I was so touched by Jan Antonsson’s article this month I wanted to share the liberty of her words with you. Both Jack and I have family members and friends who have been or are in a “Gay” relationship. My brother left the lifestyle in 1975, miraculously delivered at the age of 40. He met a widow with two children, fell in love and married. They were happily married until his death some 25 years later. Several of his friends came out of the lifestyle around the same time. I will always be thankful I was a witness to such a miracle.
It is one of the most heart wrenching human issues. One where I stay judgment and speak only what the Lord puts on my heart……. This article was freeing to me and I know it will be to you.
Joian
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By Jan Antonsson
I no longer condemn the Church of Esau for their failings, because we all share their guilt in one way or the other. There is no difference between the Jew and Gentile, the righteous and the unrighteous, the church and the world, for all are standing on the same step before the righteousness of God, which, as Lenny often says, is "God's fault." This is the true meaning of the verse I quote so often, "For GOD consigned ALL men to disobedience, that He may have mercy upon ALL" (Rom. 11:32).
If God consigned all men to disobedience, that includes all of us. Likewise, if in "Adam all die," we are all therefore, dead in trespasses and sins (I Cor. 15:22; Eph. 2:1). Thankfully, mercifully, gracefully, God did not leave us in that sorry state, the Church of Esau. "In Christ shall all be made alive" and all will be counted as members of the Church of Jacob. "But if Christ is in you, although your bodies are dead because of sin, your spirits are alive because of righteousness" (Rom. 8:10)……………………………...
I have been dialoguing via e-mail for over a year now, with a friend who has wrestled long and painfully with her sins. My response to her anxiety over what she counts "her mistakes" is that there are no mistakes in the economy of God, for if He has consigned all men to disobedience, then the buck stops on His desk for all things. Either He is totally sovereign, or He is not, and if He isn't, then we've all got an unsolvable problem on our hands. He has nailed all our sins and unrighteousness to the cross, and there we must rest, but instead, most people fall into one of two categories:
1) Those who blame themselves for everything (usually the ones who have themselves been abused)
2) Those who blame everyone else but themselves (usually the Pharisees, the abusers).
Category #1 types, know they have sinned to the point that they think God doesn't love them; they are hopeless, and can't get anything right, no matter how hard they try. Because they feel so badly about themselves, they cannot believe that "they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:23-24). They have to work for it, but since they have huge inadequacy issues, they will never get it right by their own efforts, leaving them in despair, mired in guilt and shame.
Category #2 types, think their sins aren't very bad compared to the awful things other people do. They cling to the small things they do right, concluding they are keeping the Law because they "tithe mint and dill and cumin," but as Jesus said, they "have neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice and mercy and faith" (Matt. 23:23).
After reading my assertion that there are no mistakes, our friend wrote one of the best "Hallelujah e-mails" I've ever read as she describes her journey out of darkness into the light.
She wrote:
"Well, I am definitely Category #1! The processings of the Lord have been a lifetime. I feel though that the past four years have been total fire, earthquakes and hail storms, one right after the other, sometimes all at the same time!
Every foundation that I have stood on through out my life is no longer there, except for Him. He has ripped it out from under me. There is nothing there anymore to stand on. How I think, feel (or not feel), relate with others and the Lord, all the 'old tools' are gone and I don't know how to use the new ones yet. The only thing I can stand on, is Him.
"That 'free' gift of grace, that He paid for dearly, whether I have acknowledged it, believed it or accepted it, He has worked it in my life always. He has surrounded me, all my life, with His grace and mercy, with Himself. Was it a mistake that I had the family I had? Was it a mistake that all my responses and self protective ways, the fixer (codependent) ways, that developed because of that?
"Was it a mistake that I couldn't overcome lesbian tendencies within, because of my desperate need for my mom to touch me and say I love you? Coupled with a father that sexually abused me, set me up for that battle.
"Was it a mistake that nun lied about me and kicked me out of school in 8th grade, turning my heart cold hard against God, and anything to do with religion, when I had such a profound knowledge of the Lord's presence as a child? (He was my hiding place all those young years).
Was it a mistake that I turned to hard core drug usage and sexual promiscuity after that? "No, you are absolutely right, there are no mistakes. From age 17 on, He has, little by little, here a little there a little, line upon line, caused me to walk in an overcomer's path. He foreordained me. He chose me; I didn't choose Him. I've run as hard and fast as I could away from the calling on my life.
I have been angry with Him, yet so desperate for Him. He's the only one that could go deep into my inner being and touch me, make me feel anything. He really did win my heart at 17. He has been the driving force in my life since. There was NOTHING without Him.
Yet, all my inadequacies and 'mistakes' made the journey very long and difficult causing much condemnation. But He is the one who put me there to begin with, which I have been aware for a long time. That is part of what made me so angry with Him. I didn't understand His plans and purposes, really until last year. I am just beginning to get free from that. He is making me free now. He will be glorified in and through my life because He ordained it!
"You were so right on in saying we can't touch the hem of His garment, but He touches us everyday in every way. Oh, how He has done that with me all along!" End quote.
God's healing is glorious to behold!
If her e-mail made you squirm and triggers you to condemn her or feel superior to her in any way, it might be an indication that you need to take your judgments and self righteousness to the Lord. We are ALL on the same step before the righteousness of God (Barth) and there is NO DIFFERENCE between Jew and Gentile, the Church and the world, the righteousness and the unrighteous, the saint and sinner (Paul the Apostle).
God, who knows the end from the beginning, knows what He will do with each life, no matter how sinful or worthless it may seem to others. Isaiah was referring to the Church of Esau AND to the Church of Jacob, the Jews, the Gentiles, the saint and the sinner, when he declared, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined" (Isa. 9:2). Jesus was and IS that light, and in Him, we will never be ashamed (II Tim. 1:12).
One last observation about Paul's declaration that there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. The Gospel of Jesus Christ, the POWER of God unto salvation for the Jew and the Greek, is therefore, for the righteous and the unrighteous, the church and the world, the saint and the sinner, the saved and the heathen, and I think you'll agree that really does include us all.
Father, we thank You that You have lifted up the fallen and cast down the proud, healing us where we are sick and restoring us to relationship with You. We thank You especially, that the Church is Your domain, Your plan, and Your assignment, and that we are all members of the body of Christ, cleansed by His blood, perfected by Your Spirit, united with Him and with You for all eternity. In the resurrected and restored New Creation, make us a blessing to all who long to know You as You are.
In Christ we ask it, amen.
Link to complete article here……………
http://thegloryrd.com/heal15.html
We love you,
Joian and Jack
