are to GIVE up all- but we do this THROUGH Christ, not through self-serving! God does not call us lightly to give up on any one. IF we are growing further from Christ through another, then maybe we are called to leave.  Christ will teach us, we need to learn. How much giving up of ourselves can we do in order to live in Him, truly live in Him.  Can we give up all of our selves, replacing it with Him? How much do we DAILY TAKE UP OUR CROSS and how much do we let Christ work in us? Do we separate the two? These are many questions we need to consider.

More tomorrow by the grace of our God, our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ!

How attached are you to the things of this world?

Yesterday we read a long excerpt from a book I've been reading, me and my sisters have been studying from the book - The Spiritual Man by Watchman Nee. We are taking our Bibles and making sure that the things we read are from God. Do I believe in everything Watchman Nee believes, no, not everything.  However, I'm not willing to ignore all the amazing truths he expounds on because we don't see eye to eye on everything. God gives us all light and we have to walk in that light, by HIS grace. He may not have giving Watchman Nee the light He has given to me or others. We are accountable to God for our own walk.  

Today I want to start to study more indepth the passage we read yesterday.  May the Holy Spirit guide us as we seek to learn more of our SAVIOR, of HIS LOVE, of HIS WILL.

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'Soul life is worldly; hence it is attached to the things of the world. Only after one is actually willing to offer his soul life to death will he be fit to follow the “Sermon on the Mount” without flinching. Though in that “sermon” we do not find the Lord Jesus mentioning the work of the cross, we nonetheless know for certain that unless one experiences identification with Christ in death—not merely having died to sin but having died to the self life as well—he attempts in vain to keep our Lord’s teachings enunciated on the Mount. He may appear to be following these instructions, but his heart is not one with his appearance.

Only a Christian who has yielded his soul life can spontaneously and unpretentiously give away his cloak when he has been sued for his coat.'

******My thoughts-

Spontaneously, unpretentiously giving away your cloak with SUED for your coat.  In Jesus' day articles of clothing were sometimes one of few possessions a person would own.  They didn't live a materialistic world to the degree most of us do in the United States- I didn't say all, but most. Sue a homeless man for his coat, that would be a huge deal, but again very unrealistic in our day and age.  To put this on another level we could say that ANY time, any one sues us for something can we imagine not only giving them what they sued us for but also more? It's unthinkable isn't it? People generally are sued when they won't give up what the other person wants. They sue in order to get something. Sure, I imagine sometimes people don't even try to get something from someone before suing them, they just assume there will be a fight for what they are after and so the suing begins, the court summons goes out.  Appearing in court the arguments begin, or rather the charges are read, the reasoning is made known and then would you simply, in answer to the charge, say- 'No problem they can have that and more.' ?  I can't help but wonder if that has ever happened and if so, how often. 

Now, let's add to that this part-   'SPONTANEOUSLY- UNPRETENTIOUSLY' -  Without any thought, your automatic response is to offer more than the person wants of you. Clearly the person didn't think you'd give them anything let alone more than what they want.  What does this say about the one offering more than expected and doing so spontaneously and unpretentiously? The SERIOUSLY and SINCERELY do not have any ties to their possessions, or rather their ties to their 'neighbor' are greater than their ties to anything they own. 

Look around your room, your house, your storage spaces and ask yourself if you'd be willing to lose it all? How tied to our things are we? And being tied to things we are also tied to the SOUL-SELF automatically.

Are you attached to things of this world?

May God help us to take note of our attachments to this world- people, places, and things.  Let's examine them a bit and if we find we have an attachment that preempts our ability to give it up for whatever reason there may be let us pray for our drawing closer to Christ, to the Spirit and farther away from ourselves!

Please, Lord, in Your most holy name! Jesus Christ our Savior, our Redeemer now and forever!

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