Refiners Fire for Salvation

If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the Scripture says, "WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; for "WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED."

(Romans 10:9-13)

I looked up the reference in the Old Testament which Paul quoted here at the end of this passage to see what the context was for this statement. I am aware that many like to lift this phrase out of context and jump to a conclusion that if one simply says certain words with their mouth that claim to be calling on the name of the Lord, then they become irrevocably “saved”, which in their interpretation means that they are now guaranteed a place in heaven no matter what else they do. That kind of teaching is not supported by the Bible when it is allowed to speak for itself and I do not believe it for a minute. People try to claim that this is the definition of assurance. In reality, it is making humans think they have power to manipulate the Almighty. However, I am very interested in finding out just what real truth Paul was trying to express in this passage. Here is more of the context of this reference that is found in Joel.

"It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; and your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days. I will display wonders in the sky and on the earth, blood, fire and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes. And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the LORD will be delivered; for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who escape, as the LORD has said, even among the survivors whom the LORD calls. (Joel 2:28-32)

While the Spirit may be poured out on all flesh or humanity, that does not mean that everyone will receive it. In James we are told that anyone who is double-minded does not have a working receiver capable of receiving from the Lord. In that case, even though the Spirit may be waiting and available, if we have not participated and cooperated in the work of purifying our faith through trials then we will not be equipped to receive and be empowered by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. But ask in faith, never doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind; for the doubter, being double-minded and unstable in every way, must not expect to receive anything from the Lord. (James 1:2-8 NRSV)

First I would like to note that given the context of both Romans 10 and Joel 2 it seems quite clear that the emphasis being made here is on God bypassing all the human differences that too often seem so important to us. That seems to be the main point that is being made in both of these passages. Whoever calls on the name of the LORD will be delivered. Paul refers to the prejudice that was felt between Jews and Greeks (or Gentiles) that he had previously addressed in chapter 2, For there is no partiality with God. (Romans 2:11), but Joel takes it much further and refers to the comparisons or distinctions of parent and child, old and young and even class distinctions of servants and masters.

This seems to be one of the most difficult things for the church in all ages to accept. Peter expressed it when he was confronted with the wrongness of his own prejudice by saying, "I see, beyond all doubt," he said, "that 'God does not show partiality,' But that in every nation he who reverences him and does what is right is acceptable to him." (Acts 10:34-35 TCNT)

I think it becomes more clear in these two passages that God has no use for the distinctions we seem to put so much value in between humans beings in various situations or even sexes. When God comes to relate to a person's heart there is not the slightest difference from His perspective between one human being and another. God's desire and passion is to connect every single heart to His own with intimate ties of love and affection in a covenant relationship that is permanent and secure. He is also eager to bond together the hearts of everyone who is thus being brought into relationship with Him by connecting them with each other in bonds of love and unity. And for that to take place we all have to be divested of our prejudices and artificial distinctions and false ideas about each other and God that prevent us from entering into the unity that God is bringing about in His family.

Secondly I would like to look a little more at the issue of those who may outwardly claim to call on the name of the Lord but who yet cannot be brought into paradise. I know this may make some people bristle, but it is still true. Jesus said Himself, “Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.” (Matthew 7:21) Did these people “call upon the name of the Lord”? Apparently they did, but yet Jesus says they will not enter the kingdom of heaven. So what gives here?

I think a very important key is found in James in the context of the other verses we have looked at here. And I also think Paul has been developing this truth all throughout the book of Romans up to this point. Just because people make a profession of serving God and do any amount of religious activities and make all sorts of religious claims about believing in God does not mean that they will be found in heaven. The Jews experience has made that abundantly clear and Paul is addressing that very issue throughout the book of Romans.

The problem is still very much the same today. There are millions who are resting in the false hope that because they repeated some kind of religious words like a mantra and then believe that they are predestined and guaranteed a place in the kingdom of heaven. The Jews lived under a similar delusion but it did not prevent them from killing God Himself in the flesh. Paul is making it very clear in the previous verses that confessing with the mouth alone (a left brain based religious experience) is not enough to get one aligned properly with God and enter His kingdom. There must be a heart transformation that takes place that coincides with the confession that is then made by the mouth. The heart-based beliefs must be purified by exposure in the fires of trial, acknowledged and released so that the truth of God believed at the heart level (faith) can become more and more pure. As the lies about God embedded in the heart are exposed and replaced with the presence of the Holy Spirit that brings in truth, spontaneous faith and love is the natural result. Then the confession of the mouth that Jesus is our Lord is actually a statement of truth, not just a rhetorical recitation of some “magic words” that supposedly force God to guarantee us a place in paradise.

God is not in the business of making us jump through hidden hoops or perform certain gimmicks so that we can go to heaven. God's desire is to enter into the most intimate of relationships with every person who is willing, in the total freedom of their own choice without any coercion or force from the outside against their will, to enter into an intelligent covenant relationship with Him by sacrifice of themselves. "Gather to me my consecrated ones, who made a covenant with me by sacrifice." (Psalms 50:5 NIV)

Paul made this very same point later in Romans 12. Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:1-2 NIV)

This transformation is the very same thing that happens when metal is transformed from a state of ore to the beauty and strength of purity in the smelting process. But God does not force anyone to cooperate with this process. We will all have the heat of trials come into our lives, but the choices we make as to how we respond to that heat makes all the difference as to whether we end up with a purified faith that is bonded to the heart of God or we retain our impurities and have to be discarded with the slag.

Salvation is the plan and process whereby anyone may be purified and prepared for the pure heat of God's glory in His presence. But it is always our own free choice that determines whether or not that process is successful in our hearts. This purification is a heart work much more than it is a collection of true information stored in the intellect. It is very painful work and most people sadly are unwilling to participate in this work. They are eager to trust in their theories and formulas, their assurance that they have the right doctrines or know more “truth” than others. But just like the Jews who also had “all the truth” in their religion, if we do not allow the refiners fire to expose the right brain experiential lie-based beliefs that cause our emotions to betray our professions of piety and receive the healing needed to replace those false ideas, then we will find ourselves arguing with Jesus in the judgment as to why we are found on the wrong side of the gates.

What is this process? How does God refine our faith so that it is more pure and effective?

In short, we need to realize our true condition and how our left and right brain process and store things radically differently. Our memories and experience make up all of what we are inside and determine how we relate to any circumstance or relationship that we currently meet. However, the memories of the very same events from our past are stored in both sides of our brain but in very different ways. Our left brain stores facts and concrete information and data about an event whereas our right brain remembers the feelings, emotions and deductions that we made about the event stored as pictures, feelings and how it made us feel about our value.

Quite often, but usually unknown to us cognitively, the conclusions that we have about an early event in our life are contradictory between our intellectual memory and our emotional memory. But it is events from our past, especially those formed very early in our life in our formative years, that today make up most of how we perceive and react to life. When we have a negative emotional reaction to what someone says to us or an unfair circumstance, the real source of the emotion has very little to do with the current event even though it feels very much like it does. When we are honest enough to face that emotion, instead of suppressing or ignoring or running away from it; if we are willing to disconnect it temporarily from the current circumstance, then we are capable of allowing its original root memory to come back into consciousness and we are very close to discovering the belief that is driving our current experience of this emotion.

Within every root memory there is an intense belief about ourself and/or God that became the basis by which we always relate to any new stimulus that is somewhat similar in nature to the original memory. If that core belief (which has very little to do with a cognitive belief which is on the other side of the brain) is false, and it very often is, then when we are triggered by a current circumstance, comment or other situation that stimulates that memory we will experience an immediate emotional reaction that is always based accurately on the belief that is held in our heart.

Again, I am not talking about intellectual, cognitive beliefs held my our mind on the left side that are much easier to identify and relate to. I am talking about experiential beliefs that lie deeply buried in our right brain emotional history that are far out of reach of our left brain capabilities to access. And even when we do become consciously aware of these emotional beliefs with our left brain it is still unable to change them because the left brain has no equipment to make alterations in the right brain beliefs. It can only make changes in the left brain, fact-oriented memory files that are parallel to the right ones which do not change what we really believe. For what really drives our life is the beliefs that are hidden in our heart and that will drive our responses to outside stimuli's when triggered.

Unfortunately, most religions have tried to create all sorts of gimmicks and formulas to deal with this problem, but always unsuccessful in dealing with the root problem. We may be able to create convincing masks that make us appear to be healed, but if the root beliefs are not allowed to be exposed and brought to the open and dealt with in ways that are truly effective, then we can never really believe the truth with a pure heart. It is only through the process of refinement talked about in James and in other places in Scripture that we will ever successfully be prepared and purified for the intensity of fire that is found in the presence of God.

So how does this process work correctly? How can we come to count it all “joy” when we encounter various trials that turn up the heat of the refiners fire?

When we are triggered emotionally, we are really entering into a wonderful opportunity to access a belief, often hidden, rooted in a memory that cannot be accessed in any other way. The negative emotions are fueled by the heat caused by the resistance produced by a lie-based belief. Our emotions can always be trusted. I know this sounds almost heretical to some, but it is nevertheless true. I am not saying that our emotions are guidelines to show us how to act or react to any given situation. But our emotions are always completely reliable to reveal to us a belief that is held deep within our heart, our right brain memories, that is the foundation and springboard for that emotion appearing in that kind of circumstance.

Whenever we experience this emotion it is really an invitation from God to allow Him access to our heart to do a healing, transformational work that will further purify our heart if we are willing to not avoid it or run away or suppress it. He will not force us to cooperate, but if we are willing to be completely honest and go into that emotion and trace it back to its root in our heart, then God is faithful and just to expose the false belief that we have so long believed to be true and will speak healing truth and peace into that root memory that will bring instant healing and wholeness to that part of our heart. From then on, anytime we encounter an event that would normally trigger that negative emotion, we will find to our amazement that in the place of that disruptive, destructive emotion and pain we will only experience the peace of Christ. This is the work of purification that God eagerly wants to work in each of our hearts.

If we choose any other option to avoid exposure when faced with these emotions, then we will pass up the opportunity to receive the necessary healing that God wants to work in us and will be forced to repeat the problem again and again until we are willing to own our feelings and beliefs or we have hardened our heart beyond repair. All of us have many, many lie-based beliefs buried in our hearts that need to experience the transformation of healing that God is ready to do for us. But the choice is always ours as to whether we will take ownership of our “stuff” or we will go into denial, avoidance or blame.

As stated in James 1, God is faithful to give us the all the wisdom we need generously whenever we get our “receiver” synchronized with the convicting Spirit of God by facing and owning the symptomatic feelings that warn us of underlying problems of the heart. That is what the word “confession” simply means – agreeing with God. If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord... Whenever we make that choice, we will experience the inflowing power of the peace that passes all understanding, peace that is unexplainable by the left brain logic. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:7 NIV)

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Ecstatic Delight in Problems

I found the reading in My Utmost to be very appropriate for my circumstances today. It also reminds me of things I am learning in the heart from my study of Romans 10.

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you. . . . Let not your heart be troubled. John 14:27.

Whenever a thing becomes difficult in personal experience, we are in danger of blaming God, but it is we who are in the wrong, not God, there is some perversity somewhere that we will not let go. Immediately we do, everything becomes as clear as daylight. As long as we try to serve two ends, ourselves and God, there is perplexity. The attitude must be one of complete reliance on God. When once we get there, there is nothing easier than living the saintly life; difficulty comes in when we want to usurp the authority of the Holy Spirit for our own ends.

Whenever you obey God, His seal is always that of peace, the witness of an unfathomable peace, which is not natural, but the peace of Jesus. Whenever peace does not come, tarry till it does or find out the reason why it does not. If you are acting on an impulse, or from a sense of the heroic, the peace of Jesus will not witness; there is no simplicity or confidence in God, because the spirit of simplicity is born of the Holy Ghost, not of your decisions. Every decision brings a reaction of simplicity.

My questions come whenever I cease to obey. When I have obeyed God, the problems never come between me and God, they come as probes to keep the mind awake and amazed at the revelation of God. Any problem that comes between God and myself springs out of disobedience; any problem, and there are many, that is alongside me while I obey God, increases my ecstatic delight, because I know that my Father knows, and I am going to watch and see how He unravels this thing.

Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI : Discovery House Publishers, 1993, c1935, S. December 14

I particularly like the last paragraph. I want to live with that kind of outlook and view problems as opportunities to keep my mind awake and amazed at the revelation of God. I want to have my heart in tune with the heart of God in a relationship of obedience, that is, obedience to His call for me to believe in His goodness and desires to bring life into the places of pain and death in my own heart. Beyond wanting to, I choose to do that today.

Problems are simply means by which the triggers in my heart are tested to see how much healing needs to yet take place. If I choose to obey God by cooperating with His plans and methods for my healing, then I can enjoy this “ecstatic delight, because I know that my Father knows, and I am going to watch and see how He unravels this thing.”

I have learned from Romans 10 that obedience has much more to do with how my heart relates to God than it has to do with the outward symptoms that appear in my actions and performance. Instead of trying to manipulate and groom my outward appearances to look like an acceptable “Christian”, which Paul declares is going about trying to establish my own righteousness, obedience is a heart-focused relationship that is designed to synchronize my life and impulses with the character and impulses of God. That is radically different than the religion that I grew up in and that I still see taught all around me. But I am coming to realize more and more that it is the true religion of Christ who's mission statement was: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." (Luke 4:18-19 NRSV)

This is the same gospel – good news – that Paul was preaching and wrote about in the book of Romans. Here are some of the things that I am seeing in this passage (inserted throughout the quote).

But what does it say? "The word (Jesus is the Word Himself and is really the one who) is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith (a spontaneous response of trust and confidence when I see how trustworthy God really is) we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," (I notice that speaking truth out loud makes a powerful impact on the mind and heart much more than simply thinking about it) and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead (and so can likewise bring life into the recesses of death in my own heart and soul), you will be saved (healed, restored to wholeness). For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified (aligned properly in correct relationship with God), and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved (confirming openly and thereby sealing the work that God does at the heart level). As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame (God never makes you feel worthless or demeaned. He is in the business of imparting a sense of empowering identity and inestimable worth to our soul)." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile (no discrimination on the part of God between any human beings whether believers or unbelievers, religious or anti-religious) – the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him (the only criteria for enjoying the rich blessing of God is that we ask for Him with our heart which gives Him permission to release His extra-rich blessings and presence in our life), for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved (restored to our original design of joy and intimacy with God and wholeness of being)." (Romans 10:8-13 NIV)

The Two Options of Righteousness

As I look again at Romans 10 I see something interesting about righteousness. Apparently there are two ways of arriving at the same thing; two different options of how to be righteous but not two different kinds of righteousness. For I do not believe that Paul is saying here that there can be more than one real concept called righteousness.

I am again forced to go back and revisit the confusing issue of trying to define this word that has been pretty much a mystery to me all of my life. Not that there is any shortage of offered definitions floating around in the world. But I am looking for the real definition that not only makes sense logically but fits perfectly into the heart as well as the mind.

For starters I just looked up the word from its Greek origin and here is part of what I found. Righteousness means equitable (in character or act); by implication, innocent, holy (absolutely or relatively): – just. So from this explanation this word can obviously have very broad application both to internal qualities of a living being and the way this being expresses those inner qualities in their actions and interactions with others. Their character and actio

ns both will be fair (that's what I take equitable to mean) and just, which is pretty much the same concept. They will also be innocent, which means they are free of both evil motives and evil actions. They are also holy which means totally dedicated to something or someone (see some of these terms on my growing list of definitions).

The Bible says that only God is holy. And it also teaches that really only God is righteous and that all real righteousness comes from Him. That creates a very interesting situation for unpacking these verses in Romans 10:5-13 regarding righteousness.

For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. (Romans 10:5)

What I see in this verse is the strong implication that real righteousness is not only a description of qualities and a condition but is also a source of life itself. Somehow righteousness is a description of what brains are pre-hardwired to look for to get life.

Just like a newborn baby intuitively knows how to look for a mother's breast to receive life and nourishment to thrive, I believe humans are designed to hunger and look for something call righteousness from which to receive life and nourishment to stay alive and thrive.

In that case, going about to establish our own righteousness is like a baby trying to suck on a toy or anything else that feels like it might be a source of nourishment but is not the real thing. Worse yet, it is trying to create the source of nourishment by looking to one's own self as the source from which to draw nourishment. It is like insisting on only sucking your thumb to receive all the nourishment you need for life. It becomes quickly obvious that for a being to look to itself as the source of life for very long will only result in sucking the life out of themselves, for nothing can depend on its own life to be the source of its own life. Only God can depend on Himself to be a source of energy and life because God is the only self-existent one. He is the one and only source of life for everything else that exists.

When viewed in this perspective, what this verse is really saying is that if someone decides that they are going to be righteous based on a description of what righteousness looks like – the Law – then they are going to have to depend on a self-generated perfect conformity in every detail to what God is like as well as be a self-existent source of life for themselves, for that is the real meaning of righteousness viewed through the Law. They are entering the role of being God themselves and are depending on themselves and their performance as their source of life.

But just as it is an impossibility in the physical world for a baby to nourish itself and thrive by drawing life from its own body, so also is this an impossibility in the realm of righteousness as well. What is really taking place here is that anyone attempting to be righteous by perfectly keeping the Law is actually setting themselves up as their own god, their source of life. They come to worship themselves and their own works, knowledge and performance and depend on their own achievements and appearances to be the source and reason why they should be able to live forever.

So, since this is an absurd impossibility, what is the real way to get life so that we can thrive and receive the life (righteousness) that we need? The answer comes in the next few verses that

present once again the message of salvation that is the reason the whole Bible is given to us. Real righteousness – the real way to get the life we must have – is by aligning ourself in proper relationship with the one and only Source of life, the only righteous One in the universe.

It involves using the equipment that we have been given in the proper way and connecting it to the proper source, just like a newborn must use the mouth and all its other organs it was born with to connect with the breast and life-giving milk that is provided for it from an outside person that is mature and much greater than the child.

The healthy newborn baby has instinctively a measure of faith that the mother's breast will provide what it needs and desires. Otherwise, it would not even try to suckle and drink and rest in its mother's love. Just so, we have to exercise the measure of faith that each one of us possesses and respond to the loving care of our Creator and draw life from Him using the equipment He has given us. And the primary equipment that we are given with which to receive life from God is our heart, that deepest sense of our being that is largely located physically, I believe, in the right brain.

It is with our heart and emotions that we successfully connect with the current of life streaming from the heart of God. It must be with our heart, not just our intellect, that we believe at a much deeper level in the goodness and loving-kindness of God to provide what we need and crave, just like a baby trusts its mother implicitly to provide all of its needs and desires while drinking her milk from directly over her heart. This even gives an interesting new meaning to Paul's statement that the word of faith is near you, not far away, but is already in your mouth and in your heart. You already have the equipment you need for nourishment, you just have to use it in the proper relationship with the only Source of life and nourishment.

So what is that proper relationship? Verses 9-11 makes it very clear. We have to relate to Jesus as our Lord, the one who is bigger than us in every way, our Mother/Father God and who is mature and has the capacity to give us what we need. We use our mouth to acknowledge our proper relationship to Him that our heart cries out for. That is the part that our left brain resists doing in its pride and independence and must be surrendered in humility.

Secondly, our right brain that is so full of fear and doubt and overwhelmed with pain and the shadows of death must choose to believe that God is a reliable source of life and healing for anything associated with pain and death. Through the demonstration of the power seen in the resurrection of Christ from the grave after He suffered more pain and results of sin than any being will ever experience, we are given the evidence of God's ability to bring life and hope into any place filled with the tinges of death. There is no heart so full of pain and fear and death that it cannot be brought to life if it is willing to open itself to receive that healing and life.

But just like a baby cannot be forced to drink, so too God will not force our hearts to receive the life that He so desires to give to us. Real love demands complete freedom of choice, and God is only interested in a relationship of love with all of His created beings. Forced obedience is an invention of the devil, and God will not accept any such pollution into the environment of heaven. Real obedience is a natural response from hearts that believe the truth about how God feels about them and receives the love that He pours into them. When a person believes with the heart, the spontaneous result is righteousness.

But this righteousness is not something created by the person any more than the growth and health of a baby is something it somehow generated on its own by drawing life from itself. Life is imparted only in relationships, and real righteousness is like the milk that imparts life to our thirsty hearts. When we connect our empty, hungry hearts to the heart of our loving Parent in heaven and open our mouth to receive it, we will begin to experience the inflow of life and the natural effects of vitality and growth that spring from that life.

For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed." (Romans 10:11)

So, this all sounds good on paper and in theory, and I believe that it is important to understand the theory to some extent. But what does it look like in real life? How do I, in practical, everyday life go about connecting my heart with the heart of God? How to I link up with Him/Her to drink the living water/milk that is waiting to nourish my soul?

Well, to offer a pat, simplistic answer to that question would be an insult to the depth of it and the nature of the answer. Issues of the heart are very difficult to translate into words at times but must necessarily be attempted anyway for communications sake. I will simply say that it is the journey that I am on to find that answer for myself experimentally. I am in process myself of trying to learn what it means to live from my heart, to receive the healing and nourishment at the heart level that I desperately need to be restored to wholeness and to enjoy the satisfaction that does not disappoint.

I invite you to join those who are choosing to explore this life of connecting to the only Source of righteousness. There are many who are discovering the joy of receiving the same attentions from God as a baby receives from its mother. (see Isaiah 66:9-14) I believe that the real way to prepare for end time events is to learn experientially what it means to live in intimate connection with God's heart and thrive with the nourishment of joy and peace that He has to feed our heart. Preparation for the end of the world is not found in memorizing proof-texts or steeling the mind against false doctrines (which usually also means hardening the heart), but it is in becoming real, getting totally honest about the real pain and emptiness of our heart and living with a vital, dynamic connection to the heart of our Savior.

I am learning very slowly how to exercise my heart a little more each day. I sometimes have to refrain from writing or even thinking so much to allow room for my heart to do whatever it is that it does in the presence of God. I cannot cognitively understand how my heart operates but I am learning that it needs to function much more freely than I have ever allowed it to before. So in the safety of the grace of God and trusting in God to finish the work He has started within me, I am exploring what it means to know about God's righteousness (Romans 10:3).

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The Lust Counterfeit

Yesterday I was listening to some talks by Craig Hill while I was working and he gave a definition of lust which got me to thinking again about the big picture and how some of the puzzle pieces fit together. It occurred to me that lust is a counterfeit and anywhere there is a counterfeit then there is an exciting original waiting to come into use.

Craig says that lust is not what most people usually think of when they hear the word – a primarily sexual craving for something immoral. To view lust as always associated with sexuality is to restrict its meaning far too much and leave out many things which have a great deal of lust embedded in them. Lust is simply a strong desire, an intensity of emotion.

When he said this I immediately thought of what I have been learning about God's wrath. I have learned that what is termed God's wrath in the Bible is really His intense passionate love that is misconstrued and distorted through our misconceptions of Him so that we believe He is angry and vengeful toward us. The real truth is that it is not God who is angry at us (though He is very angry about what sin is doing to alienate us from Him) but it is the distortions caused by sin that create the illusion of great wrath in our minds when we catch a glimpse of the intensity of His passion for us.

One of the characteristics of God's love is that it is always “other-centered” and completely selfless. It thrives on giving life and love and joy to others and lives to enrich the life of all who will receive it. It has an enormous amount of passion behind it which is so far beyond our ability to imagine that it has to be veiled to protect us from its overwhelming intensity. But even the little that we do see we pervertedly believe is not love but is anger toward us. We have been so thoroughly saturated with the deceptions and lies of Satan about God that we are extremely resistant to believe the real truth about what God is like and how He feels toward us. But that very resistance is our greatest danger.

This is the original quality of God which is counterfeited by the feeling of lust promoted by sin. Lust too, has a great deal of passion and intensity within it just as God's love does. I remembered reading in My Utmost for His Highest a definition of lust that was very helpful to me and when I looked it up this morning I came across a number of different quotes about lust in that book that were very enlightening.

While being the counterfeit of real, passionate love, lust in many ways is opposite of love while being similar on the surface. Where love is passionately focused on selfless giving and blessing others, lust is plotting and scheming how to forcibly get life and pleasure and satisfaction for itself by every means possible. This is where the stark difference between the kingdom of God and the principles of Satan become very clear and obvious.

God designed the universe originally to live in complete trusting dependence on receiving blessings from God directly and through others and then spontaneously, selflessly, passionately giving to enrich others. There is no trace of selfishness in the life of a perfect mind functioning as it was originally designed. All creatures in heaven live to bless others and everything receives to give. It is not a forced relationship but a joyful bond of love and praise and gratitude that makes the heart thrive and swell with increasing love and happiness.

But in the emptiness of our hearts caused by our condition of sin, we mistakenly believe that we have to forcibly get life to fill our emptiness or we will soon suffer even more pain and die. We have been led to think that if we do not look out for ourselves and protect what little we have, then no one is going to look out for us, so we have to do everything possible to fill the aching void within us on our own. This is the basic lie of lust.

Lust means—I must have it at once. Spiritual lust makes me demand an answer from God, instead of seeking God Who gives the answer.

Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest February 7.

When I picked up My Utmost and read today's reading I was reminded of what had come to my attention yesterday again. In this reading it was emphasized yet again this problem of the counterfeit of lust. I find it interesting that God brings these things to my attention just before I read them.

The shell of individuality is God’s created natural covering for the protection of the personal life; but individuality must go in order that the personal life may come out and be brought into fellowship with God. Individuality counterfeits personality as lust counterfeits love. God designed human nature for Himself; individuality debases human nature for itself.

The characteristics of individuality are independence and self-assertiveness. It is the continual assertion of individuality that hinders our spiritual life more than anything else. If you say—‘I cannot believe,’ it is because individuality never can believe. Personality cannot help believing.

Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest December 11.

Temptation is a suggested short cut to the realization of the highest at which I aim—not towards what I understand as evil, but towards what I understand as good. Temptation is something that completely baffles me for a while, I do not know whether the thing is right or wrong. Temptation yielded to is lust deified, and is a proof that it was timidity that prevented the sin before.

Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest September 17.

This reveals the nature of what the Bible refers to as our “flesh”; the part of our mind that offers its help to solve our problems, resolve our pain and bring life into our emptiness. It is always on our side, it claims to be working for our good and has our interest in mind. It seems to be our very identity for it has been with us since before birth. It is the most familiar part of our being and to deny it and choose another Source to meet our needs that is in conflict with our natural desires and ideas seems patently absurd.

It is the most logical thing in the world to look out for ourself, satisfy our own longings and work in any way possible to fill our own heart with anything and everything that looks like it will bring satisfaction and increased life. That is the basic motivation of every person on earth, but ironically it operates at the expense of those around us. It is the essence of lust and it underlies most of the violence and problems that we see in the world around us.

When I stop to analyze the deeper underlying motives behind much of what we do or are tempted to do, I begin to see that the real motives themselves are not nearly as wicked-looking as much of the activity that proceeds from them. We don't like to admit it because we want to believe that somehow people who do horrible, socially unacceptable things are more evil inside than the rest of us. But that is really not true. Every one of us contains the same virus even though most of us do not see its potential. But given the right circumstances and opportunities, if not checked or removed by the power of God the virus will flourish and produce the same fruit in our own lives as what we abhor in the lives of those we despise and condemn. In fact, the more condemnation we feel toward someone else's behavior the more likely we are to do the same, for the resonance that causes us to condemn them so intensely is the hidden lust within us that contains the seed to do the same.

Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. (Romans 2:1 NRSV)

Are we openly doing the very same things? Probably not, at least at this point in time. But remember, reality is much more a condition of the heart than it is the perceptions of the externals going on around us. God sees things as they really are and He does not look on the externals, on how we keep up appearances, but on the state of our heart. And it is the same motive of lust in our heart that causes us to judge the fruit of that lust in someone else's life.

If considered carefully, the real motives behind most, if not all crimes and immorality is a deep craving to get some sort of life or satisfaction for one's self at the expense of someone else. The whole economy of the world revolves around this principle. We adore and “worship” the stars of entertainment because we crave the beauty and “happiness” that they portray to us in a subconscious hope that somehow a little will come into our life as a result. People commit sexual acts largely because they subconsciously are trying to bring into their own being the various aspects of beauty and life that they see in another, but it is at the expense of the other. Even acts of abuse, torture and murder if viewed from the deepest part of the psyche are attempts to forcibly extract life from someone else in a twisted attempt to feel more alive by being in control. The examples are endless.

A very interesting point in this area is the understanding that the main reason that cannibals eat other humans is not from motives of hatred but from a notion that if one partakes of the life-blood and certain organs of a more enlightened person then he could take into himself the desired attributes of that person. This kind of reasoning was much more clear in ancient and more primitive cultures where people would eat the heart of lions to become more brave and other such practices. These are all symptomatic of the same root false belief, that somehow by taking life from others, whether openly and violently or partially and subtly, that we can somehow increase the amount of life we possess ourself. It is the belief of the survival of the fittest, the very definition of Satan's modus operandi.

So it really comes down to a very simple choice that we have to make on a continual basis. We will either live to serve ourself first and follow the emotions and feelings and suggestions for getting life for ourself offered up by our flesh, or we will choose to die to self, to crucify the flesh and the lusts that it thrives on and look to the Spirit to led us as children of God and give us life from God.

We are always looking for life, and there is nothing wrong with that; it is hardwired into our very nature. We need life and blessing and nourishment in every area of our existence. But beyond that the choices we make as to how we are going to receive/get those needs fulfilled makes all the difference in the world.

The plan of salvation is provided to give us a way back to our original design so that we can be rewired to once again function in selfless harmony with the rest of creation. This is the transformation that comes from the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:2). Or we can choose to trust in our own lust to get for us the things we need to survive but which ultimately bring pain and death to others and eventually to ourselves. The two options are mutually exclusive. We either live by the principle of grasping and working to save ourselves or we have to die to self and allow the selfless nature of the Son of God to dwell in our hearts and then live in the power of the resurrection each day.

Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. (1 John 2:15-17)

Two Different Realities

The more I meditate and research what I am seeing, not only here in Romans 10 but all throughout the Bible and even in what is coming out on a regular basis from science on how our brain functions, the more clearly I am seeing two distinct ways of relating to life, to religion, to God, to reality. Originally before sin was developed in the mind of Lucifer, the minds of all beings reflected how the mind of God worked. Everyone lived from their heart which was full of unselfish love and passion to be a blessing to everyone around them. God lived to bless all of His creation and in turn all creation lived to enrich and bless the heart of God. It was the perfect example of perpetual motion in the extreme. Everything sprung from the heart and emotions were intense, open and unashamed. Everything that happened in the external, physical realm simply reflected the realities of the intense love emanating from the inside. In this atmosphere of selflessness there was perfect harmony, synchronization and satisfaction.

Lucifer began an experiment that produced unthinkably tragic results by meddling with the perfect order of how one thinks, relates and views himself and others. It is laid out in Ezekiel 28 where there is a very enlightening revelation of what went on inside Lucifer's head as he shifted his focus from heart-based, natural, life-giving interaction to externally-focused, self-centered, life-depriving existence. Though I do not have time to examine all the references here they can be seen by carefully observe the implications found in the descriptions of Lucifer's problems in both Ezekiel 28 and Isaiah 14. Notice the specific references that indicate the transition.

'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Because your heart is lifted up And you have said, 'I am a god, I sit in the seat of gods In the heart of the seas'; Yet you are a man and not God, Although you make your heart like the heart of God-- Behold, you are wiser than Daniel; There is no secret that is a match for you. "By your wisdom and understanding You have acquired riches for yourself And have acquired gold and silver for your treasuries. "By your great wisdom, by your trade You have increased your riches And your heart is lifted up because of your riches-- ...

...'Thus says the Lord GOD, "You had the seal of perfection, Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. "You were in Eden, the garden of God; Every precious stone was your covering: The ruby, the topaz and the diamond; The beryl, the onyx and the jasper; The lapis lazuli, the turquoise and the emerald; And the gold, the workmanship of your settings and sockets, was in you. On the day that you were created They were prepared. "You were the anointed cherub who covers, And I placed you there. You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked in the midst of the stones of fire. "You were blameless in your ways From the day you were created until unrighteousness was found in you. "By the abundance of your trade You were internally filled with violence, and you sinned; Therefore I have cast you as profane From the mountain of God. And I have destroyed you, O covering cherub, From the midst of the stones of fire. "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; You corrupted your wisdom by reason of your splendor.... In the unrighteousness of your trade You profaned your sanctuaries.... (Ezekiel 28:2-18)

"But you said in your heart, 'I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north. 'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.' (Isaiah 14:13-14)

There was a distinct shift, not only from an orientation of serving others to looking out more for himself, but from the results of focusing on his own external beauty, his own external splendor, his own wisdom and intelligence. In doing so God says that internally he became filled with violence, the disruption that occurs internally when anyone chooses to live differently than how they were designed and created to live. In seeking to exalt himself instead of exalting others and his Creator he accomplishes just the opposite in the end as what he is attempting to achieve.

This is the history, the background, the context within which everything else lies. Lucifer started a rebellion against the natural order of things, offering a counterfeit way of living with false promises of better results and more satisfaction than what God has to offer. And one of the basic premises in his alternative lifestyle is a focus on the externals over internal values, a shift in focus from living selflessly from a heart filled with love to living from an empty heart clamoring for fulfillment through external pleasures and selfish grasping for anything that will fill our own cravings. The things considered important and valuable in the counterfeit reality are externally oriented, behavior-focused and self-exalting. Instead of trusting our loving Creator to value us and satisfy our heart needs we are compelled to look out for ourselves and get everything we can get for ourselves in fear of feeling empty and worthless. Lucifer models for us just how to live in self-service and self-protection and everyone infected with his spirit, tainted with the virus of sin has this mindset embedded deep in the flesh of their brain.

God has put into place a means whereby anyone who wishes to escape this trap can be restored, healed and returned to the original design of creation. With their permission and cooperation He will teach them once again to return the focus of their life to internal values and reconnect with the unfallen universe through learning to live selflessly motivated with the passion of God dwelling in their hearts. It is called the plan of salvation and it is fully in place and available to anyone wishing and willing to submit to it.

Of course Satan (previously Lucifer) works tirelessly to subvert and distort everything God puts into place that would expose the fallacy of the lies that his system is based on. So he has confused us into what the real issues are in the great debate between his system of life and God's perfect arrangement. Satan has infected every aspect of religion so that what should reveal the way back to God becomes yet another means of self-exaltation, exploitation of others and a means of focusing of the externals in place of the internals.

One of the main tricks that Satan uses to keep us confused and off balance is to keep us living primarily from our conscious, intellectual mind and repress the heart that God designed us to live from. In addition he has also done many things to infect and corrupt our heart making it extremely suspicious of God's love for us thereby insulating us from receiving the very healing that God offers to restore us to freedom and joy. One of the main ways Satan has accomplished this is by getting people to focus on the externals in everything God says to them while ignoring and being oblivious to all the things addressed to the heart. By keeping the mind in front of the heart he manages to keep them off balance, keeping the cart before the horse so to speak.

What we see here in Romans are two groups of people that display attitudes characteristic of one side or the other.

For religion addicts the focal point is the rules, the Law.

For relational people the focal point is their relationships to others, the feelings and sense of bonding with others.

10:4 says that for those who live by faith – have a relational attitude toward God – then when they think about the Law of God it simply reminds them of Christ who is the focal point of the Law.

As I looked at verses 6-8 I wanted to understand what this really meant. These verses have always somewhat mystified me and so I went back to where they were quoted from and read them in the context of the whole chapter of Deuteronomy 30. What I found was very amazing to me considering what we often think of finding in the Old Testament. What I found was a passionate appeal by Moses to the people of God to live from their hearts and get their focus on internal values instead of externals. He had a clear picture of the real issues in the great controversy between God and Satan and he was pleading with the people to live differently than the method they had chosen at Mount Sinai, “all that the Lord has said we will do”. Basically they promised God to just show them the rules and they would perform them – a hopeless proposition but one that many are still attempting yet today.

In the verses from this chapter referred to by Paul in Romans, Moses is saying the same thing that Paul is again saying to anyone who will listen with their heart. The real way to live successfully – in connection with God the only Source of life – is to get away from our focus on the externals – Who will ascend to bring Christ... Who will descend to bring Christ... God is pleading with us to return to our original design of living from the heart and receiving the healing we need at the heart level. But the Word (Christ) is near you already, in your mouth and in your heart. So real spirituality is not focused somewhere outside of you on external things or behaviors but on the things you believe both with your intellect that you say with your mouth and the deeper things you believe with your heart that provide the basis for all of your expressions. When these two areas agree then there is no sense of conflict (guilt) and the person is saved (restored, healed). This condition brings deep and real satisfaction, for whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.

Here are a few thoughts on some of the things farther on in this chapter. I may take time to explore them more at a later time, but here are some initial thoughts.

The whole sequence of logic in verses 14 and 15 must be viewed in the context of heart vs. head knowledge emphasized repeatedly in the previous verses. Since that is so, then what people need in the messenger who is sent to make them aware of God, that in turn elicits faith and trust in God, is one who also demonstrates in their own life the kind of faith and intimacy with God that makes their words and message so powerful. The passage just said that it is with the heart that a person believes (10) so then shifting emphasis over to head knowledge in the act of preaching is to miss the main point of the text.

Another important point that is often overlooked or missed altogether is the step of being sent. This has strong implications of the messenger being backed and supported by a bonded community of mature people to which he is accountable and in which he can draw wisdom, counsel and encouragement. To be sent means that there is a launching pad of dedicated, committed people who are a rich resource of provision and wisdom and joy to the messengers selected by God to be the examples and announcers of the gospel to those do not yet know God personally. It is a group of people who strongly believe in and encourage the gifts and calling that are evident in the person being sent. They are people who are supportive in every way possible, not only financially but even more importantly with their personal investment of time, prayers and jealous support of the emotional and spiritual health of the person who represents them and their God. They are willing to invest their hearts and trust into the life of the person being sent. They become the umbilical cord through which supplemental life from God and from their resources can flow into the life and soul of the messenger.

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