Addiction

I was chatting today with a friend about sin addiction and it's power.  There are certain sins we can be entrapped by more often than others.  And when you commit these type of sins and you confess them to our Father God we can feel very ashamed.  It's easy to picture a void between you and God and for Him to feel distant.

Well this is what came out of my head and I feel is from the Spirit...

When we feel distant before God that is not the reality of the situation.  We feel distant because of the sin, but God is not distant because of the sin.  When we confess our sins unto the Lord, He says "I don't hold this against you going forward."  Can we believe that though?  When we don't believe it then we get defeated and think God sees as me as a person who does (enter sin).  And since He views us this way then committing that sin more won't change that and so we retreat back to our sin traps were it's comfortable and safe.  Only to start the whole shameful cycle again.

But when we believe Him when He says "I don't hold this against you going further." We are free.  We know we are seen a His child and that the sin is not upon us.  (Jesus took care of it right?)  We don't have to retreat back to the sin because we are not defeated but we are victorious.  Our Conqueror has conquered and our future does not have to have that sin in it. 

Might we retreat anyway?  Of course and we often do fall to temptation.  But the good news is that when we bring that to God's throne and confess it unto Him "He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins" and will say it again, "I don't hold this against you going forward."

So we are continually given a beautiful and pure future that matches our position in Christ, our justification and we are given the green light to "live up to what we have already obtained."

This is a position of hope that can overcome the darkness.  Don't let Satan convince you that the hope is not for you and that it's inevitable that you have to crumble to the power of temptation.  Day by day, your relationship with God is always moving forward, and yesterday matters not.

Hear His heart for you, "I don't hold this against you moving forward."

Student or Disciple?

Man oh man I have enjoyed this walking (literally) with God.  It has been a wonderful experience I wish for everybody.  It has been life giving joy for my heart.

You know what wasn't?  The mirror this morning.  Haha.  I looked at myself and I was like, wow, you don't look like a guy who walks two miles a day.  Then it popped in my head, 'You do look like a guy who eats garbage (translate: delicious food at high quantities)."  I quickly put that out of my head, clung to the facts that my identity in Christ has never been affected by fat content and went on with my day.

So as I walked this afternoon I was thinking about food a bit and how I need to eat better.  That despite my increase in exercise I'm still easily out eating my exercise.  That got me thinking spiritually again, which works the opposite way.

Am I still out exercising my spiritual intake?  See one of the major premises of mine on these walks is major focus on intimacy of relationship with Christ and less on Bible study.  And it remains the focus.

Let me just throw out a gentle reminder to myself and anyone out there reading this.  Study is critical.  Well, the right kind of studying.  See when it comes to Jesus we too often think in western terms.  That He is the philosopher professor and we are the student and we need to study to know what He knows.  Honestly almost everybody I know that considers themselves a disciple of Jesus is really a student in this way.

A disciple doesn't study to know what the teacher knows.  It goes beyond that.  The disciple wants to BE what the Rabbi IS.  That requires full examination and the consuming fire of positively stalking the Rabbi.  Much more effort that a student takes in gathering what the teacher knows.

I heard once a Jewish teacher noticed a Christian in his classroom.  The teacher at the time was instructing on the idea of true Jewish discipleship in connection to the Torah Rabbi and the S'mikah Rabbi's.  The S'mikah Rabbi's disciples would have memorized the whole Old Testament and live every day in the Rabbi's presence. The instructor looked right into the eyes of the Christian student and said, "Christians talk about being disciples of a Rabbi, they are ignorant.  Any Christian who calls himself a disciple and doesn't read the four gospels at least once a week is a liar!  You couldn't possibly know your Rabbi well enough to be a disciple if your not reading the four gospels."

Is the reason that so many Christians don't have so much more influence is because most of us are students and not disciples?

Let's walk with Him, talk with Him, study with Him, and allow the His Spirit in you to work like Him. 

Update

Ive walked 2 miles a day since January 3rd. Only exception being one busy Saturday full of painting the kitchen and living room and yesterday.

I feel great physically and spiritually. Doubling up face time with Jesus and walking has been motivating. I have been running portions of the walks lately which demonstrates some physical improvement.

But even better is the time with God. Talking out loud and hearing answers back through the Spirit. I havent felt this close to Him in a long time. I have more joy these days and less gloom. On the painful side my sin hurts me much much more as I know I will be talking to Him that same day about it. You know its not like I didnt necessarily before but somehow my processes have made it different. The intimacy Im after...its coming.

Well Im off for my evening walk with God. Later.

Siri vs Spirit

Ladies and Gentlemen, people are taking to their phones!

This is only strange because the phone is not dialed.  There isn't anyone real on the other line.  See as you are well aware, on the new i-phones there is a lovely artificially intelligent personal assistant named Siri.  She is helping people out alot it seems.  You can ask her to remind you to call someone when you get home and then when your phones GPS tells her you have reached your home she reminds you.  If you need to text someone "hands free" you can tell her who and want and she takes care of it.  Pretty nifty.

You can also ask her just about any question in the world and she will answer you.  (Here's an article detailing that.)  People are talking to this A.I. like she is a real person.  Asking her what her favorite color is, if she will marry them, what the meaning of life is.

See if you ported our great grandparents in a time machine to today they would call people who talk to Siri loonies. 

Now my question is this.  Is it more socially acceptable to talk to Siri than to the Holy Spirit (or God/Jesus for that matter)?  If you see two people walking down the street and one is talking to Siri and one is talking to the Holy Spirit which one is stranger?

I want to have a relationship with the Holy Spirit in which I grow intimately with Him about what He is about, what He is doing, what He wants to do.  I want Him to remind me of stuff to do.  I want Him to tell me what His favorite color is.  (I've asked multiple times so far on my walks and so far no answer, but boy, am I getting direction on other stuff!)

Here is another question?  Do you have a better relationship with Siri than with God? 

Convenience

If we are honest most of the time exercise and personal time with God are inconvenient. 

I noticed a passage in Acts this last week that stuck out to me about how we are often like.  It's from the time Paul had been arrested and was going through court trials before finally appealing to Caesar to save his life from the Jews. 

Acts 24:24-25 "But some days later, Felix arrived with Drusilla, his wife who was  Jewess, and sent for Paul, and heard him speak about faith in Christ Jesus.  And as he was discussing righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix became frightened and said, "Go away for the present, and when I find time I will summon you."

Do we do that to God when the relationship is getting hard?  Put him off until it's more convenient?

Do we do that with our health?  Putting exercise off until it's more convenient?

Exercise Profits Nothing?

1 Timothy 4:8 “For bodily discipline (exercise) is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.”

What?

I used to think this meant that exercise could turn into a waste of time that could more rightly be spent furthering God’s Kingdom. 

First of all, it probably still does mean that. 

Secondly, I don’t really further God’s Kingdom during the time that would otherwise be slotted for exercise so I’m still failing. 

Thirdly, large portions of Scripture instruct us to be hard workers and not lazy gluttons. 

 

Fourthly, just in the last 120 years of human history has transportation being part of life.  Before that people walked everywhere!  Well unless it was a distant journey then they’d use an animal but still.  Take a look at Jesus life from a fitness point of view and it’s kinda startling how much walking he did across the rugged terrain of Judah and Galilee.

So what does Paul really mean here?  Other places (1 Cor 9 and 2 Tim 2) Paul uses Olympic, athlete, soldier, and farmer  illustrations who would be taking part in aerobic activities.

Well Timothy was left by Paul in Ephesus to lead the church right?  The men of Ephesus were of a  culture that was struggling with the heresy of Ascetism.  The condition of practice of self-denial.  They would cut out the pleasures of the world from their body to try to achieve a greater spiritual position.  (Interestingly Buddha tried this for six years before looking for a different path to enlightenment.  I hope he found Yahweh but I’ve never read that he did.)

In context then Paul is telling Timothy through use of metaphor that Ascetism is not helpful to any Christian purpose.  So Paul isn’t talking about physical exercise but a bodily self-centered struggle for religious perfectionism. 

If anything this is a warning against selfishness.  Today it warns against physical conditioning for selfish reasons like appearance.  

So as I throw out this excuse verse I focus now on my health.   I have started walking 2 miles a day, it’s a low number but it’s a good start, and to feed my starving soul simultaneously…

            Mile 1- Talking to Jesus, asking Him questions I’ve always wanted to know, listening for His advice on how I can be a better man.  (It's been 3 days and he has already broke me and started rebuilding spiritually)

            Mile 2- My favorite Christian music on my ipod (I’ve made a playlist with good lyrical content, some of my favorite songs or favorite artists don’t really say anything so they are out…man there’s a whole other topic= Is my life just a good neutral song by a Christian band?) 

3 days and counting.

Spiritual Starvation

Are we really spiritually starved?  How can we tell? 

Msgr. Charles Pope of the Archdiocese of Washington (Catholics have good ideas too sometimes)writes, “one form of starvation that is quite a problem here in the affluent West is spiritual starvation. It is a strange starvation to be sure, for it is largely self-inflicted. Further, it seems to be at an advanced stage. I am told that as starvation advances there comes a time when a kind of lethargy sets in and, though one knows he is hungry, he lacks the mental acuity or focus to want to do much about it. This seems the stage of spiritual starvation at which many Westerners are. Most people know they are spiritually hungry and long for something. But through a kind of lethargy and mental boredom they seem little inclined to do much about it."

He goes on to talk about the stages of physical starvation (which I know nothing about) and their parallel in spiritual starvation.  I disagree with Mr.Pope’s theological conclusion that you can spiritually starve yourself to a spiritual death.  I’d like to examine the true effects of spiritual starvation here. 

            Early sign of starvation includes weakness-  A physically staved individual loses strength. When we are starved spiritually we can begin to experience moral weakness.  Unusual battles with self-control because of this spiritual malnutrition.   This could lead to slip ups in sexuality, addiction, and basically all the deeds of the flesh listed by the Apostle Paul in Galatians 5:19-21.  

Confusion-  A physically starved individual cannot think clearly.  Spiritual speaking this also occurs.  We blur and distort the lines of God’s absolutes.  Idolatry, lust, cheating, lying, and stealing. We blur the lines on other biblical issues... how to care for the poor, how to raise and discipline children, how to educate children, how to be faithful to your spouse, etc.

Irritability- A physically staved individual is easily irritated by his circumstances.  Spiritual speaking the starved person grows in increasing anger towards the Church and often if not first God.  Resistance and agitation to God’s ways.  As a fall back we embrace culture and use it as a platform to argue and be divided amongst on other because we no longer share God’s daily bread together.  On a personal level we will snap at people we love because we are on “edge” not being able to pinpoint why (connected to our confusion) 

Immune deficiency- A physically starved individual is extra susceptible to disease.  The spiritual starved become extra susceptible to sin disease.   We give way to temptation in ways we normally wouldn’t.  Things once thought as indecent are done openly (connected to our confusion).  Sin spreads through our lives…see Paul’s deeds of the flesh again. 

The middle stages of starvation occur after all the fat cells have been depleted and the body starts to feed on its own muscle tissue.   What does this look like for the spiritually starving?  How about depleting your own savings and incurring massive amounts of debt for this we want instead of re-examining our priorities.  We then turn on each other and deplete each other in effort to stay ahead.

After this point, your internal organs will shut down one at a time.  For the spiritually starving our ability to think rightly goes out the window (brain).  Our ability to care and love for others become an impossible strain (heart).  Our ability to take in the Word of God and share it with others falls flat (lungs).  Our ability to hear a message and process it for daily use malfunctions (stomach & intestines).

      The final stages of starvation will include:

       

       Hallucinations-   In Romans 1:21-22,28 Paul writes of the spiritually starved saying ‘For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks; but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  Professing to be wise, they became fools…And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind…”  When our spirit is starved we will hallucinate a very different picture about God.

      

      Convulsions and Muscles spasms- Over reaching, over stretching, or under reaching and under stretching spiritually makes for a difficult and depressing existence of failure.

Irregular heart beat- The spiritually starved will have days of compassion and love and do great things and the next day be cold and indifferent about anybody.

      Sleepy and comatose state- The spiritually starved slips in and out of spiritual conscientiousness.  We need to remain alert and watching for God to move and move us.  Spiritual starvation takes this ability away.  Paul writes in 1 Thess. 5:5,6 “…you are all sons of light and sons of day.  We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober.”            

      Death- This is the flat line, the deadly plateau of the Christian life.  No highs, no lows, no experience at all.  We might as well be spiritually dead because in no way are we spiritually living.  Thanks to the Holy Spirit’s powerful grip (Eph 4:30) this is not the end for us, it is the worst possible place to be in this life.   

Thanks to our Savior and Lord Jesus of Nazareth we can be revived again and again and again.  When we find ourselves spiritually starving we need to return to His table and eat.  We need to make time to seek His face. 

Depending on where you are in the starvation process you will have the ability to recognize and turn with His help.  If you are deep down the path of starvation sometimes you need others to help you get to the table.  Thus…fatandstarved.blogspot.com exists.

So anyone identify with these symptoms?

1.