That is Normal Isn't It?

During my sabbatical I have been taking more biblical guidance courses. This past weekend I had the good fortune of attending a biblical counseling session sponsored by Faith Community Church.  As Joel Teague was speaking he made a statement.  While it was a small statement it really made me stop....hard!  Many times in the past we have discussed the broad topic of independence, dependency, inter dependence, reliance and alliances just to hit the high notes.  We do this to ensure we understand our personal paths woven within the perpetual sojourn of mankind and attempt to walk it out with compassion, integrity but mainly in the spirit of our Lord God Almighty.  So...I wanted to share one more thought on the topic with you guys.

The statement was made that the normal state of mankind, God's creation, is in His image.  We get that, as well as the fact that due to sin, we needed Christ to save us from the fall.  When the class moved on, I was still parked; the word NORMAL just would not clear out of my mental path.  So I walked up to it and walked around it a bit, to see what it was all about.

I heard many thoughts run through my head....many conversations.  People were asking "isn't that normal?" "Why can't they just act NORMAL?" I heard statements such as " Normal people just do not do that!" Then I realized, no one without total submission to the holy spirit will ever reach normal; we are ALL abnormal, this side of glory!

As I have stated almost weekly for a decade now; creation cannot tell you how to be normal.  They can support you by helping you assess where you are not allowing the spirit of God to address your abnormal behavior; they can even hold you accountable with his words.  But your willingness to not harden your heart and turn a blind eye is all you baby ;)  God tells us the spirit is WILLING but your flesh.....it is your flesh that is weak.  WILL you ask Him to consume you with His Willing Spirit?

I am stopping here today - we will give this boulder a push and see where it rolls this week.

For now, understand that your are simply a normal, abnormal individual - and I pray you are saved by His grace.  Let's all pray for mankind to get normal......

For Goodness Sake!
Kisses,
Candace

Copyrights Reserved ©Candace Huffmaster 2014

Kaleidoscope Butterfly, Inc.®

Guard Your Heart, AGAIN!

Proverbs 4:23 Guard your heart above all else for it determines the course of your life.

Last week we were discussing our position or placement as an authority figure for God's will.   But even in this we must make clear that God is the protector, not us. We misinterpret scripture to mean that WE do the protecting, and God empowers us; don't stop there.  Let's study deeper. 

Mal 2:16 For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her says the Lord, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the Lord of hosts.  So guard yourselves (is where we usually stop, but there is more) IN YOUR SPIRIT and do not be FAITHLESS.  (where is our faith, in God or self?)

If we are not protecting our own heart and those near and dear to our heart then who is, what in the world can this mean?  Have you ever asked that question?  Well I have (don't leave me hanging ;) ).  This is one of the area's where we are not always correctly brought up.  God stresses, "Do not depend on your own understanding" that "His ways are higher than our ways".  Our self protection is fear based.  This is the reason He instructs us to diligently cast our cares, worries and anxiety upon Him.  He is not afraid and it is not too much for Him to take on.  He also tells us to let it go and then take on His yoke because it is not burdensome at all. 

Phil 4:5 tells us:
Let your gentleness be known to ALL men ( not just those who give you comfort or you like), the Lord is at hand, be anxious for nothing (not anything at all!), but in EVERYTHING by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving (not blaming, crying or desperation) let your requests be MADE known to God (not your neighbor, mom, dad, sister, prayer room, husband...) and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding WILL GUARD YOUR HEART AND MINDS through Christ Jesus.

See all the ways we strive to be comforted, when actually all we must do is focus on HIM!  He protects us in all ways.  He knows it's a war zone all around us, even within us at times.  But in Him, we are above it all and He is covering us while the supernatural battle wages (or rages) on. We must remember that this battle was won in the past, Christ has been finished with it for over 2,000 years.  We just didn't understand the memo.  So we keep carrying on as if it is happening all over again, it's a choice.  But we do not have to make it....we do not have to participate. 

When He tells us to not fear, it is because He understands we will be afraid of things from time to time.  This is the reason to rejoice, He is saying to us "I know you are scared, but I've got you covered, we can do this....I promised."   Next time you don't know what to do in regard to a heart harm, start with being gentle with yourself and ask God to help you do the same toward everyone else...because He IS at hand.  Secondly, don't get anxious that you'll make a mistake or get hurt, just talk to God and thank Him that He knows all conditions and is desiring peace to abound as much as you do.  (probably more so) Ask Him to shed light on how you can extend peace but also to show you the way to properly keep your peace, kick any dust and announce His Kingdom is at hand.  Only speak if He directs you to, through revealing words of reconciliation, which will minister to all around you.  But mostly, praise Him for allowing you to have rest while He guards your heart and mind!

Review these scriptures in light of these thoughts:

Psalms 121 :8  The Lord guards you as you come and go, now and forever.

Hebrews 10:36 You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.

Why do we experience tough relationships and feelings?  To test our faith, our understanding.

James 1:3 Because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.

So then, do we ask not to be tested?  Absolutely NOT! We ask by supplication, as Christ did for Peter and instructed Him, when Satan had requested to thrash him, to request "that his FAITH NOT FAIL!"

All this leads up to how we will be treated and why He ALONE protects our heart, so that we will not become hardened by our lack of ability to stand (or stand those around us :))  under all this pain and rejection:

Matthew 10:22  You will be hated by everyone because of ME!  But the one who stand firm till the end....WILL BE SAVED!

So let's stand in the face of ALL these odds.....and NOT glare back with haughty arrogance...but let them see our gentle nature.  Even let them see that we sure are a little afraid of their damaging ways because it hurts! BUT, we will not shrink back in fear...even if we do get broken beyond our imagination we will NEVER be broken beyond His repair!

For God Sake Believe and BE FREE.....in Christ Jesus :)
Kisses,
Candace

©Candace Huffmaster 2013, All Copy Rights Reserved

Kaleidoscope Butterfly, Inc®

Your Image Is Showing

The topic of what we do, or our works and giving from the heart freely causes an out pouring of convoluted discussions with many groups and individuals we work with.  Being generic, I will not be passing into the area of domestic violence – we all know safety and life is always my response to that.  But we can all apply, even in those situations, the truths which are applicable below.

We as humans cannot achieve sanctification; we are only able to manifest it.  Humanity does not contain this ability apart from Christ because He embodies sanctity.  When the Spirit of Christ dwells in us, and He is at work maturing us it is His image which is being exposed, and not our own sanctimonious efforts.  We then are the proof, that He indeed is alive and walking out salvation as He sanctifies our lives. 

Christ is our highest calling, our head and He abides only within Love – who is God.  If we do not love well we do not know Christ personally and are grieving His Spirit which resides in us; if we profess that Christ is the son of man, God’s son.  We are not speaking of moral natural qualities here, but of divine relationships on which we are depending on His power to enable us to BE dependable as He has proposed.

As to not be too abstract so that you may fully understand, we will take a look at the relationship second most important to the one with God – Husband and wife.  1 Corinthians 7:14:

For the unbelieving husband is sanctified through his wife and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband; for otherwise your children are unclean but now they are holy. 

Two things I want to bring out: God has set His active power to work through his body, from one to another to care for all this as He wills.  It is a choice to be made by the one placed and it has a promise and a warning attached to the placement. The consequences are farther reaching than the one individual; in fact they are very life altering if this individual hardens their heart to God’s task.  Secondly, unclean in this passage means that the children are left uncovered and exposed to the abominations or deceitful schemes of Satan’s domain.  How can we know this and not flinch at the thought of yanking their blanket away and turning a blind eye?  Please tell me this makes your heart hurt a bit to think about!

In Ephesians Chapter 5 Paul teaches Christ’s followers how to perceive that the Image of Christ is manifesting and how to work toward the unity of the Spirits goal in our lives.  He also explained this through God’s will for dependency in order to sanctify.  Paul explained that wives are to be dependent on their husbands, just as the church is to depend on Christ.  The overall condition of churches, in many cases  is due to their lack of dependency on Christ, instead they are “self” sufficient.

Christ wants for us to depend on Him.  He longs for our desires of His dependable out pouring, in hopes that we will receive every drop of his power, provision, loving kindness and ensure our safety and prosperity.  When we believe He is standing by ready to cover us, we bring glory to His honored position; and it brings God great delight when we acknowledge, through reception, that He did not subject all things in vain. 

But what if God were as the husband who desired to be detached and unloving, as to allow their dependents to suffer harm by turning a blind eye to His position.  What would we perceive about such a God?  It is this very point which enrages the passions of our God.  He places people in authority for the purpose of them using their prestige for good and not the building of their image or selfish gain.  God alone provides and gives grace to the one who embodies His image, in order that His image will be seen as righteous, just, pure and loving.

When we choose to harden our heart and mind, we sear our conscience in order to shut Him up / out.  When we shut up His truth we lose bits of our wealth time and time again.  Those under us are the ones who suffer, here is why:  The leader will feel their survival is best for everyone else and begin to take from the very ones closest to them – and being hardened with a seared conscience they believe this is just. 

Think of it this way: Just as a baby, within their mother’s womb,  is to depend solely on the wealth of their mothers body, if a husband is not getting his sustenance from the Lord he will rape the nutrients of the very one he is placed by God to give into.  God ordained the husband to be the savior of his body by being subject to the covering of Christ.  This way his wife can be vulnerable and depend on her husband without fear and she then has the ability to undergird the needs which are depending upon her. 

This is why a husband is to love his wife and reserve his best for her – She has no one else effecting and passing His character on through to her as God designed it.  When He covers her in the Love of God’s power – the two of them are One offering unto Him.  But if he will not, he proves that he hates his own flesh and therefore he is rejecting the very gift of life God blessed him with attesting that it is not respectable. 

Can you imagine how this distortion is perceived by those who do not know God’s word?  God tells us that if we cannot love someone we see that it will be impossible for us to love an invisible God. 

Let me leave you with these thoughts to ponder for a few days:

If you won’t love something you can see, touch and smell,

Then you will never be in love with Me.

If you won’t intimately relate with your husband or wife,

Then you will never be intimate with Me.

If you cannot put your desires below your spouse,

Then you will never submit to Me.

If you cannot abandon all others for the sake of your physical wife,

Then we will never be married and I will never own your life.

Think about it – this is a test; will you pass or fail?  Do not depend on a grade between, there aren’t any!

Extending peace in love,

Candace

©Candace Huffmaster 2013, All Rights Reserved

Kaleidoscope Butterfly, Inc™