STOP Existing START Living!

When I look around these days I sometimes feel so different.

I know I am a creative, artistic person, yet that’s not what I mean…

Rather I see so many people with such potential, living lives of existence rather than purpose; however I also ‘get it’ because that’s how I once was too.

Now I’m not saying I am some super-perfect-got-it-all-together-stress-free woman!

Only that now, I live my life in the will-of-God and my life now has meaning and purpose.

Sadly this isn’t a message the majority of our young people are hearing any more…

Our young people are fed garbage, like…do what makes YOU happy…have sex with as many people as you like or of different gender, experiment…life is short, live it up…we are so much more culturally advanced than ancient civilisations…yes, you come from apes and before that goop…no, there are no absolutes…life is about survival of the fittest but don’t cheat on your test…saying no is boring…dress modestly at school, but it’s okay to show your body if you’re a model and get a pay check…fight for equality that suits YOU…you’re only an adult when you can drink me under the table son…just get an abortion it’s your body…there is no god…there are many paths to finding god…you are a god...no we don’t want others to live drug dependent lives or in poverty or for our world to have human trafficking, but whatever you do don’t take away our internet PORN…kids should be safe from sexual predators, but let’s lower the age of legal sex…who has the right to say who one can love, so we’d better legalise incest and polygamy and marriage to animals and inanimate objects…those bible-believing Christians should be gotten rid of but Hitler was totally wrong…let’s have freedom of speech as long as it suits what the government asserts…do what we say and don’t ask why…our morals come from society not the Bible so there’s no need for scripture in state schools…violence is okay as long as it’s animated…I could go on and on…

And while the results are so blatantly obvious…an epidemic of depression and anxiety, obesity, drug and alcohol addictions, prostitution, sex and porn addictions, eating disorders, sex outside of marriage, pregnancy outside of wedlock, massacre of the unborn, educated people who cannot think for themselves, excessive selfish lifestyles from greed, Christian persecution, divorce, lazy adults, disrespectful kids, increased violence, massive personal debt, dirty filthy cities and homes…

Yet many would rather bury their head in the sand and remain apathetic.

I’ve read recently of the similarities between ancient Rome and the west.  Bill Muehlenberg, in Christian Persecution and the War of Worldviews stated:

“No one who is even halfway awake today can fail to see the tremendous similarities between ancient Rome and the West today…Consider our modern secular state: It too has a new untouchable religion: secular humanism. It too sees as a grave threat anyone who will not bow to its religion. It too sees social cohesion and conformity as very important values, and it too sees the recalcitrant Christians as troublemakers, rebels and threats to the security of the state.” 

This article has spurred me to think more about our culture here in the west. And as I went to Greece and Turkey on a Biblical tour January 2014, seeing the ancient Roman/Greco cities/culture, plus studying the New Testament it is even more apparent of what was then being very present now. Stay with me on this because it really isn’t all that tricky…

Although so many people today believe we here in the west are so advanced…I have to wonder do they even know history?

Okay so yes we have more electronic technology but there is much lost ancient knowledge, things we cannot reproduce.

How many of us can recite from memory anything more than our cell phone number?  Have you seen the ancient architecture and infrastructure? The ancient Romans and Greeks were smart people…they were not simple, barbarians!

The Greeks loved to talk philosophy and were renowned for their love of knowledge…intellect was cool…a man who couldn’t deliver a decent speech was looked down upon…hmmm, wonder what they’d think of our school kids today?

Anyway, back to my point…these ancient people weren’t dumb, or even less spiritual than us. Some were seeking the truth and knew there was more to our human existence than just flesh and bone, even if they were lost with their myriad of false gods…the worship of imposters…demons.  They even worshiped sex…yep  truly…they had temples to Aphrodite the goddess of sex and fertility and had temple prostitutes working to serve!  The Romans were no different – they had the collections of false gods and stories…the same, simply with different names; Aphrodite was simply called Venus by the Romans and so on.

Sex worship really is just an extension of self-worship, where one lives to serve their own flesh which is why emperor worship is totally a logical next-step.  Today in the west, we simply have celebrities in place of an emperor (yes, this includes the glamorous politicians)!

Let’s look more closely at us compared to Ancient Rome.

Today, we have so many lost, spiritual people who think they’re so much smarter than what the Bible says. The New Testament says the Greeks thought they were wise and God’s wisdom being so much higher, was considered foolishness by many.  Read it here 1 Corinthians 1: 18-25. Today it is exactly the same for many who are not taught the truth or to think…God’s perfect, holy righteous way for us to receive forgiveness for our sins and restoration into relationship with Him is considered foolishness.

And this is why we still see people just existing and not truly living.

They blindly believe being a Christian results in no freedom. When they are actually trapped into serving their own flesh – it is their own flesh they are slaves to and the enemy claps his hands over it because they are really slaves to him! Jesus is clear you’re either for Him, or against Him.  There is no such thing as a born-again, Christian hypocrite…If you think you’ve seen one, they’d be a wolf in sheep’s clothing!

There is no freedom in being a slave your flesh…a slave to the devil…there is no peace in this endeavour, even if someone thinks they have peace it is temporary and fleeting and will result in brokenness and addiction because the enemy wants to kill us.

I can testify to this…I know what it is to simply exist with myself as god. Yet praise God forever, as I now live in His freedom!

I am now truly free to worship and love Him as I am forgiven and restored and in this I have found true peace!

My life now has purpose…

I no longer am trapped by addictions…

I don’t spend hours in front of the TV or gossiping about others…

I no longer wake up in the night consumed by anxiety…

I want to repeat that I am not saying I’m some super-perfect-got-it-all-together-stress-free woman!  Or that my life is now without challenges…as now because I belong to Christ I have an enemy who tries to pull me down!  

What I am saying, is I am rooted in the One, who is stronger than the enemy, only temporarily here until Jesus returns.  I am saying that there is a spiritual battle going on - that you MUST decided which side you're on...there is no fence sitting and there are eternal consequences. I am saying, this truth and good news is available to you too…You too can experience a life-changing encounter with God when you give up having yourself as god and step into forgiveness and reconciliation through Jesus Christ!

You too can stop existing and start living…call out to Christ and get ready for LIFE!

Need some inspiration here's a song which can do just that...As LeCrae raps (my explanation)...we're dead to ourself and alive forever in Christ which begins NOW!