Tag Archives: faith

My New Found Freedom In Slavery To Christ

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - My New Found Freedom In Slavery To Christ

I am beginning to experience a wonderful new found freedom as a slave of Christ.

I have been in the bondage of worry, thinking that I have to take care of things, I have to make ends meet, I have to make a way, I have to do this, I have to do that to hold everything together, which is true if I’m building my own house.

But, Christ provides for His house.

When I forsake all as following Christ demands, abandoning my own ambitions for my own house and instead serve Him and His house, when His purposes are my pursuit **first** (πρῶτον – “chiefly” or “above all” as in Matthew 6:33, which means everything that follows is subordinate, whatever is 2nd, 3rd, 4th will not violate what is 1st), I find that I can have complete confidence that He will provide everything I need, including the grace needed to glorify God in hard times (2 Corinthians 12:8-9, Philippians 4:11-13).

Because, God’s glory is the goal and He will have it (John 12:28).

If I am truly in His house, the glory of the Father is my goal as is my Master’s, Christ.

His glory **is** increasingly becoming the singular goal of my life, and in this new stage of my walk with Christ, I am consistently seeing His perfect provision even though I serve imperfectly!

He is so faithful.

But it started with dying, beginning with dying to my own identity and my own ambition. You can’t serve two masters.

To enjoy this freedom and the peace that comes with it, I have to forsake all.

And, please do not confuse this as me saying I don’t have to work. A heart that loves compels action to prosper what it loves. I work and in many cases the job I do every day does not change, but what does change is who my work is in service to.

I am not saying I do not have to work.

What I am saying is, I don’t have to worry.

Christ provides for His house.

He will provide everything I need, including the grace needed to glorify God in hard times.

I only need to love Him and do what love does.

This is so freeing.

And, it results in better work too.

The challenge is not allowing myself to be seduced back into the clutches of my old master.

Please pray for me.

See: Matthew 6:24-33
#perfectourlove #work

The False Doctrine Of ‘I Earned It’

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Evil Eye

We feel justified living in luxury while people around us languish because “I earned it”.

We have made it a doctrine and enshrined it in our self-made American Judeo-Christian religion.

But, Jesus does not share our American ideals of capitalism.

If we belong to Christ we do not “work for money” or ourselves. We serve the Lord, so we regard money and prosperity differently.

The goal of gaining more is not to eat more.

The goal of gaining more is so that everybody eats.

Consider Matthew 20:10-15:

“But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius.

“And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, “saying,

‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’

“But he answered one of them and said,‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?

‘Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.

‘Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’
— Matthew 20:10-15

Note that the landowner didn’t just go find workers, he sought people who didn’t have work.

This is in keeping with the point that Jesus is making about the Kingdom of Heaven: we all were without means of earning a living (eternal life) but I choose you and gave you that opportunity, and My heart was that everybody could live (good eye) while your heart was to have more than others (evil eye).

Being born again includes being given a new heart that looks at everything, including money with new eyes.

It is errant to save up treasure for yourself. See Luke 12:19-21

Because I’ve worked for it does not mean I can do with it whatever I please. I am the Lord’s.

Our approach to money and the power He’s given us to get wealth (Deuteronomy 8:18) should be seen as resources made available to take care of our Lord’s house and our fellow servants. See Matthew 25:44-51

Repent, with me.

This is an excerpt from one of three areas (identity, treasure, purpose) where the Lord is challenging lies I’ve embraced that hinder my receiving the “true riches”, and where He’s imparting to me the “things that make for my peace”.

#trueriches #money #thethingsthatmakeformypeace

52 Weeks of Gratefulness #19 – The Victory That Christ Provides

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - 52 Weeks of Gratefulness #19 – The Victory That Christ Provides

I was overwhelmed.
I found strength in the presence of Christ’s people who were gathered in His name.

So, in Week 19 of 52 Weeks of Gratefulness, I give thanks for the victory that Christ provides.

I’ll repeat this nugget from Alan Hawkins again:

“Victory is in the Lord’s communion.”

When faced with challenges, sometimes all we need is to get in formation -we need to run to the Lord’s communion, that is, the fellowship with others in Christ, especially over a meal.

Sometimes, we don’t even have to share our problems or solve that of others.

There’s a transmission happening just being in the midst of Christ’s people who are being attentive to His Spirit.

“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place.”
—2 Corinthians 2:14

But the greater the intimacy, the greater the power.

“For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
— Matthew 18:20

So, there’s even more strength to be had if we do share our problems with those we discern love God, love us and have His Spirit.

“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”
— James 5:16

Are you a believer that’s struggling? Burdened? Overwhelmed?

“Victory is in the Lord’s communion.”

I’m grateful.

#52WoG

There is a difference between faithful and religious.

There is a difference between faithful and religious. Both involve work -exertion of effort to…

Originally posted on Facebook on Wednesday, May 10, 2023.

There is a difference between faithful and religious.

Both involve work -exertion of effort to achieve an end.

But the difference is why it's done and who it's done in service to.

As I learned through a dark night of the soul, I can claim the things I do are for God but that are actually and ultimately for me.

This was evidenced by my nearly walking away from faith because I was doing "good" things but bad things were still happening in my life. It violated my expectation of "wages", that is, if I do good things, I should get good things –a payday.

It's like working for a company. Ultimately your work is in service to yourself, not the company. If they don't pay you, you will no longer work.

It is do to get.

Contrast this with doing something for a loved one.

I recently traveled hundreds of miles to help my beloved nephew (son) move out of college for the summer.

It was work. It was inconvenient. It was costly and I was delighted to do it. I gladly went at my own expense.

Why? Because I love him and I want him to know he's loved. I want to help him. I want to contribute to his well-being.

And, like most teenagers, there wasn't any real indication that he got it. But, I was more than satisfied and my heart was full of joy just knowing that I gave.

This is do to give.

A key difference between religious and faithful is who my work is done in service to: an employer (which is ultimately in service to myself) or a beloved.

But the main difference is why I work: doing to get or doing to give.

With religion, I can rigorously observe and follow rules and be just as full of hate and hell as someone who is completely without any moral code or regiment.

But faithfulness springs from love.

There's a reason the Apostle Paul refers to himself, not as a servant who receives wages, but as a δοῦλος –doulos, an unpaid slave of Christ.

It alludes to Exodus 21:5,
“But if the servant plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free,’ “then his master shall bring him to the judges. He shall also bring him to the door, or to the doorpost, and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him forever."

The Apostle Paul willingly gave His service because He loved the Master. He didn't just dispatch his duties, he was delighted to do so.

So, as I struggle with maintaining motivation and resenting the daily grind –"what I've got to do today", I ask myself am I being religious or am I being faithful? Who am I doing it for and why?

I earnestly desire to be faithful and live out Colossians 3:23,

"And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men"

So, I call my mind again to my Lord, Jesus Christ. Even though I do it imperfectly, I do sincerely love Him.

When I remember everything I do and how I do it is an opportunity to help Him, contribute to His work, and to let Him know He's loved, my work becomes less about what I've got to do and becomes more about what I get to do.

But above all, I want a heart set on Him so that what I do is based on fealty rather than feeling.

That strength of heart does not come as a lighting bolt from heaven but only comes by way of exercise. I have to do cardio. I must exercise myself to godliness (1 Timothy 4:7).

Just like physical fitness, that spiritual strength of heart is only found through obedience –working out, and often against my short-term will.

Lord, by Your grace and by Your Spirit, please help me perfect my love of You and keep it ever before me that I might do all I do, not for myself but for You, and that I do it not for wages but because I love You that I might be found faithful rather than religious. For the glory of the Father, the purpose of Jesus Christ, I ask these things. Amen.

#perfectourlove #faithfulvsreligious #faithfulness #love #work

And, if Strength is the goal (God is our strength), we should not…

And, if Strength is the goal (God is our strength), we should not be doing anything to make any…

Originally posted on Facebook on Monday, May 8, 2023.

And, if Strength is the goal (God is our strength), we should not be doing anything to make any one else weaker.

"Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers." — Ephesians 4:29

"but, speaking the truth in love, [we] may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love." — Ephesians 4:15-16

We'd be many times more effective as a church if we get our minds right about our approach to it. There's a lot we can learn from the gym. Let's help each other get stronger!

The Discipline Of Looking For Life In Others

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - The Discipline Of Looking For Life In Others

It’s easy to focus on what’s wrong or where I believe a person is falling short and completely overlook the areas where they’re growing and making an effort.

To ignore or deny where a person is trying is discouraging and destructive.

I realize how I’ve been guilty of this and I repent.

Very often, we kill the grape vine we’re given because we’re looking for an apple tree (and it might not even be the season for whatever we’re looking for).

I must learn to work patiently with the Holy Spirit within His appointed seasons, to sow what I want (Matthew 7:12, Luke 6:31) and faithfully attend to what I get, to nurture and cultivate what is rather than railing against what isn’t.

God has placed me in a garden. I have been entrusted with many fields. The goal is that there would be life in those fields and to help them be fruitful.

I must remember that the goal is not to get what I want, but to seek what God wants -fruit: to be co-laborers with God in conforming each person, all the fields He’s given me the great privilege of working with Him in, to the glorious image of Christ.

So, a good question to ask in my frustration about what I’m not seeing is, where else are they trying, where else are they budding, what is needful for Christ to be further formed in them?

Then I can turn that budding seed toward the Son, nurture it, and lean into what God is doing -in them and me.

“[Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love never fails.” –1 Corinthians 13:7-8

#perfectourlove

Just this morning, I was in Leviticus 26 where God is making a…

Originally posted on Facebook on Wednesday, May 3, 2023.

Just this morning, I was in Leviticus 26 where God is making a promise to the people He's bringing into the promised land and says,

‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,

You will chase your enemies, and they shall fall by the sword before you.

Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall put ten thousand to flight; your enemies shall fall by the sword before you.'
Leviticus 26:3, 7-8

What struck me was that even though God promised, they still had to fight.

"He didn't promise easy, He promised power," is an excellent summation.

Thank you, dear brother!

How God’s Love Is Different

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - How God's Love Is Different

One of many ways the love of God is different:

God’s love is not transactional, it’s relational.

When I love you with God’s love, I love you, not on the basis of what you do or even who you are, or not even because of my relationship to you, but I love you based on my relationship to God.

The beginning of love is not the appreciation of some virtue in the subject.

Love is like light. There is no virtue in the darkness that activates light. Light shines simply because that’s what light does.

The beginning of love is God. Loves does what love is. Said another way, Love does who God is.

The question is, do I have Him [love], or perhaps better said, does love [God] have me?

If so, love is just going to do what it do and there should be nothing the subject can do to stop that.

The principal thing then, is to know Love, to have Him and Him have me.

Abide.

Only then am I in a position to love.

“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love.”
-John 15:9

#perfectourlove

Just today I enjoyed fellowshipping with New Horizons Christian…

Just today I enjoyed fellowshipping with New Horizons Christian Fellowship and received a powerful…

Originally posted on Facebook on Sunday, April 23, 2023.

Just today I enjoyed fellowshipping with New Horizons Christian Fellowship and received a powerful equipping message.

Guest Pastor Alan Hawkins preached that the church is not as effective as it should be in its mission.

He remarks that we "need to get saved enough" to fulfill the mission of making disciples (Yes, I hear this sermon almost immediately **after** my post this morning about discipleship. Coincidence?)

Pastor Hawkins then starts to draw this out from 1 Corinthians 10. He opens boldly, "I promise you this will blow your minds." Pretty cliche, right?

Has anybody revealed or explained something and afterward you're left wondering what just happened?

A taste:

"No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."
-1 Corinthians 10:13

"How do you escape temptation?"

"Flee". See 1 Corinthians 10:13.

"To the Lord's communion." See 1 Corinthians 10:14-22

We must push back from the table of the demons of our idolatry and perversions, Pastor Hawkins argues. He continues, it is in communion with Christ that we are able to find "the way of escape" from temptation, and through taking on His life by consuming Him that we are equipped to fulfill our mission of making disciples.

Tip of the iceberg.

Mind indeed blown.

Thank you, Pastor Alan Hawkins.

Stop Being A Church Member And Start Being A Disciple

Paul Luckett | Brainflurry.com - Stop Being A Church Member And Start Being A Disciple

Imagine a firefighter that has to bring a burning house to the fire station before anything that can be done.

Or, an EMT that doesn’t do anything in the field but has to bring an injured or dying patient to the hospital before anything can be done.

There would be a lot of homes destroyed and a lot of people crippled or dying for lack of life-saving care.

Sounds familiar?

The industrial church teaches us to bring people to “church”, that when you encounter them to refer them elsewhere (to a pastor, a service, a class, a program) -to send them somewhere else.

That’s what the disciples said to Jesus in Mark 6:36,

“Send them away, that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread; for they have nothing to eat.”

But, what was Jesus’ reply in Mark 6:37?

“But He answered and said to them, ‘You give them something to eat.'”

We are called to be disciples of Christ, not merely members of a club.

Disciple, μαθητής, means “learner, pupil, student”.

What are we learning?

We are being taught by God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) The Way of the Kingdom of God and to do what our Master, Jesus, does (love: preach the good news, heal and set people free -Luke 4:18).

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”
-John 14:12

We should be disciples, learning to do that work, making the Father known through the revelation and ministry of His Son and making disciples –not recruiting people to an organization.

Our Lord has given each of us, every one of us, all of us work to do and gifts to do them. And the greatest gift of all is the Lord Himself, resident in each of us through the Holy Spirit.

Without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5) and I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13).

We have the bread of life. If you don’t, get it.

Don’t send them away.

Our Lord commands,
‘You give them something to eat.’

The industrial church has lulled you to sleep.

Repent!

Stop being a “church” member and start being a disciple.

I love you.

#industrialchurch #discipleship