Monday, February 09, 2009

The LOVE revolution

I just had to stop in to introduce a band that I just heard on the radio today. I honestly had to stop the car and listen with wonder, not just at what I was hearing but with the realization that Father is up to something BIG....all over, wherever, with whomever, He is whispering and shouting out to His beloved creation "I LOVE YOU." He who has ears let them hear. I'm just thankful for those who do and willingly echo His voice.

From their website here is a blog post. This guy gets it. I love that! I love that a whole generation beneath me are discovering and uncovering the PURE gospel and begining to walk in the freedom and authority of that:

“And avoid fear, for fear is the consequence of every lie.”
-Fydor Doystoevsky, (the Brothers Karamazov)

"Today, this single phrase has been beating in my head like a war drum.
On the battlefield of my mind, and in the fragile chaos of my machine-like heart,
this simple line has been echoing on.
Reverberating off the walls of war-torn streets,
I can faintly here the Roman calvary choirs singing.
And for me, it sounds a lot like freedom.
This one thought, this shining flickering light is my lighthouse in a thundering sea.
Maybe not you, but I for one have been rather sick and tired of myself as of late.
And more specifically, I’m tired of the lies that I so blindly believe.
I know it may sound melodramatic, but if my heart is where my treasure is
then I’m tired of this love affair I’ve made with doubt and
the seemingly never-ending struggle in my heart.
I want you to get it. I want you to understand that if you struggle with the answers
that you’re not alone. But I also want you to know the root, the cause,
and the fight that’s in between.

Lies
.
There are lies everywhere.
Blinking neon lights, and sweetly penned secrets.
A movie. A sermon. A Day after thanksgiving sale.
How quickly we forget that the things we hear and see are making an impression.
Like an empty place in the bed where a body used to lay,
they’re wrapped up in the sheets, but they don’t need the rest.
They can come without warning and talk for hours without a sound.
Lies tell the future, insist on interpreting the past,
and seem to always keep us paralyzed to the present.
They can fill a closet with skeletons and invite monsters under the bed.
Lies are strangers in friends clothing and fill your house when you’re alone.

Fears.

The inevitable, unstoppable result of listening to something other than the truth.
Cousins, sisters, brothers perhaps? I’m not exactly sure the relation
but I know that its a tie that binds.
Feed one, and you nourish the other.
Nurture a lie, and watch the panic grow.
Forget the truth and welcome anxiety.
Give up on hope, and welcome misery with open arms.

So then it should comes as no surprise
that the most recurrent command in all the Bible is this:
“Do not be afraid.”
Easy enough right?
Well maybe it could be,
but I don’t think we’ll ever live free of fear as long as fear itself is our problem.
Fydor reminds me. Fear is the consequence of a lie,
Which means, if I find in myself some irrisistible anxiety, chances are,
I’ve welcomed a lie into my heart.
And maybe I didn’t exactly welcome it.
Maybe I just forgot to close the door on some memory
or I left the window cracked, but whatever the reason,
if the lie has crept in somewhere,
and has made its home where my faith has worn through,
I must recognize it for what it is.

It should also come as no surprise then, that the work of God is belief.
“This is the work of God, that you believe in the one whom He has sent.”
Or as Jon Foreman sang, “belief over misery.”
Do we understand that fear isn’t something that we are meant to live with?
Do we have any idea how free we would be if we could just believe?
And trust me, I know. It’s not easy.
In fact, its the hardest work any of else will ever have to do,
but its the war we were meant for.
Since we’re grafted into Israel as Romans says,
that means we’re brought in to “wrestle with God,”
for that is exactly what Israel means.
So we fight to rest.
We work to stop working.
We war for peace.
We run to stand still.
Life is waiting for the ones who lose control.
“taking captive every thought, and making it obedient to Christ Jesus.”
Take captive?
Yeah.
Take it freaking captive.
Smack that lie in the mouth and slaughter it with truth.

Here’s some fights I’ve had so far.
Lie: “you’re too screwed up for God to love you anymore.”
Reliation: “God proves his love, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
Lie: “I’ve made too many poor choices. I’ve missed God’s will for my life.”
Truth: “Even what you meant for evil, God meant for good.” (Gen 50:20)
“God works all things together for good for those who love God and who have been called”
Lie: “Someone might break in and kill me.”
Word: “Do not fear those who can kill the body and after that can do no more.
Fear him who after killing the body has the power to throw you into hell.” (Luke 12:4,5)
Lie: “I’m not good enough”
Truth: “In this is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us….” (I John 4:10)
Lie: “I’m awesome. God owes me.”
Truth: “God is not served by men’s hands as if He needed anything…” (Acts 17:25)
Lie: OMG. Can you believe this guy? What a jerk!
Truth: “Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but with sober judgement,
according the measure of faith God has given you.” (Romans 12:3)
Lie: “Sex will give me the pleasure I’m looking for.”
Truth: “I have no good thing apart from you.” (Psalm 16:2)
“In His presence there is the fullness of joy, at his right hand are pleasures forever.”
(Psalm 16:11)
Lie: “God’s command is going to ruin your good time.”
Truth: “The thief comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but I have come to give you life,
and life more abundantly.” (John 10:10)
Lie: “I don’t have the strength to say no to this!”
Truth: “if anyone is in Christ He is a new creation.” (2 Cor 5:17)
“and He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear.” (I Cor 10:13)

The war drum goes on.
It never ends,
it doesn’t stop.
And so avoid fear, for fear is the consequence of every lie.
Belief is a fight. Work at it with all the power that God supplies."

- Mike (Lead singer from Tenth Avenue North)

Check them out if you get a chance:

13 comments:

Bino M. said...

That was brilliant!

"fear is the consequence of every lie" What a profound observation!

I have heard someone saying, the opposite of love is not hatred, but fear. Bible confirms it - Love casts out fear!

silent wings said...

Ya that one statement caught my attention big time. :)

Bino, I love that God's word confirms that. Thanks for the reminder. The solution then to break that lie, (that produced that fear) is more love right?

Faith grows out of the revelation of His love. How else did I come to salvation in the first place?!
And now I am invited to come boldly to the throne of grace, that I may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And if Jesus exhorted us over and over again to NOT be afraid...that sure sounds like a need to me. And he meets that need so beautifully with MORE of his sweet love.

I once heard Bill Johnson say " Any area in your life where you lack hope is under the influence of a lie." I'd have to agree. Hopelessness and fear are really quite connected. I have a couple situations in my life right now that feel really hopeless and eternally "stuck", but I'm realizing that in reality it's because it requires some risk...some definate leaping and raw trust. It truely would require a moment to moment drawing of the nector or wine of His love.

It's comforting for me to know that while "intoxicated" I'm not often intimidated. ;)

Rich said...

silent wings,

Thanks so much for this link, I'm going to listen some more for sure.

It's the intoxicating fragrance of His love that continues to BE my living sobriety!

Bino M. said...

" Any area in your life where you lack hope is under the influence of a lie."

Very true!

I think the 'renewing of our mind' is nothing but replacing the lies with Truth.

Jamie said...

YEOW!!!!

Cirra,
You've been posting like MAD and I've BEEN MISSING OUT!!

I KNOW I want to post these words on my blog!!

You're right. These guys GET IT!

lydia said...

Way to go Cirra, great find!!! And, I am loving this statement;

"It's comforting for me to know that while "intoxicated" I'm not often intimidated. ;)"


I think I shall go get intoxicated............................Love You!!

The Lewis Family said...

I came across these guys a few weeks ago too and I was so encouraged to hear that someone was actually singing words so true! I also loved the quote," Fear is the consequence of every lie" so I posted it up on my facebook and sent that very same blog to some dear friends. Hilarious.

Free Spirit said...

Silent Wings,
Thank you!!!
I needed this today.
No wonder He brought me here.
Too many emotions to express. Just, thank you...

silent wings said...

Welcome Lewis family. Thank you for stopping in to visit. :) It has been great to bump into you around blogland. I am intrigued by your story after reading a few of your testimonies on your blog. Keep posting.:)

Free Spirit,
I am so glad you found comfort here today. I pray that Pappa's love envelopes you and drives out whatever fear and lie you have struggled with today. It really is a battle, isn't it. Glad you posted because I needed to re-read this again myself after a really emmotional day. Reading here today http://robrufus.blogspot.com/ has also given food for thought and prayer.

Love and hugs xo -
Cirra

Rich said...

Cirra,

You said, " Reading here today http://robrufus.blogspot.com/ has also given food for thought and prayer."

I would love to hear (if you would care to share)your thoughts on what you read from this site you posted the link to.

Thanks,
Richard

silent wings said...

Rich,
I will do my best :) and yet I'm not sure I can just yet.

Sometimes what I write in a blog comes through days/weeks of wrestling and/or a bubbling over of an inner victory, (it is afterall my online journal)....but my responses to others are not often so. They are spontaneous and may even be disjointed, and hopefully not but maybe perhaps self-focused...?? hmmm kind of like your blog post stated awhile back about "handing out signposts/brouchers to places you haven't yet been yourself". Ouch. All that to say....

I don't know why I posted that link for Free Spirit. (Do forgive me FS if I have confused you by doing such) I was re-reading my own blog post in the midst of digesting Rob Rufus. What I read on the blog link were bits and pieces that are both stoking and agitating stuff that's all tangled up inside and have been leaking out here and there over the last few blogs.

When my interpreter shines the light and weaves beauty out of this inner mess... I will try. :)

Always nice to hear from you Rich.

Rich said...

Cirra,

" hmmm kind of like your blog post stated awhile back about "handing out signposts/brouchers to places you haven't yet been yourself". Ouch. All that to say...."

Hahaha, indeed, I hear you!
This I know, Father is making us as His "sons" eye-witnesses to that which is our birth-right, the living reality of Who's we are and who we are...the world is looking for His sons to come forth, and that is in the making even now!

I so love and appreciate your heart longing for Him!

silent wings said...

The Spirit and the bride say "Come Lord Jesus..." :)