Relaxed Christianity Continued > I can’t seem to get away from this subject of Relaxed, or Peaceful, Christianity. God is not letting me off this hook. I need to say a lot today. Things are heating up to the point people are beginning to believe we have been right all along. But rising heat is in direct opposition to a peaceful spirit. Your faithful and peaceful spirit is under direct attack! Hence, the reason for these articles continuing. I do recommend if you have not read all of them, go back to the first article of “Relaxed Christianity” and feed your soul. Refresh your soul in God’s very capable hands.

Psalms 23 is still my foundational chapter for Relaxed Christianity. When I study what Paul revealed in Hebrews chapters 3-4 about a REST reserved for the people of God, I find the best expression of that REST in Psalms 23. And with June 14th a couple days away, I’d like to reemphasize “He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies”, and L7D, living in the 7th Day, God’s Sabbath, God’s REST, is exactly that!

As chaos grows and war looms just ahead, you got to make an intentional decision, follower of Christ. Will you face these events in the natural, or supernatural? Will you face them in the flesh, or Spirit; in fear, or faith; in anxiety or perfect peace? Are you ready to let your steps be ORDERED of your Lord? Because the time is getting close to running out of time. Making no decision is actually making a decision, because when time runs out, the decision is FORCED, and often already set in STONE.

Spirit life must become our habit, our way of life, our habitat. We can’t simply decide at a moments notice to go from being an expert in natural ways, to being efficient in God’s supernatural ways. There is time and training involved. There is a “Crash Course” available, but believe me, you got to walk through hell to get through it. A word to the wise.

So where do we start with this? I want to teach L7D from every advantage point I can. I want you to see it from every direction possible. Let’s come at it from a southwest direction this time. What does this high place of living, this spiritual mountain of God look like when approached from the southwest? Hhmmm. Let’s start with this. >

My steps ordered of the Lord? What does that look like? “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ.” (Colossians 3: 23-24)

Now remember, L7D starts with God saying He was ceasing from HIS works to enter the 7th Day, a Sabbath Day of REST. So… put simply, L7D is ceasing from OUR works and only doing what is in the will of God for us. God’s works, not ours. When we do our works, we sweat a lot. This means, whatever we are doing, we do it heartily and as unto our Lord! Praise God! This is powerful! This is beautiful in God’s sight and He will defend it! But here is the catch…

You cannot do, “as unto the Lord”, what God has not asked you to do. Did God order your steps there, or did you? Would you be where you are if you completely obeyed God? If the answer is YES, then you are in a powerful place and you can REST in that. But if your own works got you there, your living in a house of cards, gambling; your not in the fortress of God. Good luck. You’re gonna need it.

Our scripture speaks of inheriting our spiritual inheritance when we do all our works as unto the Lord. I know that sounds “future”, and a lot of it is, but there is also a “NOW” inheritance in there. All the weapons and backing of our Kingdom, not man’s. And this is the supernatural we speak of.

Psalms 23 is also a picture of surrender. The Lord is my SHEPHERD. The sheep follow the will of the Shepherd who knows what He is doing. The sheep have complete confidence in their Shepherd. The Bride has complete confidence in her Husband. He slew a dragon for her, He can handle this. This is why we can be at REST in our soul even when in the presence of great danger. And this is also, FAITH!

The FAITH our Bible teaches is a powerful force. We can REST in that. The FAITH Abraham exemplified for us is a powerful force. But this powerful FAITH involves a life of sacrifice and surrender, steps ordered of the Lord. This is the FAITH Abraham showed us as he journeyed from his homeland to a place he did not know. He followed God not knowing what things would be like for him. All he had were the promises of God.

Oh… is that all? All he had was promises from the being who created everything. Including him. And the one who held his life in his hands. The being who was deciding if his heart beat another beat, or not. That’s all he had. It’s what we also have, and we have God’s Spirit in us!

I believe Elijah understood L7D even though Christ had not yet come, and there was no New Testament Bible yet. Do you realize that in a time of great famine, Elijah was living with a poor widow whose food never ran out, and yet people never noticed enough to flood in there by the droves. (I got this from Mario Murillo.) If we end up in famine, and you got a food supply, will you go unnoticed? That was supernatural.

Further more, during that same time, he raised a dead man back to life! And that also went unnoticed? The Relaxed Christian knows it is not his power he depends on, but God’s. It’s either God’s supernatural or we flail in the stormy water. Either God enables us to walk on water or we drown. Either we fill our pot with the water of God’s Word and He turns it to His wine, or we are dominated by the “natural” just like everyone else. That’s all there is to it, and what did Elijah show us when he faced the prophets of Baal? Two very important things.

1.) There had to be a sacrifice on that altar. Are we willing to make the sacrifices that opens the door to God’s supernatural? Many people are not. Roman’s 12: 1-2 tells us about becoming a living sacrifice. It’s REAL. It’s a REAL place and a REAL life. Elijah slaughtered the ox, (I believe it was), and it was on that altar that day. All that you do, do as unto the Lord. But you cannot do, as unto the Lord, what He has not asked you to do. (That might even include saying NO to some things you know are good, but… not your task from God. People might think you’re not hearing God, when you are. Peer pressure, the desire to look good and be popular, is a great temptation.)

2.) Elijah prayed. He was a man of great prayer. I’m sure his prayers were powerful because he was a living sacrifice, like Paul who said, It is not I who live, but Christ lives in me. This is L7D. It’s just that simple. No rocket science here. Basic Christianity.

You see, very simple. Psalms 23. Feast on it. Live it. And be prepared for this chaos and war to be your time of great exploits in our Lord. They that do know their God, shall be strong, and do exploits. And they shall teach many the ways of the Lord. The peaceful and powerful life of Psalms 23, Psalms 91, and Psalms 1, just to name three.

Let go, and let God. That’s really it in a nutshell. The “letting go” is our sacrifices and our prayers. The “letting God” is our L7D. The Bride knows how to do powerful warfare through the weapons of our Kingdom, not the kingdom of man. The less we sweat, the more it is of God. Sweat indicates the curse, and efforts of the flesh. I’m talking spiritual sweat, like stress, fear, anxiety, etc.. Perfect peace is also the perfect anti-perspirant. There is a REST reserved for the people of God. God invites us to live in His place of power, REST, and peace NOW. Not tomorrow.

If God allows me, I might try and write more articles through to the end of this week, if we see things turn out to be as tumultuous as some are predicting. L7D is a word for times like these. It’s a word for anytime, but especially useful in times such as now and what lies ahead. We are watching history be made. These are historical and Biblical times.