Where is God Amidst All This Chaos?
Special: Counseled by God Free Video Event and up to 50% off!

I'm So Afraid - Please Give Me a Box of Rules So I Can Be Safe!

Mark Virkler's picture

It is amazing how much we love boxes! The box I used to love the most was my theological box, as I am a theologian and I believed that my doctrinal box of rules of right and wrong kept me safe from deception and error. 


Yes, a set of rules and beliefs does help simplify our lives, however often we miss much of what God wants to show us because it is outside of our box. My first box was the church I was saved in. It was a very small box as they believed they were the ONLY denomination going to heaven. Wow! Really? Other boxes I (and others) have built and live in include:

  1. Believing that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are no longer active today
  2. Believing only Protestants are Christians or only Catholics are Christians
  3. Believing there is only one biblical view of eschatology 
  4. Believing it is impossible to hear God's voice today 
  5. Believing health care is the responsibility of the government
  6. Believing Old Testament dietary laws have no value for a New Testament Christian
  7. Believing the Western worldview is the right worldview
  8. Believing we can't disciple all nations because the anti-christ is going to do it 
  9. Believing money is secular rather than that God has given me the power to create wealth
  10. Believing I don't have enough smarts to succeed

I have written a book on 49 such theological lies I used to believe before the Lord began speaking truth to me concerning those issues. Wow! Forty-nine theological boxes destroyed in 100 pages of two-way journaling, and new platforms created which I can now stand on providing me a new foundation for living in the Spirit. How precious and valuable is that? How I hunger to pass these 49 revelation-based truths on to you.


Today the Lord spoke to me

Mark, security is not found by living in a box. Security is found in Me, in a living dynamic relationship with Me. I never created you to live in a box of rules. I created you to walk and talk with Me in the cool of the day (Genesis 3:8). 

Man chose boxes. The Israelites chose laws over My voice when I offered a relationship to them at Mount Sinai (Deuteronomy 5:22-31). I said, "Fine," even though I knew it wouldn't work. Eventually everyone discovers that a purpose of the Law is to prove that it cannot be kept and therefore one needs to come to Me, the living Christ (Galatians 3:19-24).

You can trust Me. You can trust My Spirit. You can trust in submission to the wise counsel of spiritual advisors who are living by My Spirit. This is where true safety lies. This allows you to continue to grow and explore and discover more about Me, for I am the God who hides Himself (Isaiah 45:15). If I intended for mankind to live in a box I would have created robots who would obey My every whim. Instead I made humans who could interact with Me, create with Me and release My Spirit and My creativity into My world (Galations 5:22-25; 1 Corinthians 12:7-11). 

Seek not to live in a box. For the box will NEVER contain the growing Christian. Seek My voice, and My Spirit and My anointing which provides wisdom, counsel and power. This is how you are created to live. This is My plan for your life. This is LIFE ITSELF! All else is a dead work (Hebrews 12:1,2). Repent from dead works.


So now I live outside of the box

I no longer hold tightly to my theological boxes. They are not my security blanket. My theology is free to change. Instead I hold tightly to the Bible (Psalm 1), the Spirit (John 6:63) and the counsel of my spiritual advisors (Proverbs 11:14). 

Now my normal approach is to look up every verse in the Bible on a topic, with an open heart and mind, asking God to reveal to me His truth. I meditate on these verses (Joshua 1:8), journaling about them to see what God wants to speak to me concerning them and submitting my insights to my spiritual advisors. This process continuously takes me new places, where I gain insights concerning how to live in the fullness of health, vitality, creativity, peace and thankfulness. What a joy! What a wonderful path to be on!

But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, that shines brighter and brighter until the full day (Proverbs 4:18).

So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts (2 Peter 1:19).

Will you choose intimacy with the Holy Spirit over a theological box?


Journaling Application

  1. Lord, what would You like to speak to me concerning the application of this article to my life? 
  2. Lord, are there areas where I am living in a box?
  3. Can I truly trust the flow of Your Spirit within? Can I trust it more than my theology?
  4. What will keep me safe?

Resources to take you deeper


The Narrative Theology SERIES: A Return to Jesus’ Style of Training - The Next Wave


Add new comment

Add new comment

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

Results

Results 21 - 30 of 479

Pages

Come Alive with Jesus

by Jesse and Kara Birkey

Jesse and Kara Birkey introduce a moving devotional with a daily word from God that will help you hear and experience Him in ways you never have before.

Price: $19.99

Conversation Starters with God 2

Just the Questions! By Gloria Gierach | 120 Pages | Retail $14.99

What better way to converse with God than to have great questions that improve that communication? 375 relationship-building questions between you and God.

Price: $14.99

Conversation Starters with God Journal

By Gloria Gierach | 406 Pages | Retail $24.99

What better way to converse with God than to have great questions that improve that communication?   Each page of this workbook has a powerful question on the top followed by a blank page to journal out your dialogue with God.

Price: $24.99
Corporate Communion with God

Corporate Communion with God

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 35 Pages

Bring the principles of how to hear God's voice to your prayer meetings with the ideas recommended in this guide. As your prayer group encounters the spirit world, there are no limits to where God may wish to take you. He may fill your hearts with visions and burdens of needs half-way around the world. He may take you into the heavenlies to reveal the activity of spiritual forces surrounding you. He may reveal to you a vision of His future purposes and draw you into calling them forth. The possibilities are as limitless and varied as is the Spirit of God.

Price: $4.95
Eden's Health Plan - Go Natural!

Eden's Health Plan - Go Natural!

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 289 Pages

Discover how you can take charge of your own health — keeping yourself young, energetic, attractive, and free of degenerative diseases! Discover the biblical injunctions on diet and health, and the amazing correlations between them and modern scientific research.

Price: $19.95

EFT for Christians: 52 Tapping Devotions

by Sherrie Rice Smith, R.N. (Retired)

"The amazing versatility of God’s gift of EFT stands out in this fourth installment in the EFT for Christians series. Sherrie Rice Smith’s latest book EFT for Christians – 52 Tapping Devotions helps believers incorporate Emotional Freedom Techniques into their everyday lives. In these weekly devotionals Sherrie clearly demonstrates how to connect Scripture and tapping in a practical way. Don’t just read this book; apply the principles and release God’s healing power in your life today."

Price: $15.00
EFT for Christians

Emotional Freedom Techniques - EFT for Christians: Tapping Into God's Peace and Joy

by Charity Virkler Kayembe and Sherrie Rice Smith | 208 Pages | Published 2016

Scripture tells us that we comfort others with the comfort we ourselves have received (2 Corinthians 1:3–5). To the degree that we are healed and comforted, we can offer those same gifts much more freely to others

Price: $15.99

End-Times Prophecy

by Timothy Paul Jones, PhD | 364 p. | c2011

This is an outstanding book, which clearly and simply lays out four differing views of end time prophecy, providing scriptural support for each, showing the unique approaches each view takes, and encouraging you to understand and not judge those who disagree with you. Finally we can honor and love all people (1 Pet. 2:17) as we consider various views of interpreting end time prophecy. What a gift to the body of Christ. Thank you, Timothy Paul Jones!!!

Price: $19.95
Experiencing God Together

Experiencing God Together

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 105 Pages

This book explains how to turn small group meetings into times of dynamic sharing of revelation concerning the real life issues we face daily. It addresses how to get everyone involved, how to limit the naturally talkative, and how to keep things on track.

Price: $12.95
Flow of Life

Flow of Life

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 102 Pages

This book guides you in doing original research in any area in which you are seeking the supernatural release of divine power through your life. For example, one sample project recorded in this book is entitled, "Healing a Chronic Illness Through Receiving and Acting Upon a Word of Knowledge." 

Price: $12.95

Pages