PERFECTION = COMPLETION

I had never thought of these words being synonymous. But in reading a book called “The Grand Weaver,” the author says – Perfection is not a change in the essential character but the completion of a course.

That is a very interesting concept and has a lot of meaning for me. In a recent conversation, it came to me that houses without roofs, are not livable – and therefore in the purpose they were intended, they are completely useless. It doesn’t matter if you hand carve the bricks or make them of gold, without a roof, it is still useless.

I heard a sermon once and the pastor said that one of Satan’s most successful tools is the suggestion of “TOMORROW.” And it is so true. We all know the saying, ‘Tomorrow never comes,’ yet we are fooled time and time again that we can put things off – and in our minds “we will finish tomorrow.”

We then try live in our unfinished homes – incomplete lives – and then curse God when it rains and we get wet. We blame Him for our lack and feel quite justified in doing so. He says – “just put the roof on!!!” “I’ve given you EVERYTHING you need for life and godliness. Use it." We CAN finish what we began.

I don’t mean that we must complete everything we ever have to do in one day – being today – it is the whole concept behind it – procrastination being the root of many of our failures.

I believe that He, Himself, is the One who gives us all we need. That we only truly become complete in as much as we allow Him to live through us. That that is the only way that we will ever successfully complete anything we ever do.

RELATIONSHIPS – LIKENED TO PLANTS

(This is true in many factors – but obviously not all)

When we embark on a relationship we should have a priority of being committed to making it work. If that basic factor is missing, we are not ready for one.

If we wish to have a plant in our garden, we may go to a nursery to procure a seedling. When we find one to our liking we then take it home to plant.

We then take the necessary steps to ensure the seedling has the best opportunity for growth and we invest our time and effort into doing so.

We then have to carefully tender the plant – watering it, ensuring the weather conditions are correct, fertilizing it and weeding around it to make sure our other plants don’t smother it or crowd it out completely.

If it shows signs of disease or weakness we then take the steps required to strengthen it or cure the disease.

All the time we are doing this – our focus remains and is constant on how lovely the plant will be when it is fully grown and what an asset it will be to our garden or what a harvest it will bring.

Now in many aspects relationships can be likened to this.

Firstly, most people easily take the first couple of steps. But then fall completely short of all the rest.

We expect our relationship to grow and flourish in the absence of all that is necessary to make it so – which in the light of our intelligence, is ironic.

After the initial planting, some people expect to reap an immediate harvest. They don’t expect to have to invest much more of themselves – if anything – but expect all to be well and good in the relationship. Or expect the plant to overnight be full grown and exactly how we envisioned it from the start.

If we see a sign of trouble (disease), instead of doing all necessary to correct the situation, we often thinking of uprooting our plant – and may actually keep doing so – and then replanting – until the plant (relationship) is completely dead.

Current contemporary focus is NOT on a constant commitment to carry it thru, or on a happy ending that takes any effort. We, too often, are easily side-tracked on escape, avoidance or some other negative focus. Even wondering if the right decision was made in the first place – usually putting a hold on all effort (eg watering and the rest) during those periods.
This would not generally happen with a plant and our intelligence should tell us that this is NOT the way to success – but uncannily we often think LESS of relationships than we do of plants, and then often constantly wonder “what’s going wrong?”

Unlike when a plant is planted, and thoughts are towards seeing the plant in full growth, people often go from nursery to nursery having a look in case there might be a BETTER plant so we can uproot the one we’ve got and replace it. Or one might not only look, but actually keep getting new plants and uprooting the old ones. Never ever finding the amazing joy, love and intimacy that a relationship can bring.

OLD MIND SETS

Inside every one of us is a picture of God formed by what we have read, what we have been taught, our personal experiences and our past memories and feelings. We can actually have two pictures of God – what we learn we should believe about Him and what we actually do believe.

What you learn about God has to filter down through the existing beliefs in your MIND. This fact is not always understood and many people assume scripturally correct teaching will automatically clear up any wrong ideas someone might have about God. Theoretically, scripturally correct teaching on trust, love and faith should enable anyone to trust and love God with complete faith. And it will – eventually.

The problem is, even correct truth cannot always penetrate a soul that is filled with strongholds. God can sovereignly impart revelation knowledge any time He wants to, but I believe His work of renewal occurs within the framework of our minds, wills, emotions, memories, experiences and beliefs. He does not change, bypass or override. He just keeps offering His love and truth until we finally become willing to exchange our old beliefs and ideas for them.

An unrenewed mind, rigid in mind-sets formed from wrong sources, can distort the most beautiful spiritual truth. There needs to be a continuing process of washing in the Word.

Most minds come into the state of salvation stubbornly filled with old attitudes, wrong patterns of thinking and often some pretty strange ideas. Many of these old ideas and attitudes will be protected by self-erected strongholds.

The key to receiving renewal as fast as possible is to tear down the strongholds around these wrong mind sets. Unfortunately, some never accomplish this, instead, they spend their entire lives trying to intermingle their concepts of God with His truth.

Many people have formed their concept of God from old ideas rather than the truth. This is why some believers never seem to get past believing that God accepts them only when they measure up and angrily turns away when they fail. There are untold numbers who have never truly accepted God as a nurturing and loving parent, loving them unconditionally, and always ready to encourage their development. Rather, they picture Him as saying, “Nope, that’s still not good enough.” This does not come from God. It comes from an old mind-set that keeps them from receiving the truth.

Liberty Savard - Shattering Your Strongholds