How to Get Everything You Need from the Gospel
Jesus + Nothing = Everything
“The Spirit alone gives eternal life. Human effort accomplishes nothing.” John 6:6
Jesus intends the Gospel message to do much more than just ignite your faith. The Gospel contains the power to meet all your needs every day if you rely on it regularly instead of trying to live the Christian life through your own efforts.
When you draw your strength from the Gospel, you can have everything that really matters – even if you have nothing that the world offers. “Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.” (Romans 8:19)
Here’s how you can get everything you need from the Gospel:
Pay attention to your restless feelings. Notice the different ways you feel restless. What changes do you want to make in your life? What are you hungering for that you don’t have? What are you pursuing that isn’t satisfying you? Every time you identify the source of a restless feeling in your life, keep in mind that it’s a signal meant to direct you to your ultimate need: a relationship with God.
Identify where you’re really placing your trust. Reflect on the daily decisions you make in various situations to figure out whether you’re placing your trust in Jesus or in lesser things like your work, your money, your health, your reputation, your goals, your achievements, your hobby, a relationship with a person you love, etc. Realize that anything that your heart is drawn to more than Jesus Himself is an idol in your life that is dangerous to you spiritually. Remind yourself of the truth that only Jesus can ultimately fulfill you. Idols tempt you by seeming to offer what you want and need, but in reality, they don’t have the power to provide it. Ask God to help you determine what source you’re truly turning to for needs such as acceptance, approval, security, significance, meaning, purpose, identity, and direction. Whenever you discover that you’re really trusting in someone or something other than Jesus to meet your deepest needs, pray for the Holy Spirit to renew your mind so you can focus on Jesus alone to meet those needs.
Break free of the enslaving pressure of do-it-yourself morality. Stop wasting time and effort trying to follow religious “rules” in your own strength and face the fact that, no matter how hard you work at changing your external behavior, you’re powerless to achieve any real and lasting change in your soul on your own. Focusing on your own spiritual performance will only make you self-absorbed, which will ironically draw you farther away from God – the opposite of your goal to get closer to God. But if you decide instead to place your trust entirely in the Gospel message (that Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross for you is what makes you righteous before God), then Jesus’ power will be at work in your soul, drawing you closer to God every day.
Realize why a relationship with Jesus is everything you’ll ever need. Devote some time to thinking about how Jesus is sovereign and supreme over all of creation and let those thoughts nurture a sense of awestruck wonder within your soul. Remind yourself of the Bible’s promises that all the fullness of God is within Jesus. Stop robbing yourself of the freedom Jesus secured for you by seeking what you need and from lesser things instead of Jesus Himself. Decide to place your trust in Jesus to be all things to you (such as your justification, freedom, grace, peace, hope, joy, and love). Realize that, through your relationship with Jesus, you already possess everything you’ll ever need – you simply need to receive the treasures that Jesus is offering you every day as you walk with Him through life.
Trust in daily grace to deal with your daily sin. When you’re confronted by the sin in your life each day, you don’t have to despair because you’re failing to measure up to perfection. Remember that you don’t have to be good for God to love you; God loves you unconditionally and He will make you good because He loves you. So whenever you become aware of sin in your life, confess it to God, repent, and rely on the grace that He will give you to grow beyond it. Transfer your trust from your own efforts to be successful to Jesus’ success for you – His sacrifice for your sins, which is already finished. When you stop dwelling on your own efforts to be holy and start focusing on how beautiful Jesus’ holiness is, you’ll start to become holier in the process because Jesus’ power will be at work in your mind.
Don’t be afraid to have nothing from the world’s perspective, since you have everything from God’s perspective. The Gospel’s power to give you everything you truly need frees you from the pressure of needing to prove anything or protect anything in your life. Realize that even if circumstances strip away everything that the world says is important from your life, absolutely nothing can ever separate you from God’s love or prevent Him from meeting your deepest needs when you trust Him to do so. Know that Jesus’ strength at work on your behalf overcomes all of your weaknesses, and Jesus’ blessings are more than enough to make up for anything that you lack.
Show others who need Jesus how the Gospel’s power is changing your life. Rather than trying to impress seekers with an image of how good a person you are (which will only discourage them when they compare themselves to you and think that that they’re not good enough to enjoy relationships with Jesus), show them honestly how you’re relying on the Gospel’s power to overcome the sin in your life. When they see that, seekers will be captivated by the Gospel’s power and drawn toward Jesus and the hope that He offers them. Most people had rather “see” a sermon than “hear” one!
Root your identity in your relationship with Jesus. Resist the world’s pressures to derive your identity from anything less than your relationship with Jesus. Remind yourself often that your connection with Jesus is the truest definition of who you are, and make that the basis for your confidence and all of your decisions.
Let God’s love for you inspire you to obey Him. Reflect on God’s love for you often to remind yourself that He wants the very best for you. Ask the Holy Spirit to renew your mind so that you come to love what God loves and hate what God hates. Rely on the Gospel’s power to be obedient to God’s will so you can experience the full amount of blessings that He wants to give you.
31 What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? 32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? 33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. 34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. (Romans 8:31-34)
38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. 39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-30)
Monday, May 21, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Jesus Promises to Send a Helper
Jesus Promises to Send a Helper
From Spirit Rising by Jim Cymbala
(This is directly from the book with no editing.)
During the Last Supper, Jesus told his disciples - the students who had learned from him and been friends with him for three years¬ that he was going away. Imagine how upset the disciples must have been to hear such a thing! He was their leader. He was a miracle worker. He was the one with the perfectly wise response when the Pharisees verbally cornered them. When he spoke, he spoke with an authority unlike any other teacher they had ever heard. No one had ever done that before.
How could he leave them? How could he leave them now, when they needed him most? And more confusing, he said that his leaving would benefit them. "But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away" (John 16:7, emphasis added).
That statement must have flabbergasted the disciples. How could it be good that Jesus went away? This was the teacher they had eaten with, walked with, traveled with, watched, and learned from. Any benefit from his leaving had to be impossible for them to understand.
Fortunately, Jesus explained the reason why. "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever - the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you" (John 14:16 -17). Then again he said, "But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you" (16:7).
Now the whole picture began to unfold. The Father sent the Son to accomplish a specific work, to attest to God's love. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). God would show that love by sacrificing his Son on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. And after the Son accomplished his work on the cross, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven, the Son would send the Spirit.
Although the disciples couldn't comprehend it at the time, it was bet¬ter for them to have the invisible Holy Spirit in them than it was to have the physical Jesus with them. The divine person who was coming would help them understand every¬thing he had said. But they would have to wait until Jesus returned to heaven before the Spirit would come.
THE HOLY SPIRIT
Acts 1 tells us that after Jesus rose from the dead, he spent forty days making appearances among the apostles and talking about the king¬dom of God. Jesus also told them, "'Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about .... [And] you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth'" (vv. 4, 8).
They did as they were told, gathering in a house in Jerusalem to pray and worship God while they waited for the promise God made. "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them" (Acts 2:1- 4).
Suddenly they received something from heaven, something that was far beyond their intelligence, talents, and training - the coming of the Holy Spirit in power. For the first time, they understood why it was good that Jesus went away. The Helper had come, and although Jesus was gone, the invisible Spirit had now taken residence in them and granted them power.
Perhaps the best way to understand what Jesus meant by say¬ing it would be better for the disciples after he left is to look at the life of Peter. In the Gospels, Peter often spoke at the wrong time, misunderstood the meaning of Jesus' teachings, and tended toward boasting of his superiority over the other disciples. But when Jesus was arrested, Peter not only fled, but he also cursed and denied even knowing Jesus!
Why was Peter so weak and mistake prone?
How could Peter deny the Messiah who had selected him as part of his inner circle and worked countless miracles right before his eyes?
Didn't Peter have a gifted teacher? Yes, it was Jesus himself.
Did Peter lack a great role model and example to follow? No, he had the perfect role model in Jesus Christ in the flesh.
So then, what did all of those educational and inspirational resources do for Peter?
Not enough.
On the night Jesus was betrayed and arrested, Peter fled like everyone else.
With three and a half years of excellent discipleship under his belt, Peter learned the harsh truth we all have confronted - it's one thing to know the Word, but it's quite another to obey it. Even the best discipleship training and spiritual accountability proved insuf¬ficient for Peter, because no outward teaching can compare to the inward power of the Holy Spirit. If you need proof, look at Peter on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit was poured out. Though the political climate hadn't changed from the time Jesus was arrested and cruci¬fied, Peter now preached boldly about the name of Jesus to massive crowds. This was a new Peter! He was filled with the Spirit. Jesus' promise about the Holy Spirit's power was right there to see in Peter's life. Suddenly that failed disciple was preaching with such amazing effectiveness that thousands converted to Christ. Jesus had been with Peter, but now the Spirit was in him.
If we follow Peter's story through the book of Acts, we see him continuing to act with wisdom and courage. He was a different man. Jesus' words had come to fulfillment: "But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away" (John 16:7). Through his physi¬cal body, Jesus could be a mentor, teacher, preacher, and friend to the disciples, but he couldn't produce change from the inside out. This would be for the Spirit to accomplish just as God had planned from all eternity.
The Birth of the Church
The Christian church was born through the power of the Spirit. As we read through the rest of the book of Acts and the epistles of the New Testament, we see a picture of the early church the way God intended it to be. "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teach¬ing and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer" (2:42). Here was a community of believers who freely loved the Word of God and were devoted to the apostles' teaching. No one needed to bad¬ger or coerce them to love the Word. Instead, the Spirit within them inspired it. The same Spirit who wrote the Bible created an appe¬tite inside of them for what it said. They shared with one another the deep love the Spirit had put in their hearts. They also became bold witnesses for Christ, filled with wisdom beyond their training. Their hearts were full of the Holy Spirit, and they experienced surprises as God did things that no one could anticipate.
Not only had the Holy Spirit been sent to earth, but he was also moving. He acted in and through his people - he demonstrated his power to glorify Christ. The early church experienced him moving in their hearts and in their lives. Because of the hostile environment around them, they were repeatedly driven back to God for a fresh supply of the Holy Spirit, and they were wise enough to yield to his direction. Is the Holy Spirit moving like that in our lives? And in our churches?
Many people find it easy to relate to God the Father and Jesus the Son, but when it comes to the role of the Spirit in their lives, they don't have a clear picture of who he is or what he does. Do you ever feel that way? What about your life and your church? When you read about the power of the Holy Spirit in the life of Peter and in the early church, did it remind you of your own experience of the Holy Spirit? Or did you find yourself longing for something more?
I sometimes wonder, if the early Christians were around today, would they even recognize what we call Christianity? Our version is blander, almost totally intellectual in nature, and devoid of the Holy Spirit power the early church regularly experienced. How much loss do we suffer because we don't expect the Spirit to show up as promised? Everything we read about the church in the New Testament centered on the power of the Holy Spirit working in the hearts of Christian believers. Sadly, for many of us, this has not been our experience.
I believe it's time to return to the kind of faith we see in the New Testament church. They believed in Christ's word, they expected the Spirit to do great things, and he came through as promised.
He will do the same for us today.
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
How to Ask God for a Miracle
How to Ask God for a Miracle
Since everything is possible for God, (Jesus says this in Mark 9:23 “Anything is possible if a person believes.”) we can experience miracles in our lives when we invite God to intervene – even in situations that seem impossible. But too often, people neglect to ask God for miracles in their lives, and end up settling for far less than God’s best for them. It is important for us to stop a moment and look at what the Bible says about “asking”. James writes in verses 4:2-4 that “Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it. And even when you ask, you don’t get it because your motives are all wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure.”
We can always approach God with confidence if we trust in His Son, Jesus Christ. So we don’t need to hesitate to pray about anything, including miracles! Paul tells us to not “ …worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.” Here’s how we can ask God for a miracle:
Forget formulas and simply seek God’s presence. “Search for the LORD and for his strength; continually seek him.” (Psalms 105:4)There are no magical formulas to use to conjure up miracles. Instead, miracles happen whenever we welcome God’s powerful presence into the situations we face. So we don’t have to worry about trying to pray perfect prayers to convince God to do something miraculous in our lives. Simply invite God to work in every situation in which we’re seeking miracles, and trust Him to do what’s best after we ask Him to intervene.
Consider what may be blocking miracles from happening in our lives. Sometimes the particular miracle we’re seeking isn’t God’s will, sometimes spiritual warfare is occurring in our lives and evil is blocking a miracle from happening, sometimes we have sin in our life (such as bitterness) that is preventing a miracle from taking place. David says “If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.” (Psalms 66:18) And sometimes we don’t have enough faith to believe that God can really perform the miracle we’re hoping for. Remember when Jesus came down from the “mountain of transfiguration” and he cast out a demon, his disciples asked why they couldn’t perform this miracle. Jesus told them: “You don’t have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” (Matthew 17:20)
Pray about each of these potential blockages, and then relax, trusting that God has the situation covered and will answer our prayers with what’s best.
View miracles as expressions of how much God loves us. Recognize that every time God does choose to perform a miracle in our life, He is showing us His love for us in a tangible way. Be sure to thank God for His love whenever we experience a miracle.
Ask God to guide us to the truth about His will. If we’re not sure whether or not it’s God’s will to perform a particular miracle in our life, we need to ask Him to make His will clear to us and tell Him that we want His will – not our own will – to be done. Remember Jesus praying in the garden at Gethsemane - “Abba, Father,” he cried out, “everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine” (Mark 14:35)
Ask God to help our unbelief. Remember the story of the father that came to Jesus to help his son? The father says to Jesus “Have mercy on us and help us, if you can.” “What do you mean, ‘If I can’?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:22-24)
Confess our doubts and lack of faith to God and ask Him to meet us where we are spiritually to help us believe that He is able to do what He says He will do in our lives.
Obey God’s command to forgive so our prayers won’t be hindered. Jesus said “But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” (Matthew 6:15) If we’re unwilling to forgive someone who has hurt or offended us, that refusal to forgive can hinder our prayers from being answered, because God sometimes (maybe most of the time) waits until we obey His commands before answering prayers. Remember how much God has forgiven us, and let that motivate us to obey His call to forgive others. Ask God to help us forgive; we can choose to forgive even when we don’t feel like it and rely on the strength God will give us during the forgiveness process.
Fight evil through spiritual warfare. Paul writes to the church at Ephesus “…Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on all of God’s armor so that you will be able to stand firm against all strategies of the devil. For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:10-12)
If evil in the spiritual realm is hindering miracles from happening in our lives, pray breakthrough prayers against evil to clear the way for more miracles to occur in our lives. We should start by confessing our sins that come to mind, and then repent of each one specifically. Next, ask (in Jesus’ name and through the power of His blood) for the Holy Spirit to help us and the people we’re praying for be victorious over all evil attacks. Ask God to protect us and those we’re praying for from future attacks by evil. Pray for any bondages that we (or the people we’re praying for) are under to be broken so we and they can experience the freedom God intends. As we’re praying, mention each issue specifically – from unhealthy addictions (such as to alcohol or pornography) and personal struggles (with jealousy, greed, gossip, lying, anger, anxiety, or any other issues) to negative words that others may have spoken about us. Then ask God to bless us and those we’re praying for in the name of Jesus.
Praise God more through worship. We can experience more miracles when we spend more time praising God in worship, because worship ushers God’s power into our life in fresh ways and helps us to “hear” His voice more clearly as He leads us toward miracles. Make a habit of praising God for who He is, during both good and bad times in our lives.
Live a life that’s completely devoted to God. “Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God.” (Romans 6:13) When we devote ourselves to God completely – in every area of our lives – we’ll notice more miracles happening in our lives. Seek God’s guidance before making any major decision, and ask the Holy Spirit to change our own desires to reflect God’s desires for us. Live for God (rather than for ourselves), and be willing to say “yes” whenever God calls us to help people in need.
Take the steps that God shows us. As we seek God’s will for our lives, sometimes God will give us clear signs to follow, and sometimes He will simply give us a sense of peace. Humbly pray for wisdom every day and step out in faith whenever God shows us a way in which he wants us to put our faith into action. In the process, miracles can happen.
Don’t give up until God answers our prayers. “One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. 2“There was a judge in a certain city,” he said, “who neither feared God nor cared about people. 3 A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, ‘Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.’ 4 The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, ‘I don’t fear God or care about people, 5 but this woman is driving me crazy. I’m going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!’”
6 Then the Lord said, “Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. 7 Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don’t you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?” (Luke 18:1-8)
Since God’s timing (which is perfect) often takes longer than the immediate results that human beings like to see, many people give up praying for miracles when they don’t see answers to their prayers right away. (I often tell story of an older, very nice and wonderful lady that once told the pastor “to take ____ off the prayer list because he wasn’t going to get any better.) But God will always answer our prayers with either a “yes” or a “no” or “not now” that’s clear; we just need to patiently wait until the right time for the answer to come. In the meantime, never give up praying and trusting God to do what’s best.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
HE'S STILL GOD, EVEN IN THE VALLEY
HE'S STILL GOD, EVEN IN THE VALLEY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM8PaZQg3ww&feature=related
“The Israelite gods are gods of the hills; that is why they won. But we can beat them easily on the plains.” 1 Kings 20:23
There had been some treacherous times for the people of Israel. Their wicked king, Ahab, had been guilty of leading the people to worship the Canaanite god Baal, instead of the Lord God Jehovah. As a result, wickedness filled the land of Israel and they were headed on a collision course with the judgment of God. However, in the midst of their sins, God still loved His people. Thank God, His love never fails. “Long ago the LORD said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.” (Jer. 31:3)
During this time, Israel was attacked by the neighbor to the east, Syria. When this battle was waged, God allowed Ahab and the people of Israel to defeat the Syrians and to claim the victory. However, Ahab is notified that the Syrians do not plan to accept defeat so easily. He is told that they will return to fight again. It is this second battle that we want to look at in this lesson. There are truths taught here that will help each of us as we journey for the Lord in these days.
In the Syrian army we see a picture of our adversary, the devil. When we are enabled by the Lord to win a victory against him, we can count on him returning to fight another day. His desire is to see us defeated one way or the other. If he doesn't win in one area of our life, he will change the direction of his attack and come at us again – “Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. (1 Pet. 5:8). We will see that this is just what the Syrian army tried against Israel. However, just as the Syrians were defeated and Israel walked in victory, we can walk in victory too! Let’s look at a few simple truths from this passage that let us know that He Is Still God, Even In The Valleys Of Life.
A DANGEROUS ASSUMPTION
The Syrians make a dangerous assumption concerning the God of the Israelites. Since they were defeated in the first battle on the hills surrounding Samaria, they assume that the Israelite God is a mountain God only. Their strategy is to get the Israelites to fight in the valley, where they think they will easily defeat them. For the Syrians this would be a costly assumption, however, it is a gamble the devil makes all the time.
You see, when we are on the "mountain" spiritually, we are hard for the devil to handle. When we are walking around with a shout in our soul and glory in our hearts, we are a force to be reckoned with. It is hard for Satan to defeat an excited Christian. Maybe that is why Nehemiah said "the joy of the LORD is your strength." (Neh. 8:10)
If the devil squeezes us and all he gets is praise to God for His efforts, he is likely to stop squeezing after a while!
It was advertised that the devil was going to put his tools up for sale. On the date of the sale the tools were placed for public inspection, each being marked with its sale price. There were a treacherous lot of implements. Hatred, Envy, Jealousy, Doubt, Lying, Pride, and so on. Laid apart from the rest of the pile was a harmless-looking tool, well-worn and priced very high. "What is the name of that tool?" asked one of the purchasers.
"Oh," said the adversary, "that's Discouragement." "Why have you priced it so high?"
"Because it's more useful to me than the others. I can pry open and get inside a person's heart with that one, when I cannot get near him with other tools. Now once I get inside, I can make him do what I choose. It's a badly worn tool, because I use it on almost everyone since few people know it belongs to me."
The devil's price for Discouragement was so high, he never sold it. It's still his major tool, and he still uses it on God's people today. It has been said that "Discouragement is the handle that fits all the devil's tools." The idea here is that Satan knows that when we are on the mountain, we are hard to get at. Therefore, he assumes that if he can get us in the valley, we will be easier to defeat. Sadly, he has been right in many, many cases. If the devil can get us to focus on the negative aspects of any situation, he can get us discouraged. If he can get us discouraged, he can get us defeated. If he can get us defeated, he can steal the victory of the Lord right out of our heart.)
Sometimes we need to reminded of this statement: life is 10% about what happens to us and 90% about we react to what happens to us! If we develop a "woe is me" attitude concerning the events of life, then we are going to be easy prey for the devil.
Has the devil tried this trap in your life? Has he used the tool of discouragement on you? We can almost guarantee that he has! Not to give him any credit, but discouragement works better on most of us than any other tactic the devil can try. If he can just get us off that mountain top, we will be easier for him to handle!
DYNAMIC ANNOUNCEMENT
There was only one problem with the Syrian's assumption concerning God: God was greater than they thought He was! He sends his prophet to tell Ahab that God is going to prove Himself to be God of the valley as well as God of the mountain. He assures His people of victory!
Today we need to be reminded that God is bigger than our valley. It is easier to serve the Lord when we are on the mountain top. It is easier when we are excited about the Lord and about His work. However, when we go into one of the valley experiences of life, His is still God! When we enter the valley of physical pain, He is still God! When we enter the valley of spiritual discouragement, He is still God. When we enter the valley of sorrow, He is still God. Regardless of the valley we are forced to enter, we will find out that He is still God!
That is why the Bible is literally filled with promises that teach us that God is in control. Verses like Rom. 8:28 – “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them”; 1 Cor. 15:57 - “But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ”; 2 Cor. 4:17 - For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!”, and others let us know that our God is determined to prove to us that He is God in every circumstance that we face.
For us, victory begins to be realized when we come to understand that Satan wants us to be defeated, but that God has promised we can walk in the victory in spite of our circumstances. When everything around us suggests that we should be discouraged and defeated, God still says that we have the victory. "… despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.” (Rom. 8:37)
In the final analysis, genuine spiritual victory is never a matter of what we are facing in life. Genuine spiritual victory is simple faith in the promises of God. We are victorious, not because everything is perfect in our life, we are victorious because God is in control of our life and He says that we are victorious. Therefore, regardless of the situation, we can rest in the promise of God. The battle may raging around us, but it does not have to rage within us! While we may be in the battle, God has already won the war and we are victorious because He said so!
This lesson is not promoting "positive thinking”. It is promoting taking God at His word and believing what He tells us, instead of what the devil or the flesh may be saying.
More than anything else, the path out of the valley begins with the ability to surrender to God in every circumstance. )
A DIVINE ACCOMPLISHMENT
The people of Israel believed God and enjoyed a tremendous victory over the Syrian army. They saw their enemy put to flight by the power of God working through them.
This is the place God desires to bring us to. He wants us to come to that place where we realize that He is God regardless of what we are facing. He wants us to get our eyes off our need and get them “on Jesus.” (Heb. 12:2) He wants us to know that He is able, as Paul writes in Ephesians. 3:20. “…. through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
So regardless of what we think about what we are facing, God is still God! Shame on us when we live like He isn't!
This is where the victory is enjoyed. Notice not won! Why not? Because God has already won all our victories for us. We live in defeat and discouragement because we refuse to embrace victory by faith. We should never allow Satan or the flesh to cause us to wallow in our valley. Never allow them to get us discouraged, or to cause us to think that God is unable or unwilling to help us out. The truth of the matter is this: victory is available, all the time, in every situation, for every child of God. Then why don't most Christians have victory in their lives? Simply because they are waiting for a “feeling” instead of accepting what God has already given us by faith!
There is no way of knowing what all of us are facing today. It may be that the devil has and is using the tool of discouragement in our life. It may be that we feel defeated and a million miles away from the mountain top. But we need to be reminded one more time that God is God when we are on the mountain and that He is also still God when we are down in the valley. The secret to enjoying the mountains and the valleys is learning that God is in control. If we can do that, then whether we are on top or on bottom, we will always be on the mountain in our “heart” and victory will always be ours. If we can get there we'll be a hard nut for the devil to crack. The first step in arriving at that place is learning to bring our burdens to Jesus.
Many New Testament promises have corresponding verses in the Old Testament that reinforce their power. When Peter, for example, said, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you." (1 Peter 5:7), he was just restating David's words in Psalm 55:22: "Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall."
Do you have a burden too big to bear? Why not take a few moments to tell Jesus about it. Take your burden to the Lord, then leave it there by faith, casting all your concerns on Him, for He cares for you. After all, He is still God, even in the valley!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM8PaZQg3ww&feature=related
“The Israelite gods are gods of the hills; that is why they won. But we can beat them easily on the plains.” 1 Kings 20:23
There had been some treacherous times for the people of Israel. Their wicked king, Ahab, had been guilty of leading the people to worship the Canaanite god Baal, instead of the Lord God Jehovah. As a result, wickedness filled the land of Israel and they were headed on a collision course with the judgment of God. However, in the midst of their sins, God still loved His people. Thank God, His love never fails. “Long ago the LORD said to Israel: “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.” (Jer. 31:3)
During this time, Israel was attacked by the neighbor to the east, Syria. When this battle was waged, God allowed Ahab and the people of Israel to defeat the Syrians and to claim the victory. However, Ahab is notified that the Syrians do not plan to accept defeat so easily. He is told that they will return to fight again. It is this second battle that we want to look at in this lesson. There are truths taught here that will help each of us as we journey for the Lord in these days.
In the Syrian army we see a picture of our adversary, the devil. When we are enabled by the Lord to win a victory against him, we can count on him returning to fight another day. His desire is to see us defeated one way or the other. If he doesn't win in one area of our life, he will change the direction of his attack and come at us again – “Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. (1 Pet. 5:8). We will see that this is just what the Syrian army tried against Israel. However, just as the Syrians were defeated and Israel walked in victory, we can walk in victory too! Let’s look at a few simple truths from this passage that let us know that He Is Still God, Even In The Valleys Of Life.
A DANGEROUS ASSUMPTION
The Syrians make a dangerous assumption concerning the God of the Israelites. Since they were defeated in the first battle on the hills surrounding Samaria, they assume that the Israelite God is a mountain God only. Their strategy is to get the Israelites to fight in the valley, where they think they will easily defeat them. For the Syrians this would be a costly assumption, however, it is a gamble the devil makes all the time.
You see, when we are on the "mountain" spiritually, we are hard for the devil to handle. When we are walking around with a shout in our soul and glory in our hearts, we are a force to be reckoned with. It is hard for Satan to defeat an excited Christian. Maybe that is why Nehemiah said "the joy of the LORD is your strength." (Neh. 8:10)
If the devil squeezes us and all he gets is praise to God for His efforts, he is likely to stop squeezing after a while!
It was advertised that the devil was going to put his tools up for sale. On the date of the sale the tools were placed for public inspection, each being marked with its sale price. There were a treacherous lot of implements. Hatred, Envy, Jealousy, Doubt, Lying, Pride, and so on. Laid apart from the rest of the pile was a harmless-looking tool, well-worn and priced very high. "What is the name of that tool?" asked one of the purchasers.
"Oh," said the adversary, "that's Discouragement." "Why have you priced it so high?"
"Because it's more useful to me than the others. I can pry open and get inside a person's heart with that one, when I cannot get near him with other tools. Now once I get inside, I can make him do what I choose. It's a badly worn tool, because I use it on almost everyone since few people know it belongs to me."
The devil's price for Discouragement was so high, he never sold it. It's still his major tool, and he still uses it on God's people today. It has been said that "Discouragement is the handle that fits all the devil's tools." The idea here is that Satan knows that when we are on the mountain, we are hard to get at. Therefore, he assumes that if he can get us in the valley, we will be easier to defeat. Sadly, he has been right in many, many cases. If the devil can get us to focus on the negative aspects of any situation, he can get us discouraged. If he can get us discouraged, he can get us defeated. If he can get us defeated, he can steal the victory of the Lord right out of our heart.)
Sometimes we need to reminded of this statement: life is 10% about what happens to us and 90% about we react to what happens to us! If we develop a "woe is me" attitude concerning the events of life, then we are going to be easy prey for the devil.
Has the devil tried this trap in your life? Has he used the tool of discouragement on you? We can almost guarantee that he has! Not to give him any credit, but discouragement works better on most of us than any other tactic the devil can try. If he can just get us off that mountain top, we will be easier for him to handle!
DYNAMIC ANNOUNCEMENT
There was only one problem with the Syrian's assumption concerning God: God was greater than they thought He was! He sends his prophet to tell Ahab that God is going to prove Himself to be God of the valley as well as God of the mountain. He assures His people of victory!
Today we need to be reminded that God is bigger than our valley. It is easier to serve the Lord when we are on the mountain top. It is easier when we are excited about the Lord and about His work. However, when we go into one of the valley experiences of life, His is still God! When we enter the valley of physical pain, He is still God! When we enter the valley of spiritual discouragement, He is still God. When we enter the valley of sorrow, He is still God. Regardless of the valley we are forced to enter, we will find out that He is still God!
That is why the Bible is literally filled with promises that teach us that God is in control. Verses like Rom. 8:28 – “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them”; 1 Cor. 15:57 - “But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ”; 2 Cor. 4:17 - For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever!”, and others let us know that our God is determined to prove to us that He is God in every circumstance that we face.
For us, victory begins to be realized when we come to understand that Satan wants us to be defeated, but that God has promised we can walk in the victory in spite of our circumstances. When everything around us suggests that we should be discouraged and defeated, God still says that we have the victory. "… despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.” (Rom. 8:37)
In the final analysis, genuine spiritual victory is never a matter of what we are facing in life. Genuine spiritual victory is simple faith in the promises of God. We are victorious, not because everything is perfect in our life, we are victorious because God is in control of our life and He says that we are victorious. Therefore, regardless of the situation, we can rest in the promise of God. The battle may raging around us, but it does not have to rage within us! While we may be in the battle, God has already won the war and we are victorious because He said so!
This lesson is not promoting "positive thinking”. It is promoting taking God at His word and believing what He tells us, instead of what the devil or the flesh may be saying.
More than anything else, the path out of the valley begins with the ability to surrender to God in every circumstance. )
A DIVINE ACCOMPLISHMENT
The people of Israel believed God and enjoyed a tremendous victory over the Syrian army. They saw their enemy put to flight by the power of God working through them.
This is the place God desires to bring us to. He wants us to come to that place where we realize that He is God regardless of what we are facing. He wants us to get our eyes off our need and get them “on Jesus.” (Heb. 12:2) He wants us to know that He is able, as Paul writes in Ephesians. 3:20. “…. through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.
So regardless of what we think about what we are facing, God is still God! Shame on us when we live like He isn't!
This is where the victory is enjoyed. Notice not won! Why not? Because God has already won all our victories for us. We live in defeat and discouragement because we refuse to embrace victory by faith. We should never allow Satan or the flesh to cause us to wallow in our valley. Never allow them to get us discouraged, or to cause us to think that God is unable or unwilling to help us out. The truth of the matter is this: victory is available, all the time, in every situation, for every child of God. Then why don't most Christians have victory in their lives? Simply because they are waiting for a “feeling” instead of accepting what God has already given us by faith!
There is no way of knowing what all of us are facing today. It may be that the devil has and is using the tool of discouragement in our life. It may be that we feel defeated and a million miles away from the mountain top. But we need to be reminded one more time that God is God when we are on the mountain and that He is also still God when we are down in the valley. The secret to enjoying the mountains and the valleys is learning that God is in control. If we can do that, then whether we are on top or on bottom, we will always be on the mountain in our “heart” and victory will always be ours. If we can get there we'll be a hard nut for the devil to crack. The first step in arriving at that place is learning to bring our burdens to Jesus.
Many New Testament promises have corresponding verses in the Old Testament that reinforce their power. When Peter, for example, said, “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you." (1 Peter 5:7), he was just restating David's words in Psalm 55:22: "Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall."
Do you have a burden too big to bear? Why not take a few moments to tell Jesus about it. Take your burden to the Lord, then leave it there by faith, casting all your concerns on Him, for He cares for you. After all, He is still God, even in the valley!
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Symptoms of Backsliding
Symptoms of Backsliding
“To revert to sin or wrongdoing”
1-Pride
Peter declared, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” “No!” Peter insisted. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” And all the other disciples vowed the same. (Matthew 26:33-35)
Some people think they have been a Christian so long that it can’t happen to them!
Some people think that they have so much will power, strength or courage, that they would never deny Jesus or let Jesus down! (Their confidence is not in God but in themselves!)
2-Getting Comfortable or Sleeping-
Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”
Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.” When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open.
So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again. Then he came to the disciples and said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But look—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. (Matthew 26:40-45)
We need to stay alert. -1 Peter 5:8 says “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”
And Jesus Himself says “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. And since you don’t know when that time will come, be on guard! Stay alert! “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. And since you don’t know when that time will come, be on guard! Stay alert.” (Mark 13:32-33)
What happens to us Christians is we get relaxed, we quit praying for ourselves, for our family, for our friends, until something tragic happens, then we are awake, then we are alert, then we are focused!
3-Reverting to the Flesh (Our own strength)
But one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and struck the high priest’s slave, slashing off his ear. “Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword. Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? (Matthew 26:51)
One of the ways we can tell if we are backsliding is that we try to solve problems in the flesh, in other words not allowing God to intervene, (This person was not urged, or compelled by God but acted out of his own accord!)
When we try to do things the way we have always done them, then we are backslidden!
4-Following at a Distance-
Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and came to the high priest’s courtyard. He went in and sat with the guards and waited to see how it would all end. (Matthew 26:58)
When we start distancing from God we are backslidden!You know, when we don’t spend as much time in prayer, or bible study, or we don’t give as much as we once did, then we are backslidden!When we talk one way in front of our Christians friends and another way in front of our other friends!
5-Sitting with the “Enemy” -
Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and came to the high priest’s courtyard. He went in and sat with the guards and waited to see how it would all end. (Matthew 26:58)
He was trying to fit in, trying to blend in, whenever we try to blend into the world, whenever we try to fit into the world, we are backslidden!
We are in the world but we should not be of the world!We haven’t affected the world because the world has affected us!!!We haven’t influenced the world because the world has influenced us!!There should be something different about us!
6-Standing In The Gateway-
Later, out by the gate, another servant girl noticed him and said to those standing around, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” (Matthew 26:71)
Peter was halfway in and half way out.Did your parents (or anyone else) ever say to you as you stood in the door way, “Either get in or get out!”That is the way a lot of people are they want to follow God, but also they want to do what they want to do!
7-Then He Began To Curse And Swear (continuing in our sinful ways) -
Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!” (Matthew 26:74)
Peter continued backslidden ways leads him to a complete denial that he had known Jesus!That’s what happens to person who stays backslidden, you cannot even see any evidence that they had ever know the Lord or ever followed Him! One minute he is sitting with the Lord and within a few short hours he is denying he even knew the Lord!
You see how slippery it is, how quickly you go down, when your backslidden!But it don’t have to be that way….there were 12 disciples who let Jesus down, who fled, who ran, who deserted Him, and one who betrayed Him.
Then all his disciples deserted him and ran away. One young man following behind was clothed only in a long linen shirt. When the mob tried to grab him, he slipped out of his shirt and ran away naked. Mark 14:50-51
But only one was not forgiven, not because Jesus denied his forgiveness, but because maybe Judas thought he had gone too far away from God, for God to ever forgive him and so he didn’t ask and repent….
When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.” (Matthew 27:3)
Being remorseful or sorry is not the same as asking God for forgiveness and “repenting” of our sins.
Maybe that’s the way we feel sometimes, we think we have done to many bad things in our life or maybe just something seriously out of His will, we can think we have backslidden to far, but there is some great news for anyone feeling this way …Jesus will come to where we are, just like He did for Peter and Thomas (doubting Thomas) and the rest of the disciples!
Remember what the Angel told the women at the empty tomb? “Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee.” (Mark 16:7)
“To revert to sin or wrongdoing”
1-Pride
Peter declared, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you.” Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, Peter—this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know me.” “No!” Peter insisted. “Even if I have to die with you, I will never deny you!” And all the other disciples vowed the same. (Matthew 26:33-35)
Some people think they have been a Christian so long that it can’t happen to them!
Some people think that they have so much will power, strength or courage, that they would never deny Jesus or let Jesus down! (Their confidence is not in God but in themselves!)
2-Getting Comfortable or Sleeping-
Then he returned to the disciples and found them asleep. He said to Peter, “Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? Keep watch and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak!”
Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done.” When he returned to them again, he found them sleeping, for they couldn’t keep their eyes open.
So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again. Then he came to the disciples and said, “Go ahead and sleep. Have your rest. But look—the time has come. The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. (Matthew 26:40-45)
We need to stay alert. -1 Peter 5:8 says “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”
And Jesus Himself says “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. And since you don’t know when that time will come, be on guard! Stay alert! “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. And since you don’t know when that time will come, be on guard! Stay alert.” (Mark 13:32-33)
What happens to us Christians is we get relaxed, we quit praying for ourselves, for our family, for our friends, until something tragic happens, then we are awake, then we are alert, then we are focused!
3-Reverting to the Flesh (Our own strength)
But one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and struck the high priest’s slave, slashing off his ear. “Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword. Don’t you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly? (Matthew 26:51)
One of the ways we can tell if we are backsliding is that we try to solve problems in the flesh, in other words not allowing God to intervene, (This person was not urged, or compelled by God but acted out of his own accord!)
When we try to do things the way we have always done them, then we are backslidden!
4-Following at a Distance-
Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and came to the high priest’s courtyard. He went in and sat with the guards and waited to see how it would all end. (Matthew 26:58)
When we start distancing from God we are backslidden!You know, when we don’t spend as much time in prayer, or bible study, or we don’t give as much as we once did, then we are backslidden!When we talk one way in front of our Christians friends and another way in front of our other friends!
5-Sitting with the “Enemy” -
Meanwhile, Peter followed him at a distance and came to the high priest’s courtyard. He went in and sat with the guards and waited to see how it would all end. (Matthew 26:58)
He was trying to fit in, trying to blend in, whenever we try to blend into the world, whenever we try to fit into the world, we are backslidden!
We are in the world but we should not be of the world!We haven’t affected the world because the world has affected us!!!We haven’t influenced the world because the world has influenced us!!There should be something different about us!
6-Standing In The Gateway-
Later, out by the gate, another servant girl noticed him and said to those standing around, “This man was with Jesus of Nazareth.” (Matthew 26:71)
Peter was halfway in and half way out.Did your parents (or anyone else) ever say to you as you stood in the door way, “Either get in or get out!”That is the way a lot of people are they want to follow God, but also they want to do what they want to do!
7-Then He Began To Curse And Swear (continuing in our sinful ways) -
Then he began to call down curses, and he swore to them, “I don’t know the man!” (Matthew 26:74)
Peter continued backslidden ways leads him to a complete denial that he had known Jesus!That’s what happens to person who stays backslidden, you cannot even see any evidence that they had ever know the Lord or ever followed Him! One minute he is sitting with the Lord and within a few short hours he is denying he even knew the Lord!
You see how slippery it is, how quickly you go down, when your backslidden!But it don’t have to be that way….there were 12 disciples who let Jesus down, who fled, who ran, who deserted Him, and one who betrayed Him.
Then all his disciples deserted him and ran away. One young man following behind was clothed only in a long linen shirt. When the mob tried to grab him, he slipped out of his shirt and ran away naked. Mark 14:50-51
But only one was not forgiven, not because Jesus denied his forgiveness, but because maybe Judas thought he had gone too far away from God, for God to ever forgive him and so he didn’t ask and repent….
When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.” (Matthew 27:3)
Being remorseful or sorry is not the same as asking God for forgiveness and “repenting” of our sins.
Maybe that’s the way we feel sometimes, we think we have done to many bad things in our life or maybe just something seriously out of His will, we can think we have backslidden to far, but there is some great news for anyone feeling this way …Jesus will come to where we are, just like He did for Peter and Thomas (doubting Thomas) and the rest of the disciples!
Remember what the Angel told the women at the empty tomb? “Now go and tell his disciples, including Peter, that Jesus is going ahead of you to Galilee.” (Mark 16:7)
Monday, April 16, 2012
Detoxify Our Souls
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)
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 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!
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