I was sitting one afternoon, several years ago, with a group of friends sharing lunch and cookies for dessert.  As I was eating one of the cookies one of the friends leaned over, in all seriousness, and said, “Mortify the flesh.”  

Mortify: to destroy the strength, vitality, or functioning of; to subdue or deaden (as the body or bodily appetites) especially by abstinence or self-inflicted pain or discomfort1

The concept of mortification can be somewhat confusing and even disquieting.  What exactly does it mean?

One author, Miles Stanford, relates “Man has many ways of seeking to escape the thralldom of self…some of these man-centered methods. 

Mortification

Denying oneself certain things for a time, or even for all time, is not even close to the answer since the old nature will adjust and thrive under any conditions – anything short of death to self.”(Stanford-pg 43) … For it is not scriptural to believe that the old Adam nature can be conquered in that manner. It yields to nothing less than the death of the cross. 

“It is altogether too tough to be killed by abusing the body or starving the affections” (A.W.Tozer).2

The first piece of the puzzle is that overcoming the flesh is not mind over matter. It is not simply willpower to subdue the lusts and desires of the flesh.  It involves death, our death. Not physical death but death to the lusts and desires of our flesh.  It’s personal.  It hurts.  Death does not come without pain.

Great truth.  Wonderful truth.  Is it enough?  Death is not enough if it is not followed by the inflow of Life.  Death will leave a void where our desires once held sway.  Death is not enough if there is not something to fill that void.  

Another author, Milton Vincent notes, “…the key to mortifying fleshly lust is to eliminate the emptiness within me and replace it with fullness; and I will accomplish this by feasting on the gospel…What happens then to my appetites for sin when I am filled with the fullness of God in Christ?  Jesus provides this answer: ‘He who continually comes to Me will never hunger or thirst again.’ Indeed, as I perpetually feast on Christ and all of His blessings found in the gospel, I find that my hunger for sin diminishes and the lies of lust simply lose their appeal. Hence, to the degree that I am full, I am free.” 3

The second piece of the puzzle is to be fully satisfied in Him, filled by His presence and overflowing, by His grace, with the fullness of Christ, so that lust and personal desires are shown for what they are: foolish, shallow, cheap imitations that pale in comparison to the fullness and richness of God.

Ephesians 1:22-23 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Ephesians 3:14-19  For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith-that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 5:18b …be filled with the Spirit

Hence, to the degree that I am full, I am free.4

Diane

1 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mortify accessed 02 08 09

2 The Complete Green Letters by Miles Stanford.

3 A Gospel Primer for Christians by Milton Vincent

4 The Gospel Primer for Christains by Milton Vincent

I was startled when a friend of mine asked me this question: Why are all those sinners in heaven?  My first response was to say, “There won’t be any sinners in heaven because it’s well – heaven.”

And then I thought for a moment and realized that, in fact, heaven is going to FULL of sinners.  Forgiven, ransomed by the blood of Jesus, sinners, but sinners none the less.

Romans 3:23 tells us that “…all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” And further on, in Romans 6:23 we are told “…the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”   So – all the sinners in heaven will be those that have been redeemed- and that makes all the difference.  Will our sins be taken to heaven with us?  No, because heaven is a place of no sin.  God sees us as sinless and spotless; because Jesus’ blood shed for us has satisfied the payment of death demanded by our sin and made us pure and righteous before God.  We have eternal life because of the work of Jesus on the cross to save us from sin.

A better answer to my friend would be something like, “and you as a sinner, can be in heaven, too.  All you need to do is accept the free gift of eternal life from God (Ephesians 2:8-9) and trust wholly in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross to save you from your sins (John 3:16).”  

So the next time you think about sinners in heaven, remember we are ALL sinners and the sinners who trust in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation and right standing before God, are redeemed from the hell deserved and welcomed into heaven to stand spotless before Him.  For me, that is the true beauty of heaven.

Lynn Randall

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. ~~ Galatians 1:101

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. ~~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-72

We are almost through the second month of the new year. Now I know some of you made resolutions in January. It seems to be one of those natural steps we take at the start of a brand new year.

In December, I found myself thinking on it, pondering over what new step or change I wanted or need to make this year.  In fact, it was in that month when my pastor challenged the entire church body to go thirty days without being offended. Wow, was that hard!  Who knew (certainly not me) that loving a brother or a sister by intentionally taking no offense could be so challenging?

I was astonished at how often I had to pause, ponder and pray through my stinky thinking as it relates to my words, actions and deeds in response to some perceived offense. Eww, yuck!  

At the same time, I was encouraged by the sweet fellowship of the spirit that was taking place as my own heart and its motives were revealed.  I found myself praying more for people than I had been able or willing to in the past. To take my thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ was far less draining on my emotions. Plus, a lot less unnecessary time was wasted walking or sitting around being offended.

Strangely enough, the one desire that surfaced continually for me, during that month, was to simply LIVE WITHOUT FEAR! Not the fear of spiders or fear of the dark, but rather, the fear of man. 

All too often, I was aware of circumstances, situations, etc., where I took an offense (for myself or for another) and I chose to say or do nothing for fear of what someone might think of me or fear that I might be rejected.

Praise God for His perfecting grace in us and that He, by His Spirit, is willing to speak in, through and to us for the purpose of transforming us into the image and likeness of His Son.

Stephanie

1 http://www.biblegateway.com 

2 http://www.biblegateway.com

“God is not trusted, not honored, in our continually asking Him for help. In the face of “my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19~KJV), how can we beg for help? Our responsibility is to see in the Word all that is ours in Christ, and then thank and trust Him for that which we need (pg 65~The Complete Green Letters- Miles Stanford).

How often do we do just that? Beg, plead and demand God’s help?  I do it all the time, so I appreciate the reminder that God has already made provision, already “granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3).  I don’t believe it is a matter of God giving us more as much as a matter of us receiving more of what is already ours as His children.  

In my experience we tend to err toward one of two extremes.  We either beg and plead for that which is already ours in Christ, or we presume upon God for that which He never promised. That’s why the little phrase in Stanford’s quote is important to not breeze over.  “Our responsibility is to see IN THE WORD all that is ours in Christ…” (Caps mine)

Let me share two brief illustrations.  

I am not a real fan of being in an airplane. I love to fly, but I’m not fond of being inside the airplane to do it.  I have a vivid memory of one flight many years ago, sitting in my center seat towards the back half of the plane, with white knuckles clinging to the arm rests, pleading with God ~ Father, give me Your peace. Oh, Lord, please give me Your peace.  Help me Jesus, I need peace.~ Over and over I pleaded and over and over God impressed upon my spirit – “You already have it, I have already given it to you” I was quite confused because I didn’t believe Him.  I knew I did not feel one shred of peace in that moment.  And that, precisely, was my problem: I didn’t believe Him.  “but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it” Hebrews 4:2b NKJV

The second illustration is of the error toward the other extreme.  I was sitting in the diner chatting with a friend struggling in her marriage.  As she shared with me over the next hour, it came out that she had gotten involved with another man.  It didn’t seem to matter what I said, she remained unpersuaded that what she was doing was wrong.  Why was she unpersuaded?  Her words to me were: “I don’t see anything wrong with it, and I don’t think God sees anything wrong with it because I know God wants me to be happy.” I can’t tell you how many times people have said those very words to me as a counselor.  It grieves my heart.  Their error is presuming upon God for something He does not promise.  They failed to “SEE IN THE WORD ALL THAT IS OURS IN CHRIST.”

Today, let’s simply choose to take God at His word and thank Him and Trust Him for His glorious provision for all our need.

Diane

Wish: Verb: To want: to desire; long for.

Noun:.A distinct mental inclination toward the doing, obtaining, attaining, something: a desire, felt or expressed.

Hope: Noun; Expectation of something desired: desire accompanied by expectation.

Trust: Noun: Confident expectation of something

Verb: To believe, to expect confidently.

Sometimes we get these three mixed up a bit so I thought I would look up the definitions and share them with you. As we lift our families and friends up in prayer or even our personal requests, I wonder which one of these three words would describe the state of our hearts. I’ve been thinking about the state of my own heart quite a bit lately. 

Over the past year my prayer life has become richer and deeper, both in my personal time with the Lord and here at the Colony of Mercy. God simply continues to amaze me with His answers to prayer. 

       I have witnessed Him answer prayers on behalf of a young wife and mother with a brain tumor. She was told to get her affairs in order prior to surgery…her prognoses was very, very dire. Not only did this young woman open her eyes after surgery, all her physical and mental capacities were intact!! This was to the amazement of all the doctors. God is so good!

I have even prayed for little things and witnessed answers to these as well. On a recent business trip to London, my husband was to arrive in London at 7am and go straight to work…no check in to a hotel, no shower to freshen up. But God heard even this insignificant request. Surprisingly, John was met by a limo at the airport that promptly took him to his hotel to check in and freshen up. Thank you Lord…for loving us so much!

Now where is my heart when I’m praying? Am I just longing for a good or positive outcome? Is there expectation in my desire for the answers to prayer? Or am I confidently expecting God to answer my prayer in any way He chooses to do so? Oh, how I long to say that in all my prayers I’m trusting God in ALL things….big and small. Over this past year I see less “wishing and hoping” and more TRUSTING. But I’m not at that point completely. I’ve discovered that the more I trust, the more peace I have. And this is a great place to be.

Isaiah 50:10, “Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the Word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.”

My challenge to you and myself as well, is to just trust in the Lord with all our hearts, minds and souls and leave the outcome to God, trusting Him for His answer. Let’s leave the wishes for the birthday cakes.

MaryAnn

MaryAnn and John Kiernan have been married for 35 years, have 2 grown/married sons and are the proud grandparents of two grandsons. She serves at America’s KESWICK as a Biblical Counselor and also as Intake Coordinator for the Colony of Mercy. Her life verse is Romans 8:28.

1. Definitions taken from The American College Dictionary, 1966, Random House Publishers.

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day and, for some, that is just another reminder that you are alone.  Perhaps you have been alone every Valentine’s Day or your Valentine is no longer a part of your life either through death or divorce or for some other painful reason.  Perhaps this Valentine’s Day you are looking forward to being with your new or not-so-new Valentine.  Regardless of what situation you are in today- YOU HAVE A VALENTINE – A DIVINE VALENTINE.  

      Before you scoff at the thought, let me assure you, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ, He is your Heavenly Husband and if you allow Him He will be the best Valentine.  Embracing your Divine Valentine in no way negates or minimizes your past or present valentine.  

Jesus is alive and active in the life of His bride.  He delights in giving good gifts.  You may be thinking, “that’s all well and good, but I need someone with skin on.”  Beware! As long as you believe that, you will never allow Jesus to be enough. 

      Jesus desires to fulfill the deepest longings of your heart, no matter where you find yourself today.  He completely satisfies (You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing. The LORD is righteous in all His ways, Gracious in all His works.. Psalm 145:16-17)

       He delights in you (As for the saints who are on the earth, “They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.” Psalm 16:3).  He is Mr. Right(eous)(“For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; His countenance beholds the upright.” Psalm 11:7).  You are His bride (“I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, In lovingkindness and mercy; I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, And you shall know the LORD.” Hosea 2:19-20) and He desires fellowship with you (“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”1 Corinthians 1:9).  He so desires relationship with you that He went to the cross to die to gain your release from sin and death and to gain your freedom (“But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life.” Romans 6:22; “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed” John 8:36).  

Oh, sister, go to Him today and tarry with Him until you experience His fullness, His love, His delight in you.  

Treasure your Divine Valentine.  

Diane

(modified from VICTORY CALL posted 2/14/07)

“But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person”  Matthew 15:18.

The way we communicate with others goes a long way to belie the attitudes of our hearts.  Many times when we are not careful with our speech, we add seemingly little words that pack a power punch that expresses what’s really in our heart and jabs the other person.  Perhaps examples would help clarify this point.

The difference between “Are you doing the dishes?”  and “Are you STILL doing the dishes?”

The difference between “Are you reading the paper?” and “Are you reading the paper AGAIN?”

The difference between “Have you taken out the trash?” and “Have you taken out the trash YET?”

The difference between “You requested I do the banking” and “You MANDATED I do the banking”

The difference between “You can be insensitive” and “You are VERY insensitive”.

The difference between “You often miss the laundry basket” and “You ALWAYS miss the laundry basket.”

The difference between “Are you taking a shower” and “Are you taking ANOTHER shower?”

The list could go on and on.  We often add inflamatory words to our communication that jab the person we are talking to and make them feel like we just gave the knife a quick twist.  Where is the grace in that?  Where is the humility in that? How does that move us forward in a goal to have godly communication?  Inflamatory speech is packed with judgement. We can shut communication down in an instant with inflamatory speech that immediately puts the other person on the defensive.  

Ephesians 4:29: “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” ESV

“Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. NIV

“Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk [ever] come out of your mouth, but only such [speech] as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God’s favor) to those who hear it.” AMPLIFIED

Let us therefore be wise with our words, building up and encouraging others, using them for God’s purposes rather than our own.

Diane

“But I still have to…”  Many times when I am trying to encourage someone in their faith, in believing God in their situation, they get frustrated and say, “I do have faith, but I still have to…care for my parents, live with my husband/wife,  discipline my children, do my job, or forgive.”  In many ways the “but I still have to’s” negate faith.  Whenever we say, I believe…but… we don’t really believe wholeheartedly.  

It’s interesting that we speak of our walk of faith as a walk, not a sit or stand. “…for we walk by faith, not by sight” 2 Corinthians 5:7. “If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit” Galatians 5:25. Faith is active. Faith results in action.  To simply believe without acting upon that belief is not belief at all but unbelief.  “So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” James 2:17. James the Just, brother of Jesus, wrote, “Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works” James 2:21-22.

To drive home this point let’s take a brief survey of Hebrews 11:

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice… vs. 4

By faith Noah…constructed an ark… vs. 7

By faith Abraham obeyed …and he went out, not knowing where he was going… vs. 8

By faith Abraham went to live in the land of promise…living in tents… vs. 9

By faith Abraham …offered up Isaac… vs. 17

By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau… vs. 20

By faith Jacob blessed the sons of Joseph… vs. 21

By faith Joseph gave directions for his bones to be taken when the Israelites were set free from Egyptian bondage. vs. 22

By faith Moses’ parents hid him for 3 months from the King’s men…vs. 23

By faith Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter…vs.24

By faith Moses kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood…vs. 28

By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land… vs. 29

By faith Rahab offered shelter to the spies…vs. 31

The Scriptures contain many, many more examples of active faith. “For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets-who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight” Hebrews 11:32-34.

Inspired by those who have gone before us, both living and dead, let us step out in faith to live in such a way that portrays our faith by our actions. Action is the natural overflow of a heart of faith. So while we are forgiving, raising children, living with difficult spouses or children, and working for demanding bosses, let us faithfully walk, all the while, trusting and believing God is moment-by-moment fulfilling His promises in our lives.  

Diane

One of the things I appreciate most about America’s KESWICK is the emphasis on prayer.  I am blessed to be able to pray for the ministry and staff.   I will frequently say, “I’ll pray for you,” but do I?  How consistent am I in my prayer time?  

When I think of prayer warriors, I am personally reminded of Dottie Noel and Sister Ruth, Pastor Bill’s sister, and several others in my life who have been faithful examples of praying for others.  I’ve always desired to be a prayer warrior like them.   Why not now?   Just the other week an incident happened through which the Lord reminded me of both the importance of prayer and of praying for one another.  

Our 10-year-old daughter came home from school with a project which involved interviewing someone and asking them questions on prayer.   I immediately called Aunt Dottie and asked if Jesslyn could interview her regarding prayer.  She agreed and the two of them talked.  The questions included:  “How do you define intercessory prayer?  When do you pray?  What do you usually pray for?”  I was touched by what had just taken place.  

About 15 minutes later, the phone rang, and it was Aunt Dottie.  She called to thank me for suggesting Jesslyn call.  Aunt Dottie went on to share that she was physically not feeling well and was very discouraged that day.  But God intervened…. He had a little girl call and through their conversation God showed Aunt Dottie that He did care and that she was important and she was making an impact for HIS kingdom.  God showed us an example of intercessory prayer when a 10-year-old girl and a 75-year-old woman of faith connected to share and pray for one another.  I was moved to tears witnessing something that seemed so small yet taught such a big lesson.  

Ephesians 6:18 says, “Pray all the time.  Ask God for anything in line with the Holy Spirit’s wishes.  Plead with him, reminding him of your needs, and keep praying earnestly for all Christians everywhere.” (The Living Bible)

Intercessory prayer… it’s God’s command… let’s obey HIM, mean it and do it when we say, “I’ll pray for you!”  I believe we’ll be amazed at how He will use us to impact HIS kingdom.

Donna Bitler

 

Conflict happens.  It is part of living in a fallen world and amongst fallen people.  When you experience conflict are you likely to bring people into the situation that are going to support you and agree with you and your point of view or are you going to seek counsel from those that will be unwilling to take up sides but instead who can and will keep pointing you to the cross and the gospel?   

Recently, I shared a struggle I was having with some friends who I knew would challenge me to think about God’s grace and how to think biblically about my situation.  But knowing it and experiencing is two different things.  When one of the women made a suggestion that would completely turn the tables back on me, I initially shuddered. That is not at all what I was looking for but within a few moments I was at peace with her suggestion.  In fact, I started to get a greater vision of what God was up to in my life and my situation.  That evening we were reading from “A Gospel Primer for Christians” and I could sense growing anticipation that God was going to use this situation for His purposes and my good.  I went home and searched through the small little book for every morsel that was even remotely relative to my immediate situation when I came across the following quote:

       “More than anything else I could ever do, the gospel enables me to embrace my tribulations and thereby position myself to gain full benefit from them. For the gospel is the one great permanent circumstance in which I live and move; and every hardship in my life is allowed by God only because it serves His gospel purposes in me. When I view my circumstances in this light, I realize that the gospel is not just one piece of good news that fits into my life somewhere among all the bad. I realize instead that the gospel makes genuinely good news out of every other aspect of my life, including my severest trials. The good news about my trials is that God is forcing them to bow to His gospel purposes and do good unto me by improving my character and making me more conformed to the image of Christ.

       Preaching the gospel to myself each day provides a lens through which I can view my trials in this way and see the true cause for rejoicing that exists in them. I can then embrace trials as friends and allow them to do God’s good work in me. “A Gospel Primer for Christians” (by Milton Vincent, pg 31-32)

I have shared with my husband, who is my greatest fan, that I don’t need him to feed my flesh by taking up my banner and defense, I need him to speak the gospel into my life. Seek out people that will speak truth into your life not those that will agree with you and further entrench your own fleshly response.  

Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ. Ephesians 4:15

 

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Colossians 3:16

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29

Diane