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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 Believing that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are no longer active today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


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Fulfill Your Financial Destiny

Fulfill Your Financial Destiny

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 66 Pages

Though the economic system (mammon) of this world is under a curse, we have received instructions for how to move out from that dominion and into the blessing of the Kingdom of God. God’s promises to His children have not changed with the whims of government or Wall Street, nor have His directions for how to walk in those promises. We can “choose not to participate” in the economic recession that is around us if we instead choose to obey the logos and rhema of the Lord and enjoy the blessings that result.

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Gifted to Succeed

Gifted to Succeed

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 189 Pages

There is no joy so complete as knowing who you are -- who God has made you to be and what your basic giftings and drives are. The goal of this book is to get you effectively functioning in roles which allow you to adequately express your heart motivations and gifts. The fulfillment you experience when you function in your gifts and calling is a joy almost beyond belief.

"Do you see a man skilled in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before obscure men." (Prov. 22:29)

Price: $17.95
The Great Mystery

Great Mystery

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 54 Pages

This is a workbook which guides you in meditating on hundreds of New Testament verses which speak of Who Christ is within us and how to touch and release Him and His wisdom, power and might continuously and effortlessly out through our lives. You will look up every New Testament verse on being "in Christ," "in Him" and "in Whom." In addition, you will meditate on the various names given to the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and realize that all that He is is available within you and even joined to you (1 Cor. 6:17)! Absolutely amazing!

Price: $9.95
Health Mastery Through MRT

Health Mastery Through MRT

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 82 Pages

Wouldn't it be great if there were a way for my body to tell me exactly what it needs and desires, without having to take expensive or invasive tests? Wouldn't it be amazing if I could perform these tests as often as I wanted, right in my own home (or anywhere I wanted), with no costly instruments necessary? 

Price: $19.95

Hearing God Through Biblical Meditation

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 179 Pages | $15.99 retail list price

For many years I studied the Bible incorrectly, and it produced death rather than life. Even though I had a knowledge of the Scriptures, I did not personally experience the life and the realities they revealed. The Bible calls this the ministry of death, rather than the ministry of righteousness (2 Cor. 3:6–9). Upon coming out of Bible college, I found myself just like the apostle Paul, attacking those who disagreed with my theology. 

Price: $15.95

How Do You Know?

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 180 Pages

How do you know? What is the process you use to discover truth? I did not ask that question during the first 25 years of my life. I used eleven different methods for discovering truth including: if my parents said so, then it was so. If my teacher said it was so, then it was so. If my pastor said it was so, then it was so. If my theology said it was so, then it was so. I have discarded them all and adopted a twelfth method, which is in harmony with what the Bible teaches. We teach you this method in this book.

Price: $17.95
How to Build a Winning Team

How to Build a Winning Team

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 105 Pages

Can I succeed like others have? What do I need to do? How do I go about it? What if I don't have the gifts necessary to do something great?  The wonderful truth revealed in Scripture is that God uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary feats, especially when they say, "Yes, Lord" to the destiny He has prepared for them!

Price: $12.95
How to Receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit

How to Receive the Baptism in the Holy Spirit

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 44 Pages | Published 2002

This brief booklet walks a person through the main obstacles to speaking in tongues, and shows how each one can be successfully overcome. It is down-to-earth, practical and biblical, and in it Mark Virkler shares the struggles he went through before he was able to speak in tongues. Some were theological issues and some simply practical issues, like the fact that if I am going to speak in tongues, I will need to speak. Otherwise, nothing happens.

Price: $2.95
How to Walk by the Spirit

How to Walk by the Spirit

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 136 Pages | Previous name "Sense Your Spirit"

Are you like many western Christians who have been taught little about how to sense their spirits? Do you have trouble even defining what spirit sensations feel like within you, much less recognizing them? This training was birthed from Mark’s passion to live out of his spirit, and thus release the anointing of God. The problem he faced was lack of clear biblical definition as to what his spirit felt like. So Mark looked up every verse in the Bible on heart and spirit.

Price: $13.95
Intimacy with the Holy Spirit

Intimacy with the Holy Spirit

by Mark and Patti Virkler | 223 Pages

This book leads you in meditating on and journaling about two hundred and fifty verses that discuss the Holy Spirit. You will grow in intimacy with the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the anointing within you will increase! You will exclaim as the disciples did on the Emmaus Road “Did not our heart burn within us…while He opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:32)! In addition to being led to journal through these verses, you will read numerous two-way journal entries from Mark Virkler, as well as a five-page prayer at the conclusion of the book.

Price: $10.95

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