Where I stand.

Hindu gods will bow before You

Amazing stuff. God's timing is perfect!! Crazy stuff. Okay, so this is the situation. The other day I began writing a portion of this blog and realized that I would not finish it. Funny thing is that who would of thunk it, that the Lord was wanting me to wait to write about this portion for today. Why do I say that He wanted me to wait today? Because this morning the Lord really just began to burden my thoughts with Bali. Earlier this summer I got to spend about 10 days there soaking in the culture and the people. Learning about there lifestyle, sharing life with them, and deepening community with 9 other friends. While I was there I learned a lot about Balinese Hinduism. I asked a lot of questions as to why they serve the gods that they served, and the typical response was something along the lines of Karma. For those of you who don't know exactly what Karma is, ask one of your Hindu friends. If you don't have a Hindu friend, go make one (Philippians 2.10-11).

From what I learned about their lifestyle and how they lived, it seems to me that life is very very scary. Let me explain a little bit more, but before I do that I want to address something. I'm sure that some readers might read this blog entry and say, "gosh, he's quite judgemental on other religions/lifestyles, etc. We should all COEXIST (as the bumper sticker reads), and live in religious harmony. Not saying that one religion is better or worse than another".

I share these stories not to put myself or people that follow and have a relationship with Jesus Christ on a pedestal. I share these stories to tell of the life that I have found and what joy, peace, and satisfaction that comes from it, consistently. I share these stories to share what life I have found.

So back to the story about: fear. In the conversations that I started have while I was in Bali, I began to hear a common theme, that people functioned a lot out of duty. Duty and works was to be an effort to attain salvation or heaven. The more and more conversations I had with people, I realized that, the hopeful acquisition of salvation or heaven was completely at the mercy of their gods. They had no definite or secure foundation that they would arrive in heaven. What duties and works practically looked like in Bali was: offerings in the morning and the evening to their gods. Two specific offerings in the morning, one on a mailbox looking thing (as shown below):

The other was on the ground.

which was used as an offering to keep the demons away. I can't even to begin to tell you the darkness that was present in Bali while we were there. [I also can't even begin to tell you the light that was being shined in Bali while we were there as well.] Something that I was reminded of a few days ago was the very first morning that we were in Bali. Everyone on the team woke up at around the same time to the sound of Chanting of a loud speaker from the neighbors next door. To be honest we were all a little freaked out by it. The sudden boom of a strange language to a rhythm and rhyme we had really never heard in person before caught all of us off guard. We knew that it was not of God. We knew that it was worship, but it was not worship to and for the Only True God (Jesus). We knew that it was tied to one of the religions in Bali (i.e. False gods). So what was our response?? We woke up that morning worshipping. Reading Scripture. And singing over the house we were all staying in for the next 5 days or so. It was a tangible reality of the battlefield we were just put on in Bali. That darkness and the evil one hated that we were there, and tried to thwart His (Jesus) plan for us in Bali. But as we sang, "if God is for us, then who can be against us?" (Isaiah 50.2., 8-9). A common battle cry for us while we were there.

How does this translate here in my hometown?

Something that we realized while we were in Bali is that there were idols and false gods everywhere. Seeing the alters and temples that human hands had built to worship gods and idols were everywhere. They (Balinese people) had religious rituals that bound them to duty and hard work. A staggering truth was that the crime rate is one of the lowest in the world because of their belief and fear in their gods, i.e. Karma (Hinduism). Here's the truth for us here, we all have our own idols in our life. They may not be as tangible or physical as the idols in Bali or anywhere else in the world with temples, sacrifices, or rituals, simply they are the strongholds in our own life. Strongholds (in my dictionary) is defined as this: Something that you find yourself bound to. That you could not walk away from because of your love for it. And you sacrifice God (Jesus, The Father, Holy Spirit) for that stronghold. To help translate this, I'll give an example in my own life: A stronghold in my life has been the way people think/view me. I want so much, the approval of man and the praise of their lips. That desire has been in competition with the approval of God. So what I have is, The Praise of Man vs. The Desire of God for my life. Which one am I to choose?? If I choose The Praise of Man, then it is a reflection of a stronghold in my life. (Here's the gospel: God takes us into the desert away from comfort and speaks tenderly to us. Making us depend completely on Him. Stripping away our strongholds. Hosea 2). (More examples of strongholds: possessions, where we spend our time, television, internet, Facebook, blogging, etc.). While there is nothing inherently wrong with possessions, television, blogging etc., we know that it is a stronghold when they control our days. They control our thoughts. They control our decisions, rather than God controlling our hearts and mind.

So I speak: Stripping away strongholds is not a pleasant feeling/experience in the moment (much like putting Hydrogen Peroxide on a cut), but you know that it is for the good, though you may not like it in the moment, you know that it will preserve you and keep you from becoming infected and neutralized.

So I ask: What are your strongholds? Have you put them before the Lord (Jesus)? Have you weighed the consequences of idolatry against God? Have you seen His mercy? Do you see His love for you?

So He says: "My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights." (Proverbs 3.11-12)