Speak the Truth

I have much on my mind tonight...  I’m just gonna spit it out and let the chips fall where they may... This is what I believe.  Feel free to ignore it.

I believe that we need to start speaking the Truth over our own lives, and over the lives of those we love.  I believe that we need to study and learn the word of God and then begin to ‘take captive every thought and MAKE it obedient to the knowledge of Christ.”

We have this internal dialog in our mind, in our thoughts.  This dialog affects our emotions, our behavior and, I believe, even our heath.  I’m not talking about ‘positive thinking,’ although positive thinking can take you really far as a starting point.  I’m talking about Truthful thinking.  Thinking that is in line with the Truth of God’s word.  Proverbs claims that the ‘power of life and death are in the tongue.’  That’s a lot of power and God’s word has abundantly more power. The tongue speaks out of the thoughts of our hearts and minds, our internal dialog. We need to control it.  And, we ARE able to control it.  God does not ask us to do things we are not able to do in the power of his Spirit.  We need to choose to speak the Truth.

I believe that we need to start saying thank you to God for the things he has provided even before we begin to see the evidence of it in our own lives.  We are urged to “not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present our requests to God.”  I believe there is a VAST difference between ‘asking’ God to save me, and ‘thanking’ him for taking the necessary steps to provide my salvation.  Does that make sense?  I know many people who ask and ask and ask and still always live with an uncertainty about whether he ‘will’, whether he ‘has’ or whether he ‘wants to’.  However, once they are convinced of the Truth that the necessary steps have already been taken, that he has offered it freely to any and to all and to ME... , they will begin to live in awe of the grace of God.  They will, in reverence, begin to say ‘Thank You for Saving ME!!’  They will begin to experience the peace of God which passes understanding! They will experience the joy of their salvation!  They will stop ‘asking’ and continually ‘thank’ him for providing a way, for paying the price!

This feels very foreign at first.  Bold.  Even, presumptuous.  But, speaking the Truth builds faith and soon we begin to live in glorious gratitude that we don’t have to ‘ask’ anymore.  Such freedom!

We do not ‘ask’ Jesus to die on the cross again for our sin when we come to faith in him.  The necessary steps have already been taken.  “It is finished”.  We do not ‘ask’ him to decide if he wants to save us, because it is clear from the Word that “it is God’s will that all should be saved” and that he will never turn away any that come to him.  I believe we need to consciously STOP asking him to do what he has already done, and begin thanking him for doing it.

OK... got it??  Let’s move on...

I believe that these same things are true of every aspect of our salvation, including power over sin, freedom from our old identity, the Truth of our new identity in Christ, our emotional healing, and also our physical healing.

IF.... we believe what I wrote in my last posting... More importantly, what God wrote in his word, THEN... “By his stripes we are healed.”  I believe we need to speak this truth over our own lives and the lives of those we love.

Our minds will need to be convinced of this in the same way it was convinced of the former.  We will need to study and learn the (actual... as opposed to perceived) word of God about this subject and then begin to take captive every thought and MAKE it obedient to the knowledge of Christ.  Then we will need to speak this Truth over our lives.  Audibly, inaudibly, I don’t know that it matters... I don’t think it does... what matters is that your heart ‘hears’ and believes the Truth.  As we do this we can begin to start using the word ‘thank you,’ even before we begin to see physical evidence because we know and are convinced that the necessary steps have already been taken.  The event occurred “in the courthouse, with a cat-o-nine-tails.”  We can thank him that physical healing is included in our salvation, and as such, given freely to all who receive.  Because the event occurred, we can know that God does not sit up in heaven and decide on a case by case basis if he will or will not heal.  Jesus already bore our weaknesses.  By his stripes we are healed!

This will feel foreign at first.  Bold.  Even, presumptuous. 

As a side note... I believe there are those who begin to say ‘thank you’ because someone told them to, prior to their hearts being convinced of the word of God, before being convinced of the event of the courthouse.  I think that ground is shaky, because faith needs to be grounded in Truth. Be convinced first...ask the Spirit of Christ to teach you... then take those first shaky steps.

We do not ‘ask’ Jesus to stand at the whipping post again for our healing.  The necessary steps have already been accomplished.  “It is finished”. ... You get the point...  I believe we need to consciously STOP asking him to do what he has already done, and begin thanking him for doing it.

This is very bold.  I realize that.  But, people are hurting.  They’re dying.  IF this is the Truth, then it NEEDS to be heard, even at the risk of offending.  You should know that after my ‘preach’ in my church, there were several who told me that I was dead wrong, that I had crossed the line, preached heresy, that what I spoke was not the Truth, that I had been abusive, offensive, and hurtful.  I still stand by what I said.  I stand by this.  In no way was it, nor is it my intention to offend, abuse, or hurt anyone.  I feel compelled to speak the Truth, come what may.  I know many that have been deeply offended by the message of salvation by grace when they first heard it.  They denied it, argued it, fought against it, and are now eternally grateful that someone took the time to share what they believed.  There are many who are offended by the thought that we need to be saved at all... ... Offence is not evidence of untruth...  I wish I had more courage to share this with more people, face to face.  It is substantially easier to hide here behind my computer screen. I am ashamed of that.

This is so long... but I still have more to say...