“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Psalm 103:1-5 ESV

When Jesus died on the cross and conquered death he entered into hell and took on our sins and our darkness. The work is done, and now, we simply receive and then advocate this work out to others.

And so, we must enter into our own chasms (our personal pit, our own ‘hell’, our worst things), with the Lord, personally and authentically, finding Jesus for ourselves. When we do this we will find that the Lord has prepared for us a banqueting table in the very spot that we were most afraid to go.


For many years the chasm was a scary place. We believed that God bypassed the chasm and just skipped over it to connect with us. This belief reveals itself in statements such as, “Just let it go” or “Don’t revisit the past” or “Time will heal all things” or even “It really wasn’t that bad”, or “Just have faith”.

Yet in all these kinds of beliefs we are in disservice to our Lord. Jesus entered into our sin, failure, harms done to us, harms we have done to others, and more, both personally and corporately. To keep from him the truth and hurt of our lives is to push aside the work he did on the cross.

Throughout this course you have already been entering into your own chasm with the Lord. Every time you allow the revelation of the Spirit, every time you come to the Lord in confession and repentance, and every time you allow the love and the Sulha of God to change you deeply, both inside and out, you have been to the chasm.

Here you have welcomed the light of God to chase away the darkness of your own thinking and actions. This light of God extends to our past, resides in our present and goes before us into our future. In the light of Christ you have experienced a banquet with the Lord. You now know more than before about the Lord’s great love and intention of grace upon your life.

The freedom to eat with the Lord, to sit in the presence of God and to feel his acceptance of you and his peace filtering through your being is the place of intimacy with God that changes us and by which we are drawn to actively engage change in our world.

Let’s say it again: We must become authentic about all that has gone wrong and bad in our lives before we can confront and advocate and bring justice and healing for all that has gone wrong and bad in other’s lives.

When we avoid our pain we avoid the pain of the world. When we cannot look at our pain with little awareness of God in our pain then we will avoid the pain of the world as it is just too threatening to us.

But when we find God in our personal ‘hell’ we find that he has rolled back death and condemnation and shame. We come into fellowship with God in the very spaces where our worst hurts and harms once were and we are no longer afraid.

And then, only then, out of the healing and touch of God that we ourselves have received, we can touch and brings Christ’s healing to a dying world.

Out of this new awareness of God’s love and deep healing of our lives, out of our new knowledge and experience with the living God, we can begin to enter the chasms of others. Where others are stuck in degradations, slavery, and injustice, we become advocates for wholeness in God.

We speak out against injustice in this world and we take actions that ‘show’ God’s love and heart for this world, our communities, and individual lives. Each one of us are called to take on and live out God’s restorative work on this earth. We are no longer passive believers but we become active and faithful stewards of healing and wholeness for this world. By action and intention we agree with the verse that says,

“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.” Colossians 1:19-20 ESV

“The Lord looked and was displeased to find there was no justice. He was amazed to see that no one intervened to help the oppressed.” Isaiah 59:15b-16a NLT

God intends for us to bring justice and right standing of this world to our lives, and then through us to each other and this world. We are called to enter into the current problems of our world:

  • modern day slavery
  • sexual abuse
  • violence against one another
  • hatred of God’s creation
  • inequalities
  • manipulation and abuses
  • stealing, theft
  • lying and deceiving

The first step towards justice is always the willingness to clearly know how bad it is. You’ve experienced this already as you looked at your own agreements with Satan. We will now look at the consequences of those agreements.

Let’s say it clearly: When we put up with the injustices and the violence of our cultures we are agreeing with the enemy and not with God. Evil has been established, allowed, and then maintained by sin and our agreement to sin in this world. All sin is a result of bad stewardship of all God has entrusted to us. This includes people, possessions, know-how, and creation.

When we do not care for:

  • women
  • children
  • widows
  • orphans
  • workers
  • animals
  • creation
  • just laws
  • justice
  • the gospel
  • body of christ

— we get vast injustices that tear at the fabric of our families and communities and our nations.
In Christ we begin to see these things clearly and we hear the spirit telling us to take action, to live bold, to be courageous, and to work to set things right in the land.

As we have already seen, Walking in Spiritual Authority is in fact nothing more than walking in stewardship. Spiritual authority is the giving of our entire lives to the heart of the Lord on this earth. It is about aligning our motives, our attitudes, our intent, our actions, our choices and our responses with our King, the one true God.

Spiritual authority grows as we bring into the authority of God every part of our lives — the responsibilities of life and family, the calling of ministry and work, the care of creation, the land and the animals that are ours to govern, and more. When God knows he can trust us with his heart and his creation, with his people and with his will and purposes on this earth he will begin to give us more and more of the keys to the Kingdom of heaven.

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, and Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength.” Isaiah 40:28-29 ESV

Our participation with the plans of God to restore earth and everything in it back to the original image of God before sin entered the world, will increase as we are proven faithful and trustworthy.

A Trustworthy Person in God’s Kingdom will:

  • respect and care for ALL people, men, women, children, and the elderly
  • nurture growth in all things, people, gardens, animals, our work, and the gospel
  • be accountable to God and others for how we are living our lives
  • pray (with good intention) for rulers and leaders of our countries and communities
  • remain open-hearted and authentic to God who will continue to mature us
  • be quick to repent of sin and wrongdoing
  • risk to do what is right in all things

Imagine a man is sitting next to Jesus.

The man is asking Jesus, “Why do you allow evil and injustice to be upon this earth?”

And Jesus answers the man, “Interesting that you should bring that up as I was just going to ask you the same question.”

As men and women we have been given authority to bring the rule and reign of God to this earth. It is the work of walking in spiritual authority. It begins in our own lives before God. We make right our own motives and thinking, relationships and work, ministry and influence.

Then, we enter into the mess of this world, with our homes first and foremost. Then, as we prove our faithfulness and obedience to the Lord and in regards to our care and concern and responsibilities with our own spouse and children, then we can make right the injustices in our communities.

Because we have done the hard personal work of coming under the authority of God in all manner of our own lives, we can then begin to bring the injustices all around us into this same authority of God.

It looks and sounds like this:

  • When we see sexual abuse we speak out and say, ‘this is not right’
  • When we see children being beaten we speak out and say, ‘this is not right’
  • When we see women abused and mistreated we speak out and say, ‘this is not right’
  • When we see widows being neglected and abandoned we speak out and we say, ‘this is not right’
  • When we see slavery happening right in our own areas we speak out and we say, ‘this is not right’
  • When we see thievery, lying, deception and stealing we speak out and we say, ‘this is not right’

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the council of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.” Psalm 1:1-3 ESV

And then, we follow up our words with actions:

  • When we see sexual abuse we call the proper authorities 52 and do whatever it takes to ensure that the one being sexually abused has a safe space to live with people who will not abuse
  • When we see children being beaten we will confront the adults doing the beating and we will call for justice and for situations made right so that children can live in safety and not fear.
  • When we see women abused and mistreated we challenge the one/s mistreating her. We make choices and sacrifices with our own lives so that she can live in safety and peace and grow into the fullness of God’s creation and intention of her.
  • When we see widows neglected and abandoned we share our food, we help out, we give a good place to stay and to sleep, we restore her dignity with shelter, food and clothing and we challenge and call others to do the same.
  • When we see slavery happening within our communities we bring attention to the injustice of what is going on and we take action to bring about change and freedom so that those in slavery can live free lives.
  • When we see thievery, lying, deception and stealing we take action so that property and possessions are returned to their rightful owner.

By these things and much more we declare what is acceptable and what is not acceptable. By these things and much more we usher in the heart of God, the restoration of rightness and of justice. We hold abusers to account so that they do not abuse any longer. We hold dignity and honor for all people young and old. We take action to ensure safety for all people whether in our family or our communities. We say ‘Yes!’ to the ways of God and ‘No’ to the ways of the enemy.

“For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God’s power.”
1 Corinthians 4:20 NLT

PRAYER

“God we come before you today in the name and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father we see that you have called us to become participant and conduits of your Kingdom on this earth. We see that this means entering into the hard places, the painful realities, and the most difficult things within our communities. You have called us to stand forth and to make a difference. You are compelling us to be brave and courageous and to bring change to the brokenness we see all around us. We ask for your clarity about our personal role in these things. Lead us. Show us what to do and when to do it. Give us wisdom that is from you. Grow us into mighty men and women of God who will risk our own lives for your glory on this earth. May we stand in the gap with much strength, because of who you are. Thank you Lord.”

APPLICATION

In many of our communities and faith gatherings we have not been addressing the injustice that is all around us and may even be in our own homes. So the place to begin is to speak these things out loud. We MUST come out of denial, passivity, and secrecy.

As a group (that has been taking this course) make a list of the injustices and the abuses that you are aware of in your community.

Do this WITHOUT giving details, but in a general way. Like this (as examples):

  • a girl I know is being molested by her father
  • a young boy was beaten last night in my neighbourhood
  • there is a widow who has nowhere to live
  • a wife was raped by her husband
  • there is a family abandoned by both parents
  • there is a man stealing from widows
  • there is a pastor who robs from those who have very little
  • a woman I know neglects her children, they are starving
  • a child down the street is not allowed to go to school but is a slave and must work
  • little children are being used by their parents to beg in the streets
  • there is a house in town where girls are kept for sexual exploitation by men
  • I know a man with an orphanage who is a child molestor, those children are not safe there
  • the church is keeping children but they sleep in the cold, something must be done

What is going on in your community?

What are you aware of that you have never attended to, challenged, spoken to, taken action against?
We must stop sleeping and wake up to the justice of God.

Justice and Jesus go together. It is impossible to have Jesus and not justice.

Read what Jesus himself says in Matthew 25:31-46

Today, begin by talking about the injustice you see in your community where you live.

________________________________________

*VERY IMPORTANT: Don’t name names or give details*

NOTE: There may still be those in your learning groups that are not mature in the Lord and would make what is bad even worse – justice must be executed with great discretion, wisdom and the timing of the Lord. We will learn more about this as we go forward in this course.

TODAY, just make a general list of what you know is wrong in the areas where you live.

________________________________________

Allow the grieving of the Holy Spirit to wash through your being. Do not be afraid to cry and to weep over these injustices that break the heart of God. Be changed by the pain, allow it to strengthen you and to bring you into the work of the Lord in a fresh, deep, new way.

“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.” James 4:8-9 ESV

*Read all of James chapter 4

SUMMARY – THE CHASM

He has gone before us Deuteronomy 31:8; Hebrews 6:20; Isaiah 45:2

We can meet him there in our worst fears and uncertainty Isaiah 41:10; Psalm 34:4; Psalm 56:3-4

When we do this, we are freed and healed, emotionally, psychologically, physically
Matthew 10:1; Psalm 147:3; Mark 5:34

We are no longer afraid of our own pain or the pain of the world
2 Timothy 1:7; Romans 8:15; Deuteronomy 31:6

We can now actively bring justice to the pain of our communities
Amos 5:24; Isaiah 1:17; Zachariah 7:9

We stand up and speak out against the abuses, lies, theft of the enemy and people around us
1 Timothy 5:8; Deuteronomy 10:18; Proverbs 28:5

We bring God’s heart and justice to bear within our lives and the lives of others
Proverbs 21:3; Leviticus 19:15; Luke 4:18-19

We stand in the gap to restore God’s Kingdom on earth
Exodus 23:1-9; Hebrews 13:3; 1 Timothy 2:1-2

______________________________

52 We understand that in many countries the ‘proper authorities’ are not always very helpful. Some police forces have much corruption. In these cases the answers are not simple or clear, and yet, if a people are intent on helping those who are stuck in abusive situations the Lord will show the way to make a difference, to advocate, to take action and to in some measure ensure that lives are respected and valued within the community. This is the role of the church, to ensure safe places for people and nurturing homes and schools. We must not be part of the problem.

=>Together let’s look at Healing Leaders

Capturing Courage International Ministries :: capturingcourage.org
College of Capturing Courage :: collegeofcapturingcourage.org
Email Us :: college@capturingcourage.org