The Enemy Has Been Defeated

I was listening to my iPod today, and a phrase hit me in a new way. The song sang, “The enemy has been defeated, and death couldn’t hold you down, I’m gonna lift my voice in victory, we’re gonna make your praises loud.” I have heard these words so many times but it wasn’t until today that I finally grasped the magnitude, power and the truth of those words.

I immediately thought of the Old Testament and times when people were defeated, and nations were conquered. Over and over again in the Old Testament, nations are getting overcome and defeated. These defeats are not like losing in a game of Risk where we simply pack up and move on. In the bible peoples who are defeated are devastated; their homes are burned and left in shambles, their possessions are taken from them or destroyed in front of them, and they are left with absolutely nothing! There was no mercy for those who were conquered. People were taken captive, the royal families and lines were killed, and all sense of their nationality was often snuffed out.

It was at this point I realized the impact of being defeated. In no way will anyone willingly, after a nation has been defeated and conquered, turn back and say “yeah that’s what I want, let’s go join them.” No one says that. They want to be on the winning side, and celebrate with the rest of their people.

I bring this up only because of my own sin. I am a sinful man who sins, as is every person on earth. We are all from the nation of sin and our ruler and king was Satan. We by our nature worship anything and everything but through the Holy Spirit working in us through God’s grace, we can come to worship the true God, Jesus at the foot of the cross. We have been given adoption into the Kingdom of the God of the universe; the triumphant King over sin and death. King Jesus has conquered our sin and has defeated Satan once, for all. Christ, the king of kings and lord of lords has specifically chosen us to join His kingdom, and to be with Him, and to BE HIS, forever.

We would never desire to be on the losing side of a biblical defeat, yet this is our statement to Jesus when we sin. It is us saying, among other things, that we would rather cling to the momentary “comforts” of a defeated nation, rather than cling to the hope and everlasting joy of the risen king. We would rather be identified with a being who was thrashed and beaten without mercy to fulfill a momentary need than to live for Jesus and receive his eternal glory.

The Fathers Embrace

The following story is a dream I had of God, it changed the way I view Him and helped me realize the beauty of His grace and just how awesome he is.

I wake up, darkness is all around me. The air is cold and is penetrating every inch of my body, slowly consuming me like a cancer. This death-like cold is inescapable. My feeble attempts to warm myself are useless, the little heat I create is instantly overwhelmed by the cold that surrounds me. I come to the realization that I am utterly alone, there is no hope of escaping, there is no hope for survival. I feel like there is nothing I can do accept wait, but what am I waiting for? Does anyone even know I am here? Does anyone even care?

I pull my knees to my chest, my arms hugging them just to have something to hold. I try to console myself, I start to think of the friends I used to have, the things we used to do, and the joy I used to feel. I wonder what they are doing. I wonder why I never asked them for help. Why did I never let them know, why did I never let them in? If only I had someone to help me, if only I hadn't pushed them away. The thoughts of all of the things I have done in my life are all I can think about. All of my secrets that have never been heard, all of my secrets I was determined to remain hidden started filling my head, overwhelming me. Thoughts of failure, inadequacy, and rejection consume my mind. I can not stop thinking about all the things I should have done differently, all the wounds I neglected, all of the things I never wanted to talk about but so desperately needed to. Why did I never tell anyone? Why did I never ask for help? Why did I never let anyone in? Why did I think I could do this alone? Why did I never trust anyone? Oh how I want to rid myself of these burdens I've been carrying for so long. If only there was a way to unload, to go back, to start over, to overcome once and for all. I don't know what is worse, the sea of nothingness that surrounds me, the inhabitable cold stripping me of all warmth, or the torment of my past mistakes. Everything is tearing me apart as the voices in my head grow louder and the coldness is growing colder, my hope is fading fast. I have nowhere to go and I don't know what to do.

All of a sudden I feel a touch of warmth on the back of my shoulder. My heart starts to beat faster. From my side I roll over to discover what is going on. What is that? I squint half blinded trying to determine what I am looking at. Is that a light? Yes! A light! But where is it coming from? The light is hardly bright enough to be seen, but when all you know is darkness the smallest ray of light blinds you like the sun. As my eyes start to adjust to the light, I look around and realize the light is shining from behind a small, square, door-like panel, hardly large enough for a child to pass through it. I crawl towards the door. My lifeless arms and legs, numb and crippled from the cold, slowly scrape across the floor as I inch myself closer to the door. I reach the door, raise my hand and heave it at the door. Nothing. I try again, and again, until finally the door creeks open and crashes down to the floor on the other side.

As I peer into the opening I see a long and dark hallway, with tall walls and a ceiling that was so high I could not see the top of it. This hall was so long the end was beyond my vision but this end is where the light was coming from, I am almost positive. As I waited a little while longer I see something. "What is that?" I think to myself, all of a sudden I realize it is coming closer to me. As it keeps walking towards me I realize this creature is a man, out of my uncertainty and fear I hide from him. I pull away from the opening. I look around me and realize this place I have been for so long, the place that had left me hidden and crippled, was nothing but a small box, a whole in the wall, hardly bigger than me. All of a sudden I hear a faint but firm voice calling my name. I slump down, "Did I just hear my name," I thought to myself. I sit silently waiting to hear it again. As I wait I notice the man in the hallway getting closer. Again I hear my name, but this time it is unmistakable. I know exactly whose voice this was. Out of fear I try to hide, for now I know this man is coming for me.

I remember hearing things about this guy. As the man calls my name again I remember what I had heard about him. "All he wants to do is condemn you, he wants nothing more than to see me suffer," are the thoughts running through my head. "He is angry and vengeful and full of wrath are words I remember reading. As the man comes closer he calls my name again. Part of me wants to peer out and get it over with, but out of fear and uncertainty I remain silent and hidden. As I curl up, trying to remain as quiet as possible, the thoughts of inadequacy and of doubt fill my mind and my fear grows because I am fully aware of all the wrong things I have done, and I am scared of the punishment that I know is at hand.

As the man draws nearer I feel a warmth I have never felt before. As he calls my name again I notice a softness in his voice. As I roll over I see his face, peering in from the hole in the wall. He has an unusual smile on his face. This is not what I was expecting. I thought he would be coming with fire and a sword ready to strike me down. But he looked at me like a child looks at his mother, like an infatuated husband gazes at his wife, like a father who loves his son. He slowly reaches out his hand and, still smiling, says "Come with me." My first reaction is to pull away but for some reason I feel the urge to take his hand. As I climb to my knees every fear and every doubt made screamed at me with all its might, but over all of them I heard, in a firm but gently voice, "I love you...come with me." Even though everything that was in me was telling me to stay, was telling me this man will kill me, that this man is lying. I reached out my hand.

Instantly my mind went silent. As I looked into his eyes he smiled, even with his eyes he smiled. With my hand in his he helped me crawl my way out of the hole and into the hallway with him. As my shoulders scraped the walls and my cold flesh burned with life, I remained fixed on his face. At last! I was free! Standing next to the man who rescued me I began to cry. Not with tears of pain and sadness, but with tears of joy and freedom. The man looked at me and said, "I love you, I want to be with you forever. I want to hold you in my arms everyday, in a place where there is nothing but peace and joy and goodness. Where there is no darkness, only light. Where there is no evil, only good. Where there is no pain, only joy."

My tears are rolling in steady streams, and through my tears and sobs I tell him, "I don't know who you think I am, but I am none of these things. All I know is pain, all I know is darkness, and all I am is evil. I am not fit to be with you! I have done..." He interrupts me, and in that moment of despair, when I am about ready to tell him my deepest, darkest, scariest secrets. In that moment of complete vulnerability, in that moment of utter nakedness, He gazes in my eyes and says. "I know. All of the things you have done, I know. All of the times you turned against me, I know. All the times you thought you were alone, when you thought no one could see, when you kept it all a secret, I know." He pauses and lifts my chin, and looks me into the eyes and says, "Aaron, I know, and I love you. I have always loved you." He then wraps his arms around me and embraces me.

Jesus then takes me by the hand and we walked down the hallway together, holding hands and laughing and simply enjoying each other. I will always remember my time in the dark cramped room, but praise God I will never have to live it alone again.

This is the end of my dream, but I want you to think of your deepest darkest secrets, all of them. Go back through your childhood, adolescence, through all of the different seasons of your life and think of all the things you have done, all the things you hope no one will ever find out, all of the secrets you have been hiding your entire life and would be absolutely crushed if people found out.

Now imagine the one person you hope never discovers the secrets you keep locked up inside of you. Maybe it is your mom, or your dad. Maybe it is your boyfriend, or girlfriend or your best friend. I want you to imagine telling that person or those people who you would want to tell the least. Imagine the seemingly endless pit that forms in your stomach, the fear that consumes your whole body. Imagine the feeling of utter dread of not knowing how they will react, hoping they will still love you in the end, but realizing they may not.

Now Imagine that person telling you they love you, even thought they know all of these nasty and dirty secrets. Imagine the joy of complete acceptance and unquestionable love. That's Jesus. That's who He is and that is what He does. If you don't know Him, He knows you. If there are secrets you have never shared, He already knows, and He loves you. You cannot surprise Jesus, there is nothing He does not know, and there is nothing that keeps His love from you. All you need to do, is reach out and take His hand.

We Need to Be More Like Paul

This morning I was reading in the book of Romans, particularly the first chapter. I had read this passage several times before and I remembered something a Pastor that I know told me. He suggested to me to go through a passage and to put myself into the place of the characters present in the passage. So I read it again putting myself in the place of the Roman saints, and not a whole lot popped out at me. So I then read it from the viewpoint of Paul (the author of Romans) and as I reached verse 18 where he begins describing God's wrath on the unrighteous, my mind snapped to Sao Paulo, Brasil, where I spent 7 weeks this past summer on a Summer Project through Campus Crusade for Christ.

Sao Paulo matched every description that Paul describes in the second half of Romans chapter 1. Sao Paulo when translated actually means St. Paul. Sao Paulo is a city named after Paul. With my mind still focusing on Paul's point of view I imagined myself walking down the streets of Sao Paulo and seeing people making out on the street, and the sin stations (like a news stand) that sold pornography without shame, and the drunkenness of the people both those drunk on wine and with power, and to see the passivity of the people who called themselves Christians remaining unengaged in the battle and letting all the sins of the world corrupt the people they claim to love. My mind was overwhelmed. If Paul were to walk down the streets of Sao Paulo he would freak out!

I believe Paul would have been utterly and completely pissed off! He would be astounded that this city is named after him. The man who in my mind was one of the greatest instrument of the spread of the gospel and the building of the early church. I think he would have absolutely been fired up but instead of complaining I believe he would have called up Timothy and Barnabas and Silas and he would have said brothers, we got a lot of work to do.

As this little story was playing out in my head I realized what I know I would have wanted to do in Paul's situation. I would have given up on the people in that city and I would have let them rot in their sin. But I think that is the problem with our mindset today. We, myself very much included, often see the big picture and give up and don't think we can make a difference. Which is true, we cannot do a thing to help the people of that city, but God can.

This doesn't just apply to Sao Paulo, Brasil but to every town, every city, every state everywhere. And we need to step up for God starting with ourselves and making a stand for Him in our lives and realize that we too should be pissed off that our neighbors and classmates are living in defiance of the Lord. But I think we often are angry at the effect of the problem not the cause. We often look at the sinner but forget about their sin, their sin is the real problem. 

We need to realize that anything outside the will of God is the will of satan, the tormentor, the evil one. And all of our lost brothers are controlled by satan and are longing to be set free, but it essential that we be like Paul, loving and committed to going to the people, for they are the fruit of the kingdom here on earth waiting to be harvested. Paul was committed to bringing the Gospel of the truth to all nations, and all people at any cost. Paul was kingdom minded, he put the needs of the kingdom of Heaven above the needs of ourselves. That is where you and I need to focus, and be more like Paul, we need to put the needs of our lives, our jobs, and all of our other commitments in the background of our mind, and let the needs of the kingdom be the focus of our actions, and our attitudes.

A Little About Who I Am

My name is Aaron Tetzlaff and I love the Lord. It is my desire to live all out for him every day and to be a beacon of hope to a dark and weary generation. I believe being honest and having moral character is no longer a high priority in the hearts and minds of a lot of people today.

We are so easily distracted by the perceived joy and temporary happiness the world offers us, that we miss out on the true joy of the Lord, the source of all Love, and joy. It is my mission to bring Jesus into the lives of the people of the world. I also believe that simply following a religion is not enough.

I am sick and tired of religion and the phony and hollow sense of security they provide. I believe having a relationship with the Lord Jesus is the only way we can get to heaven and Jesus is concerned at the condition of my heart. I believe in the firmly that It is not what you do that defines who you are, but who you are defines what you do. For too long people thought it is acceptable to go to church, or give to the church, or help out at AWANA, and consider that their offering to the Lord and through those deeds they will go to heaven when they die. I am not saying that people who follow a religion are not saved, or do not have a relationship. But those who do their time on Sundays and Wednesday nights and punch out will be disappointed when they die. I believe this method of lifestyle needs to be done away with and we as the church need to be raising up generations of true Christ followers.

A true Christ follower will surrender all to the Lord and realizes that knowing God and loving Him with all of their heart, soul, mind, spirit, and strength. A true believer will constantly spend time with the Lord and let Him shape who they are and rest in the fact that the Lord is perfect and the Lord has everything under control. All true believers need be obedient to the Lords calling and do their best to walk with the Him on a daily basis and truly and desperately cry out to the Lord; acknowledging his strength and admitting our weakness and need for Him in our lives.

The purpose of this blog is to share with whoever wants to hear, my opinions, and my thoughts, and what is happening on my journey to life All For The Almighty!