Spinning Your Wheels

1 Pet 3:7

7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them [ their wives ] according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

(KJV)

I’ve spoken of conformity into the image and body of Christ. And I’ve said that it has to be on the basis of free will. And therein lies a paradox. I have free will at all times. Yet, if I choose to pit my free will against my Head in heaven, I will be pitting my free will against a Being who is All-knowing (omniscient), All-present (omnipresent), and All-powerful (omnipotent), and from whose heart streams infinite love.

If I pit my free will against such a Being, what will I be left with? Well, I’ll be left with pretty much what Satan (“the Adversary” or “Opposer” ) is now left with: “outer darkness” where “ there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt 25:30)

With the best will in the world (but not of heaven), we often end up at this antipode from our Redeemer:

Matt 16:21-23

21 From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.

22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

(KJV)

Gal 2:11-14

11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed.

12 For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.

13 And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.

14 But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

(KJV)

James 3:1-2

1 My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.

2 For in many things we offend all. If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle the whole body.

(KJV)

While we are all spiritually connected to our Head in heaven, we should not be surprised if, from time to time, our self-will (or the diabolic realm) entices us into that which will cut our communication links to Him. Our communication links to Christ are in the spiritual world between our spirit and His, by His Holy Spirit who indwells us. But sometimes our communications with Him are no more secure than a string with two tin cans on each end. The string can be cut.

Make no mistake that our sins have been dealt with from all eternity to all eternity:

1 Cor 6:9-11

9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,

10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.

(KJV)

But our communications with Christ can be broken by our self-will that leads us back into sin.

Our way back to restoration and communication with Christ is confession. First to ourselves in self-honesty, then to God, and then to our fellow members in Christ, where that is needed.

I Jn 1:6-10

6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

(KJV)

I Jn 2:1-2

1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

2 And he is the propitiation [ satisfying of God ] for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

(KJV)

James 5:16

16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

(KJV)

I vaguely recall seeing a documentary about walking robots that were being invented at (I think), MIT. They had to be light weight, so they were not carrying internal power supplies. So what they had instead were long electric cords with a plug at the end to plug them into a wall socket. But every now an then a robot would walk too far and pull its electric cord out of the wall socket and stop dead in its tracks.

That is a good picture of what the Christian life tends to be for most Christians. Self-will, or the diabolic realm, entice us so far from the Source of our spiritual life that we lose our communications and sustanance from Him.

The unfortunate thing is that, unlike the robots, we can still go on for a good long while without realizing what has happened. The fruits of our lives can start to rot before we realize we been cut from our Vine. “for without me ye can do nothing.”

But fortunately for all of us, when we realize we are at the end of our plug, He is always there, ready to plug us back in.

Metaprayer

Here is the metaprayer for staying connected with the Head in heaven:

“Is anything hindering my prayers? Please show me what it may be, that I may confess it.”