Construction Projects
Do we not like criticism because we’ve convinced ourselves that we don’t need to change?
#LoversOfSelf #2Timothy3.2
Or is our hesitancy because we aren’t sure of the source or intent behind it?
#TestAllSpirits #1John4.1
And when we offer criticism, is it good for building up, fit for the occasion, and does it give grace to those who might hear? Is our speech a soft, wise answer to a question — or an unprompted, harsh, foolish, word pressed upon others?
#RightlyDivide #SoftWiseAnswer #NotHarshFoolishWord #Ephesians4.29 #Proverbs15.1.2
Are we more interested in our own opinions, feelings, and interpretations being exalted, or in proclaiming the Word of God and trusting it to go forth and accomplish what it is sent to do? #HonorOfMen #2Timothy3.16
We must remember who we are in Christ, and even these things pointed out should hurtle us deeper into our Father’s arms —
As we cry out, “Do you hear what he is saying about your children? Do you hear what he accuses us of, father? I cannot plead innocent or I would be proven a liar! I cannot plead guilty or I might blaspheme against the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice upon the cross! So I plead the Blood of the Lamb, I walk upon the only narrow path of salvation and sanctification. I fear and trust in you alone! It is finished!”
Rule Over It. Choose Life.
If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” – Genesis 4:7 NKJV
“Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. For I command you this day to love the Lord your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy. “But if your heart turns away and you refuse to listen, and if you are drawn away to serve and worship other gods, then I warn you now that you will certainly be destroyed. You will not live a long, good life in the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord , you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” – Deuteronomy 30:15-20 NLT
Your laws are wonderful. No wonder I obey them! The teaching of your word gives light, so even the simple can understand. I pant with expectation, longing for your commands. Come and show me your mercy, as you do for all who love your name. Guide my steps by your word, so I will not be overcome by evil. Rivers of tears gush from my eyes because people disobey your instructions. – Psalms 119:129-136 NLT
Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace. – Romans 6:14 NLT
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting? ”
For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 NLT
Lord , you alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing. You guard all that is mine. The land you have given me is a pleasant land. What a wonderful inheritance! I will bless the Lord who guides me; even at night my heart instructs me. I know the Lord is always with me. I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me. No wonder my heart is glad, and I rejoice. My body rests in safety. For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave. You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever. – Psalms 16:5-11 NLT
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. – Ephesians 1:4 NLT
The Battle is the LORD’s
Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord ’s, and He will give you into our hands.”
I Samuel 17:45-47 NKJV
Young David faced a giant named Goliath. What giant do you face today? Addiction? Bitterness? Unforgiveness? Lust? Gossip? Worldliness? Greed? Complacency? Depresssion? Anxiety? Confusion? Sickness? Debt? Temptation? Trial? Grief?Suffering? Loneliness? Pain? Isolation? Doubt?
Do not think that this is your battle alone. These things defy the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, who tells us that He has won the victory over sin and death – that on the cross He declared, “It is finished!”
We can stand, like young David, with our feet planted firmly upon the foundation of Jesus Christ risen victorious over sin and death and proclaim, “This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you.”
We are not meant to live defeated, Child of God, but victorious!
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. – Romans 8:1-18 NKJV
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. – II Timothy 1:7 NKJV
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: “For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:35-39 NKJV
Go, live victorious in Christ, Child of God. Let your enemies see that they are defeated by the Blood of the Lamb, by your testimony, and by the fact that you do not live your own lives but love God, because He loved you first. Amen.
An Army?
David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him. – I Samuel 22:1-2 NKJV
I want to look at something closely, friends. Let’s look at what the Word of God says about this man who was after God’s own heart and the kinds of people that were gathered unto him:
“everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him“.
And let’s see what the Word of God says about Christ:
“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” – Matthew 11:28-30 NKJV
If there is a crowd gathering around us, what kind of crowd is it, friends? Is it a crowd of needs?
Do we realize this is the “type” that God builds armies from?
Let’s see what the LORD does with these 400 distressed, indebted, and discontented men:
Then they told David, saying, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and they are robbing the threshing floors.” Therefore David inquired of the Lord , saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the Lord said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines, and save Keilah.” But David’s men said to him, “Look, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?”
[Note the truthfulness about their own fear – these are not outwardly proud men who are truly cowards inside. No, these men have taken true and honest assessment of their own abilities.]
Then David inquired of the Lord once again. And the Lord answered him and said, “Arise, go down to Keilah. For I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.” And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines, struck them with a mighty blow, and took away their livestock. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. – I Samuel 23:1-5 NKJV
Do we realize that a leader does not need an army that is mighty and unwavering when the leader INQUIRES OF and is OBEDIENT TO THE LORD? Do we realize that victory rests in the true power of the LORD, not in the deception of the perceived strength or weaknesses of mere men?
And David doesn’t just expect victory, He continues to inquire of the LORD:
Now it happened, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, that he went down with an ephod in his hand. And Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah. So Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.” Then Saul called all the people together for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men. When David knew that Saul plotted evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.” Then David said, “O Lord God of Israel, Your servant has certainly heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake. Will the men of Keilah deliver me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as Your servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will come down.” Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will deliver you. ” So David and his men, about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah and went wherever they could go. Then it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah; so he halted the expedition.
I Samuel 23:6-13 NKJV
I’m sure David might have wanted to just speak victory and see it come to pass, but doesn’t the LORD tell him what would come to pass if he stayed. David wasn’t intent on speaking his own will into existence. No, both his experiencing unexpected victory with this band of unlikely soldiers, and his escaping a sure defeat came from him “inquiring of the LORD”. He didn’t say, “LORD, you must give me victory for your name’s sake!” But instead, He sought to know and obey the will of God, giving God all the glory and all the credit for both the victory over the enemies of his neighbor, and the deliverance from his own.
David didn’t grumble about why he was having to run from his own enemies while the LORD was using him to overcome the enemies of others. No, he was seeking to trust in the LORD and walk in obedience, whatever the apparent cost of the moment, He knew that God’s plan was greater and more perfect than His own best of intentions.
Yes, when we bear one another’s burdens, when we build up and equip one another for the work of the Kingdom, when we look past our own selfish desires, concerns, and anxieties to be used to serve the needs of those around us, we can see these dead bones rise up as a great, redeemed and restored army:
Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work, and then he will have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For each one shall bear his own load. Let him who is taught the word share in all good things with him who teaches. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. – Galatians 6:1-10 NKJV
The hand of the Lord came upon me and brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord , and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones. Then He caused me to pass by them all around, and behold, there were very many in the open valley; and indeed they were very dry. And He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” So I answered, “O Lord God , You know.” Again He said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them, ‘O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord ! Thus says the Lord God to these bones: “Surely I will cause breath to enter into you, and you shall live. I will put sinews on you and bring flesh upon you, cover you with skin and put breath in you; and you shall live. Then you shall know that I am the Lord .” ’ ” So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and suddenly a rattling; and the bones came together, bone to bone. Indeed, as I looked, the sinews and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them over; but there was no breath in them. Also He said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, ‘Thus says the Lord God : “Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.” ’ ” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath came into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an exceedingly great army. Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They indeed say, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope is lost, and we ourselves are cut off!’ Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God : “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the Lord , when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves. I will put My Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I, the Lord , have spoken it and performed it, ” says the Lord .’ ” – Ezekiel 37:1-14 NKJV
https://g.co/kgs/ULWsBh
My sheep do not need long horns of their own,
For the trumpet of the LORD is their horn,
Christ alone Cornerstone is their standard,
The Most High God and the name lifted above all names is their banner,
And they shall not see defeat,
Because their leader, their teacher, their LORD,
is King of Kings and LORD of Lords,
And He is the Word of God,
And He shall go forth to accomplish everything He is sent for,
And all things shall be made new,
The old shall pass away,
And the new is revealed,
HE IS RISEN!
HE IS ALIVE!
HE IS VICTORIOUS!
THE ENEMY IS DEFEATED!
HE SHALL RULE OVER THE NATIONS WITH AN IRON ROD!
FOR HE IS HOLY!
HE IS MIGHTY!
HE IS WORTHY OF ALL PRAISE, GLORY, AND HONOR!
AND WE ARE WHAT WAS ONCE HIS SMALL, RAG TAG ARMY,
BUT THAT IS WASHED BY THE BLOOD,
FED BY THE WORD,
STRENGTHENED BY THE SPIRIT,
AND RESTORED TO ALMIGHTY GOD’S PURPOSE AND CALLING.
RISE UP.
EQUIP YOURSELVES.
SEE HIS MIGHTY POWER AT WORK IN YOUR LIVES, CHILDREN OF GOD!
What are we offering?
Mark 12:41-44(NLT)
The Widow’s Offering
41 Jesus sat down near the collection box in the Temple and watched as the crowds dropped in their money. Many rich people put in large amounts. 42 Then a poor widow came and dropped in two small coins.[a]
43 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has given more than all the others who are making contributions. 44 For they gave a tiny part of their surplus, but she, poor as she is, has given everything she had to live on.”
Footnotes:
- 12:42 Greek two lepta, which is a kodrantes [i.e., a quadrans].
Are we giving out of our surplus, or giving what we have to live on?
I’m not talking allegories or theories here, friends — Isn’t this what we should ask ourselves when we read this? Or is this just a nice tale to tell us about Jesus, remind us that we aren’t like Him at all, and send us on our way to remain in the flesh instead of filled with the very Holy Spirit of God? NO! Never should it be so, Children of God! We will not let the enemy steal away this Word of God from our hearts!
Are we proud about what we give, or humbled by what He has given us?
Even more important than what we are currently giving, if the LORD called us to give sacrificially – if He convicted us today to pay the bills for that undeserving family member or friend that is struggling – if He convicted us today to put our whole paycheck in the collection plate – if He convicted us today to get rid of that expensive car/toy/hobby and give all of the money to the poor – would we have the faithfulness to obey?
Or are we conformed to the pattern of the world? Are we not peculiarly different at all from the world? Please, LORD, don’t let this be true! Come, lead your people in the transforming, renewing, sanctification of your people for your Holy use!
Romans 12:2 ESVDo 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.
If you could choose between your life today being acceptable, being good, or being perfect – do you know in your heart which you would choose?
If perfect comes at a personal cost to you, is He worth it to you?
Isn’t is suitable and reasonable for us to love our fellow believers?
1 John 4:7-20
Loving One Another
7 Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9 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. 10 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.
11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
13 And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. 14 Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. 16 We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 19 We love each other because he loved us first.
20 If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 21 And He has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.
Isn’t it morally right for us to help those in need?
Acts 20:35And I have been a constant example of how you can help those in need by working hard. You should remember the words of the Lord Jesus: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.'”
Doesn’t a perfect love, free from any faults or defects even extend itself towards those who would try to be our enemies?
Matthew 5:43-48
Teaching about Love for Enemies
43 “You have heard the law that says, ‘Love your neighbor’ and hate your enemy. 44 But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! 45 In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For He gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike. 46 If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. 47 If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. 48 But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Weren’t we once ourselves his enemies?
Romans 5:10
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
Isn’t He worth following, praising, worshipping with our EVERYTHING?
Luke 7:36-50(NKJV)
A Sinful Woman Forgiven
36 Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. 37 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, 38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.”
40 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.”
So he said, “Teacher, say it.”
41 “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”
And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” 44 Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45 You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. 47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”
48 Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50 Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
What will we bring to Him today?
Do we hear, do we tremble?
Thus says the Lord : “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest? All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the Lord . But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.
Hear the word of the Lord , you who tremble at his word: “Your brothers who hate you and cast you out for my name’s sake have said, ‘Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy’; but it is they who shall be put to shame.
“The sound of an uproar from the city! A sound from the temple! The sound of the Lord , rendering recompense to his enemies!
Isaiah 66:1-2, 5-6 ESV
One type:
Humble, contrite and trembles at the Word of God
Another type:
Hates others and “cast them out for my name’s sake” and that say ‘Let the Lord be glorified, that we may see your joy’
And it is of the first type that He says He looks to and is the house where He will rest. While it is the second type that will be put to shame. That the LORD would render what is due to His enemies.
You see, the first type are humble and broken, wondering how the LORD God Alimighty has use of a mere man or woman like themselves. And this is the heart that can be used by God. The first type has their eyes on God and tremble at His Word and the fearful realization that they fall short and that their only hope is in the mercy and forgiveness of God.
But the second type, they have eyes set upon themselves and upon others. They are accusers and even seek to stand in the way of the door they themselves will not enter and hinder others from entering. They are the judgemental, the religious – those who would speak and act in hateful ways, all the whole doing it as if in the name of the LORD. They are not quiet and peaceful and long-suffering, but they are quick to draw a sword against their brother to see him killed “in the name of their father” — because their father is a murderer and a liar just as they are.
Yes, the LORD sees what is hidden from the eyes of men, what is not covered by the Blood of the Lamb, He isn’t distracted by their outward appearances but knows a man’s heart and his desires and his intentions. Does this thought not render you humbled and repentant before a holy and righteous God? Then know your type if you say you hear His Word. If you indeed hear His Word, why do you not tremble?
Why do you not find yourself deeply reminded of the full value of Jesus Christ, slain on the Cross, victorious over death, and triumphant in His resurrection?
Where is your heart towards God?
Towards His Word?
Towards His people?
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” – John 13:34-35 ESV
A Time for Praise
Someone confesses and repents of deep, dark, heavy sin before God and before men and declares the Blood of Christ and I’m ready to jump up and shout praises like someone just got baptized!
I have to hold in my hearts desire to jump up, run to them, hug them and thank them for bringing into the light what was once hidden — because many would believe that in acting in such a peculiar way that I am justifying sin, which I in fact hate.
But I see the death of that sin in its being brought into the light from a humble and contrite heart! I see the enemy falling broken again under the heal of the Children of God! I see chains falling off and burdens being lifted! I see Christ victorious even in what the enemy meant for evil.
Hidden sin is what makes my heart mourn. Empty religion and hypocrisy is what makes me want to turn over tables. Accepting and approving of sin, quenching the conviction of the Holy Spirit against sin, these are the things that are a stench in my nostrils.
But confession – a man turning from his sin to righteousness because he had realized the error of his ways and turned back to God – what a blessing! What it uncovers in our own hearts when the enemy is put on display in the light by another! What an opportunity it is to restore a brother in gentleness and love and see the healing, the deliverance, the freedom of Christ overcome the slavery of sin.
Thank you, LORD!
I was in the grocery store last night before men’s prayer group at the church and thought about picking up a six pack or a bottle of wine to take in my backpack and open it up in the church sanctuary when everyone started opening their drinks.
I was going to wait for the inevitable reaction and then ask, “But why are you surprised? Don’t some of you have this in your own house? What is different about this building as opposed to our own houses? Aren’t WE the temple of God?”
And when the inevitable, “But it could stumble someone if I did it here” came as the response, I would ask, “But what is more dangerous, them taking a drink because they saw one of us doing it outwardly – or their learning inward hypocrisy because we live one way when we are around ‘respectable religious people’ but live another way when behind closed doors?”
We are find powerless far too often because “the experience”, “the feeling”, “the moment in the presence of God” doesn’t go forth with us because we aren’t going where we’ve been sent – because we leave the “Christ in me” as a promise hanging on the wall of the church, or as a fire insurance contract we hang onto for the future.
Too many of us don’t mind hearing the Word of God, but falling head over heals, crazy in love with God to the point that we don’t want anything else in this temple but Him? The world says, “Why, that just sounds foolish! Why, giving up my sin, that just sounds like a lot of work! Why, giving up something that I don’t even feel bad about in my conscience ‘any more’ but that I know isn’t profitable, that just sounds like slavery to me!”
But that’s because the world serves a different master — their hearts confess their true love –even as their religion teaches them to hide it by shining the outside of their cup — and their love is for the desires of the flesh, the desires of their eyes, and the pride of life. It doesn’t matter how respectable they pretend to be if they do not in fact live the LORD, right?
And are we pointing that finger foolishly at someone else? Wise teacher, are you so blind that you cannot teach yourself?
You see, we must ask ourselves, do I even remember the love, the mercy, the furrowed that I have received in return for my own wretchedness? Have I so quickly forgotten the only thing that is valuable and precious and is worth laying down everything else for?
Do these “on fire, born again, radical heathens” who are upturned by their overflowing of love for God sicken us, shame us, leave us confused, or leave us Don’t down our religious noses at “their foolishness”? Yes, the gospel is foolishness to those who are perishing, so you should examine yourself to see that you are indeed in Christ!
You say to me, “But you are planting the seed of doubt! You are tearing down what the LORD has built up.” And I ask you, “Can a mere man shake a foundation of solid rock, or bring down a house that is built upon it in truth and in love, or does the Word of God tell us that house will stand the test? And what is better, that a worthless house that is bound to fall do so while there time for it to be rebuilt, or for the wise to wait and see the foolish and his whole family die within it when it comes tumbling down?”
No, I am sowing the Truth in Love. Not kisses from an enemy who would say, “Sin is okay, it won’t kill you.” I’m not giving approval to those things that the Word of God says, “those who practice such things deserve to die” — nor am I saying “you are under the obligation of the law of Moses”. No, I am asking you a greater question, in fact, the most important question – Do you love God?
Do you?
Then let your praises ring forth!
But if I ask this question and you find no well to draw from, where are your flowing waters? If they are not there, are you too proud to repent, to call upon the name of the LORD and ask for the life you need breathed into you? Will you not call out to Him even now, at this very moment, to give you oil for your lamp? Or will you sleep and tarry until poverty has proven is reward.
I am not asking you to go out if you aren’t sent. But I’m telling you that if you are indeed His you ARE SENT, and if you aren’t His, there is still time to repent and believe!
I am telling you that this faith is not a thing of our minds, but of our very hearts!
I am telling you that you must be born again. I am telling you that the old must pass away and the new must come.
So submit yourselves to God. Do not claim a Savior that you do not want as LORD, because He has told us that the most important commandment is to love God with your everything – not just your 10 percent, not just with your Sunday, not just with your morning, not just with your firsts. And if this seems burdensome to you, do you even know of Him, much less know Him? He is for you, not against you! Have you not heard, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you”? Do we foolishly lay our hope in this verse being about earthly gain and misunderstand what the true prize and portion is for the Children of God?
If we indeed love Him, can’t we trust Him?
Isn’t His way best?
Isn’t He worthy of our praise, of our worship, of that reasonable sacrifice of laying down our lives, turning away from sin and submitting fully to Him?
There is time to build, if we will build upon the solid rock in Truth and Love. But if we are intent to build from something else, or upon the sinking sand – there will never be enough time for all of the constant repairs trying to “make it look right”.
Go to the carpenter’s son. Be introduced to your betrothed. Fall in love with Him deeply, because He is faithful and true. See Him build your house even as He lives with you. And now you will have a life that is filled with praise and awe and wonder – not one of religious hypocrisy.
He loved you first.
Free Pest Control
If I have a dead and rotting animal somewhere in my house, and an exterminator offers to remove it for free – am I foolish enough to think that it “cost me” the dead animal and filthy stench of its death filling my house?
What if I were to go back and say, “No! You can’t have that dead animal, give it back to me! It is valuable and you can’t have it!” And refused to let him remove it from my house, and I instead tried to hide it in a closet deep within the house and pretend that I couldn’t smell the stench of death?
Could I say that he had not offered and rendered his services free of charge? No. He did his part and it was free of charge as advertised. It would be my own foolishness that made his work useless in my own house, not whether or not his work was effective.
For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. – Romans 2:13 ESV
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? – James 2:14 ESV
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; – James 2:14, 19-22 ESV
THE FAITH THAT SAVES
Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. – Romans 5:1-11 ESV
BE CAREFUL YOU ARE NOT DECEIVED
Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn’t worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like. As a result, their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they instead became utter fools. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people and birds and animals and reptiles. So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved. Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too. – Romans 1:21-32 NLT
Heavenly Father, you are not a trickster, nor do you have any part with darkness. We have been blind. We have been rebellious. And we come to you in repentance and in surrender. Heal us from our doubt. Overcome our lack of faith. Create in us a new heart. Hear that we confess your name, and sing your praise, and cry out to you for this Hope we have found in the promises of Jesus Christ to be grown and manifest into a true faith that has substance and work and love because you have poured out your Holy Spirit on your people. And teach us not to quench your Holy Spirit, not to shrink back from the light, but to come with confidence into the throne room of grace to be sent out as your chosen people, as your ambassadors, as your children bearing your image. You are gracious, and you are righteous, and you are merciful, and you are just. Lead us in the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Amen.
Harold J. Ballinger 