September 8, 2003 Morning

Oswald Chambers this morning (www.ccel.org) writes on 2 Cor. 10:5 “Casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God.”

He writes: “There are some things over which we are not to fight, but to stand still in and see the salvation of God: but every theory or conception which erects itself as a rampart against the knowledge of God is to be determinedly demolished by drawing on God’s power, not by fleshly endeavor or compromise.” (My Utmost for His Highest, Sept. 8)

Back when my dear friend Linda was ….I was going to stay still alive….but then I think of her as alive in Christ even though she is no longer with us…..she introduced me to some books by Liberty Savard on tearing down strongholds. She was so excited by the prayers in these books about binding our wills and minds to the will of God and loosing every stronghold in us of fear, of sin, of wrong belief. We committed many of these prayers to memory and I still occasionally pray them.

Are you willing to give God permission to tear down every stronghold and lofty thought within you that holds itself up against the knowledge of God?

Will you draw on God’s power to determinedly demolish them?

O Lord, open thou our lips.

Psalms 45,46,87

My heart overfloweth with a good matter; I recite my verses for the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer. (Psalm 45:1)

Proverbs 8:1-22

Doth not wisdom cry? And understanding put forth her voice? (Prov. 8:1)

1 John 3:1-8

Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
Beloved, now are we the songs of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. (1John3:1-3)

In Psalm 46, there’s a line that has special meaning to me.

Be still, and know that I am God. (Psalm 46:10)

In 1973, when I was alone in a drug dealer’s apartment, experiencing a terrifying drug trip, I found a book that was put out by Logos Books by Frank Foglio called, “Hey God!” . It was under a pile of old newspapers and a cardboard box filled with marijuana seeds and twigs.

That book had in it stories of an Italian American family’s experiences with the Holy Spirit. It laid out the gospel, and in my desperation, I prayted the sinner’s prayer fervently, in effect making a bargain with God: you save me from this evil that surrounds me and that is trying to get inside me and control me and I will serve you for the rest of my life.

He wouldn't bargain with me. Instead, He used a line in that book to speak to me. He said, “Be still, and know that I am God.” I was so high on drugs that I couldn’t tell if the words on the page were really there. The pages kept turning red, and the words of the book were appearing the way they do on television, as if the letters were appearing one by one on the screen. But this verse was a command.

It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. Everything in me fought against it and the evil in the room roiled and pitched. But I sweat what seemed like blood to resist my compulsion to save myself, to be still and know that God is God.

I stood still, and He saved me. The spiritual enemies that surrounded me vanished. My life made a 180 turn from that point. Now, you have to consider where the starting point was. It was in pretty negative territory, so it took me a long time to wend my way, with God’s help, to learn how important right belief is in being able to overcome the enemy.

I used to seek understanding in order to pick and choose what I believe. That’s why I searched in so many different spiritual traditions. And God was gracious. He would illuminate passages that were true to guide me. I am grateful for how I was fed even though I was a lonely pilgrim. I didn’t realize though how much wrong belief, absorbed along with the genuine good, was hindering my spiritual walk.

Now, I choose to believe the ancient, historical creeds of the Church as handed down from the eyewitness accounts of the Apostles and the Prophets who knew and foretold Jesus Christ. I bring my thoughts in captivity to Christ. I choose to tear down strongholds of belief that are not in line with those Creeds. I seek His Face, so that I might be like Him.

Right belief isn’t just an intellectual proposition that we contemplate in our minds as beautiful, yet never allow to permeate our lives and our very natures. It’s belief that we act upon. We believe that a jet plane, this huge, heavy, hunk of metal, can fly so we get on board, even if we don’t fully understand aerodynamics.

I believe in an all powerful, all loving, all good God, who is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I believe that Jesus Christ is the fullness of the Godhead, bodily. He lives.

My prayer for you today is that you stand still in whatever battle you find yourself in that you choose to stand sill and see the salvation of God.