Month: February 2014

Released Into Life!

Iris Godfrey

ImageIn Christ Jesus, we are truly released into life to live in fullness and joy! I must learn to adjust my life to the truth of the Word of the Lord, not adjust the truth to my understanding of the word. Myriads of doctrines have been formed by the later. They are what ultimately side tract us and enslave us in the prisons of legalism and exclusion.

All my life I have tried and tried and tried to get rid of me so Jesus could be seen more and more. My understanding of the word was very flawed. I grew up singing a hymn called  “None of Self And All of Thee.” Each verse in the hymn takes us from all of self and none of Him, to none of self and all of Him. While on the surface, this looks to be in line with the truth of the Scripture, nothing could be further from the truth.

John the Baptist in John 3:3 said, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” He was referencing his ministry, the work of his heart and hands, not his person. Then it is combined with Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:31, “…I die daily.” These are combined to teach us that we need to disappear, empty ourselves of our selves, so that He can be seen in our life. Paul was not talking about trying to be less Paul than he was. He was stating a fact that in Ephesus he literally faced physical death every day. That is the context of the passage.

A text without a context is a pretext! That statement is not original with me, for I have known it most of my life. However, that statement is true as it stands.

When we become children of God through Jesus our Lord, He desires us to be all we can be in Him. He has created us very unique and filled with eternity’s possibilities – and that is just in the flesh. When we open to being His temple, then the possibilities resident within our person are beyond our comprehension. He does not want less of us to shine, He wants all of us in our fullness in Him to shine to a lost and dying world. He intends to “be” through us in all the fullness of His creation of us.

The “put-down” of our persons is actually a hang-over from some of the early gnostic teaching that the flesh was evil and the spirit good. So the more we abused the flesh, the more of the spirit could be seen. This is totally contrary to the gospel of grace and goodness in Jesus Christ.

Jesus paid all the debt my sin and nature owed. He has given me a new Spirit life. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,….” If this is true, then He does not want nor need less of you as His creation being yourself and fully Him, but He would like to release each of us as part of the manifold expression of who He is.

Yes, we get rid of the “old man,” who was crucified with Christ Jesus and put on the attributes of our redeemed nature and begin to walk in the newness of life.

Our good ole’ legalistic ways have once again confined us into a prison of “always sinful and always lacking.” when the word makes it clear that He has paid the price for my forgiveness and I have all sufficiency in Christ Jesus.

Now let’s adjust our thinking to the Word, instead of trying to make the Word agree with our thinking. I have a job here. My thoughts go to Romans 12:1-2 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

We have already died in and with Christ (2 Corinthians 5:14), so we are called to walk in resurrection life. We are to be living – fully alive – given to Him for breath and creative expression of His goodness. This makes us so much more than we have ever thought or hoped. So let’s stop trying to be less, and embrace the “more” of Him in us, therefore able to release into the life of the “us” He came to create. He has released us into life!!!

Making It Real

Iris Godfrey

It is time for me to get back to writing on this blog. It takes time and study, so there is a tendency in me to think I will do it a bit later. So it gets untouched for days (or weeks as the case may be). My apologies to you my diligent readers. Many of you have discovered the key of ‘following’ the blogs you like to read so you do not have to check them each time. So if you get tired of checking to see if a new post is here, try ‘Following’ me. It will automatically show up in your email.

I have recently gotten a ‘TouchFire’ keyboard for my iPad Mini. I love the iPad for almost all my computer needs, except typing on it is difficult for me. I am not a ‘hunt and peck’ person. I am a trained typist, so I do not enjoy the tablet keyboards. The new keyboard is nice, but taking some adjustment time for me. So I am purposely using it to type Mannaword. They do provide typing lessons for us to helps us adjust, and I have completed them, but nothing will substitute for old fashioned practice. No flying over the keys as fast as I can think, which is my usual way. Now, slow and easy does it. I will fly on it, but not today. Thanks for putting up with my personal rambling. I seem to do it well – rambling that is.

I have observed that it is much easier to talk about a relationship with The Lord Jesus than it is to really have one. Experience has really gotten a bad rap in the Christian world. So as full-gospel people, we have become very proper, both in our worship styles and in our personal devotional and study habits. We read more books about people and their journeys than we read the actual word and works of The Lord Himself. It is easier to talk of the experiences of others than it is to have our own experiences in Him. He waits and loves and waits and loves.

He is so kind and longs for us to just choose to listen and respond to Him. Nike’s phrase occurs to me, “Just do it!” We really only need time to share intimately and everything in Him becomes very real. We cannot get closer as he lives inside of us, so it just takes turning our thoughts and awareness to Him, for Him to begin to interact with us deeply.

So I want to encourage you to get quiet with Him and let ‘stuff’ – you know – His kind do ‘stuff’ happen. I am going to do the same.

He Has A Name!

Iris Godfrey

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I am noticing something in the Body that is a bit disturbing to me. I am hearing a lot of folk praying to “God,” speaking about “God,” and referring in their speech to “God.” I am not talking about people outside of Christ, but folk within the Body of Christ.

People outside, of course, speak of “god.” for they do not know what we know. They have not been saved in a Name above all Names. We are not like them. Our spiritual DNA runs with the blood of Jesus who died for us.

While I know some of the thinking about using the term “God” instead of the name of Jesus, it is still troublesome to me. Let me explain why.

“God” is a very generic term. It offends no one – I know – that is why it is so used. But “God,” is not His name. He is God in every way, but that is not His name.

When Moses asked Him, “…who shall I say sent me.” (Exodus 3:13-16) The Father did not answer with the word “God.” Instead, He gave Him His Name! YHWH! That was His covenant name in the Old Testament. “The One who Exists,” “I Am that I Am.” It was important because the Egyptians (and all other cultures of the time) had many gods. The Israelites would want to know who exactly it was that spoken with and sent Moses.

In the New Testament, the full revelation of I Am has been given. It is not the Old Testament revelation Of I Am, but a New Covenant unveiling of “Yeshua,” – the God who saves.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of every creature. For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers: all things were created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that on Him should all fullness dwell, and having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself — by Him, I say, whether they be things on earth or things in heaven.” (Colossians 1:15-20 KJ21)

Also we learn in Acts 4:12, that there is salvation in no other name than Jesus! This was spoken to those in authority upholding “God.”

Since Jesus is the corner-stone of all our Father does, I think it might be well to incorporate His Name in our prayers and our conversations much more. Oh yes, it will cause some folk to shy from us and it will save others. We are not the point. Being accepted by others is not our goal. Our goal is to proclaim that a Savior has come and He has a Name above all Names. In that name is salvation, healing, hope and wholeness of every kind.

We need to embrace His name! Jesus name above all names. Just some thoughts I am working in. Thanks for joining me. There is no condemnation in this, just a desire to prompt thinking and the use of His name by His people.