Navigating Life’s Storms

How do you react to storms?

Some folks like to curl up with a hot drink and watch the show out the window.  Others want to hide under their bed covers.

I have to admit that after being without power for 5 days because of Hurricane Sandy, I wince when I hear that a storm is in the forecast.

But, storms come in a variety of formats not just the weather.

Life storms can include illness, death of a loved one, financial crisis – both personal and global, wars and rumors of wars… all of these create stress in our lives.

So, how do we navigate these storms without letting fear drive us to panic?

I think that the key is to stay aware of our connection to Jesus.

He was really good at staying calm in storms.  They didn’t faze Him at all.

Why?  Well, He knew who was really in control and that nothing could separate Him from His Father.

Beloved, is there anything that can take Jesus out of us or us out of Jesus?  Nope.  Not even death!  We should  not even fear death.

The day we die is the best day of our lives.  It’s the day we start to really live life as God intended for us in the beginning.

So, when storms arise, remember that we are sheltered in the arms of the Lord Jesus Christ.

While the storm rages, He will keep us safe in Him.

Choose not to be offended by the storm.  It can’t really hurt us because it cannot separate us from Jesus.

I’m not saying to ignore the storms; I am saying that we need to stop seeing them as a threat.

The only genuine threat to  believers is something that can sever our connection to Jesus.

There isn’t anything that can do that!

We live in Jesus’ perfect love, and His love picks up fear and throws it out of our lives.

Satan wants to paralyze us with fear.

But, when we remember how safe we truly are in Christ, he loses fear as a weapon to use against us.

Beloved, set your mind on Christ in you navigating the storms through you, and you will experience His peace and calm even when the storms of life are raging around you.

Blessings!

Robyn Henning

Spiritual Amphibians (Part 1)

“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ;  who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”  Philippians 3:20-21

Do you remember when you studied about amphibians in school?

They are cold-blooded creatures who have characteristics of fish and reptiles.  They have the ability to live both on land and in water.

The word amphibious literally means “living a double life.”

We are spiritual amphibians who live a double life. We live on earth and in heaven at the same time.

We read this in Eph. 2:6: “For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.”

We are unique people as believers. We are intended to be “earth people” because of our physical birth. We are “heaven people” because of our new birth.

We are people of two realms.

Our role on earth is to live out of the power of the heavenly realm; we are to live on earth to bring a touch of heaven wherever we go.

In order for us to be living like spiritual amphibians, we need to focus on 3 realities, which we will do in this 3 part blog.

First, we are citizens of heaven, vs. 20a-“For our citizenship is in heaven.”

Even though we are citizens of the USA, our allegiance cannot be to the flesh and temporal values.

The believer’s citizenship is in heaven and his allegiance is to the Spirit and to eternal values.

So, we as believers, while living on earth have our citizenship elsewhere – in heaven.

We are far from our home country, far from our King, the Lord Jesus.

We are a little colony of citizens of heaven in the midst of a godless and perverse generation among whom we shine as lights.

The Roman citizenship the Philippians enjoyed meant a great deal to them.

Our American citizenship should mean a great deal to us and we should enjoy it as well.

But we as believers need to learn to live as foreigners and pilgrims on this earth.

The temptation to become comfortable in this world, to settle down in it, may be the most difficult to resist.

Believers have always wrestled with how to be in the world and not of it—to hold a dual citizenship with our highest allegiance to our heavenly citizenship.

Beloved, we must all examine our hearts to see if our highest allegiance to King Jesus as citizens of heaven.

Blessings!

Pastor Ken Keeler, Director of Church Ministries

Co-Mingled With Christ

Have you read about the movement towards Trans-humanism?

It’s what some folks consider the next evolutionary step for humanity.

Think Iron Man.  In essence, it’s the blending of technology with humanity (and there are some other weirder forms too).

It could be something as simple as an embedded chip to track a variety of information to the insertion of nanobots to battle cancer or other illnesses.

Now, there’s a number of folks who’ve posted videos on this topic, but what I want us to consider is the reality that Christians are already trans-human.

You see, our lives have been co-mingled with Christ’s life.

He literally lives in our skin.

That’s a whole lot better than any tiny robots! (and a lot less creepy)

He’s the Creator of the Universe, yet we carry Him around every moment of every day.

We share minds with Jesus.

Through the Holy Spirit, we experience His leading in decisions, His comfort in stressful moments, and His power to walk in victory over Satan.

Another thing to consider is that since out lives are blended with His life, we share His past, His present and His future.

All that He went through on the cross, we went through too; that’s why Paul stated, “I have been crucified with Christ.”

When Jesus was resurrected, so were we.

Our old nature in Adam, died on the cross, and we were born again into Jesus’ family with a new nature freed from the power of sin.

Crucified sinners transformed into resurrected saints.

And, it’s all due to our lives being co-mingled with the very life of Jesus.

Technology cannot improve on that!

No matter what they invent, our  mortal bodies will die.

But, for those of us whose lives are co-mingled with Christ’s life, the day that our bodies die is the day that we are transformed into what He originally intended for us to be.

The shadow will be lifted, and we will experience His life in dimensions we have yet to see.

So, beloved, rejoice in your trans-humanism…. your life is co-mingled with Jesus’ life.

It doesn’t get any better that that!

Blessings!

Robyn

The Key to Mental Health

What is the key to mental health and well-being for the Christian?

Seeing ourselves as God sees us!

Dr.Neil Anderson once wrote, “No one can consistently behave in a way that is inconsistent with how he sees himself.”

Why is this the case?  When we act  contrary to our self-perception, it creates internal conflict.

It’s uncomfortable, and we will revert back to behaviors we identify with in order to restore that comfort.

When we enter into Jesus’ family by faith in Him, we are given a whole new identity as His children, as saints.

However, up to that point, our self-perception has formed solely on the feedback of key people in our lives — parents, friends, teachers, spouses.

We internalize the words and actions of others and draw conclusions about ourselves.

Here’s the problem: God never intended for us to use the feedback of people to form our self-perception.

From the very beginning, God intended to be the only One who defined us.

Adam and Eve boogered this all up.  Thanks to them, we are born separated from the only One who can supply us with real Life.

So, we have to try to fill the void somehow, and we start out looking to mom and dad.

Between our family and our culture, we are inundated with feedback that we internalize, and thus our self-perception is formed.

When we come to faith in Jesus, our self-perception doesn’t automatically change to align with God’s truth.

In fact, many churches fail to teach anything about our new identity in Christ.

Instead, they preach “Here’s your Bible verse, just try harder to do the right thing!”

Beloved, how you see yourself will dictate your actions.

If you see yourself as a messed up person, you will continue to mess up.

If you see yourself as a saint, a child of God, as righteous and holy in Christ, as His beloved, you will start making choices that reflect His new Life in you.

You will unhook from unhealthy relationships, as you realize that it only matters what God thinks about you!

What others think about you is no longer relevant.

Say “goodbye” to people-pleasing, and “hello” to enjoying God’s unending pleasure with you!

Blessings!

Robyn

Discipleship 101 Part 2: Taking Up the Cross

Do you like to wear a cross as jewelry?

I don’t think that’s what Jesus meant when He told His disciples that taking up the cross is a requirement to follow Him.

I seriously doubt that members of the early church would have worn crosses as jewelry.

Today, it would be like someone wearing a noose or an electric chair as jewelry.  We just wouldn’t do it!

They are symbols of death.  There is nothing pretty about them.

In Deut. 21:23, the Law declares one who is hung on a tree as accursed of God.

So being crucified or hung on a tree was a cursed way to die according to God.

Paul tells us in Galatians 3, “Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us… so that in Christ the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.”

Jesus turned the curse into a blessing!

But, why must I also take up the cross to follow Him?

It is through the cross that my old man (who I am in Adam… a sinner) is put to death.

No one can stand before God IN ADAM.  No sinner can stand in the presence of the HOLY ONE.

In order to enter God’s presence and live, I have to be taken out of Adam and placed into Christ.

This is the whole idea of being born again!

But, before I can be born again, I have to die.  How?

By faith, I receive Jesus’ gift of eternal life, His Life; I share His past, present, and future.

When He was crucified, I was crucified; when He was raised up, I was born all over again into His family.

I was transformed from the old me (a sinner in Adam) to the new me (a saint in Christ Jesus).

Beloved, taking up the cross isn’t walking through life carrying some random burden.

It is acknowledging my Self was crucified with Jesus and raised up to new life in Him.

It is living out of His life in me.

It is living like a saint, a holy one, one who is no longer in Adam subject to the mastery of sin.

Jesus is now my Master, not sin!

Praise the Lord!

Blessings!

Robyn

Law vs. Grace

What does the word grace mean?

I’ve heard it defined as,”unmerited favor,” or “When you get what you don’t deserve.”

The problem is that many Christians think that grace is a free pass to indulge fleshly lusts.

I agree with Paul: “May it never be!”

Paul tells us that sin takes advantage of the Law to deceive us.

Here’s how sin takes advantage of the Law:

What happens if you put a plate of green beans in front of a kid and say, “Don’t stick those up your nose.” Right, as soon as you aren’t looking, they stick the bean up their nose. Why? Because the flesh wants to do its own thing, and sin is right there to help by saying, “do it!”

The problem isn’t found in the Law; the problem is found in sin and our flesh.

So, what happens when we choose to live in God’s grace instead of the Law?

Sin loses its opportunity to use the Law against our flesh. How?

When I live by grace, I am choosing to let the Holy Spirit lead me into what is good for me.

Titus tells us that it is “grace that teaches me to say “no’ to ungodliness and ‘yes’ to righteousness.”

It is God’s grace that has transformed us from children of wrath to children of God.

And, it is His grace that will teach us to make choices that line up with our new identity as His children.

The Law says, “I HAVE TO” live like this.

Grace says, “I GET TO” live like Jesus, as I allow Him to express Himself through me.

Grace does not let me sin all the more; grace lets me live out of the righteousness of Christ in me.

The Law compels me to perform; grace gently leads me to rest in my new identity in Christ.

Beloved, choose to live in God’s grace and love for you, and you will experience the victory He has accomplished for you over sin!

Blessings!

Robyn

No Condemnation

Have you ever messed up and done something wrong; something that really hurt others?

We all have!

Does Satan haunt you with these mistakes?

Does he nag and condemn you in your thoughts?

In Revelation 12, Satan is described as the ‘accuser of the brethren.’

He relishes the opportunity to remind us of all our sins and transgressions.

He will also use those we’ve hurt to remind us of the pain we’ve caused.

So, how do we defeat this strategy?

We cling to God’s grace!

We cling to God’s Word which declares, “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

How can this be true?  After all, what we did really hurt others.

Grace does not say, “Don’t worry about it; it’s no big deal.”

No, grace says, “All of your sins – past, present and future – have been paid for in full by Jesus on the cross.”

Now, grace is not a license to sin up a storm.

The Apostle Paul addressed this issue in Romans 6 where he said, “How can we who have died to sin, still go looking for it for life.”

What does he mean?  There is no life in sin!

We were crucified with Christ.

That killed the sinner in us and severed our connection with the power of sin.

We are dead to sin!

When we were in Adam, sin was like our commanding officer.  We did what it told us to do… sin.

Being crucified with Christ is like being discharged from the military.

Sin is no longer our commanding officer; Jesus is!

Now, we can learn to listen to the leading of the Holy Spirit instead of being a slave to sin and our flesh.

If we do mess up, the Spirit is there to correct, convict and get us back on track to making choices that are in line with our new identity.

Even so, Satan will be right there to accuse us and hurl condemning thoughts at us.

We must take these thoughts captive and remind the enemy of our acquittal in Christ.

Beloved, remind Satan that Jesus took your sins upon Himself and gave you His robes of righteousness.

You have been declared NOT GUILTY before God by His amazing grace!

Rejoice in this!

Blessings!

Robyn Henning

Spiritual Warfare Series Pt. 3: Accusation

Have you ever blown it by giving into temptation and then been assaulted with accusing thoughts?

It’s all part of Satan’s strategies to keep us in bondage to sin.

In Revelation 12, Satan is called the “Accuser of the Brethren”.

In that heavenly scene, he is cast down from heaven and overcome by believers through of the Blood of Jesus and the word of their testimony of faith in Jesus.

We get in trouble when we listen to Satan’s accusations instead of pointing Satan to the cross.

All of our sins, past, present and future, were paid for in full on the cross.

When we placed our faith in the Blood of Jesus to pay for our sins, we were crucified with Jesus, buried with Him and raised to newness of life in Him.

Jesus acted as our High Priest by taking upon Himself our sins, and in EXCHANGE, He gave us His righteousness.

Being righteous IN CHRIST, is a constant state for us!

Why? Because of the shed Blood of Jesus!

It is finished!

When Satan starts to nag us with our sins, we need to catch those thoughts, stop and thank the Lord Jesus for His shed blood, and point Satan to the cross.

We need to nag Satan with, “My sins have been paid for in full through the Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Now, lest anyone think I am making excuses for continuing in sin, I will reiterate Paul’s response to, “What then, shall we sin all the more that grace may abound all the more?”

Oy! May it never be!

How can we who have died to sin and its lying lusts, ever go back to looking for life from the lusts of the flesh?

When we realize that lust is a liar, we can more easily catch the lie, “This will make me feel better,” and combat it with the truth, “my God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in Christ Jesus.”

Satan launches accusations at us to shame us and to make us think that God hates us and is always disappointed with us.

When Satan does this, we need to stop, drop and praise.

Daily, praise Jesus for shedding His blood to pay our sin debt, so that we could receive His righteousness.

The more we set our minds on worshiping Him for His shed blood, the less opportunity Satan will have to come at us with accusations.

Seeing ourselves IN CHRIST, empowers us to flee temptation and to fend off accusations.

Beloved, choose to see yourself as God sees you: CLOTHED IN THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST!

When you do, Satan’s accusing arrows will fall harmlessly to the ground.

Blessings!

The Flesh Part 6: How Do You See Yourself?

In Victory Over the Darkness, Dr. Neil Anderson stated:

“No one can consistently behave in a way that is inconsistent with how he perceives himself.”

This means that our self-perception has a huge impact on our choices.

Most of us develop our self-perception based on messages we have received from key people in our lives.

This also means that our Flesh Patterns are heavily influenced by our self-perception.

In this week’s Nugget video, I take another look at how important it is to see ourselves as God sees us in order walk in victory.

I hope it encourages you and that you will share it with your friends.

Blessings!

Robyn