Julie Ganschow Interview - Pt 2

We here at the True Women Blog have had the privilege of interviewing our Strengthening Women conference speaker, Julie Ganschow. You can see the first interview here.

Julie has been so kind to let us get to know her a little bit before she comes to teach us on October 3rd. I hope you take the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the life and wisdom of the woman who is going to give us her time and God given gifts to instruct us on the subject of communication.


Julie, please tell us a little about your children. How old are they? What kinds of hobbies/activities do they do? etc..

Larry and I have 3 sons. Stephen who is married to Anne lives in Kansas City about 5 minutes away from us. They both work for City Union Mission in KC. Stephen is finishing his degree in biblical counseling and working as the Medical Services Director for the mission. He is an avid comic book and memorabilia collector. In his off hours he thinks he is Batman....
They have no children yet, but did just get a new puppy named Captain America.

Patrick is currently in the United States Air Force as a Senior Airman and is Crew Chief on a C-130 aircraft. He has been stationed in Arkansas for the past year or so. He likes to work on cars and things. He has a wonderful sense of humor and can make me laugh just by being who he is! He is not married but does have a dog named Chancho.

Our youngest is Jake and he is 17 and beginning some college classes this fall. He hopes to attend Boyce College for his undergrad and then attend Southern Baptist Seminary. He would love to serve Christ as a pastor. The Lord has done some amazing things with him in the past 6 months. He just got a new job at the Culvers in KC. Jake has his own blog and he studies theology like a madman for entertainment.

Are there some specific things you have learned through biblical counseling on the subject of communication that you have found helpful in your own household?

YES! I will be sharing much of what I have learned at the conference, the most important things I believe we need to keep in mind. Communication is not easy, and before you can claim the right to speak, you must learn to be an active listener. That is very humbling but totally necessary.


Are there any reading materials you would recommend on the subject of communication?

Title: War of Words: Getting to the Heart of Your Communication Struggles By Paul David Tripp
Title: Peacemaking for Families: A Biblical Guide to Managing Conflict in Your Home by Ken Sande
Title: Conflict by Timothy Lane
Title: Forgiving Others by Timothy Lane


As a counselor, how prevalent would you say the problem of bad communication is?

True communication is a lost art. Very few people actually communicate anymore. Most people only talk at one another.

If you could offer a wife one piece of advice on how to communicate with her husband, what would it be?

Ask a lot of questions that indicate that you are truly interested in your husband's world. I am not saying conduct an inquisition, but think about what is important to your husband and engage him in discussion. Asking questions is a very important aspect of communicating because questions prick the heart. I will talk more about his vital area in our conference.

Thank you so much, Julie. We are looking forward to the conference.

Ladies, if you haven't already, please take the time to register for the conference here. The cut off date for registering is September 19th. We hope to see you there!

Sharing our Good News

Well I had a post for this week but I lost it so I decided to share our good news instead.

Yesterday afternoon we closed on the sale of our house! God allowed it to happen 3 days before the deadline of August 31st that was on the contract. During the course of the last month (months really) God has allowed many people to share the burden of prayer and now we see God's answer. I praise God for providing for us and for making the way for us to purchase a home in Louisville. He has really blessed us.

So to that end, thank you all who have joined in praying for us. We have been so blessed by the willing hearts and all the encouragement that God would meet our needs.

Now if you will please join us in praying that God would help us to find a place to live in Louisville!

Also if you would continue to pray that God would work in our lives to grow us ever more into the image of Christ so that as we go out to minister, we can do it in humility and love filled with the wonder of this ministry of reconciliation that Christ has entrusted us all with. May we be found faithful and with hearts that, above all, seek to glorify God for He is majestic and amazing!

Bookends Chapter 7: Dependent Responsibility

"We're to work diligently at our Christian growth but in the assurance that God is at work in us."

I think this quote from page 97 pretty much sums up chapter 7. The authors are saying, "Don't think you have found the loophole! You are still responsible for your actions!" A friend of mine said it really well, "You will never be judged on your fruitfulness but you will always be judged on your faithfulness." Rephrased this means, God will judge us based on our faithfulness to His commands and how seriously we take our sanctification. But He will never judge us on the outcomes of our faithfulness. You might spend your entire life witnessing to a tribe in Africa and never see a single convert. Fine. You were faithful to preach the Word. You will not be judged because souls were not won. You were faithful. The lesson? Work hard and trust God with the outcome.

This can be a difficult lesson to learn if you are anything like me, but it is a liberating idea. God is in complete control, so I am free to obey Him and know that it will be okay.

What part of the chapter stood out most to you?

Do you agree with the warnings regarding spiritual disciplines that the authors gave on page 99? Why or why not?

Which of the four disciplines they listed do you struggle with the most?

This was a short chapter but an important one. Ladies, do not rely on your own strength to accomplish anything. Put your trust in the Spirit. We truly can do nothing good apart from His power working through us.

Witty Wednesday

I came across some funny "World according to Student Bloopers" recently. I will be posting some of them for the next few Wednesdays. I hope you will get a good laugh and come back each week to hear more!!



The inhabitants of ancient Egypt were called mummies. They lived in the Sarah Dessert and traveled by Camelot. The climate of the Sarah is such that the inhabitants have to live elsewhere, so certain areas of the dessertare cultivated by irrigation. The Egyptians built the Pyramids in the shape of a huge triangular cube. The Pramids are a range of mountains between France and Spain.


Socrates was a famous Greek teacher who went around giving people advice. They killed him. Socrates died from an overdose of wedlock.

Scripture to Pray Through

Hello Ladies! Happy Tuesday! Jasmine is off camping with her family today so she asked me to post this for her. :)


Titus is one of my favorite books to pray through. It is only three chapters and so fitting for praying for my elders, my children, my family, church, myself, and friends. I frequently turn to this book. Recently; especially this chapter.

Titus 2

1But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.

²Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible, sound in faith, in love, in perseverance.

³Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good,

⁴so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children,

⁵to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

⁶Likewise urge the young men to be sensible;

⁷in all things show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified,

⁸sound in speech which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us.

⁹Urge bondslaves to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative,

¹⁰not pilfering, but showing all good faith so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect.

¹¹For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men,

¹²instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age,

¹³looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus,

¹⁴who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

¹⁵These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority Let no one disregard you.

Psalm 91

I was reading one of my favorite Psalms this morning.  Psalm 91 means a lot to me because it speaks of God's protection. 

 

Psalm 91

 

1. He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

2. I will say to the Lord, My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!  3.  For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence.  4. He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark. 5. You will not be afraid of the terror by night, or of the arrow that flies by day;  6. of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.  7. A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not approach you.  8. You will only look on with your eye sand see the recompense of the wicked. 9. For you have made the Lord, my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place.  10. No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent.  11. For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.

I am an Army veteran, so verses 7 and 8 really help me to understand God's protection.  It is very scary to voluntarily put yourself in a situation where the chance of coming back on either a stretcher or a body bag is very high.  These verses may not refer specifically to a wartime situation; however, God's protection certainly can be seen in all of life's dangers. I think about being on a battle line, the enemy forces out number me and are spraying my area with thousands of bullets.  However, when the smoke clears, I am left un scathed and turn out to be the only person left standing.  I know I would be so relieved and thankful to God for miraculously protecting me.  I would probably be jumping and screaming praises to the Lord.

 

14. Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name.  15. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.  16.  With a long life I will satisfy him and let him see My salvation.

 

God says in verse 14 that because I have loved Him, He will deliver me and answer my calls for help.  He even says He will honor me!  What a great God we serve!!

 

In times of trouble, it is good to remember that God is more powerful than anything that comes our way and that He hears our prayers and sends His angels to guard us.  If God is for us, who (or what) can be against us??

Bookends Chapter 6: The Power of the Holy Spirit

This week we read about the second bookend. The first bookend was the Righteousness of Christ as purchased for sinners upon the cross of Christ through His perfect life, death and resurrection. Now we learn that the final bookend is the Power of the Holy Spirit. This Chapter was wonderful and yet so simple at heart.

We learned that the first bookend (the righteousness of Christ) is something that was accomplished entirely apart from us. It is not dependent upon us in any way. We are passive "participants" in that it is given to us not by anything we do or earn, we simply receive it. The first bookend is a finished bookend. Christ's righteousness on our behalf is complete. We who are in Christ Jesus are justified once and for all. We will never be more or less righteous than we are in Christ on the day of salvation. In contrast, the second bookend is an ongoing work that is accomplished within us. On the one hand, the Power of the Holy Spirit comes upon us entirely apart from any participation from us and changes our heart and fills us with new godly desires and heart-felt gratitude that we could have never produced without the Holy Spirit making us a new creation. These works (and others) that the Holy Spirit accomplishes without our participation are "monergistic" in nature. However there is also the call to participate with the Spirit through obedience and living out true discipleship, where God the Holy Spirit convicts us, leads us and empowers us to obey God's word and calling upon our lives; but we do actually "work" or obey. This participation between us and the Holy Spirit is called a "synergistic" work. In these times it is important to never lose sight of the fact that we do all things through the power and enablement of the Holy Spirit. He starts the work in us, we do the work by His power and He completes the work in us. So though we do work, we could not do it without Him, for without Him we have no strength or purpose or direction.

Our response to the first bookend is simply to receive it. That is also the same response that we have to the monergistic work of the Spirit. If it is His work that He is doing within us we are simply to receive it. Just as when our souls were suddenly filled with joy over the knowledge of our salvation, we simply enjoyed it. However our response to the synergistic work of the Spirit is to actively respond in dependence upon Him and to seek to actively obey the call of the Holy Spirit to live out the fruit that He is leading us into (for example love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control). If we try to produce this fruit on our own, we will fail but if we cast our hearts upon Him seeking His empowerment through faith; we will find that the final bookend: the Power of the Holy Spirit will work with the first bookend to hold up our "books" in life and keep them from falling off of the shelf.

So here's some questions for us all to think about:

1. Do you ever find yourself struggling to obey God, but feeling like you are lacking the strength or that you are having to "go it alone"; that you are having to supply the strength for the day? How do you combat that?

2. When you are feeling especially victorious in your pursuit of godliness, how do you keep your focus (or re-focus you mind/heart) upon the truth that the Holy Spirit is He whom empowers you to obey?

3. Did you read anything in this chapter that clarified the work of the Holy Spirit in your life or in the life of believers?

4. Do you have a testimony of a time when the you felt the Holy Spirit giving you special grace to get through a situation or to have victory over a particular sin? Or a time when you didn't feel His divine presence and help, but looking back you can see His hand upon you sustaining you or spiritually "making your paths straight"?


May we all walk by the power of the Holy Spirit to follow Jesus trusting in His finished work on our behalf.

Running to God in trials

 

I have been dealing with a trial in my life for 2 years now.  That seems to be a long time for a trial to last but I think I have learned valuable lessons while persevering through it.  One thing I learned is that when trials come, run to God, not away from Him.   I have heard many people say that God caused a trial in their life in order to just make their life miserable.  I admit I have had those same feelings in the past.  I have also heard people say that because they were trying to grow closer to the Lord, God sent a trial into their lives.  They say "that's what I get for going to church" or something similar.  And get mad at God.   Lately I have been reading the Gospel message and have seen it all in a new light.  I used to just think it was a message to unbelievers to bring them to God.  It is that and much more.  The fact that God sent His Son to die a horrible death so that His enemies could have fellowship with Him is amazing!  I don't think I could ever send one of my boys to die so that I could be friends with someone who hates me.  It just goes to show how much love God has for us.  I am so thankful for this great love and the sacrifice of His Son for me.  I don't think people realize how much love God has for us and that He only wants good for us.  He brings trials into our lives in order to make us more like Jesus and to build our character, not to make us sad or angry.   There was a time that I ran away from God when I experienced trials.  But, I have learned to look for the lessons that they give us and to stay close to God.  He is our loving Father and only wants our best.  I have also experienced God's strength in my weakness.  There was a time after one of my surgeries where I was in a lot of pain and kind of "out of it" from the meds.  I tried to pray that God would help me but my head was so scrambled I couldn't get it out.  But God knew what was going on and He gave me comfort.  I felt like He was holding me in His arms right then.  I was glad that I ran to God and not away from Him.    I also learned that sometimes trials aren't even for us, they may be a way for someone else to witness God working through us.  I believe that was one of the reasons that God allowed all of the trouble with my leg.  I have had many opportunities to share with others my faith and reliance on the Lord.  People take what I say about God and they look at my situation and I think it means more to them. They see that my faith and trust in God are real, not just someone who talks a good talk and then doesn't practice what he preaches.   So, in the future when trials come, please remember to run to the Lord not away from Him.  It really makes a difference.

Fighting for Forgiveness

Last week I wrote about the need to pursue forgiveness and to repent of bitterness. In my post I mentioned some scripture that I have been meditating on and it's application in actually forgiving others. This week I am going to share my little "epiphany" that I had and how it is helping me to fight for an attitude of forgiveness and as such against bitterness. This is by no means an extensive or exhaustive list of ways, but rather one little thing that I found is helping me in this area.

I was reading through the Psalms while meditating on forgiveness and the Lord brought me at the right moment to Psalm 32.

Psalm 32:1-11

A Psalm of David. A Maskil.

1 How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered!

2 How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!

3 When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away Through my groaning all day long.

4 For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah.

5 I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah.

6 Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.

7 You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of deliverance. Selah.

8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go; I will counsel you with My eye upon you.

9 Do not be as the horse or as the mule which have no understanding, Whose trappings include bit and bridle to hold them in check, Otherwise they will not come near to you.

10 Many are the sorrows of the wicked, But he who trusts in the LORD, lovingkindness shall surround him.

11 Be glad in the LORD and rejoice, you righteous ones; And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.

As I read I was convicted of people whom I was bitter toward. People whom had "hurt" me and I couldn't seem to let it go, though I had said that I forgave them. Like I said in the previous post, these people were believers. So I started to pray through scripture. Here's how my prayers went... "How blessed is ...(John Doe) whose transgression is forgiven. (John Doe's) sin is covered! How blessed is (John Doe) because the Lord does not impute his iniquity upon him." I then thought about the cross. I thought about how Jesus chose to die for their sins; if He can forgive them and has forgiven them, then so must I.

I continued by thinking on verses 3, 4, 5, and 6. I thought about how miserable it has been when I have been in sin and not repentant. I thought about how there are consequences for sin and they really are awful! This turned my mind to empathize with the person. This allowed me to pray for them to repent of their sin (if they haven't already) so that they can turn back to God to experience the blessings of forgiveness and fellowship with the Father or if the person had already repented, these verses reminded me of the danger of holding on to the other person's sin and living in bitterness. Bitterness is like cancer: it eats away at you. These verses are just as much a warning to me and cause me to pray for myself to be on guard against sin and be quick to turn to God.

Next I continue on with verses 7 through10. I am reminded that God is my deliverer. He has saved me from my sin. He has forgiven me of much. He is leading me lovingly and calling me to submissively follow Him and to live out that love to others. He is good and has good in store for me. He is trustworthy so no matter what has transpired to irk me or hurt me or affect me; God was there, is there and is still working it all together for good. So now I can have the reassurance that as I go out in forgiveness God is my strength and also my defender. Thus I can end my time thinking on verse 11. I am praising God that I am forgiven. I am in God's care. He is doing good in the other person's life and He is the God from whom and to whom all praise flows!

And so as I read I saw the need to memorize this Psalm so that I can more easily pray through the process of forgiveness and so that when Satan tempts me to be bitter, I can fight him with the word of God just like Jesus did and I can do it by the strength of the Holy Spirit! I can be ready at any moment so that I can take captive that unforgiving thought or seed of bitterness and kill it quickly with the gospel's message and the word of God.

Musings on Motherhood

This is part 2 of my mom's post from a couple weeks ago :)

"Another thought that I had while "up North" is about my upbringing. My mom's mom died when she was 13. My mom was always busy with a full time job, a family, a huge garden and acts of kindness for friends and neighbors. As a result of these two things there were so many things that I did not learn that a mom should pass down to her daughter. Did you ever think of the things that life teaches us that we should pass down not only to our daughters but to our sons as well? Most of them we don't think about, we just do by example and perhaps by explanation. God has shown me much grace in teaching me many things. But if you don't know that you need to learn them you can't pursue that knowledge.

I still remember one time a friend's family member died. I did not know that family member so I didn't think that I should go to the funeral. Apparently, that was wrong thinking. I did not find out until after the fact that I should have gone. Big mistake for a pastor's wife. Really for anyone that loves their friend but I just didn't know.

All that to say, sometimes, at least I, under estimate my job as a mom. It is so important not to be so caught up with life that we neglect this #2 in priority ministry (#1 being our husband). I find myself thinking that so and so has much more need than my children. And perhaps they do, but my responsibility is to my children first and foremost.

Please don't get me wrong, my mom was and is a great mom. She did not and still does not know the Lord. And I am sure that that is part of the reason for the gaps in my knowledge.

I just want to take this time to remind myself, and perhaps there are others that need a reminder, that we have been given a great responsibility in parenting our children. Nothing should get in the way of that. We should take time to regroup and evaluate our effectiveness, prayerfully. We should consult our husbands and our children as to our effectiveness in this area. If we instruct without love our instruction falls on deaf ears and we are wasting our time. If we instruct without prayer this too is a waste. Our Lord will lovingly come along side us and teach us and show us the way that we should go if we avail ourselves of His instruction. We must know the Word of God inside and out and this means we must be diligent students of the Word. Not only does the Word give us instruction regarding parenting but also regarding life the way He wants us to live. He is our maker and therefore knows what is best. We are His children and we are given the joyful task of loving and glorifying Him. We rob ourselves of much if we don't take this task seriously.

Bookends Ch. 5

The first bookend we learned about for the Christian life is: The righteousness of Christ. We have a right standing before God based solely on the righteousness that belongs to Jesus, apart from any effort of our own. This is Good News, it is news worth rejoicing over, meditating on, and it is motivating news. Because we are made right before God because of what Jesus has done on our behalf we have been brought near to God. We have the right to be called the children of God and have all the blessing that go with that. The problem is that even as children of God we at times forget or at least live like we have forgotten that our salvation is based on Christ alone and not our actions. Too often we get caught in the trap of trying to earn in some sense God's favor and pride kicks in.

We learned that the number one enemy of the gospel is self-righteousness and the enemy number two is persistent guilt. We can rest assure that if we are self-righteous or embrace persistent guilt we are not remembering that we have nothing apart from the righteousness of Christ and we stand clean and right before God for all eternity. In Chapter five we learn how to fight these enemies by learning to lean on the first bookend. The authors say by leaning they mean depending. This is how they define this type of dependence: Dependence on the first bookend means relying on, trusting in, and placing our confidence, faith, and hope in the righteousness of Christ.

As those who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ we may think, "no duh!' The trick is staying trusting, hoping, relying and being confident in the righteousness of Christ.

We have to start there and stay there! I don't know about you, but my pride is too great to stay there without struggling and slipping into a pattern of either persistent guilt or self-righteousness- I seem to go in and out of one or the other.

I loved the example the authors give when talking about Zaccheus. He responded to Jesus by repenting and following him, but the temptation to become proud comes into play if he at some point sees his acts of repentance such as giving to the poor and paying back quite generously those he defrauded, as things to place confidence in. His confidence in Jesus shifts to confidence in his own right actions. This example opened my eyes to ways self-righteousness can so easily sneak into my life; even though I know I have nothing to offer God but filthy rags and that apart from Him I can do nothing.

In this chapter we are given three focal points to help us fight for dependence on the first bookend.

1) Seeing ourselves as desperately lost sinners.

2) Seeing the righteousness of Christ as all-sufficient for us daily.

3) Seeing and rejecting any functional saviors. Functional saviors could be: career, possessions, sport, having a clean house (for me a finished house), working out, giving, ministry, not partying, or asceticism ( from the ἄσκησις, áskēsis, "exercise" describes a life-style characterized by abstinence from various sorts of worldly pleasures (especially sexual activity and consumption of food and drink) often with the aim of pursuing religious and spiritual goals.)

We must preach the gospel to ourselves everyday and in this book we were given some practical ways to do so.

I found using the gospel promises and filling in the blanks like on page 71 very helpful as well as page 73 where we are given a practical way to discover our functional savior.

Has anyone found help in doing any of these recommended exercises?

What do you do to keep dependent of the righteousness of Christ- to remember the gospel as the years pass on?

How do you preach the gospel to yourself?

Has this book been helpful to you? how?

What chapter has stood out for you so far?

Next week we will look more closely at the power of the Holy Spirit in all this.

Joy and trust in the Lord

I have been asking God lately to show me how to have joy in my heart and to help me to trust in Him more.  Ever since I have been meditating on the Gospel, I have realized that the problem is that I won't allow myself to feel joy and I am ok with trusting God with my soul but not in my day to day life.  Wow, what am I thinking???   I have been buying into a lie that if I give into the joy in my heart and let it show in my life, that somehow I will "be sorry".  I think that in my mind I am afraid that I will be disappointed or persecuted.  But that is stupid because everyone likes a joyful person.  Not allowing myself to be joyful is only making me unhappy.  I am trying to speak the Gospel to myself every time I feel the need to repress joy.  When I think of all God has done for me, I feel joy and now I just need to give into the feeling and be joyful.  After all, God says to be joyful.   I have also been buying into a lie that it is OK to trust in the Lord for the biggest thing--salvation, but its not OK to trust Him for small things that come up in day to day life.  That is stupid too.  I have found that I am very self-sufficient.  I'm sure you have heard "if you want something done right, do it yourself" - that's me.  But this way of thinking is wrong because the Bible says that I can do nothing without God's help.  I need to bring my cares to the Lord, even little ones that I figure He has more important things to take care of.  He is aware of everything going on in my life and He cares about it all and desires to help me.  He wants my best.  I think when I try to do things myself, it makes God sad because He wants me to ask for help.   If I keep looking at the Gospel and realize how much God loves me and that He promises to provide for my needs, I think I will be able to change.  I don't need to concern myself with God having more important things to do than help me with my puny troubles.  He is big enough to handle it all.  He loves me and wants whats best for me.  I can trust Him.  I can let the joy of the Lord fill my soul and life.  I can be free in the Lor

Thoughts on Forgiveness

Matt preached on forgiveness vs. bitterness about a month ago. I have been reflecting on that subject and this was really stuck in my "craw" a few weeks ago and so I journaled about it then I found some scripture to memorize (which I will share next week). I personally don't have (I think) a hard time forgiving unbelievers. Frankly, I don't expect much from them. However when fellow believers sin against me, I can really have a hard time forgiving them. These reflections are mainly focused on forgiveness of believers.

Forgiveness is remembering that Jesus lovingly and freely chose to die for and forgive us of our sin and by remembering we are motivated to choose to not remember the sin of others against us, but instead choose to extend the same forgiveness to our "offenders". As such it requires us to seek to have and live out the same humility that Christ had in Philippians 2 "Who though He existed in the form of God did not consider equality with God a thing to be grasped but He emptied Himself taking on the form of a bond-servant and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in the appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." Forgiveness is a matter of obedience. It is a choice that we make to humble ourselves and follow Christ. Jesus did it first. He humbled Himself. He forgave us of all of our sins. But He also did even more than we will ever have to do - He actually took our sins and their sins upon Himself! We will never have to do that (nor could we). God is not asking us to bear their sin, He is telling us to forgive that which He has already forgiven.

In choosing not to forgive, I make myself equal with God and I exalt myself over Christ which is the ultimate act of pride. (For He did not consider equality with God something to be grasped.) In choosing not to forgive we make ourselves out to be better than God; more deserving of righteous treatment.

How scandalous of me! How scandalous of us! I can so easily do this that I go so far as to "dig a trench" of unforgiveness - (called bitterness) and hole up there as if I'm in a war: me against that nasty person who would dare sin against me! What a disgusting act of self-worship! Truly I need to remember at all times that if Christ (who is God) was willing to humble Himself then I (entirely sinful person that I am) can and must humble myself and forgive others.

Oh Father, please grant true and lasting repentance from this pride-filled rebellious sin of unforgiveness and bitterness. Help me to humble myself that I may exalt Christ and live out God honoring forgiveness for Your Name's sake. Thank you for reconciling me to You and bless me to be living out this ministry of reconciliation among the body of Christ as well as to the whole world.

Amen.

Bookends of the Christian Life: Ch 4 Persistent Guilt

Last week, Betsy discussed the Gospel Enemy #1: Self Righteousness. This week we will learn more about the second gospel enemy: persistent guilt. This enemy is also a result of our dependence on ourselves to merit favor with God; however, at the same time we are very much aware of our inadequacy. Our spiritual growth is often halted while we struggle with our guilt.

Where does this guilt come from? Romans 2 tells us that it comes from our conscience. Our consciences serve us two purposes: first, it gives us warnings when we are about to sin, offering us the opportunity to choose a different path, and second, it declares us to be guilty when we do sin. Our conscience is a good thing, a God-given thing. Since all believers regularly commit sin, we all regularly hear our consciences declaring us guilty of our sin. It is massively important to remember, however, that "the message of the cross is absent from the signals sent by our guilty conscience; it only knows the law" and nothing of the cross.

I suffer from this 'enemy' a lot. I actually picked this chapter because of the fact that it was dealing with guilt. On pages 56-57, the authors list several questions we can ask to see if we are under the influence of this gospel enemy. Some of the questions I found most relevant to my own life were:

Are you painfully preoccupied with a particular habitual sin?
Are you discouraged or depressed by your failure to measure up?
Do you frequently experience anxiety that something's about to go wrong?
Is there something in your past that you just can't seem to get over?
Do your difficult circumstances seem like God's judgment for your sin?
Do you steer clear of intimate relationships or small group discussions?
Do you seldom think of the cross?

Its not good enough for us to try to convince ourselves that we are good people, regardless of what our conscience tell us, or to try to 'forgive' ourselves. The truth is, we are sinners - we are guilty of all the things we imagine ourselves to be. And we cannot save ourselves. We cannot fix up our lives no matter how hard we try to. There was an awesome quote on the bottom of page 57, "Only the life and death of Christ offers a legitimate path to freedom from a guilty conscience - legitimate because it was a real, lived-in-the-flesh, finished righteousness, applied to us forever."

Forever...

Sisters, we have been justified. God has declared us 'not guilty.' He has covered us with His Son's righteousness. We did nothing to become justified, we did nothing to deserve justification, and we can do nothing to loose our justification.

Therefore, we need to change our mindset regarding our sin. We should still hate it. We should still fight against it. We should still listen when our conscience tells us that we have sinned - but we should listen for the purpose of recognizing sin as sin, confessing our sin, and battling our sin always keeping in mind that we are able to fight our sin knowing that the battle has already been won for us! This should give us great courage as we fight. But we will only have courage and strength if we are constantly reminding ourselves of the gospel. The minute we loose sight of the gospel we will fall victim to these 'gospel enemies.' The authors provided some ways of shifting our mindset to the gospel:

Shift your focus away from your sin and onto Christ
Shift your focus to Christ, our mediator
Shift your focus to Christ crucified, risen, and ascended
Shift your focus to the glory of Christ
Shift your focus off of self-condemnation
Shift your focus off of self-contempt

We cannot face our guilt alone, for we truly are guilty of more than we can comprehend. However sinful you are aware of at your worst moment does not even come close to how guilty we actually are in reality. This is why it is so important to be continually immersing ourselves in the gospel - because only the gospel is stronger than our sin. Our guilt is immense - but Jesus' sacrifice was greater.

So the next time you are aware of your sin in huge ways, when you feel yourself about to crumble under its weight, when you want to just throw up your hands and give up, remember the gospel!

The Withholder is the Lover of Our Souls

"He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also give us all things?" (Romans 8:32)

What great love the Father has shown to us! "He demonstrated His own love for us in while we were still His enemies Christ died for us." ( Romans 5:8)

These verses cause me to praise and be hopeful and happy despite what life looks like at the moment.

God is the hope that does not disappoint. Life is filled with disappointments and struggle. Sometimes our circumstances can cause us to lose hope and let our countenance fall, so to speak, rather then live like we share in our Saviors abundant joy. At least I know that I do not always live like Jesus came that I may have life and have it to the full. I can trace it back to discontentment. Lydia Brownback had an interesting observation about Romans 8:32. She asks: Can we be content if part of the "all things" includes some withholding? For the daughter of God, any withholding is itself a provision, and we experience it with joy when we know that the withholder love us.

So what has God withheld from you? A job? A house? A husband? Children? A certain desired ministry? Financial security? Health?

Remember the withholder is the Lover of our souls. He sent His only Son to purchase us to be a people for His own possession. He is Our all in all, in Him we have everything and He is Good. Sisters,we know it! We have tasted it, now let us savor it and look to the future with joy. A joy that is sustained even in times of suffering and loss (because they will come) because we have a sure hope in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Simplify

 

I've been reading Don Whitney's book Simplify Your Spiritual Life and I enjoyed the chapter Turn It Off! 

 

 I've always been an anxious person and I have been thinking of ways to simplify my life to aleviate anxiety.  Since I have been layed up with a broken leg for so long, things at home are very cluttered.  I haven't been able to clean closets or corners for so long and I realized that this is causing me anxiety.  So I am tackling the areas that bother me the most first.  I have decided that most of the stuff that I have been saving or leaving in a box because "I might need it someday" just needs to be eliminated from the contents of my home.  So, Dan said he would help me put donateable things in the back of the truck so I can just take it all at once to Goodwill.  Its such a freeing feeling to simplify in this area.

 

Another area that I have been thinking about simplifying my life is in the area of entertainment.  Mr. Whitney told about how his grandparents lived in a farmhouse where it was quiet and peaceful.  If they wanted to go to town or visit someone they had to go to all of the work to hook up the team of horses to the wagon and take a bumpy ride where ever they wanted to go.  Today, things are much easier.  We can just get in the car and drive to anywhere we want to go, turn on the TV and see just about anything that exists, or turn on the radio and hear music and news from all over the world.  I decided to take his advice and turn off the TV, radio, computer and anything else that was a distraction.  What I found was that I was much calmer and I enjoyed just sitting and listening to the sounds of the birds . It was peaceful.  I could actually think.  How I wish sometimes that I could live like his grandparents did in the peace and quiet.  There are so many distractions in my life that pertain to entertainment.  Everyday I fire up the computer to check my xanga blog and my Facebook page.  Then I have to read my e-mail and on and on.  Some days I look up from the computer and realize that hours have passed and I haven't done anything I set out to do that day.  Its frustrating.  Then most days I have the radio playing all afternoon.  I listen to Christian music but, I have found that I would rather have quiet most afternoons instead. When its quiet, I can think and pray and read.  Its very refreshing.  In the evenings our habit is to watch the news and then whatever looks good until we go to bed.  I really wish we could turn off that TV and play games or talk or go take a walk.  I'm praying that it could happen, but right now we seem to be in a rut. 

 

I'm trying to simplify my life in many other ways as well.  I had a thought the other day: God has blessed me so much I don't have anywhere to put it anymore!  That causes me to praise and thank the Lord for providing for my needs and also showering me with many good gifts.

 

I encourage you all to disconnect from whatever is a distraction in your life  Simplify your life in any way possible.  Get back to the basics.  It is such a great feeling and I hope you will take that "extra" time to get closer to God.