“That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness;
Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:
Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:”
These are beautiful verses especially enlight of this series, “The Discipline of Truth.” We say that athletes are disciplined. Everything they do has been channelled to one goal, to further their performance. What they eat, how much they sleep, what they do for entertainment, how they spend their time and even their thought life. It all points to one end, one single goal, to make them the very best at what they do. Truth does the same thing, except it goes much deeper. In Hebrews
4:12 we have this verse,
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
This is the discipline of truth, it does what no other practice, religion or belief can do, it sanctifies the soul making us not only right with God, but an asset to Him. Being indwelt by His Spirit we become His ambassadors. From sinner to saint by the power of the Holy Spirit and the discipline of His Word. That is why the very worse decision you can make on a daily basis is to not read the Word. Or conversely, the absolute most important decision you can make daily is to read the Word. Or said again another way, the biggest lie the enemy can tell you and you believe is the Bible is unimportant, irrelevant, not for our time, written by a bunch of old men, or put together by heresy etc. However it is said, or framed, it is a lie. In 2 Timothy 3:16&17 we have these verses…
“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man ( or woman) of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” Amen.
I am an “athlete” of God’s Word and the workings of the Holy Spirit in my life. To whatever degree of righteousness and wisdom I have attained to, it has been through this single route. No other study, no other teaching, no other philosophy have I entertained; therefore I bare witness and give testimony to the truth of this verse.
“That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
What does the Discipline of Truth do? It causes us to walk worthy of the Lord. What does that mean? ” Axios,” is the word in the Greek and it is super interesting. The picture is of a scale with fixed weights on one end and then adding enough weigh one the other end until the scale balances out. That’s the picture; question – what are the set weights? Well it is the Holiness and Purity of God. To be able to balance out the scale we have to equal His “weight.” IMPOSSIBLE, NOT HAPPENING, except the Discipline of Truth teaches us that it is through faith in Christ that, that happens. Where the Holy Spirit indwells us, making us worthy to stand before a Holy and Utterly Pure God. Take a moment right now and let that truth sink in, it’s utterly amazing. Another cool meaning of Axios is that it refers to inherent value, were as “Timios” speaks of attributed value. Example, an artificial diamond ring looks like the real thing and has attributed value, especially to the person who cannot afford the real thing. However to the person wanting a real diamond ring, it is valueless. God has placed upon us inherent value because of what Christ has done.
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:(1Peter 1:19&20).”
Therefore being that we have inherent value before God, priceless in His sight, why do so many of us suffer from low self esteem? Logically, it makes no sense. Unfortunately, emotions are not always logical. When we struggle with low self esteem it normally means we had a difficult childhood. It seems to take years for God to correct bad or absent parenting in a child’s life who now is an adult. Without some parental approval or love in my life as my identity is being formed I grow to feel valueless and therefore as an adult find it hard to believe that God could value me. Therefore, as an adult, I do not spend time with Him – I simply don’t believe that He really loves me or excepts me. As parents or grandparents our biggest duty given to us is to establish value and worth in our children by loving them. Therefore when they come to age and can understand the gospel message they can readily receive the message and believe that God loves them because they have been loved. It’s the passing of the buton, from the earthly parent to the Heavenly One; our most critical and important role. A hard role to fulfill if we ourselves struggle with believing that God loves us. We have to get connected to The Lord to do the job right, otherwise our weakness gets passed onto our children’s children, affecting another generation of individuals yet to be born.
If this is your struggle then take this verse and tape it to your bathroom mirror, dashboard of you car and/or note it in your cell phone. Saturate your mind, asking The Lord to penetrate your heart with all that this verse represents. This requires a step of faith, believing that God will honor your step of faith. As Jesus told the disciples, “
Do not be unbelieving, but believe,” as He showed them His nail pierced hands. Another great verse that is quoted frequently without the comprehension of its depth is John
3:16 &17
For God so loved the world ( put your name in place of “world”) that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” If this is not inherent worth I do not know what is! And if this does not solve low self esteem then what can?
Our enemy fights hard to keep us from truly knowing that which is ours in Christ. Satan has so twisted the gospel message making God out as the one who condemns, when he Satan, clearly is the one. He does it so well that people feel as though they have no hope, that they can’t change. He imposters God making us believe that God condones that which His Word prohibits. God is not the God of confusion, that’s Satan. He loves to bring confusion. God’s perfect will and the power to change are found in knowing Him through His Word. And as we read His Word, His Word purifies us, changing us, giving us new desires that lead to greater freedom. He continues to convict us of our sin because He loves us and wants us to live in the fullness of His freedom. Freedom from our insecurities, freedom from our fears and weaknesses because we are being built on all that He is. It’s a beautiful exchange, exchanging our human state for His Holy state. He seeks from us a willingness to let Him provide this life, to trust Him. To acknowledge that He knows what is best for us and not what we think we want.
And yes, it is a struggle. Satan likes to use that struggle to drive a wedge between us and God. He wants us to think that God does not love us because we have these struggles, when just the opposite is true. He is the Good Shepherd and He will lead us through our dark valleys. The life He wants for us is absent of all the things and people our flesh says it needs to be happy. We worship so many idols, from people to things without even realizing it. The life God has for us is SOLELY energized by His love, His purity and His joy and He seeks to put that in us. If we allow Him and follow His lead despite the contradictions we may feel, it will begin to make sense and the freedom and joy will experientially increase – promise, and more importantly, He promises.
If you have children or have raised them, then you understand that they are not perfect and need correcting to go the right way. It is no different between us and God. To go in the way of Holiness is quite a task; it can only be done in partnership with the Holy Spirit. It’s impossible and very discouraging otherwise. Satan wants to take away the hope that God offers and make God’s correcting, the scriptures, as a tool of condemnation as opposed to a road map to life. Satan seeks to make us feel separated from God, and what hope of change would we have if that happened, none. Satan is the one who condemns, period, not God and he ( Satan) truly is the father of lies and the master weaver of deceit.
Sin is a cancer, it will consume us if we let it. Christ is the cure and the Holy Spirit the antidote. The battle is always the hardest in the beginning, but as we believe, read, and trust small victories will lead to big victories. And as truth reigns, it brings a freedom is not found in this life, it’s God gifted.
July 4th is
today and the freedom that man celebrates is a freedom from one ruler to rulership by another. Our nation is so messed up that we celebrate for the sake of tradition and having a day off, but there is no truth in it. Make this day, this week, a beginning of freedom for yourself by giving God something that you struggle with and then take the next step. Find scriptures in His Word that address your struggle and literally tape them to your mirror, the dashboard of your car and in your cell phone. I did this for years and years based on Psalm 1:1-3
Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Father God,
Thank you for the Truth that frees us from ourselves. Only You can free us from the bondages we have taken in because we have walked away from You. Forgive us and bring us back into fellowship with You as the prodigal son was welcomed into the arms of the Father. You take us back just as we are and as we pursue You, your love begins to heal the hurt and cleanse us from our sin. Thank you that in You there is truly real freedom. Amen and Amen
Move Forward in His Grace – Arthur
