Real Reality...

Just because you believe something is real does not make it real. It even may appear and feel real to you but still does not make it real. That would be a good lesson to learn and relearn: Just because it appears real or feels real does not make it or mean it is. The Greeks had no word for reality. Actually "reality" is the best understanding of the Greek word translated into english as truth. Truth is void of lies or void of things/stuff that is "un-real." Truth is void of distracting "un reals" so truth is ultimate reality or real reality. The Bible declares that what God says is truth. (Jh. 17) What God says is ultimate reality or real reality no matter what our experiences, sight, or touch tell us.

For example: I can tell you my name is Rich. You can experience me introducing myself as rich. I could be wearing a name tag that you see and read "R-I-C-H." Others may even call me rich. But that does not make my name Rich. The reality is my name is Aaron. It is what my Father calls me! So, your experience, sight, and even others would have given you false information. Even if I believed my name was rich it still does not change the reality... my birth certificate reads Aaron.

So the million dollar question is what is our birth certificate? And what does it say? What is the standard from which truth is derived? God! The devil is a liar. His main goal is to distort truth! To pervert "reality" or at least our perspective of reality. If all the devil is armed with to come against you is the lie... then all you need to have power over him is truth! I may be simple minded I been accused of that before.

What does God say about you? Find out and reckon yourself whatever He says. Romans 6:11 says reckon yourself dead to sin. I do not reckon myself dead until it becomes true but because it is true! I do not reckon myself a son of God until I start acting like one. NO! I reckon myself a son because I am one. That is who I ultimately am. What I experience, see, touch, and hear others say... is simply a perspective shattered with untruths and false realities.

May the Lord wash you with the water of His word... His ultimate reality,

AT

I can do nothing...

Jesus said in John 5 He could do nothing. That is a remarkable statement. The God man so restricts Himself that He lives not being able to do anything. Jesus could not heal the sick or raise the dead. He could do nothing. Everything He did He did because the Father was doing it and He joined in. He did not come to show us what God could do in the flesh but what one man could do when rightly related to God. Jesus lived completely abandoned to the Fathers will.

Jesus the man who had ever right and ability to prove to us who He is and what He could do restricted Himself to complete dependence on the Father. After His statement "I can do nothing" He says, "He does only what He sees the Father doing." Allow me to suggest to you that realizing apart from Jesus you can do nothing opens your eyes to begin to see what the Father is doing. Try it. It is so refreshing to admit I am not smart enough, bright enough, talented enough, strong enough to do anything of any eternal value. So, Lord show me what you are doing and I will join you and as we co-labor You can do Your stuff in and through me.

In Acts 4: 13 the bible says, "when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized they had been with Jesus" Are you willing to let people see what you are not so they might see who you have been with? Do not hide inadequacies but use them to practice vulnerability. Remember the great lesson of 2 Cor. 12: when we are weak He is strong. As we are aware of our weakness we will see His power rest upon us. I encourage you to practice the presence. Live with the awareness that apart from Him you can do nothing... but you are never without Him again... so listen and join Him in the Fathers business.

Becoming childlike

Spiritual maturity is the process by which God makes us more and more childlike!

One of the most important and yet seemingly lost qualities I have seen to be crucial to Kingdom living is childlikeness. Children do not worry about provision or protection nor are they concerned with their faith, their holiness, or their obedience. They hear, trust, obey, and trust some more. Oh! may God restore to His church the innocence of a child. May the simplicity that is in Christ become the focus of our daily lives.

Some where along the way I believed a lie. I do not think any one person taught it to me as much as I learned it through life in the western church. Some where I was taught that sophistication and intelligence were the qualities of the mature. But most likely the clearest and most genuine mark of maturity is childlike trust. The "ability" to lose self-awareness in a head-long jump into the Fathers arms!

We spend so much time trying to cover up our inadequacies to prove our maturity while losing humility! You see the sophisticated church goers, who know "how to act in church" i.e passionless think by sophistication they please God. But He enjoys all of His children simply because they are His children. This does not mean God does not enjoy the "sophisticated" "proper" acting christian but it to say He loves them in spite of these things not because! I must say I have climbed up the tree of knowledge and peered from its branches and saw a greater more fruitful pleasant tree: the tree of life. Delighting in the Lord and He in I is the only way to live each day!

I must insert here a much needed disclaimer; faith and intellect are not mutually exclusive. But seek first understanding with your intellect and you will miss out of the joy of faith. But seek first trusting God even when you do not understand and God will give you understanding. Faith is the only real way to understanding. Spiritual maturity is the process by which God makes us more and more childlike! Come as you are just do not let the titles, what you know, or what you do not know keep you from the joy of Sonship. If you are in Christ you are a Son and the Fathers arms are wide open ready to delight in you simply because you are His son.

May God grant you a childlike heart!

AT