BLESSINGS FLOW WHEN A CONTROLLER LETS GO

"Don't lay a hand on the boy!" the angel said. "Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son." Gen. 22:12 NLT

The Lord is eager and willing to bless His children. We do not notice, much more, enjoy the blessings of God that is already here because of our addiction to control . . . doing things our way; taking full charge of something only God can do, for a controlling heart is demanding rather than grateful. It nourishes one's wound and is deliberately inconsiderate of the wounds inflicted upon others. Sufficient, superior, silent are some costumes that a controller wears to stay in control.

It is here that spiritual surgery is urgently needed! God is the Surgeon, he cuts so we can be healed. There will be no recovery when surgery is not performed. For Abraham, God asked for Isaac. In order for Abraham to enjoy Isaac fully, he must relinquish his grip on the boy. We don't enjoy God's blessings because we grip (control) too hard. Honestly, it feels good to be always in control . . . at least to the controller. Embrace turns to choke; mentoring turns to spying; disciplining turns to caging when we don't recover from the addiction to control!

Religion takes over obedience. Quickly, it becomes a cadence of legalism at the tune of our marching command. God must intervene without violating our free will. If not for God's intervention, the controller will not even know that he is such. Thank God for His blessings of intervention . . . we find ourselves exposed, naked and for the first time, admitting we are not in control. This is a sweet music of grace, a beautiful dance, not a march . . . an opportunity for the possibility of true liberation.

At the end, Abraham did not lose Isaac the way he was slowly losing him as a ‘Controller’ dad. At Mt. Moriah, Abraham stepped back and God took over. It was there that he finally offered His addiction to control. It was there Abraham savored the blessing he almost did not fully enjoy unless He obeyed God and let go of his version of order into God's Holy Chaos. He found himself humbled and blessed! A disturbing journey to deliverance indeed. Remember, when God disturbs, we become desperately dependent upon Him to deliver us from our own self-set order. It is in this rare moment of releasing control that God’s Holy Chaos becomes a blessing!

What Exactly Did Abraham Sacrifice - Part2

Abraham did not learn to lie but benefitted from his lies, because of the beautiful, supermodel, wife the king began to give him gifts. The God in heaven said ah, ah, the man of faith is a controller, the man of God is shrewd, he’s beginning to like it. It’s beginning to be like a lifestyle. A controller will use any means to stay in control.

What Exactly Did Abraham Sacrifice - Part1

Somewhere in the story is a lesson for Abraham, I would like to believe that the test is not for God but for Abraham. A little information will help, at this point in time Abraham is no longer young. Isaac came to their lives, Abraham was already a hundred years old. Can you imagine for the first time God gave Him, and just when he is enjoying, just when you have concrete plans, just when it looks like forever and just when the same voice who promised the boy, is the same voice who said “give him back to Me”, believe me the struggle is not easy.

Manager or Minister - Part2

Some people use guilt and it may cause people to perform but deep inside it can cause distance beyond repair. Some people use gifts, load someone with gifts and he cannot say no anymore. By the way, what is our motive when we give? Why are we so kind? One time my host and I were eating dinner and my host said I’m always kind to the pastors. Eat, eat, then he said eat, eat so that God will be kind to me. Why are you so kind? Why do you give gifts? If the reason is to bully with the expectation of change, with the expectation that if I give, he will realize that God loves him, stop it. The love of God is the only love that can transform a man.

Manager or Minister - Part1

When it comes with our relationship with God and connected with that is our relationship with others we ask the question, are you acting as a manager or a minister? Peter, with his dialogue with Jesus gets very down to earth, wants to divert the topic and he said to Jesus “What about him?” What is the answer of Jesus to Peter? Very brutally frank, Jesus tells Peter without protocol, direct truth, sharp, pierce to Peter’s heart “Peter if I want him to live until I come back, what is that to you?" Peter your job is not to manage John, your job is to follow me.

The Truth About The Second Coming of Christ - Part2

Worldy saying says “when the cat is away the mouse will play”. Because the Lord's second coming is somewhat long to wait, we'd rather do anything that are pleasing in our sight and enjoy sinning and then at the last minute become holy. Is that true with you? A God-honoring life is not doing good works because you are afraid that the boss will catch you play but, holiness should be our lifestyle.

The Truth About The Second Coming of Christ - Part1

Every new year , every TV station invites people who can predict the future, they told us many predictions on what it will be in each year because you know what, people are addicted on what is ahead, that’s the problem with people, they want to be ahead of what will happen about tomorrow. There are also predictions that days will end on December 2012. But for us Bible believing Christians, the end of the physical world is after the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.