THE CLEANSING EFFECT OF HOPE

Featured / Terrence Burton / Leave a comment

(Originally written on June 16, 2015)

And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

1 John 3:3 (KJV)

In context, this verse is talking about believers purifying themselves (ourselves) because of their (our) hope in Christ. There is a truth that I would like to extract from this verse. This morning the Spirit of God spoke to me and he used this verse to show me the following lesson.

You can identify what your expectations are by what you are willing to let go of to have them. If you are not willing to let go of the things that are preventing you from having what you want, then you have not truly stepped into hope. What is holding believers back from receiving is not the devil. What’s holding believers back is their unwillingness to let go of the things that hinder their progress. 

They want God to give them something while they hold on to what is holding them back. Let’s use weight loss for example. A person will say they want to lose weight, but they hold on to poor ways of eating and they hold on to the couch. Real Bible hope would do the following instead. Decide what you want to look and feel like. See yourself like the finished you. Add the ingredients into your life that make for fitness, such as exercise. And eliminate the things that caused you to get up to the weight you find yourself at now.  

There has to be a laying aside of the weight that so easily besets you. The more stuff you carry, the more energy you have to spend to get to your destination. This causes you to spend more time en route because of the load you’re carrying.

We have been duped into believing we need something else to manifest our desires, but in truth, we need to let some things go.

Bruce Lee became the greatest fighter ever because of what he was willing to walk away from. He separated himself from the things that didn’t contribute to being a great fighter. But he was able to separate himself from the things that held him back because of his expectation. His hope purged him of every trace of coward and he became the best at what he did because of it.

What are you willing to walk away from in order to walk into what you truly want to have in life? You cannot walk into your destiny until you let go of the things that hold you where you are right now.

YOU CHOSE YOUR DEVIL

Featured / Terrence Burton / Leave a comment

Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?

John 6:70

I know I’m about to risk being misunderstood, but here we go. Jesus chose 12 men to follow him and he made all 12 his disciples. Where he went, they went because he chose them. They all knew what it was like to hang out with him in the streets, at parties, in the temple or wherever. In the verse above, Jesus made a statement in the form of a question. To be clear, Jesus didn’t talk like Christians today. If there is a devil in your life, you have been trained to blame someone else for the presence of that devil. However, here Jesus admits that He chose His devil. He doesn’t take credit for choosing the other 11 and then shifts the blame for this devil being in his life. He chose Judas. He chose the one who was filled with the devil just as He chose the ones who would later be filled the Holy Spirit. He chose ALL of the people who were in His circle.

He never said, the devil sent Judas based upon his pending betrayal. Oftentimes it is hard helping Christians because they are lying to themselves regarding choices they made and the consequences that accompany those choices. One key difference between Jesus and Christians is that Jesus consciously chose the one who would stab him in the back and many times we don’t anticipate the betrayal at the onset of the new relationship. However, whether we are aware of a future betrayal or not is not the point. The point is that, outside of family members, we chose the people who are in our circle.

To be clearer, I’m not talking about people committing crimes against you, but betrayal, in particular. Betrayal is basically when someone who you have reason to trust does something to you with the intent to harm you. Now, you cannot have betrayal without a level of intimacy. A stranger robbing you or raping you did not betray you because there was no reasonable expectation of trust. What they did was horrible and wrong, but it was not betrayal.  But a friend, which Judas was, had the ability to betray the Christ because of the connection they had. He was included when Jesus called the disciples his friends.

Here’s what some Christians do. When things are good, we talk about how God sent this great person into our lives, but then once they are not so easy to get along with or mistreat you, you say the devil sent them. And once the relationship is over, you tell people the devil sent them instead of being honest with yourself and the world that you chose this person to be part of your inner circle who you now see as the devil. You say the devil sent your ex-spouse, your ex-boyfriend, or so forth.

Here’s why this is so important!

The power of your life rests upon the foundation of truth. There is no power in blame because blame holds someone else responsible for your life. 

RUNNING WITHOUT WEIGHTS

Featured / Terrence Burton / Leave a comment

(Originally written on June 14, 2016)

Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.

Psalms 119:165 (NIV)

Note: This verse highlights a foolproof system. All I have to do is love God’s principles and nothing in the universe has the capacity to cause me to stumble. I can only stumble if my love for the law is unstable. This harmonizes with Paul’s statement that “love never fails.” Love, therefore, has a stabilizing factor about it.

  • Love (man’s part)
  • Peace (God’s part)
  • Eternal Stability (when God’s part and man’s part meet)

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

Hebrews 12:1 (NIV)

Note: This passage is about letting go of things that interfere with your race. This verse comes on the heels of Hebrews Chapter 11. Chapter 11 talks about the things that were obtained, but beneath the surface, it talks about the things that were let go of in order to run the “heroes” of the faith race. For example, Enoch, let go of his ties to planet Earth. Abraham and Sarah laid aside their family. Others laid aside peace with ungodly people. Moses for example, forsook royalty for the sake of being a deliverer for his people. They all had to let go of something in order to grab what the Father had for them. So the real question that immediately follows “What do I want?” is “Am I willing to walk away from something in order to walk into what the Father has provided for me?” What am I willing to relinquish so that I can run?”

I went back and re-read Hebrews chapter 11 with fresh eyes and here’s what I saw. In verse 24, it says about Moses, “When he had grown up, refused…” Immediately this showed me that refusal is a mark of maturity and faith. If he had not grown up, he may possibly have accepted what he refused.

As I’m typing, another example came to mind. Joseph refused Potiphar’s wife. Why? Because he was grown up. Joseph made a grown man’s decision and refused to have sex with another man’s wife.

A grown man is known by what he refuses to have in his life as much as by what he chooses to have in his life. In fact, although Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose rather to suffer with his people. This was definitely a grown man’s decision.

Other Examples in Scripture:

  1. The Hebrew boys refused the king’s food.
  2. The Hebrew boys refused to bow to an idol god.

Another observation I made with Hebrews 12:1 is that we are advised to throw things off solely on the bases of them hindering us. It doesn’t matter if it’s fun, enjoyable and we like it. The only real question is, “Is it hindering me from running my race?” If so, it must be discarded. I can clearly see where our error has been. We have allowed things to remain in our lives that in some way hinder us from progressing. We have focused so much in our day on getting things, but we have talked very little about what must be refused.

Note: As I was typing, I pondered what these verses listed above have to do with each other. Then I saw it. They are both about the ability to function without stumbling or being hindered. Psalms 119:165 highlights God’s principle of stability and Hebrews 12:1 lets us know we have to lay aside things that hinder our progress so that we can run the race that has been marked out for us.

VISION, LAW AND SELF-RESTRAINT

Featured / Terrence Burton / Leave a comment

Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
Proverbs 29:18

And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

Genesis 11:6

Vision – sight

Law – instruction

Perish – lose control, inability to restrain yourself

There are 3 basic components that control events or manifestations in our lives. The first is vision. The second is law. The third is control of self.

I will use fitness to illustrate the principle. In order to achieve fitness, You have to see beyond the present and envision or capture in your heart the end result that you would like to achieve. Once the end result is decided, now you’re ready for instructions that will become your law (set of rules to follow to guide your conduct). This is very important as you don’t need instructions until you have decided where you’re going. To expect guidance before making a decision would be like expecting your GPS to give you directions before you input your desired destination. Once instructions are given and you have received them, you must limit your behavior to that which the instructions dictate. The instructions must become your rule of conduct to carry you to the place you envisioned.

According to Genesis 11, nothing shall be restrained from a group or a person who uses his imagination. The word restrained in this verse means “inaccessible.” Therefore, God is saying your imagination gives you access to the thing imagined. This is why you cannot look at what someone else accomplished or didn’t accomplish to determine your limitations. Each person’s limitations are within the bounds of their own imagination. And God’s conclusion of the matter is that nothing shall be inaccessible that you have imagined yourself being or doing.

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.
Isaiah 26:3

The word “mind” in this verse means creative imagination. Now the word imagination is connected to possibilities not necessarily what is already manifested. So the verse is saying that God will keep you in what you create in your mind. Therefore, if you want God to keep you in something different, you must first create something different in your mind. This verse also suggests that if you don’t create something in your mind, God has nothing to keep you in because He will keep you in what you create in your mind.

The word “perish” also means “to uncover.” Therefore vision covers you. Your vision is to clothe you. To be without vision is to walk around naked. It has the idea of being “exposed.” So vision protects you from being exposed to certain elements.

In conclusion, if there is something that you desire to experience or possess, you need to first envision yourself having it and or experiencing it. Then you must develop a plan that will get you the results you desire. Finally, once the plan has been made, you must execute the plan with the full expectation of achieving the desired results.

THE PHILOSOPHY OF IDENTITY

Featured / Terrence Burton / Leave a comment

Introduction

There is a matter that I have been studying and allowing the Father to teach me about over the years that he has given me the green light to talk about now. And that subject matter is…identity. My hope is that as you follow along and do your own research your vision will become clearer about who you are, why you are here, and the power you possess as a human being. This lesson will also deal with redemption, at some point, so that you can see the authority you have as a believer…and walk in it as you should.

God has invested so much into mankind. As a consequence, we should give him due honor by accepting what he has done and using our lives to glorify him.

Before we get into the heart of this lesson, I’ll spend the first couple of weeks laying a little foundation…sort of getting the ground ready for the subsequent broadcasts. Being an introduction to our topic, this lesson will be relatively brief. As our groundwork, I will be talking about what I want to call “the philosophy of identity.”

Now,  in order for man to understand his role in the world, I think he must have a good understanding of his environment and the context in which he lives. Otherwise, he is prevented by his own ignorance, from being the best that he can possibly be. Life is very similar to a movie, I think. Imagine you are the president in this movie, but you don’t know you are the president. You think you are the gardener. So on the set of the movie, you are busy trying to plant flowers and trim bushes when you need to be talking with world leaders and solving problems that exist in our nation. Who you are is very important. But who you believe you are is MOST important. There must be an alignment between who you are and who you think you are to master your role in this world.

NO MAN IS AN ISLAND

There is a saying that “No man is an island.” What that means is that no man lives in isolation. No man exists on his own. No one is independent. There is no one on the earth that doesn’t need other things or other people in order to live. There is ONLY one being in the universe who is INDEPENDENT. That being is who we call GOD. Everyone else needs the following 4 things to exist.

  1. God
  2. the Heavens
  3. Other people
  4. the environment (around you)

GOD

WHO IS GOD?

God is the creator of the universe. He authored the worlds. We live because of Him. The Bible says, it’s in him we live, we move, and have our being. In the book of Genesis, we really don’t have an introduction to who God is when the book opens. The book begins by talking about what he did. He spoke the world into being over the course of 6 days and then rested on the 7th day.

God spoke and created the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the hosts of heaven. God spoke and brought the plants, flowers, and trees into existence. He spoke and created animal life, both on the earth and in the water…and so forth.

So perhaps, in truth, the first chapter of Genesis could be recognized as God’s introduction of Himself.

THE ATHEIST

Well, what about the atheist. Does he still need God in order to live? The atheist is not exempt. An atheist is not someone who is living without God. An atheist is someone who uses God’s strength but doesn’t give God credit because he doesn’t believe God exists. Man’s unbelief does not remove God completely from the atheist’s life. The life, even of the atheist, is upheld by God’s power. It’s still because of God, the atheist lives. The atheist is just unaware of the source of his own life.

THE HEAVENS

THE SUN, THE MOON, AND THE STARS

This is not an exhaustive list, but to name a few things…man needs the sun, the moon, and the stars.

These celestial creations provide light and heat energy. They have also been put in place to designate time and season. These trigger many of the other elements that man needs in order to live. The sun enables the food sources that man needs to eat for his own survival to receive the nutrients they need.  Without the sun, the moon, and the stars, man would die. So man is definitely in need of the heavens.

OTHER PEOPLE

PARENTS

Regardless of the relationship you have or don’t have with your parents, you needed them to have life. You would not have existed without them. If you grew up as I did, your parents put a roof over your head, food in your mouth, clothes on your back, and more toys in your hands than you could count.

Even if you never knew your parents or had a bad relationship with them, they were necessary for your life to exist. It was through your parents that you entered the world.

SPOUSE

If you are married, you need your spouse. You need their love, their care, their input, and their touch. You need their agreement. Your spouse is a necessary component of your life if you are married.

EMPLOYER

If you have a job, you need your manager…even if you don’t like them. If you own your own company, you need your employees and your clients or customers. If you’re a doctor, you need your patients and your supporting hospital cast. You need them ALL. There is purpose in other people.

THE ENVIRONMENT

SHELTER

You need a roof over your head. You won’t live long without shelter. Your body needs protection from the rain, snow, and other elements.

FOOD

You can live an estimated 1 to 2 months without food. This means basically, if your food is cut off for too long of a time, your body will die.

WATER

You can live an estimated 3 days without water. In other words, if you do not hydrate, your body will be dead in less than a week. So you definitely need water in order for your body to live.

So you need the environment.

Conclusion:

  1. Why are you talking about all of these things we already know? The reason I’m taking the time to go over these things is that you need to understand them all in the context of the role they all play so that you will better understand the role that you play on the earth.
  2. I’ll refer again to the point I made in the opening, it is most important for you to know the role you play. Imagine a lion who thinks he’s a gazelle. He would think he’s to be treated like food when he was created to be a predator. To kind of give you a clue where we are going with this, there was a time when ancient Israel thought they were grasshoppers and their opponents were giants. This mis-identity cost many their lives. Your correct identity means everything. You will never be all you can be so long as your image of yourself is misconstrued…and it could cost you…your life.