accusations

ac·cuse

verb \ə-ˈkyüz\

: to blame (someone) for something wrong or illegal : to say that someone is guilty of a fault or crime

 So, this past week I’ve been thinking about a post I wrote a few weeks ago called, crazy safe. In that post I had expressed my reluctance to come into God’s presence feeling that I can’t stand in the throne room of God because I’m too, well, guilty.

But that former post just kept coming back to me again and again. And as I thought about how gracious our God is, I realized how crazy I am to be so reluctant to stand in the place where I am safest.

I love it when God gives us glimpse as to what’s happening in heaven. The following verses from Zechariah three got me to thinking even more about how safe it is in God’s throne room:

¹ Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan^[a] standing at his right side to accuse him. ² The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”
   ³ Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. ⁴ The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.”
   Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.”

There are two things I want to point out about this story; one, there is an accuser, and, two, there is a rebuker. If you’re not sure who’s who, let me clear that up; Satan’s the accuser, God is the rebuker.

The story is truly fascinating to me because I’ve never really thought about what the devil does in God’s presence.Verse twelve, in Revelation, gives even more evidence that one of Satan’s favorite jobs is to accuse. Just in case you’re not convinced take a look at this passage from Revelation Twelve:

¹⁰ Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say:
   “Now have come the salvation and the power
   and the kingdom of our God,
   and the authority of his Messiah.
For the accuser of our brothers and sisters,
   who accuses them before our God day and night,
   has been hurled down. 

Accusing is what makes Satan tick. After all, it says that he stands there day and night to indict us—he never grows tired of it. But I’m thinking he’d better find a new job because the accusations he makes against us are rebuked time and again.

God doesn’t bring us into his throne room of grace to scold, punish, acuse or scare the living daylights out of us. He brings us in because he’s made it a place of safety.

So when you or I enter that throne room of grace, we can enter with confidence. For each and every accusation that Satan makes against us is rebuked by our precious God. He’s dealt with our sins, every single one—taking them to the cross where Jesus bled and died so that Satan can never again accuse us, not of one single thing.

Remember this important truth, today and always. Stop listening to the voice of the accuser. Listen to the voice of God who rebukes Satan’s lies on your behalf. Enter God’s throne room of grace and stand confidently in his love for you. When you do you will discover that being in God’s throne room is truly the safest place to be.

crazy hope

As of late, I’ve been feeling kind of guilty about something. No deep, dark secret here but maybe a little bit of feeling bad for feeling so good.

As I’ve been more candid about sharing my “story” about being bipolar, God’s opened up a lot of doors for me, bringing me into contact with several people who either have the disease itself or a loved one who does.

So many have shared the difficult times they’ve had, and how they continue to struggle with symptoms despite being on meds. And as I listen to people who don’t have many rainbow- colored days, it makes me feel sad and, admittedly, bad because I have it so good now.

Two nights ago, my hubby and I watched a movie on Netflix called Of Two Minds. In it there were a handful of people who were interviewed about living with bipolar. When we’d finished watching the movie, my hubby and I talked about how well it had been done and what our thoughts about it were.

We both came to the conclusion that, overall, it was a pretty sad movie. Only one out of the eight or nine interviewees was doing really well. The rest continued to struggle with this unrelenting disease which was keeping them from living a healthy, “normal” life. 

It made me sad. Why do I have it so good when so many others who struggle with this illness are fighting a daily battle just to stay on their feet? Am I wrong in holding out hope to others who struggle with bipolar because my story is the exception? What if the hope I hold out isn’t enough?

When I explained my feelings to my hubby, his response really got me to thinking. You see, my husband has fought his own battle in life, not one with mental illness, but with being overweight. Throughout his lifetime, my husband’s been on a roller coaster ride of losing and regaining, losing and regaining. 

What he shared with me made things a bit clearer. “Nici,” he said, “What if no one who’s ever lost weight has successfully kept if off? What would be the point of continuing to struggle with this problem in my own life?  If not even one single person has kept the weight off, there’d be nothing to be hopeful about.”

So there it is. Hope. I’m an advocate for the mentally ill because I understand how destructive and devastating of an illness, bipolar is. Yes, I have it really good, and maybe that’s the point. Having been someone who struggled for years before being diagnosed, I can hold out hope to others. Not false hope, but true hope—a hope that keeps me going on even the darkest of days. 

Now that I’m no longer in the grip of this monster, I can point the way and let people know that hope is a good thing and that no good thing will ever disappoint.

Romans 5:3-5

 . . . we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit whom he has given us. 

http://www.oftwomindsmovie.com/