Month: July 2023

Submission

Submission is the act of yielding to the governance of authority. Some synonyms include obedience, surrender, acquiesce, compliance, consent, and pliability.

We live in a rebellious generation who feel it is their right to sit in judgment of those in authority over them. Christians are no exception. Rebellion against God-appointed leaders is the same as rebelling against the Lord and leads to nothing but trouble. As our commanding general, the Lord says, “Get into ranks and follow me. I will not lead you into temptation, and I will deliver you from evil.”

But we sometimes say, “No, I don’t want to follow today.” So we fall out of ranks, do our own thing, and get into trouble or hurt. Then we blame God for not protecting us. We are also tempted to rebel against human authority. We have two biblical responsibilities regarding authority figures: pray for them and submit to them.

The only time God permits us to disobey earthly leaders is when they require us to do something morally wrong before God. The Bible teaches of our responsibility to submit to the following leaders:

Being submissive to human authority demonstrates faith. As you submit to God’s line of authority, you choose to believe that God will protect you and bless you and that all will go well with you. Ask God to forgive you for those times you have not been submissive and declare your trust in God to work through His established authority lines.

So, how do we know if we are moving in rebellion in an area in our life? Here are fifteen characteristics to weigh.

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Rebellion Vs. Submission — Rebellion

Merriam Webster online defines the verb rebel as to oppose or disobey one in authority or control, act or show opposition or disobedience, or feel or exhibit anger or revulsion. Synonyms of rebel include defiant, disobedient, incompliant, insubordinate, rebellious, ungovernable, unruly, wayward, and willful. Two more synonyms of the verb rebel are mutiny and revolt.

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Rebellion Vs. Submission: Breaking Up with Your Rebellious Heart

Rebellion vs. submission. Everyone makes a choice when responding to authority in their life. There’s really no middle ground. Either you’ll choose to submit to God and the authority established in your life, or you’ll rebel. No middle ground means that you can’t choose to submit in one authority area and rebel against another.

So, what does rebellion look like? Let’s begin with the definition. Watch the Facebook Live here.

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A Prayer

Lord Jesus, I repent for holding bitter root judgments against (name) for (event). I have believed (insert what you thought about that person) and held it against them. I release (name) to you, Jesus, and ask you to set me and (name) free from these judgments. I ask you to cancel all of the curses, assignments, and ground that gave to the enemy because of the judgments I’ve made against (name). Lord, renew my mind toward them. Please help me to see them through your eyes. I bless them and ask you to release blessings where I have held judgments. In Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

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Don’t Stay Bound Up In Judgment

Don’t stay bound up in judgment. Loose yourself and others with these steps. Remember, say them out loud.

  1. Repent for holding judgments against specific people.
  2. Ask the Lord to release you and the person(s) from the judgment you’ve held. Be specific about the judgment you’ve had.
  3. Release yourself and each person from specific judgments you’ve made about them.
  4. Ask the Lord to cancel the assignments and curses that gained access to you and them because of the judgments you’ve made against them.
  5. Then fill with the things of God. Speak blessings over the person and release the opposite of the judgment against them.

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Greed Is Our Problem

We are the problem. In Thinking Christian, I suggest, “When we have not offered a faithful digital presence, it is, in part, because we did not have a good idea of what it meant to offer a faithful ‘analog’ presence.”

We have always had a problem with greed. We seem to want the wrong things for the wrong reasons, thereby losing any reasonable grip on what it means to choose God over greed.

We cannot lose sight of the fact that exaggerated spectacles like Vegas and the gossip-column-framed-as-investigative-journalism have something in common: they wouldn’t exist without us.

Our desires begin to form us spiritually through economic systems in which we are, to one degree or another, willing participants. Greed often results in the accumulation of wealth. The fact that greed often results in wealth, however, should not blind us to other objects of greed.

Greed, we might say, is about the incessant pursuit of something deemed so valuable that obtaining it pushes out gratitude and contentment. We no longer “seek first God’s Kingdom and His righteousness” but set it aside to chase what has become the object of our misdirected desires.

Our desire to be fulfilled by something other than God, overreach God-given boundaries in pursuit of our own aims, and set agendas for God that relegate him to second (or third, fourth, fifth, etc.) position reflect the sort of self-centeredness that allows greed to flourish.

While Paul may rejoice at the spread of the gospel even when it is motivated by selfish ambition (Philippians 1:15-18), he isn’t endorsing selfish ambition.

Greed is rooted in our unwillingness to take direction from our Creator so that as we identify the objects of our desire, we give ourselves over to reflect those objects rather than God’s glory.

Arguably, even our most legitimate desires, when left unchecked and redirected by God, can limit our ability to love God and neighbor.

If we (individually or collectively) allow our desire for virtues, such as truth, justice, accountability, holiness, unity, or love, to overshadow God, we offer a false picture of Him to the world.

In our portrayal of God, He begins to look more like us. We suggest that God conforms to our desires and serves our purposes.

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Greed in the Information Age

When decisions about what to say and when to say it are conditioned less by slow, deep, Spirit-led discernment than on what will drive page views, greed rules the system.

When we consume such messages and, through our likes, shares, views, and downloads, request more of the same, greed becomes a natural logic.

They supply because we consume, and we consume because they supply. There is no particular end toward that which we are aiming for because “accumulating more” means we never have enough.

But what are we greedy for? It seems we are greedy for the security that comes from stories that confirm our beliefs, reduce or eliminate ambiguity, and remind us that there are people out there who are far worse than we are.

We are greedy for information that reinforces our experience, allows us to go about our day-to-day activities, and confirms our preferred understanding of God. Media, even some Christian media, can form us into the image of something other than Christ.

Christians seem willing to accept such an assertion when it comes to pornography, violence, or other such vulgarities, yet we don’t often consider the idea that other forms of media are capable of distorting reality and cultivating misdirected desires.

If we become greedy for such media, we may find that we have engaged in a sort of idolatry in which the god presented in the media becomes “real” while the real God is increasingly lost in the noise.

To put it differently, greed does not have to involve an increase in material goods. It can also involve the accumulation of information that allow us to live comfortably.

As theologian Jürgen Moltmann notes, while wanting to be like God is only one side of sin, “The other side of such pride is hopelessness, resignation, inertia, and melancholy…Temptation then consists not so much in the titanic desire to be as God but in weakness, timidity, weariness, not wanting to be what God requires of us.”

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Heart check!

Pay attention to your thoughts and speech for “always” and “never’ statements and beliefs. If you find any, take it to the Lord and follow these steps.

  1. Identify who or what you’re holding judgment toward in your heart.
  2. What lies do you believe about yourself, them, God, and others because of the judgment?

Now that you have identified who and what you have believed, let’s lay it at the feet of Jesus and take back the ground given to the enemy.

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Judgment is Different than Unforgiveness

Judgment and unforgiveness are different.

Unforgiveness is a private cell of torture, reserved just for one. The person you resent is not in that cell with you. He is free. Forgiveness is an act of our will, and when we do that, it closes an open door for demonic torment.

Judgment, however, is a cell reserved for two. Judgment by the power of your words condemns and imprisons you both. Luke 6:37 and Roman 2:1 say that we are opening the door for torment in our own lives when we judge someone.

You can forgive someone and still hold a judgment against them in your heart.

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Are You Bound Up in Judgment? Heart Check Time!

Are you bound up in judgment? If you catch yourself thinking or using“never” or “always” statements when expressing yourself, it’s a good indicator that you have formed judgments in your heart.

What being Bound Up in Judgment Looks Like

Do you say or think things like:

  • “I always get hurt.”
  • “I never get picked.”
  • “People always betray me.”
  • “They never help me.”
  • “People always ignore me.”

If you can answer “yes,” then you have some work to do. “Never” and “always” statements and mindsets are two extremes. They are very “me” focused. It means that your heart isn’t seeing both sides of reality and is bound up in judgment.

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