Greetings in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ

Announcing New Resources!

Three new book titles by Norm are now available to order on our website: Walking Worthy As a Son of God, Walking Worthy As a Husband, and Walking Worthy As a Father. Other new resources available are the Equipped to Love book in Spanish and a new CD or MP3 series entitled Raised Up with Christ: Seeking the Things Above. Find them all here.

Chariot April 2008 - Norm Wakefield

The Curse of the Standard Bearers - Part 6

If this is the first article in the series that you have read, I encourage you to read the previous articles at www.spiritofelijah.com/chariot. In this article, I want to address how an ex-Standard Bearer repents before God. You'll be encouraged as you...

• Acknowledge that everything comes from God.

• Jesus' standard bearing is your confidence.

• Make disciples of Jesus and His Kingdom, not standards and ministries.

• Take responsibility before God for idolatry and judging others.

• Repent to God like you want others who have ignored you to repent to you.

As I listened to a father tell me of losing his three oldest children because of the curse of being a Standard Bearer, my heart grieved for both parents and children. I've heard from many parents and young adults who have suffered damage to valuable relationships. They made standards more important than relationship with Jesus or others. As I've prayed about where to go from here I'm inclined to give encouragement toward repentance. Have you recognized the destruction of the curse in your relationship with God, family connections, and in relating with others in their social and church communities?

How an ex-Standard Bearer repents before God

"You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth" (Deuteronomy 5:7-8).

You live in the presence of God. He scrutinizes your walk each day, and everything is open and laid bare before Him with whom you have to do (Ps. 139:7; Heb. 4:13). To repent of being a Standard Bearer before God, one needs to understand the seriousness of having other gods before Him. To understand the seriousness of having other gods before Him, one must grasp what it means for God to be God. 1 Corinthians 8:6 gives us the understanding we need.

Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.

For your freedom, restoration of broken relationships, and God's glory and joy, please rethink the following things and practice living them.

Acknowledge that everything comes from God

A Standard Bearer's first place of repentance is for not believing everything comes from the Father, God. To have another god before Him is to think any created thing or person can be a source of anything contributing to your life. Let's get practical. The notion that one's righteous acts (standard bearing) come from anything but grace from God through Jesus' advocacy is to have another god before God. Every good thing comes down from above from the Father in heaven (James 1:17). That means if you or another person (husband, wife, child, parent, or church member) performs according to biblical or traditional standards without a conscious connection to and motivation by the Holy Spirit, then it is not a good thing. Those acts are counterfeit or idolatrous actions.

And if everything comes from God, then repentance also involves declaring that everything belongs to Him - even your sin of idolatry and standard bearing - for His glory. Abraham Kuyper wrote, "There is not one square inch in the whole domain of human existence as to which Christ who is sovereign over all does not cry out, ‘Mine!' And if Jesus, looking at all of life, cries out, ‘Mine!', the church's task is to cry out, ‘His!'" From now on, your task is to declare that everything belongs to Jesus. It's not about you. It's not about your reputation. It's not about your happiness. It's about Jesus. If everything belongs to Jesus, then you respond to Him in everything instead of to how people make you feel or to the people God is using to train you to look to Him.

Jesus' standard bearing is your confidence

To repent before God is first to acknowledge to Him that you have looked to YOUR standard bearing and OTHERS' standard bearing as a source of significance, righteousness, holiness, and advocacy instead of JESUS' STANDARD BEARING as a source of significance, righteousness, and holiness. These were given by grace to you from and through Him when God gave you to Jesus. You belong to Jesus because God gave you to Him, not because of a decision you made or standards you keep. Jesus prayed, "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word (John 17:6). Therefore, the eternal blood of the covenant and the righteousness of Jesus were given to you.

These gifts of forgiveness through His blood and righteousness through His perfect living are all that sets you apart from the most wicked sinner on the face of the planet and saves you from His wrath. Without these grace gifts through Jesus, all your deeds are filthy rags before Him and void of the spiritual manifestation of Jesus Christ. Those around you sense the absence of His presence. On the other hand, with these gifts, all your deeds, both destructive and biblically informed are covered so all God sees is what He has given through His Son! God therefore gets all the glory, and those around you discern that this is your heart's desire and motivation. Repentance before God then is to rethink how you live before God. You live by faith, looking at the things above in heaven before the throne of God, not at the things (standards you and others do or don't do) on the earth (Col. 3:1-3).

Make disciples of Jesus and His Kingdom, not standards and ministries

Repentance also entails rethinking how others live before God. Their living by grace through faith is the only way God will receive glory also. If you have expected anyone to walk according to God's Word or the same standards to which you have attained without leading them to discover it for themselves in a relationship with Jesus through the Holy Spirit, then you have sinned against God and them. You haven't made disciples of Jesus Christ and His kingdom; you've made disciples of yourself, your kingdom, or groupies of a celebrity, denomination, or religious organization/ministry. Perhaps without realizing it, you've idolized them, led them to idolize themselves and others, and have thus not loved God supremely nor them particularly.

In Matthew 19, we find a sad story. A wealthy standard-bearing young man inquired about obtaining eternal life. When Jesus questioned him about his standard keeping, the young man proudly replied, "All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?" His parents had made him a disciple of standards and traditions. In fact, when told he must give himself to Jesus and give up his significant treasures to obtain eternal life, he turned away from Jesus.

Standard Bearing parents have communicated that keeping the commandments and specific standards are the goal of living and the pathway to acceptance to God and man. Then, in many cases, they have been devastated as their young adults walk away from Jesus. The statistics of young adult apostasy in evangelicalism are staggering. Perhaps this has happened in your family. Confessing your sin to God of leading them to be disciples of standards, celebrities, or ministry groupies instead of Jesus could be like dropping a nuclear bomb on the barriers and hardness of their hearts built up against you and Jesus. When God sees your repentance, He may open the door to their hearts to you.

I want to encourage you to trust God to reveal Jesus to your children and to sanctify them as you love them, speak God's Word, and lead them to live in God's presence to interact with Him.

Take responsibility before God for idolatry and judging others

You must take responsibility for these sins before God. Confess first, not looking to Him and not thanking Him for His grace to you. Acknowledge your sin of expecting others to live by standards (or your desires) instead of love for God and love for others in Christ. Who have you idolized? That should be easy to discover by answering these questions before God. With whom has God seen you frustrated, or seen and heard you gossip about, or seen you teach, correct, and reject (when they didn't comply, agree with, or receive your "help")? Is there anyone against whom you are embittered or offended? God sees them as your gods before Him. Is that how you've seen them?

If you believe everything comes from God, then someone's not complying or receiving your "teaching" or "help" is God-sent. Why did God send them to you? First, He sent it for the purpose of demonstrating that you have only one God. The relationships and situations sent by God are also for them to experience His love and presence through you. They could have experienced Jesus' truth, forgiveness, forbearance, grace, love, and presence through you if you hadn't idolized them, judged them, and thought yourself better or wiser than they. You may be sure they discerned the spirit of your relationship with God and them. That's why they avoided you, closed their hearts to you, and/or reacted to you. Unfortunately they may also have responded the same to God if you claimed you believed in God.

What should you say to God for such hostility and wickedness in His sight? The wrath of God comes on all those who practice idolatry (Col. 3:6; Rom. 1:18-25). What should you say to God for all the times in your life when He gave you incentives to come to Him for wisdom and love in response to others' reactions to you, but instead you tried harder to control, manipulate, convince, or change them? Determine that you will spend the rest of your life repenting of worshipping anything other than God through Jesus Christ. Robert Welch, pastor of Parkhills Baptist Church of San Antonio, said this during his study on John 17. "Whenever the church worships anything other than the living Christ, it declines." That's true individually as well. Let us therefore repent with whole hearts of our idolatry of self, our children, ministry leaders, popularity, wealth, standard bearing, and whatever else we have looked to as a source of significance and joy before God.

Repent to God like you want others who have ignored you to repent to you

Here's how to discover how you should repent before God. What would you want others to do if they had ignored you? What would you want others to do if they had misrepresented you to others? What would you want them to do when they didn't make YOU AND YOUR HAPPINESS the main deciding factor of their lives? As you think about these questions, you'll see how to repent before God. Do before God what you wanted others to do before you when you acted like YOU were god. That's what Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. Notice as you read these verses that the admonition to ask, seek, and knock is with reference to seeing the log in your own eye.

"Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him! In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 7:1-12).

Please don't miss that seeing your own sin before God is a gift from God. If that's true for you, it's also true for others! You can't be their Holy Spirit any more than they can be yours. Also notice that to fail to repent of your own idolatry, but to judge others' sins is hypocritical and premature. Additionally observe that when you see your own sin you'll be able to repent before others and help them as well.

Next month, we'll outline specifically how an ex-Standard Bearer repents before others. I want to encourage you to dedicate the rest of your life to repenting before God for being a Standard Bearer and an idolater. You may need to read this article several times until the Holy Spirit works a godly sorrow in your heart (2 Cor. 7:9) for sin. You might want to read the verses I've cited throughout in your personal and family devotions. Let the Holy Spirit cleanse you according to the promises in 1 John 1:9-2:1.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

Keep the Work Going!

If you've been blessed or encouraged by these articles, would you please consider supporting Elijah Ministries on a regular basis or with a one-time gift? Your support helps make these articles, the monthly podcast, and weekly free MP3 sermons possible, as well as the continuation of Norm's speaking ministry. Donations can be made online to support the ministry at http://www.spiritofelijah.com/shop.

Would you like to be on the Elijah Ministries Prayer Team?

The backbone of Elijah Ministries is the prayer team who pray diligently for God to turn the hearts of men to Himself, their wives, and their children. Before I leave to speak, I send out a prayer team invitation to those who will intercede for God to work for His glory in us as a team for the Kingdom. Not only is it a blessing to those whom I speak and myself; but it is also a reminder to the team about the direction of their own hearts. If you would like to enter into the labor together with me, you may go to my website and click on "Prayer Team".

The Chariot is now available as a podcast. You can automatically receive the Chariot each month in iTunes by subscribing here. (An RSS capable browser such as Internet Explorer 7 or Safari is required.)

If you haven't visited our website, www.spiritofelijah.com, please stop by sometime. You'll find:

* Resources to equip you and your family

* Previous Chariot articles

* Norm's speaking schedule

* Free MP3 downloads

* Subscribe to the Chariot Podcast here.

* Various pages translated and available in Spanish

* An online store to purchase resources and make tax-free contributions by credit card

I invite you to be a part of the moving of the Spirit of Elijah in your church, community, and the world. How?

1. Send this article to other men or families that you know would benefit from it. You might inform them of the previous articles available on-line at our website.

2. Share resources from the Spirit of Elijah Ministries with others. If Equipping Men or Rising to the Call have been a blessing to you, then you know it will be beneficial to others. Either share your resources, tell them about the resources, or purchase a set or two as an investment in their lives.

3. Share with others what you have learned and put into practice in turning your heart to God, your wife, and your children. If God has done this in you, then He wants to affect others through you.

4. Join the Elijah Ministries email prayer team and make intercession for others that their hearts would be turned in revival to the Lord, their wives, and their children. This can be done on-line at www.spiritofelijah.com.

            Norm Wakefield
            Elijah Ministries
            P.O. Box 377
            Bulverde, Texas 78163
            830.980.5606
            info@spiritofelijah.com
            http://www.spiritofelijah.com

04.08

To unsubscribe, click here. Do not change the subject of the email that launches when you click above; just press send. Or send an email with the subject Unsubscribe Chariot to chariot@spiritofelijah.com.