Monthly Archives: February 2012
Planning
We all have our dreams, our desires, our thoughts for our futures. But do we place the confidence in the planning of our futures in our abilities? There is nothing stable in plans for the future, no plan or man has any guarantees. But there is one guarantee of eternity, and where you will spend it. That Promiser also holds all your time here in His hands. You are not able to control everything….period.
Planning
James 4:13-14 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will d go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
I am gonna do this. I am gonna do that. I am gonna put my mind to this thing and accomplish this goal that I have in life, for if I put my mind to it, I know that…… What is the common denominator in that statement – < I >. All of these statements are good intentions, but full of pride, and pride is evil. It breeds our abilities, and our arrogance that come from our society of today. I love how David Platt’s book Radical shows how the American Dream viewpoint has invaded the Gospel along this line. We have been bread here in America for this mindset for centuries.
There is nothing wrong with planning, dreaming, or investing your resources in the future if you realize Who holds the future. All of these plans have the tendency to create anxiety over them though, thinking that it all rests in our hands. Matthew 6:34 says “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” We must let go of even our best laid plans, and turn over them to God. This is accomplished by letting go of the pride that indwells in us, and praying for guidance in the tasks we are trying to accomplish. He has it all in His hands, so quit trying to take it out of them
Have it both ways
This morning I was lead to 1 John, and spent some great time there. So many things there that speak to denying ourselves, and to loving one another. To the false teachings of then, and today. To those then just like today who wanted everything, the best of both worlds, and the preachers that lead them astray, forming religion combinations that worked for their ministries. Their is only one way, and it is not by any other than acceptance of the blood of Jesus, the Son of God, who lived here on earth, died for your sins, raised from the dead, and provided the pathway into eternal paradise with Him. How could we not see that God through that, is a God of love?
Have it both ways
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
In this epistle of John speaks of the love of God 46 times in only five short chapters. Love is presented in both exhortation, and condemnation for false teachings. John is concerned about the false teachers that are intertwining different beliefs into the Gospel of Christ, and leading many astray for an eternity. There are many of those today whom only preach what is convenient to their ministry, and therefore lead many astray just as they did thousands of years ago. We have a tendency to want everything, settling for nothing less than the best of both worlds. But that simply is not biblical, for our time hear is temporal. 1 John 2:15 “Do not love this world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”
1 John 1:6-7 “ If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” We are surrounded by the idealistic notion of self centeredness. That nothing comes before us, and we leave in our wake a pathway of pain. We cannot live in open or secret sin, and claim to have fellowship with Christ. We must present ourselves as a sacrifice to God, and all that comes with that sacrifice, and all that must die to that sacrifice. My pastor closed a sermon recently about a town drunk, and his anger and disappointment in him in his roller coaster ride as a Christian. But he clearly heard the voice of God tell himself, “his sins are only more visible.” May we all strive to walk in the light, as He is in the light.
Temptations
This morning I was spending time in 1Peter and realizing how those that Peter was trying to encourage, faced the same battles we do today. It constantly amazes me how the scriptures are timeless. Today the battles of lusts and all the categories of it, are of biblical proportions. The sin of sex and pornography is available 24/7 on every phone we keep at our side. The sin of idolatry of anything is thrust at us in every media, and every thing someone else has, that we desire. Matthew Henry said, “The grand mischief that sin does to man is this, it wars against the soul; it destroys the moral liberty of the soul; it weakens and debilitates the soul by impairing its faculties; it robs the soul of its comfort and peace; it debases and destroys the dignity of the soul, hinders its present prosperity, and plunges it into everlasting misery. Of all sorts of sin, none are more injurious to the soul than fleshly lusts. Carnal appetites, lewdness, and sensuality, are most odious to God, and destructive to man’s soul. It is a sore judgment to be given up to them.” Pray for the strength to resist whatever temptation you are facing today, and tomorrow.
Temptations
1 Peter 2:11-12 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
Today’s society breeds lust at every turn. We not only are subject to the lusts of the sins of sex, we are subject to the lusts of the sins of idolatry heavily in today’s world. It is a battle of biblical proportions to anyone who has air to breath another day. These fleshly lusts are part of an invisible war that rages deep within our souls. This is the spiritual war that how we respond to affects our daily walk with God. It is not something that we see, but we can feel. Our flesh will want to lash out, or pursue, or even just satisfy our desires in our mind. But the mind is the battlefield.
We only can prepare for these daily trials through the strength that God provides. Galatians 5:16-17 says,” Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” We must pray for strength to resist the temptations that will arise today. We must consistently pursue a relationship with Christ for our feet will only be here for a while, as we are described above “as sojourners and pilgrims”. He is the only way to obtain the strength to have victory if the battle that rages within us.
The eternal well
My heart lies in encouraging others to spend daily time with God. It is when and where you will truly begin to see real change in your life, by following the principle of Matthew 6:33 “Seek ye first….” As I was studying this scripture, I saw that application there. Returning to the well to nourish ourselves. If you will do this one thing, God will take care of all the rest for you, it will simply fall into place. Daily time with God will change you like none other next to Salvation.
The eternal well
John 7:38 He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.
Many times in the bible we hear of Christ as the Living Water. Here He is speaking of the Holy Spirit that will dwell in us as the great supplier of our needs for our time here on earth. He is the fountain that continually flows, providing wisdom and discernment through the revelation of the scriptures to us. He is the great Enabler. John 6:35 says, “ And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.” These are His promises for eternity.
How many times do you satisfy your thirst every day? We are told that we can only live for 3-5 days without water, so how often do you replenish your Living Water by spending time at the fountain in God’s Word? If this Word through Christ and the Holy Spirit is the fountain of life, then we must return daily to replenish what has been poured out on us, and hopefully through us to others, in the previous day. Are we robbing ourselves of the eternal water daily and the blessings that will come to us, and through us by coming to the well? How can we not go the the well to meet Jesus every day?
46 Days
As I opened up my bible this morning and headed to 2nd Corinthians, I saw all the different colors and notes around these pages. Last year on a Fast, I did a self study of this book and I remember how powerful it was. God has provided all that we need…period. I cannot add anything to that.
46 Days
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
We are now 46 days into the New Year, so how have your resolutions of change progressed? Have you slipped back into your old self, and the resolution faded away? We have been through a sermon series at church speaking of how to change. The only way to change anything, is through the free gift of Salvation, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit inside you. When Christ comes to live in your heart, nothing will remain the same.Verse 15 says, “and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.” You will be changed as nothing else can promise or deliver.
We all have things we want to improve about ourselves. We think we see the means to accomplish them all over TV and media. But if we don’t put our souls and eternity at the top of the list, all else is vain, for it will die with us. In these verses Paul is speaking of the ministry of reconciliation, or a change from enmity to peace. Through Christ’s sacrifice, we have been righted to God. Verses 18,19 says “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.” You have the opportunity to change the only thing that matters before you, and matters for an eternity. A whole lot longer than 46 days.
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