God warned Cain in Genesis 4:7 that sin was crouching at the door but he must rule over it. As we know Cain murdered his brother because his deeds were evil (1 John 3:12). Cain was so enraged he was blinded to the evil he was capable of committing against his brother.
We also read of the men of Sodom wearying themselves by scratching and groping for the door to commit sexual perversion after being blinded by the two angels (Genesis 19:11). Sin brings a feverish madness for those who persists in doing wrong. This sin induced madness is one of the curses described in Deuteronomy 28:28. The LORD will afflict you with madness, blindness and confusion of mind (NIV).
I can remember a time where I was very persistent about a particular sin. It didn't matter how tired I was at the end of the day or if I was not feeling well. My mind raced with schemes to satisfy my lust. I would envision a particular place and the best time to meet a person. Such darken thoughts constantly rolled through my mind all in a feverish attempt to top the last encounter. More! Better! Now! Just as Proverbs 30:15 says, "The leech has two daughters. 'Give! Give!' they cry. "There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, 'Enough!' (NIV).
And lust is never enough. It's an inward fire ignited in the soul by unruly passions that quickly spread and consume everything and everyone it touches.
There is a place that Lord will take those who are willing to surrender their lust. It's called Kibroth-hattaavah which means the graves of desire or lust (Numbers 11:34). Here the Israelites sinned in their craving for flesh. So God sent quail in abundance but with it came a plague that destroyed many of them. However, in the same chapter we read of God graciously pouring out His Spirit on seventy elders (11:25). I believe these elders went back into the camp prophesying and those who listened where spared from an inward craving that later destroy many in the end. The message they heard from these Spirit filled leaders caused them to bury their lust.
Only the grace of Christ can quench the feverish mind and restore right thinking. Beloved, only His power can break the cycle of sin that maddens and darkens the mind. Only His grace can quench the heat in the pit of your stomach and cause your mind to see clearly the danger hidden from your eyes by your foolish pursuit to satisfy the flesh.
If you find yourself driven to sin God has a remedy to bring lasting freedom.
I know.
The Lord brought to an end my feverish drive to sin when I received a medical report. To live meant taking the shovel the Holy Spirit handed me and bury my lust. Here I found His grace to save me rather than to let me be separated from Him eternally. He cared to warn Cain although He knew he wouldn't listen.
So how much more does He care for us to be set free not only from our lusts that scratch at forbidden doors but to save us from another fire that is never quenched but rages for all eternity (Mark 9:48)?
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Saturday, April 18, 2015
Overcoming Abandonment
God wants to restore hope to those who have been abandoned and suffer the painful effects of being left alone.
Abandonment can take various forms. In school you may have been the last to be picked for a sports team having been overlooked by those who have more potential to bring home a win. So you sit on the sidelines watching and waiting for the day when your name is called. Or without a warning a friend stops visiting or calling. Your voice messages are ignored and letters returned. One day your spouse walks out the front door and into the arms of another who has won his or her heart.
Abandonment can even be a dismissive look as if you are invisible. The message is clear: you are not wanted. You could be in a crowded room but the conversations are rarely directed to you because the inner circles of those attending are not interested in your input.
Abandonment is not just an experience, an emotion or an event but a spiritual condition. Jesus promises, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." (John 14:8, KJV). There is a grieving that abandonment brings that carries far into the future effecting ourselves and relationships. Over time this grief can turn to bitterness and resentment. These corrosive agents eat us alive with the often hidden and gnawing fear of once again being abandoned by those we love.
I believe how we pray can reveal our secret fear of abandonment. Some pray with religious catch phrases in an effort to keep God impersonal and at a distance because intimacy is uncomfortable and painful. Will you still love me when I fail? Others try to work feverishly for His favor. They fast, pray and read the Scriptures with such intense devotion but rarely can they rest in His love. They struggle to be sure everything is just right so God has no occasion like others to leave them. But the cry in prayer is still the same: "God, stay with me, please. Don't leave me."
And His response to us restores hope. The Lord speaking through Moses said these words: "The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged" (Deuteronomy 31:8, NIV). God is with us and for us. The truth is we are not alone or left to ourselves to figure it out.
Those who are able to overcome abandonment are those who unroll the welcome mat for the Holy Spirit to walk right into heart - even into the most painful places - to take up residence. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit will take residence in us (John 14:16).
The abandoned have an empty room in their hearts for Him to fill with His everlasting love, power and joy.
Perhaps that is why the abandoned know the secret power of His presence being more valuable and precious than those who have abandoned them. Why? Because they have been adopted as His sons and daughters (Ephesians 1:5) and this will never ever be taken away from us!
Abandonment can take various forms. In school you may have been the last to be picked for a sports team having been overlooked by those who have more potential to bring home a win. So you sit on the sidelines watching and waiting for the day when your name is called. Or without a warning a friend stops visiting or calling. Your voice messages are ignored and letters returned. One day your spouse walks out the front door and into the arms of another who has won his or her heart.
Abandonment can even be a dismissive look as if you are invisible. The message is clear: you are not wanted. You could be in a crowded room but the conversations are rarely directed to you because the inner circles of those attending are not interested in your input.
Abandonment is not just an experience, an emotion or an event but a spiritual condition. Jesus promises, "I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you." (John 14:8, KJV). There is a grieving that abandonment brings that carries far into the future effecting ourselves and relationships. Over time this grief can turn to bitterness and resentment. These corrosive agents eat us alive with the often hidden and gnawing fear of once again being abandoned by those we love.
I believe how we pray can reveal our secret fear of abandonment. Some pray with religious catch phrases in an effort to keep God impersonal and at a distance because intimacy is uncomfortable and painful. Will you still love me when I fail? Others try to work feverishly for His favor. They fast, pray and read the Scriptures with such intense devotion but rarely can they rest in His love. They struggle to be sure everything is just right so God has no occasion like others to leave them. But the cry in prayer is still the same: "God, stay with me, please. Don't leave me."
And His response to us restores hope. The Lord speaking through Moses said these words: "The LORD himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged" (Deuteronomy 31:8, NIV). God is with us and for us. The truth is we are not alone or left to ourselves to figure it out.
Those who are able to overcome abandonment are those who unroll the welcome mat for the Holy Spirit to walk right into heart - even into the most painful places - to take up residence. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit will take residence in us (John 14:16).
The abandoned have an empty room in their hearts for Him to fill with His everlasting love, power and joy.
Perhaps that is why the abandoned know the secret power of His presence being more valuable and precious than those who have abandoned them. Why? Because they have been adopted as His sons and daughters (Ephesians 1:5) and this will never ever be taken away from us!
Saturday, April 11, 2015
The Antidote To Despondency
From time to time we experience moments of despondency.
Often such a feeling of hopelessness or lack of courage occurs when we are confronted by impossible situations or overwhelming difficulties. In such a time you can't pretend to be strong and put on a brave face. No matter what efforts are made nothing seems to work besides all your strength is gone.
Similar to the advertisements that promise medicine to be full strength like aspirin there is a single capsule to provide to all necessary strength found in Ephesians 6:10.
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might" (KJV, emphasis mine). This verse contains three Greek words to describe the supernatural strength God provides us. Endunamoó (to be empowered) kratos (dominion, exerted power) and ischus (force to overcoming immediate resistance).
In other words, God's supernatural strength empowers us to exert dominion and resist opposition so we are able to stand firm and fight the schemes of the devil (verse 11).
Beloved, despondency is Satan's campaign when waging war against the saints because after all he is a defeated foe. If he could drag us into his own pit of despondency then we give up precious territory that is ours to possess. Always our source of strength start when we worship the Lord in the midst of life's challenges. Despondency will lose it's tightening grip over our minds as we look heavenward to His radiant face!
If you are feeling despondent let me encourage you to read Psalms 103:1-5. These verses remind us of His goodness when it seems everything and everyone around would say otherwise. When the battles and struggles of this life seem to devour our strength we must acknowledge what He has done and is presently doing and what He will do in our lives. This serves to increases our strength to hope in His promises.
Remember God is at work on our behalf to conform us to His beloved Son and He works all things for our good (Romans 8:28-29). When we remember His goodness our strength is renewed and we can go from strength to strength (Psalms 84:7).
Often such a feeling of hopelessness or lack of courage occurs when we are confronted by impossible situations or overwhelming difficulties. In such a time you can't pretend to be strong and put on a brave face. No matter what efforts are made nothing seems to work besides all your strength is gone.
Similar to the advertisements that promise medicine to be full strength like aspirin there is a single capsule to provide to all necessary strength found in Ephesians 6:10.
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might" (KJV, emphasis mine). This verse contains three Greek words to describe the supernatural strength God provides us. Endunamoó (to be empowered) kratos (dominion, exerted power) and ischus (force to overcoming immediate resistance).
In other words, God's supernatural strength empowers us to exert dominion and resist opposition so we are able to stand firm and fight the schemes of the devil (verse 11).
Beloved, despondency is Satan's campaign when waging war against the saints because after all he is a defeated foe. If he could drag us into his own pit of despondency then we give up precious territory that is ours to possess. Always our source of strength start when we worship the Lord in the midst of life's challenges. Despondency will lose it's tightening grip over our minds as we look heavenward to His radiant face!
If you are feeling despondent let me encourage you to read Psalms 103:1-5. These verses remind us of His goodness when it seems everything and everyone around would say otherwise. When the battles and struggles of this life seem to devour our strength we must acknowledge what He has done and is presently doing and what He will do in our lives. This serves to increases our strength to hope in His promises.
Remember God is at work on our behalf to conform us to His beloved Son and He works all things for our good (Romans 8:28-29). When we remember His goodness our strength is renewed and we can go from strength to strength (Psalms 84:7).
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Cut Out Of The Rock
After Christ died it says that Joseph of Arimathea took the body and "placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away." (Matthew 27:60 NIV).
Joseph was not alone.
Nicodemus a Pharisee had accompanied him bringing a costly ointment of myrrh and aloes for the burial (John 19:39). This is the same man who had asked Jesus what it was meant to be born again (John 3).
These religious men represented a hard and legalistic system of worship of their day. The Lord spoke of such empty religious devotion like a fig tree that appears to have green leaves but yields no fruit. He cursed it and immediately it withered (Matthew 21:19). And Jesus called the religious rulers of their day whitewashed tombs (Matthew 23:27).
And there in the tomb stood a Pharisee and a Sadducee.
Interesting that after His death the first to touch Him were religious men who were touch by the Spirit of God. How fitting it was to lay His body in a tomb cut from rock. This was a prophetic moment recorded in Isaiah 53:9.
Looking at His body did they consider Deuteronomy 8:15? The Scripture says out of a hard rock water flowed much the same way water and blood gushed from His side (John 19:34).
Did they understand that Christ was their Rock who followed their people through a dry and barren wasteland? The Bible says, "And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ." (I Corinthians 10:4, KJV).
Could they have known that while they worked in silence wrapping His broken body they were actually living Ezekiel 36:26. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. (KJV).
I believe God's truth cut away the stony rock in the their own heart softening it so much so that they found themselves in a tomb attending to His body.
Beloved, this work of changing a stony heart to one of flesh is done only through the Spirit of God. That is why the resurrection of Christ is necessary to our faith (1 Corinthian 15:14). We have a living hope in a resurrected Savior.
For this Easter (and every moment of every day) allow the Spirit of Christ to soften your heart. It's not a time to get more religious but rather allow Him to speak to your grave - those places of death - places where indifference and hardness from life's battles and struggles may have tightly wrapped itself around your life - let Him bring you to life again.
Let Him cut out the stony places in your heart so His living waters will flow!
Joseph was not alone.
Nicodemus a Pharisee had accompanied him bringing a costly ointment of myrrh and aloes for the burial (John 19:39). This is the same man who had asked Jesus what it was meant to be born again (John 3).
These religious men represented a hard and legalistic system of worship of their day. The Lord spoke of such empty religious devotion like a fig tree that appears to have green leaves but yields no fruit. He cursed it and immediately it withered (Matthew 21:19). And Jesus called the religious rulers of their day whitewashed tombs (Matthew 23:27).
And there in the tomb stood a Pharisee and a Sadducee.
Interesting that after His death the first to touch Him were religious men who were touch by the Spirit of God. How fitting it was to lay His body in a tomb cut from rock. This was a prophetic moment recorded in Isaiah 53:9.
Looking at His body did they consider Deuteronomy 8:15? The Scripture says out of a hard rock water flowed much the same way water and blood gushed from His side (John 19:34).
Did they understand that Christ was their Rock who followed their people through a dry and barren wasteland? The Bible says, "And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ." (I Corinthians 10:4, KJV).
Could they have known that while they worked in silence wrapping His broken body they were actually living Ezekiel 36:26. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. (KJV).
I believe God's truth cut away the stony rock in the their own heart softening it so much so that they found themselves in a tomb attending to His body.
Beloved, this work of changing a stony heart to one of flesh is done only through the Spirit of God. That is why the resurrection of Christ is necessary to our faith (1 Corinthian 15:14). We have a living hope in a resurrected Savior.
For this Easter (and every moment of every day) allow the Spirit of Christ to soften your heart. It's not a time to get more religious but rather allow Him to speak to your grave - those places of death - places where indifference and hardness from life's battles and struggles may have tightly wrapped itself around your life - let Him bring you to life again.
Let Him cut out the stony places in your heart so His living waters will flow!
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