We all exude what we experience and what we believe. What we are exuding in space/time is coming from what we are experiencing and from our faith in Christ, as He experiences Life with us, in us. Let's say that we are experiencing a very positive, physical well-being. We will exude a calm and upbeat attitude. But when we experience a negative circumstance or perhaps a conflict with someone, our exuding will show signs of stress or frustration. If we have a disagreement with a loved one, the experience will ping our inner radar that we need to insulate or isolate, and we will exude caution, defensiveness, or irritability. There is a secret about exuding not many know. When we are tempted to walk after the flesh, to push back, or to over-ride negative input, all we need is to take a deep breath and DECIDE TO ABIDE, rather than DECIDE TO OVER-RIDE. This "Faith-Fact" works because, first and foremost, what we exude is primarily determined by what we believe, especially about our identity, not by our circumstances and relationships. Believing trumps stressing! Another way to think about this is that we exude WHO we are, or Who truly is living in us. A friend just sent me an Urgent Message: "Prayer please! I am feeling very stressed and uneasy about a Bible study I am teaching about Grace." I remembered Colossians 3:3, "For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God." And I fired back: "You are stressed? That's strange, because you died (Romans 6:6, 7:4, Gal. 2:20). Dead folks don't get stressed out. At a funeral, I once witnessed a son cursing his deceased father. The dad was so unaffected, he didn't even move. I know, I know, I'm stretching a point; but, dear brother," I concluded, "You really can allow Jesus to comfort you and teach through you!" I would never suggest that believers don't feel Life. From our miserable infirmities to our joyous transformities, we are "just like Him" - our Big Brother. And He embraced every emotion, so that everything He exuded was directly from how He abided in the Father. Did Jesus live like this for no particular reason? No, we are to abide in our Father, just as He did! He was intentional about everything, and we are to model His INTENT TO CONSENT.
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2 Dr. Bill Gillham (1927-2011 and his wife founded Lifetime Guarantee Ministries. For over 30 years, Bill wrote and spoke about the love and grace of God, and our identity in Christ. He made difficult theological concepts simple, applicable, and real. Bill modeled well what it means for Christ to live through a person's "earthsuit" - a term commonly used by Bill. www.lifetime.org
Dan Camp (Georgia, USA) is a contributing writer, editor, and member of the Board of Directors/Advisory Board for
IOM America - Transformational Biblical Worldview & Exchange Life Development. He is a Colson Center CENTURION; a Grace lay-counselor; and business manager and chaplain of the Veritas Classical Schools in south-metro Atlanta. He and his wife have just returned from teaching for an incredible school year in China.
Dan Camp gives his permission to all to share, use, and/or forward any portion of his articles. He would love to hear from you via email at eEncourager@aol.com
Scripture note: Changes made to original verses [i.e. bold, indent, underline, parenthetical contents...] are by this article's author for emphasis and/or clarification.
All Scriptures, unless otherwise stated, are taken from the New American Standard Bible, � Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
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