Dear One...

I realize your pain is deeper than a vast ocean. Yet nothing is beyond the Heavenly Father's ability to heal. Would you endeavor to give Him your pain? 

Today is a new day. You are not bound to yesterday. The old has passed away, the new has come. Will you trust Him with today? Be present in today? Smell the beauty of clean air, feel the gentle breeze, see the sun rise... you are not alone in your pain. The angels are near by standing ready with vessels of healing balm. Will you allow them to cleanse your wounds?

His promise is to heal and restore you, yet you have to come towards Him... close enough for Him to pour His presence into every corner of your being! His love is perfect. There is no sorrow in His love! Give Him your grief dear one. Give Him all that burdens your heart. Give Him your tears. Give Him your fear of the future. All is not lost! You are more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus. Behold He makes all things new.

Trust Him today dearest one... trust Him! He is trustworthy!  He brings beauty for ashes. He is our kinsman redeemer! He is our completion!  He knows your end from the beginning. You are the head and not the tail. You are above and not beneath! He has not forsaken you... He is right there with you!

You ARE His dear one!

It is all about the seed...

I listen to preachers who talk about sowing and reaping. There is much said in the Old and New Testaments about sowing seed and reaping a harvest. Scripture talks of types and shadows of the supernatural in the natural world (Colossians 2:17; Hebrews 9:14). I take issue with a few preachers who proclaim that if an individual sows "bad" seed, they will reap a "bad" harvest. Yet, if we take the observation of the natural world as a type and shadow of the supernatural world, then we must look at the process of natural sowing. For instance, farmers will often over seed a section of land. Why is this? Plainly, some seeds do not grow. They lie in the dirt lifeless and continue to lie in the dirt until they decompose and become dirt. In this way, the only good that can come out of sowing a bad seed is the production of more dirt. Every instruction on the back of a packet of seed includes the admonishment to use multiple seeds (usually 2 to 3) in each hole. Again, the reasoning behind this is the existence of potential bad seeds. Bad seed does not produce for its lack of a life-giving element.

Only good seed (kernels that have life in them) then produces a harvest. Too often, the preacher will use the analogy of sowing bad behavior as a precursor to reaping a poor harvest. Yet, this analogy does nothing but produce guilt in the ears of the listener. In contrast, if one focuses on sowing good seed, e.g., finances, good behaviors, good deeds, then we know that it produces a strong harvest. Bad seeds sown during the life of a believer do not produce. They lie in the dirt only to decay. Bad actions produce decay and death. It is high time to encourage the believer to not focus on past bad deeds. Jesus covers our past deeds. He died to pay the price for our past. His blood cleanses us of our past actions and provides forgiveness. We experience new life when we come to Jesus. Why then would a preacher seek to put one under the yoke of bondage? The only reason is to produce guilt. Guilt does not produce change. It binds the listener in condemnation.

One year, I worked a landscape project for my mentors, where I tilled over an acre of land to prepare it to receive grass seed. Their septic went out, and I worked to reseed their lawn. There was very rocky, hard, soft, and medium ground. Each different type of ground needed a different treatment. The hard ground required extensive re-working. The rocky ground required rock removal, etc. Yet, when it was ready, I used two 50 lb. bags of seed to seed the entire lot. My mentor asked why I needed so much seed. I told him, "Some seed won't produce. So we over seed to insure a good lawn." It was then that I began to ponder how many preachers use the analogy of sowing and reaping to discourage parishioners from sowing seeds of bad behavior, and conversely, to encourage them to sow seeds of good behavior. I don't believe the guilt works. Positive encouragement creates a better response in the believer's life.

So if you have felt guilty for past deeds, stop! Jesus paid the price for your past actions when he died on the cross in your stead. If your past actions condemn you, then consider receiving the forgiveness freely given in Christ's gift. Condemnation has no place in the life of a believer. Jesus desires our good behaviors in response to His life gift. You are no longer under law, but under grace. Romans 12:1 states, "There is, therefore, no condemnation for those who are Christ Jesus!" So why would you allow someone to condemn you?

I believe that actions have consequences and believers suffer some of those consequences, such as broken relationships, poor health, and addictions. Yet, I also believe that Christ's love for us is so great He restores and redeems the believer in every way. This includes our past actions. Christ Jesus can restore the broken, heal poor health, and deliver us from addiction. The only admonishment for the believer then is to be careful to sow only good seed as a response (James 2:26 ... faith without action is dead). Let our response to this great love be the ability to make positive actions toward others. Let our bad actions (bad seeds), fall to the ground to become dirt. Let us not take upon ourselves unnecessary guilt.

When you are in Christ Jesus, you are a new creation. The old has passed away, and the new has come. In Christ, we are no longer bound by our past lives. What must occur is the appropriation of the totality of Christ's finished work of the cross. The very moment you place your belief in Christ Jesus and accept His payment for all of your sins, His shed blood makes you righteous (Romans 3:22).  Our response to this exponential gift of grace is to follow Him and share His love with others. Can you imagine life discarding unnatural guilt? Can you see your life redeemed? Can you see the restoration of relationships? I can. I have experienced all the above. I have felt the freedom from unnecessary guilt and condemnation. I have felt redemption enter my life in very tangible ways. I have seen a restoration of past relationships. I have experienced a love so great; it encompassed my entire reality.

I invite you to discard the bad seeds of yesterday and accept the grace of total redemption. I invite you to experience freedom from addictions. I call you to accept the cleansing gift of Christ's payment for your sins and renewal of life. It is simple! State, "Lord Jesus, thank you for paying the price for all my sins. I place my belief in your gift of grace and accept you as my Lord and Savior." This is all you have to do. In your simple action, a supernatural act of God occurs. He transfers you from the realm of death to life. He cleanses your life fully and completely once and for all. Congratulations! Welcome home! Let all your future actions be to sow seeds of love in response to His great love for you.

Dr. Ramy Bakke

Faith

Faith can seem like a loaded word to some. It is a function of belief. The Webster dictionary defines faith as "strong belief or trust in someone or something; belief in the existence of God: strong religious feelings or beliefs; a system of religious beliefs." A logical conclusion then is that belief strengthens faith. What are your beliefs then? What do you trust in?

There are people who have faith in their parent's beliefs, then wonder why their faith wavers during times of stress. Many people do not take the time to examine their beliefs, and a few do. Others have faith in what they know to be true. A few individuals wonder if what they believe is true. Beliefs can be extremely personal, or shared with others. Each person has a right to their beliefs. There is a difference between fact and belief. Belief is defined as "a feeling of being sure that someone or something exists or that something is true" Facts are defined as "something that truly exists or happens: something that has actual existence: a true piece of information." Facts establish existence. Belief is an acknowledgement of said existence. Faith is trusts belief. It is simple. In order to practice true faith, one must know what one believes is based in fact.

I recently read a book by Lee Stroebel called "The Case for Christ." Lee was an Atheist. He set out to disprove Christ's existence. Yet, Stroebel found evidence in support of Jesus' existence historically. Stroebel came to acknowledge not only Christ's existence, but evidence of His resurrection. He found profound evidence of Christ's presence in the lives of people he knows. Consequently, he encountered Christ. When he put his faith into the knowledge that Christ died for him and rose again, his life changed. With the advent of Easter, take a few moments and ask yourself, can I believe in God's unconditional provision of true love for me? Can I believe in unfailing love? The choice is yours.

Emotional Challenges in Trying Times

We are in trying times.  Emotional challenges in trying times can look very different than when in non-trying times.  When stressed, one tends to have more awareness of the world around them and less awareness of their own inability to handle that world.  So the best time to develop a strategy for handling emotional challenges is when the atmosphere is calm and peaceful.  It is not the best strategy to attempt long term solutions when the air is peaked with testy testosterone or feisty estrogen.  Sometimes, trying times and emotional challenges can lead us to challenge the tenets of our faith.

Faith challenges often take us to the core of our beliefs.  These challenges can affect our emotional health and vice versa.  What you believe affects how you behave.  A popular psychologist, Albert Ellis, developed Rational Emotive Belief Therapy (REBT) in the mid-1950's.  His basic premise was that it is your belief about life and things that causes you to have internal discord.  Without going too deeply into a discourse about REBT, which is not the purpose of this discussion, it is important to note that Ellis (1959) determined that individuals have the capacity to change their outcomes by changing their beliefs about a situation.  A theologian, Dr. Paul Carlin (1997) coined his intervention, Belief Therapy and the Therapon Institute to treat disorders related to what people believe.  Dr. Carlin believes that "people do what they do because they believe what they believe."  He admits that his Belief Therapy is based on Ellis' REBT concepts yet integrates the value of scripture.  


So why a discourse on beliefs?  Beliefs impact and directly influence our emotional selves.  What we believe about ourselves directly impacts how we feel about ourselves.  If we believe that we will get through a difficult situation because we are strong, capable individuals, then we will get through it.  Yet, if we believe that we are incapable of handling anything, we will have anxiety about getting through a difficult time.  Inherently, our internal self-talk motivates our outward behaviors.  Who we are on the inside dictates our outward appearance.  Have you heard it said, "you are what you eat?"  In other words, adolescents who eat high fat diets can have a higher incidence of acne.  If you eat too much food in general, you will gain weight beyond your ability to carry that weight.  It is the same way with what you believe.  If you believe that you are ugly, you act in ugly ways either in attitudes, or in the way that you dress.  So how does one change what they believe?  It is important to look at truth.  For Christians, our source of truth, is the Scriptures.  We find out who we are by looking at God's Word.  We know who we are by reading the words written to us by a loving, Heavenly Father.  Words that state that we are "fearly and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139.14) and that nothing can separate me from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39).  If I believe that I am wonderfully made, then I can believe that I am special.  If I can believe that nothing can separate me from the love of God, then I can be securely attached to God knowing that nothing I do can separate me from His love.  These are truths that can be anchors when in emotional turmoil.  Beliefs are not only about spiritual things.  Beliefs are about everything that we hold to be true.  They are about the world that we know.  Individuals often get shaky when their political beliefs are challenged.  Some individuals cannot handle having their beliefs under a microscope.  Their belief system is so entrenched that for anyone to begin to look at what they believe is interpreted as an attack against their person hood.  Yet, for growth to take place, one MUST look at their belief structure.  It is important to understand whether or not you can allow others to have their beliefs without challenging your own beliefs and vice versa.  Accepting another individuals beliefs does not mean that you have to embrace them, it just means that you've come to understand them.  There is wisdom in understanding.  Much of the conflict in today's world is based in the inability to understand one another.  

So how do we get to a place of peace and calm in the midst of such a tumultuous time?  The first act that we can make is to acknowledge that faith in an unseen God is a choice.  Secondly, personal beliefs are just that, personal beliefs.  The restructuring of belief is something that is done not through brow beating, bullying, forcefully demanding one's own way, or by ramming of ideology down one's throat, it is accomplished through loving discourse, acceptance and acknowledgement that the other person sitting in front of you is of value and worth.  If they want to change their beliefs, they will let you know.  If they don't, they will also let you know.  Respect acknowledges the difference.  Personal peace and calm comes from knowing the truth... for a Christian, that means reading God's Word, memorizing what it says about you, and applying it to your life.  There is truth in many walks of life... we can learn from one another if we are willing.


With that...  I lovingly take my leave....
Ramy

The End of a Decade - 2009, The Pruning Process

It amazes me how fast time seems to fly past me. It also seems to be only yesterday that we moved from Nashville to Denver, yet it has been over a year. This year was not as easy as I wish it could have been. Dad fell ill in late May and after four weeks in ICU and multiple infections, went home to be with the Lord Jesus. A short 12 days later, his brother-in-law, my uncle, also passed from this life to the next. Shortly after that death, my dad's other brother-in-law passed away. Only 11 weeks total from the time Dad breathed his last. So my cousins and I have all endured significant life change, learning to live life without our fathers.

My dad considered so many different aspects of life, but in the last six years continued to decline. He was a generous man, yet conservative in almost all of life. After all, my mother and he were married just short of 57 years.

Before coming to Denver, we had to leave our apartment as well as our house in 2008. These changes were not easy for my children to walk through. I am still struggling with some of the ramifications of why we lost our houses, yet I know that each life challenge brings growth rings to our existence.

Have you ever looked at a tree when you cut it down? Each year, a ring grows around the trunk of the tree. Smaller rings represent lean years, and thick rings represent lush years. Now, I am one who doesn't really aspire to be a tree trunk, but the lesson of the tree I do understand, mainly that there are seasons in one's prosperity. There are years where there is a lot of pruning of overgrowth, or pruning of dead wood. Skilled pruners only prune during the late fall or early spring before the growing season begins. I believe these observations can be applied to the dead areas of our life that are not producing fruit. Every time a tree is pruned correctly, it produces a greater harvest not necessarily the very next year, but the year following. It obviously takes time to recover from the seasons of severe pruning.

Many Christians seem to think that every day of every part of their life should be a happy one, especially because we know that Christ lives within us. Yet, I truly believe that Christ wants to perfect in us true character that is free from dead wood. I think that it is important to welcome the pruning years. Without them, we would be living trees that are vulnerable to limb breakage, overcrowding, and non-productivity. This doesn't mean that the Gardener (Christ) abandons us in the midst of our pruning; rather, He watches carefully to make sure that the cuts are clean, appropriately placed and sealed so disease cannot permeate our being. In this way, the Lord Jesus skillfully and gently brings us forward in our unique placement in and amongst a very human society. There are attitudes, belief systems, and actions that all affect our ability to be light in dark places. When we submit to the skillful Gardener's hands, we, in essence, agree to the pruning process. If we agree to this process, we cannot then complain about it as we willfully agreed to be pruned. The hope is that by ridding our lives of negative attitudes, destructive beliefs, and reactions, we become bright, effectual life changers.

Therefore, when death knocks at your door or at the doors of your loved ones, be willing to look at the places that grief has a tendency to expose that are in need of pruning. Take the opportunity to consider where you have traveled, where you are traveling now and where you want to travel in the future. Your success depends on complete submission to the process of getting rid of the undesirable, yet instilling desirable qualities. As we walk forward into 2010, it is important to consider what goals are worthy of pursuing, how to develop the weak areas of our characters, so that they become strengths, and to take the time to renew our minds.

All in all, it is a good place to be... humble, honest, and honorable. Pruning teaches us to persevere, to produce, and to prepare ourselves for the greatest harvests of our lifetimes. I look forward to what the Lord Jesus Christ will produce in me. How about you?

Take care and have a safe New Year!

With Love,
RamyB

(C) 2009, Ramy Bakke, Bakke Music Group

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Valley of Regret

By Ramy A. Bakke, MMFT

"You don't want to squander your wonderful life, to waste your precious life among the hardhearted. Why should you allow strangers to take advantage of you? Why be exploited by those who care nothing for you? You don't want to end your life full of regrets, nothing but sin and bones, Saying, 'Oh, why didn't I do what they told me? Why did I reject a disciplined life? Why didn't I listen to my mentors, or take my teachers seriously? My life is ruined! I haven't one blessed thing to show for my life!' " (Proverbs 5:7-14, The Message, Used with permission)

Have you ever been through a season in your life when things just didn’t turn out the way you wanted them to? Have you regretted things you’ve said? Or done? Have you wished you could do it all over again with the perspective that you’ve gained from being on the other side of the season? I have. I bet you have too.

When we are challenged in the seasons of life with either job loss, loss of health, loss of friends, loss of finances, loss of family members, for some reason or another, we often become highly introspective. This is normal. It is part of the grieving process involved in getting through the losses. Introspection, also called, reflection, can be very healthy if we allow ourselves to be changed through the process. It is when we stay on the merry-go-round and continue to repeat the same eternal life lessons that we fail to achieve what the season has taught us. Then the question is, is our reflection or introspection muddied by some other factor? Are there things that keep us from seeing clearly what it is that we are supposed to see or change? All of these questions can have answers that are highly explainable. It is what we do with these answers that makes the difference between future success and future demise. Every single one of us, if we are honest, has had a season or seasons of loss where we are not as productive as we could have been. Is this a negative in our overall outlook? It depends on our perspective. The most important perspective is God’s perspective. Too often, we get caught up in what others think of us as to whether or not we are successful. But, in the end, this is counterproductive.

It matters not what others think of us, but what our Creator thinks of us. In the Proverb above, the writer says to the listener, “why be exploited by those who care nothing for you...do you want to end your life full of regrets… why didn’t I do what they told me?... why didn’t I listen to my mentors?” The writer is squealing both about those around him who care nothing for him, and for the fact that he didn’t listen to his mentors. He went through a season regretting his life for his mistakes and for those around him who he cared about, but who exploited him. This is where the tendency to lose perspective can overtake a man or woman who is lost in the season of low productivity and loss. You can hear the pain in the writer’s voice about those around him who exploited him. He regrets allowing himself to be exploited. You can hear the pain in his voice when he regrets not listening to those who were placed in his life to teach him and lead him. Yet, he has a choice. He can stay in the place called, “regret,” or he can pick himself up and move beyond it towards a new season of growth and productivity. He can practice self-reflection and learn from his mistakes, thereby, getting off the merry-go-round of un-productivity, or he can choose to stay in the place of regret and repeat the cycle of loss.

Either way, His Creator will love Him until He can make the right choices. What kind of love is this that allows us to learn from just such a season? It is the same kind of love that allows us to learn from our choices and to own our part in the consequences of choice. There are many lately who want to legislate choice for others. There are many moral reasons to legislate choices, such as: “Should the drinking age be lowered to 18?” “Should we allow credit card companies to set their own interest rates?” “Should we allow women to be in control of their own bodies?” Many of these questions are hotly debated choices, yet, in the end, we are all responsible for our own choices and the consequences of our choices. We are responsible for how we treat others; for how we love one another; for how we accept one another; for how we live with one another, etc. It is important that we know for certain that our choices are going to be choices we can live with, so life will not be full of regret. For to live in the valley of regret is to live in the valley of loss which is not a happy place to be.

So whether you are in a season of great loss (which many in the nation are) or in a season of rebuilding, or in a season of great success, it is important to practice healthy introspection/ reflection. Evaluate where you are, where you have been and where you are going. Remember that where you have been does not have to dictate where you are going, but it can teach you the important lessons that will help you have a more productive future. Accept the losses as lessons and move forward into life as an active learner. But most of all, know that your Heavenly Father, the Creator of your soul is not angry with you, nor impatient with your learning process. He is with you and nearest to you even in the humblest of times. He believes in you and will cheer you on. Even if you feel no one is with you, He is with you and will never forsake you! And know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are loved… so I invite you to move out of the valley of regret into a place of healthy reflection where you can learn to move into your future with acceptance and grace!

RamyB

© 2009, RamyB, Bakke Music Group