This is something I wrote in response to a comment made to one of my recent blog entries on theShovel website, which means that most of you may not ever see it. Anyhow, I think it may be worth your while to consider it.

A reader asks:

Jim, I have read many of your writings over many months and I seem to walk away from your writings with the same conclusion: You speak as one from another realm (i.e. In Christ) and at the same time, I wish, desire, struggle, pray, that the insight you have would be working in me. I realize this only occurs through the Spirit of Christ. Is there anything I can “do”? How do you posture yourself before Christ? Or, What would you say has most contributed to your (so-called) intuition? I am not asking for some fleshly exercise which not have contributed to what you write but how does one realize the freedom we have in Christ?

Hello my friend,

I do understand your desire to know what makes me tick … that is, how I can speak as one from another realm – especially in view of your seeming inability to understand it. I see what I see and write what I write because I believe it. I believe it, not because of any posturing I’ve done before Christ, but because I am constantly reminded of where that faith comes from.

If I have learned anything over the years regarding human nature, it is that the world around me has questioned me at every turn in the attempt to keep me from following up on my ideas. Sometimes it even comes disguised as help. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told that I couldn’t do what I knew I could. I got to the point that I stopped announcing my plans and just went ahead and did what I believed I could because I didn’t need the discouragement. I’ve realized that it’s the stuff that’s within you that unsettles those around you, and they will question you because they’ve also been taught to question everything within themselves.

I think God has worked within my life in such a way that I slowly began to disregard what others thought I couldn’t know or do. Believe me, I still know what it is to want others to approve of me and of what I come up with, and in a backwards way it is the recognition of this desire that keeps me from trusting in it. I already know that I would be talked out of what I have seen of this miraculous life of Christ.

How can you realize the freedom you have in Christ? I say that you will discover it, more times than not, in the midst of the bondage that still seems to hold you down. You see, the power of the gospel is not found merely in the words of its testimony of Jesus’ death and resurrection, it is found in the reality that has been brought about because of who he is and what he has done. That reality is that Christ is in you. He is there, and his life witnesses from within you … despite all the doubts that you think actually come from within you.

If you’re like I was (and still often am), then you’ve been disregarding the effect of God’s work within you. You may pass his wisdom off because you can’t back it up with a chapter and verse, and then if you can, you assume that you needed the scripture reference to have even considered it. Often, you question what God is speaking through you because others have told you that you can’t know what you really do know. You will question it out of fear that you are trying to become like God after the manner of Lucifer, when the truth is that God has already made you like Christ through this miraculous union.

Ah, but you will be pressed upon by the Christian religious mind to denounce your heresy in a million different ways. But that’s exactly where you need to stand. Sure, you may pursue certain lines of thought that end up needing to be disregarded, but by standing upon this freedom of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus you will find the wisdom of God coming out through you. And truthfully, it comes out having less to do with some theological position made up of words because the life shows itself primarily through life and love.

Upcoming Trip to Uganda

I want to keep you updated on my plans to visit Kampala, Uganda this coming November. A dear brother from that country whom I’ve been in communication with for a few years recently asked me to come to strengthen the hearts of the believers with the grace of Christ. Since my workplace doesn’t allow me to put in for vacation time until 3 months out, I have to wait before declaring an exact time frame. So far, I’ve received numerous donations specifically given to help with the expenses of that visit: a total of $540. For those who would like to help with this endeavor, you may contribute through Paypal. And no, you don’t need an account to use Paypal for sending a gift.

DONATIONS. Thanks! :)