Can We Agree On This?

I used to be somewhat addicted to a day time TV talk show where a Doctorr was the host. His speciality was in diagnosing and treating people with mental illnesses, addictions and gross, outlandish behaviors.

What reeled me in like a fish on a hook was his ability to find some common ground that he and the patient could come into agreement on. 

The agreement wasn’t ever a dramatic agreement like, “Do you agree you are crazy and we need to lock you up right now!” 

It was always a soft and enduring agreement. An example he might say to a drug addict would be approached this way, “You are physically sick and you need immediate medical attention. Can we agree on this?”

He knew that if they found a common thing to agree on then it was easier to get them to agree to the treatment.

                         Aren’t we funny as humans?

We go about our everyday lives thinking that we have life all figured out. We take ourselves into the direction that we want to go and yet when we arrive at our destination we wonder to ourselves in amazement “How in the world did I ever arrive here?”

I remember asking myself that exact same question.

Let me give you a little back story.

I was raised in church. I had been a Christian for almost all of my life. I was the church piano player, I taught Sunday School, Children’s church, head of the women’s ministry and I was even the play director. You know I was “one of the good people.”

I will never forget the day I turned 40 years old. One might say I had a mid-life crisis. I had arrived at my destination. See, I had been on this road for a long time although I was oblivious to where I would end up.  When I arrived I knew immediately it was a place I hated. It was called my life.

 This wasn't my intended destination. I assumed I was on the path to freedom.

I thought I had done everything right. I attended all the church services, revivals, plays, board meetings, church meetings and church gatherings. According to the messages I had heard the path that I was on was the path to my promised land.

Imagine my surprise when I realized that I was a Christian but I did not love Jesus.

How could I love Jesus? I barely knew Him.

I did all the do's and didn't all the don'ts.

Yes, I did all the religious stuff…

                      ……Except…………

                                       forming a relationship with Jesus.

I found myself at 40 years old absolutely miserable. I was 100 lbs overweight, I hated myself and my life.

I had done all the stuff the religious people said to do so that I would be happy living for the Lord. But that moment of happiness never arrived.

So now here I am 40 years old and absolutely miserable. I didn’t know then that it was the greatest place I could have ever been.

I remember I was sitting in a chair and I was crying in misery. I told the Lord that day, I hate myself and I hate my life. I can’t imagine living 40 more days like this much less 40 more years.

I told God to teach me who He truly is and I would believe anything He told me, go anywhere He sent me and do anything He wanted me to do.

That day God and I agreed on 3 things. 1. I needed immediate inner spiritual healing. 2. God was the only one that knew how deep my wounds ran. 3. I had to be willing to complete the work no matter how painful.

Fast forward to today and I thank God for my mid-life crisis. See, before I didn’t really know Jesus. Today I am in love with Jesus. Back then I didn’t know the healing power, the deliverance power, the broken-hearted binding power of the one and only true living God.

The healing and deliverance (yes, Christians need deliverance too) that took place in my life not only changed me but it's bringing about generational change.

So,  about now,  I know you are wondering what all of this has to do with you.

Let me explain.

When the children of Israel left Egypt, they had come into agreement with the enemy that they were slaves. They even saw themselves as grasshoppers compared to the people living in the promised land.

Out of about 2 million people (give or take a few) only 2 came into agreement with what God saw.

It took 40 years for the children of Israel to come out of the slave mentality (agreement with the enemy) and come into agreement with God’s Kingdom Authority.

When they came into agreement with God they crossed over into their Promised Land.

It took me 40 years to stop coming into agreement with the religious Spirit, cross over into my promised land and rise up in my God-given Kingdom Authority.

My question for you is How long is it going to take you?

                                                    ... Hopefully it’s not 40 years!