This is going to be lengthy and rather heavy.
This has been something that has been making an impression inside me for awhile now. But is increasing as time keeps crawling in my life. It's something Jesus is trying to change in me and I believe it's something He wants us all to think about. For the sake of exposing The Prosecutor and shedding light on Himself as the Defense Attorney.
I write this from both sides of the line. So please understand that I'm not writing it from one side pointing at the other.
Wounded by The Prosecutor:
We've all been misinterpreted and misunderstood. In my case I've let those two things stick to me. So much that I draw back from God and draw back from grabbing my life and running with it...as an attempt to avoid certain things. Or should I say, certain blows. Which is horrible, I know. But I'm REALLY working on it. It's something I have to let go of, because it really gives man control over me...in a way that I walk on eggshells...fearing the next blow. I'm afraid to look ahead because I'm scared it's going to look like I don't care or that I'm "selfish". But let me tell you from experience...it is worth the risk. Because walking on eggshells is suffocating and really oppresses depths. I fear the pain of the blow. One of my hearts deepest longings is to not be selfish. And to care with everything in me. So when an attack comes to those areas, it hurts so bad. Agonizing actually. BUT that comes from the depths of caring too much in the wrong way.
A liberating reality:
The reality is (and a reality I am loving facing in this season): I'm not perfect. I'm gonna slip up. I'm gonna fall. I'm going to make wrong decisions. I'm going to react and act imperfectly. These expectations ARE CHAINS! Not just expectations from other people, but expectations I/we put on myself/ourselves. I don't give myself a break. I'm not easy on my self at all. And it's not right. It's not right for us to be hard on ourselves.
The ONLY expectation any of us needs to "care" about is God's.
Be easy:
A lot of times we fail to have true empathy on ourselves (yes, ourselves) and other people. We don't stop, take a step back and glance at EVERYTHING. The majority of the time, we (ourselves) or the people we give a blow to, are already down. And we do NOTHING for us/them. (FOR us/them.) We are nothing but a bully. I'm gonna be real...it has happened to me, AND I've done it. To myself and others. It's horrible and it's something we should all work on. If you're reading this and instantly stepping on the side of the victim, I ask you to widen your eyesight. And look, and see if you might have crossed the line too. We point the finger SO much. (At each other AND at ourselves.) And I'm here to tell you, that is an accusing spirit. And the accuser is Satan. Before you get offended, hear me on this: I'm writing this for the sake of freedom. To expose him, not you! Not to point the finger at you, it's to point the finger at him. Am I writing this to any one specifically? NO. But if it is speaking to you, then unconsciously, I am. We need to set others AND ourselves free from this. We don't just bully others. We bully ourselves too.
Let me paint this picture for you....
The Courtroom:
Let's think of a courtroom. There are 4 VERY important people ALWAYS present. (1)The Judge. (2)The Persecutor. (3)The Defense Attorney. (4)And the person on trial (the defendant). The Judge is THE ONLY one that has the power to sentence the one on trial. He has the power. He knows "the law" and sits through the trial and listens... balancing what is brought before Him on one side and the law on the other. In our case...our Judge IS the law. The living spiritual law. He is our Creator and our God. He holds EVERYTHING in His hands. He sees everything and He knows everything. He is a Father that loves us. (In that case He also chastises His children. But ONLY because HE LOVES US.)
We also have the Persecutor(the accuser) and the Defense Attorney(the intercessor). It's safe to say that, The Persecutor is Satan and the Defense Attorney is Jesus. The Persecutor brings accusations against The Defendant with the intention of The Defendant getting some form of "punishment". Mainly, putting them behind bars. The Persecutor's intention is for the defendant to pay for what they did. A Persecutor and a Complainant are the same. The definition of a Complainant is this:
"A prosecutor; one who prosecutes by complaint, or commences a legal process against an offender for the recovery of a right or penalty." That is the exact opposite of forgiveness. If you think about forgiveness financially, you are not "forgiven" after you have paid off all your money. You are forgiven WHILE YOU ARE STILL IN DEBT. You still owe money, and forgiveness wipes it away. Which brings us to number (3) The Defense Attorney. The one who is in the courtroom to plead for us before the Judge. The one that stands between the Judge and us crying out for our forgiveness...FOR OUR LIFE. "Please have mercy on their soul, Father!" NOT SELFISH AT ALL. It's not about Him at all. It's ALL about the defendant. The Persecutor is focused on the wrong that has been done. "Look what they did!" "Throw them in jail!" That's probably not what we say, but we might as well. One of the words in the definition of Accuser or Persecutor is SLANDER. It's "wagging the tongue". It's anything we say about ourselves and others to slander us/them. To tear them down. It could be mild. It could be extremely harsh. When it comes to others, it could be to their face or behind their back. Either way, it's slander. And the only thing that comes from that is MORE DAMAGE. Bad breath. Death. Seeds of darkness.
This brings me back to the Judge. I want to share with you the definition of the word Judge in the Hebrew: "The ancient Hebrew concept of a "judge" is one who restores life. The goal of one that rules or judges is to bring a pleasant and righteous life to the people. This can also mean a deliverer as one whom restores life to his people."
The whole Bible was written from Hebrew Concept. How far have we gotten away from this? Even if we are guilty in the Courtroom, it is not The Judge's heart to "punish us" or put us behind bars. If we are guilty, we already are behind bars. We already are in a form of punishment. Whatever we are guilty of is something standing between us and God. That is enough punishment. What more punishment do we need? Punishment would be having to stay in that place. It's not His desire to be a part from us. So He is there to REMOVE what stands between us. By giving us what we NEED. What our soul needs. He gives us Jesus. "TURN TO ME" He says. "And you will be delivered." The word CHASTISEMENT, means TO TURN. "You are guilty of this...now turn to ME and I will Love you and take away what the Accuser accuses you of." It's not to destroy us or damage us more. It's to lift us up. When the verdict comes, we then have the option to turn, or stay in our guilt/punishment.
It's a process...it's a learning experience...:
OF COURSE we are guilty sometimes. We are ADAM. We are MAN. We first come to Him filthy. Guilty. But that is what He is there for. To forgive us. By His Son's blood. To clean us up. We can't make ourselves right. We have to step into His Love and into His will and allow HIM to make us right. I'm not saying it's right to harm others with accusations. But if we have, we have access to be forgiven! And if we've been wounded, we have access to forgive and to be healed.
So, we are going to have to ENDURE. ENDURE the process. ENDURE the time on trial. ENDURE surrendering ourselves. KNOWING what it's for. There will come a time when we will thank the Accuser. "Thank you for taking part in cleaning me up!" But that can only come, when we KNOW who really is FOR us. When we can understand the Courtroom.
As we understand this, we can take it easy on ourselves and on each other. Giving ourselves and them a little break. Desiring ourselves and them to have time for the process and to have LIFE. To have freedom, healing, deliverance, and a relationship with The One that Loves us/them the most. We can stop pointing the finger. And focus on what's going on between ourselves, The Defense Attorney and The Judge.
The kids open my eyes:
Wanna know where some of this came from? For years, it has been hitting me at school. The kids ALWAYS tell on each other. And I always tell them: "Don't worry about what _______ is doing, worry about yourself. Just make sure you are being good and I'll worry about them." Is this not us?? Taking each other before the Judge. Always worrying about where others are off. NOT for the sake of being an advocate for them. But for the sake of pointing the finger at them. Focusing on the wrong. All the while, we need a good cleaning ourselves. (I'm guilty of this too!) If we all just got lost in His eyes and let go of everything else. Let go of all those other cares. Ignoring that accusing spirit in us and around....and letting go into His Love and Chastisement.....we'd all be cleaned up and linked together.
We are so good at condemning ourselves and others. So good at playing "The Judge" to ourselves and others. Wounding ourselves and others more than they already are. Let's get good at reaching our arms UP to our Beautiful Father. Getting right with The One that matters. Letting Him be The Judge. Trusting Him. Turning to Him. Falling in Love with Him. Truly Loving ourselves. And developing the ability to really Love others and have compassion on them. Stepping on our wickedness. Not compromising. Not allowing it to have any power. Because we know, it's not what God wants. Exchanging the power wickedness has, for His power. Giving it ALL to Him. Our cares, our unforgiveness, our self-hatred.....everything. Surrendering any right we feel like we have. In exchange for Him. And ALL He has for us. And ALL He has for us to pour out on others.
I'm guilty. And I'm wounded. And I believe He wants us to know it's ok. Of course we aren't completely like Him. Of course we have accused and been wounded. But WE HAVE ACCESS. To have our guilt forgiven and our wounds healed. We have access to know forgiveness like He does. We have access to freedom from condemnation. Freedom from caring about what the accuser thinks about us. We have access to a process. To LIFE. We CAN let go. We have access to surrender all. To make an exchange.
I pray for freedom. And for ALL blocks to be removed from between us and Him. So that we know His Love. I pray for abandonment. Abandoning ourselves. And letting that be an offering to Him. So we can, in turn, receive HIS HEART, HIS MIND and HIS WAYS.
I cry out for His Kingdom. I pray that we all crown You as our KING Father.
For all the guilty and all the wounded...
Here's to the Redeemer!
MLB
This has been something that has been making an impression inside me for awhile now. But is increasing as time keeps crawling in my life. It's something Jesus is trying to change in me and I believe it's something He wants us all to think about. For the sake of exposing The Prosecutor and shedding light on Himself as the Defense Attorney.
I write this from both sides of the line. So please understand that I'm not writing it from one side pointing at the other.
Wounded by The Prosecutor:
We've all been misinterpreted and misunderstood. In my case I've let those two things stick to me. So much that I draw back from God and draw back from grabbing my life and running with it...as an attempt to avoid certain things. Or should I say, certain blows. Which is horrible, I know. But I'm REALLY working on it. It's something I have to let go of, because it really gives man control over me...in a way that I walk on eggshells...fearing the next blow. I'm afraid to look ahead because I'm scared it's going to look like I don't care or that I'm "selfish". But let me tell you from experience...it is worth the risk. Because walking on eggshells is suffocating and really oppresses depths. I fear the pain of the blow. One of my hearts deepest longings is to not be selfish. And to care with everything in me. So when an attack comes to those areas, it hurts so bad. Agonizing actually. BUT that comes from the depths of caring too much in the wrong way.
A liberating reality:
The reality is (and a reality I am loving facing in this season): I'm not perfect. I'm gonna slip up. I'm gonna fall. I'm going to make wrong decisions. I'm going to react and act imperfectly. These expectations ARE CHAINS! Not just expectations from other people, but expectations I/we put on myself/ourselves. I don't give myself a break. I'm not easy on my self at all. And it's not right. It's not right for us to be hard on ourselves.
The ONLY expectation any of us needs to "care" about is God's.
Be easy:
A lot of times we fail to have true empathy on ourselves (yes, ourselves) and other people. We don't stop, take a step back and glance at EVERYTHING. The majority of the time, we (ourselves) or the people we give a blow to, are already down. And we do NOTHING for us/them. (FOR us/them.) We are nothing but a bully. I'm gonna be real...it has happened to me, AND I've done it. To myself and others. It's horrible and it's something we should all work on. If you're reading this and instantly stepping on the side of the victim, I ask you to widen your eyesight. And look, and see if you might have crossed the line too. We point the finger SO much. (At each other AND at ourselves.) And I'm here to tell you, that is an accusing spirit. And the accuser is Satan. Before you get offended, hear me on this: I'm writing this for the sake of freedom. To expose him, not you! Not to point the finger at you, it's to point the finger at him. Am I writing this to any one specifically? NO. But if it is speaking to you, then unconsciously, I am. We need to set others AND ourselves free from this. We don't just bully others. We bully ourselves too.
Let me paint this picture for you....
The Courtroom:
Let's think of a courtroom. There are 4 VERY important people ALWAYS present. (1)The Judge. (2)The Persecutor. (3)The Defense Attorney. (4)And the person on trial (the defendant). The Judge is THE ONLY one that has the power to sentence the one on trial. He has the power. He knows "the law" and sits through the trial and listens... balancing what is brought before Him on one side and the law on the other. In our case...our Judge IS the law. The living spiritual law. He is our Creator and our God. He holds EVERYTHING in His hands. He sees everything and He knows everything. He is a Father that loves us. (In that case He also chastises His children. But ONLY because HE LOVES US.)
We also have the Persecutor(the accuser) and the Defense Attorney(the intercessor). It's safe to say that, The Persecutor is Satan and the Defense Attorney is Jesus. The Persecutor brings accusations against The Defendant with the intention of The Defendant getting some form of "punishment". Mainly, putting them behind bars. The Persecutor's intention is for the defendant to pay for what they did. A Persecutor and a Complainant are the same. The definition of a Complainant is this:
"A prosecutor; one who prosecutes by complaint, or commences a legal process against an offender for the recovery of a right or penalty." That is the exact opposite of forgiveness. If you think about forgiveness financially, you are not "forgiven" after you have paid off all your money. You are forgiven WHILE YOU ARE STILL IN DEBT. You still owe money, and forgiveness wipes it away. Which brings us to number (3) The Defense Attorney. The one who is in the courtroom to plead for us before the Judge. The one that stands between the Judge and us crying out for our forgiveness...FOR OUR LIFE. "Please have mercy on their soul, Father!" NOT SELFISH AT ALL. It's not about Him at all. It's ALL about the defendant. The Persecutor is focused on the wrong that has been done. "Look what they did!" "Throw them in jail!" That's probably not what we say, but we might as well. One of the words in the definition of Accuser or Persecutor is SLANDER. It's "wagging the tongue". It's anything we say about ourselves and others to slander us/them. To tear them down. It could be mild. It could be extremely harsh. When it comes to others, it could be to their face or behind their back. Either way, it's slander. And the only thing that comes from that is MORE DAMAGE. Bad breath. Death. Seeds of darkness.
This brings me back to the Judge. I want to share with you the definition of the word Judge in the Hebrew: "The ancient Hebrew concept of a "judge" is one who restores life. The goal of one that rules or judges is to bring a pleasant and righteous life to the people. This can also mean a deliverer as one whom restores life to his people."
The whole Bible was written from Hebrew Concept. How far have we gotten away from this? Even if we are guilty in the Courtroom, it is not The Judge's heart to "punish us" or put us behind bars. If we are guilty, we already are behind bars. We already are in a form of punishment. Whatever we are guilty of is something standing between us and God. That is enough punishment. What more punishment do we need? Punishment would be having to stay in that place. It's not His desire to be a part from us. So He is there to REMOVE what stands between us. By giving us what we NEED. What our soul needs. He gives us Jesus. "TURN TO ME" He says. "And you will be delivered." The word CHASTISEMENT, means TO TURN. "You are guilty of this...now turn to ME and I will Love you and take away what the Accuser accuses you of." It's not to destroy us or damage us more. It's to lift us up. When the verdict comes, we then have the option to turn, or stay in our guilt/punishment.
It's a process...it's a learning experience...:
OF COURSE we are guilty sometimes. We are ADAM. We are MAN. We first come to Him filthy. Guilty. But that is what He is there for. To forgive us. By His Son's blood. To clean us up. We can't make ourselves right. We have to step into His Love and into His will and allow HIM to make us right. I'm not saying it's right to harm others with accusations. But if we have, we have access to be forgiven! And if we've been wounded, we have access to forgive and to be healed.
So, we are going to have to ENDURE. ENDURE the process. ENDURE the time on trial. ENDURE surrendering ourselves. KNOWING what it's for. There will come a time when we will thank the Accuser. "Thank you for taking part in cleaning me up!" But that can only come, when we KNOW who really is FOR us. When we can understand the Courtroom.
As we understand this, we can take it easy on ourselves and on each other. Giving ourselves and them a little break. Desiring ourselves and them to have time for the process and to have LIFE. To have freedom, healing, deliverance, and a relationship with The One that Loves us/them the most. We can stop pointing the finger. And focus on what's going on between ourselves, The Defense Attorney and The Judge.
The kids open my eyes:
Wanna know where some of this came from? For years, it has been hitting me at school. The kids ALWAYS tell on each other. And I always tell them: "Don't worry about what _______ is doing, worry about yourself. Just make sure you are being good and I'll worry about them." Is this not us?? Taking each other before the Judge. Always worrying about where others are off. NOT for the sake of being an advocate for them. But for the sake of pointing the finger at them. Focusing on the wrong. All the while, we need a good cleaning ourselves. (I'm guilty of this too!) If we all just got lost in His eyes and let go of everything else. Let go of all those other cares. Ignoring that accusing spirit in us and around....and letting go into His Love and Chastisement.....we'd all be cleaned up and linked together.
We are so good at condemning ourselves and others. So good at playing "The Judge" to ourselves and others. Wounding ourselves and others more than they already are. Let's get good at reaching our arms UP to our Beautiful Father. Getting right with The One that matters. Letting Him be The Judge. Trusting Him. Turning to Him. Falling in Love with Him. Truly Loving ourselves. And developing the ability to really Love others and have compassion on them. Stepping on our wickedness. Not compromising. Not allowing it to have any power. Because we know, it's not what God wants. Exchanging the power wickedness has, for His power. Giving it ALL to Him. Our cares, our unforgiveness, our self-hatred.....everything. Surrendering any right we feel like we have. In exchange for Him. And ALL He has for us. And ALL He has for us to pour out on others.
I'm guilty. And I'm wounded. And I believe He wants us to know it's ok. Of course we aren't completely like Him. Of course we have accused and been wounded. But WE HAVE ACCESS. To have our guilt forgiven and our wounds healed. We have access to know forgiveness like He does. We have access to freedom from condemnation. Freedom from caring about what the accuser thinks about us. We have access to a process. To LIFE. We CAN let go. We have access to surrender all. To make an exchange.
I pray for freedom. And for ALL blocks to be removed from between us and Him. So that we know His Love. I pray for abandonment. Abandoning ourselves. And letting that be an offering to Him. So we can, in turn, receive HIS HEART, HIS MIND and HIS WAYS.
I cry out for His Kingdom. I pray that we all crown You as our KING Father.
For all the guilty and all the wounded...
Here's to the Redeemer!
MLB
