Thirst

AHHHHHH Really good article I gotta share with you all (see I do read D: haha). First a quote from Thomas a Kempis "A good, peaceable man turns all things to good. He who is well in peace is not suspicious of any! But he who is discontented and troubled is tossed with divers suspicions. He is neither quiet (always blabing on his opinions of truth...haha) nor suffers others to be quiet... For this cause many things displease and often trouble." Bang Baby!!! eat that religon!!! lol I am spicey. ANyway here is parts of the article, called SO FREE ITS SCAREY (ahahahahahahahahahahah)... "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery" (Galations 5:1). FREEDOM can be frightening. In some ways it is easier to try to walk by the rigid commandments of the Law than to walk in the liberty of the Spirit. Those who walk by law have all of the decisions made for them - those who walk in the liberty of the Spirit must make decisions, judgements, use wisdom and discernment. For many, it is preferable to live under the Law, or any authoritarian rule, than to take the required PERSONAL resposiblity to live by the Spirit. But few understand that to put ourselves under the Law is to depart from Christ, as Paul explained in his epistle to the Galations: "It was for freedom that Christ set us free; THEREFORE keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery (who has had dreams on this recently). Behold I Paul, say to you that if YOU recieve circumcision(Mother Flippin REligon!!!!!!!!!!), Christ will be of no benifit to you. And I testify again to every man who recieves circumcision, that he is under OBLIGATION to keep the whole law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from Grace!!! For WE, through the SPIRIT, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither (Charismatic or Conservative) means anything, but FAITH working through LOVE. You were running well; WHO (under the persuation of Hell itself) hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuation did not come from Him who calls you. (Remember that) a little leven leavens the whole lump of dough (are you leavened now!?)." So why would anyone choose slavery over freedom? It was a shock for many to hear the post-Civil war stories about the reaction of some slaves to the news that President Lincoln had signed the Emancipation Proclimation. Their common response was, "That means nothing to me." And the WENT BACK TO thier hoeing or plowing. You can be leagally set free but if you do not EMBRACE your freedom, you will continue to live in bondage. Many who have been set free in Christ continue to live in bondage because they are AFRAID of freedom. Freedom requires responsibility. We have become so accustome to being ruled by others, even the devil, sin and the world, that we do not know how to respond when we're free.
My brother T.D. just returned from Russia were he had been teaching for two weeks in Kiev. He was stunned and saddened by the attitudes of the people there. They had been under control for so long they did not know how to live as free people. THey did not know how to make decisions base on the VALUES of THEIR HEART or take responsibility for thier own decisions. They were so used to being told what to do, many of them were begging to return to Communism. The familiar pain, the opression, and even the poverty of communism was more desireable to many of them than the freedom that also required responsibility. They were so accustome to LIES and would easily believe them (without any fruit at all in their lives or the lives of those who claimed to have the truth) because they did not require one to think for THEMSELF. For decades the Russians believed their economy and lifestyle was the best on earth (like so many religous pharissees) simply because this is what they were always told. It is still hard for them to accept their new lifestyles even after seeing freedom and reality itself.
The Goal is Freedom - "It was for freedom that Christ set us free" This is a scripture all of us know very well, but do we actually live by it? Many think we were set free to service. No, he cam to set us free for the (simple) sake of freedom! In the beginging we were created to know, enjoy, and glory in relationship with God and man forever. It's not like he has a task he can't do and needs us to do. OUR FIRST CALLING, is to relationship, to enjoy God and for him to enjoy us. And true relationship REQUIRES freedom. There is no true relationship when it is force, when we live in bondage. So let's UNCOMPLICATE this a bit. It was for freedom the Christ set us free, PERIOD! (FREakin Relax Church !!!)
THe Lord has so composed his Church that every member has an important function- one no one else can perform (SO STOP JUDGING EACH OTHER DAMMIT!!!) Only my lungs can breathe and it would be rather unfortunate to make them try to pump blood and be a heart. Every member of my body has to be free to do what it was created to do. My heart could be the most healthy heart in the world, but if it cuts itself off (by judgment) from the rest of the body, it is headed towards a quick and final death. One of God's greatest glories is his creativity (thats why we worship him as Creator GOd) Creativity requires freedom. Can the God who created the AWESOME diversity and beauty of the universe truely be reflected in our church meetings that are SO boringly the same? It is no wonder even the lost can see God, the great God we profess, can't possibly be glorified by this fake religon. True worship requires freedom to be different, not for the sake of being different but becasue we are different! Our tendancy is to try to make everyone look like our congregation, which is an affront to the Glory and creativity of God. This requires freedom.
Freedom from Deception- We all want to be free from deception. Certianly the Lord wants us to be free of it (or do you doubt that he loves you). We must understand the only way we can be free AND follow Christ is to let him be our teacher. The Lord wants to set us free from trying to judge teh whole earth and establish truth right now. Truth is being handled by the only one who can gather and understand all the facts in each case. So we can rest in him and be set free from our perfectionism and judgmentalism if we turn the discovery of truth back over to the only one who can handle it. God wants us to be free from the deception of the Devil and thats why he won for us on the cross. The only authority the devil has in the area of deception is given to him by the person he decieves into fear and lack of trust. (If you struggle with fear of deception, get over yourself and your arogance to think you can handle your own life and let God continue to run the universe.) THe vicotry has been won and it is ours! If we VALUE the kigdom of God (more than holding to our fear) the Lord will set us free from covetouness, jealousy, self-introspection, and doubt (which is the opposite of faith). We do not change in order to find God, we change by coming into the precense of God and letting him shine his light on our hearts and REVEAL to us the truth. True holiness does not try to repel the darkness, it loves so strongly that it is enough to set people free from their bondage. This kind of freedom is a beckon to all those who walk in confusion and deception. The Humanistic religon and self-preservation of a religous pharisee is only a suddle form of bondage and is a grave sin. True freedom is demonstrated not feared.
There was another couple of sections, one on not being afraid of submitting to rules unless they quench life, and about how to stand form but this is enough for my typing hands right now. Peace and don't be afraid, your Father in heaven loves you and desires to give you only his kingdom. Peace