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Seriously!?<\/p>\n
Grace has a wonderful ability to detonate all your perceptions about right and wrong. This will be the largest blast you\u2019ve possibly ever experienced in your divine walk and the fallout will create a debris field you\u2019ve heretofore never envisioned possible.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019ve been around any teaching on Jesus for any period of time you\u2019ve come across the passage where he tells his disciples that they need to love their enemies. When you\u2019re first confronted by this passage the typical reaction is akin to, \u201cHe\u2019s nuts! I can never love my enemy.\u201d Then as you\u2019re more and more provoked by these verses in the various gospels, your thoughts morph into, \u201cOk, Jesus is just trying to make a point. He doesn\u2019t actually intend for me, or anyone, really to do this. Nice teaching tool.\u201d<\/p>\n
At some point, always when you least expect it, the magnitude of this verse hits you like a karate chop to the throat and you fall to the ground gasping for air, crying out for mercy as you succumb to the revelation that you are your own worst enemy, first and foremost. All the flopping around like a fish out of water will not stop the reality of this moment and you finally surrender yourself to the \u201cword of the Lord.\u201d Your life is now a season of full-on repentance. <\/p>\n
(It is possible that many of you think that this is the blast previously mentioned. Consider this to be just the primer to the blast which follows.)<\/p>\n
Would Jesus ever ask any of us to do something that he isn\u2019t able to do or hasn\u2019t already done himself? (Cue the Jeopardy theme song.)<\/p>\n
All the millenniums of theological teaching we, as the body of Christ, have received regarding this matter, whether under the first guise of Catholicism or the recent pretext of Protestantism, how many times have we been indoctrinated that satan, or the devil, is the enemy of God\/Jesus? It is a foundational teaching. So how is it possible that no one every connected the dots that Jesus loves satan, and if he does, we are supposed to also?<\/p>\n
Doesn\u2019t that feel like you just plowed a hammer into your thumb \u2013 twice in a row? Totally illogical, right? Not so fast you thumb sucker.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve always been told that satan is the enemy of Jesus; he battles him in the wilderness and ultimately defeats him at the cross, then kicks his butt royally in hell when he leads the captives out. How did this happen? Was it a battle royal in a cage? Did Jesus get all Rambo and blow his way through the gate of hell raining fire and brimstone down on an unsuspecting foe? As much as we would like to think that this is the way all this went down, we have a truly hard time accepting the words of Jesus on the cross, \u201cForgive them Father, for they know not what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Love forgives. Grace insures it. Face it folks, there are many people in your life who it is damn hard to love, even a little bit. Grace covers this even if they are your enemies. Jesus never said, \u201clove your enemies, except for\u2026\u201d <\/p>\n
Now, I think it is about time to deal with this whole satan issue under the spotlight of grace. Again, all our teaching from the past has been that this satan character has been the personification of evil, the counter to all the goodness of God. Some of you might think that I\u2019m about to claim that God has forgiven satan, and in some respects you are right. However, not as you perceive it to be. <\/p>\n
To present this properly, let me define the term \u201csatan\u201d for what it truly means: Accuser. Take note how throughout this writing I have never used the term satan with an uppercase \u201cS\u201d in order to signify an ontological being. You may have perceived that I did, however, I intentionally have not. The reason is simple: There is not one \u2013 we\u2019re all satan.<\/p>\n
I know that probably didn\u2019t sit well. Let me demonstrate. Answer this question: Are you truly living up to your fullest potential? Take your time to consider your response; this after all is a matter of reflection about your life and all that you\u2019ve accomplished. It\u2019s a helluva question, isn\u2019t it, all things considered? <\/p>\n
The odds are in my favor that you don\u2019t think you\u2019re living up to your potential. There can be any of a number of reasons to justify your response in this area, however, what you fail to perceive is how you have accused yourself of not living up to some standard that only you have constructed. Since only you know the standard, you accuse yourself habitually for failing to meet it. You are the satan, the accuser, your enemy.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you are the son of God\u2026\u201d is no different to you than it was to Jesus. It is only another means of asking if you\u2019re truly living up to your potential. <\/p>\n
Can you love the accusation you cast upon yourself? Most will say no, it\u2019s not possible, forgetting that with God, all things are possible. You have been saved by grace, which is a gift from God; not by any works of man, but by the love of God for you. Your accusations are merely a yoke and a burden you\u2019ve placed upon yourself to live up to an expectation, a self-imposed standard, a fabricated work of man \u2013 you \u2013 not of God, who is love.<\/p>\n
\u201cForgive them Father, for they know not that they accuse themselves as their enemy. Forgive them Father, for they know not how to love themselves as you love them. Forgive them Father, for they know not that they are living up to their fullest potential being your sons and daughters. Forgive them Father, for not knowing how to love satan as I do.\u201d <\/p>\n
I dare you to pray that.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Seriously!? Grace has a wonderful ability to detonate all your perceptions about right and wrong. This will be the largest blast you\u2019ve possibly ever experienced in your divine walk and the fallout will create a debris field you\u2019ve heretofore never … Continue reading