Unwindings.org

Have you ever considered the life of Daniel in the Bible? On Sunday as my family was reading and talking about his early life we discussed a couple of verses that are refreshingly simply yet profound. Earlier in Daniel’s life as a captive in Babylon while serving in King Nebuchadnezzar’s court he was faced with a troublesome dilemma. The king had a particularly bad dream and awoke demanding that one of his astrologers or magicians interpret his dream. Quick to be the praised by the king the only thing these court tricksters seemed to do well was stall and equivocate while the king grew more and more impatient. Finally, in a fit of rage Nebuchadnezzar promised to have every astrologer and magician dismembered and their houses burned down if they did not interpret the dream. But even then not one them could deliver an interpretation. Hearing the news that he along with Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego and all of the court astrologers were about to executed, Daniel requested to speak to the king. Boldly Daniel told the king that he could interpret the dream but needed some extra time to do so. It was later during the night that God revealed the meaning of the dream to Daniel thus saving many men from a gruesome death.

The wonderful illuminating truth is that Daniel did not first consult God about the dream. He did not go before Father and request the dream be revealed. He did not question or fret about the king’s demands. He simply responded in complete trust that God would deliver. In Daniel 2:14-16 we find Daniel requesting for more time to interpret the dream but he was able to fully trust that God would deliver because God said so in the previous chapter, verse 17. In other words, Daniel did not question God but instead believed Him wholeheartedly. But such a belief was proved openly in Daniel’s unwavering courage despite the adverse circumstances.

All too often as Christians we spend so much time trying to find out what God’s Will is for our life. We go before God and ask Him to show us His will. We do, do, do things for Him thinking that in some way that might fit into His plan. Yet, God laid all this out for us plainly in Romans 12. If we simply present our lives as a living breathing sacrifices to God He will then live out His life in us proving to us what His plan is for our life. We never have to try but only trust. By continually questioning Him we are really saying “sorry God, I just don’t believe you”. Certainly that may not be the our intent but none the less it demonstrates our unwillingness to fully trust in what He has already promised. Proverbs 3:5,6 says to trust in God with all of our heart – don’t trust in our own understanding. In every way acknowledge Him and He absolutely will direct our paths. What a great promise. Now ask yourself, is there proof of it?

It has been a little while since I posted anything. One thing that I don’t want to do unlike many other blogs is continue to post content even if there is nothing to say. I figure that if you take the time to read these posts then why not make them worth your time otherwise both you and me are wasting our time.

During this lastest blogging reprieve, I have been re-engineering my fitness programs (I love extreme fitness programs BTW) but I have also been enjoying a time of self-evaluation and critical analysis. Since stepping outside of the conventional wisdom that Christians should go to church because that is the “right” behavior to engage in, I have had a chance for the first time in my life to think clearly without a lot of outside interference. Now that the dust has begun to settle and the noisy naysayers have quieted a bit, I can now carefully consider God’s will and His unmistakable direction in my life. Just yesterday morning, Sunday morning, as I sat in my living room with my family and my son’s friend, we opened our Bibles, kids and adults alike, and began working through a new lesson on Daniel I have been developing. The interaction and participation for a full hour was amazing and when the time came to openly pray as a group these kids had no hesitation for such an opportunity. Later I asked my 10 year old son what his friend thought of the our Sunday Bible study. “Dad, he said that he learned more in our Bible study about Daniel than he ever has at church”, was his response. He went on to say he wishes he could do that every Sunday. Hmm… and in response to that I say, “He can”! Truly my prayer is that we can gather with more and more Christians seeking to actively participate during our gatherings.

Folks, stepping outside of the conventional wisdom that as a Christians we should go to church is difficult because it means you must confront your own fears. Fear of what others will say about you, fear of how you will be treated both inside and outside of the Christian community and fear of what you will do once you have taken that step. I understand these fears first hand very well. Undoubtedly, you will suffer for such a decision but if you understand that going to church is lie that Satan has perpetrated upon Christians (see Lie #31) then it becomes a bit easier to critically consider what God actually has for you instead of what man says you must do. Before some of you cast all of this aside as rubbish please realize that I did not say Christians should not gather together. I have discussed this before in other blog posts so I will spare you the verbosity. Today, scores of Christians have pigeonholed themselves into being sermonized every week yet there is little to no spiritual growth in their own life. There are many good preachers that preach great sounding messages but Scripture is quite clear that good sounding preaching does not equal vibrant spiritual growth. Spiritual growth can only come through an intimate relationship with Jesus not from really good passive listening.

If you simply seek comfort and tranquility in this earthly life as a Christians, then remaining in the raft of conventional wisdom will serve you well – it drifts along peacefully as long as there are not too many waves. But panic and pandemonium waits those suddenly forced to swim should the trials of life overturn that raft. If you seek to have a meaningful, living faith walk then lay your fears aside and step out of the raft. For three years now I have been teaching this New Testament freedom in Christ in the small venue of my living room; yet, big things have been happening. Dozens of people have been profoundly impacted. Young and old, mature and immature, Christ’s Life dramatically transforms people from the inside out and He no doubt wants to transform you.

I have finally completed an upgrade to the video gallery containing all 101 Lies that Steve McVey created. The video gallery is now much faster, successfully loads all of the videos using smaller thumbnails, uses the shadowbox feature (you will see when you click one of the videos) and supports multiple browsers (Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Firefox and Safari). I have also uploaded a PDF document that contains the full list of lies. You can download this PDF and use it for note taking while you watch the videos.

I highly recommend you take the time to watch each of these videos. They are a treasure chest of truths that will greatly help you in your own spiritual growth and also in how you can help others who are seeking true freedom in Christ. I so much appreciate how Steve McVey has placed himself in the middle of Christian controversy with these videos. I was reading the comments to one of his videos recently and a person was using ALL CAPS AS THEY COMMENTED ON HIM BEING A LIAR. I had to laugh because Steve simply responded to that self-proclaimed Christian and asked him why he was yelling by using all caps and in what way was he lying. Steve encouraged that person to take the particular lie being discussed, looking up in Scripture for himself and dig out the truth. I so much support Steve in his desire to proclaim the freedom of Christ’s love in a practical, usable way. It is for that reason I put so much effort into this video gallery.

Watch these… enjoy them… and continue to respond to God’s opportunities as He brings them into your life.
To get to this video gallery simply look to the right of this post in the ‘Pages‘ section and then click on the link Lies Christians Believe (Video Gallery).