Tag: deliverance

The Answer for the Living Dead

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Ultimately, people want to live – truly live. This is quite natural, given that our Creator breathed into humanity the breath of life at the beginning of time.

Sadly, many people who live biologically are inwardly dead. Their lungs are taking in air, and their hearts are beating; but their spirits are dead with the weight of sadness, guilt, hopelessness, futility, and fear.

Medical doctors can work on the body, but it takes an infinitely better Physician to work on the spirit.

The ancient – yet timeless – book of Psalms outlines the process of coming to realize the vitality of genuine living. The writer says of God, “For you have delivered my soul from death, yes, my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of life” (Psalm 56:13, ESV). Here we observe three critical components of a life of vitality.

    1) God delivers the soul from death. No matter how our pride may fight against this truth, it takes God to deliver a soul from death. The wages of our sin brings death – first spiritual, and eventually physical (Romans 6:23). No slick mental tricks or serious psychological manipulation can erase the guilt of a heart in rebellion against the God of the Bible. Once we come to terms with our sinful heart by the conviction of God’s own Spirit, we can ask God to give us life by making our heart new through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. His blood which was shed on the Cross pays for the guilt of my sin, and His life (evidenced by the Resurrection) provides life to me. Here it is again: His blood pays, and His life provides.
    2) God delivers our feet from falling. Simply amazing is the provision of God for the daily minutes and hours of life. Not only has He given vitality to my soul by the forgiveness of sins and restoration of life, He promises to keep my feet from falling as I walk through this world on a regular basis. This portion of Scripture gets down to the nitty-gritty!

    Real living – beyond the basics of biology – requires the security of knowing that we are being guided and protected by the One who can assure the outcome. Each moment of each day, we can depend on our Savior to keep our feet from falling – into demise, hopelessness, and trial outside the will of God. We can even rely on our Savior to provide what we need in order that we will not fall into sin. Though as humans we will not be perfect until we finally see Jesus face-to-face; there exists no excuse for our sin, because God can deliver our feet from falling.

    3) God allows me to walk before Him in the light of life. Here it is – the culmination of real living. Darkness of soul is gone, and we can live our moments before the face of God without dread. We know that we stand clean before Him because of Jesus, and there is no need to hide. We can now truly relate to others, for we are walking in the transparency of God’s light.

    For those God has delivered, death is swallowed up in victory (I Corinthians 15:54b). Not only can we live before Him with hope now, we know that we will live forever before Him in glory that cannot be fully understood or described this side of eternity.

Do not allow death to stay. Do not allow life to pass you by. Let God deliver you.

Why the Wilderness When I Want Happiness?

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Avoidance of pain is currently upheld as one of the greatest of aspirations. “What can God do for me that will make my life better, easier, and more palatable?” we ask. Isn’t a happy life a natural outcome of salvation?

Perhaps we need to go back to square one and be reminded of salvation’s essence. In Biblical terms, to be saved means to be delivered from sin’s power and consequence. First and foremost, we are sinful people who need drastic deliverance from our bent toward evil. The problem is not our material discomfort or our lack of satisfaction; the problem is that our very nature – and our actions – offends a holy God. God’s sacrifice of His own Son for the sinfulness of us brings our deliverance. A person who trusts in the atonement of Jesus is covered with His righteousness. That is deliverance. It is a pronouncement of being right – despite who we are – because we trust in Jesus.

Now, let us go back to the original question, “Isn’t a happy life a natural outcome of salvation?” Maybe we should be asking a different question, “Isn’t our salvation – our deliverance – the most important thing?” What could be more important than my hell-bent soul finding deliverance from sin? What is more vital than the eyes of my heart being fixed intensely on the God who saves me? What is more critical than my direct journey to the home of ultimate righteousness God is preparing for me?

In God’s estimation, there is nothing – simply nothing – more important than our deliverance. In fact, when God miraculously delivered the Israelites from slavery to Egypt, He chose to send them the long way to the Promised Land – through the wilderness. Why such a difficult path to traverse? Exodus 13:17b-18a makes clear, “God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, ‘The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.’ Hence God lead the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea.”

The wilderness would be difficult, with challenges galore. However, the short route through Philistia meant a direct turning back. God knew His people would be too quickly tempted to go back to bondage in Egypt, and they would then never reach the Promised Land.

So it is. The wilderness of our lives can be sadly difficult. Truly, only God Himself knows why we must travel the path we do. But, one thing we know for a fact: the avoidance of pain is simply not more important than our full deliverance. I will travel this wilderness path, since I know it means I will not turn back. I will see God one day in the place He resides.