“The measure of our spirituality is the amount of praise and of thanksgiving in our prayer.” D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones This week, as many weeks, is a challenge. And it always seems like this is one of those weeks where a new obstacle appears as a quotidian reminder that life is challenging this side of eternity. Today’s obstacle is an easy one to overcome BUT some are not so easy. Some obstacles are life altering. Some obstacles switch how we carry on in Christ. Some obstacles cause questions and doubts. Some obstacles strengthen our faith and deepen our understanding. And we get to choose. That is the gift and sometimes the curse of being human. Our choices matter. And that is why some folks don’t choose. Some folks are paralyzed by choice in fear of choosing poorly. BUT our poor choices are just as important as our wise choices. If we allow ourselves to grow in trusting YHWH and His plan, if we study and seek in The Word for The Way and The Truth, if we pray and thank YHWH for all His abundance, then we will surely choose better. We will surely find whatever we are looking for. Peace to your house. Hear, O Israel: YHWH, our Elohim is One! And I will love and worship and thank and praise my YHWH, my Elohim with all my mind, with all my body, and with all my spirit (my nephesh)!
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Embrace the Within
Focusing inward to create the abundant life God wants.
"The more the soul is conformable to Christ, the more confident it will be of its interest in Christ."
Thomas Brooks
Not only am I a hypocrite which is nothing to own in today’s society. I am a few other things that are usually misunderstood in today’s society. The two main misunderstandings I face in my life are the facts that I am a Christian and I am an anarchist. The secular hypocrisy that exists in being a Christian was the focus of my writing yesterday. I gave up the old way of doing things with myself as the center of attention. I gave up focusing on putting self first and put YHWH first in my life through the sacrifice of His son. Anarchism is equally misunderstood today. And the two paths are integral to my daily journey.
Without anarchism and voluntaryism, I don’t know if I would be a Christian today. The path of physical and mental health and liberty were very important to starting my path to Christ. A lot of folks find Christ first and then change their lives. I was well into changing my life when I rediscovered the importance of spiritual health and became truly Christian. I was raised in a Christian house and raised in a Christian church BUT I don’t really know if what I was doing within that family and within that church was really Christian. I was surrounded by all the right influences and all the right teaching BUT I never really internalized the message. I could put on the outward appearance of doing Christian things BUT the motivation wasn’t internal. The motivation for me was always external back then.
And I think that external motivation can be enough for a lot of people. That external motivation can keep a lot of people from sin. And I never want to downplay the importance of external motivation to changing people BUT, personally, I wasn’t going to be happy with a life run by external motivations.
I ran my life for decades on external motivations. And then things started to change and the questions led to more complex questions and the answers the world was providing failed to pass the sniff test. And then the road to liberty started for me about a decade ago. Through that journey of questioning and unlearning and more questioning, I started to discover that I was going to have to make some tough choices about personal responsibility and self ownership. So, I had to start taking those things seriously and nothing sped up that process like March 2020.
Now I am internally motivated not for my self BUT for a better relationship with YHWH. I have to take personal responsibility for my relationship with Him. I can’t outsource my freedom and I definitely can’t outsource my faith. I have to take self ownership in the choices that I need to make in order to have a right relationship with YHWH. And that means the self ownership to understand that I give up my own ownership of my self to Him. Because everything I have, everything I am, and everything that will ever be in my life is because of Him. And being a Christian and an anarchist motivated through personally wanting to be free in Christ is my full time commitment. It takes a change in routine, a change in thought, a change in practice that is going to get weird looks from the world and confusion about what all these things mean. BUT it also leads to some really wonderful conversations with folks you have known for decades and folks you only just met.
So, embrace the labels the world wants to place on you. Own them and let them empower your walk rather than see them as an obstacle. The world talks about each other just as much as they talk about us. Let them. You get to make the better choices. You get to make the right choices because YHWH leads the way. Own your choices and own your life. Not my way BUT YHWH.
Peace to your home. Bless your being. The reign of YHWH is now. Be a blessing to YHWH and others.
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