Detoxify Our Souls
Detoxify: (a) to remove a poison or toxin or the effect of such from (b) to render (a harmful substance) harmless (c) to free (as a drug user or an alcoholic) from an intoxicating or an addictive substance in the body or from dependence on or addiction to such a substance
None of us would intentionally eat or drink poison that could harm or destroy our body. Yet we may be consuming poison that’s hazardous to our soul without even realizing it.
Toxic attitudes, behaviors, and cultural influences that we allow into our life can put our soul in danger. We can’t always avoid contact with such toxins in this fallen world but we don’t have to allow our lives to be contaminated by them. We can detoxify our soul and start experiencing the pure life that God wants us to enjoy.
Here’s how:
Realize that everything counts. Absolutely everything that we allow into our mind and life has on impact on how we grow or don’t grow spiritually. The little choices that we make every day add up to a significant effect on our soul. So we need to take everyday decisions seriously.
Identify the lies that have deceived us, and replace them with the truth. We need to examine our life for toxic: behaviors (what we do that harms our spiritual effectiveness or distracts us from God’s purposes for our life), emotions (feelings that lead us away from God’s truth), and consumptions (media –movies, music, books) we consume and people we spend time with. We need to ask God to give us the wisdom we need to discern which of all of those are toxic to us.
Clean up our thoughts. Since spiritual battles are ultimately either won or lost in the mind, it’s crucial to pay attention to what thoughts we focus on. Our thoughts shape what kind of person we become. If we think unhealthy thoughts, we’ll become an unhealthy person. But if we think healthy thoughts that reflect God’s truth, we’ll become more like Jesus, as God intends us to become. Regularly pray for the ability to view the situations we encounter as God sees them so we can have the right perspective on them. Every day, ask God to show us which thoughts that enter our mind are unholy and displeasing to Him. Whenever we identify wrong thoughts, we must take action to replace them with right ones. Choose to “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” (Philippians 4:8b) We need to spend time meditating on God’s wonderful qualities; the more we think about God, the more peace will enter our mind.
Choose positive words and avoid negative words. Recognize the incredible power of words to bring about either good or evil. “Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” (Ephesians 4:29) Positive words create and heal, while negative words harm and destroy. So throughout each day when we’re speaking or writing, we need to choose to communicate positive words to others as much as possible. When we hear the words that other people communicate to us, we must carefully analyze them to determine whether or not they actually reflect what’s true – and if so, embrace them, but if not, reject them. We must pay attention to our self-talk as well, and ask God to help us say positive words to ourselves in our mind.
Uncover our hidden sins. No sin is ever hidden from God, no matter how much we may deny it in our life or try to hide it from other people. God knows all of our sins (“you may be sure that your sin will find you out.” Numbers 32:23) and chooses to love us anyway, and He is always hoping that we will confess and repent of our sins so we can keep growing spiritually. So we are to regularly confess our sins (to God and sometimes other Christians) and repent of them so we can receive forgiveness and healing.
Dig up bitter roots from our soul. When we allow bitterness to take root in our soul, it poisons us and blocks us from experiencing the grace God wants to give us. So we have to get rid of bitterness by following God’s command to forgive people who have hurt us. Jesus says, “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:14-15) We can rely on the strength that God will give us the ability to forgive.
Get rid of envy. Envying people who have what we want but don’t have will only poison us. So stop comparing ourselves and our life with other people and their lives. Instead, make a daily habit of noticing the many blessings that God brings into our life, and thanking God for them. Ask God to help us be content in all circumstances and trust that, in His great love and wisdom, He will always give us what’s best for us.
Express anger productively rather than destructively. It’s fine to feel angry, as long as we don’t sin because of the way we express our anger. The Bible says “… don’t sin by letting anger control you.” (Ephesians 4:26) Pray for the wisdom we need to discern the difference between constructive and destructive anger, and for the self-control we need to let go of destructive anger (anger that causes us to sin by hurting ourselves and others). We can control our anger by making choices such as carefully listening and thinking to messages others are communicating to us before responding, so we can calm down and respond without sinning. We can also redirect our anger by using anger as Jesus did: to fight injustice and work for righteousness. Ask God to make us angry about what angers Him, and then to use that anger to help bring about justice in the world.
Break free of fear. Whenever we feel afraid, we need to remind ourselves that fear never comes from God; it comes from evil. God gives us a spirit of power, love, and peace – not fear. Rather than placing our faith in all the “what-ifs” of life and feeling afraid of what may or may not happen, we place our faith in God who is in charge of our future and wants what’s best for us. Pay attention to specific, persistent fears in our life, because they reveal the areas in which we’re trusting God the least. Pray about each area we identify as a problem, surrendering each one specifically to God and asking Him to help us trust Him more with it. Then be diligent about seeking God so we can consistently grow closer to Him. The closer we become to God, the less we’ll struggle with fear.
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7)
Get rid of toxic influences on our life. Paul writes to the Roman church: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)
Break free of materialism and look to God (instead of money and possessions) to meet our needs for happiness, significance, and security. Whenever we consume media of any kind (from television shows and songs to Internet articles and books), honestly ask ourselves: “Am I being entertained by sin?” Is this pleasing to God?”, and “Does this lure me away from Jesus?” Then stop consuming media that we recognize is toxic to us. Since bad company corrupts good character, we need to set boundaries to protect ourselves from being influenced by unhealthy people, and cut off unhealthy relationships with people who are dangerous to our spiritual growth but won’t change. Ask God to show us when “religion” is corrupting the purity of the Gospel in our life, and to help us focus not on external behavior to try to earn God’s love, but on responding to the love that God has already given us by trusting Him in every part of our life.
Our needs of happiness, significance, security and God’s love can only be “supplied” by Him! Jesus says: “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.” (Matthew 6:33)
Monday, April 16, 2012
Monday, April 9, 2012
Beautiful Exchange
Beautiful Exchange
We have come together today to celebrate and proclaim the reality of a resurrected savior! This is the reality that separates faith in Jesus from every other belief system in history ...
The fact that Jesus is “…..the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:1)
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love-not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
When Jesus came to earth, He did so with a clear mission statement. He was focused, intentional and pointed toward the goal ... The Cross and the Resurrection.
People experience tragedy and they say “God did this, or God allowed this" when in reality God does not exchange the whole for the broken, or the lovely for the tragic .... No! He is the author of the love and life and healing and wholeness. Jesus said, “I have come that they might experience life and life to the fullest!"
The Easter Story doesn't begin with the Sunday morning resurrection, or the Friday afternoon crucifixion, the plan of redemption & God's desire to reconnect broken people with himself, pre-dates human history. The Beautiful exchange is an eternal plan ... & God's love being expressed through that plan is revealed in the passion of Cross and the power of the resurrection!
JESUS intentionally became the --- Perfect Sacrifice, so that we, by grace could become ----Saved!
Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. ….. It is this Good News that saves you…… I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said….. since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless…..In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. (1 Corinthians 15:1-20)
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)
This is the exchange!
When Jesus started his public ministry at the age of 30, he launched it by heading into a desert to fast for 40 days and to pray. Scripture tells us that when he got done “he returned in the power of the Spirit" ... So he shows up in his hometown and as was His practice, he went to church/synagogue on the Sabbath. Now a familiar practice in the Jewish synagogue would be to have various people (not just the priest) come forward to read from the Torah - the Holy Scriptures. There would be one reading from the law and one from the prophets ... it just so happens that as Jesus walks to the front they take the scroll from the prophet Isaiah and they hand it to him ... now the beauty, the power, supernatural timing of this moment is the fact that he is getting ready to read a prophecy about himself that was written 700 years before he reads it ... and as he opens the scroll. .. he reads ..
The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will and that the time of the LORD'S favor has come." He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you've just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips (Luke 4:18-22).
Death for life! Healing for disease, forgiveness for sin, direction to the lost and clarity to the confused! Rescue to those headed for destruction:
THIS IS THE EXCHANGE!
Today, we want to see and hear the resurrection, beautiful exchange message as it's played out in real life. The Risen Christ that we worship is not a concept or a doctrine; it's not the creed of an organized religion .... WE ARE CELEBRATING RESSURECTION POWER & NEW LIFE that rescues, restores and changes lives in the most personal and practical ways imaginable!
HE IS RISEN!
We have come together today to celebrate and proclaim the reality of a resurrected savior! This is the reality that separates faith in Jesus from every other belief system in history ...
The fact that Jesus is “…..the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:1)
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love-not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
When Jesus came to earth, He did so with a clear mission statement. He was focused, intentional and pointed toward the goal ... The Cross and the Resurrection.
People experience tragedy and they say “God did this, or God allowed this" when in reality God does not exchange the whole for the broken, or the lovely for the tragic .... No! He is the author of the love and life and healing and wholeness. Jesus said, “I have come that they might experience life and life to the fullest!"
The Easter Story doesn't begin with the Sunday morning resurrection, or the Friday afternoon crucifixion, the plan of redemption & God's desire to reconnect broken people with himself, pre-dates human history. The Beautiful exchange is an eternal plan ... & God's love being expressed through that plan is revealed in the passion of Cross and the power of the resurrection!
JESUS intentionally became the --- Perfect Sacrifice, so that we, by grace could become ----Saved!
Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. ….. It is this Good News that saves you…… I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said….. since we preach that Christ rose from the dead, why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless…..In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. (1 Corinthians 15:1-20)
All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)
This is the exchange!
When Jesus started his public ministry at the age of 30, he launched it by heading into a desert to fast for 40 days and to pray. Scripture tells us that when he got done “he returned in the power of the Spirit" ... So he shows up in his hometown and as was His practice, he went to church/synagogue on the Sabbath. Now a familiar practice in the Jewish synagogue would be to have various people (not just the priest) come forward to read from the Torah - the Holy Scriptures. There would be one reading from the law and one from the prophets ... it just so happens that as Jesus walks to the front they take the scroll from the prophet Isaiah and they hand it to him ... now the beauty, the power, supernatural timing of this moment is the fact that he is getting ready to read a prophecy about himself that was written 700 years before he reads it ... and as he opens the scroll. .. he reads ..
The Spirit of the LORD is upon me, for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim that captives will and that the time of the LORD'S favor has come." He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you've just heard has been fulfilled this very day!” Everyone spoke well of him and was amazed by the gracious words that came from his lips (Luke 4:18-22).
Death for life! Healing for disease, forgiveness for sin, direction to the lost and clarity to the confused! Rescue to those headed for destruction:
THIS IS THE EXCHANGE!
Today, we want to see and hear the resurrection, beautiful exchange message as it's played out in real life. The Risen Christ that we worship is not a concept or a doctrine; it's not the creed of an organized religion .... WE ARE CELEBRATING RESSURECTION POWER & NEW LIFE that rescues, restores and changes lives in the most personal and practical ways imaginable!
HE IS RISEN!
Sunday, April 1, 2012
We Would Like to See Jesus
Imagine yourself in Jerusalem over 2000 years ago. There was a great crowd there that day that had come to celebrate the Feast of the Passover. You can probably imagine it was something like what we see in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.
Lots of people jamming the streets of the city, getting ready to celebrate. But as they prepared to observe one of the most important feasts that the Jewish people celebrated all year, word came that Jesus was on his way into the city.
It is a rare thing that all four gospels record the same event in Jesus’ life. Sometimes one or two gospels record an event; some events in Jesus’ life are recorded in three gospel accounts. But what happens on this day in Jerusalem is recorded by all four of the gospel writers. For that reason alone, we should consider what happened here to be important.
The crowd gathers as Jesus rides into the city on the colt of a donkey and they begin to wave palm branches and shout their welcome to Jesus. But who were the faces in that crowd that day? If you were there, who would you see? And what were they thinking?
As we examine the crowd that was present that particular day, we may find ourselves and some of those around us.
First, the Roman soldiers were there.
As the crowd begins to honor Jesus, you can be sure it gets the attention of the Roman soldiers. There were probably a large number of soldiers who gathered to see what was going on, for they were charged with keeping the Jewish people under control. After all, the Romans were the ones in control of this country.
What did this demonstration mean to the Romans? Nothing is recorded about the Roman viewpoint, but it is certain that they kept a close watch that day. During the annual Passover feast, it was not uncommon for some of the Jewish zealots/rebels to try to arouse the people to fight back against the Roman occupation of their city and their country. Maybe they thought this parade was that kind of an event. Maybe they were expecting to have to stop a riot.
But then here comes Jesus, riding on a donkey’s colt. Can’t you imagine that some of the Roman soldiers must have smiled or even laughed at the “Triumphal Entry,” because it was nothing like their own triumphal celebrations back in Rome. They had what would be equivalent of the American “ticker-tape parade,” only with much more splendor.
Yes, you can bet some of these soldiers probably laughed at the antics of the Jerusalem crowd that day, and at the sight of this so-called King. What real king would ride on a dumb donkey? What powerful leader would stoop so low? They probably found it amusing. Compared to a “Roman triumph,” our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem was nothing.
Isn’t that how some people treat Jesus today? They are amused by the stories about Him. They laugh at Him and at people who worship Him. How could sophisticated people be so ignorant they say? After all, what educated person would believe some of the things that people say He did? Make the blind to see. The lame to walk. The deaf to hear. Walk on water. Calm storms with a word. Feed 5000 people with 5 loaves of bread and two fish! Who in their right mind would believe such things? So they just laugh at Christians who have faith in this Jesus of Nazareth.
There were probably some of those in the crowd that day.
And then there was probably another group of people there that day. If we go back to some earlier verses in John 12, we see those people.
Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. (John 12:9)
Before Jesus had come to Jerusalem, he spent some time with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany. And we see another large crowd there. But John says they were there, not just to see Jesus, but to see this man Lazarus who, as the story goes, had been raised from the dead.
This crowd wanted to see what was going on there. These people were there to see the show, not to see the Master. They wanted to know what was going on, they weren’t really interested in why Jesus was there. These are people who were half-sincere seekers. They see the crowd gathering at the dinner Jesus was attending, and they wanted to be a part of the party.
The crowd came to see the spectacular, that is, to see Lazarus, the man rumored to have been raised from the dead. They were anxious to see one who had experienced such a phenomenal event and to see if a resurrected man was any different.
And the crowd came to a social occasion, a festive atmosphere. They came to the banquet. Wherever Jesus was there was action and things were happening. It was where everyone was gathering. They wanted to join the party.
Isn’t that why some people come to church today, to see the show and join the party? They don’t come to worship the King, but they come to see who’s singing. They come because their friends are there. They come to socialize. They come, maybe, to see if they, like Lazarus, can get in on the good stuff. And look out if there’s food. Don’t get in the way or you might get knocked down if there’s a meal. They’re there to get what they can, not to worship the King. They’re there to see the miracles, not to see the King. How many want the miracles, but miss the Master. There were probably some of those in the crowd that day.
And then there was another group of people there that day. The religious leaders were there.
So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!” John 12:19
Wherever the power was, that was where you’d find these Pharisees. Wherever the prestige was, you could be sure they would be there. They wanted the praise. They wanted the glory. They wanted to be looked up to and they wanted to be the ones who had all the influence. They were fine as long as they were the center of attention, but look out if someone else received the praise.
People were beginning to come to Jesus and follow Him. And the Pharisees knew that this meant their powerful political positions were in jeopardy.
How tragic it is...
•that religious positions sometimes become political.
•that men reject Christ for the things of this world.
•that men swap eternity for social and political gain.
These preachers and teachers, these church leaders, were only interested in themselves. They were only interested in the prestige of their positions. And they were going to oppose anyone and anything that threatened their power.
God isn’t pleased with that kind of leadership. They point to themselves, not to Jesus.
Yes, there were some of these bad shepherds in the crowd that day. And they even went so far as to plot to kill Jesus.
These were the people in the crowd that day.
•The ones who were amused and laughed at Jesus.
•The ones who wanted to join the party and get what was in it for themselves.
•And there were the ones who wanted the power and the prestige.
But wait we almost forgot one. You see, there was one more group there that day.
Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast.
They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” (John 12:20-21)
“We would like to see Jesus.”
WOW! Wouldn’t it be great if we would all say that. That we would all come into His presence to glorify and honor Him. What a difference it would make in our lives if we would say, “We would like to see Jesus.”
For when we see Jesus and worship His Holy Name, God is glorified. When we recognize that this Jesus represents the love that God has for us, a love that would send Him to the cross to die for us, we can be changed. When we come to the realization that God gave His only Son to die for you and for me that we might not perish but have everlasting life, it changes our perspective. When we see and believe this glorious truth; then we really begin to worship Him. We begin to bow down and surrender our whole beings to God. We begin to follow and obey His will, to honor and praise Him for all He has done and is doing for us. Yes, when we really seek Jesus, that’s when the name of God is glorified. That’s when real worship occurs.
Those people in the crowd that day were shouting something that was far more significant than they realized.
Hosanna, they shouted. Hosanna. This Hebrew word means “he who saves.” They were welcoming their King.
But this was not a king that would reign over Israel. No, this King was far more important, far more powerful than any king on earth.
For although they didn’t realize it, they were honoring the King of heaven. They were honoring the King of kings and Lord of lords. They were honoring the King that would triumph over death. They were singing praises to the Lamb of God, who would take away the sins of the world.
Shouldn’t we be doing the same thing today?
Lots of people jamming the streets of the city, getting ready to celebrate. But as they prepared to observe one of the most important feasts that the Jewish people celebrated all year, word came that Jesus was on his way into the city.
It is a rare thing that all four gospels record the same event in Jesus’ life. Sometimes one or two gospels record an event; some events in Jesus’ life are recorded in three gospel accounts. But what happens on this day in Jerusalem is recorded by all four of the gospel writers. For that reason alone, we should consider what happened here to be important.
The crowd gathers as Jesus rides into the city on the colt of a donkey and they begin to wave palm branches and shout their welcome to Jesus. But who were the faces in that crowd that day? If you were there, who would you see? And what were they thinking?
As we examine the crowd that was present that particular day, we may find ourselves and some of those around us.
First, the Roman soldiers were there.
As the crowd begins to honor Jesus, you can be sure it gets the attention of the Roman soldiers. There were probably a large number of soldiers who gathered to see what was going on, for they were charged with keeping the Jewish people under control. After all, the Romans were the ones in control of this country.
What did this demonstration mean to the Romans? Nothing is recorded about the Roman viewpoint, but it is certain that they kept a close watch that day. During the annual Passover feast, it was not uncommon for some of the Jewish zealots/rebels to try to arouse the people to fight back against the Roman occupation of their city and their country. Maybe they thought this parade was that kind of an event. Maybe they were expecting to have to stop a riot.
But then here comes Jesus, riding on a donkey’s colt. Can’t you imagine that some of the Roman soldiers must have smiled or even laughed at the “Triumphal Entry,” because it was nothing like their own triumphal celebrations back in Rome. They had what would be equivalent of the American “ticker-tape parade,” only with much more splendor.
Yes, you can bet some of these soldiers probably laughed at the antics of the Jerusalem crowd that day, and at the sight of this so-called King. What real king would ride on a dumb donkey? What powerful leader would stoop so low? They probably found it amusing. Compared to a “Roman triumph,” our Lord’s entry into Jerusalem was nothing.
Isn’t that how some people treat Jesus today? They are amused by the stories about Him. They laugh at Him and at people who worship Him. How could sophisticated people be so ignorant they say? After all, what educated person would believe some of the things that people say He did? Make the blind to see. The lame to walk. The deaf to hear. Walk on water. Calm storms with a word. Feed 5000 people with 5 loaves of bread and two fish! Who in their right mind would believe such things? So they just laugh at Christians who have faith in this Jesus of Nazareth.
There were probably some of those in the crowd that day.
And then there was probably another group of people there that day. If we go back to some earlier verses in John 12, we see those people.
Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. (John 12:9)
Before Jesus had come to Jerusalem, he spent some time with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus in Bethany. And we see another large crowd there. But John says they were there, not just to see Jesus, but to see this man Lazarus who, as the story goes, had been raised from the dead.
This crowd wanted to see what was going on there. These people were there to see the show, not to see the Master. They wanted to know what was going on, they weren’t really interested in why Jesus was there. These are people who were half-sincere seekers. They see the crowd gathering at the dinner Jesus was attending, and they wanted to be a part of the party.
The crowd came to see the spectacular, that is, to see Lazarus, the man rumored to have been raised from the dead. They were anxious to see one who had experienced such a phenomenal event and to see if a resurrected man was any different.
And the crowd came to a social occasion, a festive atmosphere. They came to the banquet. Wherever Jesus was there was action and things were happening. It was where everyone was gathering. They wanted to join the party.
Isn’t that why some people come to church today, to see the show and join the party? They don’t come to worship the King, but they come to see who’s singing. They come because their friends are there. They come to socialize. They come, maybe, to see if they, like Lazarus, can get in on the good stuff. And look out if there’s food. Don’t get in the way or you might get knocked down if there’s a meal. They’re there to get what they can, not to worship the King. They’re there to see the miracles, not to see the King. How many want the miracles, but miss the Master. There were probably some of those in the crowd that day.
And then there was another group of people there that day. The religious leaders were there.
So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!” John 12:19
Wherever the power was, that was where you’d find these Pharisees. Wherever the prestige was, you could be sure they would be there. They wanted the praise. They wanted the glory. They wanted to be looked up to and they wanted to be the ones who had all the influence. They were fine as long as they were the center of attention, but look out if someone else received the praise.
People were beginning to come to Jesus and follow Him. And the Pharisees knew that this meant their powerful political positions were in jeopardy.
How tragic it is...
•that religious positions sometimes become political.
•that men reject Christ for the things of this world.
•that men swap eternity for social and political gain.
These preachers and teachers, these church leaders, were only interested in themselves. They were only interested in the prestige of their positions. And they were going to oppose anyone and anything that threatened their power.
God isn’t pleased with that kind of leadership. They point to themselves, not to Jesus.
Yes, there were some of these bad shepherds in the crowd that day. And they even went so far as to plot to kill Jesus.
These were the people in the crowd that day.
•The ones who were amused and laughed at Jesus.
•The ones who wanted to join the party and get what was in it for themselves.
•And there were the ones who wanted the power and the prestige.
But wait we almost forgot one. You see, there was one more group there that day.
Now there were some Greeks among those who went up to worship at the Feast.
They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” (John 12:20-21)
“We would like to see Jesus.”
WOW! Wouldn’t it be great if we would all say that. That we would all come into His presence to glorify and honor Him. What a difference it would make in our lives if we would say, “We would like to see Jesus.”
For when we see Jesus and worship His Holy Name, God is glorified. When we recognize that this Jesus represents the love that God has for us, a love that would send Him to the cross to die for us, we can be changed. When we come to the realization that God gave His only Son to die for you and for me that we might not perish but have everlasting life, it changes our perspective. When we see and believe this glorious truth; then we really begin to worship Him. We begin to bow down and surrender our whole beings to God. We begin to follow and obey His will, to honor and praise Him for all He has done and is doing for us. Yes, when we really seek Jesus, that’s when the name of God is glorified. That’s when real worship occurs.
Those people in the crowd that day were shouting something that was far more significant than they realized.
Hosanna, they shouted. Hosanna. This Hebrew word means “he who saves.” They were welcoming their King.
But this was not a king that would reign over Israel. No, this King was far more important, far more powerful than any king on earth.
For although they didn’t realize it, they were honoring the King of heaven. They were honoring the King of kings and Lord of lords. They were honoring the King that would triumph over death. They were singing praises to the Lamb of God, who would take away the sins of the world.
Shouldn’t we be doing the same thing today?
Monday, March 26, 2012
How to Find Healing from Your Past
“Get over it!” “Move on!” “The past is gone!”
Well-meaning friends may offer you their best unsolicited advice, but their words hurt. Why? The past still haunts you. Are new beginnings possible? Is healing a reality? How do we confidently release the past and embrace the future? How do we find the strength to “press on”?
I’ll be the first to admit that some issues in my life have taken time and even Christian counseling in order to heal and move forward again. So rest assured there are no “pat” answers.
And as the song goes we need to ask God to “Heal the wounds but leave the scars”. Scars can be real important. I believe Jesus still has his “scars”.
Life-altering wrongs committed against us may never be corrected in this lifetime. But what about the times when we’ve wounded others? How can we remove the “Cain-stamped” seal on our souls – the glaring sins and blunders that have almost destroyed our lives in the past?
Only God can completely remove those, but there are some ways to help you find healing from your past.
See yourself as God sees you.
Jesus’ death on the cross made it possible for us to be right with God – “Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins”. (Romans 3:24). So, as a follower of Christ, we get that. Because of Jesus, that’s the way God views us.
Jesus was tempted in every way, yet He never sinned. Faced with every wrong choice imaginable, He always obeyed. When Jesus took our sin upon Himself, the perfect, sinless, Son of God, and we accept that payment for our own sins, God then sees us, as Believers, like He sees Jesus – as if we have always obeyed, and as if we always will obey.
If God sees us that way, then we need to as well. The mistakes and sins of our past no longer exist – except as a reminder in our own heart of my humanity.
Place GRACE beside every destructive thought and negative reminder from the past that threatens you.
Satan loves to remind God’s children of their marriage mess-ups, their parenting blunders, their business failures, and their prideful actions of the past. You can keep trying to pay for those yourself, but the reality is, you can never really undo the past. You can only learn from it, and accept God’s grace to move beyond it. It’s God’s grace that erases our past; and it’s God’s grace that will remake our future. "It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved! ,,,, God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.” (Ephesians 2:5b, 8); “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (Hebrews 4:16); “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Each time you begin to dwell on your mistakes or sins of the past, visually picture the words GRACE beside those thoughts, pushing the negative ones out. Then whisper a thank you cry to God: “Lord, thank you for your grace that brings healing from my past. Thank you for redeeming me, and for seeing me as if I have always obeyed. Thank you that You love me completely and unconditionally.”
Meditate on the healing truths in God’s Word daily.
The relevance of God’s Word never changes. “The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8), “Every word of God proves true.” (Proverbs 30:5), ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4). Scientists and doctors have proved that prayer and meditation on spiritual truths like those in the Bible can actually promote healing, well-being, and longevity, by impacting the brain positively.
The apostle Paul encouraged Timothy to continue in the Word because, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
God’s Word doesn’t return “void.” In other words, allowing God’s truths and promises to saturate our lives give us the very defense and offensive we need to press on positively to the future God has prepared for us. God will take those implanted seeds of truth to accomplish His purpose for our lives.
Forgive as Jesus has forgiven you.
If you desire – and expect – God’s grace and forgiveness to remain active in your life, you must learn to not only forgive others, but also yourself. When we temporarily slip back into an “Oh, me!” mentality, we can find comfort and grace in reversing to an “Ah, Lord,” declaration. “Ah, Lord, if you have forgiven me so completely, what right do I have not to forgive others – or even myself?” “Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” (Colossians 3:13). His grace enables us to do what we can’t do alone: forgive.
You’ve heard, “To err is human; to forgive is divine.” We should add, “to not forgive is to trample down God’s grace and render it useless in our lives.” Look at what Proverbs 24:16 says: "The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again." Everyone messes up. But with God’s grace, we can all start over.
Perhaps we could also add, “To err is human, but not to learn from it (our errors), is foolish.” Be patient with yourself. Get an “accountability partner” – someone you trust who can check in with you often and help keep you moving in the right direction. You can step in the same hole only so many times. Sooner or later you’ll need to take a new path. Receive God’s infinite, complete forgiveness as a gift; then give Him the gift of belief and trust: that He still has good plans, a hope and a future for you (See Jeremiah 29:11).
Keep moving forward by anticipating something today and something tomorrow
Most people always have something to do around your house – or in your life – but not always what we anticipate doing. Yet even in the midst of the mundane, it helps to change our outlook by focusing on something we can look forward to today, and something we can look forward to tomorrow. That something may be ambitious or practical or simply having lunch with a good friend.
Find joy in what you do, and in doing for others. Putting our past behind is a constant action; but so is pressing on. Consider a reachable goal like Mother Teresa‘s: “Doing small things with great love” – even while she worked in the midst of extreme poverty and adverse circumstances.
Busy Activity vs. Balanced Work
Discern the difference between busy activity and balanced work. Coping with a painful past can include hiding ourselves behind a facade of endless activity. We can try to cover our pain by eliminating any time to think, rest, or refresh. But band-aids don’t bring inner healing. They only cover the scars or open wounds. Balanced Work is a meaningful and intentional fulfilling of God’s purpose for our lives – that doesn’t crowd out right priorities.
These are only a few ways to help you find healing from the past. Accepting the truth that God has already covered your past will help eliminate any of your own painful coping methods. But it means trusting God daily with the details of your life. He will bless your todays and reinforce your tomorrows if you live in anticipation of God’s plans for you. He is the only One who can truly help you put the past behind and press on toward the future.
“But I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us”. (Philippians 4:13).
Well-meaning friends may offer you their best unsolicited advice, but their words hurt. Why? The past still haunts you. Are new beginnings possible? Is healing a reality? How do we confidently release the past and embrace the future? How do we find the strength to “press on”?
I’ll be the first to admit that some issues in my life have taken time and even Christian counseling in order to heal and move forward again. So rest assured there are no “pat” answers.
And as the song goes we need to ask God to “Heal the wounds but leave the scars”. Scars can be real important. I believe Jesus still has his “scars”.
Life-altering wrongs committed against us may never be corrected in this lifetime. But what about the times when we’ve wounded others? How can we remove the “Cain-stamped” seal on our souls – the glaring sins and blunders that have almost destroyed our lives in the past?
Only God can completely remove those, but there are some ways to help you find healing from your past.
See yourself as God sees you.
Jesus’ death on the cross made it possible for us to be right with God – “Yet God, with undeserved kindness, declares that we are righteous. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins”. (Romans 3:24). So, as a follower of Christ, we get that. Because of Jesus, that’s the way God views us.
Jesus was tempted in every way, yet He never sinned. Faced with every wrong choice imaginable, He always obeyed. When Jesus took our sin upon Himself, the perfect, sinless, Son of God, and we accept that payment for our own sins, God then sees us, as Believers, like He sees Jesus – as if we have always obeyed, and as if we always will obey.
If God sees us that way, then we need to as well. The mistakes and sins of our past no longer exist – except as a reminder in our own heart of my humanity.
Place GRACE beside every destructive thought and negative reminder from the past that threatens you.
Satan loves to remind God’s children of their marriage mess-ups, their parenting blunders, their business failures, and their prideful actions of the past. You can keep trying to pay for those yourself, but the reality is, you can never really undo the past. You can only learn from it, and accept God’s grace to move beyond it. It’s God’s grace that erases our past; and it’s God’s grace that will remake our future. "It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved! ,,,, God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.” (Ephesians 2:5b, 8); “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” (Hebrews 4:16); “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
Each time you begin to dwell on your mistakes or sins of the past, visually picture the words GRACE beside those thoughts, pushing the negative ones out. Then whisper a thank you cry to God: “Lord, thank you for your grace that brings healing from my past. Thank you for redeeming me, and for seeing me as if I have always obeyed. Thank you that You love me completely and unconditionally.”
Meditate on the healing truths in God’s Word daily.
The relevance of God’s Word never changes. “The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8), “Every word of God proves true.” (Proverbs 30:5), ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4). Scientists and doctors have proved that prayer and meditation on spiritual truths like those in the Bible can actually promote healing, well-being, and longevity, by impacting the brain positively.
The apostle Paul encouraged Timothy to continue in the Word because, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
God’s Word doesn’t return “void.” In other words, allowing God’s truths and promises to saturate our lives give us the very defense and offensive we need to press on positively to the future God has prepared for us. God will take those implanted seeds of truth to accomplish His purpose for our lives.
Forgive as Jesus has forgiven you.
If you desire – and expect – God’s grace and forgiveness to remain active in your life, you must learn to not only forgive others, but also yourself. When we temporarily slip back into an “Oh, me!” mentality, we can find comfort and grace in reversing to an “Ah, Lord,” declaration. “Ah, Lord, if you have forgiven me so completely, what right do I have not to forgive others – or even myself?” “Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” (Colossians 3:13). His grace enables us to do what we can’t do alone: forgive.
You’ve heard, “To err is human; to forgive is divine.” We should add, “to not forgive is to trample down God’s grace and render it useless in our lives.” Look at what Proverbs 24:16 says: "The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again." Everyone messes up. But with God’s grace, we can all start over.
Perhaps we could also add, “To err is human, but not to learn from it (our errors), is foolish.” Be patient with yourself. Get an “accountability partner” – someone you trust who can check in with you often and help keep you moving in the right direction. You can step in the same hole only so many times. Sooner or later you’ll need to take a new path. Receive God’s infinite, complete forgiveness as a gift; then give Him the gift of belief and trust: that He still has good plans, a hope and a future for you (See Jeremiah 29:11).
Keep moving forward by anticipating something today and something tomorrow
Most people always have something to do around your house – or in your life – but not always what we anticipate doing. Yet even in the midst of the mundane, it helps to change our outlook by focusing on something we can look forward to today, and something we can look forward to tomorrow. That something may be ambitious or practical or simply having lunch with a good friend.
Find joy in what you do, and in doing for others. Putting our past behind is a constant action; but so is pressing on. Consider a reachable goal like Mother Teresa‘s: “Doing small things with great love” – even while she worked in the midst of extreme poverty and adverse circumstances.
Busy Activity vs. Balanced Work
Discern the difference between busy activity and balanced work. Coping with a painful past can include hiding ourselves behind a facade of endless activity. We can try to cover our pain by eliminating any time to think, rest, or refresh. But band-aids don’t bring inner healing. They only cover the scars or open wounds. Balanced Work is a meaningful and intentional fulfilling of God’s purpose for our lives – that doesn’t crowd out right priorities.
These are only a few ways to help you find healing from the past. Accepting the truth that God has already covered your past will help eliminate any of your own painful coping methods. But it means trusting God daily with the details of your life. He will bless your todays and reinforce your tomorrows if you live in anticipation of God’s plans for you. He is the only One who can truly help you put the past behind and press on toward the future.
“But I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us”. (Philippians 4:13).
Monday, March 19, 2012
How to Keep From Getting Hurt in Church
The title of this lesson may seem to be rather unusual. After all, we would suppose the church to be a safe place – right? However, unfortunately, the church has sometimes been a place where many have experienced wounds instead of healing. In fact, statistics show that a great percentage of persons who cease attending church, do so because of some type of offense or injury to their feelings that happened there. Sometimes these occur because of the insensitivity of the church; other times, people are themselves at fault for being too touchy or sensitive to misunderstandings. In any case, it is sad that such experiences ever occur, because the church is an indispensable part of the believer's life. Not only does it provide a place to worship, serve and learn about God, but it is also a community where Believers can practice love toward their brethren as the Bible requires; "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" (1 John 1:7).
Whatever you do, don't give up on the church. God requires you to be faithful to it and to be accountable to its spiritual leaders. (See Hebrews 10:25; 13:17). If you have been hurt there, don't run away – but equip yourself with the protection of God's Word. You may not be able to stop offensive things from happening, but by applying God's principles you can stop them from hurting you. "Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them" (Psa 119:165 KJV).
The following steps can help believers protect themselves from getting hurt in a church:
Avoid developing unreasonable expectations of the church — “Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.” (Psa. 62:5).
The definition of disappointment is “the failure to attain one’s expectations.” Don’t expect things from the church or the minister that they can’t deliver, or that the Bible doesn’t teach for them to do.
Occasionally people get disappointed when they find out their church can’t supply all their earthly needs. Most ministers and churches do attempt to help people in every way they can especially during crisis and emergencies. But a church cannot meet all of member’s financial needs.
Learn to place your expectations upon God — He will always be faithful to His promises in His Word and will never let you down.
Don’t place an absolute trust in people — “This is what the LORD says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD.” (Jer. 17:5).
Come to terms with the fact that everyone is human and will fail you at some time or another. Even the pastor will make mistakes. The only one you can trust entirely without fail is God.
There’s a difference between “love” and “trust.” It’s possible to love and forgive someone, without placing an absolute trust in them.
Remember that love and forgiveness is granted unconditionally, but trust must be “earned.” Since all of us have potential for failure, we should never put all our trust in anyone but God.
Focus on common ground — “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10).
Avoid becoming highly opinionated. Our “opinions” can cause division or promote sinful debates and quarrels (Rom. 1:29). Opinionated people are prone to get hurt when others disagree with them.
Naturally every believer has his or her own convictions about a great many things, but if you continually try to push your opinions on others, conflict will eventually emerge. Avoid controversy over scriptures which are vague or “grey” and can lead to many interpretations — stand fast upon those common, basic truths — Jesus, His life, death and resurrection!
Don’t expect any church to be perfect — “And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. (Rom. 7:18-19)
It is remarkable to consider that the Apostle Paul openly confessed that he was not perfect. Like us, he experienced struggles in his flesh to do the right things. If Paul admitted to this, it should not seem too strange if we find others in the church struggling with imperfections too.
Since churches are made up of people like you and me who have imperfections, there will never be such a thing as a perfect church. Unless people understand this, they’ll have an unrealistic view of the church, and will eventually become disillusioned and hurt.
Avoid blaming the church for personal problems — “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! (Isaiah 26:3).
When you go to church, you should try to dissociate the church from the other personal problems you deal with. The majority of hurt feelings in a church result from wounds and sensitivities people carry in with them. Such things as a low self esteem, abuse as a child, marital problems, personal offenses, family conflict, a root of bitterness, health problems or job dissatisfaction can twist your interpretation of words and actions. You may imagine misinterpret well-intended words as an offense. Trivial problems will seem like big problems. Remember this: Don’t jump to conclusions over anything, because things are usually not as bad as they seem.
Treat others as you wish to be treated — “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets” (Matt. 7:12).
Human beings tend to reflect the way they are treated. Be gracious, encouraging, and a blessing for others to be around. If you have a negative, critical attitude toward people it will tend to generate their critical attitude toward you.
Many hurt feelings can be avoided if we will realize that people usually react to how we deal with them. Take a close examination at the way you say things. Don’t be rude and impolite. Check your attitude that you’re not overbearing and bossy.
Have a teachable, cooperative attitude — Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit. (Heb. 13:17).
As long as you are a part of any particular church, you must come to accept that the pastor and leaders are in charge there. Regardless of how unqualified you might think they are, God recognizes them as the authority in that body and will hold them accountable to that responsibility. Consequently, God holds you accountable to respect their authority, to pray for them, and to cooperate — not to be defiant and rebellious.
Always be cooperative, willing to humble yourself. If you have a rigid, inflexible attitude in the church you will probably get hurt.
Be devoted to love and forgiveness — “Anyone who loves another brother or sister is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble.” (1 John 2:10).
Without doubt, it is not possible to have a relationship with a group of people without occasional misunderstandings and offenses. However, Christians will avoid a lot of problems if they will just commit themselves to an unconditional love for their brethren. The practice of loving the brethren — all the brethren, not just the lovable ones — keeps us from stumbling. Never forget that Jesus takes personally how we entreat our Christian brothers and sisters. When we love even the “least” of our brethren, Jesus accepts that love toward Himself (Matt. 25:40). You cannot love the Lord any more than you love the least in the body of Christ. “If someone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (1 John 4:20).
Be quick to forgive and don’t hold grudges. Unforgiveness and bitterness is one of the greatest reasons why people get hurt in the church and probably the greatest cause of apostasy — falling away. Remember that unforgiveness is one of your greatest enemies. See what Jesus says: “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matt. 6:14-15).
Whatever you do, don't give up on the church. God requires you to be faithful to it and to be accountable to its spiritual leaders. (See Hebrews 10:25; 13:17). If you have been hurt there, don't run away – but equip yourself with the protection of God's Word. You may not be able to stop offensive things from happening, but by applying God's principles you can stop them from hurting you. "Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them" (Psa 119:165 KJV).
The following steps can help believers protect themselves from getting hurt in a church:
Avoid developing unreasonable expectations of the church — “Let all that I am wait quietly before God, for my hope is in him.” (Psa. 62:5).
The definition of disappointment is “the failure to attain one’s expectations.” Don’t expect things from the church or the minister that they can’t deliver, or that the Bible doesn’t teach for them to do.
Occasionally people get disappointed when they find out their church can’t supply all their earthly needs. Most ministers and churches do attempt to help people in every way they can especially during crisis and emergencies. But a church cannot meet all of member’s financial needs.
Learn to place your expectations upon God — He will always be faithful to His promises in His Word and will never let you down.
Don’t place an absolute trust in people — “This is what the LORD says: “Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the LORD.” (Jer. 17:5).
Come to terms with the fact that everyone is human and will fail you at some time or another. Even the pastor will make mistakes. The only one you can trust entirely without fail is God.
There’s a difference between “love” and “trust.” It’s possible to love and forgive someone, without placing an absolute trust in them.
Remember that love and forgiveness is granted unconditionally, but trust must be “earned.” Since all of us have potential for failure, we should never put all our trust in anyone but God.
Focus on common ground — “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment” (1 Cor. 1:10).
Avoid becoming highly opinionated. Our “opinions” can cause division or promote sinful debates and quarrels (Rom. 1:29). Opinionated people are prone to get hurt when others disagree with them.
Naturally every believer has his or her own convictions about a great many things, but if you continually try to push your opinions on others, conflict will eventually emerge. Avoid controversy over scriptures which are vague or “grey” and can lead to many interpretations — stand fast upon those common, basic truths — Jesus, His life, death and resurrection!
Don’t expect any church to be perfect — “And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. (Rom. 7:18-19)
It is remarkable to consider that the Apostle Paul openly confessed that he was not perfect. Like us, he experienced struggles in his flesh to do the right things. If Paul admitted to this, it should not seem too strange if we find others in the church struggling with imperfections too.
Since churches are made up of people like you and me who have imperfections, there will never be such a thing as a perfect church. Unless people understand this, they’ll have an unrealistic view of the church, and will eventually become disillusioned and hurt.
Avoid blaming the church for personal problems — “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! (Isaiah 26:3).
When you go to church, you should try to dissociate the church from the other personal problems you deal with. The majority of hurt feelings in a church result from wounds and sensitivities people carry in with them. Such things as a low self esteem, abuse as a child, marital problems, personal offenses, family conflict, a root of bitterness, health problems or job dissatisfaction can twist your interpretation of words and actions. You may imagine misinterpret well-intended words as an offense. Trivial problems will seem like big problems. Remember this: Don’t jump to conclusions over anything, because things are usually not as bad as they seem.
Treat others as you wish to be treated — “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets” (Matt. 7:12).
Human beings tend to reflect the way they are treated. Be gracious, encouraging, and a blessing for others to be around. If you have a negative, critical attitude toward people it will tend to generate their critical attitude toward you.
Many hurt feelings can be avoided if we will realize that people usually react to how we deal with them. Take a close examination at the way you say things. Don’t be rude and impolite. Check your attitude that you’re not overbearing and bossy.
Have a teachable, cooperative attitude — Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit. (Heb. 13:17).
As long as you are a part of any particular church, you must come to accept that the pastor and leaders are in charge there. Regardless of how unqualified you might think they are, God recognizes them as the authority in that body and will hold them accountable to that responsibility. Consequently, God holds you accountable to respect their authority, to pray for them, and to cooperate — not to be defiant and rebellious.
Always be cooperative, willing to humble yourself. If you have a rigid, inflexible attitude in the church you will probably get hurt.
Be devoted to love and forgiveness — “Anyone who loves another brother or sister is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble.” (1 John 2:10).
Without doubt, it is not possible to have a relationship with a group of people without occasional misunderstandings and offenses. However, Christians will avoid a lot of problems if they will just commit themselves to an unconditional love for their brethren. The practice of loving the brethren — all the brethren, not just the lovable ones — keeps us from stumbling. Never forget that Jesus takes personally how we entreat our Christian brothers and sisters. When we love even the “least” of our brethren, Jesus accepts that love toward Himself (Matt. 25:40). You cannot love the Lord any more than you love the least in the body of Christ. “If someone says, I love God, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (1 John 4:20).
Be quick to forgive and don’t hold grudges. Unforgiveness and bitterness is one of the greatest reasons why people get hurt in the church and probably the greatest cause of apostasy — falling away. Remember that unforgiveness is one of your greatest enemies. See what Jesus says: “If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins” (Matt. 6:14-15).
Sunday, March 11, 2012
My God’s not dead … but neither is Satan
My God’s not dead … but neither is Satan
My God is not dead, He is alive … is so true. In fact it is a statement that we as Followers of Christ can live by … It is a statement that we can stand on.
Here is the problem … We know that the God we worship is alive and well, but we often forget to remember that his enemy … Satan … The Devil … whatever it is that you prefer to call him is not dead either. In fact he is very much alive and is working in this world each and every day.
In fact, at least sometimes, it is easier to see the work of Satan than it is to see the work of God, which is a shame. Yet think about it … How many people do you know who have problems with addictions to drugs, pornography and alcohol? How many people do you know who are having marital problems? How many people do you know who are tied up in a lot of things that aren’t of God? Well guess what? That is the work of Satan. That is Satan tempting those people to do things that go against the word of God, just as he tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden.
After God instructed Adam and Eve about not eating “from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” (Genesis 2:17 NIV) Satan came and tempted them. Eve listened to Satan's voice instead of saying, "Get thee behind me, Satan." (Luke 4:8 KJV) This is exactly the way the Devil works today. He comes to young people, new or weaker Believers and whispers to them to do this or do that, tempting them in things which are not right in the sight of God. Instead of turning aside they often listen to him speak.
So here is a warning for anyone … Don’t ever think that just because you worship a living God who wants the best for you … that you will not or cannot be tempted. In fact, you can probably sure that Adam and Eve thought that when they were walking in the Garden.
The truth is, the closer you get to God, the more that Satan is going to try to tempt you … Simply because he doesn’t want anyone becoming a warrior for the army of Christ.
In fact, Satan knows more about us that we know about ourselves … which means that he knows our weaknesses … which means he knows exactly where to tempt us. He isn’t going to tempt you with things that mean nothing to you … He is going to tempt you with whatever it is that you are going to be most likely to give into. Which means we always have to stand guard against him and his tactics.
Scripture tells us that “Stay alert! “Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. ” (1 Peter 5:8).
The great thing about temptation is the fact that God’s word clearly states that no Believer will ever be tempted by more than they can stand. It goes on to say that any time you are tempted, God will give us a way out, as long as we are willing to stand strong and look for it. “God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” (1 Corinthians 10) Unfortunately, we don’t always take His way out!
Someone once said, "You cannot stop a bird flying in your hair but you do not have to build a nest for him to stay in."
Remember this as well … Jesus came to be a perfect example of what we were to become … and during that time he was tempted my Satan. In fact, he was tempted multiple times during the 40 days he spend fasting in the wilderness. (Remember last week’s lesson – What We Can Learn in the Wilderness.) Yet we know he never gave in … and we can also learn a valuable lesson from his temptations. Know the Word of God!
Have you ever noticed how Jesus, our perfect example, stood up to Satan? He simply quoted scripture that went against whatever it was Satan was tempting him with? Maybe we should learn to do the same … of course we would have to know scripture in order to do that, but that isn’t all bad … in fact it’s a good thing.
Back to the Garden of Eden for a moment -- Satan, once the angel of light, deceived our first parents by questioning God's Word: He asked Eve, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” (Genesis 3:1b) Are you sure this is what God says in His Word? Perhaps God did not say that after all. Perhaps He did not mean what He said! Hell may not even be a literal Hell. And certainly God could not mean for us to accept the Bible literally when it contradicts modern scholarship and scientific teaching! Yes, our Adversary the Devil is very much alive today and is working to destroy the authority of God's Word, the Bible.
The Devil is not terribly interested in leading men and women into gross sin as you might expect. He would be satisfied just to get person’s heart away from God. So he works in a special way in the realm of religion. He wants to substitute his own word for the Word of God. He wants men and women to be in subjection to him rather than to God. He substitutes his own lies for divine truth.
Satan knows the Bible and how he loves to quote Scripture in order to destroy faith. Remember how he tried to persuade Jesus to throw himself down from the temple roof? He argued from Scripture! He told Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you…..’ ” (Matthew 4:6)
Note this well! Satan does not always try to ruin faith by saying, “The Bible isn’t true;” he often tries to destroy our faith by affirming some passage and using it to lead us into disobedience.
All Christians get our “life” from God’s Holy Word. We will perish without it. We cannot let it be taken from us. We should be willing go to jail rather than stop reading it. So what does Satan do? His one aim is to destroy our faith. The Word of God alone keeps faith alive. But we cleave to it and Satan cannot tear it away. So he studies it. How else could he quote “scriptures” to Jesus in the wilderness? He studies it. And he studies how to distort it and pervert it by misinterpretations that kinda’ make sense to us. Especially when we are looking for the easy “way” to be a Christian! Yes, Satan’s distortions of God’s Word must be reasonable so that we are more easily led astray from the actual Word!
Jesus quoted Scripture against Satan’s use of Scripture. He knew the Bible better than Satan.
So what does this mean to us? 1) Do not believe everyone who can quote you a text. History is strewn with cults who twisted the Scriptures to their own destruction. Peter writes of some of Paul’s letters: “His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:16). 2) Read widely in the Bible and ask yourself continually how this part fits with that part and that with this. It is when the pieces start to fit together that we are most secure from distortion. 3) Pray that God will open our eyes to see true and wonderful things in his Word. 4) Obey what you do understand and you will understand more.
So just remember … It is great news that Our God is not dead … but never forget that his evil enemy Satan is not dead either. He is surely alive, and he is living in order to try to get us as Christians to fall …
God's Not Dead by Newsboys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghC3gqNQJPQ
My God is not dead, He is alive … is so true. In fact it is a statement that we as Followers of Christ can live by … It is a statement that we can stand on.
Here is the problem … We know that the God we worship is alive and well, but we often forget to remember that his enemy … Satan … The Devil … whatever it is that you prefer to call him is not dead either. In fact he is very much alive and is working in this world each and every day.
In fact, at least sometimes, it is easier to see the work of Satan than it is to see the work of God, which is a shame. Yet think about it … How many people do you know who have problems with addictions to drugs, pornography and alcohol? How many people do you know who are having marital problems? How many people do you know who are tied up in a lot of things that aren’t of God? Well guess what? That is the work of Satan. That is Satan tempting those people to do things that go against the word of God, just as he tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden.
After God instructed Adam and Eve about not eating “from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,” (Genesis 2:17 NIV) Satan came and tempted them. Eve listened to Satan's voice instead of saying, "Get thee behind me, Satan." (Luke 4:8 KJV) This is exactly the way the Devil works today. He comes to young people, new or weaker Believers and whispers to them to do this or do that, tempting them in things which are not right in the sight of God. Instead of turning aside they often listen to him speak.
So here is a warning for anyone … Don’t ever think that just because you worship a living God who wants the best for you … that you will not or cannot be tempted. In fact, you can probably sure that Adam and Eve thought that when they were walking in the Garden.
The truth is, the closer you get to God, the more that Satan is going to try to tempt you … Simply because he doesn’t want anyone becoming a warrior for the army of Christ.
In fact, Satan knows more about us that we know about ourselves … which means that he knows our weaknesses … which means he knows exactly where to tempt us. He isn’t going to tempt you with things that mean nothing to you … He is going to tempt you with whatever it is that you are going to be most likely to give into. Which means we always have to stand guard against him and his tactics.
Scripture tells us that “Stay alert! “Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. ” (1 Peter 5:8).
The great thing about temptation is the fact that God’s word clearly states that no Believer will ever be tempted by more than they can stand. It goes on to say that any time you are tempted, God will give us a way out, as long as we are willing to stand strong and look for it. “God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” (1 Corinthians 10) Unfortunately, we don’t always take His way out!
Someone once said, "You cannot stop a bird flying in your hair but you do not have to build a nest for him to stay in."
Remember this as well … Jesus came to be a perfect example of what we were to become … and during that time he was tempted my Satan. In fact, he was tempted multiple times during the 40 days he spend fasting in the wilderness. (Remember last week’s lesson – What We Can Learn in the Wilderness.) Yet we know he never gave in … and we can also learn a valuable lesson from his temptations. Know the Word of God!
Have you ever noticed how Jesus, our perfect example, stood up to Satan? He simply quoted scripture that went against whatever it was Satan was tempting him with? Maybe we should learn to do the same … of course we would have to know scripture in order to do that, but that isn’t all bad … in fact it’s a good thing.
Back to the Garden of Eden for a moment -- Satan, once the angel of light, deceived our first parents by questioning God's Word: He asked Eve, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?” (Genesis 3:1b) Are you sure this is what God says in His Word? Perhaps God did not say that after all. Perhaps He did not mean what He said! Hell may not even be a literal Hell. And certainly God could not mean for us to accept the Bible literally when it contradicts modern scholarship and scientific teaching! Yes, our Adversary the Devil is very much alive today and is working to destroy the authority of God's Word, the Bible.
The Devil is not terribly interested in leading men and women into gross sin as you might expect. He would be satisfied just to get person’s heart away from God. So he works in a special way in the realm of religion. He wants to substitute his own word for the Word of God. He wants men and women to be in subjection to him rather than to God. He substitutes his own lies for divine truth.
Satan knows the Bible and how he loves to quote Scripture in order to destroy faith. Remember how he tried to persuade Jesus to throw himself down from the temple roof? He argued from Scripture! He told Jesus, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say, ‘He will order his angels to protect you…..’ ” (Matthew 4:6)
Note this well! Satan does not always try to ruin faith by saying, “The Bible isn’t true;” he often tries to destroy our faith by affirming some passage and using it to lead us into disobedience.
All Christians get our “life” from God’s Holy Word. We will perish without it. We cannot let it be taken from us. We should be willing go to jail rather than stop reading it. So what does Satan do? His one aim is to destroy our faith. The Word of God alone keeps faith alive. But we cleave to it and Satan cannot tear it away. So he studies it. How else could he quote “scriptures” to Jesus in the wilderness? He studies it. And he studies how to distort it and pervert it by misinterpretations that kinda’ make sense to us. Especially when we are looking for the easy “way” to be a Christian! Yes, Satan’s distortions of God’s Word must be reasonable so that we are more easily led astray from the actual Word!
Jesus quoted Scripture against Satan’s use of Scripture. He knew the Bible better than Satan.
So what does this mean to us? 1) Do not believe everyone who can quote you a text. History is strewn with cults who twisted the Scriptures to their own destruction. Peter writes of some of Paul’s letters: “His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:16). 2) Read widely in the Bible and ask yourself continually how this part fits with that part and that with this. It is when the pieces start to fit together that we are most secure from distortion. 3) Pray that God will open our eyes to see true and wonderful things in his Word. 4) Obey what you do understand and you will understand more.
So just remember … It is great news that Our God is not dead … but never forget that his evil enemy Satan is not dead either. He is surely alive, and he is living in order to try to get us as Christians to fall …
God's Not Dead by Newsboys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghC3gqNQJPQ
Monday, March 5, 2012
“What We Can Learn in the Wilderness”
“What We Can Learn in the Wilderness”
Jesus is almost ready to begin his public ministry, but first He must go through some things as final preparation. First, He submitted to baptism. Then He had to face temptation. Each of us face slightly different temptations and yet we do not have to give in to any of them because Jesus is sufficient to handle whatever life brings our way.
Wandering in Our Wilderness--Immediately after Jesus was baptized by John and heard God’s voice from Heaven saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11 NIV), things began to change for him. “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness ….” (Matthew 4:1) Jesus went from a very positive experience to an undesirable wilderness. A wilderness is any place we don’t want to be. This wilderness was a place where He found himself alone. His friends were not there. He had no support team to encourage him. Maybe He felt the aloneness intensely--maybe He wandered around for awhile thinking, “What do I do next? Where do I go? How do I handle this?” Mark is the only Gospel writer who says “He was out among the wild animals” (Mark 1:13). As He was in this environment, He was surrounded by danger--a person out there alone at night could have been torn apart by the wild animals.
There are many thoughts we can apply to our own lives from this experience of Jesus. We also have wilderness experiences where we feel alone, feel we are wandering around without knowing what to do or where to turn. We are surrounded by many dangers and temptations that are every bit as threatening to us, or more so, than the wild animals that Jesus faced. Scripture tells us that “Stay alert! “Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. ” (1 Peter 5:8). The devil wanted to tempt Jesus there in His wilderness in order to destroy his work and cancel His mission on earth. Satan did not want Jesus to accomplish the mission he set out to do. He wanted to sidetrack him and he had a perfect opportunity to do so when he was alone in the wilderness.
Satan especially wants to sidetrack all of us from accomplishing our calling for God. He can sidetrack us very subtly and easily. We live in a world of many dangers--danger not only of crime and violence and physical dangers to us but even more so the subtle attacks on our faith. Many people are succumbing to these dangers--first of all by being led away from church, from the teachings of the scriptures and by a greater tolerance to “questionable” things. We begin to compromise--the wild beasts of indifference and apathy toward spiritual things devour us. People more and more will say, “I believe in God and I am a Christian but I don’t go to church.” This is a trick of the devil because church is the place where we are to be built up and nourished in our faith.
Jesus needed to experience a difficult wilderness experience in order to identify with us today--although the things he experienced were different from what we face in our 21st century technological age--there was the same pull of temptation for him to go ahead and give in to sin. Jesus needed to experience the invitation to sin because scripture tells us that He was “…. tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Heb. 4:15 NIV).
Jesus had the invitation to sin. He said, “No thank you. I’ve got other plans.”
Jesus was alone in the wilderness--he had no support group, and no one to give him advice. When things began to hit him adversely, he could have wondered, “Has God abandoned me? Is God not pleased with me? Does God not love me anymore?” These are things Satan uses on us to make us doubt and feel discouraged.
A wife told her husband one day, “You never tell me that you love me. Why don’t you? Why are you not like other men to let me know that you love me?” He answered, “I told you once that I loved you when we got married. If it ever changes I will tell you.”
When God spoke at Jesus’ baptism, He had to rely on that Word, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” He was not hearing repeated confirmations of His Father’s love and concern while out there in the wilderness. God had spoken and He had to believe that Word. In the wilderness there was not the constant reassurance of God’s love. We, too, need to believe God’s Word to us because sometimes there are periods of silence when we don’t feel God’s presence and we don’t hear His Voice reassuring us of his love and concern. We need to hold fast to His promises and scriptures and not allow Satan to tempt us into believing that God has abandoned us or that He does not love us. We need to know what is in Scripture so that it is second nature to us and there when we need it. When God gives you a promise at least once, hang on to that promise. You don’t need to be reassured all of the time. Psalm 119:89 says, “Your eternal word, O LORD, stands firm in heaven.” And this very important (but probably one of the most misquoted scriptures in the Bible) “God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” 1 Corinthians 10:13
We face situations in our everyday life all the time of one sort or another. We are not the strong person we think we are. The wild animals of temptation sometimes devour us. But they didn’t devour Jesus. Why? He could have given in. He had choices to make just like we do. He had constant conflicts throughout his future ministry, not just during the wilderness experience. We do too. Don’t be surprised when things hit you hard at times. Don’t be surprised when your faith seems to be almost devoured. How do we tame the wild beasts that try to devour us in our daily life at work, at home, or any place else that we go?
Examining the Darkness of our Lives--Jesus had to be alert to the dangers surrounding him as he walked around in his wilderness. He had to be aware of what was lurking around the bushes ready to pounce on him unexpectedly. He had to be aware of the deception of Satan who came to offer him, “A good deal.” As the earlier scripture stated we must “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. (I Peter 5:8). You say, “Well, what can I do about that? I don’t have any control over the circumstances of my life.”
1 Peter 5:9 gives us some answers. “Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith.” We have to examine the darkness and wilderness areas of our lives and then begin to resist the devil in those areas just as Jesus did in His wilderness. Just where do we stand in our relationship with the Lord? Have we allowed our faith to be devoured in certain areas? Have we allowed the things of the world to subtly tear us apart to where we no longer know what to believe? Have we become Christian in name only? Has our church attendance become “once in awhile?” and our Bible become lost somewhere in a stack of papers? Let us examine our wilderness. Where are the places we are losing the battle? What are the things that are constantly attacking us--addictive habits, procrastination, conflicts and anxieties. Worries of all kinds that eat away at us? What is trying to come against you to tear you apart? Paul says, “Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine.” (II Cor. 13:5).
Are you doing this? Are you thinking about the things in your life that really get you down? What are your greatest temptations? What do you give in to time and time again? Things that just seem to have a hold on you? We need to be able to identify those things in our own individual lives. In his Gospel, Mark does not point out specific things. Maybe it is because there are all kinds of “wild animals” trying to get to us--to endanger us in our spiritual journey. What are your “wild animals” that need to be tamed?
Reclaiming God’s Call on our Life--You may say, “Yes, Jesus was successful. He didn’t give in because He was Jesus.” He had the opportunity to make a choice just like we do. He made the choice. He could have made a bad choice and never have gone on to fulfill His mission to bring salvation to humankind. He could have checked out when the going got rough. He could have made other plans when he felt alone and abandoned by His Father. In the garden that night when he was arrested, Jesus told his Apostles: “Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? (Matt. 26:53) He could have....
How can we reclaim God’s call on our individual lives once we have identified the things which so easily tempt us and drag us down to failure.
In Psalm 25, David says “O LORD, I give my life to you. (Psalm 25:1). Jesus did exactly that. Alone in the wilderness, where did he turn for help? Did he try to do everything himself? No, he put his dependency upon God and His Word to defeat the trickery of Satan. In the Old Testament times, David had also learned this--to look up in his wilderness--to deliberately lift up his soul to the Lord. By doing this David professes his desire toward God--he had a fixed thought and active faith. I am turning my face toward God--I am putting my dependence in God.
Today have you turned your thoughts to God in your daily life? Not just on Sunday morning but in each day of your life? David did this first of all. Then in the next verse he asks for several things. Rather than asking for a pat answer to his problems he asks for something better verse 4 He says, “Show me the right path, O LORD; “point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.”Many people today just call the psychic hotline for a specific answer to a problem. Here David is not asking for specific answers to one problem--he is asking for God to continually show him the Total Ways of the Lord.
He asks direction from God and also prays to God to teach Him. We can Walk in the Spirit throughout our day--not just once in awhile --because God will be showing us His ways--he will be teaching us to choose one path over another--he will lead us into truth
How does this apply to us? Remember that Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” When we follow Him we know that we are being led in His ways
In our wilderness, we learn that we must intentionally Lift Up our soul to the Lord. It can’t be just once in awhile that we think about the Lord. It needs to be intentional and consistent. We have to make a decision to go to church. A deliberate decision to learn the Scriptures. Not a haphazard “once in awhile” thing.
Then when we ask the Lord to show us his ways, we must intend to follow the ways or why else would he show them to us. We can say, “Lord show me your ways and if I like them I will accept them or if not I will ignore them.” We must determine that we will make every effort to accept His ways once we know what they are.
Our prayers should be: “Lord I lift up my soul. Show me your way. Teach me. Guide me and instruct me.
We have the assurance that He will do exactly that. Psalm 25:8-10 says, “The LORD is good and does what is right; he shows the proper path to those who go astray. He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way. The LORD leads with unfailing love and faithfulness all who keep his covenant and obey his demands.”
Jesus is almost ready to begin his public ministry, but first He must go through some things as final preparation. First, He submitted to baptism. Then He had to face temptation. Each of us face slightly different temptations and yet we do not have to give in to any of them because Jesus is sufficient to handle whatever life brings our way.
Wandering in Our Wilderness--Immediately after Jesus was baptized by John and heard God’s voice from Heaven saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:11 NIV), things began to change for him. “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness ….” (Matthew 4:1) Jesus went from a very positive experience to an undesirable wilderness. A wilderness is any place we don’t want to be. This wilderness was a place where He found himself alone. His friends were not there. He had no support team to encourage him. Maybe He felt the aloneness intensely--maybe He wandered around for awhile thinking, “What do I do next? Where do I go? How do I handle this?” Mark is the only Gospel writer who says “He was out among the wild animals” (Mark 1:13). As He was in this environment, He was surrounded by danger--a person out there alone at night could have been torn apart by the wild animals.
There are many thoughts we can apply to our own lives from this experience of Jesus. We also have wilderness experiences where we feel alone, feel we are wandering around without knowing what to do or where to turn. We are surrounded by many dangers and temptations that are every bit as threatening to us, or more so, than the wild animals that Jesus faced. Scripture tells us that “Stay alert! “Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. ” (1 Peter 5:8). The devil wanted to tempt Jesus there in His wilderness in order to destroy his work and cancel His mission on earth. Satan did not want Jesus to accomplish the mission he set out to do. He wanted to sidetrack him and he had a perfect opportunity to do so when he was alone in the wilderness.
Satan especially wants to sidetrack all of us from accomplishing our calling for God. He can sidetrack us very subtly and easily. We live in a world of many dangers--danger not only of crime and violence and physical dangers to us but even more so the subtle attacks on our faith. Many people are succumbing to these dangers--first of all by being led away from church, from the teachings of the scriptures and by a greater tolerance to “questionable” things. We begin to compromise--the wild beasts of indifference and apathy toward spiritual things devour us. People more and more will say, “I believe in God and I am a Christian but I don’t go to church.” This is a trick of the devil because church is the place where we are to be built up and nourished in our faith.
Jesus needed to experience a difficult wilderness experience in order to identify with us today--although the things he experienced were different from what we face in our 21st century technological age--there was the same pull of temptation for him to go ahead and give in to sin. Jesus needed to experience the invitation to sin because scripture tells us that He was “…. tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.” (Heb. 4:15 NIV).
Jesus had the invitation to sin. He said, “No thank you. I’ve got other plans.”
Jesus was alone in the wilderness--he had no support group, and no one to give him advice. When things began to hit him adversely, he could have wondered, “Has God abandoned me? Is God not pleased with me? Does God not love me anymore?” These are things Satan uses on us to make us doubt and feel discouraged.
A wife told her husband one day, “You never tell me that you love me. Why don’t you? Why are you not like other men to let me know that you love me?” He answered, “I told you once that I loved you when we got married. If it ever changes I will tell you.”
When God spoke at Jesus’ baptism, He had to rely on that Word, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” He was not hearing repeated confirmations of His Father’s love and concern while out there in the wilderness. God had spoken and He had to believe that Word. In the wilderness there was not the constant reassurance of God’s love. We, too, need to believe God’s Word to us because sometimes there are periods of silence when we don’t feel God’s presence and we don’t hear His Voice reassuring us of his love and concern. We need to hold fast to His promises and scriptures and not allow Satan to tempt us into believing that God has abandoned us or that He does not love us. We need to know what is in Scripture so that it is second nature to us and there when we need it. When God gives you a promise at least once, hang on to that promise. You don’t need to be reassured all of the time. Psalm 119:89 says, “Your eternal word, O LORD, stands firm in heaven.” And this very important (but probably one of the most misquoted scriptures in the Bible) “God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.” 1 Corinthians 10:13
We face situations in our everyday life all the time of one sort or another. We are not the strong person we think we are. The wild animals of temptation sometimes devour us. But they didn’t devour Jesus. Why? He could have given in. He had choices to make just like we do. He had constant conflicts throughout his future ministry, not just during the wilderness experience. We do too. Don’t be surprised when things hit you hard at times. Don’t be surprised when your faith seems to be almost devoured. How do we tame the wild beasts that try to devour us in our daily life at work, at home, or any place else that we go?
Examining the Darkness of our Lives--Jesus had to be alert to the dangers surrounding him as he walked around in his wilderness. He had to be aware of what was lurking around the bushes ready to pounce on him unexpectedly. He had to be aware of the deception of Satan who came to offer him, “A good deal.” As the earlier scripture stated we must “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. (I Peter 5:8). You say, “Well, what can I do about that? I don’t have any control over the circumstances of my life.”
1 Peter 5:9 gives us some answers. “Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith.” We have to examine the darkness and wilderness areas of our lives and then begin to resist the devil in those areas just as Jesus did in His wilderness. Just where do we stand in our relationship with the Lord? Have we allowed our faith to be devoured in certain areas? Have we allowed the things of the world to subtly tear us apart to where we no longer know what to believe? Have we become Christian in name only? Has our church attendance become “once in awhile?” and our Bible become lost somewhere in a stack of papers? Let us examine our wilderness. Where are the places we are losing the battle? What are the things that are constantly attacking us--addictive habits, procrastination, conflicts and anxieties. Worries of all kinds that eat away at us? What is trying to come against you to tear you apart? Paul says, “Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine.” (II Cor. 13:5).
Are you doing this? Are you thinking about the things in your life that really get you down? What are your greatest temptations? What do you give in to time and time again? Things that just seem to have a hold on you? We need to be able to identify those things in our own individual lives. In his Gospel, Mark does not point out specific things. Maybe it is because there are all kinds of “wild animals” trying to get to us--to endanger us in our spiritual journey. What are your “wild animals” that need to be tamed?
Reclaiming God’s Call on our Life--You may say, “Yes, Jesus was successful. He didn’t give in because He was Jesus.” He had the opportunity to make a choice just like we do. He made the choice. He could have made a bad choice and never have gone on to fulfill His mission to bring salvation to humankind. He could have checked out when the going got rough. He could have made other plans when he felt alone and abandoned by His Father. In the garden that night when he was arrested, Jesus told his Apostles: “Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? (Matt. 26:53) He could have....
How can we reclaim God’s call on our individual lives once we have identified the things which so easily tempt us and drag us down to failure.
In Psalm 25, David says “O LORD, I give my life to you. (Psalm 25:1). Jesus did exactly that. Alone in the wilderness, where did he turn for help? Did he try to do everything himself? No, he put his dependency upon God and His Word to defeat the trickery of Satan. In the Old Testament times, David had also learned this--to look up in his wilderness--to deliberately lift up his soul to the Lord. By doing this David professes his desire toward God--he had a fixed thought and active faith. I am turning my face toward God--I am putting my dependence in God.
Today have you turned your thoughts to God in your daily life? Not just on Sunday morning but in each day of your life? David did this first of all. Then in the next verse he asks for several things. Rather than asking for a pat answer to his problems he asks for something better verse 4 He says, “Show me the right path, O LORD; “point out the road for me to follow. Lead me by your truth and teach me, for you are the God who saves me. All day long I put my hope in you.”Many people today just call the psychic hotline for a specific answer to a problem. Here David is not asking for specific answers to one problem--he is asking for God to continually show him the Total Ways of the Lord.
He asks direction from God and also prays to God to teach Him. We can Walk in the Spirit throughout our day--not just once in awhile --because God will be showing us His ways--he will be teaching us to choose one path over another--he will lead us into truth
How does this apply to us? Remember that Jesus said in John 14:6 “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” When we follow Him we know that we are being led in His ways
In our wilderness, we learn that we must intentionally Lift Up our soul to the Lord. It can’t be just once in awhile that we think about the Lord. It needs to be intentional and consistent. We have to make a decision to go to church. A deliberate decision to learn the Scriptures. Not a haphazard “once in awhile” thing.
Then when we ask the Lord to show us his ways, we must intend to follow the ways or why else would he show them to us. We can say, “Lord show me your ways and if I like them I will accept them or if not I will ignore them.” We must determine that we will make every effort to accept His ways once we know what they are.
Our prayers should be: “Lord I lift up my soul. Show me your way. Teach me. Guide me and instruct me.
We have the assurance that He will do exactly that. Psalm 25:8-10 says, “The LORD is good and does what is right; he shows the proper path to those who go astray. He leads the humble in doing right, teaching them his way. The LORD leads with unfailing love and faithfulness all who keep his covenant and obey his demands.”
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