Author: theparacleteshammer

You are still exalting yourself against my people and will not let them go.

From Exodus 9:17

It is possible for the people who are the enemies of G-d to exalt themselves against not just Him, but also His children.

From this verse we may insinuate that it is possible for the Father to become incensed when others attack those of us who are His kids in actuality.

There are some who claim Jesus but won’t conduct themselves as His kids, and they will not bear fruit (Matthew 7:20). And, as we know, making a decision, checking a box, and saying a prayer do not make you His kid.
Rather being made perfect as He is perfect, that is being made completed in Him as He is complete (Matthew 5:48) is solid evidence that you are part of His family.

The real, sincere honest desire to be made conformable to His image (Romans 8:29) and His death (Philippians 3:10) that verifiably transforms how you walk on Monday Morning is a way of ascertaining that you are His kid. Do that and you more easily be able to resist exalting yourself against either Him or those that are His.

So, today, as you work out your salvation and reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:17-21; Philippians 2:12), consider the principle of exaltation.

Galatians 6:3-5
 
Bearing Burdens: Part 2
 
“For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.  But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor.  For each will have to bear his own load.”
Galatians 6:3–5
 
So, last week we discussed how we are supposed to bear one another burdens, and in this passage we are told that each person will have to bear our own load?  So, what gives?
 
Paul is not commanding each person to bear their own load.  Rather, Paul is explaining the reality of what will happen if we think we can do life alone.
 
NOTE: For those who want to live life alone, I recommend that you stop attempting to get married.  Getting married will force you to become accountable for someone for the rest of your life, period.
 
This is precisely what happens when we fail to read statements of explanation as statements of command, and when we fail to read in context.
 
First, we are commanded in verse 2 to bear one another’s burdens in order to fulfill the law of Christ.
 
Then, we are told in verse 3 that there is a reality and it is this:  there are areas in each of our lives where we are weak.  We are after all, as a church, designed to be a body.  The eyes need the ears and the ears need the hands, and the hands need the feet, and they need the heart, which needs the pancreas, which needs the brain, which needs the digestive tract.
 
In other words, there are some things that we are designed to be really strong at.  Gifts, talents, abilities that God has given to each one of us, and there are areas where we are weak and need the help of other believers who are strong in the areas where we are weak.
 
Then between verse 3 and verse 4 the idea seems to be that if we believe we can do this on ourselves, then the consequences of attempting to do it ourselves will be spelled out in verses 3-5.
 
If you choose to go it alone, then your own works, strengths, weaknesses, and everything in between will be tested, and further, you will be required to bear that load alone, regardless of how heavy that load is.
 
This is a principle that bears repeating.  If you want to go at the Christian life alone, then you will be permitted to go at it alone, but as a result you will have to accept the consequences of going at this life alone.  You will have to accept the consequences of not having other believers around.
 
Honestly, there are a couple of ways in which that might sound appealing, but there are a number of reasons why the idea of following Jesus alone should scare us.
 
First, we were not designed to live in isolation (1 Corinthians 12:27).
Second, we have gifts that can only be fully utilized in the context of community (1 Corinthians 12:7).
Third, for those who are inherently social, they need those of us who think we can do this thing called life alone.
Fourth, God observed in Genesis 2:18 that “it is not good for man to be alone”.
Fifth, there is no way we can follow any of the commands in Scripture that are given to one another if we are not living and dwelling in community with one another.  If we are alone, then it is impossible to engage in the “one anothers” of Scripture. Here is the list of those
 
Romans 12:10
Romans 12:16
Romans 14:13
Romans 15:5
Romans 15:7
Romans 15:14
Romans 16:16
1 Corinthians 7:5
1 Corinthians 11:33
1 Corinthians 12:25
2 Corinthians 10:12
2 Corinthians 13:11-12
Galatians 5:13
Ephesians 4:2
Ephesians 4:32
Ephesians 5:19
Ephesians 5:21
Colossians 3:9
Colossians 3:13
Colossians 3:16
1 Thessalonians 3:12
1 Thessalonians 5:11
Hebrews 10:24-25
James 5:16
1 Peter 5:5
1 John 1:7
 
Concerning 1 John 1:7, why would we want to have fellowship with one another if we think Paul would tell us to bear our own burdens alone?  Answer: we would not, because Paul did not.
 
If the purpose of forgiveness of sins is reconciliation, then one of the major evidences and major things that will draw others into a saving knowledge of Jesus is the love we have for one another.
 
Now, that love is not turning a blind eye to the sin of others.  Rather it is a love that speaks the truth from a motive to see others restored to community with the Lord and with each others.
 
Speaking the truth by itself may be very destructive.  Rather, in what we do, there should be a right motive, and when that motive is the ministry of reconciliation that we have each been given as Christians, then we are able to show love one for another.  And for that sort of interaction to take place, we have to first be able to partner with the Lord to create a safe place and an atmosphere of trust that enables us to have honest interactions with one another.  We cannot more deeply grow in love if there is little basis for trust.  I can say and call you brother or sister, but can I really treat you as brother and sister?
 
I can say, “how are you this morning?”, and you can reply with the right Christian response of, “blessed”.  However, can I trust you well enough to talk to you about my dog at home who is having an issue and trust that you will talk to the Lord about those issues and pray for my dog?  Can I trust you enough to tell you about a negative situation at home and trust that you will pray and ask the Lord to move in that situation?  What kind of emotional, relational, spiritual investment am I making in you and vice-versa?
 
What does it look like for us to really and deeply treat one another as brothers and sisters?
What does it look like for us to create a community where love and affection flow?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

I was never involved in Satanic Ritual Abuse. And to my knowledge, I do not have any parts, though I am fairly sure that I have been victimized by CRA: Christian Ritual Abuse.
I have told that story of ministerial abuse before without using that term.
But…I was thrown into the mix of working with Survivors, as my tribe calls them.
And my first encounter with a Survivor was a reminder of how good and underrated a gift the fruits of Kindness and Gentleness are, in addition to fostering trust woth those people we connect with.
I had no idea what I was doing, and to a massive degree that still holds true.
But what does not change is this yoke can be easy and light, if you will allow Jesus to lead you deeply and in the stillness as you work with them.
One thing this community is in desperate need of is “still Christians”, sons (applied to men and women both) who are capable of becoming still and who are aware of how much they do not know, and who are just willing to listen and step into the survivor’s world.
I have some friends who are survivors, and each of them has been assigned to me for the present season.
And for the time being, we just need to be willing to be willing to walk with our abused friends, even without answers.
And we need to recognize that this task is dofferent from other tasks, but it can be vastly simplified if we are just willing to do one thing that so many programs will not teach you: show up from time to time, be there, and use the tools in your hands that Father puts there.
For me, the major tool is blessing. Blessing design and blessing them with the truth of who they are and who they were made to be.
And when you do not have the answer, just being available to listen and absorb parts of their reality makes a huge difference.
Just a few lunchtime thoughts, if you are willing to bear with a trouble human spirit.

It is possible to be chosen of G-d, precious in His sight, the apple of His eye, His dearly beloved son (as a man or woman), bride (as a man or woman), the object of His tender mercy and affectionate heart….
And still be subject to the harsh realities of being beaten in the brickyard by the taskmasters of Pharaoh.
The presence of the taskmasters of Pharaoh in your life does not guarantee an absence of the affection of the Father. Often times, as the Israelites also ignored the word of Moses, Father is trying to get our attention to move us out of one season because it is time and it is the καιρός time for us to transition, but we can ignore and become bitter toward G-d, offended with Him, and reject the season of His timing.
If your spirit is broken (Exodus 6:9), then it may be difficult to hear the word of the L-rd, but it still is necessary to act, lean into G-d your Father for healing in that season, and move toward liberation, and walk in/act on faith.
The L-rd might be allowing circumstances to stack one on another in order to move you out to a place that is calm and quiet, even if that land is desert land, in order to revive your broken spirit.
The question is, “Are we willing to move, even with the very traumatic reality of a broken spirit?”. If we move and offer the L-rd our broken spirit, He will not despise that (Psalm 51:17). He wants to deliver and save those who are crushed in spirit (Psalm 34:18), WHILE they are still crushed in spirit (Exodus 6:9).
Can we still muster the capacity to move even when our spirits are broken or crushed?
I think it is possible, though it is painful.
And He is still our Father even when we have a crushed spirit. But sometimes He will use circumstsnces that are painful in order to provoke us to say “this is a place I really hate” and use that pain in order to cause us to walk in obedience when we are not feeling strong in spirit.
Carry your broken spirit, get out of Egypt, as messy as the exodus may be, and get into the wilderness with its serenity, where there is nothing but the quietness of the altar for the living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2) which sometimes functions as a surgery table.
You have to climb onto the surgery table as an act of your own will.
And in the words of an old friend of mine, remember that, in those seasons of surgery, you are going to be open on the table while the L-rd works on you internally, and “if you crawl off the table before He has finished his work, you will bleed to death.”

Oftentimes, the sad reality is that what passes for discernment is really just mental sense.
I was reading the passage in Exodus and while I was reading 5:10-21, I sensed the L-rd laying a charge at the feet of many leaders in the body of Christ who are stubbornly choosing to live without the discernment Father intended them to have.
“They are the Israelite foremen in Pharaoh’s brickyard. They feel obligated to treat the Egyptian labor as reality when Father is attempting to liberate them (leaders without discernment) to pursue Him more deeply in the wilderness for the many oases He has for them.”
Unfortunately, in many, many places, leaders and people who were designed to be leaders have contented themselves with the bricks and straw of the world’s brand, the world’s fragrance, and the world’s way of thinking for fear of the structures of “crazy” and “unstable” and “black sheep” being exposed in them. It occurs to me Father may be trying to get them to walk where they are supposed to walk so those labels and structures can get exposed through the trats mistreatment so Father can ultimately remove those labels so they can walk in comfortable possession of the authority they have earned.
In order to do that, they might have to lay aside the world’s brand, and the entertainments with which they have sated themselves, whether that entertainment is social media, sports, movies, friendships that they believe improve their image and reputation. They will need to lay these things aside so they can run with the Shepherd and climb among the crags of the High Places.
It is time, gang.
It is time to thrust aside, even if for a season, the things that beset you.
It is time for a tighter, crisper, and fuller, more satisfying walk.
Be blessed.

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hardened; he refuses to let the people go.  Go to Pharaoh in the morning, as he is going out to the water.  Stand on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that turned into a serpent.  And you shall say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, sent me to you, saying, ‘Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness.’ But so far, you have not obeyed.  Thus says the LORD, ‘By this you shall know that I am the LORD: behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood.  The fish in the Nile shall die, and the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will grow weary of drinking water from the Nile.’ ‘ “

 And the LORD said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, their canals, and their ponds, and all their pools of water, so that they may become blood, and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, even in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.’ ”

Exodus 7:14–19

It is possible that some of y’all have considered this but I will share it on the chance there is someone who has not.
The only thing the L-rd was doing here was revealing the nature of the Nile River and what was in it.
If you recall earlier in Exodus (1:22), the Nile was the scene of numerous infanticide.  The Nile was also, ironically, a source of life to the land of Egypt.  The Egyptian drowning of young men in the river would have defiled the river, and the L-rd was showing the Egyptians what they had done in their usage of the River as a tool of death to so many Israelite children.
Thus, not only was the L-rd conducting warfare against the god of the Nile, but He was also revealing to the Egyptians, especially those with the depth of memory to recall, the reality of what they had done to their river in executing premeditated bloodshed.  He was revealing reality
It behooves us, and especially those of us with the Redemptive Gift of Exhorter, to recall that the L-rd knows reality and is capable of showing us things as the really are and not just as we wish them to be.
It does us all good to hunt for reality, gang, especially with the G-d Who Reveals Reality.
The Exhorter who hunts for reality in private with the L-rd, is the Exhorter who has much positive earned authority in the realm of the Redemptive Gift.  And the chances are high they will avoid many public embarassments that are completely avoidable.
As the Prophet is designed to hunt for Design, the Exhorter is designed to hunt for Reality and to have a disproportionate harvest when they do hunt for Reality.  Father is willing to reveal reality as is truly is and not merely as we want it.  The question is, like Yeshua the Exhorter, are you willing to go through what it takes to develop the chops necessary to handle Reality as it is progressively revealed?
That is the work of the earlier manifestations of Reality.  That is the work of intimately knowing Sowing and Reaping, and Pain and Suffering.
And in that suffering, pain, and knowing Reality, there is a capacity to know G-d in an intimacy that few will ever want.  This dynamic and type of intimacy is something that the Prophet and the Mercy and the Teacher cannot easily grasp.
I would contend the Exhorter was designed more deeply than the other gifts to know the G-d Who Moves In Suffering and Pain.  They were designed to fellowship with Him in suffering, and to find a joy in suffering that many others would find absolutely perverse.
It takes two to make a community, and Exhorters are designed for community.  And their chiefest community, the community that will NOT abandon them, is the community of the Trinity.  And given joy is what strengthens the believer, and joy is the emotion of community, the easiest community for an Exhorter to form, if they want it, is community with the Trinity.
Moses, who was abandoned at birth, though not willingly, was a baby in the bulrushes.  Who knows how long he remained in that basket until he encountered another human?  For any Exhorter that first test of abandonment or separation from humanity is often the most keenly painful and rough.
This is why being able to form community with G-d is the most critical early on in the life of the young Exhorter.

The rain does fall on the righteous and the unrighteous, as does the sun rise on both (Matthew 5:45 78, 83NIV).
And these things are not necessarily to be construed as negative. Read the context for 5:45.
That said, there are times when the L-rd does not make a distinction in the execution of His judgments (decisions).
The first three of the fractal of 10 in Exodus 6:14-12:30, were judgments that occurred and affected the entire land of Egypt. Scripture never says that Goshen was protected from those realities.
It is only with the flies that the L-rd made a distinction with Goshen.
There are going to be times where the L-rd permits national judgment to affect us, or even negative things to affect our situations.
The question is:
What is your response to pain/difficulty/testing/refining/hard realities/problems?
Do we lean more strongly into Him and do we look at how we can partner with Father to bring productivity out of nasty or incovenient times, or do we stew and reject Him.
There are some revelations that can only be ingrained into our fiber through the fire of testing.
And there are some refinements that sre non-optional Isaiah 54:1-16) if we want those weapons formed againdt us to not prosper.
If we refuse to go through certain trials, then there will be certain weapons formed against us that will prosper.
You cannot have Isaiah 54:17 without embracing everything that comes before it.
You may need to endure blood in the waters, frogs, and lice, of you want to have protection from the locusts, hail, and darkness.

Since the crucifixion, the L-rd has been working to restore us to full relationship with the Father.  Yeshua’s death on the cross was not merely for our salvation from hell, but rather for our reconciliation with the Father.  And it was for us becoming new creations that are not hindered by the body of death. Yeshua, for those who believe (John 1:12) delivered us from bondage, to the freedom of sonship. He delivered us to a place where we are considered holy, chosen and dearly beloved (Colossians 3:12). He delivered us from the conflicted nature of Romans 7 to the single and holy nature as sons of Romans 8.
Do not believe the lie that is pop theology that says there is another law at work inside of us.  Romans 7 does not actually apply to followers of Yeshua (more on explaining what that is later).
What happens when we are born again is we become a new creation.  That body of death that was in us, gets expelled to the outside, and the attacks that were part of our internal war are now external to us and attempting to oppress us.  This idea that we are somehow dual-natured is absolute garbage.
You are a new creation.  Feel free to appropriate the new creation wherever you go.
I mean, unless you think perfection and holiness (Matthew 5:48) can be boiled down to a list of things you do and do not do.
If we spend so much time devoted to the list of things we think we are supposed to do in order to be perfect, we will never get into the car of our new identity in Messiah and drive off into all G-d has for us.
If we live with a mentality that is attempting to avoid sin, then all we will see everywhere we go is the opportunity to sin.
But if we live with a mentality that is aware of our calling, destiny, and our new identity as a new creation, then everywhere we go we will see our calling, destiny, new identity, and ways to fulfill that destiny.
This requires a deep shift in thinking and relating to both the outside world and the inside world and it also requires us to quit hiding behind the sinful nature that we no longer have if we are in Christ, and it also requires us to start walking and living as Jesus lived and walked. Furthermore, it requires rejecting the heresy that we are sinners saved by grace.
In part, while there are five areas that Father cleansed and made holy in Christ, holiness can be boiled down to a few things.
One, you do what you see the Father doing, and you say only what you hear the Father saying.
Two, you walk in accordance with your G-d-given design.  That is, you agree that how G-d made you is good, and His intentions for that design were good.
Three, recognize the Source of life and walk in that Source of life.
Four, the fruit of the spirit.
Five, anger is an acceptable response when people are intentionally violating the principles of Scripture and refusing to change.  Scripture says anger is acceptable, provided you do not exacerbate the situation by using your anger as a jumping-off point to violate the principles.
Six, it is about doing the one thing that the L-rd wants you to do.
Seven, resting is not about having one day as a sabbath day.  Rather, it is finding our rest in the L-rd and doing with our seven days what He wants us to do. We get this mentality that rest is about not doing anything on one day a week and working the other six. This has nothing to do with the vision of the L-rd.  Rather, our work week and the days that we work are to do what He has assigned us to do those six days, and if we have a day of rest, to be doing what He wants us to do on that day.  For each of you, the order for the week might be different.  But your job is to allow Him the opportunity to have input on how your weeks structured, rather than ignoring that prerogative.  A lot of times we think rest means X without consulting with the L-rd, and we think that work means Y without consulting with the L-rd, and we can often get into trouble by not seeking Him with respect to the schedule of our days.
Now, all of those items can be applied to our time, the land we live on, our communities of fellow believers and ourselves, our birthrights, and the offices that we walk in.  But I would boil it down further by saying, “find out what Father wants you to door not do and do that, or stop doing that.”
Be blessed.

I was reading a thread earlier today in which a colleague mentioned the word “gracious” with reference to the handling of conflicts, while another referred to learning how we should be people of grace.
And I realized that we sometimes have a chintzy, religious, or limited picture of grace sometimes.
Now, granted, I think being people of grace is a good thing.  But I would contend further that the complete picture of grace was Yeshua.
And let me characterize some of those shades of grace in dealing with conflict, some of which were seen in the life of Yeshua.
Yeshua and Peter near Cesarea Philipi in Matthew 16.  Yeshua declared that he was going to suffer, and Peter took him aside to rebuke him.  Yeshua’ response, as harsh as it was, was a reponse of grace, because Peter was being used in that moment by the enemy to sideline Jesus from his birthright, and the necessary path that led to possessing his birthright.
Let that sink in.  Grace does whatever is necessary to bring us into the fullness of our calling, and grace will sometimes respond in anger in order to execute.  Jesus is G-d the Very Picture of Grace.  He was G-d the One Who is Full of Grace and Truth.
Grace will sometimes step up and harshly correct those who are flat-wrong.
Saul, the Servant, SLAUGHTERED HIS OXEN WHEN THE SPIRIT OF ADONAI RUSHED UPON HIM. This was an act of grace.
Jesus made a whip of cords to get the moneychangers out of the temple.  That was an act of the One Who Is Full Of Grace and Truth.
Grace in the Greek refers to a “gift”.
Holy Spirit comes, and brings with him gifts, which are graces.
The Spirit rushed upon Samson in order to kill Philistines. An act of grace.
Again, we think to act graciously means to bite our tongue when we sometimes should not bite our tongue we it is our time to step up and correct people.
Granted, there is a time when we get the grace to bite our tongues. Ezekiel, for example.
But there are also times when we are given the grace to act, and in that moment the gracious thing may be to correct.
The gracious thing may be to wrestle.
The gracious thing may be to chop the head off of the Philistine.
The gracious thing may be to call that bonehead out on his or her crap that is getting in the blinkin’ way of you doing your job, because your birthright, gifting, calling, and hardwiring are on the line.
There is a time and a place when the Spirit rushes on us and gives us the grace to “be gracious”
But there is also a time and a place where the Spirit rushes upon us and gives us the grace to “muscle in and wrestle” with the archon and the exousia of this present darkness, and to tell that damned imp, critter, jackass, lasagna, rubber ducky, clown (whatever your moniker for the enemy is) to get the hell behind us.
Arthurs last podcast was another flavor of grace.  Grace for dealing with predators, and those predators are going to create a mess, and sometimes we put up with vomit and hell and idiocy when the grace upon us it to tell it to shut up, and its our responsibility to cancel its assignment.
Sometimes the gracious and graceful response, the response where the fulness of G-d’s grace is, is the response that isn’t “gracious” in accordance with how we typically view grace.
Grace is not an attitude.  Grace is a posture that comes in response to the gift of the color, aroma, flavor, shade, and tone of G-d’s grace that that comes from G-d to us in a given day.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).

He is full of grace even when He is walking in a G-d-ordained anger.
So should we.
And hell no, it is not grace or gracious to take it on the chin when the grace upon you is to wreck the enemy’s vomit of structures.  Adapt to and embrace whatever the color of grace is for the day, and you will be walking in the gracious response.
Grace, again, is defined as where the L-rd is working and what He enables you to do.  It is not limited to a certain behavior or attitude.
Just some random thoughts to provoke y’all to a grace-based response.
And grace is not defined by meekness or gentleness alone.