Are You Looking for a Mountain Top Transformation?

In 1975 Robert and I visited Reichardt and Elizabeth Taylor, who were missionaries in Uruaçu, Brazil. Robert was overseeing five churches in central Brazil at the time, and conversation turned to his concern about the lack of enthusiasm and spiritual hunger of so many long-time Christians. He also shared his frustration and discouragement concerning how to encourage on-going vital faith in the church.

In response, Reighardt said, “Maybe this will help,” and gave him a set of cassette tapes by Malcolm Smith. He wondered how a series on the blood covenant could minister to him, but he expressed gratitude and looked forward to listening to them.

Image result for image of morro agudo, brazil He took the tapes with him on a trip to a little church at Morro Agudo (Pointed Hill) in rural Brazil. He arrived a couple of hours early, so he trudged up the hill, climbed a tree at the top, and settled into the crook of a limb overlooking the countryside below.

As he listened to the first cassette on his portable recorder, his heart erupted in praise. He nearly fell out of the tree with excitement over the new insights he gained into once-obscure Scripture verses from Jesus’ last days and the Lord’s Supper.

Perched on that hilltop, Robert’s view expanded, and his walk with the Lord was transformed. He saw more clearly who he was/is in Christ and the nature of the relationship with Him. His new understanding of the ancient ritual of blood covenanting helped him understand what it means to be one with the living God.

Studying the ancient rite of cutting a blood covenant, biblical heroes that learned to walk in covenant—as well as those who didn’t, and numerous hidden references to the covenant throughout the Scriptures continued to quicken our lives. It also led to a deep desire that all who desire to grow in the Lord could learn about the ancient ritual and its significance for us today.

Robert was seeking help for the church, but God began with him–and me. Together, we have researched, studied, and been transformed by the amazing truths about God illustrated through covenant. We’ve also been challenged by seeing in the Word the victorious lives of those who were faithful to covenant and the pitfalls we face when we turn our backs on our covenant God. The almighty, holy God loves us and wants to have an intimate relationship with us.

We are facing uncertain times. Christians need something concrete to stand on, and we believe a deeper understanding of our relationship with a covenant God will provide that foundation. We believe your life can be transformed, even as ours was.

Our hope and prayer is that you will read The Great Exchange: Bound by Blood, our book on the blood covenant, and that the insights you gain will impact your faith and transform your lives, as it has ours.

You can learn more on our website, and can buy the book wherever books are sold.

(Picture credits: www.panoramio.com)

A Key for Keeping Resolutions

January is the time of making resolutions to overcome bad habits and sins, to change our behavior and become better. February to June is the time when those resolutions are often broken. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

If you want to be faithful to the commitment you make, there are a few guidelines.

Remember that we make our plans but God directs our paths. We can’t see what tomorrow will bring that could interrupt our efforts. However, if we are listening, we can hear when God convicts us that we need to make a change. If God directs a change, His grace will be available to carry it out. So, the first thing we need to do is make God part of the equation—from setting the goals all the way to completion.
Make all your efforts as a commitment to the Lord and look to Him for your reward. Seek to please Him. “Whatever you do, do your work heartily as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that it is from the Lord that you will receive your reward” (Col. 3:23-24).
Ask the Lord for help along the way. When it’s tough, look to Him. When you fail, run to Him, repent, confess, and ask for help, When you succeed, give Him the praise and glory. He made us to be dependent on Him.

When you lose heart, remember that the Lord is sufficient to help you succeed. As an example, consider a resolution to overcome anger. God clearly tells us to get rid of anger. That would be a worthy goal for 2016.

“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice” (Eph. 4:29,31).

Life is better without anger, and it’s clear that God doesn’t want any expression of anger left in our lives. He wants it all gone, all put away. If we’ve been convicted that we need to get rid of anger, we can expect to gain freedom.

But, it’s not that easy when faced with life situations that anger us. Anger is an emotion. It just happens. In fact, we might not make that resolution because we’ve tried and failed so often, that we have no hope of success.

Focus on our failures will defeat us. Instead of looking at the past and at our strength to prevail, we need to keep our eyes on God.

He is our hope. His grace is sufficient (2 Cor. 12:9), and all things are possible through Him (Matt. 19:26, Lk. 18:27). He would not ask this of us if it were something that couldn’t happen.

But we we are not alone. God is with us, but we need to grasp His hand for the journey. It is through Him that all things are possible. If we keep our hopes on ourselves and our own efforts, we will probably fail. Only as we look to Him for our salvation and transformation do we find His grace sufficient.

Sometimes, after a failure, we become disappointed in God for not answering our prayers. However, if we run to Him only in the crisis, only when we have a pressing need, we will never fully tap into the grace that is available.

Our God is a relational God, not a problem solver on call. We grow in grace and strength and are conformed into His image through an intimate relationship with Him.

Jesus faced the ultimate abuse, and He never lost His temper or spoke a word in His own defense–but He maintained daily communion with His Father. He often slipped away for time alone with Him.

For whatever resolution we make or need we face, God’s strength is available. His grace is sufficient. The question is. Are we sufficiently related with Him?

(Adapted from Lesson One of Uprooting Anger: Destroying the Monster Within, a Bible study that will guide you through steps to overcome anger by walking with God through the journey.)

It’s Worth It All

For the last month, my life has revolved around home repair and remodeling. Normal duties have gotten cursory attention because of the chaos and distractions caused by remodeling. One day, meal preparation was so distracted that I forgot to season any of the dishes I prepared.

One of our projects was to replace the floor in the bathroom. We knew we had to pull up the old, lay down a backer board and put tile on top of that. We didn’t know that the old floor had twice as many nails in it as necessary, making it very difficult to pull out. Neither did we know that we would find rotting wood that required us to go even deeper.

We spent over a week preparing that floor for its transformation. (One 12-inch long, inch-and-a-half board had 13 nails in it.) As we labored, I realized how much upgrading a hundred-year-old house can be like making changes in our lives. I couldn’t help but compare it to a difficult time for me.

I went through a period when I was impatient and easily angered at Robert. I couldn’t seem to help myself and asked the Lord to fix me. The process was much like the bathroom. It consumed my life. Even when completing tasks at hand, my mind was distracted by chaos and upheaval. I wanted to avoid the pain and restore order and normalcy.

While knowing change needed to be made in my heart, that the old man would need to be removed. I didn’t know there was rot that needed to be dug out from deep within. Nor did I realize how painful and prolonged the process would be. I became hopeless, depressed, confused about who I was. It seemed God had deserted me.

But it was me that had deserted Him. God was faithful. He was working on me the whole time. He not only stayed beside me, He didn’t quit until His light revealed the rotten spots in my heart—the judgment and bitterness that were destroying my relationships.

He didn’t just cover them up and put a new tile on top, so I would look fixed. He went deep and dealt with the rottenness that was eating me up.

It was the most difficult time of my life. It hurt and I thought it would never end, but I’m grateful for every minute of it, because I love the transformation.

Not only did I get rid of judgment and bitterness, but I gained the ability to see when I’m tempted to judge or get bitter today. I don’t want to go down that path again, so I’m quick to work through those attitudes. Consequently, it’s easier to walk in righteousness in those areas. As a result, my relationships with God and others are sweeter and richer.

Because of that time, I am also more confident of God’s love for me. He really does work all things together for good—even when it feels like our very insides are being torn out.

We’re delighted with the new tile floor. We wish we had done it long ago. When we get a fresh coat of white paint on the cabinets and install the new window, it will look like a new room!

The same is true with transformation in our lives. The end product is always good if we hang in there and cooperate with Him until it is finished. It’s worth it all.

Don’t Fight Anger Alone

Are you working on anger management so you won’t hurt or offend those you love? That’s good. I’m glad you are sensitive to the damage that anger causes in relationships. I’m also grateful you’re taking responsibility to try to do something about it.

But if you’re trying to manage your anger, I question how much your efforts are helping.

What tactics do you use? Have you made commitments to change? Do you count to ten before you say something in response? Or take a deep breath before proceeding?

None of those are bad. In fact, they might help occasionally, but they all fall short. Your tendency to anger remains and you erupt again.

If anger is destroying your life and relationships, you need to move beyond anger management and work instead to get rid of it. God says to put it away, not manage it (Eph. 4:31).

Putting it away is difficult because anger flows from the heart. In order to put it away, transformation is needed. With anger management, you will see little, if any, real change. Focusing on external tactics deals with external actions, but it fails to change the source of the problem. If your heart remains unchanged, you will grow weary from the struggle.

Heart change comes from God. If you want to overcome bondage to anger, the place to start is to seek God. Seek His salvation and deliverance. Cry out to Him to change your heart.

Then submit to God and cooperate with Him in the process of change. Instead of focusing on not being angry, draw close to the Lord, focus on Him and His Word. Let His strength be known in your weakness (2 Cor. 12:9, Eph. 4:13).

Change your tactics. Instead of fighting anger, work to be more Christ-like.

Some keys to overcome anger:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength. If you are operating out of love for God, your grief when you disappoint the Lord by an angry outburst will motivate you to change. (Mark 12:30)
Love your neighbor as yourself. When you become angry at someone, check your actions and your heart according to 1 Corinthians 13. You’ll find that you fail the love test when you are angry. Love your neighbor (spouse, co-worker, teen, . . .) more, you will become angry less. (Mark 12:31)
Ask the Lord for self-control. It is a gift of the spirit. Self-control is good, but if it is all by your strength, it will be limited. Seek God to augment your efforts and to build the character quality in you. –Seek transformation, not just help in the moment. This also applies for patience, kindness, goodness, and so forth. (Gal. 5:22)
Don’t return evil for evil. Give a blessing instead. Don’t feed your anger by beating a pillow or screaming in the woods. Instead, use that time to seek God for a way to change the tone of the tense situation. Do something that will bless the other person. It will bring change in you even if the other person doesn’t mellow. (1 Peter 3:8 and surrounding verses)

You don’t have to fight anger alone. Take courage. The Lord is with you and He will fight for you if you seek Him and His salvation. (Joshua 1:9; Exodus 14:13-14).

Uprooting Anger: Destroying the Monster Within offers further help in identifying roots of anger and gives steps toward heart transformation through the power of God.

The Judgment Trap tells how to transform an evil-for-evil relationship by getting rid of the cycle of judgment that entraps you.

Robert & Kay Camenisch encouraging and equipping relationships