From the Cross: Control

by David Chadwick

We are looking at the many strongholds that have come from the cross after our local church congregation confessed different hurts and sins during the Easter season. Control is today’s topic.

Control is the delusion that we are in charge of our lives. It leaves people with an illusion of power that they were never meant to have. Only God is in control!

The irony of control is that so often the most controlling people are actually the least self-controlled. They spend all of their emotional energy trying to control everything around them and neglect the only Biblical instruction to control, which is the call to have self-control (Galatians 5:23).

In order to speak accurately about this topic of control, we must first realize that we are called to make wise decisions in accordance with God’s Word. Throughout Scripture, God calls us to live with wisdom, knowledge, and discernment. As followers of Jesus, we should desire to be faithful unto the Lord in every area of our lives!

Regardless of our efforts to be faithful and responsible, how much do we really control? I love this saying: Man proposes, God disposes. Or like Proverbs 16:9 says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”

God is the one who ultimately brings about results. He has the overreaching providence to work out his plans for his world (Genesis 50:20). Everything that happens is always moving God’s ultimate plan toward what is needed for our good and for his glory (Romans 8:28). As God said to Job at the end of his ordeals, he says to us, “Where were you when I created the world?”

At the end of the day, we must simply do the best we can. I used to tell my kids, “Do your best and give God the rest.” We should make good decisions and live as responsibly as possible, but we must trust God with the outcome!

Only God controls everything. He is the only one who oversees the world. That is the essence of faith. We know that he will never forsake his children.

God has a plan. He oversees his plan. We must trust him in his plan. Release everything to him. We are called to obey him and then trust him. In the end, we must remain confident that he alone is in control and our lives belong to him!

This truly is the pathway to freedom.

From the Cross: Fear

by David Chadwick

“Fear” was written down multiple times by people at our Service of Darkness this past Easter. Because of how many times it was addressed, I wanted to cover it a second time in this series.

Fear. This is the foreboding feeling that something bad may happen.

Did you know that God frequently tells us not to fear in the Bible?

“Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:31).

“Fear not, for I am with you…” (Isaiah 43:5).

“Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed…” (Joshua 1:9).

“Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God…” (Isaiah 41:10).

So many examples in Scripture of being told not to fear. And yet this is a crippling, common emotion that too many people choose to embrace and let dictate their entire lives!

It is one of the first negative emotions introduced to mankind after the Fall in Genesis 3. After sinning, Adam responded to the Lord God by saying, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” The building blocks of Adam’s guilt created a house of shame in which fear walked right in!

Stop for a moment and remember God’s original intent. He originally intended for creation to be orderly and peaceful, an environment where fear could not exist. Before sin entered the world, Adam and Eve perfectly trusted God in all things and lived in shalom - perfect peace and wholeness!

After eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they essentially declared themselves to be God and fear entered the world.

The antidote for fear is God’s presence. His presence allows us to live both surrendered to and arrested by tremendous faith! Repeatedly in God’s Word, faithful people are adjured, “Do not be afraid, for God is with you.” When Jesus ascended to heaven, he promised that he would be with his children forever, until the end of the age (Matthew 28:20). This means he promised to leave his presence indwelling in the hearts of all who believe in him!

The same power that raised Jesus from the dead lives in the hearts of anyone who professes faith in Jesus (Romans 8:11). Fear must flee.

The eternal God of this universe in Jesus faces all your problems with you.

Why fear?

From the Cross: Shame

by David Chadwick

Shame is the negative feeling of worthlessness. It fuels thoughts like, “I am of no value. I am worthless. I am a bad person. I will never amount to anything.”

First, let’s take note of the difference between guilt and shame. Guilt, yesterday’s topic, believes, “I have done something wrong.” Shame believes, “I AM wrong.” If guilt wants to plague you because of your actions, shame wants to destroy your entire identity. You could even think of it like this: guilt provides the building blocks with which shame can build the house.

Once you find yourself living in shame, you will find that depression, despair, anxiety and so many other strongholds can walk right through the door and reside in your heart!

Shame is one of the first negative emotions mentioned in the Bible (Genesis 3:7). It came right after Adam’s and Eve’s fall. They felt guilty, but that quickly turned to shame as they became aware of their nakedness and felt the urgent need to cover themselves with animal skins. Did you know that “covered up” is actually the Hebrew word for atonement? Before the concept of atonement was fully realized, they killed an animal and used its skin to cover themselves, foreshadowing the need for the shedding of blood for the remission of sins (Hebrews 9:22). I find it absolutely fascinating that long before Jesus ever came into this world, Adam and Eve immediately felt the need for atonement following their act of sin.

Jesus came and shed his blood, not only to forgive your sins, but also to give you a new identity. His life, death and resurrection came to heal not only our actions and behaviors, but our entire personhood! His salvation covers both sins of omission and commission. The evil things that we do intentionally and the good things we fail to do.

Jesus can release you from all shame, making you a brand new person. He adopts you into his family, where you become an inheritor of all he owns. Upon salvation, his perfect blood now pulsates through your royal veins! Your inheritance is now to live in HIS house, his dwelling place, forever. He is preparing that place for you right now for eternity.

Shame wants you to forget this truth! Its purpose is to cripple your life. Satan uses shame to render you ineffective for ministry and to keep you shackled to your former life and ways.

Jesus came to set us free (Galatians 5:1). He wants to crush the enemy’s lies (John 8:44) so that we are fully able to give our lives away (Mark 10:45).

Dear friends, don’t live in shame. Walk in your new identity, new purpose, new hope! It’s the only way to live! It’s the only path to freedom.