Living a Lie – Traditions of Deception and Patterned
Responses - Purity 892
Purity 892 11/18/2022 Purity 892 Podcast
Purity 892 on YouTube :
Good morning,
Today’s photo of a tree stripped bare of its leaves on
a green roadside under pleasant skies comes to us from our brother in Christ,
Arthur Cincotti who captured this scene while travelling through “Amish Country”
on Wednesday. Arthur and his wife, Suzanna
are travelling south to spend time with family over the next week but they are
taking the time to enjoy the journey as Arthur has sent me a few photos of
scenes along the way that indicate to me that while their final destination is
determined they are not so focused on the end that they aren’t enjoying the
process of getting there. Yeah when you walk in the Spirit, the Lord will call
you to go places and as I was reminded last week, sometimes there is more to
the trip than what you will do when you get there. Every aspect of our travels
with the Lord is noteworthy and can be a place where the Lord has something to
tell us.
I especially
like Arthur’s photo because it caught the reflections of window and “I don’t
know what”, but it reminds me of imagery from Stephen King’s “The Drawing of
the Three” where the hero was traveling through the countryside and was
destined to encounter and go through doors that were just hanging in space with
the cryptic titles on each indicating what would be found on the other side. I researched it this morning and was
reminded those doors were labeled “The Pusher” “The Prisoner” & “The Lady
of Shadows”. No spoilers from me but I
particular lylike that book, of Mr. King’s in my youth.
Anyway it also reminds me of a particular meditation
session I had back in my Buddhist days when I was seriously practicing and
trying “to break on through to the other side”. I remember that I was doing a
practice where you just meditate and look at the sky and you just rest, watching
the clouds move and being open to the experience of the present moment.
Well, in my efforts
to see “beyond” to see things as they really were, I was staring at that
daytime sky with such intensity and the focus to see something that I
contemplated the fact that beyond the light of day, the cold dark blackness of
space existed just beyond the window of my perception. And while I couldn’t see the blackness of
space, I knew it was there and when I thought of that I realized in a way the
day time sky was a lie. It was an
illusion caused by the conditions of the sun illuminating our atmosphere. With
that realization, I imagined that the sky was like a hologram and composed of
individual tiles, that if focused on and broken, that if I focused on the sky
long enough my effort would “break the sky”.
Okay, pretty crazy huh?
But the revelation of this experience pointed out
the illusory nature of our lives here on earth and that two things that are seemingly
the opposite of one another could exist simultaneously even though I could “see”
only one. The cold dark expanses of
space were out there. The blue sky was there.
Both were true, but I could only see one. But as time would progress,
things would change and one would “disappear” to reveal the other.
Likewise our world of flesh and blood is all that
some people can see. Meanwhile there is
the unseen spiritual realm that exists with angelic and demonic entities. Just because we can’t see them doesn’t mean
they aren’t there. Just because we can’t
see God doesn’t mean that He isn’t there.
And just like how the day dissipates and allows us to see into the far
reaches of space at night, as time
progress the spiritual world will be revealed, one way or another, to all of
us. Just wait for it!
So what should we do to prepare for that day? Well,
Christ didn’t come to earth and die on the cross for nothing. He came to reveal that which was hidden and
shrouded in mystery. He came to let us know what God’s word really meant and to
offer us a way to have peace with the Father, to place our faith in Him. So do that, and read the Bible to renew your
mind with God’s truth so you can expose the world’s lies and live in harmony
with God.
Lies are so ingrained in our world system and
crafted by our experiences in it that sometimes we don’t even know how pervasive
the lies are and how they continue to imprison us with patterned responses for
living.
Addicts believe the lie that their drug of choice is
“GOOD” in spite of the facts that they often experience negative consequences
through its use and that the thing that gives them “PEACE” causes a lot of
disruption in their lives.
Some believe the lie that they are men trapped in a
woman’s body, or women trapped in a man’s body.
This belief or feeling was once classified as a mental illness because
biology, your chromosomes, indicate that however compelling those feelings may
be that you are in the wrong body, that they are wrong. Biology would indicate
that you are not in the wrong body, you are in the wrong mind. Unfortunately those who believe this lie were
influenced by various experiences, dysfunctions, and traumas, and possibly
demonic encouragements to believe they were not the people that God created them
to be.
These are easy examples of deceptions though,
although there may be nothing easy about being set free from these lies.
No, what I have come to see more and more,
especially through some of the dialogs I have had through this latest Freedom
in Christ course, is that we can have ingrained beliefs that just aren’t true
that deeply affect how we live, sometimes in subtle or even benign ways that
aren’t necessarily harmful but which cause us to remain “stuck” in the same
patterns of thoughts and behaviors.
“I’ll always be depressed”
“Celebrations always involve overindulging in alcohol
or in food.”
“I am a night owl. I don’t go to bed before 11 pm”
These are some examples of statements that are not
true, or don’t have to be true, that I encountered recently that revealed to me
the subtle way we can develop “traditions of deception” that keep us locked in
patterned responses that go against what we would desire for our lives.
If you believe you’ll always be depressed, you will
be. If you believe celebrations always
involve overindulging in alcohol or food, you will continue to overindulge. If
you believe you are a night owl you will rarely go to bed early.
So what’s wrong with that? Nothing…, or possibly everything. These beliefs or other ones like them can
cause us to stay where we are and not experience the abundant life God wants us
to have.
Part of the process of repentance is to change our
minds to align with God’s word but in order to do that we have to break the chains
of patterned thoughts and behaviors and consider alternate ways, Godlike ways,
of thinking and behaving.
If we want to receive the healing and abundant life
that God has for us, we have to abandon what we know and surrender to His
wisdom and adapt His ways. Part of the process of repentance is revelation.
You don’t have to celebrate by overindulging in
alcohol and food. “Everybody is doing it” is lie. Look around some people don’t, thus you can
be like them.
I will always be depressed. You don’t have to be if
you understand the magnificent gift that the Lord has given you in your salvation
and if you turn from your sinful patterns of thinking and behaving. God said:
Genesis
4:6-7 (NLT2)
6 “Why are you so angry?” the
LORD asked Cain. “Why do you look
so dejected?
7 You will be accepted if you
do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is
crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its
master.”
Right from the beginning God encouraged us to do
what was right, to cure our mental disturbances and to keep us free from the disruptive
influences of sin.
As for the night owl, that may be harmless, although
children of God are to be in the light, I suppose the night time hours could
meet the needs for solitude and silence to commune with the Lord in Bible study
and prayer.
But as a former night owl, I know that rarely are
any spiritual practices the activities of night owls. Usually the nighttime is
the time to indulge in selfish pursuits that are independent of God. However,
they could be used for God so there isn’t anything necessarily wrong with
staying up late.
But what could be a major obstacle to our freedom is
the proclamations that identify ourselves by certain activities and cause us to
remain in patterned thinking.
“I am”, I can’t, “I don’t”, “I never”, “I always”,
and “I don’t want to” statements are all possible ways that we limit our
freedom and keep ourselves in chains.
All of this came about this morning because I am
going to the movies this evening and my wife reminded me that I will have “my
soda and popcorn”.
I have been subject to my own lie or “tradition”
that could be expressed in one of two ways:
I always have soda and popcorn at the movies.
Or
I can’t go to the movies without having soda and popcorn.
And unfortunately, as it applies to me, my statement
would have to include the word “large” – as in “I must have the large popcorn
and soda” AND take advantage of the free refills at Regal Cinemas!”
So apparently the Lord is revealing this lie to me, because
as I was working out this morning I considered it and realize that I have been
living in a “tradition of deception” that runs contrary to my health goals. So
I intend to break the chain of large popcorn and soda tonight.
So as we go into the weekend I wish everyone a Happy
Friday, would encourage you to thank the Lord, and to examine your life to see
what traditions of deception that you might have.
The Lord came to set us free and sometimes He came to
set us free from the chains we willingly put on time and time again. So keep
walking and talking with God and seek to discover the freedom and peace He has
for you.
As always, I invite all to go to mt4christ.org where I
always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to
assist my brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk.
Today we continue sharing from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s
“Discipleship”, also known as “The Cost of Discipleship”
As always, I share this information for educational
purposes and encourage all to purchase Bonhoeffer’s books for your own
private study and to support his work. This resource is available on
many websites for less than $20.00.
The
Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 7
The
Community of Disciples Is Set Apart
The
Disciple and the Unbelievers Concludes
What should the
disciples do in the face of hardened hearts? When their approach to others is
unsuccessful? They should recognize that they have no right or power over
others at all, and that they have no sort of immediate access to others. The
only way open to them is the way to the one in whose hand they themselves are kept,
just like those others. This is what the following section is talking about.
The disciples are called to prayer. They are told that no other way leads to
their neighbor except prayer to God. Judgment and forgiveness remain in God’s
hand. God holds the key. Disciples are to request, seek, knock, and God will
hear them. Disciples should know that their worry and concern about others must
lead them to prayer. The promise given to their prayer is the greatest power
they have.
The fact that
disciples know what they are seeking distinguishes their searching from the
nonbelievers’ search for God. Only those who already know God can seek God. How
could they seek what they do not know? How can they find, if they do not know
what they are looking for? Thus disciples seek God, whom they have found in the
promise Jesus Christ gave them.
In summary, it has
become clear that in dealing with other people, the disciples do not possess
any special right or power of their own. They live completely out of the power
of communion with Jesus Christ. Jesus gives the disciples a simple rule, by
which even the most simpleminded can evaluate whether their dealings with
others are right or wrong: they need only reverse the I and the You in the
relationship. They need only put themselves in the other’s place and the other
in their own. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” At that
moment the disciples lose any claim of special rights toward other people. They
cannot excuse in themselves what they condemn in others. Now they are as tough
on the evil in themselves as they used to be on the evil in others, and as
considerate of evil in others as they are of themselves. For our evil is no
different than the evil in the others. There is one judgment, one law, one grace. So disciples will always
encounter other people only as those whose sins are forgiven and who from now
on live solely from God’s love. “That is the law and the prophets”—for it is
nothing other than the greatest commandment itself: love God above all things,
and your neighbor as yourself.[1]
---------------------------more
tomorrow------------------------
Join our “Victory over the Darkness”, “The Bondage
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Encouragement
for the Path of Christian Discipleship
[1]
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Discipleship,
ed. Martin Kuske et al., trans. Barbara Green and Reinhard Krauss, vol. 4,
Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003), 173–175.
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