God is building His church in the earth today. His church is also known as the Body of Christ. Every single Jesus follower has an assignment within God’s church or Christ’s body, including you. Some roles are formal while other roles may not even be recognized by the traditional church. I want you to know that you are important, you belong, and God has an assignment for you that brings Him glory and causes you to experience fulfillment.
The word “gift” is the Greek word charisma. The root word is charis, which is the word for “grace.” Charisma is charis in action. This makes sense when you understand the true definition and function of GRACE. Grace is unmerited favor but it also means “God’s divine influence in your heart.” Grace also means “capacity.” The idea is this, God will empower you in your inner man, your heart. He empowers you to do the things that His spirit is able to do, things you can’t do in your own strength. Things like live holy, heal people, function as a prophet, be righteous, all of which are empowerments (gifts) of His spirit.
Would you like a formula to develop great faith? The kind of faith that can raise the dead and help people experience miraculous healing? The truth is, there is no formula, but there are some necessary components to great faith. #1 key ingredient to developing great faith is to live a life where your heart doesn’t condemn you. #2 ingredient is to keep Christ’s commandments. #3 is intentionally love people. Before you think I’m presenting a legalistic formula that’s based on performance, heart me out, I’m actually talking about what’s going on in your heart and how to develop confidence toward God in your heart, or your inner man.
God’s promises that are available in Christ are various and plentiful, touching on just about every aspect of life. Promises of salvation, provision, guidance, peace, health, and much more. The availability and application of the promises in Christ are universal. I am going to use the example of health in this article. As I discuss health and healing, think about which promise relates to you.
All believers believe that God can heal. All Jesus followers agree that Jesus healed people. But we disagree on whether God always wants everyone fully healed. If you don’t believe healing is God’s will, prepare to be offended, heck, you might even get offended if you do believe healing is God’s will.
All of us that believe healing is for today have seen some people healed and others not, why? There are only two stories in the New Testament that address the “why.”
Prayer changes things. Prayer changes us, it changes the world around us, it changes people, but it doesn’t change God. Prayer doesn’t cause God to respond and give you what you want. God doesn’t have anything else to give to you. The only thing God has left to give you is wisdom, revelation and guidance on how to live within everything he’s already given you.
You have two sets of eyes, the ones in your head and the ones in your heart. The eyes in your head see the outer world while the eyes of your heart can see God. However, the eyes of your heart can also focus on your outer world, which is not a good thing.
The obvious goal is to keep the eyes of your heart focused on God, who lives in you and is not separate from you. This is walking by faith, this is how you look not at the world but at the unseen, this is how you set your heart on things above, this is how you have great faith, and this is how you stay in perfect peace. The list goes on and on, I bet you can find several more.
Is God evil? Does God do evil? I’m sure you would answer “no” to both questions. Now let me ask you this question… Is God in control? Your answer may change. One more question… Is God controlling everything? Your answer should be the same answer to “is God in control?”
God being in “control” means he’s controlling everything. That’s the point of this article, I want you to think through what you believe about God’s sovereignty and how he’s choosing to exercise his authority in your life and in the world.
Toxic Religion tells the world that God is too holy to be near your darkness so he separates himself from you until you admit you’re a sinner and ask him to forgive you. The truth is this, God has forgiven you in Christ and is seeking to invade your heart and the deepest parts of your soul with his light to deliver you from darkness, whatever that darkness may be.
If folks knew that God would gently, kindly and mercifully remove their darkness and nurture his own light within them, they would be more receptive. That’s our role, the role of the body of Christ, tell them of God’s kind heartedness toward them and create an environment in which their hearts will be receptive to his light, life and truth.
Lack is at the root of addiction. Feeling like something is missing and trying to fill that gap with toxic substances or behaviors is the engine for addiction. We see that same cycle in religion. Religion is the king of causing you to feel like something is missing. Under religion you’re never good enough and you can never do enough to keep God happy. Most people never say it this clearly but they believe that God’s happiness is based on your behavior. This lie is the root or toxic religion.
Toxic religion is the mindset that acceptance or rejection with God is based on how good or bad you are. Religious folks would never say they’re good because of their behavior, but they might say they’re bad or unrighteous because of sinful behavior. That’s just as self-righteous and toxic as thinking your righteous because you kept the commandments.
The solution to breaking the addiction to toxic religion is to find a place of inner balance that’s rooted in Christ’s finished work. Your true, spiritual, eternal identity is complete already. Your standing before God doesn’t change. Only toxic religion believes otherwise, and if you believe God changes his mind about you based on your performance, it’s tine to detox from religion.
Righteousness determines how God treats you. There are two kinds of righteousness, the kind that Jesus gives and the kind that religion thinks it can earn or be disqualified for through keeping and breaking laws or commandments.
Religion can become addictive. Religion for the purposes of this article is man’s attempts to be accepted by God based on deeds or rules. It feels good to do the right thing and it feels bad, for normal people, to do the wrong thing. But to think God is changing how he relates to us based on our behavior is a toxic view of God and it invalidates the right-standing with God that Jesus died for. To believe that God withholds blessing, wisdom or love based on behavior is a toxic doctrine of religion that ends up driving people away from God.
