I don't know why it is, but it seems like the whole church world has kind of gotten things backwards. Instead of resting in a finished work, we always seem to be trying to finish the work. I hear things like, "P.U.S.H. Pray until something happens." And I'm like, is that what prayer is really all about? Trying to make something happen? Or is prayer about talking to Daddy? Because, as far as I know, everything that needed to happen already happened. It's like we're still waiting for a move of God when God already moved. That's what the cross was. We don't need a move of God. We need a revelation of Jesus. We need to know what the move of God WAS. And what it means for us today. We're not supposed to take the Kingdom of violence by force. Daddy gave it to us. All we need to do is receive it and release it. Or even faith. We think, "If I believe it, I'll see it." But that's not faith. That might be hope. Look at Romans 10:17, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Faith comes by hearing. Or, if I can mix my metaphor a little bit, by seeing. Because when you live from the inside out, it's all about the heart. You think with the heart, you hear with the heart, you see with the heart. And here's my point: We don't "believe" in the hopes that we'll see. We believe IN what we see! It's always interesting to me how many times in the Old Testament man asked God to prove Himself. To give us a sign. And God never rebuked anyone about it. He didn't mind showing people who He was. In fact, that's why He sent His only beloved Son--to show us the Father! And, as always, our "job" is to simply receive it and release it. To be a witness, right? But here's the thing about a witness, he's only reliable if he's sharing his experience. Acts 22:15 says, "For thou shat be his witness unto all men of what thou hast seen and heart." Did you catch that? When you "share your faith" you're not supposed to go to great lengths to try to make God seem... well... like anything, really. All you're supposed to do is share what you've got. Tell people what you've seen and heard. And guess what: A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an argument. Knowing ABOUT someone isn't even close to the same things as KNOWING someone. And that's what God wants for us. He wants us to KNOW Him. The Bible is an awesome tool, but it doesn't compare to the Holy Spirit living inside us. I've always said, unless you know the author (God) the book can get you into a lot of trouble. Once again, we get things twisted. We put more emphasis on written words than on THE WORD of God--which is Jesus, which is love. So. As witnesses we aren't trying to conjur anything up, or talk anybody up. What's that line from that old cop show? "Just the facts, ma'am." Well, in our case it's, "Just the truth." The truth of what we've seen and heard. The truth of what we've experienced. And that's exactly what Jesus was talking about when He gave us the New Commandment. A New Commandment for a New Man, right? Love one another AS Jesus has loved you. Receive it and release it. Share what you've got. Don't try to be someone you're not, or give something you don't have. That's impossible. Just tell people about how good it is--from your own experience. What YOU'VE seen and heard. What YOU'VE felt. What YOU've experienced. What YOU'VE witnessed!

You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. Which is simply another way of saying: What you believe is inside, comes out naturally. If all you believe you have is bitterness, and hurt, and anger... then you're going to be a bitter, hurt, angry person. That's why forgiveness is so important, but I feel like that's another Rant for another time. What I'm trying to say today is that when God poured out His Spirit on all flesh--when He took up abode inside of us and filled us with the Holy Spirit--that's when we could really begin to live. Because that's when the Spirit of truth began to lead and guide us into all truth. That's when we began to know and believe the love of God. When "knowledge" went past our heads and into our hearts. Not just knowing ABOUT God, but KNOWING God. Not trying to appease an angry God--that's what WE thought of Him, even though that was never the truth--but having a relationship with our loving heavenly Father. That's why Jesus came to earth; to show us the Father! So we could see Him as He truly is and see ourselves as we truly are! So we could BE ourselves as we truly are by letting Him be Himself as He truly is in us, and through us, and as us! So we could know what's inside. The circumcision of the heart (made without hands) was the cutting away of the flesh. The cutting away of the human effort that we were using to try to earn something that can't be earned. If a gift has to be earned then it's not a gift. It's wages. And the Bible speaks of the wages of sin, which is death. When you believe wrong, you stagger around in the dark, trying to earn something that you've been freely given. The gift of God. Eternal life. Knowing the Father and the One whom He sent. Knowing Daddy, and knowing that Daddy loves you! And see, when you know you're loved... then you can love. Because the principle remains the same. You can't give what you don't have. And you can only give what you do have. If you have love, you can give love. What's inside--what you KNOW and BELIEVE is inside--comes out. Naturally. Because whatever it is, it's too big to stay inside. The scientific definition of being full is being filled to overflowing. So let me say it like this: You're full of it! Full of God's love. That's not just what He does, that's who He is. And as He is, so are we in this world. So that's not just what WE do, that's who WE ARE! That's our nature. The new nature of the New Man. The love nature that is Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in YOUR flesh. Love in YOUR body. Changed from the inside out means what you believe dictating what you do. As you think in your heart, so are you. What you believe is true, is true for you. So when you believe THE Truth--Jesus, the Father loving the Son and giving all things into His hands--then sin (or unbelief) has no power over you. You can lay aside the weight, and the sin that so easily besets you, and you can walk in newness of life. The "change" you've been trying so hard to produce (with no real success) flows naturally out of a heart that beats with love!

The reason we seem to get so frustrated so often is that we're "trying to change." We think behavior modification is the way to go from "bad" to "good." But there's a fatal flaw to this plan: Jesus didn't come to make "bad" people "good." He came to make dead people alive. Because all a dead man can do is go through the motions of dead works. Trying to DO in order to BE instead of resting in the truth of who we already be! The "change" that we're trying so desperately to produce happened over 2,000 years ago on an old rugged cross. It happened when Jesus drew us all into Himself and died on the cross. See, we were already dead in our trespasses and sins. And what we needed was another death. The second death. So that we could have another birth. So that we could be born from above. Born of water, and the Spirit. That's what happened when God poured out His Spirit on all flesh. He drew us into Himself and He planted Himself in us. The hidden man of the heart was revealed through the circucision made without hands. The flesh--of human effort--was cut away to reveal God's heart beating with love in our chests. And that's so vitally important because (since it's all about love) it's all about the heart. As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. The issues of life flow from the heart. When we understand that Daddy loves us (from the inside) then that love can be shared with those we come into contact with. And that's the "change"! From death to life. From trying to earn Daddy's love and acceptance, to knowing and believing the love of Christ! Notice what Hebrews 6:1 says, "Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God." What is repentance about? Changing our minds about works and labor! Stoping the dead works, and starting to rest! But here's the key, until you KNOW (with a knowledge that passes knowledge... a heart knowledge instead of just a head knowledge) that the work is finished, you're always going to try to finish it. That's why Hebrews 9:14 goes on to say, "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" We needed our conscience purged FROM DEAD WORKS. We needed repentance FROM DEAD WORKS. We needed the blood of Christ to flow so that we could stop trying to earn our bread with the sweat of our brows. We needed the Spirit (of truth) to lead and guide us into all truth. The truth that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hands. The truth that as He is, so are we in this world. The truth that Daddy loves us! And when we know that, deep down inside, then we can stop trying to earn a gift that can't be earned. We can start to simply receive and release the gift of God, which is eternal life! We can let what's inside come out. Naturally. We can fill ourselves with the fulness of God by testing the height, and length, and depth, and breadth of His love for us. And how do we test it? By using it! By loving others more than we ever thought we could. We have been filled to overflowing, and all we have to do is let what's inside come out. All we have to do is be ourselves. Know who we are, and BE who we are. Stop trying to be someone we're not. Stop trying to change. The change took place. Now we can rest in the truth of who we are in Christ. Who Christ is in us!

Real change comes from the inside out. It has to. Because the issues of life flow out of the heart. And the only real change that needs to take place, took place 2,000 years ago when Jesus gave us the circumcision made without hands; the circumcision of the heart. When the flesh--of human effort--was cut away and God's heart was revealed in our chests! When the hidden man of the heart stopped hiding! That's why I always say it's not about what you do, it's about what you believe. Because what you do FLOWS from what you believe. I think it's pretty tragic that so many people believe all of the lies that the world tells them. "You're not good enough." "If you want to be accepted you have to do this, this, and this." "You're different, you don't fit in, so you need to change." None of that is true, but we fall for it hook, line, and sinker. And then we try to change. To earn that acceptance that we so desperately crave. We bang our heads against the wall and end up with a headache. Because no matter how hard you try to be someone you're not... at the end of the day you are who you are. And that's not a bad thing. That's a good thing. Because you are who God created you to be. It's when you try to be someone you're not that the frustration mounts. It's when you try to "change" instead of walking in the change that took place when the old man died and the New Man rose again. Because, like I said, there's only one real "chage" that needed to take place. It wasn't the change from "evil to good." Both good and evil are on the same tree. It was the change from death to life! Colossians 2:13 says it like this, "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses." See, we WERE dead. Because we were uncircumcised. Because we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to DO in order to BE. Works of the flesh. Guys... works don't work. JESUS finished the work, and now we can rest! Jesus drew us into Himself when He was lifted up on the cross. And He planted Himself in us when He was buried. When He died, we died (the second death). And when He was buried the old man was buried. And when He rose again, we rose again! To walk in newness of life! To experience the change that comes from the inside out! And what's the difference between death and life? LOVE! If you know and believe you're loved, you can love others. And to live is to love. To love is to live. What's inside comes out. Or, more accurately, what you BELIEVE is inside comes out. When you know you are loved... when you believe love is inside... it comes out. And you experience the abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life of Jesus as He lives His own life in you, and through you, and as you! Not trying to be someone you're not, to get something you don't have... but sharing what you do have by being who you really are!

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Everything real comes from deep within. That's why Proverbs 4:23 tells us to, "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life." It's all about love, which means it's all about the heart. God's heart beating with love in our chests! That's why external things never satisfy. That's why behavior modification, from an external law, cannot produce real change. Our key passage for this Rant series is Romans 12:1-2 in the Message Bible. With the key being, "You'll be changed from the inside out." Well, today I want to focus on what (WHO) we are changed INTO from the inside out. And we find that answer in 1 Peter 3:4, "But let it be the hidden man of the heart..." And who is the hidden man of the heart? Jesus, of course! Hidden underneath all of the external, surface stuff. But always there. And when we see Him... we be Him. When we look into the mirror (of the Word) with an unveiled face, we see the glory of God (in ourselves) and we are changed into that same image FROM glory TO glory! What's inside comes out... when we know and believe that it's in there. Not when we try to be someone we're not. Not when we try to fit in, or conform to this world. Not when we try to obey an external law that was never given to us in the first place, and couldn't even be obeyed by the mediator of that Old Covenant! Here's the true purpose of that external law: "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith" (Galatians 3:24). Did you catch that? The law didn't justify us according to whether or not we could keep it. Because if that was the case we'd never be justified. Because none of us could keep it. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, right? So while the external law demanded perfection without being able to produce it, what it really did was bring us unto Christ. The One who COULD fulfill the law. The One who did it... because we couldn't do it. And since He had drawn us into Himself when He did it, we got all the benefits of it. All of the blessings. And since Jesus gave us THE measure of faith--by being the truth that we can believe in--we are justified... by Him. Not by what we did, or could do, but by what HE did on the cross. His obedience to the Father was our obedience to the Father. His death was our death. His resurrection was our resurrection! What I'm trying to say is the hidden man of the heart isn't hidden anymore. The mystery has been revealed: Christ in you the hope of glory! And now we have been equipped and empowered to live Jesus' abundant, eternal, everlasting, Resurrection Life by submitting our bodies as a living sacrifice. By letting HIM live His own life in us, and through us, and as us! We're changed from the inside out because of what's inside us. Because of what--WHO--is in our hearts. In a Word, it's LOVE. And it's always been there, but until the Holy Spirit--the love receptor--took up abode in us we didn't know it. God loving us seemed too good to be true. But now we know it's so good it must be true! Now we know we don't need to follow a bunch of laws in order to earn something. Because the only thing we ever needed (again, LOVE) has been freely given to us. It's in there. And when we fill ourselves with the fulness of Christ--fill ourselves to overflowing--that's when it comes out. Naturally!

Jesus brought us out of bondage, and into life. HIS life. Abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life. And He did this by drawing us all into Himself, and planting Himself in us. That was the cross. And the cross changed everything. Before the cross everything was external. Even the Holy Spirit would only come on people in power. But on this side of the cross everything is internal. The Holy Spirit lives IN us. And because of that we have been equipped and empowered to live that life Jesus gave us. We can partake of the Divine Nature. Because it's no longer us trying to act like Jesus. And thank God for that. Because all that will ever be is an act. Now it's Jesus living His own life--He gave it for us, and He gave it to us--in us, and through us, and as us. Now it's not external laws trying (and failing) to make an old man behave. Now it's a New Man simply being who He is. And who He is... is love. Remember I said we've been equipped and empowered to live Jesus' life through the Holy Spirit? Well the Holy Spirit is our love receptor. He is the Spirit of truth that leads and guides us into all truth. The truth of who we are. And who we are is Jesus. God in the flesh. Love in a body. God in OUR flesh. Love in OUR body. And when we understand--when we know and believe--that love is in there... that's when it comes out. Naturally. I know it's a pretty big chunk of Scripture but I want to quote Romans 12:1-2 from the Message Bible because it's my foundation for this Rant series. "So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you." We're going to really dig into this passage in the next couple of days, but for today I want to focus on "You'll be changed from the inside out." That's the only way REAL change can happen. Because as a man thinks in his HEART, so is he. And the heart is on the inside. It's not about behavior modification. That can have some limited success, but at the end of the day you are who you are. Or rather, you are who you BELIEVE you are. As you think in your heart. Love can only come from a heart that's full of love. Jesus put the Holy Spirit in us so that we could KNOW we are loved. So that we can BELIEVE we are loved. So that we can love one another with the same love that we are loved with. Not because we're "supposed to" or because we're scared we'll get in trouble if we don't. But because that's what in there. Filled to overflowing. Coming from the inside out! 

Freedom works two ways: What you were freed FROM, and what you were freed TO. Let me say it another way: Jesus brought us OUT--of the bondage of sin and death--but He also brought us IN to the Promised Land of rest. I think a big problem we have in the church world is that we spend all of our time and energy focusing on things that have already been taken care of. It seems like we're always on a sin hunt, even though the Lamb of God took away the sin of the world over 2,000 years ago. He freed us FROM sin (unbelief) and death, so that we might be free TO believe in Him and live! If you're still focused on the "bad" stuff then you aren't enjoying the "good" stuff. And if you're still stuck judging things by appearence (good and evil) then you don't understand the righteous judgment that was handed down from Father to Son on the cross. The righteous judgment of LIFE. God's judgment was not to kill His only begotten Son. God's judgment was to raise Him from the dead. And since Jesus had drawn us all into Himself when He was lifted up on the cross, what happened to Him happened to us. When He died, we died. And when He rose again, we rose again. To partake of His Divine Nature and walk in newness of life. To experience and enjoy the gift of God--which is eternal life, which is knowing the Father in the context of being His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased--by letting Jesus live His own abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life in us, and through us, and as us! He brought us out to bring us in. But we still seem stuck where we used to be. Weighed down by the corpse of the dead old man that we insist on dragging around. Trying to make the old man behave. He's dead! And buried! He gone! We don't have to let that weight and that sin (unbelief) beset us. We can lay it aside. Because Jesus took it away. We are overcomers not because we overcome, but because HE overcame! And now there is nothing left TO overcome except unbelief. The good fight of faith, right? Laying hold of eternal life. Receiving the gift we've been given. Not by earning it, but by believing we already have it. By resting in the loving arms of our Father. He did the work, and now we get to enjoy the fruit of His labor. The fruit of the Spirit, which is love. He brought us out of death and into life. And look at 1 John 3:14 to see the difference between death and life: "We know that we have passed from death unto life, becuase we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death." See, we HAVE passed from life to death. He brought us out of death and in to life. But it's all about love. We can still abide in death, even though we've passed out of it. We can wander around like strangers in the land of promise. We can fail to enter into His rest. Through unbelief. God made the Way of Grace. And we respond with the Walk of Faith. We know and believe that Daddy loves us, and we love each other with that same love. And that's what it means to live. To truly live. Love is what makes abundant life abundant. Love is what makes life worth living. Because to live IS to love and to love IS to live. We have been given the Holy Spirit. The love receptor. And now we can receive it and release it. Because we weren't just brought out, but we were brought in.

We were brought out so that we might be brought in. Out of the bondage of sin and death and in to the Promised Land of rest. Jesus came down to bring us up. He became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. But look at Hebrews 3:18-19, "And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief." We were brought in, but we have to enter in. And if unbelief keeps us out, then faith is how we enter in. I guess what I'm trying to say is: If you keep looking back, keep focusing on what we've already been brought out of, then you could miss what we've been brought in to. You can miss out on experiencing and enjoying where you are, because you're still hung up on where you used to be. And, again, it is important to understand the bonds that we were trapped in. But only so that we can understand the freedom we now have! Let me use a turn of phrase from Acts 2:40, "And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation." Now I understand that "untoward" is number 4646 in Strong's Greek Concordance and it means, "warped, that is, winding, figuratively perverse. Crooked, froward, untoward." I get that. But I think, in large part, the way we thing things warped is when we spend too much time looking back instead of looking forward. We look behind us and continue to struggle with things that have already been overcome, instead of looking toward something. So saving ourselves from an "untoward" generation simply means staying on the straight (and narrow) path that leads upward and God-ward! Not fighting battles all the time--Jesus already won the war to end all wars on the cross--but fighting the good fight of faith. Laying hold of eternal life. Receiving (and releasing) the gift we've been given. Entering into the Promised Land of rest by believing that Jesus did the work. Because if Jesus did the work we CAN rest. If Jesus did the work, we don't need to do it. And, as always, let me say that rest is not inactivity. Rest is Holy Spirit directed activity. And the Holy Spirit directs us... to love. By leading and guiding us into the ultimate truth of the universe--that the Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into His hand. The ultimate truth of the universe that Daddy loves you! Because more than anything else, that's what Jesus brought us in to. He brought us out of death, and into life. Out of the lie that says you have to earn Daddy's love. Out of the lie that says you're not good enough, and you have to do in order to be. And in to our true identity as the beloved Son of the Father in whom He is well pleased. In to the relationship of unconditional love that IS eternal life. See, we lay hold of eternal life by letting Daddy love us. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. So when we let Daddy love us, we fill ourselves with the fulness of God. We fill ourselves (to overflowing) with what Jesus filled us with when He filled us with His Spirit. When He filled us with Himself. When He filled us with love. That's HOW He brought us out, and that's how He brings us in. By loving the hell out of us. Loving the sin and death out of us. And loving His life in to us!

Jesus brought us out... to bring us in. Out of bondage, and in to the Promised Land. Out of sin and death, and in to His abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life. So my question is: Why are we still so focused on the past? For that matter, why are we so focused on the future? There's an old saying that goes, "The past is history, the future is a mystery. Right now is a gift; that's why it's called the present!" But instead of living today--for today!--we either let what came before hold us back, or we let what might come next paralyze us. We get so caught up in the destination that we fail to enjoy the ride. Or we let a bump in the road stop us from travelling at all. What am I trying to say? The Promised Land is rest. When Solomon became king there was peace on all sides because his daddy had already fought all the wars. He didn't need to conquer, because he was more than a conquerer. He got to enjoy the fruit of his father's labor. So it is with us. Jesus did it all so we could get it all. He gave us everything we would ever need--blessed us with all Spiritual blessings and gave us all things that pertain to life and godliness--when He gave us... Himself. He didn't just give His life FOR us, He gave HIS life TO us. He didn't just bring us OUT, He brought us IN. Out of death. In to life. HIS life! Look at Exodus 3:8, "And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites." He came down to bring us up. He didn't leave us where we were at. He became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. He came to save us, to free us. But we always get stuck on what He saved us FROM. What He freed us FROM. And, again, it's important that you understand what you were saved from, and freed from. But let me say it like this: If all you do is focus on that stuff--that sin and death that is dealt with and gone--then it's kind of like Jesus unlocked your cell door but you refused to open it. Like Jesus is knocking on the door--which is your heart--and you're refusing to answer. Like you're free, but you're still acting like you're in bondage. You're in the Promised Land, but you're wandering around like a stranger. Because you don't know where you are, or what you have, because you won't let go of where you WERE and what you HAD. You have to lay aside the weight, and the sin that so easily besets you, before you can walk in newness of life. If you're still dragging around the corpse of the (dead) old man, then it's pretty hard to be the New Man that you really are. If you're still focused on the past--or the future--you'll miss out on the present. The gift of God. Eternal life--which is knowing the Father and the One He sent. Living in the context of Sonship. Living in the Father's love, and sharing that love with everyone you come into contact with!

Jesus didn't bring us out of bondage just to leave us there. Look at Romans 5:18 in the Message Bible, "Here it is in a nutshell: Just as one person did it wrong and got us in all this trouble with sin and death, another person did it right and got us out of it. But more than just getting us out of trouble, he got us into life!" Did you catch that? He didn't just get us OUT of trouble. He got us IN to life! And not just any life... HIS life! Abundant, everlasting, eternal, Resurrection Life! And when Jesus was explaining what that life is all about He said this, "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:3). The life that Jesus got us INTO is a relationship between Father and Son. Living in the context of Sonship. Knowing God as our heavenly Father and knowing ourselves (and each other) as His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased. But let's track this for a minute: If all He had done on the cross was get us out of trouble with sin and death... that would be enough. More than enough. Because no matter how hard we tried--when we were trying at all--we couldn't get ourselves out of trouble. We couldn't do anything with the mess we'd made except make it even bigger. A seed can only produce after it's own kind, right? Apple seeds can only make apples. We were dead in our trespasses and sins, and all we could produce was more sin and death. It took Jesus drawing us into Himself, and dying both for us and as us, to break the cycle. To get us out of all that trouble we had gotten ourselves into. But He didn't stop there. He didn't just die. He was buried, and then He rose again. He gave us something better than what we'd had. Not just life. HIS life. He didn't just hit reset and hope we would do better this time. He swore that He would never leave us nor forsake us. And then, to make sure WE knew that He was always with us... He took up abode WITHIN us! Revelation 21:3 (MSG) reads, "I heard a voice thunder from the Throne: “Look! Look! God has moved into the neighborhood, making his home with men and women! They’re his people, he’s their God."" God moved into the neighborhood. He didn't just give us His life and tell us, "Good luck. Don't screw it up." He gave us His life by living it in us, and through us, and as us! He gave us Himself. His relationship of love. The Father/Son relationship that had always been ours, but that we had always believed was too good to be true. We tried to earn something that can't be earned. Because the GIFT of God is eternal life. It was freely given 2,000 years ago on the cross. And it can only be received. That's called walking in newness of life. Walking by faith and not by sight. Knowing and believing the truth, so that the truth can set you free and make you free! We were in trouble with sin and death. Dead in our trespasses and sins. But Jesus got us OUT of trouble... and IN to His life!