It’s Not My Fault
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 1 Thessalonians 5:23 NASB
Without blame – Are we making excuses or striving for a result? We all know the phrase, “It’s not my fault” very well. But do we realize that in the end this will be a statement of spiritual excellence? In the end, it actually won’t be our fault. We will be amemptos, “blameless.” No fault will be found in us. The problem is in the meanwhile, not in the end. In the meanwhile, we have plenty of blame. In the meanwhile, YHVH is doing serious surgery. We are getting a complete makeover. And it hurts.
Notice, if you will, that Paul does not say that our “souls” are being preserved. He includes all three Greek words that are the equivalent of the one Hebrew expression nephesh. You as a whole person are the subject of this process. You are not going to end up as some kind of purified spirit in heaven. You are going to end up as a person without blame. Don’t think that this isn’t going to affect your living now! Everything must change. Every fear must evaporate. Every sinful habit must be eradicated. Every mistaken belief eliminated. Every decision examined. It’s all on the chopping block. Be prepared to bleed.
Ah, but there is good news among the slices. You aren’t doing it on your own. God is cutting you up. And, by the way, He knows exactly where to cut. That’s why when He goes to work on us it hurts with exquisite precision. And He isn’t doing just an adequate job. He is sanctifying you entirely. He doesn’t overlook a single ounce of fat. He cuts—deeply! So cry. Weep. Feel the agony of your life, the one you thought you had to have in order to be yourself, feel it bleeding to death. Gasp for air. You are suffocating in your sins. God will make sure you die so that you can live. Far too often we have taken an observer’s approach to the process of sanctifying. We act as if being made blameless is like watching a battle on television. The bullets don’t really rip through our flesh. They only alter the pixels. But God doesn’t work this way. If you are being conformed to the image of His son, you feel it. Sometime you feel it so much that you just want the pain to stop. That’s when you know He is really cutting to the bone.
What’s the good news? He is the “God of peace.” He doesn’t cut in order to make you suffer. He cuts in order to bring you peace. In the process you don’t feel anything like peace. You feel battle-weary, scarred and defeated. You feel ground down to nothing. All you know are your tears. That is the place where Paul reminds you that He is a God of peace. He uses the Greek eirene, but he doesn’t mean only a state the opposite of war. He means well-being, the wide open territory of uninhibited relationship with the Father. He means walking in the Garden in the cool of the evening. He means being held at night. He means never being alone again. When the war ends, love begins.
Topical Index: blameless, amemptos, nephesh, person, eirene, peace, 1 Thessalonians 5:23
Halleluah! NOW is come our salvation! We can have salvation now, in our flesh: in our minds: as well as in our hearts. And what is the epitome of that salvation? Shalom. Peace. Restored connection with YHVH, self and others. No longer alienated from myself, G-d and the commonwealth. A sound mind. Oh, and homeostasis in the body, too.
This was the verse I cling to when I was so sick. This was the verse that I took as THE definitive assurance that YHVH healed now – healed in all three dimensions – and the basis of that healing was the restoration of peace. This verse gave me the foundation for the faith that I could actually be bold enough to ask for restoration, and it told me how that restoration was to be achieved. I did not have to stay lost in trespasses and sins. I could repent and recover.
I have noticed that paganism (my term for all false religion) teaches out of one side of its horse’s mouth that I am essentially flawed, and therefore ‘purity’ consists of having to seek transformation in my ESSENCE. To accomplish this, I either need to abandon myself over and over, through eons of losing my essential identity (reincarnation); or, if I am lucky enough to figure out how to successfully abandon myself now, I can achieve nirvana (self abandonment) in this lifetime. Why does mySELF have to be ‘left behind’? Because paganism teaches that it is flawed in its essence! However, if I don’t like that option, the other side of the devil’s booth will be happy to sell me the notion that if I just embraced myself just like I already am, and simply BELIEVE, I can achieve divinity now! In this lifetime! I am already ‘perfect’! I just didn’t know it! I mean, the devil sets up to catch you coming or going. I have noticed something about both beliefs, however. Neither one give you the option of keeping your SELF and losing the torment. No option but total abandonment if you think you are flawed, or total embrace of those flaws if you think you have to be ‘divine’ (whatever in hell that means: I mean, I have seen some pretty hellish descriptions of divinity.) But the Bible teaches me that I was created very good, and, further, by the time I get to the New Testament, it is pretty convincing in its assertion that sin has its own essence so complete and so alien from me that it can be treated as something that IS NOT ME. And, because it is not me, it can be removed FROM me. Halleluah! It can go, and I can stay! Paganism does not give me this option: it either dumps the baby with its bath water, and burns people with their trash, or keeps the baby in its used diapers and the pigs in their wallows, you can take your pick. Paganism teaches that sin is either all in your head(so make up something else, already!), or it is in your body (so abandon it already!), but nowhere does it give you an option of actually ditching sin. Hmmm
This verse teaches me that righteousness is a three-dimensional phenomenon: it consists of the restoration of peace in all my dimensions – spirit, soul and body. Now. In this lifetime. In this body.
The Bible teaches me that sin is also a three-dimensional construction in its own right. Paul experienced it as an alien being, and Yeshua’s reaction to it was to treat it as an intruder from hell.
I have noticed that sin has certain characteristics. First, sin has the ability to teach me in its ways: I can become educated in the ways of sin. Sin’s goal is the fracture of peace (connection): it sets me against G-d, myself and others. It separates me, in a profound way, from the herd. I lose my connection to my Shepherd, my own identity (which is the essence of insanity) and to others. This fracture introduces a new phenomenon: the notion of a Self as OPPOSED, or separated, FROM. It sets up a tiny kingdom of one, as opposed to the Kingdom of One. It tempts with the idea that self can be supreme; separated in its ESSENCE from all; but, paradoxically, at the same time, it teaches that, if that self is to be ‘perfect’, it must abandon itself; either through altered state of reality (‘purity’ can be achieved only in the “spirit”, so focus on somehow leaving the body behind at all opportunities), or through reincarnation (you have to die to become ‘pure’), or, if you want, all you need to be ‘pure’ in this lifetime is to “embrace your divinity”, but I have noticed that to achieve this option, you actually have to go to a lot of effort to learn how to embrace your crud! LOL! (Your fears are really ‘you’! All you need to do is figure out how to get along with them! Etc, ad nauseum)
Yeshua taught that the Kingdom of Heaven was come down to us. Now. We can enter now. In this lifetime. In this flesh. We can have peace now. HOW? Over and over, He demonstrated. First, He forgave the sins of tormented people. Then, He cast them (identified as devils) out. On the people’s end, if you think about it, this would have been experienced as repentance (abandonment) of those sins, and recovery of themselves FROM those sins, or, fractures. Nowhere in this process did He abandon (separate Himself from) the sinners, nor did He require them to abandon (hate) themselves. He simply went about the business of separating them from what had been separating them. Amazing! I have taken this to teach me that an evil spirit is the essence of fracture; the substance, if you will, of rebellion and unrighteousness. Sin is not a concept! I did not make it up! In fact, it is so real in all its dimensions, that it has its own identity separate (lol!) from me, with its own agenda, intelligence and power. Being a slave to sin is no joke! That is the bad news. The good news is, because sin is an alien force that I did not invent; nor is it just a facet of me (a part of my essence) I can treat it as something that is NOT ME. I can safely hate it (I have an enemy I can hate, along with David, with a perfect hatred!), kick it to the curb, and live without it, without losing any part of my essence. I do not have to abandon myself, my body, or my King. Nor do I have to live in shame. Shame is the hallmark of sin, but, I am not sin! Sin is not me! The surgery is not to cut off my leg or cut out my heart or perform a lobotomy. There is nothing wrong with me! I was created very good! The surgery is about cutting what is NOT ME back away FROM me. Halleluah! All I have to do is agree (repent)! It only hurts to the extent that I think it IS me!
Torment is not from G-d. Therefore, we do not have to agree to put up with it. Torment, however, is a gift of sorts to us to let us know where the fracture lines are. Torment is our assurance that we were not created to be able to endure separation. (Separation hurts! Halleluah!) Sin is the wedge that holds those lines open. When I repent for the fracture – the separation from G-d, self or others – the sin no longer has a legal right to torment me. There is no sense in casting out devils (instruments of torture) on one hand, if I am still giving them a legal right to stay on the other. Fear will not leave if I am still in agreement with the lies that let it in my door. However, if I repent for agreeing with those lies, then fear has no more right to torment me, and I can kick it, along with all its instruments of torture, out through the power of the Holy Spirit given to me, in the Name of Yeshua HaMashiach of Nazareth, Who came, not to save me in my sins, or in spite of my sins, but FROM the sins, along with all their side effects(!) that are precisely not me! Halleluah! Healing is the children’s bread. Healing – restoration – is for now, in this lifetime. Healing is the side effect, if you will, of peace. His Body was bruised for it: for my peace, for my homeostasis. The cutting is to separate me from my torment. All I have to do is embrace the faith that that is true. Amen.
That was amazing! Straight from the anointing spirit of Gods peace filled wisdom. It totally spoke to me..thank you!
Dear Skip,
Today is my birthday so when I saw your email I thought, “Wonder what BD message God will send through Skip?” After I finished reading I went back to bed and there as I rested I thought, “Yep, Skip got that one right. The death to sell was well said but I would have put my focus on ‘what I got’ versus ‘what the surgery felt like.’ For me, my shift on what I focus on has brought his banqueting table closer to me in the presence of my enemies.
Ruth
WALK THIS WAY!
Every step we take in faith, He has revelation for us
to see and know.
Revelation about His secret wisdom.
Revelation that will completely revolutionize our lives!
“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden
wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,
which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known,
they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor has entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those
who love Him.”
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit
searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.” 1 Cor 2:7-10
Thanks, Skip, for sharing what you’ve been shown!
I will praise Him through all eternity for loving me enough to do whatever it took to save me from even myself! Thank You Father-the gangrenous cancer was too much a part of me for me to understand its death sentence over me. I owe you all…You are All…and You are Faithful and True! I had heard about You with my ears, but now my eye sees you – praise Your Holy Name!
“You are not going to end up as some kind of purified spirit in heaven. You are going to end up as a person without blame. Don’t think that this isn’t going to affect your living now! Everything must change. Every fear must evaporate. Every sinful habit must be eradicated. Every mistaken belief eliminated. Every decision examined. It’s all on the chopping block. Be prepared to bleed.”
Ouch!!!!!! But please do it. Get rid of the cancer in me. Please do it ABBA and thank You.
“Ah, but there is good news among the slices. You aren’t doing it on your own. God is cutting you up. And, by the way, He knows exactly where to cut. That’s why when He goes to work on us it hurts with exquisite precision. And He isn’t doing just an adequate job. He is sanctifying you entirely. ”
I look forward to ABBA completing the task, doing the cutting rather than men. May I be compliant to His Will. HalleluYAH.
Don.
“Are we making excuses or striving for a result?” Aren’t we all good at that- making excuses i.e.? We see only from our aspect, expecting others to comply to our desires, and expectations, regardless.
“We are getting a complete makeover”, and it is FREE of charge! No expensive costs to painfully fork out, and we will come off it looking terrific, and stunning! Thank you, Skip! And the best part is, ABBA will be doing it!! Definitely NO mistakes, no errors, everything will be done perfectly as HE thinks fit. Can’t wait!
“Every decision examined” , halleluYAH! This ought to awaken us not to take even the minutest thought we may have that is displeasing to YHWH, but seek to hear from Him first and foremost.
“Sometimes you feel it so much that you just want the pain to stop”. True! Skip, you must have gone through that personally, same for me. “All you know are your tears.” But for all that we went and are going through, we are aware ABBA is watching over and guiding us in our ways to conform us to His. Amein!
Shalom!