UNFLAPPABLE

Adversity, whether it is physical or financial, personal or relational, has a way of beating us up with worry, doubt and fear.  But it isn’t supposed to be that way... God wants us to be unflappable. The real issue is not our circumstances but our attitude... our mindset... how we respond to our circumstances. To be unflappable is to treat everything as spiritual... it is, and to have a heavenly mindset... a mind set on things above, responding to our circumstances with a mind renewed with the mind of Christ. We will experience good... and bad... and every shade in between. It matters not when we are unflappable. Let us keep these “things” in perspective: We are talking about a life we are warned not to love, in a world we are commanded not to love—friendship with the world is enmity with God – life that is an itsy bitsy tennie weenie little delay in route to Supernatural Life... Overwhelming Love... Supreme Happiness... Utter Joy... Ultimate Peace... Infinite Ecstasy -- I’m running out of adjectives here -- forever eternally so. Satan cannot win, he can only inflict pain while losing! Being unflappable destroys any pleasure he may derive from his inflictions. Christ learned obedience through the things He suffered... maybe we need to follow His example. Troubles, difficulties, afflictions... in a word adversity, should be met with one worshipful response... Rejoice... Count It All Joy... Be Unflappable... Praise Him In The Storm. What the enemy intends for evil God will turn to eternal good conforming to His purposes... we simply can’t lose!!! What happens to our dirt-tents of flesh on this dirt-bag planet is insignificant. We are totally expendable Kingdom vessels who must die or fly to gain access to our glorified bodies. So... set your mind on things above... set your face like a flint toward heaven... quit worrying about why and leave the “heavy lifting” to God who knows our “needs” before we ask... Be Unflappable...

Now, this does not mean we don’t pray for relief or resist the enemy’s attacks... we do, but submission to our sovereign Lord is preparation for resisting the enemy in prayer... submission precedes prayer. Submission recognizes our spiritual position: We are in Christ... in the Beloved of God, indwelt by the very Spirit of the Living God, and seated with Christ in the heavenlies. True submission will always have an attitude... an attitude of joy unspeakable... rejoicing... an unflappable overflow of heaven bound love. This comes before, during, and after we invite God’s Kingdom to invade our circumstances in resurrection power. Peace in adversity is the hallmark of an unflappable spiritual attitude, allowing joy to come forth, and joy, well... joy is our strength! Unflappability is the ultimate recognition God is absolutely sovereign... totally in control, and ordering our steps for His eternal purposes, that we are in the safest place we can ever be... we are in Christ in Him. This is the “Though He slay me, yet will I Trust in Him” attitude that declares unequivocally nothing will turn off my praise... nothing will short circuit my joy and peace... nothing will dilute my absolute trust in God. For who or what can separate me from the love of my Father... No One...Nothing! I know who holds my breath in His hands, I know where I am going, and I will rejoice and be glad... I will Be Unflappable!

LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU...

DANGEROUS FAITH, ADDICTIVE LOVE

The first century Christians lived their lives with every step moving forward and with every fiber of their being fighting for the heart of their King.  Jesus had become the all consuming passion of their lives, producing a dangerous faith, full of raw power, and capable of choosing revolution over compromise, peril over safety, and passion over lukewarm watered down religion.  They were called to live in this world as citizens of an entirely different kingdom.  The “Good News” can never be separated from Jesus’ invitation to “Come; Follow Me”. Jesus never lied about the danger or cost of being His disciple:

* “I am sending you out as sheep among wolves” (Matt. 10:1, NLT)

* “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.” (Lk. 9:23, NIV)

* “If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it.  But if you give up your life for Me, you will find true life.” (Lk. 9:24, NLT)

* “And how do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose or forfeit your own soul in the process.” (Lk. 9:25, NLT)

* “If you want to be My follower you must love Me more than your own father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes, more than your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be My disciple.” (Lk. 14:26, NLT)

* “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be my disciple.” (Lk. 9:27, NASB)

* “So no one can become My disciple without giving up everything for Me.” (Lk. 9:33, NLT)

* “A servant is not greater than his master.  If they persecuted Me, they will persecute You.” (Jn. 15:20, NKJV)

* “When the world hates you, remember it hated Me before it hated you.” (Jn. 15:18, NLT)

* “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you.” (1 Jn. 2:15, NCV)

First century Christians loved God! This is not a simple platitude but a life-changing fact. They had beheld His great love for them, and in this “beholding” they had become loving, expressing God’s love through passionate sacrifice and servant hood.  They knew that love and sacrifice are inseparable in God’s Kingdom... We need to know that too...

“If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself”: We must lay aside as the world’s dung our desires and plans. We must make it our determined purpose to know Him... ever pressing toward the high calling of intimately knowing Him. “And take up his cross daily”: We must crucify our Self and Self’s self serving interests daily that the implanted Christ-Life can germinate and spread like yeast throughout our being. “And follow Me”: We must walk His narrow-gated difficult way, our face set like a flint on things above... demonstrating our love in passionate obedience... for without obedience there is no love. Deny... Crucify... Follow... This is the “meat and potatoes” of Kingdom life, a life of Dangerous Love and Addictive Faith...

JESUS NEVER LIED ABOUT THE DANGER...

OR COST...

OF BEING HIS DISCIPLE

IF I PERISH, I PERISH

I once struggled with a major difficulty for over a year. I was physically and mentally exhausted, and ready to throw in the towel and die, in fact death would have been a relief. I couldn’t understand why this was happening to me, and vacillated between pleading with God to intervene, being angry with Him because He didn’t, and condemning myself for whatever I must have done to deserve this. At a most unbearable point one afternoon I went for a walk, and as I walked my thoughts turned to a book I had purchased at least twenty years earlier, and long since forgotten. Now, one would think I gleaned some great spiritual insight from this book, and I did, but not in the way one might think, for I had never read this book. No, what I began to think about was the book’s title, “If I Perish, I Perish.”

I begin to think about Job, how all through his suffering he worshiped God, never sinning with his lips by blaming God, and declared to his circumstances and all the powers of darkness, ”Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him.” And the apostle Paul who suffered more than anyone else in scriptures, planting churches by the torn bloody flesh of his back,  rejoicing in adversity, infirmities, and pain, calling it all “light affliction” which brings great glory in the life to come. And somewhere in these musings I had a divine epiphany: I realized that my struggle was, in reality, a struggle with fear... fear of failure... fear of losing my “stuff”... fear of damage to my stature and position among family, friends, community and church. I realized that fear reigns where trust in God is weak. Now this is not trust in God to “fix” my problem making everything better... although sometimes He does. This is trust in Him to never leave me forsaken, even in the darkest of times... to help me through the storm... walking by my side... carrying the umbrella... comforting me with His presence. This trust is rooted in the sure knowledge that God will turn what the enemy means for evil into His purposeful good, that in the working out of my life good will emerge as sure as the rising sun, though it may very well not be that which I desired or felt I needed or even understood... God knows best. Oh, and yes, I still have the book, and I still haven’t read it; it has served its divine purpose...

FEAR REIGNS WHERE TRUST IN GOD IS WEAK