Spiritual Super Immunity Part 2

One of the critical factors that must be discussed with developing Spiritual Super Immunity is the need for exercise.  I think this is so overlooked in the church today.  We attend church services, small group settings,  worship events, etc...  in which we are continually instructed in the things of God.  We are on perpetual receive mode.  Someone remarked that we have more spiritual truth available to us with easier access than any other generation.  And yet, we often lack something critical: the practical application of it.

The Word of God is meant to be implemented, obeyed, and applied.  Simply stated we are called to practice what we are living.  This requires us to become serious about living out what we profess.  This is probably one of the main reasons I love missions.  People have remarked to me that others in foreign lands must be blessed from your life.  I hope this is true.  What I know to be true is that I am blessed by being forced to accept responsibility for my own walk with the Lord.

 There is no one else to shift responsibility towards.  If people are lost around me- I must pray and engage them with the love of Christ. If people are sick I must stir up my faith and seek the face of God for healing.  If people are assaulted by the scourge of poverty I must seek God for heaven's strategies on finance.  If people are oppressed and assaulted by evil spirits I must know my authority in Christ and understand how to use the weapon of His holy name. In short, I must know the Word for myself.  People around me are depending on it.  And God is depending on it.

I'm not trying to over-emphasize my importance, as clearly God can use anyone anywhere willing to make themselves available. What I'm articulating is the power of exercising my spiritual muscles.  Do you know what happens in the process?  I become strong and healthy in the ways of the Lord.  I've searched the Word, I've prayed, I've sought His face, I listened for His voice, I've shared His Word, I've helped others make the same application in their lives.  Is this because I'm the best qualified for the job? No way! Rather, it's because in many situations there really isn't anyone else.    So I step up and make myself available.

Is it scary? Oh yes!  Have I made mistakes at times?  Unbelievable ones.  Have lives been changed through my obedience?  Great numbers!   Quite truthfully, there's nothing like it in the world.  I've grown and developed simply because I was active in my spirituality! I was busy about my Master's business.  I kept pouring out and so Jesus kept pouring in: new ideas, new insights, new courage, new faith, new love, etc..   Just as physical repetition of the same exercise makes you strong in a particular area improving overall health and immunity so does spiritual exercise improve your overall spiritual immunity.

Show me an active Christian eagerly practicing their faith and I will show you a believer who is far removed from the temptations and compromise that are eroding away at the spiritual vitality of many in this generation.  Practice your faith! Share it with people around you. Pray for others.  Share the Word. Take a missions trip.  Develop your testimony.  Go on a fast.  Memorize promises in the Word.  Give sacrificially.  Serve for no recognition.  Obey whole-heartedly and unflinchingly.  The end result will always be spiritual growth and increasing spiritual super immunity.  

Spiritual Eating Habits: Chronic Compromise or Spiritual Super-Immunity

Health circles in the United States talk openly about the so-called Super-Immunity Foods. The idea is that if a person eats for health instead of due to stress, social pressure, or addiction, a person's overall physical condition will improve.  Eating nutrient dense foods strengthens our bodies instead of depleting them.   These foods supply much needed nutrition to our immune systems enabling them to fight off pathogens and other toxins inherent with our polluted world. In short, the better the food the better the chances the body has of maintaing a strong immune system.

 Having been deathly ill myself in 2011, I recognize the enormous value in this kind of holistic approach.  We are what we eat.  And if the food we eat is dead, stripped of enzymes and nutritional content, or even worse full of toxins such as preservatives, food colorings, and other strange chemicals that we can't even pronounce then we are eventually headed for trouble.  At some point toxins will produce systemic toxicity- the bedrock of disease.

The purpose of this blog though isn't to discuss physical eating habits; it's to discuss spiritual ones.  I'm continually amazed at the average Christian's spiritual diet.  It consists mostly of junk foods- sporadic munchies consumed when the famished cry of the soul finally rises higher than the other pursuits and distractions that monopolize our time and attention.  The end result?  We have greatly weakened and sometimes almost non-existent spiritual immune systems.  

How does this break-down practically?  In essence, temptation comes our way and we cave almost immediately lacking the spiritual backbone necessary to stand strong.   Of course, everyone around us is doing the same thing- after all, compromise is in vogue these days.  It's justified, tolerated, and sometimes even celebrated by some of the foremost pulpits of the land.  Yet, deep down inside our hearts ache knowing that this can't be the life that Jesus died to give us.

 Something is terribly wrong when hypocrisy is considered normal.  That would be like saying "being chronically sick is the best you can expect in life." If this is the case, why go to the doctor?  Why have health insurance?  It would be totally non-sensical.  Life gets really old when illness instead of wholeness is our constant companion.  Again, I'm speaking from personal experience: I was physically ill for 10 months.  Compromise is worst in the life of the person practicing it whether they admit it or not, they are secretly miserable.  They know that things should be different.

Thankfully, there were certain activities and foods I was able to implement during my illness that boosted my immune system.  Today I'm healthier than I have been in over decade.

Certain spiritual parallels exist in this area of boosting our spiritual immune systems.   We don't have to be chronically compromised living a wishy-washy, half-hearted Christian existence.  We can be strong, vital, robust, and healthy! We can have Spiritual Super-Immunity.  This is Christ's desire for us.   I will share some thoughts along these lines over the next several days.  Stay tuned. And watch your diet closely.  

3 Reviews

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Practicing God's Peace (Part E.)

And finally after navigating the P.E.A.C. of the word peace we reach the final letter-- E.  I like to think of E as representing the word excellence.  At first it seems kind of a strange to equate excellence with peace right?  Excellence is one of those really ambiguous words that means so many different things to so many different people.  After all, your definition of excellence is not necessarily my definition of excellence.  It's a rather subjective assessment.

What I do know about excellence is this--it's really difficult to be consistent in it because of two main reasons: laziness and distraction.  Many people enjoy bursts and spurts of excellence in their life only to settle for apathy and stagnation after a short-lived surge of inspiration.  I like to think of peace as being the groundwork necessary to experience on-going excellence.  Notice I didn't say that peace is the only factor in this equation.  Obviously, there are many different aspects of excellence: accountability, vision, inspiration, confidence, creativity etc..  All of these are important.  Yet, without peace in our hearts and minds it is virtually Impossible with a capital "I" to experience excellence.

Peace keeps us focused on who we are called to be, what we are called to do, and the methodology/vision necessary for making it a reality.  Take away someone's sense of peace and they soon get massively distracted trying to create a false sense of well-being and tranquility in their life.  I know it sounds strange but when do you do your best work? When you are under massive stress or when you are free to be creative and resourceful?  Obviously, a small amount of stress can actually facilitate creativity. My contention would be though that it is possible to navigate small amounts of stress while being at peace.  What makes stress so stressful is the very fact that peace has long since disappeared.

Many great leaders have fallen at this very point- they make decisions based on pressures, stresses, and external situations beyond their control that have affected their inner judgement resulting in a departure from the excellence they have demonstrated consistently.  I have seen it happen often.  The point I'm making is that peace is like a foundation for walking in excellence.  Peace keeps us in the place of vision, it anchors us to the place of confidence, it releases us into the place of creativity, etc..   Without peace people languish;  with peace people thrive.  

The Bible says that Daniel had a spirit of excellence about him.  So much so that he was quickly promoted to be the top official in the entire empire.  There are many factors that contributed to his excellence.  One of these was peace.  Just a few verses after mentioning his excellence in Daniel 6, the Word tells us that Daniel is thrown into the lions den.  Of great interest to me is that he fell asleep! I have spent many a night in the wild places of East Africa with lions nearby.  I remember one night when a male was about 3 miles away.  He roared every half hour or so.  Every hair on my body stood on end even though I was in the safety of a luxury tented camp. Needless to say: not much sleep that night.   As to how Daniel fell asleep laying next to these big kitties can only be attributed to the fact that he walked in a great amount of peace.

All of us were created to walk in excellence like Daniel. All of us will need the same underlying current of peace in our lives.  Jesus provides it freely and graciously as we learn to surrender and submit to His leadership and Lordship in our lives.   Do you want greater excellence in your life?  Go to the place of surrender, the cross, and find His peace.  It will propel you farther that you ever thought possible.  

Practicing God's Peace part C

Today we examine the C of peace.  Up to this point we have explored P-practicing God’s Presence, E-engaging in wholesome thinking, A-accepting responsibility.  Now we look at C-Christ centered living.

One of the really neat things about the peace of God is that it keeps our lives centered on the person of Christ.  Throughout the Word of God Jesus is given various titles that describe various aspects of His identity and character.  For example, He is called the “Bread of Life”, “the Word of God”, “the Great Shepherd”, “the Way”, “the Truth”, “the Life”, etc..  

One of the least discussed titles is found in Isaiah where the prophet anticipates that Jesus will be called “the Prince of Peace.”  This title is more than just an honorific title with only ceremonial value. This title describes one of Christ’s most wonderful characteristics—He is the ruler of peace.   In other words, his domain is peace.  He rules and reigns through the means of peace in our lives.   This is fundamental to the understanding of the Kingdom of God. 

Basically, the Kingdom of God is the place where God rules and reigns.  Paul says in Romans that the Kingdom of God isn’t a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, joy, and peace in the Holy Spirit.  Interestingly, one of the three aspects of the Kingdom Paul emphasizes is peace.  Another way of saying this would be: Peace is integral to walking in the Kingdom of God.   And the center of the Kingdom is the King—Jesus the Prince of Peace.

So when we choose to walk in peace we are choosing to experience the reality of Christ in our lives.  Peace produces Christ-centered living and Christ-centered thinking.  We are no longer controlled by the impulses and cravings of our flesh.  Peace keeps our hearts and souls grounded on the reality of Christ. 

When the storms of life roll in as they always do we are able to remain perfectly still and at rest.  External stresses no longer control our inner attitudes and emotions.  Why?  Christ now rules and reigns through his peace.    

I remember the night the rebels attacked the city of Bujumbura where I was living.  I was over at a friend’s house for a Bible study on the other side of town. All of the sudden…pop…pop…pop. A few bullets.  Then came the heavy machine gun fire followed by the mortar shells.  Physically I began to shake and tremble. 

My friend told me just to stay put because it would soon pass.  Three hours later the firefight had greatly intensified and it was approaching 11 PM.  It was really eerie and I was scared.   All of the sudden I had a paradigm shift: wait a minute; the rebels’ attack doesn’t control my internal sense of wellbeing. I stopped panicking and greatly relaxed.  I remembered what the Lord had dropped in my heart, “the safest place you can ever be is in the will of God.”

 I knew moving to Bujumbura had been the will of God. I had prayed and He had clearly directed me there.   Peace began to rule and reign again as I focused on what Jesus had spoken to me. I began to praise him even though the external noise intensified. 

To my friend’s disbelief I announced that I was driving home.  I jumped in my car and drove across the city at 11-something in the evening.  Soldiers were everywhere shooting into the hills.  I’m not saying it was smart.  I’m just saying I had peace in the midst of the storm. 

Peace enables us to focus on the voice of Christ in our storms.  The winds can be howling, the waves pounding, and the boat be in serious trouble, yet Jesus is sound asleep in the stern.  Why?  He knew His Father had said that they were going to cross to the other side.  He had peace.  So he wakes up, looks at the disciples in disbelief and releases the inner reality of His peace externally and soon the waves are perfectly still and winds die down.  Everyone is in shock—except Jesus.  He says, where is your faith?  In other words, don’t you believe my word?  He had told them they were going to the other side. 

And so are we.  Peace is critical to keeping Jesus and His voice central in our storms.  

Practicing God's Peace (Part A)

As we continue to look at Philippians 4:7 and some of the incredible benefits that flow from walking in God's peace, I would like to develop part A.   We have already talked about P representing God's Presence.  And E representing engage in peaceful/positive thinking.  Now letter A touches on the idea of "assuming responsibility."   To me this is one of the most critical and crucial aspects of peace.

Before I really began to be intentional about practicing God's peace in my life I was a "blame-shifter." I knew there were some issues and deficiencies in my life that I kept nice and tucked away so that no one could see them. As long as I avoided certain trigger points I was able to keep up the nice little facade.  Everything was good.  When the trigger points did activate these broken places in my life I would play the blame game.  It's really a fun game; it has no rules and just about everything and anyone can play whether they want to or not.  "It's his fault that I'm like this."  "It's because of what so and so said." "If I hadn't grown up this way I wouldn't be like this."

Do you see the pattern?  "If....then..."  The only problem with this little game is that we never change when we play it.  We are conscripted to repeat the same script over and over again--just with different people/factors at fault each time.   One day it hit me: "wait a minute...the only person responsible for me is me."  I had began to practice God's peace: I was spending time in His presence and my thinking was being transformed.  I realized that God's peace gave me the emotional and intellectual courage to begin exploring why I wanted to blame other people/factors for my issues instead of assuming responsibility for them and embarking on the healing process.

I really think the main issue is this: fear.  We are afraid to be honest with ourselves.  We fear digging up past memories and traumatic experiences.  We fear being transparent before God and other "safe people" in our lives.  And so we keep putting on the facade and act indignant when other people "push our buttons."  I love how the Amplified translates Phil 4:7.

And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

 Isn't that powerful?  Fearing nothing from God.  There is a place in God's peace where we are no longer controlled by fear. This isn't just a "Boo...I'm going to scare you in the dark fear."  This is real fears that control people's lives: fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of the future, etc...  

 God's peace comes and sets us free from fear! In so doing, we are free to assume responsibility for our lives.  Why is this such great news?  Simply because it means that we don't have to be a victim of circumstance anymore.  We can determine and decide what our responses will look like. Obviously, this decision doesn't necessarily make things better over night.  We are talking about a process here.  This process though will ultimately result in wholeness for our wounded hearts. 

 P. Presence. E. Engage in wholesome thinking A. Assume responsibility.