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Last night I told a group of men whom I'd never met before that they were going to change the world. In fact, I actually told them that they in essence already HAD changed the world - that because of them, right now, the world would never be the same.
Why would I tell them that? Because they now knew something they couldn't unknow.
Because Truth received is freedom unleashed.
...and freedom changes things.
Once set free, you will never convince a bird not to fly, fish not to swim, dreamers not to dream, and believers not to live from God as their Source.
The Truth that sets us free to live from God as our Source is simple yet profound: You cannot gain in life by effort what you already have in Christ by grace.
You cannot gain in life by effort what you already have in Christ by grace.
There. Welcome to the world changers.
I've always been terrified of trying to put contact lenses in my eyes, but in recent months, my glasses have created an increasing problem as I try to do various activities. So, this week I went to the eye doctor to get fitted for contacts. Despite having an incredible doctor, with whom God opened some wonderful doors for ministry, I left still horribly incompetent in putting in (and even worse at taking out) my contacts. The first night, it took me about four hours to get them out. It took about 40 minutes to get em in the next morning, and 30 minutes to get them out the second night. This morning, I got them in within about 10 minute and this evening got em out in 5. What started as a virtual impossibility isn't easier to do, but is clearer and clearer how to get it done. I'm getting better and better at deliberately and calmly poking myself in the eye 10 to 50 times in a row.
Of course, most importantly, I can see! I can play tennis without going blind with sweat. I can take off sunglasses on a hike without also losing the ability to see the trail. I can shoot a video or participate in a video conference without creating such a horrible reflection off glasses that no one can see my eyes. In just a few days, it's become obvious that the benefits of contact lenses far outweigh the difficulty of the learning curve to get them in and out!
I can work more, play more, accomplish more, and enjoy more because I have greater clarity, but clarity is coming slowly and at a cost.
The apostle Paul wrote to the Church in Ephesis, "[I pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him,having the eyes of your hearts enlightened..."
Paul prayed God would give wisdom and revelation - knowledge AND understanding - that only comes from clarity of vision. By having a vision that reaches our very heart, Paul knew we could begin to experience the "much more" of authentic spiritual life promised in Christ.
What did Paul want us to see? What knowledge and understanding is necessary for us to truly walk in the abundant life Christ has given us? He tells us what we will come to know when we have such clarity from God:
"...that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe..."
In other words, with God given clarity, Paul knew we would see the Christ-confident reality of His work through us (hope of calling), that we'd see the value we have as saints (inheritance), and that we would begin to discover how great the power He exercises toward us for His glory, by grace.
Immovable hope, irrefutable value, immeasurable power. These are already yours as a believer. You have no more to gain from Him, having received all this and more in Christ ALREADY.
So, how do we begin to EXPERIENCE all we have? God gives us clarity.
What's our job in experiencing it? God gives us clarity of US - true wisdom and understanding of all we have - as we seek clarity of CHRIST!
Hebrew 12 says, "Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him (that's you!), endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down (meaning finished with all that was necessary) at the right hand of the throne of God."
So as we seek clarity of Jesus and His FINISHED WORK for us, God gives clarity of all we have in Him.
And then - after trying, and failing, and struggling, and striving for so long - we too can increasingly enjoy the Abundant Life He came to give - and has already given - to each of us who believe!
My prayer is like Paul's:
That you too would strive only to rest in the finished work of Christ... That you would have your eyes opened to the hope, significance, and power that's yours in Jesus... And as you see Him, and He reveals Himself in you, that you would walk in His Life now made yours by grace.
ridiculously graced... -mike.
A buddy of mine responded online to the above comment saying he could never consider himself a church, and didn't think anyone today would. He said MAYBE "a temple" but never "a church".
I thought this highlights the confusion about what church is and isn't, and shows the importance of a correct understanding. Below is my response, and a link to the conversation if you'd like to comment... -—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—-—
No, YOU as an individual are not a church, I'm not saying you're a temple - different altogether. I'm saying the word Church in Scripture means something entirely different than how we use it - it's been corrupted. There is only one Church - the group of people called out (literally that's what the word means) to live for God. WE are the Church. Knowing the difference can change everything about your life! It's important because:
1) The Church is a people group who've sold out for an event instead of a lifestyle.
2) We don't know we are called collectively, not just individually - as the Body of Christ
3) You wouldn't say Native Americans is that place with casinos - you'd be wrong AND offensive. We are a people group, in - but not of - this world, sold a lie about going to church like we go to a movie or to school instead of living as a sovereign nation with an entirely different culture.
4) "Family" is not just the place you eat dinner. We don't just "do" family between 6 and 9pm. Yet this is how we've minimized our collective identity as the Bride of Christ - The Church.
5) As mentioned above, there is one body, one church. We've made it a business with market share, competition, career-centricity,etc. Church has become more about marketing than ministry and more about ROI than GOD. By thinking there's a bunch of churches (a product of mistaking it for a place or event), we've lost the very impact the church was originated to make by displaying our "togetherness".
So - YOU aren't a church, but we are ECCLESIA, the Church - the called out ones of God - and are to live a different lifestyle and culture by identifying in Christ together.
Feeling "called-out" yet?
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ridiculously graced... -mike.
Mike Daniel Phone: 210-646-GRACE (4722)
Here's an excerpt I found interesting from Perry Nobles website. Enjoy!#1 – I cannot expect to win arguments with those who don't want to settle the argument, they just want to fight for the sake of fighting. (II Timothy 2:23) #2 – I cannot expect people to read my mind. (I Corinthians 14:8) #3 – I cannot possibly expect to have a complete and detailed plan from God that tells me exactly what His plans are for the next 20 years. (Psalm 119:105) – He doesn't promise to let us see years in advance, but He does promise to show us our next step! #4 – I cannot expect to be a follower of Jesus and keep everyone around me happy at the same time. (Proverbs 29:25) #5 – I cannot expect to stay the same and see progress (Isaiah 43:18-19) #6 – I cannot expect to please God without taking steps of faith (Hebrews 11:6) #7 – I cannot expect to hear God's voice if I am always running at an unsustainable pace! (Psalm 46:10) (from
ridiculously graced... -mike.
Mike Daniel Phone: 210-646-GRACE (4722)
Dear friend of mine and fellow minister wrote a good article I thought I'd pass on to you. Enjoy! -md. ~~~~~~~
The Christian Life: A War Zone Bill Loveless
I want to share with you something that I recently heard from a speaker at our Grace Gathering. He used World War II as the backdrop for his analogy. Displaying a world map, he marked all the war zones and the locations where hundreds of thousands of troops on both sides were fighting. He zeroed in on one American soldier in a foxhole in France after the D-Day invasion. He began by saying that this one soldier in the midst of war and suffering couldn’t really see much more than what was in his immediate periphery. He had no idea of the overall strategy to win the war in Europe and the Pacific. In addition, he really had no idea how the war was going worldwide. All he knew from his vantage point was that he was in the middle of a hellish fight that was causing great suffering for him.
Meanwhile, in Washington D. C. the military strategists knew full well what was happening in every battle zone. They knew how well or how poorly the Allied troops were doing throughout the world. They had developed a master strategy for victory on both fronts. Their perspective of the war was totally different than that one G.I.’s understanding in a foxhole in France. In one sense, this soldier was going “by faith” that the generals had an overall strategy for victory. If he wasn’t convinced of that, I doubt very seriously that he would of gotten out of his foxhole and moved forward into battle.
Since suffering is part of this phase of our life, I believe that this analogy is very applicable to our own lives. For you see, you and I are in a foxhole called “my life.” We are in the midst of a spiritual war of infinite magnitude. However, like the G.I., we can only see the battle that surrounds and involves us. At the very least, this battle produces daily difficulty. And, at the most, it can produce great pain and suffering. When we enter this battle, (and we simply do that by waking up in the morning!) it is sometimes very difficult to see this battle beyond our five senses and what we are experiencing in our souls and bodies. At times like these it is very difficult to see or understand God’s overall, eternal strategy in our lives. We tend to focus on the circumstances surrounding our battle instead of seeing God working out His eternal plan through this battle. When these painful battles come into our lives, it can be difficult for us to see God’s love and His purpose in the midst of the battle. However, like the strategists in World War II who knew the whole situation and had an overall strategy for victory, we, too, have a Strategist. Our Strategist is eternally knowledgeable about all aspects of the war. Unlike a general far away who has no intimate knowledge of the G.I. in France, you and I have a Strategist who knows every single detail surrounding our personal battles.
You and I are faced with the same choice as the G.I. in France. We, too, by faith must believe that God is in control. We, too, must believe by faith that God does have an “eternal” strategy for each of our lives. It is one born out of His unconditional love for each of us. It is a strategy designed to draw us and to conform us to Himself. His part is to not allow the battle to overwhelm us as we trust Him by faith. Our part is to “know” by faith that there is an eternal transformation process being worked out in every difficult situation in our lives.Why does Paul command us to “set our minds on the things above”(Colossians 3:2)? If we don’t set our minds on Him, we are left to experience our battles only in the seen realm. We will never understand God’s purposes in the seen realm (2 Corinthians 4:18). Understanding only comes through seeing our situation from His “war room” in the unseen heavenly realm. You may not understand specifically what He is doing in the midst of the current struggle that you face. It is up to God whether or not He chooses to reveal His specific purpose. However, if He chooses not to reveal the “why” of what you are going through at this moment, you can have the same confidence as Paul in Philippians 1:6 by knowing that God is perfecting each one of us. The battle is raging in all of our lives. It never ceases. However, Paige and I pray that you will “set your mind on Him” in the midst of your conflicts, and that you will rest in His eternal strategy for your life. Remember that unlike that G.I. who is working toward victory, you and I are assured of the victory that is already ours in Christ!
“Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 15:57
Copyright © 2007 by Bill Loveless All rights reserved. The use or copying of this material for personal or group study is permitted. This material may not be copied or reprinted for commercial gain or for profit.
Christ Is Life Ministries 10 Texas Laurel San Antonio, Texas 78256 210-698-1139 www.christislifeministries.com
I have a problem.
My problem is that in my talks with church staff, in pastor coaching sessions, with groups of men or couples or singles at retreats, or when filling pulpits or leading church conferences I am beginning most of my messages with the words, "I have a problem."
Now, while I do find that funny, I don't write it to be funny. My problem really is that I begin most of my messages stating that I have - and in fact do have - a problem.
The problem is this: my audience almost never wants what they think or say they want. The church staff who say they want leadership really wants consolation for poor leadership. The men's retreat leaders asking me to share something new and fresh so they can experience a revitalization within their ministry want to only be taught what they already know - and may lynch a speaker they disagree with! Yet, what one already knows is almost never inspiring.
New insight which might lead to new perspective and revitalization requires someone admitting or at least being willing to admit that they have missed something previously - either by error of omission (truth missed) or commission (lies believed) - and if we are honest, usually the latter.
The world wants to be both inspired with newness and affirmed in our "oldness". People want new or even corrected direction without actually being redirected. It's almost as if we all desire MORE of our own thinking hoping it will make a difference in our experience, instead of desiring DIFFERENT thinking than what we already know.
We all want to be MORE right, but never wrong..."Correct AND agree with me so I'm even better at what I'm already about that nevertheless isn't working for me."
What is the solution?
Jesus Christ.
By Him you ARE right. Because of His Life, our Life isn't in our error, but instead our Life is found in His blamelessness. What I'd like to defend so often OF me is NOT me - it's the flesh IN me.
You see, once I recognize that I have flesh IN me but that it is NOT me, then I can admit my flesh patterns without them reflecting badly OF me. And I can only be okay seeing the flesh in me that's not me when I know the REAL me. (Read the last two sentences two more times.)
Now - you will know the real you by knowing Christ.
When Peter identified who Christ was, Christ revealed who Peter was.
When the two disciples on the road to Emmaus identified who Christ was, they were changed - their fears, hope, perspective, needs, and behavior all changed based on knowing who He was more clearly.
The apostle Paul came to the end of himself on a dirt highway to Damascus that led him face-to-face with God unrecognizable and he said, "Who are you, Lord?" the answer to which changed not only him, but every generation since.
When we know Him, we know ourselves. But herein lies two immediate problems:
1. He is unknowable. Infinite God; finite me. No man can identify God in Christ to any other man.
2. He won't compete against me for centrality in my Life. When you want to bring about your desire for a circumstance, he'll let you try to create, try to be your own source for your needs, try to make circumstance and relationships what you desire, and try to manipulate him and others for your sense of identity and emotional needs, but that's what it looks like for us to pursue ourselves, not Him. He's not needing to prove Himself to anyone; God knows who He is. But do we know in the midst of circumstance and neediness that He is God?
So, that brings us out of a foggy forrest into a sunny meadow - a clearing of what it must mean to come to know Him... When you come to the end of your self-determination, your independence, your hope in yourself, and your need to self-justify - at that precise moment - you can change your pursuit from you for you, or even God for you, to God for God. We can come to a place of wanting to know Him because of who He is, not what we want from Him. This - trusting Him for my needs enough to not be about my needs - is the opportunity for revelation.
And then Jesus Christ through His Spirit must can you revelation of Jesus Christ.
His is a revelation of Jesus, by Jesus that transforms us in the likeness of Jesus: our thinking, our feelings, and our behavior become His thoughts, His heart, and His will.
So Paul said, "I want to know Christ," forsaking all else that he would otherwise count as gain for that pursuit alone. In other words, what really would be benefit to him, he reconciles as a deficit to himself so that he might pursue Christ alone. So, today, as you pay bills, and finish projects, and change diapers, and prepare meals, and read reports, and fight traffic, and check movie times, and chat with friends, and walk the corridors of your workplace, and ten thousand other things, ponder this: the Creator of the Universe wants to speak to you words unknowable, reveal Truth unsearchable, and free you to live as you're made to live in ways unimaginable as you are willing and available - okay with whatever He'll reveal and eager for Him alone - for every circumstance and activity to be useful to Him in revealing Himself so that you might live as an experience of who you really are in Him.
That every day might be participating with Him whom you are still discovering... Every challenge an opportunity to depend upon Him more deeply... Every venue a chance to experience His Life, His Joy, His strength, His sufficiency as you trust Him enough with what you need to be about Him instead of about what you need. ...that you might abide in Him who is our Life, know Him more by that abiding, and grow in intimacy with Him as you know Him more.
Problem solved.
ridiculously graced... -mike. Mike Daniel www.StoneLife.org Phone: 210-646-GRACE (4722)
In response to Rick Warren's Ministry Toolbox article I received this week, I sent the below reply. (If you haven't read Rick's article yet, check it out first HERE)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RE: "Maintaining God's Blessing" article
Hi, Rick - greatly appreciate your heart for God's family and your gracious support of His Church.
I want to share an observation - it seems to me that the purity, maturity, and unity you point to as a means to maintain God's blessing are in fact God's blessing themselves. It is only by grace - that is, His work, not mine - that I have (or maintain) purity, maturity, or unity. In fact, my trying to be pure is my flesh. My trying to grow is a focus on me and not a focus on Him as the author and perfecter of my faith, and my trying to bring about unity is sure to be divisive instead of you and I focusing on Christ and enjoying the by product of that unified pursuit.
Scripture certainly calls us to these things - as descriptors resulting from my abiding relationship with Christ. But surely our quiet time doesn't cause us to grow, my attention to detail doesn't make me pure, and my work to be at peace with others doesn't build unity any more than my trying to be good made me right with God.
In fact, when I read Ephesians 1:3-4 (or 2 Peter 1:3) and Eph. 1:15-17, it seems that God is more eager that we would know what we already have than He is for us pursue those things by our actions.
Of course, my faith LET'S Christ DO by grace all this and more. I just don't want to confuse who is the Doer, and who is the receiver. :)
Just my thoughts. Thanks again for your consideration and faithful work with pastors and churches, Rick!
ridiculously graced... -mike. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ...so what are YOUR thoughts? -md
Howdy, folks!
I received an email from Rick Warren's Ministry Toolbox today. Rick is the pastor of Saddleback Church, one of the largest churches in America, and author of "The Purpose Driven Life".
Read the below intro and linked article, consider how you feel about the ideas Rick shares, and check back here tomorrow for my email to Rick.
On Mar 2, 2011, at 1:58 PM, "Rick Warren" wrote:
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 | How to keep the blessing of God by Rick Warren |
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Here's a question emailed to me by a friend well acquainted with the grace life we have in Christ, followed by my response. 'Always a blessing for me to get to participate in what God is doing in the life and ministry of those God is working in and through!
Send your questions to mike@StoneLife.org, or connect via twitter, facebook, or skype video below. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mike,
This morning, my wife and I read 1 John 1:8-2:2. After reading this passage, she was left with questions. As I read the passage, I must admit that I am a little confused. I see the potential for a legalistic sermon dripping from this text. Because I know John understands grace, I am trying to read these verses with a grace perspective, but I am getting tripped up on the word, "sin." Is John saying that we still have flesh; therefore, we have the potential for sin, and if we try to hide our potential for sin, we are deceiving ourselves? Also, I see the confessing of our "sins" as a confession that we have flesh and that it is only through Christ that flesh can be overcome (sanctification). In 1 John 2:1, John states that he wrote this epistle so that we will not sin, but I am of the belief that we cannot, in our own strength, keep from sinning. So, praise God that He chose to die for the atoning of our sin(s), which is grace (1 John 2:1b-2) Am I on the right path or did I miss the boat. I would appreciate your thoughts. Thanks, -Saint-not-a-Sinner?
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Dear Sainted - 'Absolutely on the right path - actually very exciting to see your commentary/questions, Brother!
Let's define a couple of terms:
Sin is our nature BEFORE Christ or our behavior now when acting AS IF still our nature, though it isn't - many believers don't know our sinful nature was crucified with Christ (aka. "the flesh" still resident in the believer, but not our ID / independence from God).
Confession is our agreement with God about our behavior or - more specifically - about our TRUE nature (ala "that sinfulness is NOT who I truly am by grace!").
If we walk in the Truth of who we are in Christ - that is, LET by faith Him LIVE by grace through me - I will not sin... Paul states several times that when we walk by the Spirit we won't gratify the desires of the flesh.
Keep in mind John is not Paul, John's paradigm IS still accurate, but it's representative in part of a pre-crucified experience with Christ. So, John has a greater emphasis on sinful behavior and intimacy than Paul, whose emphasis is on new identity and finished work. Both are accurate and they are in agreement, but with slightly different perspectives.
Hope that helps! Very proud of God's work in you, Bro! ridiculously graced... -mike.
p.s. Had one final thought on this, though not directly in response to your question. It's also important to realize in reading "if we confess... He forgives," and "if we say we don't sin... we're saying God's a liar," that John is setting up two contradictory conditions of mankind: either you know you've sinned, or you say you don't sin - the self-righteous or the grace dependent. Those of us who rely on grace are forgiven. Those who are self-righteous are at odds with God who has offered us grace. In other words, if we say we don't need grace then we nullify the work of Christ - in our opinion He died for nothing. John is not speaking of a believer stumbling, but describing the choice of dependence on Him for righteousness (thus, "He is faithful... to cleanse us from all unrighteousness), versus those who claim they need no such grace and are deliberately choosing to operate in faith in our own justification instead of His for us.
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