I believe He loves me. That's all I need to know...
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
A word from my hubby.
Alex just finished an article which I think is very fitting for right now as many in the church are seeking to walk more and more by the Spirit. Check it out...
I believe that we are in a season when the Lord is going to begin to release a fresh word about the cross. Although the cross has been preached for years in the western world, I believe that it is important that we do not only preach about the cross that He carried, but the cross that we are called to carry as well. If the message of the cross was only for the purpose of bringing sentimental feelings to sinners, then we would only need to watch the Passion of the Christ every Sunday.
It is possible for a man to weep and to speak eloquently concerning the cross, and still not be carrying one. Even many people in the world are moved to emotion when they speak concerning the cross of Christ. There are many who wear crosses around their necks, and have them tattooed on their bodies, yet they still continue to live lifestyles that are without restraint. We are in an era where the cross has become the most comfortable of all messages, when it is understood that because Christ paid it all, there is now no personal responsibility to come after Him and take up our own crosses as well.
However, the acceptance of the cross is not just meant to be a message that brings people to their knees to say a quick prayer of salvation and then to continue the way they were living before. When this is all that we are using the cross for, then all we have done is gathered a lot of people together and then denied them the power to be set free. Salvation is not the end of the matter, when people get “saved” this is only the first step towards sanctification. For Christ did not come just so that we could receive forgiveness of sins and then continue to live the same way we did before, but that we could experience the power over sin as well, to be set free.
How is this accomplished? First of all, we must understand what the cross is. When the Lord calls us to come after Him and to take up our cross, He is talking about giving up the expression of our souls. In Matt 16:24-25, the Lord says “take up your cross.... for whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it...” (Matt 16:25) The Greek word for life in this text is translated “soul life.” In this passage, Jesus is telling us that the way to take up our cross and to follow Him is to give up the expression of our souls.
The soul is usually categorized as the mind, will and emotions. It is the place where we express our unique individuality- our tastes, desires, and our expression to others. For this reason, it is not the soul that needs to be replaced, but the carnal use of it. For although the world would have us believe that the expression of our souls is beautiful, the scriptures are clear that all such expression is evil. As David said, “I have no good apart from You” (Psalm 16:2).
Whenever the soul is expressive of its self, it is biblically termed the flesh, in the negative sense. “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh” (Romans 7:18 ESV). For this reason, it is our flesh that daily must be rendered inoperable upon the cross that the Holy Spirit prepares for us, so that only the life of Christ is manifested. (See 2 Cor 4:10, Matt 16:23-25)
For all that we can do apart from Christ is to emulate that which is holy and righteous, as the Pharisees did. Yet the Christian life is not one where we disfigure the outward man, appearing to be more Christ like, it is one where we get out of the way more, and allow Christ to be, and do, all that He requires of us. (See John 15:5)
ORIGINAL INTENT
From the beginning, the soul has been the source of everything that has caused us to stray from God.
Before the fall, when Adam and Eve were in the garden, their soul was in proper submission to the Spirit. However, Eve chose to forsake the role of the dependent creature, and to become like God, making her own decisions. She decided that she wanted to use the expression of her soul, instead of clinging to Christ. So she cast off restraint, choosing to “become her own person.”
When she did this, through eating of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the immediate result of her independence was that her “eyes were opened” (Gen 3:7). Obviously this is referring to the eyes of her flesh, for the eyes of her spirit were open already. Now they had opened the door to the carnal nature, and they were beginning to judge according to what they saw in the natural, instead of judging as Christ does, “..not by the seeing of the eye, or the hearing of the ear.... but as I hear, I judge.” (See Isaiah 11:3, John 5:30) This was the beginning of sin for the human race. The root of every problem that we have is ultimately because we are operating in the soul realm, and not in the spirit. Now it is important for us to learn to discern the difference between the spirit, and the soul, that we might be able to come back into the fellowship of the Garden once again.
HOW CAN WE DISCERN THE SPIRIT?
Although learning to discern the Spirit is a lifelong pursuit, there is much that can be understand from the scriptures concerning His nature. There is a certain tone about Him that the flesh is unable to replicate. Galatians 5:19 tells us that the works of the flesh are obvious. The works of the flesh include things such as malice, bitterness, envy, hatred, immorality, and the like.
The flesh is marked by frustration- it is the way we feel when we are trying to figure everything out. When we feel as though the thing that we are doing has hit a “snag”, then we know that the Spirit is wanting us to do something different instead.
The flesh:
The Spirit:
_______________________________
The Spirit is represented by this solid line, for there is no wavering at all in His countenance. “The Kingdom of Heaven is peace, joy, and righteousness, in the Holy Spirit.” When Jesus walked the earth, He was able to sleep in the boat without feeling the least bit disturbed, and when the people were going to throw Him off the cliff, He was not afraid, He walked through the middle of the crowd.
It is well known that when a worker at the Treasury is learning to handle currency, it is because they have become so accustomed to handling the real money that they are able to discern the counterfeit bills. In like manner, the way that we get to know the Spirit is through being with Him. Then when the works of the flesh come along, we are better able to avoid them, because they have a certain “feel” about them that the works of the Spirit do not have. This is the way for us to grow in discernment, as Paul said in Hebrews 5:14, it is “by reason of use” that our senses are exercised to discern good from evil.
As we continue to look to the Spirit, moment by moment choosing Him, we will begin to grow in the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. “Let perfect peace rule in your hearts.” (Col 3:15) We will begin to know the peace of Christ as the umpire, or guardian, as to whether the life of Christ is flowing, or the nature of the carnal man.
May the Lord bless you,
Alex Haselden
My Anna :)
I believe that we are in a season when the Lord is going to begin to release a fresh word about the cross. Although the cross has been preached for years in the western world, I believe that it is important that we do not only preach about the cross that He carried, but the cross that we are called to carry as well. If the message of the cross was only for the purpose of bringing sentimental feelings to sinners, then we would only need to watch the Passion of the Christ every Sunday.
It is possible for a man to weep and to speak eloquently concerning the cross, and still not be carrying one. Even many people in the world are moved to emotion when they speak concerning the cross of Christ. There are many who wear crosses around their necks, and have them tattooed on their bodies, yet they still continue to live lifestyles that are without restraint. We are in an era where the cross has become the most comfortable of all messages, when it is understood that because Christ paid it all, there is now no personal responsibility to come after Him and take up our own crosses as well.
However, the acceptance of the cross is not just meant to be a message that brings people to their knees to say a quick prayer of salvation and then to continue the way they were living before. When this is all that we are using the cross for, then all we have done is gathered a lot of people together and then denied them the power to be set free. Salvation is not the end of the matter, when people get “saved” this is only the first step towards sanctification. For Christ did not come just so that we could receive forgiveness of sins and then continue to live the same way we did before, but that we could experience the power over sin as well, to be set free.
How is this accomplished? First of all, we must understand what the cross is. When the Lord calls us to come after Him and to take up our cross, He is talking about giving up the expression of our souls. In Matt 16:24-25, the Lord says “take up your cross.... for whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it...” (Matt 16:25) The Greek word for life in this text is translated “soul life.” In this passage, Jesus is telling us that the way to take up our cross and to follow Him is to give up the expression of our souls.
The soul is usually categorized as the mind, will and emotions. It is the place where we express our unique individuality- our tastes, desires, and our expression to others. For this reason, it is not the soul that needs to be replaced, but the carnal use of it. For although the world would have us believe that the expression of our souls is beautiful, the scriptures are clear that all such expression is evil. As David said, “I have no good apart from You” (Psalm 16:2).
Whenever the soul is expressive of its self, it is biblically termed the flesh, in the negative sense. “I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh” (Romans 7:18 ESV). For this reason, it is our flesh that daily must be rendered inoperable upon the cross that the Holy Spirit prepares for us, so that only the life of Christ is manifested. (See 2 Cor 4:10, Matt 16:23-25)
For all that we can do apart from Christ is to emulate that which is holy and righteous, as the Pharisees did. Yet the Christian life is not one where we disfigure the outward man, appearing to be more Christ like, it is one where we get out of the way more, and allow Christ to be, and do, all that He requires of us. (See John 15:5)
ORIGINAL INTENT
From the beginning, the soul has been the source of everything that has caused us to stray from God.
Before the fall, when Adam and Eve were in the garden, their soul was in proper submission to the Spirit. However, Eve chose to forsake the role of the dependent creature, and to become like God, making her own decisions. She decided that she wanted to use the expression of her soul, instead of clinging to Christ. So she cast off restraint, choosing to “become her own person.”
When she did this, through eating of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, the immediate result of her independence was that her “eyes were opened” (Gen 3:7). Obviously this is referring to the eyes of her flesh, for the eyes of her spirit were open already. Now they had opened the door to the carnal nature, and they were beginning to judge according to what they saw in the natural, instead of judging as Christ does, “..not by the seeing of the eye, or the hearing of the ear.... but as I hear, I judge.” (See Isaiah 11:3, John 5:30) This was the beginning of sin for the human race. The root of every problem that we have is ultimately because we are operating in the soul realm, and not in the spirit. Now it is important for us to learn to discern the difference between the spirit, and the soul, that we might be able to come back into the fellowship of the Garden once again.
HOW CAN WE DISCERN THE SPIRIT?
Although learning to discern the Spirit is a lifelong pursuit, there is much that can be understand from the scriptures concerning His nature. There is a certain tone about Him that the flesh is unable to replicate. Galatians 5:19 tells us that the works of the flesh are obvious. The works of the flesh include things such as malice, bitterness, envy, hatred, immorality, and the like.
The flesh is marked by frustration- it is the way we feel when we are trying to figure everything out. When we feel as though the thing that we are doing has hit a “snag”, then we know that the Spirit is wanting us to do something different instead.
The flesh:
The Spirit:
_______________________________
The Spirit is represented by this solid line, for there is no wavering at all in His countenance. “The Kingdom of Heaven is peace, joy, and righteousness, in the Holy Spirit.” When Jesus walked the earth, He was able to sleep in the boat without feeling the least bit disturbed, and when the people were going to throw Him off the cliff, He was not afraid, He walked through the middle of the crowd.
It is well known that when a worker at the Treasury is learning to handle currency, it is because they have become so accustomed to handling the real money that they are able to discern the counterfeit bills. In like manner, the way that we get to know the Spirit is through being with Him. Then when the works of the flesh come along, we are better able to avoid them, because they have a certain “feel” about them that the works of the Spirit do not have. This is the way for us to grow in discernment, as Paul said in Hebrews 5:14, it is “by reason of use” that our senses are exercised to discern good from evil.
As we continue to look to the Spirit, moment by moment choosing Him, we will begin to grow in the peace of God that surpasses all understanding. “Let perfect peace rule in your hearts.” (Col 3:15) We will begin to know the peace of Christ as the umpire, or guardian, as to whether the life of Christ is flowing, or the nature of the carnal man.
May the Lord bless you,
Alex Haselden
My Anna :)
Friday, March 11, 2011
Baby Ryan
I got to take some pictures of my sweet little niece Ryan Nicole today...
Isn't she precious??? :):):)
I love her!
Thursday, March 10, 2011
I have a testimony 'bout Jesus!
Anna & her piggys...
I have a testimony 'bout Jesus! He carries me through my worst storms...I always call on Jesus! I'm leanin' on His everlasting arms....
I have a testimony... Actually, I have about a thousand testimonies! :) Alex & I have a journal almost FULL of testimonies of God's faithfulness... We have watched Him provide over & over in the most amazing ways for our family. Sometimes it didn't look like the way we expected or wanted, but we can never ever, EVER doubt His faithfulness! :)
Alex has been working like crazy the past month, and we have been trying to save for a car (among many things) and pay off some debt at the same time... So we have had this certain amount of money just sitting here...and it's not enough to do anything with..lol. It's just enough to get started on one of these things. Well, the Lord came and literally multiplied the money..in a week, Alex got a couple of side jobs along with his regular job and we got our income tax refund...so today, we were able to pay off almost ALL of our debt--only one bill remains. We got a phone which we desperately needed (Anna has slobbered the other one to death) and at the end of the day we got a phone call that someone had a car for sale for almost the exact amount that we have left! Freedom feels so very close...:) So, yeah... it's been a great day! Jesus is awesome!!!!! Times like this teach me not to ever grumble or doubt Him, because in one day He can come and change every single circumstance! :)
So, yaaaay God! If you are believing for a miracle that seems impossible, don't give up! And don't lose heart! Some days it can feel like God is so far away, but Psalm 46:1 says, "God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble." He knows you & knows exactly what you are going through...
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior" ---Isaiah 43
I can't wait to post the rest of the testimonies of the things we are believing for! I am so encouraged today that none of it is too big for God!! He is mighty to save!!! :):):)
<3 G----
I have a testimony 'bout Jesus! He carries me through my worst storms...I always call on Jesus! I'm leanin' on His everlasting arms....
I have a testimony... Actually, I have about a thousand testimonies! :) Alex & I have a journal almost FULL of testimonies of God's faithfulness... We have watched Him provide over & over in the most amazing ways for our family. Sometimes it didn't look like the way we expected or wanted, but we can never ever, EVER doubt His faithfulness! :)
Alex has been working like crazy the past month, and we have been trying to save for a car (among many things) and pay off some debt at the same time... So we have had this certain amount of money just sitting here...and it's not enough to do anything with..lol. It's just enough to get started on one of these things. Well, the Lord came and literally multiplied the money..in a week, Alex got a couple of side jobs along with his regular job and we got our income tax refund...so today, we were able to pay off almost ALL of our debt--only one bill remains. We got a phone which we desperately needed (Anna has slobbered the other one to death) and at the end of the day we got a phone call that someone had a car for sale for almost the exact amount that we have left! Freedom feels so very close...:) So, yeah... it's been a great day! Jesus is awesome!!!!! Times like this teach me not to ever grumble or doubt Him, because in one day He can come and change every single circumstance! :)
So, yaaaay God! If you are believing for a miracle that seems impossible, don't give up! And don't lose heart! Some days it can feel like God is so far away, but Psalm 46:1 says, "God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble." He knows you & knows exactly what you are going through...
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior" ---Isaiah 43
I can't wait to post the rest of the testimonies of the things we are believing for! I am so encouraged today that none of it is too big for God!! He is mighty to save!!! :):):)
<3 G----
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Big Strange Family
I don't think of it as working for world peace, she said. I think of it as just trying to get along in a really big strange family.
-Story People
-Story People
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