THE /D/ FACTOR (D to Da G)

 Greetings O Ye Life Livers (and not the kind with onions)...how's your life?

The letter /D/ brings back some bad memories for me.  When I was in the 6th grade...I received my report card, expecting to be promoted to the 7th grade...but to my shock and surprise...I failed the 6th grade.  I had all D's...except for 4 F's.  I remember walking home...across the campus of Mitchell-Neilson Elementary School...crying while everyone was happy, joyous, and excited about passing and ready for the summer.  It turned out to be a good thing for me...as the next year I got all A's.  Hmmm...Romans 8:28 was working even back then...talk about Prevenient Grace.

 "Love is a corpse, we set and watch it harden, we left it SO LONG AGO THE GARDEN."
(Larry Norman from the song, Nightmare #71)

"We are stardust, we are golden, we are caught up in the devil's bargain, and we got to get our self, BACK TO THE GARDEN." (Joni Mitchell from the song Woodstock...also recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young)

Many moons (and suns) ago...there was a Garden (G)...planted by God and tended by man/wo-man, where there was intimacy with God, free from fear and strife.  Trouble entered into this paradise in the form of a serpent (aka the devil...with a little /d/) (Revelation 12:9; Genesis 3:1-5)...who tempted the caretakers of this Garden...away from who they really are...as a result of dis-obedience.  From that point on...mankind (including wo-mankind) have either been running away from or  trying to get back into that Garden state (and I don't mean New Jersey).

This garden experience was originally filled with (1) order (2) function (3) ease (4) encouragement
(5) obedience (6) comfort.  Once man/wo-man choose to listen to the d-eceiver...the d-evil and sinned,  the cause and effect of sin took over (Romans 5:12).  "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world...and death through sin, and death spread to all men, because all sinned." (Romans 5:12)

The cause and effect of this DIS-obedience...set into motion a thing called D-eath.  Death is not only the cessation of breathing and assuming room temperature...but also the entrance point for sin and sickness along with the resultant (1) dis-ease (2) dys-function (3) dis-order and the ultimate dis-....dis-connect from God.  We were now feeling and experiencing  the cause and effect of all of this within our total being...(1) spirit (2) soul (3) body (I Thessalonians 5:23)  You can't separate the three...and when one hurts or affected...all are hurt or affected. (Thanx and a Tip O Dat Hat to Dr. Peter Camiolo for getting me thinking about The /D/ Factor)

Mankind (and Wo-mankind)  have been trying everything they can to "Get Back to where they once belonged." (The Beatles Lennon/McCartney...Get Back).  We have been trying everything we can to restore ourselves...while doing everything we can to keep us in that state of dis-order because of sin.  We try everything from over medication, over hedonistic pleasures, over intellectualizing, over compensating, over exercising, over denying, only to make the problems worse...because we are not dealing with the ultimate root source of our problems...that got us there in the first place...SIN...brought about by DIS-obedience.

What to do...what to do.

REPENT...and not just REMORSE is the starting point.  Remorse is a sorrow...a sorrow that we (1) got caught in our sins (2) experiencing the cause and effect of our sins (3) that we have been exposed.  Now this surely may be part of the repentance process...but alone...it is not repentance.  True repentance is a change that brings a change in action.  It is a change of (1) mind (2) heart (3) attitude (4) direction (5) actions.  The cause and effect of repentance...sets us up for the solution that will get us "back to the Garden"...that we lost... "so long ago the garden"...which will get us from the "D to Da G"  We need a "refreshing" in the dry land of existence that we call living.

"So, REPENT--change your mind and purpose; turn around and return [to God], that your sins may be erased (blotted out, wiped clean), that TIMES OF REFRESHING--or RECOVERING from the EFFECTS OF HEAT...of REVIVING with FRESH AIR--may come from the PRESENCE OF THE LORD." (Acts 3:19  The Amplified Bible)

Who can get us back to the Garden...who can restore what was lost so long ago the Garden?  Who can take down the giants in our lives that are against us?  Well...it will not be our effort...but it will be mercy...and...grace.  This unmerited favor and divine influence within...manifested in our lives.  This restoration from the dis-/dys- things in our lives...bringing us back from "original sin" to "original purpose" is through obedience.  It was lost in dis-obedience...and can only be bought back by obedience.

"For the wages of sin is d-eath, but the free gift of God is eternal life in CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD." (Romans 6:23)

"For the LOVE OF CHRIST controls us, having concluded this, that ONE DIED...for ALL...therefore ALL DIED...and He (Jesus) died for ALL, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who DIED and ROSE again ON THEIR BEHALF." (II Corinthians 5:14-15)

"For Christ also DIED FOR SINS... ONCE FOR ALL, the JUST for the unjust...IN ORDER...that He might BRING US TO GOD...having been put to death IN THE FLESH...but MADE ALIVE IN THE SPIRIT." (I Peter 3:18)

"Surely he has borne our GRIEFS--SICKNESS, WEAKNESS and DISTRESS--and carried our SORROWS and PAIN [of punishment].  Yet we ignorantly considered Him stricken, smitten and afflicted by God [as with leprosy].  But He was wounded/tormented for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities, the chastisement needful to obtain PEACE and WELL-BEING  for us was upon Him, and with the STRIPES (by His stripes)  that wounded Him we are HEALED and MADE WHOLE." (Isaiah 53:4-5)

Jesus came...and did it all.  He brought us back to God...where we fell "so long ago the garden".  The D Factor...has been made ineffective in our lives.  He...the d-evil (little d...never give him a capital d)...has been dealt with...and turned around the evil...and now it spells LIVE.  Now we get to lay back and enjoy life with no more cares or troubles...WRONG!!!!!

There is still a little d...with schemes to make our lives miserable...and also we have choices that we make everyday...that can recapture us....make us slaves AGAIN.  The will of God is FREEDOM...but we can give the little d an opportunity...by our choices. 

"It was for FREEDOM that CHRIST...SET US FREE...therefore...KEEP STANDING FIRM...and do not be SUBJECT AGAIN...to a YOKE OF SLAVERY." (Galatians 5:1)

"For you were CALLED TO FREEDOM, brethren (and sistern)...only do not turn your freedom into an OPPORTUNITY for the FLESH...but through love serve one another." (Galatians 5:13)

"But I say WALK BY THE SPIRIT...and you will not carry out the DESIRES OF THE FLESH." (Galatians 5:17)

The bottom line is...you can be set free from DIS-ease...but if you return to your old ways...you can be trapped again.  If you are a diabetic...and eat all the wrong foods...and your blood sugar spikes...you can pray all day long...but you have made choices that will affect your effect.  You can be delivered from alcoholism...but that does not mean you can continue to drink like a fish pray for the Lord to neutralize the effect of the booze.  Your function...can turn back into DYS-function...your order can return to chaotic DIS-order...your ease can return to DIS-ease...even worse than before.

We are called to DIE (to our flesh/self) daily...(I Corinthians 15:31)  NOTE: Trouble with an increase in the dys- and dis- in our lives occurs when I die (to my flesh/self)...every week or so...or whenever I am in trouble.  Daily...means every day...seven days a week...365 days a year.

"Now to those who belong to Christ Jesus...have CRUCIFIED (died) the FLESH...with its passions and desires...if we LIVE by the SPIRIT...let us also WALK BY THE SPIRIT." (Galatians 5:24-25)

Don't sin...but if you do...get back in the light....confess your sins...repent...allow the blood of Jesus to cleanse you from all unrighteousness...keep his commandments and walk in His word...and accept the satisfactory substitute in your place...and quit sinning. (I John 1:8-10; I John 2:1-6)

FINAL THOUGHTS...FINALLY...NO REALLY...FINALLY

Wow...this one turned into a long one.  Be encouraged...and not DIS-couranged.

Love and Garden Kisses
Rodney "D-lighting Myself In The Lord" Boyd