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5:13 – when suffering, pray – when cheerful, sing – Paul and Silas proved that out in jail.
Jesus, show me my heart and give me a spirit of confession today.
Show me your heart and give me a spirit of praise today.
Later when Jesus Himself took up His cross and followed love up the hill to His own death, He infused a whole new dimension into its meaning – forgiveness. The choice to forgive is the only remedy for the pain we carry inside from all the sin and abuse heaped on us by others or incurred by ourselves. To take up our cross means to consciously choose to embrace our pain and release all others, not holding anything against them. To take up our cross and follow is choosing to live in a constant disposition of continuous forgiveness for past, present and future sins committed against us.
Today's reading in My Utmost adds to this. “The cross stands for one things only for us – a complete and entire and absolute identification with the Lord Jesus Christ.” This is found primarily in prayer. Hence, “pray without ceasing” makes more sense.
God, work your amazing thing in Ethelyn's life. Surprise everyone by displaying your glory and power in transforming her far beyond all that we can imagine or think.
Paul and Silas were devotedly following the leading of the Spirit. They were seeing hearts opening to the good news about God and enjoying hospitality. Satan threw a curve ball that took them many days to figure out. He had a person who was clearly identified as under his possession praise them and speak only the truth about them giving them no good excuse to confront her.
But just like Jesus sending the demons out of the 2 men in Gadara, who then entered everyone in the region to stir them up with violent hatred, when the demon was ordered out of this girl, apparently unprovoked, the demons stirred up the whole city with mob violence.
This girl seemed to be doing no harm to anyone. She was not selling her body in prostitution. She was not foaming and wild-eyed and naked, she was highly respected and valued by the city and was helpful for “telling the future”. She was apparently a great asset to the community. She was not attacking or denigrating Paul and Silas or even disagreeing with them. She appeared to be supporting them fully and she was complimenting them. She seemed to be obviously an asset the their ministry and was supposedly adding to their success.
So why was Paul “greatly annoyed”? People were confused about the difference between Paul's source and the girl's source. They were basically saying the same. Paul was preaching freedom in Christ – she was affirming salvation while herself living in slavery not only to Satan but producing monetary increase for her masters. She was speaking the truth but she was not experiencing the freedom she talked about. She knew how to do and say the right things but her heart was locked up.
When Jesus set her free at Paul's word, the light exposed the true motives that had been behind the scenes – greed and influence. How many religious leaders today are operating in the same condition – loudly speaking the “truth” to keep the donations flowing to them. And when they are exposed the true messengers of grace will be attacked with unbridled ferocity and vicious malice. Then they must cling to God tenaciously in prayer and praise and singing just as Paul and Silas did.
I'm meditating on James 4 and it, of course, reinforces what God has been saying through all the video series by John Regier, Wilkenson and in Ty's books.
1-4
Conflict and quarrels come from roots – strongholds.
Worldly pleasure is God-designed pleasures that have been hi-jacked by Satan.
The root/source of conflicts is desire to be like and accepted by the world.
The world is a fake reality that when grasped turns out to be empty but full of pain.
In chasing after acceptance/conformity with society around me I make myself an enemy of God.
The fake reality is inherently designed to make me hostile to God and believe lies about Him.
5-6
God burns with passionate longing/desire/craving/obsession for intimacy with me/my heart and spirit.
The world leads me to believe the opposite about God making the Bible ineffective, discounting it.
Instead of reacting vengefully in His jealousy like we would, God pours on the grace to attract us more.
It I stay in PRIDE I find God and myself in opposition – blocked, emotionally locked away from grace.
If I choose to humble myself, reject the lies from Satan and the world about God, choose to believe the truth about God in His word and from His Spirit, I will experience His greater grace. I will see His jealousy not as anger but as white-hot passion to hod, embrace and love me to Himself forever.
7-10
The formula for connecting with God, the Source of real life and intense pleasure:
Submit/humble/believe/agree with God – instead of the devil and the world.
Resist/stop believing the lies/reject the devil – instead of resisting God's passion and attractions.
The problem, the block between God and I is all in me – not Him.
If I draw close to Him, spend time opening my heart and listening to His heart (like right now), He will always do the same with me plus much more.
As He shows me the lies and the obstructions in my life and my surroundings, I need to choose to remove/dispose of them to eliminate what perpetuates and reinforces the lies about Him and cause me to be double-minded and unstable because I believe opposite things about God at the same time.
