On your Knees! please?

One of the biggest breakthroughs I’ve ever had when it comes to studying the bible is the day I realized that the Old Testament points to the New. It doesn’t just talk about what’s going to happen in the New but the Very lives of his people told the story of what God was planning in Christ. His people the Jewish nation is meant to symbolize “US” Christ followers. Moses is symbolic of God, Aaron is symbolic of Christ. Once we understand this our eyes and hearts become open to understanding the Old Testament. With that in mind lets look at Exodus.

The Jewish nation grows so numerous that Pharaoh begins to fear them so he decides to enslave them so they wont have the chance to realize their power. He then puts them to work (forced labor). He beats them and overworks them so they fear him for one, and two are too tired to make babies. They do fear him but make lots of babies. Pharaoh fears their numbers even more so he has said babies killed.

TRANSLATION: Satan saw Adam and Eve and knew that they and their children would join with God and have power over him now he will not even have control of the lower regions. So he enslaved them and got them so busy focusing on their sin and their work that they had no time to focus on God himself and develop any kind of relationship with him. The more kids they had the more he caused them to focus on their own shortcomings and the work they had to do as a result of said shortcomings. Man still populated the earth and Satan still feared them so he sought to kill them (Spiritually by forcing them to focus on themselves rather than God)

Fast forward about 300 years Moses and Aaron come confront Pharaoh and free the slaves. They leave Egypt and wonder the wilderness for 40 years. Each time they encounter a problem or hardship they begin to desire a return to Egypt.

TRANSLATION: God and Jesus confront Satan and set us free from our bonds of Sin. Now as we spend/live our days we are constantly fighting the tug of returning to slavery because we fear the unknown in our current journey. God led them in a cloud by day and fire by night. We have the Holy Spirit. Now for today’s purposes lets stop right there.

The wilderness is the moment I want to focus on because that is where we are right now. We have been set free through Christ and are now Journeying to the Promised Land, Heaven Bound Baby! What happened while they were in the wilderness? They encountered a lack of water, no food, snakes, Pharaoh chasing them all sorts of nasty situations where they were forced to depend on God. Despite the clear leading of the spirit they always turned away and Moses constantly had to turn them back. They would have turned back to slavery if they could have. They longed for the safety of the Whip and chain. Even though they knew it meant certain destruction and total loss of freedom. In the desert they had total freedom and complete protection all they had to do was follow a fiery cloud.

Today as I look around this is exactly what I’m seeing and my heart hurts. I see brothers and sisters that have experienced the freedom and protection of Christ giving in to slavery because it’s easier it’s what they know. They’ve been set free but are putting the cuffs back on themselves. I see them living active sexual lives, giving into homosexuality, chasing after the dollar, positions of influence, liars, cheaters, drunkards, druggies. Most of them fought these temptations for years then just grew tired and gave in. Their brothers and sisters (Myself included here) were too busy fending for themselves to realize anyone else was struggling. We put on such an heir of righteousness or such a busy attitude that no one felt safe going to anyone else for help or support. Remember when Moses went onto MT Sinai and God gave him the 10 Commandments. He was gone for so long that Israel turned to Aaron and said “make us an Idle” They needed Moses to point them to God That cloud by day and fire at night wasn’t enough. Once they were set free Moses symbol was that of prophet (God spoke to him and he spoke to us) He was in Mt Sinai and Israel fell apart. After Christ died his Apostles stepped into that position pointing his family to God. Now I don’t have it altogether. I don’t have the answer to this question but who is pointing us to God now? Who has God called to stand in the place of the Apostles? You could say no one that’s why he gave us the Holy Spirit. They had that in the Desert and still needed Moses. They had the Holy Spirit after Christ but still needed the Apostles. God uses his people to point to him. He appointed Apostles, prophets, teachers… (1 Cor 12:28, Eph 4:11) Where today are those he has called to point us to him? We are Israel without a Judge! You may think I’m painting a pretty bleak picture here, you may think I’m being a little extreme but I ask. Where is his light? And the light shines in the darkness but the darkness does not comprehend it John 1:1. Yes that is out of context. But is it really? We know the light is Christ but we sure aren’t acting like we understand him. If we do we sure aren’t acting like we trust him. Who is going to take the mantle

My friends, as I said earlier my heart is breaking for these brothers and sisters that have given in and offered themselves back into slavery. And for those ready to turn back that don’t think they have the strength to fight anymore. (Lets not bring permanent salvation into this. That’s not what I’m talking about here.) This post today offers up no answers, no solutions just questions. I do offer an assignment though and that’s PRAY! First pray for forgiveness: That God forgive our casual attitude toward him, our unwillingness to trust him in ALL things. Second: Pray that he will give us those that point us to him. Those that live without compromise, that fearlessly call us to account. Lets not just pray for revival lets pray that we grow hearts sold out 110% dedicated to him, No compromise. So we can show the others that it is possible. That our God is indeed the 1 true God. Come on Gang lets spend this week on our knees. God has already given the call evidently those called are afraid of the call. Ask God to raise them up to cancel all fear. Ask God “Am I one that you are calling?” No it’s not presumptuous, it’s a question. Before you ask it make sure you’re willing to live with the answer. It may just turn your life Upsidedown.

Love you Gang!

Why do it?

I sit here tonight in a state of ??? I really don’t know what to call it. Hundreds of separate thoughts running through my mind but unable to lock in on anything. So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to give you a peek into my brain. Brace yourself, I have no idea what you are going to see, it may be ugly, it may be quite disturbing. If you understand it I would seek medical attn immediately as you don’t process like a normal individual.

This morning as I was sitting in church John 15: 12,13 once again popped into my brain. It wasn’t the pastors topic but what he was saying brought me back to this verse. “Love as I have loved you. No greater love has man than this that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do as I command you.” Now I’ve said a few times that this means we are called to love greater than we love ourselves. Today I began to seriously ask “What does it mean to lay down our lives for our friends?” Well it means when a friend is in need we should set aside our own desires and our own self interest in exchange for theirs. This means a friend loses his or her job and can’t pay rent. We have money set aside to buy a new TV. We forget the TV and pay our friends rent. A brother breaks his leg and doesn’t have insurance because he just lost his job. We are strapped for cash but know we need to help our brother so we sell our _____ to help him out. Our sisters car breaks down she has no way to get to work so we set our alarm to get up one hr earlier everyday until she can get her car fixed and give her a ride even if she works on the other side of town. I think this is also what Paul is saying in Romans 12:1 when he says “… present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy acceptable to God which is your reasonable service (Other versions say spiritual act of worship) He goes on to talk about transforming our minds and seems to spend the rest of the book talking about “How to live the Christian Life” Last week I asked the question “How do we exhort daily? How do we develop a community with the lifestyle of confession and exhortation? We had one person respond (I loved her response) Basically she said “This is what we should do but will we? (I am paraphrasing pretty big) We are too concerned with looking good to others and it’s too easy to run to the church next door if we are held accountable. We should strive for this but is it really possible in today’s church?” She is absolutely right. I see few signs that it is possible in today’s church. This morning I’m thinking “This is how we get there.” By living as Christ said. If we sacrifice of ourselves for our brothers and sisters our community would become so tight knit that we wouldn’t run away when confronted. How beautiful! The problem is… That’s a pretty big IF most of us aren’t even willing to give up our daily coffee to help a friend let alone really sacrifice. I know I’ve not answered my phone because I knew the caller was going to ask me to help with something. How pitiful is that? Who cares if he has needed support every Tuesday for the last month and I’m tired of missing American Idol. What’s more important a brother or a talent competition? Now please don’t think that I’m trying to lay a guilt trip on anyone or that I’m sitting here down on myself for not being perfect. A guilt trip doesn’t work when we are all guilty of the same thing. WE ARE ALL SELFISH HUMAN BEINGS!! That’s a natural result of the fall. Eve eating that piece of fruit and Adam following suit. I can’t sit here and guilt anyone into action. Best case scenario would be a few of us say we will live this way. We dig in our feet and are really good at it for a month maybe two then we grow tired and move back to the way we were before. How many times have any of us heard a sermon and said “AMEN! I will begin living this way.” Then go to work on Monday and forget what was said on Sunday.

This is where I am. God reveals these incredible things to his people but we only half accept them or we sit back and say “That’s a perfect world scenario the church today is not perfect so it wont work” We are living in defeat and we haven’t even tried. We are settling for far less than God intended for us and there is nothing I can say or do to change that. There is nothing you can say or do either. But this isn’t what God wants. God is the most powerful being in this universe. God controls all/Created all. Nothing happens that he doesn’t allow. If he doesn’t want us to live like this than why does it seem impossible for us to do anything about it? Put simply it’s because we are believing a lie. A terrible idiotic lie from the scum of the earth. This scum can do nothing without Gods approval and we are sitting down here believing its lie. How do we defeat this liar? How do we get around our “Can’t” attitude and begin doing? How do we learn to set aside our own selfish desires and begin living sacrificially for each other? How do learn to ”Confess” confidently? How do we learn to “Exhort” each other daily? How do we finally break through and live the life that God has for us? How? How? HOW?

John 14:15-18 If you love me keep my commandments and I will pray the father and he will give you another helper that he may abide with you forever. The spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him, but you know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans I will come to you.

John 14: 26 …The helper, the Holy Spirit whom the father will send in my name, he will teach you all things…

John 16: 7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the helper will not come to you; but if I depart I will send him to you.

We’ve been believing lies but “The Helper” is the spirit of truth. God has given us a helper. The Holy Spirit living in us. This makes it possible for us to recognize lies and move onto the truth. “But Larry, if we have the spirit living in us we should be recognizing it already.” Yep, we should. Here is what I would like to propose the problem is. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 “Do not quench the spirit” I think, (This is me, my opinion take it or leave it.) We have become so adept at quenching the spirit we don’t even recognize when he speaks anymore. Do you remember getting those tuggings that said “Go and talk to that guy you just passed?” or “I should turn off the tv and study my bible” how about “Call so and so and see how they are doing” to which we respond “As soon as the show is over” “I feel weird going up to a total stranger” “If I call them and everything is ok I’ll feel stupid” Our selfishness quenches those little tuggings. Then we grow confused at why “The Spirit” doesn’t listen to us when we ask him to heal a friend. Or provide a job for our brother. We’ve grown quite talented at calling on the Spirit according to our own terms not his. (This thinking seems kinda upside down yet we all do it) We are so good at quenching the helper God sent that we don’t recognize him anymore. So what do we do about it? How do we learn to recognize him and stop quenching him? Again my opinion take it or leave it but this is what I plan on doing. Go to God and repent. Tell God that you are sorry for ignoring him/ His Spirit. Then ask him to help you recognize his voice and tugging once again. Then whenever you hear or feel what you think may be the Holy Spirit. Stop and listen. 1 Thessalonians 5 after he says don’t quench he says to test the spirits. So ask, Holy Spirit is this you? Test it? Is it asking you to do something contrary to scripture? No! Then Do it? He hasn’t gotten tired of us ignoring him, packed up and gone. He is still in us. Ask him every day to give us a fresh filling. Ask him to give us the strength to follow his tugging. I think we may be a little more than surprised at how much we hear and how much our lives are changed. We may even begin to experience the Community God desires for us. That’s my thought what about you? Do you have any idea’s? I’d love to hear them.

As always lets live this week “Upside Down!”

Is my business your business?

Howdy Gang, Hope you’re all having a great Monday. I had a couple of great responses to last weeks blog. If you don’t go to the actual blog site to read this I encourage you to so you can see the responses that came in to the question. “Do we put too much weight on the New Testament and not enough on the Old?” As for this week I believe it will be another quick post followed with a question. The theme for the week is “Community”

A favorite verse of mine for years has come from the book of John chap 17 Verses 20 – 23

²⁰ “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will^[a] believe in Me through their word; ²¹ that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. ²² And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: ²³ I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

I’ve mentioned this verse one or twice before. It’s clear that this was an important theme to Christ and the reason is clear “May they be one so the world will KNOW you sent me” Unity in the body of Christ “THE CHURCH” is necessary for the world to come to salvation through Christ. While Christ was alive he continually told his disciples how to be one. What I heard him say most was “The first shall be last” he also gave a new command to “Love as he has loved” which is to love one another greater than we love ourselves. Then he dies, Pentecost happens and the church of Acts is born. We see Christ prayer in John 17 become fulfilled. Now we begin to see writings telling us how to maintain the “Body” and grow closer to Christ. James 5: 16 tells us to “confess your sins to one another and pray for one another so that you may be healed” Hebrews 3: 13 says that we should “Exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Paul is warning us to Exhort each other daily

Exhort: 1. To urge, advise, or caution earnestly; Admonish Urgently. 2. To give urgent advice, recommendations, or Warnings.

We are to Urge, advise, caution, recommend and warn each other daily. We are to get into each others business. Remember James said we are to Confess too and pray for each other as well. How can we exhort one another if we don’t confess to one another? This is just my assumption but I believe he said to do it “DAILY” so sin doesn’t have a chance to set in our hearts and get comfortable. We are to observe our friends and family as well so we can warn them if we see signs of a stumbling block. The thing that stands out to me is the word “DAILY” in the world we live in today I find daily to be a pretty hard if not seemingly impossible task. Yet if it were impossible Paul wouldn’t have said to do it. So here is my question for The Gang.

How do we get to a point that we can “EXHORT” one another daily? Or is it not an important part of a developing community?

You can either reply to me directly or go to www.liveupsidedown.blogspot.com to reply. I will post your response there if you chose to reply to me directly. But I do encourage you to go to the blog and check the feedback.

Thanks Gang have a great week and as always lets live it “UPSIDE DOWN!”

1 ? 4 U

Hey Gang, Guess what! This will be a quick one to read today. Actually I have no big revelation to share, no mini-sermon or any of that. (and the crowd erupts) Instead today I am going to give you two verses state a small observation then ask you a question. Please feel free to respond.

2 Timothy 3:14 – 17 ¹⁴ But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, ¹⁵ and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

¹⁶ All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Galations 1:6- 10 ⁶ I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, ⁷ which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. ⁸ But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. ⁹ As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.
¹⁰ For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

There ya have the verses. Now Paul is speaking in both instances. The first saying ALL SCRIPTURE. Obviously 2 Timothy is not scripture according to Paul because it is the letter he is currently writing. In Galations Paul says “If any Angel or Man preach any other Gospel” In which he is simply saying preach any other message than that of salvation through Christ. (Which they proved through the “Scriptures”) Whenever they talk about “Scripture” in the new testament they clearly are not talking about the “New Testament” because it is in the process of being written by them. They don’t consider their writing “Holy Writings” They simply consider them letters. With that in mind paying special attention to the 2 Timothy passage verses 16 & 17 here is my question.

Do we put too much weight on the New Testament and not enough in the Old? (Especially the part known as the Torah, Genesis through Deuteronomy)

Note: this has nothing to do with living according to the Law. It has everything to do with getting our understanding of Salvation and embracing the gift given to us.

Give me your thoughts and of course as always Have a great week and lets Live it “UPSIDE DOWN!

Catch and Release

Howdy howdy Gang, It’s a new week and therefore time for a new post. (One day late cause I had unexpected work yesterday. Yea God!) During my reading the last couple of weeks I have begun to notice a steady theme. This of course means God is wanting to show me something. Since he decided to show me, you my friends get to hear it as well. This is one you may read and go “I already knew that” but it’s good enough that it bears repeating. I can say I already knew it “But did I really” I don’t think so. It seems like common sense, but for me those are the things I tend to overlook. So here we go… Col 3:8-10, 12-14, Eph 4: 21-24, 1 Thess 5:8. I’ll let you look these up cause I’m lazy and don’t want to type it all out ;-.) There is also Eph 6:10-18 this is probably the most well known verse of the bunch talking about putting on the Armor of God. Go ahead take a minute to look up each of these verses I’ll wait for you…

Alright now that you’re done did you see the theme? “Put off” “Put on” I’m about to begin using the word “We” quite a bit know that whenever I’m using it I’m really saying “Me” or “I” but I feel better about myself when I’m not the only one so I’m hoping at least one of you can identify with me. We live in a “Fast Food society” we want everything right now and we want it to be easy (You’ve heard this before) With this mindset as we read scripture we tend to look for the things that sound like the Christian Life should be a piece of cake. “Dead to self” “Alive in Christ” these are the types of verses we tend to hold onto. If when I accepted Christ I died to self then I should instantly be a new creation. I should wake up and no longer struggle with the temptations of life. If Christ is “Living in me” then temptation should be a thing of the past. I’ve heard this preached time and time again. Every time I read this in the bible I struggle with it cause I know I still struggle with this thing called sin otherwise known as “SELFISHNESS” If we’re not careful we may begin to even question our salvation. I’m still struggling with sin did I truly invite Christ into my life? Thankfully there are also people like Paul that make statements such as “Why is it the things I want to do those I do not do and the things I don’t want those are the very things I do” I would like to suggest that we at some point take the time to truly dive into all these verses that seem to make it look like we instantly transform into a new being and see what they are really talking about because evidently we (or as I said earlier “I”) obviously aren’t reading them correctly. The rest of scripture is loaded with very active and continual statements. The verses I gave you earlier all talk about “Putting off the things of this world” and “Putting on the things of Christ” “ACTIVE STATEMENTS” We are to daily put off “Anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language” SELFISHNESS. We are to daily put on “tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long suffering, and most of all LOVE, we are to bear with one another, forgiving one another. Col 3: 15-16 says we are to let the piece of God rule in us LET IT RULE IN US, Let the word of Christ dwell in us LET IT DWELL IN US. These are ACTIVE statements. 1 Thess 5:19 says “Do not Quench the sprit. DON’T DO IT we have a choice. Phil 4:8-10 tells us to MEDITATE on things that are noble, whatever is just, pure, lovely, what’s of good report, what’s of virtue, praiseworthy. 2 Tim 2:22 says to FLEE youthful lusts, and PURSUE righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart PURSUE and NOT ALONE, but with others that are pursuing also.

Friends, I’ve loaded you with verses today but these are just a few of the verses that talk about the ACTIVE LIFESTYLE of living with Christ. We are to daily throw off evil and to daily PURSUE the things of Christ. This wont be accomplished through simply wishing for it. It wont be accomplished by just reading the bible and hoping it takes hold. We are to pursue what it says. 2 cor 10: 5 tells us to “take every thought captive” The Christian is not called to be passive by any stretch of the imagination especially when it comes to living a pure life. We throw away evil thoughts and we meditate on Christ thoughts. I remember one day on this trip I was on my bike and a thought came to mind (I really can’t remember what it was) that was not of God and I got mad. I was tired of this temptation it kept hanging around. So this time I yelled at it. I said something along the lines of “The Holy Sprit lives in me you don’t belong here. GET OUT! And it disappeared. It was gone, I’m ashamed to admit I had never done this before so I had never experienced it. THE THOUGHT JUST DISAPPEARED. It was so strange I remember trying to recall what the thought was but I couldn’t. This was so foreign to me that it bothered me how I couldn’t remember it. Then I heard the spirit in me say “Larry you just told it to leave don’t invite it back. So I stopped trying to recall it. VICTORY! The living word of God is active sharper than any double edged sword. (Hebrews 4:12) We assume living word means it speaks to us in all situations. We can read a verse multiple times and get a new revelation every time. This is true, But maybe it also means when we put it into action IT WORKS. Have you ever noticed how we dwell on the bad and dismiss the good. A friend does something nice and we thank him/her and move on. If it’s a really really nice thing we may think about it off and on for few weeks. But when a friend wrongs us even in a small way we can’t get it out of our minds. We struggle with it for months. If it’s really bad we may not be able to let it go for years if ever. It’s time to reverse the trend. Take every thought captive. Rather than being a slave to pain, hurt, anger, lets take those thoughts captive bind them in the spirit and cast them out. When good is done lets take those thoughts captive bind them up and tie them onto our soul. It’s not a theory it’s an action. We don’t have to be slave to these things. Ever since my first experience I’ve tried to follow this model on the casting out. I can honestly say that every time I’ve recognized the thought right away with the help of the spirit living in me I’ve been able to cast it out. Sometimes I have to stay on it. I’ll tell it to leave and it will soften so I’ll have to repeat it and repeat it and repeat it until it’s gone but it does leave. If I don’t take it captive right away that’s when I really struggle. Think about Christ when he healed others. Sometimes they would get right up others he would have to pray the healing multiple times. They were slaves to their infirmity our sin is our infirmity lets stay on it till it’s gone. I wish I could also tell you I’ve practiced the holding onto good thoughts and been successful but I can’t. Honestly I hadn’t even thought of that side of it until just now as I’m writing this post. But I will practice it. I am going to each day from here on meditate on the good. What has God done for me? What have others done for me? What has God done for others? When I recognize a good my challenge to me and you is to grab it and meditate on it daily. Say “You are a good thought, you are from God. I have his spirit living in me and you belong here with it. In the name of Jesus Christ and in the power of the Holy Spirit living in me I command you to STAY!

How about it Gang? What do you say? Lets live each day taking each and every thought captive throwing out the bad and keeping the good. I know it sounds like a lot of work and it is. But after awhile it will become second nature. Learning to walk wasn’t easy either but we did that.

That’s my two cents worth for the week. A new assignment for the week will come out on Thursday remember to check it out on FB or Twitter. Have a great week and as always lets live it “UPISDE DOWN!!!

Why?

So, here I am sitting here thinking about what to write today. It’s Monday I said I would post every Monday. I’m going over all the conversations I’ve had this week, the revelations I’ve had and today nothing is sticking. To the most part the things I’ve seen and learned this week are for me. Nothing that God is saying “I want you to share.” As I ask him what he wants me to write the thing that keeps coming to mind is “Love” continue to share my love. Then I’m brought to my experience at lunch. Two lady’s sitting behind me were discussing their mother who is in the hospital on a respirator. They knew that very soon they would be getting a call from the hospital asking them to make a decision. In the midst of the conversation I began remembering when a friend of mine was the one laying in ICU and her family was asked to make that decision. I remembered how tough it was for everyone involved. I remember praying that God would heal her and realizing just how selfish of a prayer it was. She was about to meet her creator and move into a life of everlasting perfection leaving behind the pains of this world and we were asking him to stop that from happening. I began thinking about the different people I’ve known that’s been upset at God for taking a loved one. If we stop to think about it those leaving us behind are in a much better place than us so why are we so upset at their passing? Then I began to think about different people I’ve tried to help out over the last few years. The closer I got to them the more I knew they were hurting the more I knew they were hurting the more I began to hurt. The less I could do the more upset I grew. I found myself at times curled up in a corner bawling like a little freakin baby. I began yelling at God. But each time I began yelling at him in the middle of my temper tantrum he would insert a verse that simply said “I love you”. That made even more mad. Don’t tell me you love me when I’m yelling at you I can’t stay mad when you do that. I reached a point for a time where I was tired of helping people. I saw some taking advantage of my generosity and resented it. But even more so I grew tired of hurting and the more I invested in others the more I hurt. I asked God why? Part of me wanted to turn back I wanted to ask God to take away the pain I was feeling and return me to a time of ignorance of the struggles around me. Yet at the same time I didn’t want to be ignorant again I just didn’t want any more pain either. So I stepped back. I remember a friend after watching a certain movie suggested we experiment with saying yes to helping whenever a need was presented to us. Lets do it for a month she said. My instant reply was “You can if you want to but I’m not in. I can’t do it anymore. Some take joy in helping for me it’s become too draining.” Here I am at lunch thinking about all this and it hits me. If we struggle so much with death when we know we will see them again how much does God struggle with death when he knows he will never see them again. What we feel when a loved one dies is what God feels daily for those who die without accepting the life he has to offer. The times I’ve been so frustrated with God that I’ve yelled at him and he gave me a verse that said “I love you” Now I realize God created me in his image. Now I picture him as I’m yelling at him shaking his head and saying “Larry don’t you understand I’m allowing you to feel a very small sampling of what I go through everyday. You Larry reached a point that you couldn’t take it anymore and you backed off. I love you so much that I will NEVER back off. The image that God gave me a week or so ago was Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Luke 22: 39-46) Jesus was so distraught that God sent an Angel to strengthen him despite that he was still so distraught that he began sweating drops of blood begging his father “If it is possible take this cup from me.” Jesus is on his hands and knees begging his father please can we find another way. God says no this is what must be done. It’s the only way to bring life. Now how many of you can imagine your kid in the place of Christ? How many of you after a neighbor has shown no love for you are willing to send your kid out to shovel their sidewalk? God sent his to die and continued with the plan despite his kids sweating blood.

Guess what my friends. Nothing has changed in the kingdom of heaven. God still loves each and everyone of us so much that he was willing to send his son to die for us. If you have accepted that gift of salvation you are now A CHILD OF GOD! He is sending you out to the world to model his love. Thankfully he isn’t calling most of us to die but he is asking us to be willing to. “Love your neighbor as yourself” “Greater love has no one than this than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you”

I can’t begin to comprehend just how much God truly loves me but I do know this. When I am struggling with the trials of a friend God is too. When I’m concerned about the salvation of a friend God is too. Maybe just maybe God is allowing me to feel the way I feel so I can begin to have a small understanding of what he must be going through. When I’m struggling for one God is struggling for one million. On the plus side when I’m rejoicing over one. God is rejoicing over one million (hopefully that many) So next time we get all bent out of joint and want to yell at God lets take a second to remembered he is going through the same thing. Then turn our anger toward the one that really deserves it. It’s about time Satan begins to get the lip service he deserves.

Just in case you were wondering. I did have a chance to pray with those women at lunch today and they will be seeing their mother again one day. Praise God!

(FYI: It’s time to begin showing Gods love once again so we are going to resume the weekly encouragement assignments. I am not going to use this blog for that because I want to respect your inbox. If you want to receive those assignments you can either follow the Upside Down Group via twitter or become a fan on Facebook. If you are already friends with me “Larry Rife” on face book that will work as well.)

Have a great week gang and as always lets live it “UPSIDE DOWN”

"Grace" Enough Said!

Howdy howdy everyone it’s a new week and I pray this note finds each of you looking forward to the challenges the week presents. Last week I spoke with you about one of the main lessons I feel God has been showing me since leaving on this journey. This week I want to continue by talking about lesson #2. Granted he has shown and taught me so much more but these are the biggies. The continuing theme you might say. Last week was Gods Love I began with that one for two reasons. 1. It’s the first thing he showed me. 2. It’s the basis for everything. God is Love and without love nothing else would be possible. What I want to chat about today is Grace. We all know the word. If you’ve been around the church for any amount of time you know the word is tossed around about as much as any other word. But do we truly recognize the power and meaning of this word? I think we might have an idea of its power when it comes to God extending Grace to us. The more we struggle with sin the more we seem to understand grace. Christ even talks about this in Luke 7: 41-43 (I’ll let you look this one up) but this is not the angle of Grace I want to talk about today. Today I want to talk about the power of us extending Grace to others or maybe even more so the “Literal Destruction” that happens when we don’t live a lifestyle that exemplifies Grace. I doubt anyone would argue that God calls us to extend Grace to others he makes it clear that this is what he expects. Matthew 18:21-34 is the parable of the unforgiving servant. The master forgave the servant of a massive debt yet the servant refused to forgive another for a small debt. The whole thing ends with a stern warning in verse 35 “So my heavenly father also will do to you if each of you from his heart does not forgive his brother his trespasses” Also read Eph 4:31-32 and Col 3:13. It’s clear we are called to forgive as Christ forgave us not begrudgingly. Actually the statement currently stuck in my brain is “If God the creator of this universe, our creator is willing to forgive anyone at anytime for the sin they have committed what gives me the right to even consider holding onto a grudge.”

Now please forgive me for the rest of this. My head is full of 101 things to say and examples to give so I fear the message may get muddled. I’m trying my best to set it clear as I do believe that this is at least for me the most important message God has ever shown me. Certainly the most powerful. In my observation of life and “the church” It seems that not only do we struggle to forgive others of wrongs they have done to us but we also seem to struggle with forgiving people of sins period. We look at people stuck in a lifestyle and set it in our minds that they are beneath us. I’m not going to say we do it on purpose sometimes it’s a lie that is whispered in our ear and we don’t remove it quickly so it begins to sink in. (Please note: I am saying WE so please do not think I am claiming to have it all together. Quite the opposite actually.) I began to process this the first page of the first chapter of the book “What’s so Amazing about Grace”. We see a prostitute confessing that she is so strung out and controlled by her addictions that she has prostituted her daughter two years of age to support her drug habit. She is asked if she’s ever gone to the church for help and her reply haunted me. “I already feel bad enough about myself. Why would I go to the church?” Ouch! Here is Yancey’s next quote “What struck me about my friends story is that women much like the prostitute fled toward Jesus, Not away from him. The worse a person felt about herself the more likely she saw Jesus as a refuge. Has the church lost that gift? Evidently the down and out, who flocked to Jesus when he lived on earth, no longer feel welcome among his followers.” Again OUCH! I read that and it was as if someone had punched me in the gut. I knew that statement was true. But then I went on to think about those in the church. Surely we treat them with love, respect and grace. Or do we? Let me ask you a question. If you stumble, lets say you’re single you go out on a Friday night drink too much and find yourself in the middle of a one night stand. Do you tell anyone from your church or do you hide it? You’re married and have an affair. Do you keep it hidden? You’re an alcoholic and fall off the wagon. Do you feel free to talk about it? Do you share your struggles with pornography? You struggle with Jealousy? “Larry just because we’re slow to talk about our mistakes doesn’t mean the church won’t accept us.” You may be right, but the fact of the matter is. We have all heard or participated in gossip about others. “If they chat about them what will they say about me?” Gossip is not showing Grace. We are quick to confront but slow to offer help. I’ve known people caught in sin struggling to get out and because it was an “A” level sin their friends turned their backs on them. The church cut them out of the ministry they were involved in without offering a plan for reengagement or offering help in the process of reconciliation. Now I’m not saying we are broken. I’m not saying we don’t do some things right. Some people are pretty good at this thing we call Grace. I am saying that we need to err on the side of love whenever possible. Our check to see if we are getting closer to Grace is “Do others feel safe confiding in me?” When is the last time someone came to you in confidence? If it’s been awhile ask yourself why. Are you too busy to listen? Have you participated in Gossip? How do you respond to those that “Don’t fit in”?

Please don’t just read this and say “It doesn’t pertain to me” or “I’ll get to this later on” it is important that we recognize the area’s in our life that we don’t model Grace and learn to make the adjustments, that we go to God and begin asking him to give us his eyes so we can view others not through our tainted glasses but through Gods perfect eyes. This is literally a matter of life and death for many. How many suicides happen because “I’m to ashamed to face anyone”, How many leave the church and turn from God because “I can’t measure up to the standards” I know this may be hard to believe but I am a stubborn person. I may plan on apologizing to someone because I know it’s the right thing but then I’m told by another “You need to apologize” Suddenly I don’t want to apologize. But if in love I’m asked “Have you thought about telling so and so you’re sorry?” It’s not so offensive and I do it. How many others are holding onto anger or unwilling to repent because of our lack of Grace? I heard a stat the other day that just blew me away. I had already been processing the dangers of un-grace when I heard this and went yep if this doesn’t drive the point home nothing will. Did you know that eighty percent of those getting abortions today claim to be “Church Goers”? Now I realize this doesn’t mean they all claim to be Christians or that all of them have a great understanding of scripture but it does mean that 80% have the option of talking to more than just Planned Parenthood. I know that shame is not the only reason for abortion. But if eighty percent attend church then I think it’s safe to assume the majority are getting an abortion because they don’t want anyone to know they had gotten pregnant. But lets assume I’m wrong for a moment. Forget all about the reason for an abortion. How many women have come to you and admitted they had an abortion? How many men have confessed urging their girlfriend to get one? If eighty percent attend church odds are you are friends with someone that has. We know God still loves them. Hopefully they know God still loves them. Can they go to you and know you will still love them?

Here’s the thing. I can continue to come up with example after example of why we need to show Grace and where we need to show Grace and how we can show Grace. After I’ve given all the examples I can think of you could chime in with just as many that I hadn’t thought of. Yes there are many examples and studies that show some will never go public with their faults no matter how open and loving we are. Others will always look for reasons to fault us as “The Church” But that shouldn’t stop us from doing everything possible to model Grace. Once upon a time those struggling with life came to Christ we are his church, his family, his representatives, we need to do what we can to make them comfortable with us as well and trust the Spirit to fill in the blanks. Once we do the hospitals won’t be as busy, more will live longer lives, more will live happier lives, the church will be closer to unity, Christ will be lifted higher, and Heaven will be busier.

I know this is all easier said than done. I know many of you reading this need to experience Grace before you can share it. You need set free from the shame you are feeling. You can’t believe God can forgive you because you’ve never known what that feels like. Just like last week I’m going to ask you if you haven’t asked for Gods forgiveness and accepted Christ as your savior “ASK FOR IT NOW”. He’s sitting and waiting for you to do it. It may be hard for you to believe but there is a major party waiting to break out in heaven and you are the guest of honor. Now for everyone feeling the shame of unrepentant sin find someone to chat with. Take that step let it out so you can feel the release and experience Grace, God’s Grace! If you don’t have anyone you can trust tell me. Please! If you’re not comfortable then for the time being set up a new e-mail that allows you to be anonymous and tell me. PLEASE! I want you to experience freedom in Christ. I want you to experience the freedom that God has given all of us.

I know I’ve pretty much wrapped this up but I feel the need to clarify a little of what I’ve said. Possibly a bit from a paranoia stand point. I am spelling out an incredible need for Grace I’m not saying everyone reading this is a judgmental bigot. Lets assume you are a “Grace Giver” No one since the days of Christ is as filled with grace as you. All I’m saying is you still have two area’s to be aware of. 1. Until we can match the Grace of Christ we still have a ways to go. (He offered Grace before we ever asked for it. Romans 5:8) 2. Satan is working overtime to make sure others don’t see Gods Grace. We need to work overtime to be sure they know it’s available.

I love you guys. Have a great week and as always. Lets live it “UPSIDE DOWN”