All that is mine is yours (VI & final): A question of maturity

Last week, speaking of spiritual Tourette syndrome, I ended with the importance of spiritual maturity –as many other times in the past. 

It is written: “The heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father” (Gal 4:1-2).

This is what it means in modern language. Most rich parents usually add a clause in their will, which prevents their child from freely enjoying his or her inheritance before their 18th, 21st, 25th or 30th birthday. If the parents die before that “age of maturity”, EVERYTHING belongs to the heir, but he/she is master of nothing. He/she cannot decide on anything. It is servants who decide what he can eat, drink, wear or drive. It is his/her parents’ collaborators, people who will soon be under their orders; people that he/she will soon be able to fire at will; who decide how HIS or HER money is spent! Heir of ALL; possessor of EVERYTHING; master and decider of NOTHING!

We are GOD’s heirs, co-heirs with Christ. However, Jesus reached maturity and can freely dispose of the paternal inheritance. “ALL authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me... And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age (Mat 28:18, 20). If we are always with the One who can do ALL things in heaven and earth, then why are we so accustomed to the taste of failure? Can it be that we are often not with Him?

Today, GOD is reminding us that: ALL that is His is yours, and it is mine (Lc 15:31). We need this reminder, because, sometimes, we are so deep in the slave/servant mentality that we forget that we are sons and daughters. The brother of the prodigal son has identified himself so much to his father’s domestics that he had forgotten that the juices in the fridge and everything that was in the house was his. His father didn’t need those. His father has built his wealth and bought all those things for him, his son – a son who still could not understand that.

Brother and sister, grow. It’s in your own interest, because, as long as you remain a child, you cannot enjoy ALL that the Lord has generously put at your disposal.  Grow, because the inheritance is for the son, i.e. the child, boy or girl, who has reached maturity; the boy or the girl, who can reflect the father in their management of the inheritance. Indeed, a fully trained disciple will be like his teacher (Lk 6.40). In other words, when someone finally has a fully trained disciple, he can now close his eyes and trust him. He can trust that his disciple will faithfully act in his name; that he will not do anything on his own accord, but will only do what he has seen his master/father do (Jn 5:19). This is why I said last week that it is only such a person who is qualified to give orders to the rest of the Body. 

GOD spoke to the apostles on the Mount of Transfiguration, saying: "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him" (Mat 17:5). A father delights in a son. Servants and Creation listen to a son – yes, the creation is eagerly waiting for the revealing of the sons of GOD (Rom 8:19). 

I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession…” (Ps 2:7-8). 

There is nothing that is beyond us and GOD wants to entrust the nations over to us; but He will only hand them over to sons, not to infants. My dear brother and sister, ALL that is His is ours. Let us GROW. Let’s grow so that we can enjoy everything: the inheritance is for the son, for the boy or the girl who has reached maturity.

Have a great week and GOD bless you.

All that is mine is yours (V): Spiritual Tourette’s…

Simply defined, Tourette syndrome or Tourette’s (TS) is an inherited neurological disorder, with onset in childhood, characterized by multiple physical (motor) and vocal tics – i.e. sudden, unpredictable and compulsive movements or sounds which are usually very inappropriate. All of a sudden, people suffering from TS can have an irresistible urge to blink, jerk their head or legs, grimace, clap their hands, cough, clear their throat, sniff or grunt. They can also utter insults, obscenities or other socially objectionable or taboo words or phrases, right in the middle of a normal activity - as in class or in the middle of a dinner. Every now and then, their body just refuses to do what their brain would like it to. Apart from the tics, these people are perfectly normal. 

Similarly, a Christian or a church suffers from spiritual Tourette’s when their will is independent from that of the Head, Christ. Jesus says, “Don’t say a word”; and we abuse.  He says, “Stay put”; and we get up and leave. He says, “Don’t touch; don’t marry; don’t do”; and the Body does otherwise. Jesus goes right and we turn left. And yet, He said: If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my servant be also (Jn 12:26). Is Jesus where you are today? Is He were you have planned to be tomorrow?

Try to imagine someone whose head would be in the parlour, the left foot in the kitchen, the right foot in the garage and the rest of his body in the market! That would be a monster, wouldn’t it? Also try to imagine someone whose entire body is governed by his little toe; or parents who take their orders and advices from their three-year old son, even when it has to do with investments. You can’t imagine that? You think it’s impossible? But this is precisely what we see every week and day in the Body of Christ. Everybody does what they feel like doing and ignores what the Brain, the Head, the Master, Christ, the LORD wants.

Exactly as it is with the human body, so it is in the Body of Christ. We all have a specific place and function assigned to us. “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ… But as it is, GOD arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose… As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you…" Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it” (1Cor 12:12, 18, 20-21, 27) Let’s not make a monster out of Christ. 

Fortunately, the good news is that the Tourette's improves with maturity in most children; and there is often complete remission in adulthood. Maturity: that’s it, that’s the word. We need to grow. A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher (Lk 6:40). It is only a fully trained (a mature) disciple, and not a child, who can pretend to give orders to the Body. 

Have an amazing Tourette's free week. 

All that is mine is yours (IV): Walking corpses…

Col 2:12-14, “…having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses… »

The Bible repeatedly reminds us that we died with Christ Jesus on the Cross. We were buried with Him during water baptism –provided we were baptized by immersion, but this is another story– and it’s somebody new who came out of the waters. Old things passed away and everything became new (2Cor 5:17). We deserved to die, because of our sins –the many ways through which we had offended God–, but after “killing” the old US into the waters of baptism, He raised us from the dead and gave us a brand new life in Christ à in other words, since our conversion, this new nouvelle life is hidden in that of Jesus.

So, if that is the case, why do people still see you? Why are you still so visible? How come your will and desires overshadow those of Christ? How can He be in this place, doing this; and you are at that other place, doing something else?

Listen, instead of wondering why your requests are not or no longer granted; why God doesn’t listen to you anymore or why you cannot hear His voice; instead of wondering at the level of access that Satan has in your life, you should rather ask yourself when is it that you decided to take “YOUR life” out of His. If your life was still hidden in Him, you wouldn’t be having these problems. When God gave us a new life IN Christ, His plan was that whenever the devil would come knocking at “our” door, Jesus, the Master of the house, would open. Satan would have had Him to deal with and he would have found himself under His feet. The minute you step out of that cocoon, you are on your own. Don’t you think that it’s high time you come back home?

Col 3:3-10, “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming [it’s because of these things that God is not granting you His favour; it’s because of those that you do not succeed.] In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its Creator…”

Have a wonderful week IN Him and God bless you.

All that is mine is yours (III): Provision

Let’s look at the following verses:

Col 2:10, “Ye are complete in him (KJV); You have been filled in Him… You have everything in full in him (French versions)…”
Phil 4:19, "And my God shall supply ALL your needs according to his riches (which are immense) in glory in Christ Jesus."

Lc 15:31, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. »

Ps 37:4, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

Mat 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things (that you desire) will be added to you. »

Ja 4:2-4, “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

Ps 84:11, “The Lord bestows favour and honour. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly”

Are you experiencing these promises in your life? Are ALL your needs supplied? Do you have EVERYTHING, IN FULL, in Him? If not, why?

Are you walking uprightly i.e. with integrity? Integrity is to be entirely true before men and GOD.

Are you always with the Father i.e. do you always stay in GOD’s presence? To remain in His presence in permanence, you must run away from sin – sin of intention and omission. Indeed, GOD’s hand is not short to save or provide and His ear is not shut from hearing; but our sins come between Him and us and prevent Him from granting our requests (Is 59:1-2).

Or maybe, you walk with integrity and stay in GOD’s presence, but you are just ignorant of the scope of your privileges as the brother of the prodigal son was?

Do you delight in the LORD? In other words, do you love Him with passion? If yes, how often do you speak to him every day, and for how long? How often do you open His love letter to you –the Bible– to enjoy what He has written? Do you go about your daily activities waiting impatiently for the blessed moment when the two of you will meet again face-to-face? While you are seated in church, do you find your friends’ messages on social medias more interesting than whatever GOD is saying through the sermon or Praise and Worship? Do you really ‘enjoy’ GOD as if He was a delectable meal?

Or you are so filled with the love of world and the things that are in the world that the superior interests of the Kingdom matter less –you always ask in order to satisfy your multiple passions/lusts: a car; a trip; the latest iPhone or Samsung; a designer handbag or pair of shoes, which costs three times your salary?

Perhaps as well, you do not ask because you are totally satisfied with your present condition?

There is no point hiding away from the truth. If you really want to live life more abundantly, you need to prayerfully ask yourself those questions and steer your life according to what the Holy Spirit will show you. Brother, sister, Church of the Living GOD, the ball is in your camp!

Have a great week and GOD bless you!