Why I don’t believe in Christian Accountability | A Response

An important article by Mike Breen.

Why I don’t believe in Christian Accountability | A Response.

This got me thinking about a matter that weighs on me.

Accountability…why are so many of us so bad at this?

I am afraid that I know/have known leaders and pastors in the Body of Christ who speak about the need for Christian accountability but in the end I have found that they are not living in a cloud of Glory but a mess of smoke and mirrors.

I have seen a beautiful church plant wither painfully into the dust due to manipulative leadership who were careful not to permit any members who acted as elders of the church to be trustees of the charity…different stories to different people who it seemed God would not tolerate. I have seen people take years to recover enough from this abusive situation to risk trusting God in a church again whilst also praying for some who are not yet able and have effectively ditched their faith…God in His grace seemed to pant another church out of the withering one before she was seen to be terminal. He seemed to somehow cut off the good from the plant and re-potted it in good soil.

Wonderful that He knows what He is doing.

I am thankful.

I serve a wonderful God and struggle daily with a call to be accountable myself. It is too easy to claim accountability whilst just telling different people different stories and thus give the appearance of being accountable and reliable.

I have seen valuable ministries and marriages almost destroyed by such.

I have seen a pastor surrounded by tame yes-people who never seem to offer those correctives so desperately needed leading and thus leading a fellowship that never met its potential sue to the endless waves of “comers and goers”. Where unsettled Christians from other churches joined, got to know the lay of the land and went again…probably never finding rest…

We have to pray and seek wisdom and grace, every day.

I am making a decision to be where God seems to have called me and to trust Him.

He is good at shining light on our sin and be sure that He loves justice.

No one said it was easy or going to be easy. Jesus certainly never said it would be easy.

He told us to take up our cross, daily.

The Serenity prayer just sprung to mind….you know:

“God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed.

Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.

Living one day at a time,

Enjoying one moment at a time,

Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,

Taking, as Jesus did,

This sinful world as it is,

Not as I would have it,

Trusting that You will make all things right,

If I surrender to Your will,

So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,

And supremely happy with You forever in the next.

Amen.”

I surrender to His will, or at least I try to.

We must trust and submit to Him and pray for those He has called to serve us in leadership but not be stupid.

This is a bit of a ramble I am afraid, with me struggling to say stuff that I am not sure how to share so I will quit for now and post this. Maybe I will pick out the bones and repost at a later date or maybe I won’t.

I will keep praying though…

Shalom.

Wellspring by Regina

Wellspring.

Fear God? by Regina

 I don’t plan to repost every one of Mrs Frost’s blogs but right now, it seems to me that Jesus is speaking through her.

Maybe He is just speaking to me, but I don’t think so…

Fear God?.    

 What do YOU think?

Isaiah 54: A Passionate Calling

(6) For the LORD has called you
like a wife deserted and grieved in spirit,
like a wife of youth when she is cast off,
says your God.
(7) For a brief moment I deserted you, but with great compassion I will gather you.
(8) In overflowing anger for a moment
I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,
says the LORD, your Redeemer.

What are we to make of this, if this is something that God is saying to us today and not a record of a historical message from Him to His people of that (long) time (ago)?
Well for me, He seems to say that that the only thing that can separate me from Christ is me, my unrepented sin for which He offers abundant
grace and mercy.
The world does not/cannot often compute grace or mercy and where we do see it, I believe that we see the persuasion of the Holy Spirit moving too and fro softening hearts, we see the hand of Jesus reaching out demonstrating the love of the Father for His creation.
We are after all, every one, but dust without His breath in us.
As we live in a broadly unforgiving society we can, with a little help from the enemy of our souls telling us we are not worthy, turn away from His grace in a form of shameful penance.
Somehow we can forget, cheapen even, Christ’s suffering on the cross, as if the thing we have done is bigger than the thing He did for us.
Boy! We can be stupid sheep sometimes…
Now I am not cheapening grace and mercy. I join with Paul when he rhetorically asks in Romans 6, “Shall we go on sinning?” emphatically answering himself with, “Certainly not!”. Neither though do I cast condemnation as we all still sin at some time or another but it mustn’t be habitual.
So if you read this feeling alone, then you must remember that God is not a man that He should lie. He said that He shall NEVER leave us NOR forsake us, that means He will NEVER leave us alone.
We may suffer discipline (because He loves us) but we will not be deserted. Christ’s sacrifice is simply too great.

He is perfect. He is Holy. He is God.

We must trust Him.

We must remember who He is.

He is I Am.

Remember Psalm 139?

We can not outrun Him – the “Hound of Heaven” will find us and call us back if we will only listen and answer.

He loves you!

He loves you with “forever, 24/7 love”.

Are you answering this passionate call?

Best Friends Forever

You should read this blog by George Hach, we share the same BFF…

http://georgehachmyblog.wordpress.com/2012/01/16/120116george-hachs-journalmonday/

Image via Wikipedia

True Grit by Regina

True Grit.

Simply put, He loves you.

⁽⁴⁾ Fear not, for you will not be ashamed;
be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced;
for you will forget the shame of your youth,
and the reproach of your widowhood you will remember no more.

I continue to feel impressed to send you this note regarding Isaiah 54 as I believe that God is moving and although He doesn’t need us to fulfil His great plan, after all He is the mighty God of all Creation, the First and the Last, He wants us to be a part of it.
Why you?
That’s simple, He delights in you and He knows that in your weakness you are strong.
He is giving you and opportunity to be part of His big rescue plan because He believes in you.
Simply put, He loves you.
So that’s why I believe that I am writing this.
So that’s why I believe that you are reading this.
Our Father wants to work with you as well as on you…
It may very well be that you are reading this with a heart full of self-doubt, burdened by your mistakes and a history of being told you will never amount to much. That there is someone more equipped, better trained, less sinful than you to answer this call?
Well no, He is calling you, just as He has called so many under-qualified sinners in the past.
Remember Gideon? What about Moses?
They were both fearful men with low personal esteem issues.
One of them because he was raised being told that he was the least of the least. The other was a speech impaired hot-tempered murderer who couldn’t trust himself although God sent him off for a 40 stint looking after sheep to cut off some of that impulsiveness.
For that matter though, I am not sure Moses was particularly trustful of the people that God called him to save as they had all ready threatened to grass on him when he had only intervened out of misguided compassion to help.
I believe that God is saying to you “Fear not, for your not going to be ashamed or confounded, don’t live trapped in fear an doubt as He calls you to this adventurous rescue plan because if you follow Him you will not be disgraced.
I kind of think “So what anyway if a few people think I am a fool? I have an eternity of being with He who says otherwise…”
I believe that He is saying it is time to stop living in the sorrowful mistakes of the past, lay it all at the foot of the Cross and trust Him!
Forget that shame; forget all the harsh judgemental words spoken against you.
He sees you washed clean, new and ready to be who He made you to be.
Be ready.
Are you ready for this?
All you have to do is show a little faith and trust Him.
You know it makes sense!

Promise to Care

Isaiah 54

(5) For your Maker is your husband,
the LORD of hosts is his name;
and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer,
the God of the whole earth he is called.

Whilst specifically this book was spoken to His people in Judah and most specifically Jerusalem, it is in the bible for more than historical interest and more than evidence of the plans laid for the coming Messiah.

As I have already said, I believe that God is telling us to appropriate these promises for ourselves and taken as words spoken to you and me that can be all a bit weird and difficult to get hold of for most men, perhaps it’s easier if your a married woman reading this but I guess that depends on your experience of marriage…

I think the use of the word Husband meant far more to the Jewish audience than to many people today who don’t understand the significance God attributes to marriage, the ideal state for us.

The Torah is clear is saying “A man who does not marry is not a complete person” and Jesus certainly spent time putting the religious leaders of the day straight about His Father’s view on it by going back to scripture to point to Adam and Eve.

Consider that God is pointing to the covenant He has made with us.

The duties of a husband within the covenant were to protect and provide for his bride and that, I believe is what God wants you to get hold of deep within you. He promises to care for you, protect you, provide for you, care for your emotional needs and will always love you.

After all, elsewhere He tells us that “He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Then, just in case you have begun to think that your problems are bigger than God, He reminds us that He is the Lord of Hosts, our Redeemer, the God of the whole earth.

Have you got that?

He is bigger than your struggles.

He is the God of the heavens and the earth, Lord over all.

There is none mightier.

So don’t worry and don’t get all caught up in works theology.

He has it all in control if your keeping on track with Him, and if your not then do the sensible thing, stop hiding and say sorry because His love for you brings more mercy and grace than you could imagine.

What’ s more, remember that He disciplines those He loves, He is so good!!

Also remember that we do what we do because of what Hs has done for us, we cannot work our way into His love. He doesn’t need our help but He loves it when we do.

I am thankful that it all depends on Him and not me, so I try to be obedient, love God and my neighbour and hold things lightly and when I get it wrong, thinking its all up to me or all wrapped up in worry, I am thankful He will never leave me.

I am thankful for His grace, mercy and love.

Are you?

Jesus is greater than Religion

Great, great poem, performance and truth!

http://youtu.be/1IAhDGYlpqY

Identity Crisis by Regina Forest

So much wisdom, so much beautiful truth.

Drink this in and consider the upside of having an Identity Crisis….