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Truth: He is more than enough

John 4:23-24 (MEV) Yet the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father seeks such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth.

As I was writing the prayer for last week’s blog, this verse came to mind. Then I pondered, how many people worship God and love the spirit part, but lack the truth part. So many worship their problems and circumstances, their identities outside of Christ, their feelings and emotions, their thoughts, etc. When is Jesus going to be enough for us? We need to stop defending our flesh with “we are enough” and replace it with “Jesus, You are more than enough.”

I recently read the book The Fight for Female by Lisa Bevere. There was a section in it about the “Fight against idols.” I am forty-five years old and in the throngs of perimenopause. Hot flashes get all the attention but that is not all a woman goes through. We have brain fog, feeling tired even when we sleep at night, frozen shoulder, times of sadness, just the don’t want to’s, then being sensitive about things we really do not care about. We can get all up in our thoughts. My identity is not in what I am going through. I can spiral and skid into the crazy that is perimenopause or I can combat it with truth.

Let me show you some areas that can be a sign of idolatry in our lives then we are going to combat it with truth. What we determine to be rest. Sometimes we are striving so much in our day to day lives that we choose what we think is rest instead of receiving the gift of community that He gave us. Separation is not to do within the body but the body as a whole is separate and light into darkness. Isolation can be a form of idolatry. Idols can be found in our homes, and I am not talking about the decorations. Here is how Lisa defined an idol: “an object of extreme devotion; a representation or symbol of an object of worship; a false god; a false conception; fallacy; a form or appearance visible but without substance.“

Idols are created when we turn to that which is less and treat it as more; as a source of identity instead of the God Most High. Idolatry is often the practice of engaging with the right thing in the wrong way. For example, marriage, children, a career, friends, a spouse, food, sports, and even exercise are all good things, but if we attach too much importance to any of these, they can potentially become an idol. This happens when we give our strength to or draw our strength or comfort from sources outside of our Creator. This could mean we the wrong focus and are looking for the right thing in the wrong place or we’ve made ourselves the source. Addiction can be a form or idolatry. Entertainment can become idolatry. – Lisa Bevere

When I look inward and start to make decision that is best for me, then I have made an idol of myself. This is not about being healthy or healing emotionally. This is about becoming whole in Christ. How do I know? I have been there. I wanted to do the selfish thing years ago, when I claimed to be a broken woman living for Christ. I was so hurt with the church that we are serving now. I felt so unappreciated and still have to fight those things. I have feeling of sacrificing so much for people that, in my thoughts, would never consider me. I felt so used and taken for granted. The thoughts of giving all of me and nobody would care if I was not there. Can you see the idol of myself? What had to happen? I had to get back in the truth of His Word. Here is the lie that I believed, I was an orphan because no one was like me.

Ephesians 1:5 (AMP) He predestined and lovingly planned for us to be adopted to Himself as [His own] children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the kind intention and good pleasure of His will

When Paul wrote this, He was thinking of the current Roman law that stated that adopted had their debts erased and transferred to the adoptive father. This is not talking about the adoption of children, they were adopting adults, with new rights and responsibilities. They were adopting heirs. Their past had nothing to do with their adoption. An adopted son could not be disowned, they could not be disinherited, and they could no longer be identified as an orphan. I have stated before that the orphan spirit is not of God, so therefore it must be antichrist, which makes it demonic. Yes, Christians can be oppressed by demonic spirits. Is deliverance needed? A heart of repentance and surrender is needed. Do these thoughts try to creep up? Yes, but now I have a weapon to cast them down.

Ephesians 2:19-22 (AMP) So then you are no longer strangers and aliens [outsiders without rights of citizenship], but you are fellow citizens with the saints (God’s people), and are [members] of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the [chief] Cornerstone, in whom the whole structure is joined together, and it continues [to increase] growing into a holy temple in the Lord [a sanctuary dedicated, set apart, and sacred to the presence of the Lord]. In Him [and in fellowship with one another] you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

We are to worship God in Spirit and Truth. The truth is that we cannot reason away with what Christ gave us as a gift. I am not an orphan. I have been adopted into a family that has Christ as the head. I do not have to keep striving, because He is my rest. I am not alone and He adopted me into a family that includes all of those that have received Him as Lord and Savior. We may have our differences and things we don’t like about each other, but if we direct one another toward Christ, He can transform us to reflect His image. We can love like He loves. We can stop telling each other that “you are enough” and tell the truth that “He is more than enough.”

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Release – Even if there is a Scar

1 Peter 5:7 (AMP) casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].

I have a two inch scar on the front of my left knee. It has been there since I was three years old. The picture is of me is when I was just a little over two. I was a rambunctious child and would slide into my wooden toy-box knees first. This resulted in a chipped knee cap that did not show up on the original x-ray. It got to where I could not put my weight on it and had to be hospitalized for a bone infection. I was there for six weeks. At such a young age, my memories of who was there with me if fuzzy (it has been 40 years). I can tell you how I felt, because that stayed with me into my developmental years and into adulthood (even after receiving Christ as my Savior). I felt alone (even though I wasn’t). Feelings of abandonment and rejection, as a result of so many other things that transpired, like my father not choosing to be a part of my life after the divorce. Here is the thing, I do not blame anyone for how I felt. It was no one’s fault that the memory of me being in the hospital at three resulted in feeling alone. Who’s fault was it?

Ephesians 2:1-2 (NKJV) And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience

That word course in Greek means aiona – denoting a specific period of time, a specific era or generation. We were trapped, bound to walk that path time and again. I can no longer identify with the course of the world that Christ delivered me from? I had to get free of this thing that was plaguing me and not allowing me to walk in my full freedom that Christ redeemed me from. That may be where I am from and I am not to forget that (so I can show the path of freedom to others), but that does not mean that I have to live there.

I was stuck in a pit of rejection. So much that I even allowed the oppressive spirit of orphan to attach itself to me as a believer. How do we get out of these graves that we did not put ourselves in?

Psalms 40:1-2 (AMP) I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry. He brought me up out of a horrible pit [of tumult and of destruction], out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock, steadying my footsteps and establishing my path.

First thing is that you have to want to get out of the pit, but you cannot do it yourself. This is why Jesus came, not just for fire insurance to keep me from hell. Jesus reads from Isaiah 61 in Luke 4:18-19, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me (the Messiah), because He has anointed Me to preach the good news to the poor. He has sent Me to announce release (pardon, forgiveness) to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed (downtrodden, bruised, crushed by tragedy), to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord [the day when salvation and the favor of God abound greatly].” (AMP) Are we walking in the fullness of our salvation?

1 Peter 5:6-9 (AMP) Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God [set aside self-righteous pride], so that He may exalt you [to a place of honor in His service] at the appropriate time, casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully]. Be sober [well balanced and self-disciplined], be alert and cautious at all times. That enemy of yours, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion [fiercely hungry], seeking someone to devour. But resist him, be firm in your faith [against his attack—rooted, established, immovable], knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being experienced by your brothers and sisters throughout the world. [You do not suffer alone.] 

It is our of pride that we will not seek help. It takes great humility to admit of your struggles. It takes greater humility to desire to get out of the pit. That is what I wanted. I had to surrender everything to Him who redeemed me. I had to get to the root of what was going on, and not just treat the symptoms for them to leak out and put me back in bondage again (Galatians 5:1). The second thing you do after you ask God for help is to release it (cast all your cares). After you release you need to fill that void with the Word. Why? Because that enemy of ours, the devil, is looking for an area of entry. We need to fill our minds, our hearts and our mouths with the Word. That’s what Jesus did, how do you think He was able to live such a victorious life? We are to be imitators of Him (Ephesians 5:1). There is more in me that is getting worked on, that is what working out our salvation means (Philippians 2:12).

It is time to release it. It is time to be free from the strongholds that have kept us in the pits for so long. There is still a very noticeable scar, but it is not a symbol of trauma, it is a symbol of victory. I am free of abandonment, rejection and feeling alone.

Ephesians 1:5 (AMP) He predestined and lovingly planned for us to be adopted to Himself as [His own] children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the kind intention and good pleasure of His will—

In the time that this was written, the cost of children being high and average families having very few children, this posed a challenge to the senators. Without a male heir, their title and estate would be forfeited. This was the leading cause for adoption in ancient Rome. They adopted adult male heirs. According to Roman law, an adopted child’s debts were erased and transferred to their adoptive father, and they became the heir to that estate. The adopted person would have new rights and responsibilities and the legal records of their history would be expunged (erased). The adopted son was not required to have an untarnished life. The adopted person would be considered the son of the new father, and their past would have nothing to do with it. They cannot identify as an orphan. Therefore, I should never feel alone, abandoned nor rejected.

Ephesians 4:21-24 (AMP) If in fact you have [really] heard Him and have been taught by Him, just as truth is in Jesus [revealed in His life and personified in Him],  that, regarding your previous way of life, you put off your old self [completely discard your former nature], which is being corrupted through deceitful desires, and be continually renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh, untarnished mental and spiritual attitude], and put on the new self [the regenerated and renewed nature], created in God’s image, [godlike] in the righteousness and holiness of the truth [living in a way that expresses to God your gratitude for your salvation].

Start with the ask, then cast. Do not forget the soberness of your mind because the enemy only wants to keep you in bondage. Release it to Him. Trust that He paid the price for every part of your freedom. The scars may not go away, but the effects you do not have to live in any longer.

Abba Father, You are so Wonderful and Marvelous. Thank You for all that You are. Thank You for sending Your Son so that we could be adopted as Your sons and daughters through Him. Thank You for the gift of the Holy Spirit that brings revelation to Your Word. We repent for not stepping into the fullness of the freedom that Your Son set us free from. We are set free and not longer captives to the course of this world, which includes that ways we were brought up. Let us call upon Your Name. Let us cast those cares and concerns to You and fill them up with Your Word. The devil has no place in our hearts and minds any longer. We choose freedom today. We choose forgiveness today. We choose joy today. We choose hope today. We choose love today. In Jesus Name, Amen.