| Excerpts
from The Way of Agape continued...
Loved Once Again
Of course, all this love and freedom has caused Chuck to "fall
in love" with me all over again. So now I'm not only getting
God's supernatural Love (as I continually lay my will and
life down to Him), but I'm also getting back from Chuck all
the human, emotional love that I used to dream of...
Not Perfect
I still have negative thoughts and feelings, and I will until
the day I meet Jesus face to face. But as I choose--moment
to moment--to give these things over to the Lord and not dump
them on Chuck, my kids, or my family, God's Love can continue
to flow...
God's Love through us is the only thing that will bring our
husbands, our children, our relatives, and our friends back
to Him. It's His lovingkindness, in spite of the circumstances,
that is going to draw them.
Willing to Love
We need to be willing to love with God's Love, even if our
circumstances and our situations never change. Our motivation
is wrong if we are loving only to have our circumstances or
the other person change. That is again conditional, human
love and not God's Love...
Abundant Life
God desires us all to have His abundant Love-filled Life right
where we are walking now. God's Life is: His supernatural
Love, His supernatural Wisdom and His supernatural Power.
John 10:10 says, "I am come that they might have life, and
that they might have it more abundantly."
God is not talking about heavenly life, but life right here
on earth. Right now! Abundant Life is simply experiencing
God's Life through us. God wants us to have this kind
of life, even in the midst of our trials and our circumstances.
That's the miracle He's after. To me, this is far more dramatic
and more of a testimony to others than all the "signs and
wonders" in the world! Joy, peace, and love come not with
the absence of trials, but with the presence of God.
The question we always come back to is: Are you willing? Are
you willing to allow God to perform a miracle through you?
Are you willing to lay down your will and your life so that
God's Love can be released through you to others?
1 John 3:16 says, "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because
He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our
lives for the brethren."...
The Secret
The secret is that "I am not the one loving--it's God! He's
the source of Love, and He's the One in the business of love-making.
I'm the one, however who gets all the benefits when I allow
Him to love through me.
Oh, how our worlds would change if we would all choose to
be "professional lovers." First, loving God with all our
heart, will and soul; then, loving others as ourselves.
This is truly God's Way of Agape.
"Jesus said, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This
is the first and great commandment. And the second is like
unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these
two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matthew
22:37-40).
Chapter 14: Eight Steps to Survival
"The big task is not the finding
of the truth, but the living of it!" What good are God's
principles if they don't change our lives?
The following eight steps are steps that
God has laid out for us in Scripture to help us deal with
our sin and become open and cleansed vessels for His use.
The first fours steps are attitudes we need to form
daily. These are not steps we have to do each time we quench
God's Spirit, but simply attitudes we need to have "on" each
day. We might go over these prayerfully each morning to remind
ourselves to be cleansed vessels.
Inner Court Ritual
The final four steps are mandatory steps, ones we must
do each time we sin and quench His Spirit. I call these
four steps the "Inner Court Ritual" because they are the actual
steps the priests took in the Inner Court of the Temple in
order to deal with their sin. I recommend putting each of
these last four on 3x5 cards, kept with you at all times.
When something bad occurs take out the cards, prayerfully
go through the steps, and then choose--by faith--to believe
that God has reconciled you to Himself. God is faithful. If
you do your part He will do His. [I find it fascinating to
find that Nancy Missler has found that God has not done away
with these rituals he commanded the priests to perform, he
has just transformed them--putting them back to the
spiritual plane they belong on in the first place! These aren't
Jewish rituals! They are rituals God commanded a people
to physically perform to show what spiritually goes on between
Christians and God at God's altar, at God's heavenly Temple!
God would take offense at you calling them Jewish.
Three Choices
The question becomes, "What do we do with our constant negative
(bad) thoughts and emotions? We have three choices: We can
vent them to others, we can stuff them down in the
hidden chambers, or we can give them to God and be
rid of them forever. We do this last choice by learning
the Inner Court Ritual. reconciliation between man and Himself!]
Going through these steps every time we are confronted with
a hurtful remark, a painful situation, pride, fear, resentment,
bitterness and so on, is what enables us to be cleansed and
prepared vessels for what God might call us to do next. It's
imperative that we prevent the ungodly thoughts and feelings
from accumulating in us. If we're not cleansed
vessels, we will not be ready or available for God's use and
we will find ourselves "contaminating" everyone we come in
contact with (i.e "making a stink" as Isaiah 3:24a says).
Living Sacrifices
- obedience of Christ; and having in a readiness to revenge
all disobedience, when you obedience is fulfilled."
(emphasis added.)
[Note: The next four steps (The Inner
Court Ritual) are how we "revenge all disobedience."]
In the last chapter, we talked about the critical importance
of catching our negative thoughts. We said our thoughts
are vital because our thoughts are the first to be triggered
in the chain reaction of our souls. Remember, our
- First, we need to have an attitude of continually presenting
our bodies [to God] as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1).
What we are doing is willingly giving God permission to
walk through us and to expose anything that needs to be
dealt with. We need to be willing, on a daily basis,
to offer ourselves to God and allow the Holy Spirit to expose
what He wants in each of us. A good prayer to pray
is Psalm 19:12-13, "Cleanse Thou me from [hidden or] secret
faults…Let them not have dominion over me." Also, Psalm
139:23-24, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: Try me,
and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way
in me, And lead me in the way everlasting."
God Loves Us
When something comes into my life that I don't understand,
I often think of Job. Job said of God. "Though He slay me,
yet I will trust in Him" (Job 13:15). How on earth could
Job have said that, in light of all the things the Lord
allowed in his life? He could say this because Job knew
"beyond a shadow of a doubt" that God would be faithful
to His promises no matter what he, himself saw of felt.
God will not allow anything to happen to us or allow anything
in our lives that is not "Father filtered." So we can always
trust Him and rely upon Him completely, knowing He is working
out His purposes in our lives and His Way. [Romans 8:28.]
Remember, chart 6, page 161 shows us that if we are "doubleminded"
(or twice souled), we will not be able to experience
God's Love either for ourselves or for others.
As you can see in Chart 6, God's Life (7) can become quenched
or blocked (18) when we make "emotional choices" (9) to
follow our own thoughts, emotions, and desires (19) instead
of what God has prompted (8). Thus, the soul life that is
produced is not God's Life as it should be, but our own
self life (10).
Where Does "Self Life" Come From?
Let me ask you a question. If we have God's Life in our
hearts (7) and this is now our true nature, where does this
"self life" (10) come from? Where does it originate from?
Where is it triggered from?
I believe self life comes from the hurts, the resentments,
the doubts, the pride, the bitterness, etc. that we have
never properly dealt with before, and have instead, stuffed
and buried in those secret, hidden chambers (6). Self life
is triggered when we choose to follow what those "buried"
things are telling us to do over what God is prompting us
to do. Those buried things work on our conscious thoughts,
emotions and desires, which in turn, cause us to make wrong,
emotional choices.
Denying Ourselves
2) The second crucially important attitude we need to have
"on" each day is one of continually denying ourselves,
denying our "justified" feelings, our rights, our frustrations,
our offenses, and other hurts. This is something that we
do on the "inside" (setting aside our own thoughts, emotions,
and desires). Emotionally, this will be a very hard step
because it hurts to lay ourselves down, especially when
we are "justified" (by the world's standards ) in feeling
the way we do. Each time we struggle with this, I would
suggest reading Philippeans 3:8-15. " "
We must ask ourselves, "Am I really more concerned with
doing God's Will in my life than I am my own happiness?
There will be many times when we must choose to do God's
Will, knowing that temporarily it will not bring us happiness.
But, of course, the lasting joy that will come from being
in the center of His Will is something to which nothing
can ever compare.
Be Willing
Luke 14:26 reminds us that we really cannot be God's disciples
unless we are "willing to" (not wanting to or feeling like
it, but just willing to) lay everything down (father, mother,
wife, children, brothers, sisters), "Yea," He says, "even
our very own lives!" Again, we don't have to "feel" willing
in order to do this; we simply must be willing! Big difference!
I went to lunch several years ago with some dear old friends,
and we began to talk about how very important it is simply
to "be willing" to deny ourselves and follow God. One of
the ladies said, "Nancy, I don't agree. I think some people
just don't have the ability or the capability to lay everything
down and do it God's way." She then gave various reasons
why she was convinced they couldn't: dysfunctional families,
co-dependency, poor marriages, physical abuse, emotional
problems, and other environment circumstances.
I said, "Surely, I really don't believe that's true! If
they are Christians, then God is in them. And He is
the One who makes them capable and gives them the ability
to deny themselves. I believe all Christians are capable
of laying themselves aside (because God is in them),
but not all Christians are willing to do so! That,
to me, is the bottom line!"
The people she was talking about weren't willing to lay
themselves aside. And their excuses ranged from "dysfunctional
families" to "my husband is not trying." I don't believe
these things were the "real" problem (because God has all
the Love, Wisdom and Power they need). The real problem
was that these people were simply not willing.
[Interesting to note: The same woman that made these comments
to me recently left her husband of 25 years. She is now
"out on her own," doing what she wants.]
Truly, all Christians are capable, but not
all Christians are willing! This helps us understand
Matthew 24:12 a little more clearly: [in the end times]
"the Agape of many will grow cold." In other words, all
Christians have God's Love in them, but not all Christians
are willing to set themselves aside, to let it flow.
When we are willing to lay everything down, God promises
us in Luke 18:30 (as well as many other places) that He
will return a hundredfold, "in this life" as well as in
the world to come, all that we have chosen to give to Him.
It seems in my own life, the more I am willing to lay at
God's feet, the more He returns a hundredfold! Read my book,
"Why Should I Be the First to Change?", and see how
God has restored a hundredfold my marriage, my family and
my kids. The more I lay down of me, the more I get of Him.
1 Corinthians 2:9 says, "But as it is written, Eye hath
not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart
of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that
love [agapao--totally give themselves over to] Him." So
trust God completely when you lay your life down to Him;
it then frees Him to perform miracles.
Get Up and Do What God Says
- Another crucial attitude we must have is that of being
willing to obey God's Will, no matter what He tells us
to do (no matter how we feel, no matter what we think,
no matter what we want). We are to get up and be willing
to do exactly what God has asked us to do.
This next step of "obeying God's Will" is different; it
concerns the "outer man"--our outward actions. It's getting
up and doing in action What God has called us to
do, saying, "Not as I will, but as Thou wilt" (Matthew 26:39).
Or, like Peter said, "at Thy word I will (Luke 5:5).
Again, we don't have to feel willing in order to
do this; we just must be willing. 2 Corinthians 8:11
says, "As there was a readiness to will, so there may be
a performance also." I would suggest reading Philippeans
2:5-9. " "
Do you love God so much that you are not only willing to
deny what you think, what you feel and what you desire,
but also are willing to get up and do what God has
called you to do? This is what God is asking each of us
daily.
Take Every Thought Captive
The final attitude we must have in order to walk God's Way
of Agape is to be willing to take every thought captive.
2 Corinthians 10:5-6 says, "Casting down imaginations and
every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge
of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to
the obedience of Christ; and having in a readiness to
revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled."
(emphasis added.)
[Note: The next four steps (The Inner Court Ritual) are
how we "revenge all disobedience."]
In the last chapter, we talked about the crucial importance
of catching our negative thoughts. We said our thoughts
are vital because our thoughts are the first to be triggered
in the chain reaction of our souls. Remember, our thoughts
stir up our emotions; our emotions then influence our desires;
and our desires are what produce our actions. This is why
we need to go after the ungodly thoughts first and take
them captive. If we can catch these negative thoughts first,
then we prevent the chain reaction altogether.
It takes constant discipline and effort to continually recognize
our negative thoughts and renew our minds. Sometimes it
would be a lot easier just to give in and let those wild
emotions rule. But, do you know what happens when we do
this? We die! If we don't take those ungodly thoughts
captive, they take us captive.
Every time I would look at my circumstances, I would become
overwhelmed, buried in my emotions, totally captive to my
own negative thinking ("Why God?"), and paralyzed in my
walk.
But when I would choose to obey God's Word and take those
thoughts captive (whether I felt like it or not), God would
always be faithful to remove my doubt, my fears, my anger,
and my confusion, and fill me with His peace and strength.
Once again I could go on. If, however, I didn't catch those
negative thoughts, it never failed: I would sink and drown
in my circumstances. Truly, if we don't take those corrupt
thoughts captive, they do take us captive!
Spirit-Controlled Thinking
Remember, we are not responsible for the original
self-centered, negative, or bad thought when it first comes
in. It's what we choose to do with that thought that produces
the sin or not. If we recognize the ungodly thought and
choose to give it over to God, then we have not sinned;
we have not quenched His Spirit. However, if we don't do
anything with that thought, and we allow it to stir up self-centered
feelings, then it will be sin.
It's critical to be aware of, recognize, and then catch
the ungodly thoughts as they come in. We are to refuse them,
crucify them, and annihilate them. We are not to even think
them, let alone speak them. As Philippeans 4:8 says, we
need to fill our minds with good things. "Finally, brethren,
whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest,
whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure,
whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good
report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise,
think on these things."
Mandatory Steps
The next four steps are critical to do each time
we recognize we have quenched God's Spirit and are separated
from God. I call these four steps the Inner Court Ritual
because, as we said, the priests of Solomon's Temple actually
went through each of these steps in the Inner Court when
they dealt with sin. First, the priests went to the ten
Bronze Lavers to wash their hands and feet before
worshipping, then they went to the Holocaust Altar where
they offered their sacrifices, and lastly they bathed
totally in the Molten Sea. (Be sure to see the Be
Ye Transformed tapes for more details of this ceremony.)
[Note: In the actual Inner Court Ritual, Step #5 and #6
were really only one step. But because there is so much
that goes on in this first step, for the sake of simplicity,
I have made it into two separate steps.]
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