The above image was of me (Jim Banks) enjoying a good cigar on the windward side of Oahu just prior to beginning a super heavy multi-day work schedule of ministry ... which incidentally kick-started a new season for us in ministry; one of ministry to victims of sex trafficking. So it's probably no surprise that this new season we are embarking upon is also beginning in the Pacific and is also about engaging sex trafficking victims and their aftercare providers.
However, one thing that has emerged along with the unveiling of this new season is God wanting us to clean out the closet, but there is also a renewed effort on the part of our enemy to use some of the stuff God wants thrown out of the closet against us in an effort to sabotage our entry into the new season. It started off for me as a question posed by Arthur Burk, "Lord, where have I re-ordered my life to accommodate fear?" The subtleties were amazing and yet the impact has been significant.
It should therefore have been no surprise that our Personal Ministry appointments have been heavily oriented toward helping others resolve that very question. Unfortunately, these folks were dealing with the significant repercussions of having reoriented their lives to accommodate fear, and not simply asking the question.
Hebrews 2:10 "For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying, "I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise." 13 And again, "I will put my trust in him." And again, "Behold, I and the children God has given me." 14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery."
Dysfunctional and self-destructive behaviors all have their root in vere 15, whether the fear is based in loss of livelihood, fear of the death of status or lifestyle, fear of the death of a relationship, or personal prestige, etc.
No matter how you cut it, there are things we need to let go of to successfully enter this new season. Our hands must be empty upon entry, or they will not be able to grasp what's needful to succeed in the new one. Fear is much like the experience of a new retail business owner; sooner or later the owner will be faced with the question of who owns who? When the business (fear) owns you, you have become a slave. So its best to start asking the question now, "Lord, where have I re-ordered my life to accommodate fear?"
However, one thing that has emerged along with the unveiling of this new season is God wanting us to clean out the closet, but there is also a renewed effort on the part of our enemy to use some of the stuff God wants thrown out of the closet against us in an effort to sabotage our entry into the new season. It started off for me as a question posed by Arthur Burk, "Lord, where have I re-ordered my life to accommodate fear?" The subtleties were amazing and yet the impact has been significant.
It should therefore have been no surprise that our Personal Ministry appointments have been heavily oriented toward helping others resolve that very question. Unfortunately, these folks were dealing with the significant repercussions of having reoriented their lives to accommodate fear, and not simply asking the question.
Hebrews 2:10 "For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying, "I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise." 13 And again, "I will put my trust in him." And again, "Behold, I and the children God has given me." 14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery."
Dysfunctional and self-destructive behaviors all have their root in vere 15, whether the fear is based in loss of livelihood, fear of the death of status or lifestyle, fear of the death of a relationship, or personal prestige, etc.
No matter how you cut it, there are things we need to let go of to successfully enter this new season. Our hands must be empty upon entry, or they will not be able to grasp what's needful to succeed in the new one. Fear is much like the experience of a new retail business owner; sooner or later the owner will be faced with the question of who owns who? When the business (fear) owns you, you have become a slave. So its best to start asking the question now, "Lord, where have I re-ordered my life to accommodate fear?"
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