Unleashed by Eric Mason ~ A book review

"God, who began a good work in us (positional sanctification) is faithful to continue it (progressive sanctification)."

This is the theme and message of this book. I have thoroughly enjoyed Eric Mason's detailed writing of becoming sanctified through and through.

Eric takes 10 chapters and divides all aspects of life that God is alive and active in sanctifying us.

According to biblestudytools.com bible dictionary "The generic meaning of sanctification is "the state of proper functioning." To sanctify someone or something is to set that person or thing apart for the use intended by its designer." 

There is no part of our lives that don't require God's sanctification in order for us to properly function as Christ followers. 

What impressed me most while reading was how foundational it is for all Christians to understand. It was so refreshing for me to read, convicting for the areas where I need more of Christ's sanctifying power, and exciting to recall that it's Christ's power in me that does all the work, it's my job to surrender.

In chapter 1, he emphasizes the importance of the gospel, and says " we never get beyond the gospel,....or graduate to something more advanced... the Gospel is not the minimum required doctrine necessary to enter the kingdom, but the way we make all the progress in the Kingdom".

He identifies that the sanctifying work is initiated and continued by God. Mason says "It is not God starting the engine and then letting us drive."

He discusses topics from confession and repentance, prayer,the Holy Spirit all the way through how marriage can be an ultimate sanctifying tool of God in our lives. He says more in his chapter of being sanctified in marriage than some can say in an entire weekend of marriage counseling. It is sound biblical doctrine on what God says about marriage and what the role of each spouse is.

I recommend this book to each and every believer. It is an important book that speaks in clear English about biblical principles and practice that ought to be present in every believers life.

Read Eric Mason's book to find out how you can Unleash the power of the living God in your life through sanctification in Christ.  

Let Your Light So Shine!

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:16

We are often talking to our kids about being a light in this dark world. We remind them that they are not going to win the world for Jesus looking like everyone else. How is this done? It sounds like a good idea up until the point at which you have to make the uncomfortable decision to go against the flow. 

A student sitting at lunch in a crowded cafeteria, with their bible open, reading…let your light so shine

A mother struggling with her screaming toddler at a store, a passerby helps her load her groceries on the belt while she calms her child… let your light so shine

Salvation Army bell ringer faithfully ringing the bell during a snow storm, a young man buys and delivers a cup of hot cocoa to them…let your light so shine

When you see a visitor or a loner come in to church on Sunday, greeting them, offer to sit together or show them around…yes even inside the church walls…let your light so shine

An elderly neighbor is alone, the mailman gets out of his car to go inside to say hello and show he cares…let your light so shine

In a group of women, someone starts to talk about someone behind their back, you join the conversation to say that you sure are glad Jesus died for her sins just like he died for all of ours…let your light so shine

Someone in your neighborhood is the last to take care of their leaves, you gather some friends and finish it for them…let your light so shine

While channel surfing, you opt for something other than your usual fare because it just doesn’t seem God-honoring anymore…let your light so shine

A teen choir visits an old folks home to cheer them up with Christmas carols…let your light so shine

An elderly woman has been widowed and you send a card once a month or stop by to have a cup of tea and chat…let your light so shine

Someone in your church has surgery, you show up to pray with them before surgery or visit them at home afterwards…regularly until they are healed…let your light so shine

A group of friends sharing a joke or men talking vulgarly about a woman that is clearly not God-honoring and clean; you don’t laugh along or participate and you leave the conversation…. Let your light so shine

You and your husband have had equally rough days, instead of “blasting” him with your complaints when he walks in, you selflessly put your frustrations aside and ask him about his day and comfort him….let your light so shine

Choosing not to argue in front of your children and have a united stand together….let your light so shine

There are so many other examples of how we stand out as lights in a dark world. Personally I notice it most when someone chooses meekness over self-promotion or shouting their convictions at the top of their lungs.

Our Savior, Jesus Christ, set such an example for us. If you read through any of the gospels (I like the book of John) you can see the account of Jesus’ life and how He lived. He is our bench mark that we are to emulate.

John 8:12- “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

Check out some inspiring authors at Kelly Balarie's site!

A Resolution to be Achieved

A New Year’s Resolution that can actually be achieved!

For those of us who like to “resolve” or prioritize or strive to achieve a different path each New Year’s, I’d like to offer some hope and encouragement.

January 2015 I made a resolution for that year to be the year of no bondage to sin, and only by God’s grace I had victory! Each time the Holy Spirit convicted me I aimed to respond immediately. It was not by my power, resolve, will power, or strength. Only pure dependence on God’s power as I know my weakness and insufficiency.

You see, there’s a big difference between willful (making an active decision) sin and inadvertent sin. I spent a large portion of my life in complete rebellious, willful sin. I knew it was sin, I knew the Holy Spirit was convicting me and I chose to ignore it, stuff it down and not respond.

Inadvertent sin is different, it’s like having a bad reaction, realizing it immediately and asking God’s forgiveness and choose to do better next time.

Once I chose to be in willful sin and it continued for some time, it became something I was enslaved to. Sin digs its meaty little hooks into you and holds you captive.

Once you’ve willfully chosen to be placed in bondage to sin, only the One Faithful and True God can get you out. Check out my blog post To the Christian Trapped in Sin

I spent a lot of time in recovery and restoration, coming out of bondage and I noticed some hallmarks of being a captive to sin. I have shared some things I learned below.

First and foremost, there’s a way out if you are in bondage! This is to help identify if you are, in fact, in bondage to your habitual sin, or if you are like every other Christian that is called according to 1 Timothy 6:11-12- Flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 

    1) You are in bondage if your daily life has a hallmark of your habitual sin, you are known by it. (Liar, substance abuser, gossiper, controlling, lustful, deceiver, fearful, prideful, rebellious, idolizer-obsessed with something, etc.)

    2) If you find yourself in a trap of sin-confess-sin-confess, but never actually shake the sin you confess over and over and chose to be different, you are probably in bondage.

    3) It’s very easy for you to rationalize your problems, make excuses or blame others or circumstances for your plight.  “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for…” “I deserve to have this for all I’ve been through…” “It’s just the way I am”…. “At least I’m not as bad as so and so”…. you are in bondage.

     4) Sometimes you hate who you’ve become but feel you have no way out…bondage.

    5) You’ve overcome an area of sin, but you keep getting tempted in that area…but you don’t choose it again… you are struggling with temptation- Keep fighting!

    6) A flesh pattern in your life rears its ugly head over and over, but you fight it and try to be different, or catch yourself in the middle of it and immediately retreat- You are struggling- Keep fighting!

     7)You have no idea what it means to walk in the Freedom of Christ and how to be like Christ- buried in bondage

If any of these sounds like you, have hope, take heart! I had so many areas of bondage and now can say with such joy that I am FREE!

The first thing is to recognize it, admit it to be true and confess to God. Ask His forgiveness.

Second, I was given some amazing materials to help guide me through the process. Here is the main page to Freedom in Christ Ministries and this is the link to materials .

I highly recommend The Steps to Freedom in Christ first. Many of these are on Kindle as well.

Don’t take 2015’s problems with you into 2016 any longer. Become Free and see what living life is like on the other side of that bondage!

Christmas Traditions

I am so pleased to be able to guest blog over at Terri Groethe's site Take a walk in my Shoes
To see the rest of my blog today, please visit her site!

......my most favorite of all is the giving. Sometimes we visit the Salvation Army bell ringers and bring them a hot cocoa on a windy snowy day. We adopt families for Christmas and provide much needed items. We make cookie mixes in jars for the mailman and school bus drivers. 

Scripture says in Philippians 2:3-4 “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; 4 do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.”

Also, in 1 Peter 3:8- “Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.”

During this season of hustle and bustle and focusing on what we personally love about traditions, we need to be..... 

See the rest Here 

Confessions from a former list maker

Finding freedom from achievement-based love 

I used to pride myself on the lists I could make and accomplish. Did you see that “pride myself” part? Yea… how many times have we all said that phrase? I’ll give you little insight into my prideful list making, consider if this hits a nerve with you.

In the morning, I’d get my handy little note pad, with lines of course, and make my list of duties for the day. These were things I wanted to accomplish and would feel good if everything was crossed off, especially if I could do it by 3pm because then I could enter into the super-mom realm.  I would list them, sometimes alphabetically, in order of importance and by category… control-freak anyone?

Here’s the kicker though, when I crossed things off the list, my “worthy meter” would go up a little. My worthy meter determined my worthiness of love, acceptance and ability to contribute to life. Achievement based, conditional love. So the major issue and fear I faced at the end of the day was if there were things I could not accomplish, I felt like the day was a failure….actually that I was a failure. If my list was completed I’d wave it around like an Olympic gold medal, shaking my little imaginary empty cup for others to fill it. If I didn’t finish the whole list, no one saw the list, even the things I’d done. I’d sulk and be surly to my family, which was an expression of how I felt worthless inside.

My worthy-meter determined my worthiness of love, acceptance, and ability to           contribute to life.

I am so excited to report that Christ didn’t let me sink in that pit of feeling unworthy!! He came to my rescue and I learned about my true worth in Christ. I have known for years in my head, it just hadn’t translated to my perfectionist, overachieving heart.

God’s Word says the following about me, oh and by the way…I can do nothing to earn it! I am the apple of His eye, I am a Saint, I am redeemed and forgiven (Hallelujah!), I am free from condemnation, I am established, anointed and sealed by God, and most of all I am complete in Christ!

 Before you head into a place where you feel sorry for my feelings of worthlessness or identify and maybe think it’s not that bad…it was sin, plain and simple.

My pride of thinking I was something and could earn God’s love, my clear unbelief of who God says I am through Christ, the fact that I called myself worthless when Christ called me worthy of dying for, not believing that I am complete in Him and cannot earn a better standing, and another big one- idolizing the list! Placing the list above God.

    

God is God and the list is not!

What broke me free from worthlessness, list making, and achievement-based love was confession and then choosing to believe God. Once I chose to believe what God says in His Word, He then did the work of sanctifying me through and through.

I have made a reference of scriptures identifying who I am as a new creation in Christ. I try to read them every day to ingrain into my heart so I have a new go-to thought for when Satan tries to tempt me to think the old thoughts. When it creeps up on me I have a little statement I say- God is God and the list is not!

I still love an organized spreadsheet or an organized list, that’s how God created me. However, it no longer has power over me. Christ broke the power of sin and shame and gave me the Holy Spirit to empower me to resist the devil!

Romans 6:14~  For sin will not rule over you, because you are not under law but under grace.

Are you idolizing something over God? Are you struggling to believe what God says about you? Seek God’s face, search Him out in His Word, it was written for you. It has every answer you need for your life today!

You.... complete me...

Total completeness in Christ means we are incomplete on our own, we have a hole where God belongs.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 says “Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous, no one who does what is right and never sins.” We are striving to find a way, thinking the next best thing will fill the cavernous need. You can’t escape yourself and your insufficiency no matter how much you try. We come to the end of what we can do to try and be enough.

Examples of things we work at or try to acquire and achieve in life are hope, peace, power, love, joy, needs, comfort, wisdom, purpose, security, approval, even creating our identity.

Christ is all sufficient, an all powerful provider of every need you could possibly have! God almighty is our creator and He alone is sovereign, He formed you in your mother’s womb according to Psalm 139:13-17, He knows your needs more intimately than you do. As a matter of fact, Luke 12:7 says He knows the number of hairs on your head…do you?

If we believe God to be the all-powerful, all knowing sovereign God that He is and we believe what the bible says in Colossians 2:10 when it says “And you are complete in Him who is the head of all authority and power”, why do we have such a hard time believing Him when He says that we, personally, in our little world, in our own lives, in our own heads are truly complete in Christ?

We can achieve temporary feelings of fullness or of being complete. It’s typically after something big happens that you’ve thought for a long time would be your answer to feeling incomplete. Getting married, having children, that perfect job etc. We can go on and on with life circumstances that we try to give the power to fulfill us. We give authority and the power to fulfill to circumstances and people. No wonder we keep having this insecure feeling of not quite being complete!

Some of us have a cavernous need and we’ve been filling it with things, substances, people, or unhealthy relationships. These things leave us feeling disappointed and always needing more. We aren’t satisfied or feeling complete, or fulfilled.

We aren’t meant to fill ourselves to completeness with anything the world offers,

its Christ’s job!

Christ is our hope, our peace, our love, our joy, our comfort, our security, our identity is found in Him, He fills our every need, and gives us wisdom when we ask! Now that’s the kind of Savior I want to have! He is wholly complete and “able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or think, according to the power that works in us.”  (Ephesians 3:20)

All of those needs and more originate with our Creator and are fulfilled in our Savior Jesus Christ! Don’t settle for the incomplete, insufficient things the world offers you. Instead choose and cling to the best there is!

Fervent by Priscilla Shirer- A book review

FerVent- A Woman’s Battle Plan for Serious, Specific, and Strategic Prayer

By Priscilla Shirer

A Book Review

I had the privilege of receiving this book from the Lifeway bloggers group in order to offer a review. In my opinion, this book by Priscilla Shirer is such a critically important book for all believers.

She begins each chapter with a paragraph of how our enemy, Satan, might look at our lives and form plans to thwart us and keep us from praying and living victoriously.

It’s a sobering thing to read about. Often as Christians, we forget to realize that we are in the enemy’s cross-hairs. Satan cannot take our salvation from us, but his next best thing is to make us believe we are defeated and live defeated lives, forgetting to access the very power of the Holy Spirit that resides in us.

Ephesians 6:12 says “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Fervent reminds us of who we are in Christ and who we belong to. It gives great battle plans to combat doubt, fear, discontentedness, anger towards one another, chaos, lack of passion, relationship issues and the list goes on.

The key she hits is that none of those things are from God, they are tools of the enemy to make us believe a lie of defeat and switch our focus to the wrong culprit.

I felt like every chapter was the most important as I read it. I have personally experienced Satan’s attacks in each area and so I know intimately the weapons he uses that Priscilla sites.

The good news this book provides is that we can have victory over Satan through Christ’s power! Our privilege as children of God is that we can go before Him, speak with Him intimately, daily and constantly. I Thessalonians 5:17 clearly calls us to “pray without ceasing”.

Priscilla says in her last chapter… “So while I know this is a battle- a daily fight- expect your fervency to lead you to a place of peace and rest. Because God is the One who’s fighting for you, and He will surely prevail.”

I would recommend this book that provides a guide to strategic prayer to anyone! We need to have eyes wide open to what we are battling against. Priscilla Shirer hits the nail on the head with this one!