Posted on

Easter Has Passed, but Redemption Is Forever!

If you liked this post, say thanks by sharing it.
Email, RSS Follow

By Jean Mooney

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. (Ephesians 1:7-8a, NIV)

I remember so clearly a time in my life when I thought that nothing from my past would ever impact my future. I remember thinking that if I could forget my past and try to calculate or somehow plan my future, then things would be okay, or at least better than they had been from my childhood. If I could just land that perfect job, or have the right opportunity for school, have the perfect car, or meet the perfect girl, etc., then everything would be all right, and my past would be forgotten.

Well, I succeeded with at least one item on my list—I met the perfect girl. And to this day I would not change that for anything!

For a while, I thought everything was going great. I had control over my job, I was excelling in what I did, I met the perfect girl (Geneva), we were starting a life together, and I thought I was forgetting my past. (And most of my friends here at Elim know that I had a very dark past.) Now, everything seemed perfect . . . at least for a little while.

Geneva and I moved in together and started a life. But our pre-marriage “honeymoon” did not last long. Shortly after we moved in together, things got a little bumpy. We conceived a child.

At first, I was extremely excited. This was a new opportunity for me to start a new family and move on from my past. But then the conversation began. I had thought I was happy about the pregnancy, but it soon dawned on me how it would impact our lives. And I was scared. On the one hand, I had no idea of the ramifications of having another child; and on the other, I knew that she did not want to go through with the pregnancy.

We were both trying to save face. I did not want to lose her by pushing to have a child, and at the same time I did not want her to have to face her parents and tell them that she was pregnant out of wedlock. So, I chose to conform. I gave up the fight, and we had an abortion.

There are so many times we find ourselves in a position of not being able to explain where we are at in life or what we are feeling. This easily puts us in a place of compromise: What should I choose? What should I say? What decision should I make? Will I conform, or will I fight? And if we do choose to persevere and fight, how long will we last? How much fight do we have in us? What are our chances of survival? And what are we fighting for?

We so often tend to forget that this is not only “our” fight. We have the greatest Warrior of all time, right there with us. And the fight begins with our choices: “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes” (Ephesians 6:10-11). Paul tells us not simply to be strong, but to “be strong in the Lord.” We don’t put on our OWN armor; Scripture tells us to put on GOD’S armor.

I don’t know about you, but I do not picture God as a very small guy! Yes, I am made in His likeness, but I personally think He is a lot bigger than me. So that makes for a LOT of armor. But God tells us that it’s okay for us to wear it. How empowering! Nothing is too big a fight for God, so if I just accept His will and choose to wear His armor, then nothing can be too big a fight for me.

I look back to 2003 and I do wish that I had never made the decision to conform. For a while I lived in regret and for the most part tried to forget. Then in 2007, after we were finally married, we did try to conceive, but then we had a miscarriage. I thought, Am I being punished? Maybe my sin had caught up to me! The fear and doubt started to take over: How big of a mistake did I make? Will I forever be punished by God for what I did?

But shortly after this, we had Talyana, which was one of the most joyous moments of my life. God’s grace was lavished on me.

I only recently looked for redemption and forgiveness for the choice that I had made in 2003. In our moments of weakness, He is made strong: “But he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Corinthians 12:9a).

For me, there is no greater story of redemption. My weakness gave way to death. But I can still be redeemed and blessed, and His power can still be made perfect. I have a God who loves me even though I turned my back on Him. I gave up the fight, and Jesus picked it right back up for me and continued to fight for me. He wants to save even me.

Views – 353
If you liked this post, say thanks by sharing it.
Email, RSS Follow
Posted on

The “Unknown God” Revealed

If you liked this post, say thanks by sharing it.
Email, RSS Follow

By Geneva Mooney

Sometime in 2003, I accepted Jesus into my life, but my heart was not following Him yet. I was broken and I still am. I first needed to invite Him into my journey of life, then I had to learn to walk with Him, as we all do. It was a journey through the desert, a journey to fight, a journey to trust, and a journey to love as He first loved us. This is a journey with Him by my side, no matter how dark or joyous.

Like many others, this journey is redemptive and continues to be. As I walk more closely with my Father, I’ve learned to love Him and desire to do what is right through His Word and Holy Spirit (“If you love me, you will obey me” [John 14:15, NIV]). But it has not always been that way, because I loved myself and my emotions more. We can be conformed to this world, the thinking of this world and the judgments of this world, and not even know it.

In 2003, I also made a decision out of fear—fear of being judged by my parents and judged by Christians. At the time I was conformed to this world, but now as I walk with my Creator I am continuing to be transformed by the renewing of my mind (“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” [Romans 12:2a]; “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ” [2 Corinthians 10:5]). Today, through repentance and obedience, my Father has made me whole again.

In that moment of fear and brokenness, 18 years ago, when Jean and I were not yet married but living together, I chose to have an abortion. My healing journey then began several years ago when I chose to be open and honest with my parents and ask for their forgiveness. I then had to go to my Heavenly Father and ask Him for forgiveness, as I had judged my parents and did not honor them at the time of my decision because in my childhood, I decided in my heart that they were unsafe and not worth honoring. I also needed to ask my Heavenly Father to forgive me for sacrificing my own child out of fear, judgment, and shame.

I then forgave Christians (my fellow brothers and sisters) and asked my Father to forgive me for harboring judgments against them for being unsafe and not loving me where I was at, a sinner. I had to dismantle the lies, judgments, and vows that were seared into my heart and mind. This journey of sin in my heart and mind has taken years to build and years to dismantle, because it was only several weeks ago that I realized I had judged Christians 18 years ago.

We can’t overcome anything until we know Jesus. And until we know Jesus, we will create “unknown gods” to fill His void. That unknown god for me at the time was fear, judgment, and shame. I have had many other unknown gods that have needed to be dismantled and destroyed with the help of my wonderful, loving Father, through His Word and the Holy Spirit. I know I will yet have other unknown gods that will need to be dismantled as He directs me and guides me, but I can sit on my Father’s lap and soak up His love for me, and I do not have to do anything to deserve it. I just need to climb on His lap in truth, trust, and love for Him and His life for me.

While most of our unknown gods are actually false gods or idols, Scripture tells us about one unknown god who revealed truth and love and beauty to those who sought him. In Acts 17, Paul noted that amid all their detestable idols and false gods, the Athenians had set up an altar with the inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. In verse 23, Paul told the Athenians, “What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.” Then he began to teach them about Jesus and His Father! As the unknown god became known to these Athenians, they began to abandon and dismantle their idols and false gods.

Any idol or unknown god will always require a sacrifice. Our Father in Heaven only asks us to be living sacrifices (“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” [Romans 12:1]). I believe through the sin in our hearts we build altars to unknown gods that block our view of our Father’s loving lap. When we are willing to take our sins to Jesus‘s feet on the cross and lay them there, we can be forgiven. God becomes known, and unknown gods can be torn down.

What is taking the place of our Father? What lies are we believing, or vows or judgments are we harboring that keep us from loving well and from sitting on our Father’s lap and soaking up His perfect love for us? What unknown gods are blocking you from seeing and experiencing the love of our FATHER, the one true God, and His Son Jesus Christ?

If you’ve had an abortion, you are pregnant and scared, or if this topic upsets you, know that the emotions are real, and you don’t have to navigate this journey alone. Jesus is right there with you—and I would be delighted to walk along your side, as well.

Views – 428
If you liked this post, say thanks by sharing it.
Email, RSS Follow
Posted on

When Healing Hurts

If you liked this post, say thanks by sharing it.
Email, RSS Follow

By Larry Short

Given some of the painful woes of our current situation, many of us have learned afresh how to lament the many challenges we face.

Some are more serious than others. Many have family members or friends who are struggling to recover from COVID-19—and as we know, not all such struggles end well. Or perhaps they are struggling with the prospect or fear of a potentially fatal illness and not the reality.

Others have lost jobs or income streams. They may have children at home who must be shepherded through the new learning process, requiring great and unaccustomed sacrifice of time and trouble.

Others, like me, face smaller challenges: The weight of isolation from family and friends. The inconvenience of restrictions on the way we go out, shop, or worship. Or perhaps the loss of retirement investments we had really hoped would “be there” for us in our sunset years and the prospect of possibly having to continue working after we would otherwise have retired.

All of these things, and more, to which each of us are subjected in these days of pandemic and societal upheaval, are painful.

Timothy Dalrymple is the president of my favorite magazine, Christianity Today. They have been taking a consistently hard, honest, and thorough look at the challenges presented by the current cultural context to us as Christians and to the churches we invest our lives in.

In the September issue, he took an interesting look at our pain, what is causing it, and what God might be doing in the midst of it. In an editorial titled “When Healing Hurts,” he recalled the story of Jesus healing the paralytic by the Pool of Bethesda and the fascinating question with which our Lord initiates that interaction: “Do you want to get well?”

It seems almost absurd. The man had been paralyzed for nearly four decades of his life and daily lay out with other very sick folks hoping for a long-shot chance at a miracle. Who would not look at such a person and think, “Of course he wants to get well!”

But Dalrymple spoke about what many of us realize upon deeper reflection: “Suffering, especially chronic suffering, can become precious to us. When suffering persists, we sculpt our lives around it. We craft an identity that encompasses our suffering until we scarcely know who we would be without it.”

On the other hand, Dalrymple acknowledges that God often allows suffering for our instruction and betterment and for His glory. The Apostle Paul learned this when he sought for God to remove his infamous “thorn in the flesh.” He then acknowledges this torment was given to teach him humility, to help him realize the sufficiency of God’s grace for him, and to show him that God’s power may be made perfect in his weakness (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

But in John 5, Jesus singles out the longsuffering paralytic for healing. First however, He asks if healing really is indeed what the man wants. And interestingly, the paralytic really doesn’t respond in faith to Christ’s question. Instead he makes excuses as to why he has remained so long unhealed!

In the midst of our current problems—political, racial, financial, and health challenges—I wonder if God would ask us the same question: “Do you want to be whole?”

Healing can be painful. We may have to humbly acknowledge our error, ask forgiveness of others, and prepare to embrace a new identity given by God, which seems risky and frightening to us. God may be calling us to slam the door shut on our habit of using social media as a weapon to broadcast our own rightness. He may be asking us to do a truly hard thing in listening to others and exalting their needs as higher and more important than our own. Or He may be simply asking us to trust Him implicitly—with finances, career, health, reputation, family, and friends—when we can’t see clearly the landscape into which He is asking us to follow Him.

In his current sermon series, Pastor Steve is sharing principles on how to get “disentangled” from sin’s deceitful web. I suspect that as Jesus (through His Holy Spirit) approaches us, as we struggle with the pain of our own sinful habits and behaviors, He will ask us the same question He asked the paralytic:

“Do you want to get well?”

I would suggest we respond to that question without making excuses. Simply bite the bullet and say, “Yes, Lord. Here I am. I need Your healing!”

Views – 360
If you liked this post, say thanks by sharing it.
Email, RSS Follow
Posted on

Are You Healthily Sick?

If you liked this post, say thanks by sharing it.
Email, RSS Follow

By Nate Champneys

FullSizeRender

Are you healthily sick?

“What do you mean?,” you might ask. “How can you be sick in a healthy way?” As human beings who live in a world that is soaking in the depravity of sin, the effect of the Fall is all around us and within us. I used to think that eventually I would “arrive” and I would be completely healthy at some point. I would look at certain people in my life, where everything looked good in their lives and I would think, “Maybe someday I will be able to be like them.”

However, the longer I live, the more I realize that even the people who came from “good” childhoods and seem like they have it all together are broken. Every single one of us has fractures in our heart as a result of own sin and being sinned against by others. So every one of us is “sick.”

The good news is that we have a God who can and does bring healing to our broken hearts, but, until we get to Heaven, we will always have fractures in our hearts that need God’s healing. Is there a healthy way to deal with our brokenness? What does it look like to be healthy in the midst of our sickness? I would like to share four principles of being healthily sick.

Let me be clear. These four characteristics are not “Nathan Champneys’s four steps to spiritual success.” They really aren’t steps, but they are all simultaneously part of the healing process. In my own life, I feel like I am constantly going deeper into all of these. None of us ever “arrives.” So life becomes a process of working through these items. Don’t read these steps and try to place yourself into one or another. You will focus on these in different measures as you go deeper and deeper into allowing God to heal your heart. As we embrace these four principles, even though we are still “sick” because of our sin nature, we are living in a healthy way as Jesus continually brings healing to our hearts.

  1. Embrace the truth that you are accepted and loved exactly the way you are. God is not surprised by the fractures in your heart. He loves you right now, even with all your problems. There is nothing you can do to change that fact. This is such a hard truth to internalize, and it’s one that we have to keep relearning. I find it helpful to verbalize the truth to myself in prayer. I pray, “God, I thank You for being a good Father and completely accepting me. I thank You for loving me in my brokenness.”
  2. Own your brokenness. It has been said that the first step toward recovery is admitting that you have a problem. This really isn’t the first step; it’s the second. Until we understand how loved we are by God, we tend to feel insecure about our weaknesses and thus feel a need to live in denial about them. You are broken. You are a piece of work. But you are okay! You are loved!
  3. Intentionally discover your brokenness. The next part of being healthy in your brokenness is intentionally seeking out the areas that need healing. Psalm 139:23-24 says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You.” David asks God to point out the offensive areas of his heart. David is not afraid to acknowledge his faults. Instead, he is actively working with God to discover the broken areas.
  4. Ask God to heal you. David ends Psalm 139 with this line, “Lead me along the path of everlasting life.” David was asking God to help him thrive in his relationship. The reality about our God is that He is a really, really good Father. The only way that real relationship can truly happen is for there to be freedom for both people in the relationship to have free will to participate. Therefore, God will never violate our free will. To do so would make us robots and make any relationship with us fake. If we don’t invite God into the process of healing our hearts, He doesn’t force it on us. But he has promised that as we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us and “cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” As we choose to bring our sickness to Him, He is more than willing to bring healing to us.

Views – 234

If you liked this post, say thanks by sharing it.
Email, RSS Follow
Posted on

Pondering “Poopiness”

If you liked this post, say thanks by sharing it.
Email, RSS Follow

IMG_2337 (1)

By Nate Champneys

Poop. It seems when you are a father of three small children that your life revolves around this topic. I find our conversations range from how frequently a child has had one to the consistency of it to what needs to be done with a diaper filled with it. If you’ve ever had kids, I am sure you can relate. During the most recent “poopy” incident at our house, a valuable lesson was brought to mind, so I thought I would share. 🙂

Shortly after my five-year-old had just gone into the bathroom, my wife and I heard him calling for help. I walked into the room to find quite a scene: Kaelen was standing in front of the toilet, facing away from it, with his pants at his knees, and there was poop EVERYWHERE. It was all over the floor. It was all over the rim. It was smeared on the outside of the bowl. It was on the inside and outside of his pants. My wife asked him, “Oh, Kaelen what happened?” Sheepishly he said, “I wanted to turn the fan on.” Well the good news is, he did indeed get the fan on. He just didn’t make it back across the bathroom in time.

My wife looked at me. I looked at her. She said, “Don’t look at me, I already cleaned up throw-up this morning.” I had nothing. I realized that I was not getting out of this one. It was definitely my job at this point. I looked at the horror smeared out before me. Jokingly, I followed my wife out of the bathroom and closed the door behind me. “There,” I said. “Problem solved.” My wife and I laughed together. Then I headed in and began to clean up the mess.

Obviously, I could never really expect to close the bathroom door and expect my five-year-old to clean up after himself. And of course it’s not going to clean itself. But many times this is exactly how we view our brokenness. Each of us has dirty, nasty, stinky, rooms in the house of our hearts. Deep, dark places from our childhood, or painful times in our lives. We just try to ignore our problems and expect that they will just eventually take care of themselves. Or we think, “If I just try harder I will be able to get over my broken past.” Here’s the thing: Thinking we can just try harder is like my five-year-old trying really hard to clean up his mess. Even if he tried to clean it up, because of the fact that he is only five years old, he actually would make it worse! Instead, he called for help.

The reality is that God is the only one who can truly clean and heal our hearts and make us whole. He stands at the door and wants to help us clean up the mess of our hearts, but at the same time He doesn’t force Himself into our dirty rooms. When we intentionally give Him access to our hearts, He will begin to bring things to the surface and start to clean house. It’s very humbling and can even be painful, but who wants to live with brokenness for their entire lives? So we have a choice. We can continue to ignore the filth in our hearts, or we can choose to give God full access to begin making us new.

Have you given God full access and permission to do work through your brokenness?

Views – 136

If you liked this post, say thanks by sharing it.
Email, RSS Follow