What Hinders Our Purpose Now? (Part 5)
The World System Hinders Our Purpose Now
Some of the elements of the World System include time, death, decay, peer pressure, success, busy-ness, circumstances, status, physical needs, social structure/class structure and over-commitment. There is a power in the world system that comes from the primary curse. There is also a wisdom of this world; the children of this world are wiser than the children of the Kingdom. They know that all they have is what they can get. But this is not true for us saints. We are challenged to “be not conformed” to the demands of this world, to be different, separate from those who have no hope, who are without internal or eternal resources.
We are learning to resist the peer pressure, the pull to maintain the status quo that is so prevalent in this present age. How easy it is to settle for less — we compare ourselves with those who are close to us or those in leadership positions, and by doing so subtly affirm their lives or teachings as our standards. But God values us now “as is,” and expects us to value ourselves on the same basis. It doesn’t depend on what we have accomplished in the past or what we may accomplish in the future, but on what He says is true.
As citizens of the kingdom, we walk in this world, though we do not use its resources to get our needs met, but bring to this world the riches of His Kingdom — life, victory and freedom. We minister to the world because we have received from outside of it, and can therefore act and give independent of its influences. The spirit of this world with all its information, sensory bombardment and what is falsely called knowledge pollutes our minds and batters our emotions to distract us from this focus. We spend most of our lives trying to make life easier for ourselves, but Jesus said in this world we WILL have tribulation.
C.S. Lewis wrote; “Progress means getting nearer to the place you want to be.” If you’ve taken a wrong turn, going forward does not get you any closer to your goal. If you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-face. In that case, the one who turns back soonest is the most progressive. Either way you’re in the desert, be it with others or by yourself. In which direction are you going to go?
What Hinders Our Purpose Now? (Part 4)
The Enemy Hinders Our Purpose Now
We are vulnerable to the attacks of the enemy where we have unhealed wounds and are therefore walking after the flesh in that area. Where we believe a lie, the enemy has a legal right to interfere in our lives.
Overcoming the enemy does not mean we will stop being vulnerable to temptation. Being tempted does not mean anything — Jesus was in all ways tempted as we are. It’s when we ascribe meaning to that temptation that we enter deception. Even after Jesus persevered through 40 days of fasting and temptation in the wilderness, even after Jesus triumphed over him, did Satan just give up? Hardly. The same will happen to us. In the spiritual realm Satan and his buddies have no influence or position. In the supernatural/soulical realm, they continue to fulfill God’s purpose in our lives by provoking our flesh, showing us where we have wounds so they can be healed. Then his involvement in our lives gives us an opportunity to learn to rule and reign in this lifetime spiritually, soulically and naturally, over the already-conquered one. The lion who seeks to devour our souls is only released from his cage so that we can learn how to battle him.
So, how then does the enemy hinder our purpose now? The enemy comes at us from two perspectives: either he will draw attention to himself and his purposes, distracting us from the real issue, which is God dealing with us to bring us healing, or he drives attention away from himself, to keep from being exposed and dealt with according to God’s will in that situation. But he can be overcome in God’s timing, and according to His purposes for our lives. So the enemy hinders us from our dependence on God only when we let him distract us or if we ignore him and let him set up camp. (This is not to say that Satan and his pals don’t have power — they surely do. But the source of that power to deceive and destroy can be easily quenched by going to the root of his involvement in our lives and dealing with that. This removes the enemy’s claim on us and with a word from the Lord he must flee.)
9am Sat — Tithing vs. Giving: CONSEQUENCES: “Not Giving God’s Way is Contrary to Our New Nature”
Unhealed Wounds Hinder Our Purpose Now
Unhealed wounds are places in our soul where our needs have not been met in the past, so that we are now believing a lie. We can receive wounds both before we become believers and even after, if we don’t depend on God to meet our needs in a particular area. The most common wound is rejection. We are all rejected on a regular basis and will continue to be while we are here on this earth. So the issue is not how to prevent rejection, how to prevent being wounded, but how to go to the Father to get healed, as Jesus Himself learned to do.
Misunderstanding the dynamics of the wounding process will divert us into one of two tracks: 1) we will become distracted by our woundedness, putting all our energy into getting ourselves healed and avoiding being rejected again, or 2) denying that we have been or are being wounded, we will either stuff the hurt and rejection or hide behind activity so that we don’t have to deal with the hurt or be vulnerable to additional rejection.
In the wild, many animals will hide their injuries, knowing that a wound is perceived as a weakness or vulnerability, and makes them a target for predators. This phenomena seems to be quite an accurate description of Christianity as well; we’re afraid to express our hurt or need for help, having been previously rejected for having a need, told that it’s all in our head and to get over it, or told to stop thinking about ourself and just get busy. Or we’re afraid we won’t be helped at all, but sent home to deal with it on our own, which we have no idea how to do, or we wouldn’t have asked for help in the first place.
Thankfully, God’s purpose in our lives is to bring healing, and He never gives up.
9am Sat — Tithing vs. Giving: CONSEQUENCES: “Not Giving God’s Way is Contrary to Our New Nature”
What Hinders Our Purpose Now? (Part 2)
Our Flesh Hinders Our Purpose Now
Flesh is getting our God-given needs met outside of dependence on God alone. If we don’t understand what our personal flesh patterns are, and how flesh develops, it will continue to develop and interfere with the learning process. Before our nature was exchanged at the cross, the only resource we had available to get our needs met was the flesh, also called our “self” and the “self-life.” Flesh perpetuates our misconceptions, especially telling us that if we really give in to God, bad things will happen. Though we may know differently, we’ll often feel that it might be true. So we often unwittingly allow the flesh to continue as head honcho, until God sets it up to fail. As we begin to understand our new nature, and that all of our needs are met already, we will cooperate with God as He consumes our flesh.
Wanting To Maintain Control Hinders Our Purpose Now
The goal of flesh is to control, so as God brings healing into our lives, and we begin to enter into His rest and freedom, we more and more find ourselves giving up control to God. We all find it hard to change, however, because change means having to deal with something new. So flesh comes along and gives us a reason to resist change, or to want to control how we are changed. This is normal, though the Lord will deal with this in His time as well. Over time, the initiative and motivation for our lives is transferred from us to Him, and we learn to accept change on a daily basis because we are stable and secure in our relationship with Him. We know He loves us, values us, accepts and approves of us now, regardless of where we are on the learning path. So any changes He makes can be, if not understood, at least endured.