Nothing in this world can substitute what Jesus has done for us and still does for us. In His sacrifice on the cross and His resurrection to defeat death, Jesus became our way to be with Him in eternity. Nothing else but Jesus matters. He is everything. He is the focus and will be the culmination of all events that will end this current age and into eternity.

The Roadblock.

Psalm 19:14, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.”

Life gets in the way of Jesus being everything, right? We have so many distractions pulling us in different directions each day. Rarely do we even have time to sit with our family at dinnertime, and if we do, it feels rushed to get to the next item on the agenda in our hectic lives. We have only ourselves to blame for this because we do it to ourselves. This, in turn, happens with Jesus.

We rush Him. We let the things of the world interrupt and block our walk with Jesus. Though most won’t admit this, the truth of the matter is this- we sometimes feel that Jesus is an interruption to us living our lives. Ugh, this is a punch to the gut, but it is true for a lot of us Christians.

Some brothers and sisters have put Christ to the side. They have benched Him in the game of their lives so they can get everything they want out of this world. I also speculate that Christ was never a focus in some people’s lives at all. He was never in the game, per se. The world got them hook, line, and sinker, and they were fooled into believing in some other gospel that they could have the best of both worlds, that they could serve both God and the world at the same time.

The real focus for a lot of us is on having stuff. Newer cars, bigger houses, better jobs, and the best of everything else. And you know what? When you think you are getting ahead, you realize you are falling behind again. And so, the cycle continues. The dance with the world spins round and around.

We compare ourselves against others’ lives and possessions, but we don’t call it coveting; we call it something else. We just want better and want bigger and want more. Our appetite for this world is insatiable. Like a glutton in a 24-hour all-you-can-eat buffet, we can’t stop. It becomes our habit- the ambition to increase and increase and have more and more. When this happens, Jesus is not our everything; He’s just something.

Hardships

Psalm 119:71, “It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.”

Let’s be real here: our personal known world is not full of hardships, just inconveniences. We aren’t like Christians in North Korea. Most of us think hardship is when there is no Wi-Fi connection or phone signal. The problem is we can get everything we need and anything we want with little effort or consequence. Because of this, there is not a desperate need for Jesus.

This is the crux of the matter- when we can have anything we want in this world, our spiritual needs are neglected because there is no [perceived] need for Jesus. We must be brought to the point where there is a realization that this is false. We need to be brought to a position to know nothing matters, Jesus is everything. We need to be brought to our knees.

Being brought to this point is different for each person, but the theme is similar. We must be broken before Jesus becomes everything, not just something or nothing.

Breaking to Nothing.

Psalm 34:18, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

When I was in army basic training, the point of training was to mentally break us and then build us up. The drill sergeants broke us down through physical and mental exhaustion by physical exertion, mental stress, and lack of sleep. Like most everyone else in basic training, after the drill sergeants broke us, they built and conformed us to what they wanted us to be. Because of this, I was a different person in a lot of ways than before basic training.

Society has done this to our belief systems and world views, just not as directly as something like basic training. A little change here and a small nudge there adjusted our values and priorities away from the core doctrines of our faith. Changes and ideas were slowly introduced to us, mostly through media and education, all in an effort to incrementally lessen our fundamental doctrine beliefs and faith in Jesus or to have us question God and His teachings. And here we are today, seeing the fruits of these evil changes that began decades ago when we look back and reminisce about how things used to be because of how bad things are now.

These changes and adjustments have made society bend toward the ways of the satanic world system we live in. Just watch the news or listen to the coffee pot talk at work. Christian values are going, going… and are mostly gone now.

Sorry, I’ve digressed a little, but this is important because, unbeknownst to us, there are many of us Christians who have been affected by this, and that is why we are lukewarm in our faith. And because of this, Jesus is not everything, so sometimes we must be broken to snap us back to the reality of Him.

We each have a breaking point, a rock-bottom situation where we are brought to a fork in the road- a defining juncture, to decide which way to go. Stay with the world, or go with Christ. No more wishy-washy faith or making our own paths.

This breaking point may be a financial disaster, a divorce, the death of a child, spouse, or whatever. For me, an illness broke me. During the rock-bottom of my ordeal, the Holy Spirit told me, not asked me, told me a decision had to be made about Jesus being everything or nothing; regardless of the course and outcome of my illness, I had to choose. Thankfully, I chose Him.

Waking Up.

Psalm 25:9, “He leads the humble in justice, and He teaches the humble His way.”

Before this breaking point in my life, I did not realize the lack of depth I had in my relationship with Christ. The reliance I had on Him before my illness was, looking back, superficial and intellectual at best. This illness showed me my fundamental lack of complete trust in Him and taught me that nothing else matters, Jesus is everything. I was humbled to my core at the realization of how helpless I really was in this world.

This type of humbleness, well, it comes when there is nothing left but Jesus. It’s a hard lesson to experience. The point when there is absolutely nothing left in us is when Jesus becomes everything. The point when we look around at our lives and can attest with certainty that it is Jesus who sustains us and not man or self is life affecting humbleness.

When everything is stripped down inside, and you find you have nothing, is when Jesus becomes everything. This type of humbleness changes the core of a person and allows Jesus the ability to rebuild and shape a person how He wants, like a spiritual basic training. The breaking was painful, but the rebuilding, it’s a wonderful and ongoing change.

Concluding.

When we have nothing, Jesus becomes everything. When this realization occurs, hold on to it because when you bounce back from being broken from devastation or other hardships, it is easy to get back into the old mindset and routine you had before. I take that back- it is too easy to get back into old mindsets and routines.

Stay focused on what is important to your eternity, not what you can get out of this world. The world we live in and are surrounded by is an uphill battle for a lot of us. We will climb up and will also slide down sometimes, but keep looking up and heading up to live for and to please Jesus until we meet Him face to face.

Take care, and God bless.

johnflysaught@gmail.com

 

There’s fear all around. It’s like a bad odor lingering about. Been this way for some time now. Even before COVID, there was this sense of impending and crushing fear in the air. Yet, during and then with the aftermath of the lockdowns and all the other prophetic-related events happening, this fear is amplified and grows every day.

Why Do We Fear?

Why do we fear? First, let’s frame this in the context of the fear of the current situation of politics, fearmongering about climate change, and, yes, the continuing and lingering effects of the COVID thing and other potential pandemics that have gripped the world with a daily dread of impending doom.

The main suspect is Satan and the propaganda put out by those under him who control the narrative. The fear swaying people are those emotions attached to their heartstrings. It’s like watching a sad movie scene being amplified by accompanying music pulling emotions out for the sake of the moment.

The topics of morality, life, death, right and wrong, and the greater good are just a few examples of what people are being inundated with each day to cause a reaction of fear. The effect of this fear is to conjure up illicit compliance and control to the government by those who control policy from the top down.

Why? Because the world system wants people to believe the government knows what is best for them, not God. Satan and his world system need complete control of people. The only way they can do this is to convince people to surrender their individual rights and autonomy to man. They do this through fear under the guise of safety, security, and to save the earth, of course.

Unfortunately, the chords being played by those behind the scenes to affect this compliance are mostly successful. The population at large is throwing their individual and collective rights at the feet of those who have convinced them that they need the government to save them from all the bad in the world.

Why are those controlling the world successful?

This is a simple answer. Satan, the great deceiver, the prince of this world, has pulled the blinds over the eyes of the unsuspecting and non-discerning Christians.

The excuse for those not part of the Body of Christ is that they have no knowledge of the Truth of the Word about Christ yet, or through their blatant denial of this Truth. For those who are falling for these schemes of Satan that are believers, the blame goes to both the individual believer’s lack of effort and those in the pulpit not fulfilling their job.

Satan has convinced unbelieving people that the God of the Bible does not exist, and therefore the answer to long life and security is the government. For Christians, Satan has twisted and tweaked the Word of God to deceive them enough to have blatant or lingering doubts about the inerrancy of the Word and the sovereignty of God. This is done through decisively placed propaganda, social programming, and agents of evil placed in churches and other Christian institutions to skew the facts and truths found only in the Word of God.

Why Discerning Christians see through the lies.

Through the chaos and noise happening all around, the voice of the Holy Spirit is speaking to believers all the time about the truth and validity of what the world is saying and doing. The issue is a vast number of Christians do not hear His voice because they are not attuned to His voice.

If you have ever been in a crowded and noisy room with your spouse or your child, when one of them cries or calls your name, you immediately know who it is and what direction they are speaking from. This is because we recognize and are attuned to their voice. This is how Christians need to hear the Holy Spirit in the noise of the world.

If, in that same room, a stranger called your name, you would not notice or react to it because you are unfamiliar with their voice. This is the same with the Holy Spirit if we are not tuned into His voice.

The Holy Spirit is always talking to us and giving us guidance. That voice in your heart that is pulling you to the things and ways of God is always active. The issue is that some are not familiar with His voice, so they do not pay attention or respond. Therefore, when the world system and those pushing the world agenda speak, the voice of the Holy Spirit that gives discernment to recognize the obvious and subtle lies is not heard.

Christians that have and continually grow in discernment clearly hear the Holy Spirit as He guides their minds and hearts to the truth of those things contrary to the ways and things of God. To be attuned to the Holy Spirit comes through knowing, internalizing, and acting upon the Word of God in Christ-like ways.

Through reading, hearing, and studying the Word of God, the foundational principles of our faith are sewn in our hearts and minds. Our maturity in Christ can only grow and move forward by doing this. This, in turn, gives us Christians the power of discernment. With the power of discernment, we can know when the world is trying to scare us into their beliefs and compliance with their ways.

Wrapping it all up.

In the Bible, there are many examples of men trusting in God in moments where fear could be easily experienced. But they didn’t. These men were not more human than any other human. They did not have special powers but had something available to all of those who believe in God. These men, as normal as you and me, had trust in God. They had faith that God would see them through whatever obstacle was in front of them.

In Hebrews 11:27, the author said of Moses, “By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen.” By faith and not fear. You see this? Two principal aspects that are as true today as they were when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. We do not need to fear!

Fear of mere man is not necessary. In Matthew 10:28, Jesus tells us, commands us, to not fear man but to fear God. Why? Because He says man can only kill the body but not the soul. Another way to look at this is that no matter what a person does to you physically, emotionally, financially, etc., that person cannot take your salvation away.

I know this is easier said than done; we all know this from personal experience. But it takes faith. Even just faith the size of a mustard seed is all we need.

This world can do a lot of bad things to us. Evil people can hurt us, isolate us, turn on us, and deny us anything that is in this world. They cannot take your faith away from you, though! They cannot take Jesus away from you! Why? Because when we put our trust in Jesus, we became sealed in Him by the Holy Spirit.

Knowing this fact, then, when the world tries to scare us to do their will, our stance in Christ gives us the assurance to not fear but to trust in the plan of salvation and eternity God has emplaced through Jesus.

If anything, remember this when you face the world and what it tries to scare you with. Knowing this will make you stand out in the crowd of unbelievers who are stressing and fearing everything going on:

Psalm 118:6, “The LORD is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me?”

John Lysaught

johnflysaught@gmail.com