Christian eCommunity

a Nositeunseen Development Project

Our Blog

In the Name of Jesus Christ

by

“Truly, I tell all of you with certainty, the one who believes in me will also do what I am doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it.”
– John 14:12-14

To work the works of our Lord we may find ourselves summoning up our resolve and will to believe.  We envision the mightiness and strength of our majestic King and so we stand in that power declaring healing to occur or unclean spirits to depart.  Our jaw is firm and our will is iron as we strain out our certainty … and nothing happens!

Why is that?  Why does apparent failure seem to be the majority of our results?  The strength of our Lord is without question, as is His authority and majesty.  We believe those things fully and walk in them, so why doesn’t sickness and uncleanness tremble and flee when we command in His name?  Because strength, and mightiness, and majesty are not His name for us.

“Place my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble, and you will find rest for your souls,”
– Matthew 11:29

Gentle.  Humble.  That is His name for us.  And that is what we are to be when we walk in His name.  We are to be what He is, representing Him to the world, and submitting ourselves to all He has commanded and taught.  Trying to emulate only the power renders us useless because He has chosen how He works.

“But the Lord said, ‘My grace is all you need. Only when you are weak can everything be done completely by my power.’ So I will gladly boast about my weaknesses. Then Christ’s power can stay in me.”
– 2 Corinthians 12:9

Instead we seek to walk as our Lord walked, gentle and humble.  When we read accounts of Christ healing and commanding demons to go, what we do not see is Him straining out the power with gritted teeth, or firmly asserting that power with a commanding tone, or even pleading for that power to work.  He spoke and it was done, and even just touching His cloak was enough.  There was nothing in Jesus’ manner that drew attention to Him or His efforts because He knew Who His Father was, and He knew His Father would never fail Him in His mission.  So He walked as a man, mortal and weak, but sent by and authorized by God.

Trying to emulate only the power renders us useless because He has chosen how He works.

Of ourselves, we are not the power – we are the vessels.  And as the vessels, we carry His power on the mission He has given to each of us.  And what is our mission?  In short, to do good.

“We have this treasure from God, but we are only like clay jars that hold the treasure. This is to show that the amazing power we have is from God, not from us.”
– 2 Corinthians 4:7

Jesus was sent to find what was lost and to save what was perishing.  Though He was only sent to the house of Israel God’s desire and intent for Jesus was for all of us to be saved and brought into fellowship with Him.  Israel had to reject Him first in order to fulfill Scripture and allow the rest of mankind to receive His grace.  His mission – ultimately to all of us – was to preach the good news, heal the brokenhearted, give sight to the blind, set the captives free, and release from bondage all who were oppressed.  To declare the acceptable year of the Lord while God’s Spirit confirmed the truth.

Our mission then is also to declare the good news – and do good.  Pointing people to Jesus and the Kingdom of Heaven is our purpose, with healing and deliverance the proof of how good it is to trust in Jesus.  We do not need to make it happen by our force of will or our intellectual prowess.  We just follow His yearning within us for the lost.  That heart we share in God’s Spirit is what compels us to tell others the truth that is the Gospel, gently and humbly, because we know it is and we want others to experience and receive the same.  And that same shared heart is what tells unclean spirits to leave and bodies to heal, gently and humbly, because we know God does set free and heal and we want them to experience His goodness.

That’s it.  That’s in the name of Jesus Christ – when He seeks through us and yearns through us and we respond in agreement.

as the vessels, we carry His power on the mission He has given to each of us

If you brace yourself when stepping out, be comforted in the fact that you are not alone.  It’s our natural, soulish way of thinking to doubt.  Have you ever wanted to share about a healing with someone and inside you begin to debate if you are exaggerating?  That’s the doubt at work.

Settle in the truth that Jesus came to save the lost, and to do good, and that is what He continues to do through each of us.  If you were given $100,000 to distribute to the poor would you hesitate?  Would you be afraid to approach the poor in case you couldn’t help them, and maybe look like a fraud?  Of course not!  You have the money in hand and the mission ahead of you.  Settle it in the truth then that you have the authority to do good in hand and the mission ahead of you is known.  Just do because Jesus does!

Back to the $100,000 analogy.  With the money in hand do you need to declare it to be?  Do you have to command, or exert, or even plead to give it its value?  No.  It just is, so you just go ahead and make use of it.  Gently and humbly because it already is.  The value and authority it represents is already in place and does not need to be summoned.  And that desire for the lost – it also just is and evidences that the value and authority it represents is already in place and does not need to be summoned.

Share the good news – and do good.  You’re in His name.

Just do because Jesus does!

The Fundamental Things We Believe

by

It seems useful to provide a statement of the things we believe so that readers can decide for themselves if our postings are worthy of their attention.  Truth is our foremost pursuit and we are pleased to receive any correction and any confirmation of our doctrinal and faith position.

1. We believe that the Bible contains God’s Word to us, that it was written by holy men of God who were inspired by God’s Spirit in the writing.  We believe that it is suitable for all doctrine, instruction, and correction.  And we believe that it is spiritually discerned by God’s Spirit in the heart of every believer of Jesus Christ.

2. We believe that God is Spirit and that no person has seen Him at any time.  We believe He is that Holy Spirit who shaped the worlds and created all things that were created through His own creative omnipotence and faithfulness to His creative, directive Word.

3. We believe that God has expressed Himself to mankind through His holy men the prophets, through His heavenly angels, and finally through His only begotten Son, Jesus.

4. We believe that Jesus Christ was sent by God to enter this world as a man, the Word having laid aside His divine attributes in order to be fully man, and lived His life in union with the Spirit of God Who enabled His sinless and miraculous existence among sinful mankind.

5. We believe that God gave man authority and dominion over the earth, and that the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.  As such, when mankind fell into sin only a man could redeem us from sin.  The price of sin is death and so Jesus Christ, fully man, paid that price on the cross for all people.

6. We believe that God chose Israel as bearers of His name to the world, and that they were entrusted with His commands and declarations, and with the authority to write and declare Scripture.  With fulfillment of the law declared as the means to salvation, Israel then rejected that by crucifying as a sinner the sinless Jesus of Nazareth.  All persons were effectively declared sinners through the entrusted nation of Israel because no one could surpass the sinless holiness of Jesus.

7. We believe that all mankind being declared sinners proved God to be just in permitting death as the wages of sin, and then further proved Him to be merciful through His grace in raising Jesus from death to eternal life.  God chose to save us!

8. We believe that in Jesus we die with Him through the cross and our sins are now paid in full, and we believe that in Jesus we are raised to newness of life in union with the Spirit of God and our lives are now at and in His service – empowered by His Spirit to sinless and miraculous existence.

9. We believe that all authority is given to Jesus Who is the eternal King and faithful High Priest over and for all mankind, and that trust in Him is the active and ongoing declaration of our faith.  We believe because He is!

10. We believe that we are exactly what God the Father and Jesus the Lord say we are: beloved, redeemed, accepted, holy, righteous and we live our lives in submission to His care and direction – free of condemnation and filled with trust at being in the caring and directive hands of our Creator and Saviour.

A Greater Weight Of Glory

by

“All this is for your sake; and as God’s grace reaches more and more people, they will offer to the glory of God more prayers of thanksgiving. For this reason we never become discouraged. Even though our physical being is gradually decaying, yet our spiritual being is renewed day after day. And this small and temporary trouble we suffer will bring us a tremendous and eternal glory, much greater than the trouble. For we fix our attention, not on things that are seen, but on things that are unseen. What can be seen lasts only for a time, but what cannot be seen lasts forever.”
– 2 Corinthians 4:15-18

The difficulties we may suffer serve a purpose in the Lord.  They are often the consequences of grace increasing its reach to the lost, for which the adversary is strongly and at times violently opposed.  And they serve to increase the development of Jesus in us.

Now you might think that suffering is a bad thing that needs to be removed immediately.  We agree.  Suffering was never a creation of God our Father; it was a consequence of a fallen world and a tool of darkness.  Christ came to destroy the works of the enemy.  However, as God carries out His divine will it sometimes requires that we endure suffering.

“Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings. And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast.”
– 1 Peter 5:8-10

When suffering presents itself we know it is the work of the devil trying to break people down in body, mind and soul.  We know that he is on this attack against every believer across the world.  And we know it is only temporary because God restores each of us in His time.  Suffering is never without a purpose.

When you find yourself in difficult times, even agonizing circumstances, and it seems to go on without end be certain it is not God causing you that grief.  He’s not mad at you!  You are His child and He loves you and treasures you.  Certainly in His great power He could step in and end your grief immediately – so why doesn’t He?  Because while you are suffering your circumstances are aiding another or others in the receiving of God’s grace.  He hasn’t abandoned you.  He’s asking you to hang on!  This suffering won’t last!  You are working with Him in the salvation of other souls.

and as God’s grace reaches more and more people, they will offer to the glory of God more prayers of thanksgiving. For this reason we never become discouraged

And you yourself are receiving a greater weight of glory as the suffering serves to produce Christ in you even more than He was.  You become even more like our Saviour!  Trust our Father.  He knows the greater and the greatest good – for you and for every one of us.

Suffering is never without a purpose.

Does this mean we can reach a point where suffering ceases?  No.  Not in this life.  The devil is enraged.  Think of any experience you’ve had with an enraged person.  They’re almost insane in their fury, without stable logic and unable to be reasoned with.  He is violently attacking anyone and everyone.  However, for believers we do reach a point in our maturity when we see him for who he is, and we learn to resist him in the faith.  We know who we are in the Father and we grow in peace and certainty in our minds and souls.  We reach a point where the devil has no more influence on our thoughts, and no power over our persons.  

In each life he will often turn to deceiving others to be instruments of his attacks.  We do not resist them, but instead turn the other cheek.  In doing that the tools of the devil are rendered useless because they’re not being put to use.  The people themselves are not the enemy – just deceived by the enemy.  It is a war while we are still here in this life, and we are here because others are being saved through God’s preparations and actions involving each of us.

“But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, so that you will become children of your Father in heaven, because he makes his sun rise on both evil and good people, and he lets rain fall on the righteous and the unrighteous.”
– Matthew 5:44-45

Do you see how valuable you are when you are seemingly defeated?  Do you see how powerful you are at your lowest?

“Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”
– 2 Corinthians 12:10

We encourage you to read and re-read this post – and settle your hearts and minds in the truth.  Suffering exists, and happens.  We try to avoid it with wisdom, and we try to end it when that is in our power, but we never blame God for it.  Instead we rejoice (or at least a little smile) that our Father is at work when we suffer.  We are partners with Jesus in saving souls, we are becoming even more like Him, and we are not abandoned – ever!

“…And remember, I am with you each and every day until the end of the age.”
– Matthew 28:20b

There Is Now No Condemnation

by

“There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”
– Romans 8:1

Forgiving others can be difficult at times, but it’s something every Christian seeks to do.  We are told by our Lord to forgive, and it is important for that reason, so we make deliberate efforts not to harbour ill will against those who cause us injury or grief.  But despite the struggle to fulfill this command we often fail to forgive a person crucial to our walk of faith.

We often fail to forgive ourselves.

“I wish I had never…!”  “If only I could change that!”  “How can you possibly forgive me?!”  Sound familiar?  We have a tendency as fleshly, worldly thinking persons to glorify our failures as greater than those of others.  We exaggerate them to the point that we are continually groaning and chastising ourselves for our failure – always punishing ourselves and condemning ourselves.  If left unchallenged we can judge ourselves as always a failure, and therefore giving us the excuse we need to fail again and again.  Also sound familiar?

Here is what Jesus specifically asked God the Father about you and me:

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.”
– John 17:20-21

Did the Father say no?  Of course not.  So we are one with Jesus, and that means…

“For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”
– Galatians 3:26

You are a son, or daughter, of God!  How?  Through faith – you’ve settled the issue in the truth.  You have decided your value is determined by God, not you, and you practice that daily.  But maybe you don’t feel like you’re His – that’s okay.  We all experience those feelings, but all those feelings are is an indicator that you have experienced a lie.  You’ve reacted to the suggestion that you are a failure and do not belong to Christ.  Say thank you to the feeling for letting you know, tell the lie to begone, and practice the truth that you are a child of God – always!

“And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
– Matthew 28:20

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
– Romans 8:38-39

How do you practice the truth?  Refuse to act like a failure.  Instead act like someone who is accepted and loved by God because that was His unswerving choice.  He knows you inside and out, including your shortcomings and failings, and He still does not change His choice.  Instead He deliberately continues to work in you – without blaming or condemnation.  Act loved – because you are.

Neither Be Of Anxious Mind

by

“And seek you not what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, neither be of anxious mind.  For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knows that you have need of these things.”
– Luke 12:29-30

From our very first moments of consciousness in this world we are trained in the awareness of our needs.  As infants we cry because we are cold, hungry, or feeling separated.   That is a very strong history of thinking processes that are a part of who we are in this world.

As we grow, we are taught the necessity of the things we need by rote and by example – even the urgency of that need – and we apply that mind set instinctively.  Most every need comes with that sense of urgency and even panic until it is met.  Then Jesus comes along and tells us not to do that!??

Many, many struggle with the attempt to overcome their ingrained way of thinking – to remain calm and just trust.  And often condemnation and self-recrimination are the results as that instinctive worry still appears.  Again – many, many struggle with this!  You are not the only one, and you are not failing when this happens.  Jesus knows what our minds are trained into because He was also a man, born and trained into this world.  He, of course, did not conduct Himself with that sense of urgency.  Why?

Most every need comes with that sense of urgency and even panic until it is met.

Until it is met.  As a man Jesus would have experienced the instinctive reaction to worry.  The 40 days in the wilderness would have been a huge opportunity for those thoughts because He was without shelter or food, among wild animals, and likely not aware of how long He would be there – at least it’s not indicated He knew how long in Scripture.  He did not have the anxious mind because He knew His needs were met.  He had settled in the truth that His Father would not abandon Him, and would meet His needs regardless of what it may seem like.  And the Spirit of God within Him confirmed that so Jesus had no conflict in His mind with the thoughts of His Father.

We have that also.  The Spirit of God dwells in us to guide our thoughts, and an anxious mind is only one that is in conflict with the thoughts of our Father.  When we settle in the truth that our needs are met in Him we are empowered to have peace rather than worry.

“And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”
– Philippians 4:19

We do not have to struggle in our own strength to not worry.  We only need to settle with ourselves that our needs are met.  Choose to believe that deliberately and the power of God’s Spirit will support that act of faith.  Practice it until it is what you do – instinctively.

So what does it look like to not worry?  How do we practice it?  When our need is met we stop thinking about it and move on to other things.  When worry tries to make a place in a need settle it that the need is met – and move on to other things.

God will never abandon you.  God will meet your needs.

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
– Matthew 7:11

Let God provide in His time and in His way because He knows how much is involved, and He knows your limits, and He does not fail.  Trust Him.  Don’t waste time worrying over it.  Settle it in the truth.

For Freedom Christ Set Us Free

by

What is Settled in the Truth all about?  Freedom.

Each one of us has been a slave in this world.  We have been subject to our whims and our desires – our passions and wants.  And as we seek to fulfill ourselves with our desires we become slaves to both the object and the mechanics that surround it. 

It’s a sad irony that what we pursue in our passions and desires is to be free.  We dream of a life of no need; a life of complete sufficiency.  And in our zeal to attain we make ourselves slaves to possessions, and creditors, and employers, and business.  We can imagine a new car would be just the thing we need so we can go places and do things reliably, but that car requires financing and maintenance and re-budgeting, and so our “freedom” comes at the price of our freedom.

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; To preach the acceptable year of the LORD.”
– Luke 4:18-19

Jesus came into this world to set us free from the trappings that we have come to learn as normal.  We accept them because “that’s just how the world is”.  But Christ came preaching and proclaiming truth, that we can be free from our slavery to worldly ways and all their limitations and demands.  And He obtained that freedom for us through the cross.

” The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.  So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
– John 8:35-36

We no longer have to pursue the things we believe can make us free, and instead lay hold of Him who gives us freedom – freely and completely.  And that is what we’re about.  We seek to convey the truth so that our brothers and sisters in the Lord can realize their true value and experience their hard won freedom.  It’s a difficult thing to encounter children of God who have received His Spirit, yet still tend to think with the old mind of the world – that familiar manner of logic that does not realize they are no longer bound and limited.  Until the light of the Truth settles in their hearts they continue to live the lives they have always led – maybe the sins that defined them are no longer practiced, but they do not walk in the fullness of Christ.  Sickness and the fear of death still overwhelms their minds, and debt is a weight they carry each day as they struggle to meet their obligations.  They never seem to be able to find time for Jesus … and that is exactly what the adversary wants.

What kind of world would this be?  And what kind of day could it be if Jesus walked the earth today?  All our concerns and worries would diminish in the presence of our King!  They’d even begin to seem silly in the face of His complete sufficiency.  Well, the truth is that Jesus does walk the earth today in everyone who has been set free by the truth.  His Spirit dwells in them – inspiring, directing, and empowering them to do the same as Him.

“The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; To preach the acceptable year of the LORD.”
– Luke 4:18-19

We intend to continue sharing insights and applications of the Truth and our hope is that God will use them to open eyes and and transform minds.  We invite you to return – many times 🙂 – and see if you might realize a deeper level of freedom in our Lord.  Please feel free to leave a comment or share our posts with your friends.

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
– Galatians 5:1