Doorways… Part I
Guilt, Love, and Growth
There are doorways in life, wide and narrow. And there are dreams and divine assignments inside each of us that are higher than who we are today. To get to point B from point A is a process that requires changes – without which there is no way to successfully pass that doorway of our destiny.
I want to encourage you in an area rarely discussed: Understanding the wings of Discipline/Refinement. Refinement is NOT God squashing you for mistakes! God is Love beyond the fullest comprehension! And there is no fear in love, because perfect love casts out all fear.
(I John 4:16-18) This is a key, because fear causes you to run or fight the thing you fear so that you do not yield yourself to it. God does not operate through terror. So, never is His refinement “kill, steal, or destroy”- PERIOD. Those actions are ALWAYS the working of sin and Satan (John 10:10, Romans 6:23). John 10:10 – “The thief comes to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.”
Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,” says the LORD, “thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
With that said, God is the planter of dreams and callings, giftings, etc.. You have a divine purpose (a place and calling where you will be fulfilled and thrive.) God is all out to help you succeed!
An OPEN door
Picture it, that there is a door standing open before you… but something keeps catching behind you and you keep getting stuck; you keep tripping, and you don’t know why… The luggage you are carrying won’t fit through. If it could, it would taint and destroy your liberty and your dreams. Discipline seeks to remove these so that you cross through... Discipline is God’s Voice in foresight for your sake – sharing the secrets to success – even like a trainer preparing the Olympic Medalist. Refinement is love freeing you to fly, NOT hitting you for tripping. With this foundation proceed!
Proverbs 3:11-12 “My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” (NIV)
Again, if love, why the discipline/instruction? It is so that the son will not stay in the confinements of his own limitations. The refinement is so the son will excel – beyond who he is today! Think, if he remained as he is! A surgeon untrained would be unfit for his dreams - even deadly in an operation.
Your deepest desires and dreams can quickly become your nightmare without God’s training/discipline along the way. Marriage, college, friends, money, careers, ministry, etc...
Side note: this is where God’s word and hearing God’s voice are important, because the written word of God will rise up and speak to you on a day to day level, guiding you to another level of success.
Finally, discipline is not to take away something you enjoy, but to prepare you to receive your heart’s desire (that which you really want). What is laid down now, will not be regretted. Because if kept, that very thing which you sought to keep would eventually play to your hurt or downfall.
Listen, if you should say to me, “I see issues in myself and I keep falling there! Whether it is food, arguments, relationships, addictions, character issues, depression, control, approval trips, anxiety, etc… I can hear the despairing cry: “I have tried and tried and I can’t change!” I can relate to you, as this was my cry for so many years. I want to share - not a list of rules - but the relieving answer.
When Shame Meets Love
Yes, I felt the weight of having to fix myself, and feeling guilty before God as an imperfect thing, unusable until I got myself together! The grim assumption “I have so far to go and it will probably take a very long time” hung over me like a cloud. What a lie to tie you down!! I remember God talking with me about it during another one of my frustrating attempts to change.
He showed me:
John 6:28-29
28 Then they said to Him, "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?"
29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent." (NKJ)
Well, whom did God send? Jesus was sent to propose covenant with you. Love came to clean off the blood of your struggling. (Ezekiel 16) To work in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:14). To become one with you (Ephesians 5:25-32) When you fear an angry boss, it is a stress and struggle to please him until you finally give up and quit. On the other hand, when you are in love with someone, it is no struggle! You look for ways to surprise them. You change and it brings out the best in you. Thus this is the work: Believe in Love, Himself, whom God sent. Set your gaze on His pleasure over you. (Psalms 42:6-8)
Ok then.... Look at this: When you feel that God is angry with you, you run! When you feel guilty and think His discipline is to hurt you, you really run. If you believe He delights in you, and is showing you things to free you for success, you're open. You'll give your heart to look and listen. Why? Because there is a love relationship between the two of you. It is the goodness of God that draws man to repentance. (Romans 2:4) Repentance is: A change of focus and consequently a change of direction.
There is something that happens when you believe God loves YOU that empowers you to change. It empowers you to win.
Summary
1.) There are doorways in front of you/ destinies, and callings.
2.) The discipline of God is actually Love showing you what is tripping you up and setting you free from it.
3.) How do you change? Set your eyes/ your thoughts/ set the image that plays in your mind on God’s Love for you & His Word concerning the matter.
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to (the image of) this world: but be ye transformed (into the image shown in the word) by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
2Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from (one level of) glory to (the next level of) glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
To ONE who is lost: This will not work for you if you are not born into God's family. Why? You cannot change yourself, just as a donkey cannot change the habits that are characteristic of a donkey. It takes a change of the heart. It takes being born into a new family, with new genetics... (John 3:5-7, John 1:12-13) I'll explain: Notice some families carry bad genetics like heart trouble, back trouble, diabetes, etc. A Smith born child looks like a Smith, acts like a Smith, and carries the Smith traits. You were born into this world with a heart prone to sin - already set for failure because you came from a line of sinners (their seed produced sinners just as an apple seed produces apples, and a Smith seed produces Smiths) The problem with being a sinner is you can paint up the outside of you, but the inside still looks like a sinner/ a failure. You can trim a donkey's hooves to resemble race horse hooves, clip his ears, and shine him up like a "winner" but he will never run like a thoroughbred because his genetics (his heart) is not a thoroughbred. A thoroughbred, however, can win the grand prix because he can be disciplined and guided to his full potential. He has the heart & genetics of a thoroughbred. Do you see the difference? How do you change – from a sinner to a winner?
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. (NKJ)
Romans 3:23 "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," (NKJ)
Romans 6:23 "...the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (NKJ)
Romans 10:13 "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. (saved from the genetics of sin and made a new creation in Christ Jesus where the old is passed away)" (NKJ)
Because...
Romans 10:9-10 "if you confess (to God) with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (NKJ)
There stands before you an open door.
Choose yes.
(Jesus speaking): John 10:9 "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved..." (NKJ)
Back to Article List
