Truth or Reality?

        Like a Pharisee, I thought I had the river, I thought I had the joy of the Lord.  I believed in it. I could preach about the river and the joy as good as anybody.  And, then, I was confronted with the reality of it.  I was offended and I was confronted.  I was forced to make a choice to stay with the promise  realm or enter the reality realm.   Oh, it was tough.  You see, I had to admit I didn't have something, even though I thought I did.  That is a tough bondage to break, especially among believers that have been around a while.  Any leader, who has studied the Word, like me, may also struggle when confronted with the reality of what He believes.  He may even have to admit, as I did, that  he doesn't have something he might have been saying he did have. Religious pride rises up like a grizzly bear when that happens.

       This struggle is really the bondage of religion, the creeping crud that continuously seeks to capture us.  Religion is a strange, subtle thing that holds us in bondage to true facts. It will have us ever learning but never coming to the experiential knowledge of the truth.  To know but never experience the truth was the bondage of the Pharisees and today, much of modern Christianity. Yet, the work of the Holy Ghost is to turn those truths into reality. That is what it means for the Spirit to give life to the word.   Jesus said,  "You shall know the truth (reality) and the truth (reality) shall make you free".  Not set free. Made free. To be "set" free from something is very different from being "made" free.  To be set free insinuates there is something that is not of you, that is holding you in bondage.  To be made free insinuates you have been made free within your own self. You have been changed.  It is the reality of something that sets you free from the promise of something.

     There are many pastors and leaders, I am sure, that are going through what I have gone through. They know there is a river, they may even think they have it, but they may not.  They won't yield, they won't seek. and they won't receive - until they admit they don't have it. This kind of bondage leads us to think we have it because we beleive it.  And then, when confronted with it, in reality, we resist it.   I did, at first.  In fact, I was offended.  It was the only way God could get past my religion.  

   This process goes on and on in the Christian life, and it is not just the river and the joy. The realities of God often confront us in the Spirit filled church. For example, almost every believer, every leader will declare they love the presence of God.  Then, the presence manifests in reality and people will scatter like quails out of the bush.  It scared them.  It offended them.  It confronted them.  And, it pointed out to them where they really were in relation to the reality of God.  Many a Pentecostal will pray for another Azuza street revival and if anything close to it happens, he is scared witless. And offended.  Many a Pentecostal preacher will preach about Acts two, how the Holy Ghost filled those disciples until drunken on new wine.  Let a few folks get drunk on new wine in his church and he may well call it the devil. And, half his church will run away.  When the Holy Ghost does this, in any matter, the wise thing to do is bow ourselves before Him and say "I want it God.  I don't have it. I want it. I crave it".  Instead, we often run away. Or, we find a reason not to recieve. 

   Christianty lived only with words and promises, no matter how true, is safer, more convenient, cheaper, and more people friendly.  And deadly.