[aron]

I am also reminded, when it comes to not remembering things, the verses in Matthew 7. "Lord, didn't we do this in Your Name? Didn't we do that in Your Name? Didn't we follow, even wallow in, Your Name?"

The Lord says, "I don't know you". This is different from sin. This is doing something apart from God. God won't recognize man, apart from the Man Christ Jesus. But people can presume to be doing something FOR God, even when it is not God doing it! This is Babylon. Notice the book of Revelation doesn't say, "Fallen, fallen, is Egypt the great!" No, it is well-intentioned people waving scriptures in the air that really miss the mark.

I suspect I am going to limp into the New Jerusalem, if & whenever I do. When I get there maybe my "thigh" will be restored and I will leap like a hart on the mountain tops. But one thing I definitely want to ERASE, for good, is the religious "I can do it" bent. It is a pernicious and ingrained hallmark of the well-intentioned but fallen man. I won't speak of anyone else. Maybe I'm the only one that particular shoe has fit. But I doubt it.

--Looking to men, not to God.
--Quarreling with others.
--I am better, superior (or it's hidden corollary, "That person is wrong/defective", etc).
--Trusting in rules, formulas, doctrines instead of the flowing, hidden, mysterious God.
--Creating outward things to assure ourselves we are on the right track (statues, stained glass windows, buildings, organizations).
--Measuring ourselves, as if we are something. "Last year we grew 5 percent". Measuring others and comparing ourselves, for better or worse.
--Wanting to be first. Wanting to be right.
--Trusting the dead letter, not the Living Spirit.
--Trying to put God in a cage. "The Spirit flows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it..." Ignoring that verse.

I think I could go on, but you probably get my gist. This is one area the Lord will not recognize. This is one thing I need to "forget", today and totally.

I suspect I will bear marks of my journey. This is how the Lord recognizes us. Peter was renamed "The Stone", Saul of Tarsus was renamed the "Little One", James and John became the "Sons of Thunder". These are friendly nicknames, aimed at the peculiarities that became transformed. We all have distinguishing marks that pass through the transforming journey. But one mark I don't believe God will recognize, but rather will cast out, is the mark of setting up something apart from God. This is Babylon.

"Christ" becomes "Christ and the church" becomes "the ministry". I don't say this to pick on Lee or the LSM folks, but it is a good example, to me, of what I want to avoid. That is one "mark" I don't want to carry forward. That surely will not pass through the gates into the city.

I hope I can say the above remarks without an imputed judgment on others; I am merely considering my journey thus far, and what lessons the Lord has been trying to teach me. Peace, and grace, to all who read this.