Orthodoxy without obedience does not yield renewal. But fully yielding to the Truth brings radical transformation. My life is proof of that.
If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
~ Colossians 3:1-4
It is still a little hard for me to share this story. i get tempted by lies like:
> it’s too outlandish
> it has been too short a time since the transformation… no one will believe it is real…
> There is still so much wreckage (so many hurt people), so what if the change is real in me?…
But God! (oh how i love that phrase in His Word). And thankfully, it is all about Him anyway! So, may all who read this get an even better opinion of Who God is, and what He can do in a life.
Then, about 7 November 2010, I went through a 35-day catharsis at an addiction recovery program called The Colony of Mercy at America’s Keswick. 1st was true and ABSOLUTE surrender to Him, followed by an intense period of emotional pain and ending with a dreadful / wonderful vision of actually being killed, but somehow staying alive. Upon talking to the chaplain later about the vision, he said, “you know… Keswick is like an elephant graveyard. People come here to die. They just don’t know it.” Oh my… what?
This started an incredible 40-day period of fasting and prayer. It was as if God took the prior 35 years of my stumbling walk with Him, and pulled all of that out of the savings account He had created at the beginning of my walk with Him back in 1974 – and poured it back into me, with interest added!
As I back-filled my abandoned self-identity with what the Bible says i am in Christ (about 80+ things right?), all the pain, fear, doubt, anxiety – ALL of it – went away. He did it. As i abide right now (“now”), in Him, there is absolutely no fear, no pain, no doubt, no worry, no anxiety… There is only Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and even self-control. What’s up with that?
What happened to me? i’m was not trying to over-intellectualize here. i was (and am still) having some off-the-hook experiences with this too. Dreams, visions, sights, sounds, understandings, empowerment (all – so far – aligned with Scripture)… This was wonderful, but really weird, and definitely not part of my religious background.
Then, a beautiful brother, an author; one with a testimony worth listening to – and a proven track record – sent me this note:
Wow. Surely it’s true. For believers, Jesus is in us. But it is just as true that we are in Him.
