Grace Classics: Escape to Reality Greatest Hits, Volume 2 by Paul Ellis Read Free Book Online Page B

give
birth to spirit. Neither can walking after the flesh empower you to live the
life God has called you to live.
     
    A word after
     
    Trying to please God by keeping
his law is a common way of walking after the flesh. However, I am more tempted
to lean on the flesh in other ways; number twelve, for instance, the one about
making plans in a worldly manner. I’m fairly sure I’m taking that scripture out
of context, but the larger point stands—trusting in your own understanding is
an inferior way to live (see Jeremiah 17:5).
    I love
to make plans. When I was a business school professor I taught people how to
write business plans and do SWOT analyses. This sort of stuff comes easy to me.
That’s the problem. It’s not hard for me to run ahead in my own strength and
leave God entirely out of the equation.
    After
reading this article a lady who works in a Christian organization said to me,
“We do SWOT analyses, set goals, and try to grow the ministry. It feels very
business oriented, but it’s kingdom business. And it has been successful
with many people coming to Christ.”
    I told
her that her story testifies to the goodness of God in drawing people to
himself and I reminded her that there is nothing inherently wrong with planning
and goal-setting. But being plan-led can get in the way of being spirit-led,
especially if our plans are constrained by what we see and understand. This is
a limited way to live.
    The
story of my life is this: I made a plan; God had a better one. I thought I
could attain a certain level; God took me higher. This pattern has been
repeated so frequently I often wonder if my best-laid plans are nothing more
than set-ups for divine jokes, as though God was saying, “You thought you were
going to accomplish what by when ? That’s funny!”
    I have
learned not to hold tightly to my plans and that when you walk after the
spirit—when you are open to his gentle leading and direction—God will often
take you places that were far better than you could imagine or conceive. My
plans may be jokes, but the good news is that God’s punch lines are awesome.
     
     

9. Seven Signs that You Might Be Living Under Law
     
    This week I finally got to see the
movie, The Book of Eli .
If you like stories where a lone man has to stand up to the wicked while trying
to distribute the word of God in a post-apocalyptic world, then this is the
movie for you. Just don’t show it at your youth group. It is extremely violent.
Still, it made me think about how people try to use God’s word for nefarious
purposes.
    In the
movie Eli carries the last known copy of the Bible. He comes to a town where
Carnegie, the local strong man, has been trying to find a Bible. Eli’s not
about to give up the world’s last Bible to a villain, so conflict ensues. Mid-way
through the story, one of Carnegie’s thugs asks why they are being pushed so
hard just to get a book. In an explosion of rage, Carnegie reveals his
diabolical motive:
     
    It’s not
a book! It’s a weapon. A weapon aimed right at the hearts and minds of the weak
and the desperate. It will give us control of them. If we want to rule more
than one small town, we have to have it. People will come from all over,
they’ll do exactly what I tell ‘em if the words are from the book. It’s
happened before and it’ll happen again. All we need is that book.
     
    There’s a world of truth in that
statement. The Bible is universally known as “the Good Book” and rightly so for
it will point you to Jesus. Read the whole Bible through the lens of the cross
and you will find redemption and life.
    But when
handled incorrectly the Bible is utterly lethal for buried within lies the law
which, the Bible warns, ministers death (2 Corinthians 3:7). For thousands of
years, men like Carnegie have been using the law-bits of the Bible to control
and manipulate others. Their goal is to enslave and dominate and their tools
are fear and condemnation.
    People
have been living under