Jesus: Concept or Reality

I met a man the other day that called himself a backslidden Christian. He matter of factly stated “ I am a backslidden Christian, that’s just the way it is.” He further went on to say “I know the Truth, and I am what I am, that’s all there is to it!” I told him if he knew the Truth he wouldn’t just haphazardly make comments like “that’s just the way it is.”

I believe his statement was careless, but it was careless because of his understanding of God. You see when Jesus is just a concept or when our Christianity is just a good thing. A statement like that can be said without fear of consequence because we really didn’t believe in our ‘belief’ anyway. We saw it as a good thing for ourselves or even perhaps our family. In much the same way many parents send their children to church but don’t go themselves. They do this because that’s as far as their belief is willing to take them. It’s a belief that Jesus is just a concept, a belief that church is just a good thing. It’s more of a belief in a system that promotes morality and that’s as far as their ears will take them. Could it be perhaps that they were never ‘Born Again’?  That they have never experienced the new lease on life that Jesus gives us, maybe so. Oh how I thank God that He is so real to me. I know where I came from and what I used to be. I know, (not just believe) that Christ went to the cross for me and washed away my sins. I know that I am a new creature in Christ Jesus. I know that God the Father hears my prayers. I know what He has done for my family, and I know that He is coming back soon to take me home. I know that the bible is the infallible Word of God.

Friend if you’re reading this and realize that your understanding is just mere concept and not reality, it’s not to late. 2 Corinthians 6:2 says
(For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now [is] the accepted time;
behold, now [is] the day of salvation.) You too can have the same surety in Jesus if you will only call on Him today. He is knocking at your
heart right this very moment. Open your heart and invite Him in!

Douglas Burrell
The Creators Clay!

The Great Escape

 Man was not meant to endure sin.  He was not designed with the capacity to function normally, emotionally, mindfully or physically with the ill effects of sin.  As humans, we have no mechanism to counter sin.  We cannot erase sin, we cannot hide from sin, we cannot pretend it never happened, we cannot function as intended while sin imposes its ill in us and toward us.

If we were not created with an ability to counter sin, then our Designer intended for us to live sinless lives or being omniscient, was aware of our weakness, and made a way of escape to point back to Him.  Free will is the culprit of our situation.  Free will was the catalyst of our demise.  His love was the reason for our free will.

What a great love, what a great design, an original design that granted us eternal life and relationship with our Creator.  A design that offered complete free will, then the Designer went even one step further and revealed a route that leads entirely away from Him.  If He hadn’t done that, He could have been called “controlling.”  However, along that path away from Him, the Designer placed one way back to Him.  That way is always there for us to choose, but choosing this way means giving up our way, a way that is designed by us.

We were meant to co-design and co-create with Him, not without Him.  Like a father and son working together on a car, the Father is a master mechanic who owns the necessary tools and possesses the total knowledge of how the car works.  The son can use his tools any time he needs, but also has at his disposal his father’s advice.  Together they can co-design and co-create a beautiful custom show car.  And all the world will marvel at the beauty and power of such a car.

Without the depth of the Father’s knowledge, together with His impassioned willingness to invest in us, His children, we would never have the capacity to accomplish the good He intends.

As a Child

 I have recently been overwhelmed with the realization of living God’s word versus knowing His word.  Perhaps living it is really knowing it.  How intense is the perception of this recent understanding.  How much more difficult and mature is this level of understanding.

Fear is beside me reminding me of the long line of church workers who have seemingly lost their first love, the love of a forgiving dad whose arms are open and whose heart is always toward them.  Is it really possible to be excited by the influence of the Holy Spirit and follow the letter of His commands at the same time ?  I can only look at my beautiful wife and see that it is possible.

This road to spiritual maturity must include conquering of self and reliance on God.  Along this road one must experience joy, sadness, grief, humility, contrition, and pain, facing our own faults, addictions, sins, and family curses.  Teaming with God and your loved ones, and defeating these evil giants is essential for spiritual growth. 

Oh, how painful the application of His ways to our lives can be, but how freeing and wonderful they truly are.  My mind flashes back in history to lost opportunities of personal growth and the chance to offer my sons a better life, although I am confronted with His timing in my life – or is that just a catch-all phrase when we recognize our lack of development and our refusal to surrender.  Either way, I cannot change the past, but must instead live with the knowledge of being able to positively impact lives and impart love, wisdom and affirmation to all.  Perhaps this is what being Christ-like is?  Or is this just where I am at because of my emotional and intellectual restraints and capacity?  Is there a more holy understanding?  Even verbalizing that rings legalism.  Should it?  Why does it?  I am reminded of the Scripture that says, “Do not worry about tomorrow, for today has enough problems in itself.”  So forward I go daily for Him and by Him.

After pondering material authored by Alfred Edersheim, a Messianic Jew, I am confronted with more to intellectually digest; specifically, “rational understanding versus face value” in reference to Scripture.  The Scriptures are full of symbolisms and allegories that are so awesome to me.  They speak to my innermost being by shining light on Scripture, illuminating the thoughts and motives of the Creator – at least as much as I am able to grasp.  Contrarily, I see great value and really admire those who are blindly able to follow God’s word without the need for the exposition revealed by allegorical phrases.  I am reminded of, “Come to Him as a child,” how innocent and trusting and lovely a relationship like this is; however, I am reminded of the large number of Christians that have lost their first love and trudge along playing the part as they know best.

Oh how undone I am and how perfect He is!

Get Out of the Mud!

Sometimes we as people feel defeated when it seems our world is falling apart. Sometimes it makes us
feel like throwing in the towel. “Why even try if things are bad anyway! I mean since I’m dirty I might as well wallow in the mud. After all I’ve blown it over & over again, there’s no hope for me anymore. Maybe if I rub this mud all over me it wont matter anymore. Maybe all the mud will make me unrecognizable. Maybe God wont want to look at me anymore. Maybe He will just count me as a
‘lost cause’ and stop thinking of me so I’ll finally have some peace. Maybe this mud will make me so ugly, I will finally stop trying and just give up so I wont be tormented with this conflict in my soul anymore.”

My friend, this conflict is a ‘God Thing.’ Don’t try to erase the conflict, but instead GET OUT OF THE MUD! Covering yourself will only lead to separation between you and God. Jesus wants to be your covering. Only Jesus can provide you with the covering you need. The covering that makes you presentable to the Father. Zechariah 3:4 says Then He answered and spoke to those who stood
before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.” Beloved wont you come out of the mud and let Jesus put on the robe of righteousness on you. All you have to do is let Him!

Giving God Glory, What Does it Mean?

Why does God want to be glorified?

He delights in our giving Him glory because it is evidence of our excitement and understanding of Him, His plan and His purpose for all creation.

When we are excited and truly worship, it is because we are personally close to Him and something has been revealed to us about Him, we are agreeing with Him, and He loves to see us excited. That glory He receives is like a father being proud of his child as he lets go of the bicycle seat, and the child moves forward, because God has taught him, and he trusted, understood and conquered.

Copyright@2014 Doug Burrell

Cindy On The Radio Again, Discussing Marriage,Divorce and Abuse

Actually we were both on the radio yesterday.  Well sort of.  We recorded two hours of discussion on marriage and divorce.  Cindy and I are both christian and on our second marriage.  In a lot of church circles this is not just a taboo subject to speak of but also a taboo thing to do.

Getting married a second time is just something that is not talked about in the church. Well during this radio show we discuss our personal stories of marriage and divorce.  We also touch on the subject of abuse in the church, which is our main focus in our ministry.

We sure had a lot of fun! Two hours was over in a flash.

I will post links as they are made available. In the meantime if you want to hear other recordings of Cindy discussing abuse, visit our website at  Hurtbylove.com

The Church is Afraid of Real Men!

My wife wrote an article titled “The World Still Needs Kings” you can find it here. http://wp.me/p1OaB7-3i

In my opinion it was one of her greatest posts, yet she barely received any comments from anyone. Which is odd because it was very inspirational and perfect for the times. As the title suggests, the content deals with men being real men. Not some sissified version of what we have today. I also am firmly convinced that the church is gravely afraid of men stepping into this role. They always talk about wanting men to step up to the plate. But what they mean by that is “church attendance” and that’s it! Going to all night prayer meetings and men breakfasts. The church draws the lines on masculinity because they want to play it safe. Real men aren’t safe. Real men can be dangerous. There is collateral damage in battles between good and evil. There hasn’t been a battle in the church in a long, long time. There hasn’t been a battle because men aren’t engaging in battle anymore. They have lost the desire and ability to fight.

God forbid if a man were to speak the truth in a group of feminist church-going people! Why that would be very offensive and insensitive. We have to be all inclusive in the name of tolerance too. No wonder men hate going to church. Funny, how every time I go on this rant I am labeled as a chauvinistic neanderthal.

Furthermore, I am told that because the younger generation uses every form of social networking on the computer that I must do so as well in order to connect with them. I hate texting, it’s bondage! So is technology. Guys have their heads down so much looking into that stupid little phone that they are not aware of their surroundings. I see it all the time in church too, it drives me crazy. I have mentioned my irritation with it and I’m told to be accepting. What a load of BS!

Being aware of my surroundings is vital if I am going to be able to protect someone from an attacker. That is one of the reasons men are physically bigger and stronger. That’s why we have a rage inside of us when we see an injustice. Unless that too has been buried by political correctness and tolerance. Man I hate that word “tolerance.” Men have buried their instincts so much that it has been replaced with fear.

Most women who read this are going to disagree with me too because for a woman to accept this concept she must give up control, she must be completely trusting and be willing to follow her man. Again it may appear to be dangerous to do this, but in a true kings arms is the safest place to be.  Now do not confuse a legalistic family dictator with a true king or playing golf with the pastor doesn’t make you a true king either.  The problem is that there are too few kings around because the church has burnt them all at the stake. The church has followed the world and emasculated the male in the name of tolerance, acceptance, and gentleness. A good man is not always nice, and being nice isn’t always good! Be a good man, not a nice man.

This world is coming to a crossroad where you will all be victims because of your complacency. My God! Men wake up, rise up, gird your loins and act like men of old. Throw away indecision and fear of rejection by your peers. Who gives a rip what others think of you! If God is telling you to “Get Up” then do it! I don’t know about you, but I don’t need any more friends. I can hear the whiners now. “Oh that’s so callous, don’t you think you’re taking this a little far?” So what, I don’t care what you think. And to the people that say they don’t like me. “Stand in line with the others that don’t like me and take a number!”

I am here to please only my God and to give protection, provision, and leadership to my family and kingdom. What is “my kingdom” you ask? Everywhere and anywhere I choose to go!

Do not even begin to tell me where my boundaries are!

Doug Burrell

Copyright @ 2012

www.hurtbylove.com

Kingship

Cindy wrote this, truly amazing! I believe if we would subscribe to kingship, many things would change in our families and nation.

How Abusers Gain Control By Appearing to Lose It

You, the target of verbal abuse, have one mission in your efforts to end verbal abuse: keep your emotions in check.

See on www.healthyplace.com

Effects of Emotional Abuse: It Hurts When I Love

Love without compassion is possessive, controlling, and dangerous.

The simplest definition of emotionally abusive behavior is anything that intentionally hurts the feelings of another person. Since almost everyone in intimate relationships does that at some time or other in the heat of an argument, emotionally abusive behavior must be distinguished from an emotionally abusive relationship, which is more than the sum of emotionally abusive behaviors.

In an emotionally abusive relationship, one party systematically controls the other by:

Undermining his or her confidence, worthiness, growth, or trust
“Gaslighting” – making him/her feel crazy or unstable
Manipulating him/her with fear or shame.
Here are examples:

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“You shouldn’t spend so much on clothes, you don’t look good anyway.”
“Don’t complain about how bad you have it, no one else could love you.”
“Working and taking courses is too much for you; you can’t handle what you need to do now.”
“Your friends and family just want something from you.”
“I have to drink to be able to stand you.”
“One of these days you’ll wake up, and I’ll be gone.”
“You don’t know the first thing about raising kids.”

See on www.psychologytoday.com