Dear
Present Truth Magazine Subscriber:
We
are glad to have you as a subscriber to our Present Truth Magazine. Below
you will find articles from individual authors who have written for our
magazine. Our prayer for all who
receive read these articles is that the Lord "...may give to you the
Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may
know what is the hope of His calling, and what are the riches of the glory of
His inheritance in the saints” (Ephesians 1:17-18).
Golden Opportunities in the Workplace
by A. Wilson Phillips
In the last two hundred years, many
believers in Christ have failed to reach their potential in the workplace
because they are waiting for Jesus to return and God to ultimately destroy the
earth. This flawed dispensational thinking is like a cancer that has weakened
the mystical body of Christ. However, Father God has graciously blessed me to
see golden opportunities to enlarge His kingdom in the postmodern American
workplace. He is raising up men and women who are listening to His voice and
demonstrating His kingdom life in their work.
According to Os Hillman’s book,
Faith at Work:
The modern day
movement is focused on a more holistic approach to applying faith in the
realm where so many people spend so much of their time—their workplace.
These include students, housewives, those in the military, executives,
nurses, doctors, lawyers, and people in entertainment and government.
It may come as a surprise to
many traditionally trained Bible scholars that there were Spirit-filled
covenant workers of God several hundred years before the feast of
Pentecost and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on new covenant believers.
God spoke to His prophet Moses, saying:
See, I have
called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of
Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in
understanding, in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship, to design
artistic works, to work in gold, in silver, in bronze, in cutting jewels
for setting, in carving wood, and to work in all manner of workmanship
(Ex. 31:2-5).
Throughout the history of God’s
dealings with His covenant people, He has surprised men and women by
changing their traditional thinking about their giftedness and calling. He
would lead them to think outside the box and reveal to them the work He
had for them to do for their generation. This is what He did with me.
In His sovereignty, God led me
to work at the Union Pacific Railroad in Kansas City, Kansas, in 1950. I
began my railroad career as a switchman in the Union Pacific’s Armstrong
Yards.
Railroading had changed very
little since its beginning in the American workplace. We had both steam
engines and diesels in the yard switching operations as well as
over-the-road operations. Perishable goods were iced in top bunkers with
huge cakes of ice. We had a standard, handwritten record-keeping system
for the cars that was incredible. Clerks worked 24/7 to keep track of all
the railroad cars throughout the United States and Canada.
The trucking industry began to
grow and take a large share of the railroads’ business. Railroads had to
begin to streamline their operations with the advent of the computer and
other technology. Leaders in the workplace had to “think outside the
box.” Human nature does not like change. It resists change that will
ultimately make things better. I moved up the ladder into several roles of
management.
In 1965, God surprised me by
bringing me from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of
His love. The Holy Spirit began to give me supernatural wisdom, knowledge,
and discernment in my workplace. I was promoted to an official’s position
as a terminal trainmaster over the switching operations of the Union
Pacific’s Kansas City, Kansas yards, which included huge industrial
switching operations. Changes were accelerating. Labor-management problems
intensified and were very stressful. My Spirit-filled life sustained me
and caused me to further excel in my workplace. I spoke into the lives of
executives concerning the need to change how we related to employees. I
came to understand that it’s all about covenant relationships with God
and people.
Then Father God gave me another
surprise. He told me to resign that work assignment and enter into
training for a spiritual leadership role in the mystical body of Christ.
My wife and I, along with two teenagers and a fourth grader, moved to
Springfield, Missouri (where the Assemblies of God International
Headquarters is located) for me to enter Central Bible College.
Shortly after starting at CBC,
the Lord revealed to me that I would become a player-coach in my spiritual
leadership role in His kingdom. I would later learn the Holy Spirit was
leading me as He did Apostle Paul and Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the
pattern Son—down a path of suffering (Acts 9:15-16; Heb. 5:7-8). Learning
obedience through suffering is a message our American Christianity shies
away from.
If an individual is in an
undesirable work relationship or circumstance, that person should open up
to the possibility that God wants to do something great through him/her in
the workplace. The end of self is the beginning of God. Perhaps God is
putting a carnal “vision” to death (John 12:24).
Following our Springfield
experiences, we moved to Sedalia, Missouri, where we were further
developed while pastoring a small Assembly of God pioneer church and
working with troubled youth in a coffeehouse ministry. It was during that
time that the Holy Spirit gave me a deeper understanding of Apostle Paul’s
doctrine of our substitutionary identification with Christ and of the
kingdom of God today. This gave me a non-sectarian view of the mystical
body of Christ.
The Lord moved us back into the
Springfield area to pastor a church in Republic. As the Holy Spirit gave
me revelation of the “kingdom now” apostolic teaching in Scripture, I
found myself in conflict with my brethren in the Assemblies of God
fellowship. They held the traditional dispensational view of eschatology
(end-time teaching), and this caused them to resist a non-sectarian view
of the mystical body of Christ.
Denominations “tend to have
arthritis around the knees.” They are inflexible. When the Holy Spirit
changes direction as to where He is presently moving, they can’t move.
As I remained flexible and open
to the Holy Spirit’s leading, the Lord led me to understand covenant
eschatology or past fulfillment of the prophetic scriptures. This led to
long-term generational thinking. Simply stated, I understood that we are
not in a “hurry-up, two-minute offense.” We are in the everlasting kingdom
until we “put off our tent” or temporary dwelling (2 Pet. 1:13-14). We
will transition into our spiritual bodies in the heavenlies (1 Cor. 15:44;
2 Cor. 5:1-5).
This freedom from faulty
end-time teaching causes us to think “outside the box”—generationally and
long-term concerning our workplace. It’s all about Father God’s and His
sons’ and daughters’ business (Luke 2:49).
Since we are not “polishing the
brass on a sinking ship,” Father God is calling many sons and daughters
from death to life (1 John 3:14) and then giving them equippers to
train and commission them to make changes in their workplace.
As
workers are enlightened to the reality that all work is sacred and
not secular, the Holy Spirit will do signs, wonders, and miracles
in the workplace. There are golden opportunities in our postmodern world.
The Word and Spirit say, “The best is yet to come.”
A. Wilson Phillips is the co-founding and senior
pastor of Abundant Life Covenant
Church.
Healing
By Richard K. Clark
As a twenty-one-year-old newly
married, young Christian man, I assumed that my tormented soul and body were
normal. I dealt with a gnawing fear deep within me that something bad was bound
to happen at any moment. I felt that I deserved to feel guilty all the time even
though I could not point to any “un-repented” sin in my life. My “salvation” was
always hanging on a thread, yet I endeavored to obey the Lord daily.
My understanding of Scripture
told me that this world was getting worse and worse and destined for
annihilation very shortly. The devil was big and mean, and the best way to
deal with him was to try to hide from him. Stomach problems, spastic
colon, and periodic depression were close friends of mine. To me, freedom
and healing would come one day when I got my new body, so in the meantime
I just needed to make the best of a bad situation.
In the mid-70s, my new pastor
began teaching that Christians should live today in the same freedom and
wholeness that Jesus Christ had in His earthly ministry. He read
scriptures that I did not know were even in my Bible. For instance
Galatians 2:20:
I have been
crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in
me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the
Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
This “word” broke into my heart
one day, and I have never been the same since. For the first time, I
realized that I could not earn God’s pleasure; Jesus pleased the Father
for me. The “old me” that tried without success to please God died with
Christ, and there was a “new me”—Christ was my new identity. I was
convinced that Christ lived in freedom, wholeness, and peace, and since He
had become my life, I actually experienced living like Jesus.
From that day forward I never
again had those spastic colon episodes in the middle of the night,
writhing in pain for hours at a time. I found out how good it was to feel
good. In my case, phantom fears brought on by bad doctrine had made me
sick.
Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression,
But a good word makes it glad (Prov. 12:25).
A merry heart does good, like medicine,
But a broken spirit dries the bones (Prov. 17:22).
I
became very secure when I learned that God chose me, and I had simply
responded to His call. I discovered in time that Christ had defeated the
devil and that my “end-time” worries had been dealt with nearly two
thousand years ago. Living now in the everlasting kingdom and covenant, my
main responsibility is to live in the freedom of the cross and
resurrection of Christ. This comes by meditating on the living Word,
speaking the living Word, and obeying the living Word.
Richard K. Clark is an associate pastor of Abundant Life Covenant Church.
My Thankful Confession
by Benjamin Davis
“We should receive our work
with an attitude of gratitude.”
This statement was the first
point in a message we recently heard entitled “Faith at Work in the
Workplace.” Often we think of thankfulness as a way of reflecting on the
past—and it is. However, a thankful attitude and confession can also chart
our future.
The holiday of Thanksgiving has
its roots in the Pilgrims’ first celebration in their new land at what is
now Plymouth, Massachusetts. Having suffered a stormy and miserable
journey on the Mayflower to arrive, the Pilgrims lost half their number in
the first winter. Yet when spring came, God gave them an Indian guide (a
convert to Christianity) to teach them how to sow and reap efficiently in
the new land. Therefore, the Pilgrims found themselves experiencing an
abundant harvest that they believed would take them through their next
winter.
Being devout followers of
Christ, the Pilgrims understood the apostle Paul’s admonition to the
church: “…in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God
in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thes. 4:18).
God taught me how to have a
thankful confession shortly after I was married. At that time I carried
two jobs to help make ends meet. During the day, I worked as a landscaper.
Before the day began, I worked delivering doughnuts. My schedule was to
rise at 3:15 a.m. each morning, work delivering doughnuts until 7 a.m., go
home and eat breakfast, then work until 5 p.m. landscaping. After work we
would fulfill our church commitments, which sometimes took us until 9:30
p.m. Needless to say, when 3:15 a.m. rolled around again, I was usually
tired. That is where God taught me to practice an attitude of gratitude in
my confession.
I began this attitude of
gratitude within a few moments of waking each morning. “Thank you, Jesus,
for this day,” I would say as I took my first few steps. By the time I
reached the bathroom, I was giving thanks with Scripture:
Thank you Father
that I am the very righteousness of God in Christ today (2 Cor. 5:21).
Thank you that I am a new creation, and old things have passed away (2 Cor.
5:17). Thank you that I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer
live, but Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20). Thank you, Father, that I have
been seated with Christ to rule and reign with Jesus over every
circumstance of life (Eph. 2:6; Rom. 5:17).
I must admit that at 3:15 a.m.
I didn’t feel like giving thanks in this way. However, as I spoke these
words of thanksgiving, I would feel a strength and faith in my heart to
begin the day. Giving thanks became more than a reflection of past events
but a confession that also guided my future.
When
we reflect on what God has done for us in the cross of Jesus Christ, it
will produce in us a thankful confession in every circumstance of life.
Our thankful confession will lead us forward into the benefits and
blessings of our new covenant relationship with God through Christ.
Benjamin Davis is an associate pastor of Abundant Life Covenant Church
Becoming Better, Not Bitter
By Jonathan Clark
…pursue
righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a
pure heart… (2 Tim. 2:22).
God is still in the healing
business.
Lorraine Day, M.D., an
orthopedic trauma surgeon with many years of clinical experience in
academic medicine, has released a series of videotapes that discuss her
bout with breast cancer and how God healed her apart from surgery,
radiation, or chemotherapy. In her story, she outlines ten steps for
believers to follow in their lifestyle to position themselves for God’s
healing to flow through their physical bodies. She acknowledges the
importance of such things as fresh air, proper diet, and restful sleep.
However, she says that it wasn’t until she cried out to the Lord and was
willing to work through forgiveness toward someone who had hurt her deeply
that her tumor dried up and disappeared.
Another physician, S.I.
McMillen, M.D., released a book entitled None of These Diseases in
which he relates experiences of his patients and their stories of disease
and healing. His stories focus more on the truth that the highest form
of healing is healing of relationships. Many of his patients had to
release their lingering grudges and offenses in order to receive the
healing they so desperately needed.
In Luke 17:1, Jesus himself
said that offenses and relational hurts would come: “It is impossible
that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!”
Jesus knew the high price that would be paid in the mind and body of the
offended person who refused to let go of his/her hurts. Jesus knew that
fallen human nature and unrenewed Christian minds would cause individuals
to nurse and rehearse their grudges to their own detriment, and He was
determined to free them from their emotional jails:
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted…
To set at liberty those who are oppressed… (Luke 4:18).
Jesus also knew that many
believers would experience their offenses at the hands of fellow brothers
and sisters in Christ. At the same time, He understood that the Father had
designed the local church to be a primary place where believers would
experience deep and fulfilling relationships as they were willing to
forgive one another.
And be kind to
one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ
forgave you (Eph. 4:32).
The Father designed the close,
covenant interactions of local believers to be the “developing ground” for
believers to grow up and become more noble-minded, pure-hearted, and
truth-loving.
The healing of relationships is
truly
miraculous—healing
in the highest degree! As we are willing to allow God’s deep work of the
cross to work in us through forgiving each other our trespasses (Matt.
6:12, 14-15), we will experience righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy
Spirit to the fullest. We will become better and not bitter.
Jonathan Clark is an elder of Abundant Life Covenant Church and a physician in
Springfield, Missouri.
"You Will Have a Son..."
By
Patricia Dixon
“You will have a son, and his
name will be Joshua.” God spoke these words to my heart after I learned
that my husband and I were unable to have children.
We were convinced that God was
leading us to adopt. We had peace about it, and there was a pattern of
adoption throughout the Bible. We decided to adopt a child from the
Philippines.
It wasn’t long after beginning
the colossal amount of paperwork necessary that problems began to surface.
Our adoption agency was in Oregon, and we lived in New Hampshire, so we
contracted with a local social worker to provide our home study. A home
study is an exhaustive investigation into the backgrounds of the adoptive
parents, their extended families, and support systems.
After our very first meeting,
the social worker expressed concern. My husband had a history of substance
abuse that had led to incarceration on two occasions. We were totally
honest in every respect concerning our childhoods, our adolescent years,
and young adult years. My husband explained that God had completely
delivered him from that lifestyle over a decade before and changed his
life. We shared Second Corinthians 5:17:
Therefore if
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away;
behold, all new things have become new.
“Weak people use drugs as a
crutch, and religion is also a crutch,” the social worker explained to us.
“You will be seen as trading one crutch for another.” She doubted that
people really change without professional help.
The finished home study
evaluation was approved by the state of New Hampshire but rejected by our
adoption agency. The home study is supposed to highlight the strengths and
stability of the potential adoptive families. Our social worker admitted
that my husband’s life had been exemplary in the eleven years since he
became a Christian but stressed that, in her opinion, he should have had
extensive counseling. Hardly a wholehearted endorsement!
For one year our adoption was
in a state of suspense. The adoption agency steadfastly refused to forward
our home study and dossier to the Philippine government agency that
oversees their foreign adoption program. We continued to pray and were
supported in prayer by our church family. I remembered the promise that
I would have a son.
Suddenly, there came a
breakthrough, an adoption agency advocate called. She finally agreed to
send our paperwork to the Philippines, but she felt certain that they
would not accept it. “But what if they did accept it?” I asked. “What
then?” She reminded me that she had worked many years in foreign adoption.
If they were to accept it, it would be available to those Philippine
agencies looking to place children in adoptive homes. She cautioned us not
to be too hopeful as our home study was likely to be passed over in favor
of the more “glowing” assessments of the hundreds of other suitable
couples. But I did have hope. I had God’s promise.
It didn’t even take a month
before we were chosen for a placement of a thirteen-month-old baby boy who
was currently in a small orphanage just outside Manila. Immediately we
praised God and began to prepare our home for our new son. We applied for
visas for my husband and me to travel to pick up our son and for another
visa to bring him home to the U.S.
Then came bad news. The U.S.
Department of Immigration and Naturalization rejected our request for a
visa. The reason was that my husband had had no formal counseling or had
not attended any rehabilitation program. We were not prepared for this. We
had already been approved to adopt by the state of New Hampshire and by a
well-respected adoption agency. We had medical examinations, criminal
background checks, work history investigations, financial evaluations, and
countless letters of recommendation from pastors, friends, and employers.
Now we learned that the United States government had the power to stop the
adoption. They agreed to reconsider but not before they did their own
investigation. Now we were up against the government of the United States.
I suddenly felt small and powerless.
For the first time during the
entire process, my faith was shaken. What were we suppose to learn in all
this? Were we being punished for something? What about that promise I was
clinging to? Maybe I hadn’t heard from God. Maybe it was all in my mind.
We prayed, and I prayed. Anger and confusion began to set in. I pleaded
with God. I bargained with God. I wrestled with God. Finally, I determined
that I had either heard from God or I had not. And if I really had, I had
to believe what it says in Hebrews. It is impossible for God to lie.
We negotiated with Immigration
for nine long months. They finally agreed to allow my husband to be
evaluated by a registered substance abuse counselor. When that study was
completed, it too was rejected. Why? Because it had a Christian bias! We
had chosen a Christian counselor. My husband agreed to go through the
entire evaluation again with a counselor of their choice. We never got to
see the finished evaluation, and we did not immediately hear from
Immigration.
By, this time we were weary.
Our church family and friends supported us, encouraged us, and believed
with us. We prayed and waited, waited and prayed. At long last, a call
from our state senator’s office confirmed that the visa was granted, and
we were free to travel to the Philippines and free to bring our son home.
When we reached the very tidy
but sparsely furnished orphanage high in the mountains outside Manila, we
met the American missionaries who chose our home study from the hundreds
available for consideration. One of the missionaries took us to meet our
son.
“His birth mother requested
that he be placed in a Christian family in a foreign country,” she told
us. “We have trouble identifying what families might be Christians from
the paperwork they send because they are void of any reference to
spiritual matters. But yours was easy because your husband gave God the
glory for his life change!” With those words, she led us to a tiny,
little, dark-skinned boy clad only in a diaper who was fast asleep on the
hardwood floor. At long last we beheld our son—a promise fulfilled!
Patricia Dixon is the mother of two
adopted children. She is an insurance agent and owns the Allstate
Insurance agency in Nixa, Missouri.
My Walk With the Lord
By Evie Condra
As business owners in Jakarta,
Indonesia, my parents always wanted their children to be successful in the
marketplace. So when I was 17 years old, they sent me to Hollister,
Missouri, for me to graduate high school and then go on to get my college
degree in the States.
Most of the people I talked
with suggested I go into computers or business administration, saying it
would be easy for me to find a job after graduation. Without seeking the
Lord or searching my own heart, I followed people’s advice and employment
statistics and pursued a degree in computers and business. I received my
bachelor of science degree in computer information systems and a master’s
degree in business administration (with an emphasis in computer
information systems) at Southwest Missouri State University in
Springfield.
Before graduating, I married
and joined Abundant Life Covenant Church and felt led to stay in
Springfield. With a master’s degree and an attractive résumé, I set out
looking for a job. Many places I went to had hiring freezes. Nothing
opened up. Needing a paycheck, I applied and was hired at JC Penney as a
“customer service associate.” (In other words, I hung up clothes and took
money.) I also got a part-time teaching job at SMSU. Through both of these
positions, I realized I really liked working with people. However, neither
of these jobs related to my degree, and I was somewhat embarrassed to have
a master’s degree and be folding clothes. To make things worse, my
students would come in to buy clothes, and their instructor had to wait on
them.
I became frustrated. I kept
thinking negatively about everything. I didn’t feel any peace or find
enjoyment at work. God was using these jobs to humble me. My husband had
me write scriptures down and take them to work with me.
…whatever
things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just,
whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are
of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything
praiseworthy—meditate on these things (Phil. 4:8).
Over time I realized that God
is in control, and He places me in the workplace as He wills. The Holy
Spirit spoke to my heart, “Just walk with the Lord.” He assured me He
would always be with me.
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will guide you with My eye (Ps. 32:8).
Not long ago, I left JC Penney
and started working as a teller at a bank. Some people still ask me why I
am not using my master’s degree. I just have to respond that I am where
God wants me. I am open to Him leaving me where I am or moving me up. I
know He wants me to be a model of His life wherever I go.
I now find enjoyment in my work
as I do it unto the Lord.
I know that
nothing is better for them than to rejoice, and to do good in their lives,
and also that every man should eat and drink and enjoy the good of all his
labor—it is the gift of God (Eccl. 3:12-13).
Evie Condra is currently employed at US
Bank in Springfield, Missouri.
His Desire For My Life
By Linnie Patterson
In the late summer of 2001, my
pastor taught a series on tithing. Giving of the tithe had never been a
difficult issue for me; I had begun tithing at age 14 shortly after I
began attending church. I had read the verses from Malachi about the many
blessings and the curses connected with tithing, and I wanted the
blessings. God had always been faithful to bless my tithe.
After one of the lessons, our
pastor asked if anyone had a word of encouragement or exhortation from the
Lord to share with the church family. One of our members shared this word:
“We must take the limit off God in the way we think; He wants to bless us.
He wants to bless us exceedingly, abundantly beyond anything we could ask
or think; not just spiritually but in all areas of our lives, especially
financially…”
Immediately, the Lord convicted
me that I had been putting limits on how and what He wanted to do in,
through, and for me because of my wrong thinking. Even though I had been
tithing, some areas of my mind were not renewed (Rom. 12:2) and were
hindering my ability to receive all He wanted to give me. I repented and
asked Him to forgive me, and I also asked Him to renew in me the desires
He had for my life. Peace and faith filled my soul!
Over the next few days there
was a stirring in my spirit that God wanted to bless me financially. I
asked the Lord how He wanted to accomplish such a blessing when there was
a budget freeze at work, and no one would be getting a cost of living
increase or a raise. I couldn’t see past my current job. It was a “safe”
place job-wise. I had been there for 18 years. I knew the job, did it
well, understood what was expected of me, and also knew the “office
politics.” I was set until retirement! However, down deep in my heart
there was a longing for more, but my fear of failure and rejection had
kept me from trying to advance.
The words from that Sunday
lesson kept resounding in my spirit:
Now to Him who
is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think,
according to the power that works in us (Eph. 3:20).
The power that works in us is
the same power that raised Jesus from the dead! I started meditating on
God’s ability to create the opportunities to bless me.
In late September of 2001, a
job was posted with Human Resources for a clinic assistant. When I read
the job description, there was a “quickening” in my spirit, and I knew I
could do that job. I shared this information with my daughter, who is also
my prayer partner, and immediately there was a witness in both of our
hearts that I should apply. In obedience to the Lord, I filled out an
application and waited.
In early November I was called
for an interview. After the second interview, I was hired! This was not
only a promotion but a considerable increase in salary. I started the new
job on November 26, 2001. God did bless me financially—exceedingly,
abundantly beyond anything I was thinking or asking! This was only the
beginning of many changes in my life, and I believe the best is still to
come.
Linnie Patterson is a clinic assistant at
the Southwest Missouri State University Language and Hearing Clinic.
Dying To Live
by Matt Molica
I spent much of my life in
frustrating turmoil. From a very young age, I attended church with my
family and as a child had given my life to Christ, without really
understanding what that meant. At times I wanted to please Him, but much
more often I was consumed with doing whatever felt good at the moment.
Living my life in that way led to great hurt and pain. I went so far down
that I often thought there was no way for me to have a meaningful life at
all. I am so grateful today that my Lord delivered me from those things
that were destroying my spirit, soul, and body.
I gave up trying to follow
Christ because I knew that I could never follow or live up to His example.
Each time I tried to do the right things or refrain from indulging in
shameful behavior, I failed miserably. Those failures brought on such
hopelessness and discouragement that I eventually decided to quit
following God altogether rather than keep going through all the heartache
I felt and caused to those who loved me. However, God was not about to let
me leave His hands because He had chosen me before the foundation of the
world (Eph. 1:4).
Father God began to break my
will and humble my heart in such a way that I knew the only hope for my
future was in His Son Jesus. Once I submitted to His authority, God
deepened my understanding of what being a “Christian” was all about. He
used my pastor, local church family, and mentors to show me that I had
failed to change (although very sincere at times) because I did not
understand that I had been crucified with Christ. I didn’t realize that I
was free to live a new life without being controlled by the awful
behaviors that had kept me in bondage so long. Sin no longer had power
over me. My death with Christ changed the way I related to people and gave
me a new purpose and hope for my future. The only requirement for me was
to walk in this powerful truth and allow God to keep leading me into a
deeper understanding of Him.
Understanding my co-crucifixion
with Christ kept me out of the cycle of failing, repenting, rededicating
my life, failing, repenting, rededicating…I died to lust, pride, and
self-gratification.
For if we have
been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall
be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was
crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we
should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from
sin (Rom. 6:5-7).
The lying, self-serving,
arrogant man I had been all my life was nailed to the cross at Calvary
over two thousand years ago. Christ saved me by putting to death the
person who could not better himself.
The revelation of my death in
Christ also affected my relationships with others. I no longer had to
manipulate my loved ones and friends; the manipulator in me had died with
Jesus. I had often had terrible, hurtful arguments with my wife. Yet God,
in His grace and mercy, allowed me to see that the anger that had been my
master was gone; it died with Christ: “For sin shall not have dominion
over you…” (Rom. 6:14). I became free to truly love my wife because
the Spirit of the living God lived in me.
My closest friends also began
to see that God had dealt with my self-absorbed, controlling soul by
putting it to death. He had replaced it with the nature of Christ—a loving
servant-leader who would lay down his life for his friends.
This new way of thinking gives
me a positive outlook on the future. I do not have to wonder if I will be
able to overcome my flesh and its evil desire; that flesh has already been
crucified. I no longer worry whether my wife and I will have a life-long,
happy marriage. I know that God is faithful in that when I died with Him,
I was also raised to walk in newness of life as a brother of Christ,
having His Spirit and life. Jesus is the light of the world, and that
light has been placed in me.
I still need discipline and
instruction; all sons/daughters do. However, because it is not I who live
but Christ within me, I will become more and more like Him, walking in the
will of my Father’s truth. God will use suffering in my life to mature me
in His ways (Rom. 5:3-5). My Father God loves me, and He will not allow me
to be in situations I am unable to handle.
I am so grateful God has placed
me in His family through my death and resurrection with Christ. As I grow
in Him, everything I do will be positively affected. If I am tempted to
lose my temper or indulge in my sinful flesh, I have the awareness that
the person who did those things is not who I am anymore, and I can
overcome my old nature. Christ set my spirit free by dying as my
substitute. I can have wonderful peace and victory by renewing my mind in
the truth of the death I had in Christ and the life I am free to enjoy in
His grace.
Matt Molica is a business manager at Mayse
Automotive Group in Aurora, Missouri
The Power Of Agreement
by Christa Clark
As a young adult, I prided
myself on being independent and strong-willed. “I am woman, hear me roar”
was my anthem. Any criticism directed my way—be it constructive or
otherwise—offended me greatly. Then I started dating my future husband
Jon.
When I went to church with my
new cute boyfriend, I heard teachings about submission to God’s direct and
delegated authority. At first the pastors’ words grated on me like
sandpaper, but then a miraculous thing happened. God soften my heart, and
I began to yield to His Holy Spirit. I no longer thought I had to be in
charge.
At that time, the church
leaders taught “male headship,” and Jon and I were married with that
understanding. My attitude was: “Jon has to make all the decisions, and I
get to float through life without much responsibility. If something goes
wrong, it’s his fault.” Our flawed doctrine caused the first few months of
our marriage to be somewhat problematic. In time, by God’s grace and
mercy, the Holy Spirit began to give us a better understanding.
The Lord opened up our thinking
through His Word—
There is
neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is
neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Gal.
3:28).
Taking our church back to the
“Book of Beginnings,” the Holy Spirit began to renew our minds with His
balanced truth.
Then God said,
“Let Us make man in Our image…let them have dominion…” So God
created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male
and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to
them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have
dominion…” (Gen. 1:26-28).
Therefore a man
shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they
shall become one flesh (Gen. 2:24).
God made both male and female
in His image, and they are to have rulership. God joins a man and a woman
together in marriage and makes them “one flesh.”
…they are no
longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let
not man separate (Matt. 19:6).
Looking back again to Genesis,
we find the source of the struggle for control. When Adam and Eve
disobeyed their Holy Creator, they came under the curse. Listen to the
pronouncement that the Lord God made to the woman:
Your desire shall be for your husband
And he shall rule over you (Gen. 3:16b).
We know that in Christ we are
no longer under this curse. Apostle Paul explains this over and over in
his epistles, but he also tells some of his churches to not allow women to
speak in church. What is that all about? Again we must submit to the Holy
Spirit and let Him guide us into all truth.
Understanding the historical
and circumstantial context in which Paul and the other apostles wrote, we
recognize that their letters addressed different churches in different
geographical regions with different problems. Some were in bondage to the
legalism of the Law, while others drowned in pagan sins. When the apostles
wrote, they directed words of spirit and life to specific audiences. They
were not creating a rule book; they were giving specific correction and
direction to specific individuals and groups.
Just as I discipline and
instruct my three children different ways at different times for different
reasons, Paul followed the Holy Spirit’s leading when dealing with his
spiritual children. In the Roman letter, he tells the saints to receive
and greet the women apostles in a worthy manner. In his first letter to
Timothy, he tells his spiritual son to not let the women be in charge, yet
in the second letter he mentions the genuine faith of Timothy’s mother and
grandmother and how they had passed that faith on to him. To the
Ephesians, Paul explained that just as we are one with Christ, the husband
and wife are to be one, submitting themselves to one another in love.
Acts 16 records how Paul
followed the leading of the Spirit and shared the gospel with a women’s
prayer group in Philippi. The Lord opened Lydia’s heart, and the gospel
spread to Europe and the Western World.
When both the man and woman
understand their identity in Christ (Gal. 2:20; Col. 1:27, 3:4), the power
struggle ceases, and by faith the power of agreement can be enforced.
…if two of you
agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them
by My Father in heaven (Matt. 18:19).
Christa Clark is an elder of Abundant Life
Covenant Church and a stay-at-home mom.
