FlameofSalvation's Xanga

False Self

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:04:04 GMT

I recently put what I had learned in this book into practice and it strengthened my walk with the Lord greatly. The issues are emotional and hard to handle sometimes but God has a way of taking your faults and somehow glorifying Him with them.

This is an insert from a book called, Men's Secret Wars. This book has helped me in many ways and I know that it will help others in our group as well. But don't take my word for it. Here is a quote from the author of the Every Man's Battle series.....
"If I had read Men's Secret Wars and applied it as a young man, I would have saved myself many sorrows, many regrets." - Stephen Arterburn

Children raised in dysfunctional homes - whether those homes are alcoholic or rigidly religious - learn that who they are simply isn't enough. As we saw in the chapter dealing with the hero subculture in America, men learn to play a role in our society and to erect a facade to garner the approval of others. The result, we saw, is the creation of a carefully designed image. This image is our false self and includes only those parts of us that we choose to reveal.
Society actively encourages the creation of a false self; it's called putting your best foot forward. The problem,of course, is that to maintain our sanitized image we must keep our dark side hidden, along with its potential for sin and destructive behavior. In fact, we humans are capable of playing a role so effectively that we even fool ourselves. This is what the Bible calls being "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" and what Twelve Steppers call denial.
As a teenager I tried to hide the fact that I was a Christian from my friends in high school in order to be popular. A kind of double life in high school in which I had one set of friends and activities at church and an entirely different set of friends and activities at school - and I expended great energy in trying to insure one world never intersected with the other. The nonreligious persona I adopted at school was a false self.
I also developed a secret life of sexual fantasizing as a teenager. All during this time I never talked to anyone about my secret fantasy life, and I cultivated a squeaky - clean image at church as a young Christian leader. We all have dozens of ways we hide parts of ourselves in the shadows and prop other parts in the light. The more discrepancy there is between our hidden self and our public self, the greater the danger of becoming entrenched in the secret life syndrome.
One of the greatest dangers in the development of a false self is the potential for what Chuck Colson calls the Pedestal Complex. In an article in Christianity Today Colson decried the tendency among Christians today to exalt our stars and leaders and put them on pedestals. He quite properly labeled the tendency as idolatry.
But I hate pedestals for a different reason. I hate them for what they do to the people occupying them. Pedestals have their perks, but ultimately they're just another kind of prison. In a tragic catch-22, the leader on a pedestal can't admit to struggling with anything in his personal life, or according to the unspoken rules of the game, he loses his perch. At that point, for many leaders it's a relatively short walk from the pedestal to the closet.
In my own case, I was so obsessed with my image as a Christian leader that I didn't want to let anyone see my weaknesses. So as my first marriage became increasingly conflicted, I refused to go to a marriage counselor. I was afraid someone might see me, and then my reputation would be harmed. By the time I did finally agree to go, I was already involved in the sexual sin that ultimately damages so many.
By contrast, a few years ago a good friend of mine found himself overwhelmingly attracted to the wife of his business partner. She, in turn, expressed a similar attraction to him. They didn't know if they were "falling in love" or not, but they knew that if they acted on their feelings, it would be wrong. So they did something courageous. They immediately went to their spouses and told them about their feelings, as well as their commitment to remain faithful to their marriage vows. The four of them discussed the issue calmly and openly. And a fascinating thing happened. By dragging their feelings out into the light rather than leaving them hidden, they found that their feelings lost their power. In fact, it all turned out so positively that the two of them actually went on to share about their healthy experience with the entire adult Sunday school class at their church. It was a wonderful model for how to handle impulses from our dark side.
Dr. Ken Druck, in his book The Secrets Men Keep, lists five benefits of acknowledging our secrets and living transparently:

1. Our whole world changes when we tell the truth.
2. We fulfill our human need to be known and accepted.
3. We simplify our lives.
4. We improve our relationships.
5. We become more secure.
And to those five benefits I would add a sixth: We restore our relationship with God.
taken from Men's Secret Wars pgs169-171

Prodigal Son

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 23:47:29 GMT

This song by Decemberadio is a take from the the parable of the lost son found in Luke 15 11-32. It is a modern view of the wayward traveler. This song is titled; "Drifter"

I used to have a home.
A place I started from. A place to call
my own bright lights and late nights. The
devil took me on a midnight ride.
Left me out in the desert on my own.
Now I feel alone
I need a hand to help me find my way back home.
I'm a drifter out on a dead end road
trying to find my way back home
to get to you
Oh to get to you
Lord I've been gone for far too long,
headed to places I don't belong
and I've got to get back
home to you. Sometimes I think about the past
and the road that I was on, the one that lead me home
I'll walk on another day
I may wander but I'll never stray, cause I found out the hard way
sin don't pay.
Now I feel alone, I need a hand to help me
find my way back home
I'm a drifter out on a dead end road
trying to find my way back home
to get to you
Oh to get to you
Lord I've been gone for far too long
headed to places I don't belong
and I've got to get back home to you
and when I feel the night is closing in
and I can barely breathe the air
I just remember that I've got a friend
who really cares
Oh who really cares
I'm a drifter out on a dead end road
trying to find my way back home
to get to you
Oh to get to you
Lord I've been gone for far too long
headed to places I don't belong
and I've got to get back home to you

At one point or another Brothers and Sisters, we have all drifted. The beauty that God is showing us all through Luke chapter 15, The parables of the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son, is that our Father is willing to overlook everything that was/ or is keeping us from Him as long as well love Him and are willing to return to His kingdom.

The bus is coming so stick out your thunb for a ride home. Don't worry if you don't have any credits to ride, because Jesus Christ has already bought our tickets.

Be Blessed!

Hurtling Toward A Destiny... Unaware

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 20:05:05 GMT

Insert from Chuck Swindoll's Book, Man to Man

Hurtling toward a destiny unaware

It is interesting to note that one of the terms the Bible uses to describe people who don't know God in a personal and meaningful manner is "lost." That doesn't necessarily mean they are immoral or lawless or bad neighbors or financial failures or emotionally unstable or irresponsible or even unfriendly folks. Just lost. As we've already observed, they may be sincere, involved, and in touch with many people, moving rapidly (and successfully) through life. They may even feel good about themselves - confident, secure, enthusiastic... yet still lost. Physically active and healthy, yet spiritually offtrack. Sincerely deluded. Unconsciously moving through life and out of touch with the One who made them. Disconnected from the living God.

Take a close look at this statement I have copied from the old, reliable book of Proverbs in the Bible.

There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death (Proverbs 14:12).

Isn't that penetrating? The "way" a person is going through life may seem right. It may have the appearance of being okay. It may also have the approval and admiration of other rather influential individuals... but its end result is the ultimate dead-end street.

All this reminds me of a true yet tragic World War II story. The Lady-Be-Good was a bomber whose crew was a well-seasoned flight team, a group of intelligent and combat-ready airmen. After a successful bombing mission, they were returning to home base late one night. In front of the pilot and copilot was a panel of instruments and radar equipment they had to rely on to reach their final destination. They had made the flight many times before, so they knew about how long it took to return.

But this flight was different. Unaware of a strong tailwind that pushed the bomber much more rapidly through the night air than usual, the men in the cockpit looked in amazement at their instruments as they correctly signaled that it was time to land.

They refused to believe those accurate dials and gauges, though. Confident that they were still miles away from home, they kept flying and hoping, looking intently for those familiar lights below. The fuel supply was finally depleted. The big olive-drab bomber never made it back. It was found deep in the desert many miles further and many days later. Its fine crew had all perished, having overshot the field by a great distance... because they followed the promptings of their own feelings, which "seemed right" but proved to be wrong. Dead wrong.

What happened in the air back in the early 1940s is happening in principle every day on earth. There are good, sincere, well-meaning, intelligent people traveling on a collision course with death, yet totally unaware of their destiny. That's why we read that Jesus, God's great Son, came "...to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). His coming to earth was God's rescue plan - a seek-and-save mission designed to help those who are lost find the right way home.

That needs some explanation.

Think of the Bible as the absolutely reliable instrument panel designed to get people (and to keep people) on the right track. We won't be confused if we believe its signals and respond to its directions, even though we may not "feel" in agreement at times. In this Book we find a bold yet true statement:

...God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life (1 John 5:11b-13).

Read that again, this time a little more slowly and, if possible, aloud:

...God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life. pgs 347-349

May Jesus Shine on you all!

Devotional for our walk

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:06:27 GMT

This is a short insert from the "Every man, God's man workbook.

I am going to start posting little gems that I read on this site so that God may bless you with them as well.

...Being God's man will never be easy, but those who have passed the test did so because they successfully overcame the opinions of others, successfully fought their own feelings and weaknesses of character, and successfully contended with spiritual opposition. Abraham of the Old Testament was God's man. pg55

...Humility doesn't save a man eternally, but it sure saves him a ton of grief. Humility doesn't change a man's circumstances, but it helps him see God's purposes. Humility doesn't speed up answers to prayer, but it accelerates acceptance of God's will. Humility doesn't make decisions for a man, but it weights his heart toward decisions consistent with God's plan. Humility doesn't earn a man more of God's love, but it helps him experience God's love at a deeper level. Scripture piles it on when it comes to the subject of humility.

How can you tell if you have significant humility in your character? (this is a personal question but if you would like to comment on it you are more than welcome. God just might give you the insight for someone elses benefit.)

It has been sometime since I updated...

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:31:03 GMT

This has been an amazing couple of weeks for me. We spent the weekend at Young Peoples Councils (Church Camp) and it really had an empact on the youth that we brought. They had never seen so many kids their age on fire for God and it really touched them. The weekend was great! The Charlie Hall Band was there reminding us that "from the grave He's risen, VICTORIOUSLY!" Man the music was great, and our kids are still talking about it! I must admit though, I think that I enjoyed it more than most of them and I am glad that I didn't bring any money or else I would have left broke. I would have bought every CD and T-shirt there!

The "Skit Guys" were also preforming all weekend! And I have to tell you that I honestly hadn't laughed that hard in a long time. If you haven't seen them before I recommend that you do! Their christian skits are both sidesplitting and thought provoking. They brought the Word of God to the youth in a way that made them really WANT to listen and learn.

Other than the main performers their also was other fun activities for everyone to take part in. There was a mechanical bull, paint ball, fried twinkies and oreos, basketball, ministry workshops...drama, skit, etc..., carnival games,and much more!

The brass band played in our Sunday service and they were wonderful! The brass, piano, songsters, and vocal solo really but us in a worshiping state of mind.

We packed up and went home right after the Holiness meeting and you could see in our young peoples' eyes that they grew closer to Jesus in that little bit of time that they got to spend away from their normal lives. And I also had some of them come to me and say how they now want to join Corps Cadets and have their own Salvation Army uniform! So now this week we will be revamping our classes to accommodate this new spike in attendance. I am asking that you pray for our youth and that they will understand that we do what we do to honor Jesus Christ and that it is not about being popular. I have a feeling that these kids are going to make wonderful ambassadors of Christ someday and I thank God for bringing them to us now so that they can impact the other youth in their lives right now.

On a personal note... I turned 26 on Sunday, and I can really see God's hand pushing obstacles out of the path He is leading me on. I am scared about what He has instore for me but I know that running away will just make things harder in the long run. And when I get to heaven I want to here Him say, "well done, good and faithful servant, I love you."

God Bless you all my family,

Your brother in Christ,

DeeJay

I just wrote my own Psalm

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:20:50 GMT

I am in the middle of a devotional book called "Prayer and Worship a Spiritual Formation Guide" by Renovare. On page 11 there is a section called Taking it Further in which they give you an example on how to further your personal worship. In this section it says...

Write your own psalm (you can think of it as a poem if that is helpful) about longing for God. What images come to you?

After doing this exercise I do feel as if I understand the heart of the psalmists more. And I definitely suggest that everyone who wants to grow closer their relationship with God should try this out. Don't be worried about what you are going tot write because just as in prayer it is God that you are writing to and He will give you the words. God Bless!

here is mine, I pray that it blesses you all....

Psalm of Longing

I offer up my every being to You, O Lord;

Not just my troubles and my anxieties but, my blessings and joys as well.

For without You, I would have none.

For I know that what I bring upon myself in lifes journey You will make justified.

I offer up my praise to You, O lord;

For You are Holy and You are Majestic.

There is none who can match You;

For no matter how high I travel I can not reach Your glory.

I offer up my thanksgiving to You, O Lord;

For You are Mercy and You are Grace.

Without which my worthlessness would keep me from You,

For I know that I cannot climb the mountain on my good works,

Only You can create sufficent footholds.

I offer up my love to You, O Lord;

For You are Love.

Without which I would not have been created,

For You alone allow me to swim in the sea of life.

I will speak of Your longing for Your children in all of my travels, O Lord;

For You allow me to love You by both loving and showing my brothers and sisters Your slender path.

I offer up my every being to You, O lord;

For the road that You lead me on is paved by Your very hand.

Amen.

Easter backdrop

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 14:56:26 GMT

satan tries but CHRIST prevails!

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 18:29:15 GMT

What an amazing Easter Service. What made it so amazing was how much satan did to try and stop us from worshiping our Father in heaven!

So much happened that it is hard to put it all into words that will do justice to what actually happened. First off I just want you to know that Jesus was glorified!

The Men's Club served Easter breakfast at 7:30 to the congregation so that we could start of resurrection morning with good food and fellowship. After breakfast we had our SunRise Service which was wonderful. We had a responsive reading of the four gospel writers accounts of the empty tomb. Inbetween authors the brass band played Easter Hymns and the rest of us sang praises to God. There were tears of happiness and joy all smiles all around the fellowship hall. It really started out as a blessed Easter.

Right after is when satans attacks started to be known... One of our older ladies passed out and hit her head off of the table where she was sitting at. We layed her down on the couch in our young adult room until she felt stable enough to come out.

While she was laying down a young girl (around 8 or 9 years old) got her finger caught in the bathroom door. The door is hardwood and it has spring loaded hinges. The little one stuck her finger in between the hinges and when the door sprung closed in trapped her finger inside. She ran through the hall screaming as only a child in agony could, all the while their was blood being trailed from the door through the hall and finally into the fellowship hall where most of the people were gathered. As some swooped in to rap the angel's finger others tried to calm down the grandmother of the child who was in hysterics over what was happening. Some of the men started to clean up the scene as best as possible while the rest stood in confusion and horror.

As the little one was being taken to the hospital another one of our ladies was over come with enough emotions that she passed out as well. Greatfully she realized that she was about to lose conscience so she called for those closest to her to break her fall.

After the domino effect of incidents took place the whole congregation left the bible studies that were about to take start and headed into the chapel for prayer. We were not about to give satan the satisfaction of ceasing our worship of God. We were bound and determined to THANK OUR RISEN SAVIOR by giving Him all the glory, power, and praise that is only His to have.

Everyone seemed to have witnessed for themselves the spiritual side because when we opened it up for prayer everyone was attentive. Some of our shelter clients who would never have prayed before spoke up as if they finally understood who was attacking them and Who they could trust. Jesus was alive in our hearts on Resurrection Sunday!. After about twenty minutes of prayer and praise through song we broke back up into our Bible classes but this time we all felt closer to God than we did before. It was glorious!

The Holiness Meeting that took place after was amazing! The love in the air made it feel 'Penecostal' because without adoubt the Holy Spirit's presence was strong and soothing.

The dark one was still trying to break our focus throughout the morning. Another little girl out of nowhere, began to vomit forcefully all over the back of the isle. We cleaned it up and her up and our praise and worship of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did not miss a beat!

Trying to explain how God can be glorified in the middle of such horrific events is hard and won't make any since to you out there who are unbelievers. But all I can say is that on Easter Sunday Christ has risen and 2000 years later His flock were all in one accord to see that nothing would take away from His anniversary celebration!

P.S. the little angel who trapped her finger did break it, but the doctor stiched it and rapped it and had her back at church before the scripture was even read! Amen.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5,6

Happy Easter!

Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:59:53 GMT

Christ has risen!

I will try to post more tomorrow!

God Bless!

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 16:52:28 GMT

God Bless you all. Thank You for your prayers and concerns. I am doing much better now, great in fact. God has broken me to the point where I know that He is incharge of my life.

Have a Blessed week everyone!

"For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Isaiah 57:15