Another Great Lesson from the Book of 1 Samuel

I wanted to share what I learned today from 1 Samuel 27. First some background is needed though. In previous chapters, including the last one, we see that Saul is King in Israel, but God has rejected him and chosen David to be King. Strangely though, God didn't make Saul step down immediately. He let him continue to rule. David wound up serving in the palace playing music to rid Saul of an evil spirit the Lord had sent to harass him. David also served in the army and was an excellent officer and fighting man. Because Saul was sinful and didn't live for God, he became more and more jealous of David and kept trying to kill him. Over and over in the last few chapters we see Saul attempting to kill David (16 times!) and God miraculously intervening to save David (and generally making Saul look foolish). We also see constant prophecies that David will be King and rule with God's blessing and even see God Himself telling David that more then once. That's where the previous chapter ends.

At the beginning of chapter 27, we're given quite a shock. You'd expect David to be praising God still for all the ways He'd saved him and all the great things He'd given him and done for him during this time. After all, he'd just been blessed by Saul, the very person who'd been trying to kill him! Instead though, David was depressed! I couldn't believe it when I read that, and then realized that's often how it happens though. After we've been through a stressful time, even though we came out on top, if we don't take our thoughts captive, we'll often become depressed. Look at how this chapter begins:

1 Samuel 27:1 —But David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.” *

David knew better than that! I kept wanting to yell at him to wake up and smell the coffee. On top of that, God had told him to stay in Judah! So after all this time of being obedient to the Lord, of always asking the Lord before he did anything, he lets his feelings rule him and as usual, that leads him into sin. The very next verse tells us that he goes right ahead and carries out his plan. He doesn't talk to the Lord about it or ask any of his trusted advisers either. When he gets there, of course, he has to lie, otherwise the philistine king would have killed him. And he has to continue to lie to him the whole time he's there.

What happened to our hero? To our man who loves the Lord? First, he listened to his feelings and didn't check to see if those feelings agreed with what God had told him. Second, he didn't pray and tell the Lord what he was feeling and ask Him what he should do. Before he'd been in constant communication with the lord and now all of a sudden (or so it seems to us) that stops. That's generally true of us too when we get depressed. We stop reading His Word, studying it and we stop talking to Him too.

Third, he stopped serving God and began to serve himself. Again just like we do when we start feeling sorry for ourselves, isn't it? Fourth, he didn't take his thoughts, feelings and imagination captive and replace them with the Truth. He also focused on "what might have happened in the past" and "what could happen" instead of "what was true right then.

Fifth, when he looked at the past, he focused on only the bad things, he didn't look at the great many good things that had happened, or at any of the great or miraculous things God had done for him. Really, both this and the "fourth" thing both go along with serving ourselves rather then God. When we serve God, our focus is on Him. We see His Hand in everything and know that everything is working for our good. When we serve ourselves though, the focus changes to us and we become self-centered, and often either full of self pity or selfishness. When it gets really bad, we'll even often blame God for the bad and conveniently forget the good or else act like we deserved the good for some reason -as though we'd earned it.

(please know, that when I say "we", I'm really thinking about myself and how I act and have acted in the past. I use "we" only because I know others often have the same problems I've had or have.)

Next, David did something else we shouldn't do when we're in that kind of frame of mind....he made an important decision, and worse, he made it without God. I can't begin to count the times I've done that as well in my life, and looking back, I can see all the previous steps were there as well. This particular episode of David's life, lasted for about 16 months, so it was a significant chapter in his life. I'm so grateful the Lord included this in His Word to teach us. I always learn so much about myself when studying with Him.

When this chapter ends, David is still in this frame of mind and still not communicating with God. We'll discover later that David pays for his sins when the city he's living in with all his men and all his and their wives and children are attacked when they're away and their families are taken captive. Thankfully, instead of becoming yet more depressed, this finally gets David's attention and he turns back to the Lord and he immediately begins talking to Him and asking for help again. I won't give away what all happens as that's for another time. I just wanted to share what I'd learned about how our feelings can betray us and mislead us if we heed them without checking to see if they're in agreement with God's Word.

 

LiveJournal Tags: 1 Samuel 27,bible,blessngs,david,depression,discipline,emotions,fear,feelings,God centered,imaginations,Philistines,scripture,self centered,self control,self pity,selfish,taking thoughts captive,thoughts

Our trials with other people and our future

I wanted to share with you something the Lord reminded me about during my study time today. I was studying in 1 Samuel 21 and continuing about David and all the troubles and trials he went through.

We know that the Lord has plans for our future - both our future here in this world as well as for our eternal future. God doesn't decide, "this person's going to do this, and that person's going to do that". He chooses our futures based on the talents and desires He gives us and then He prepares us for that future. Nothing happens in our lives that is an "accident". God knows in advance what's going to happen, what choices people are going to make, both good and bad that will affect us. So He uses those things to prepare us for the wonderful future He has planned for us. This includes everything that happens to us even before we're saved, for God knows who belongs to Him and doesn't waste time waiting on us to finally make our decision. (Thank You Lord!)

We can be absolutely sure then that no matter what is happening to us, that the Lord is using it to prepare us for that wonderful future. That's partly what His Word is talking about when it says that all things will work together for our good. We can also know that everything is also being used to help us become more and more like Christ.

Then why aren't people more like Christ as they get older and go through more in their lives? Simply because most people don't realize this and they fight against it. Obviously, the unsaved don't know about it and they're not going to actively try to cooperate with what God is using the situation for. Instead they'll fight against it. Of course God know this too and will use that as well. If they are one of His children, they'll eventually be saved and will begin to grow more like Christ. They'll also develop their talents and gain desires that will lead them in the direction the Lord has planned for them.

What is amazing to me is that even though most of us fight God and refuse to cooperate with Him, even so, His Will is done and we will still eventually develop those talents, desires and characteristics needed for the future the Lord's planned for us. I imagine it takes a lot longer then it would if we had cooperated with Him, but either way, it happens.

One of the biggest things He has to teach us is of course to trust Him. That's a lesson He works with us on all our lives, over and over again in many different ways and situations, to grow our faith and trust.

What does this have to do with trials and problems in our lives? Well one of the things we tend to do constantly is to trust other people instead of God or at least in addition to God. So He is constantly having to show us and remind us that other people are going to constantly let us down, or even purposely mislead us -even those we love and those who love us. They can't help it any more then we can help letting other people down sometimes. It's all that nasty sin nature which makes it "normal" for us to do that. It's only because of God's Grace and help that we who are saved can overcome that ourselves.

Often when our problems or trials are being caused because other people have hurt us somehow, it's because the Lord is teaching us or reminding us that we can only trust Him, not ourselves and not other people. Think about it. When something "bad" happens, what's our first reaction usually? Is it to immediately go to prayer and ask the Lord how to handle it and what to do? Or is to to "figure things out for ourselves" or to ask a friend or a "professional" for advice? I have to admit that for me it's often to figure it out myself or ask someone else for advice.

But, I'm getting better! It's only taken the Lord 57 years to get me to come to Him first sometimes. My prayer is that before I turn 58, it will be ALL the time!

Hezekiah is a wonderful example of this! The story is in 2 Kings 18 and 19 for those who'd like to read it. Hezekiah was only 29 when this trial I'm speaking of began - the King of Assyria attacked them and was very good at psychological warfare. He knew all the right things to say to cause the people and King Hezekiah to doubt God, but Hezekiah held firm to his faith. He even had one of his commanders stand up after they had Judah under siege and announce to them that God wouldn't save them and that God had even told them to come and capture them! He sent Hezekiah a letter basically telling him the same thing and telling him what awful things would happen to him and the people if they didn't surrender right away.

What did Hezekiah do? At 29 years old, he was more spiritually mature then I am at 57! He didn't hesitate even for a second. After reading the letter, he immediately went to the Temple and spread the letter out before the Lord and prayed to Him about it, asking Him to deliver them and what he should do! Can you believe it???? What a fantastic role model for us! (In answer, the Lord sent Isaiah to him to tell him what would happen and how He would deliver them) I've got to share with you how the Lord did it too, check this out: 2 Kings 19:35 —That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! * The Lord rewarded Hezekiah for his faith and for coming to Him instead of trying to figure things out for himself or getting advice from others first.

Hezekiah didn't react to any of the verbal threats or to the letter. If you read the story, He even told the people not to react to them, to literally "say nothing" when they were taunted. He went to the Lord for directions and help and received them. The Lord absolutely loves it when we ask Him for help and He loves it even more when we trust Him to deliver us and to use the situation for our good. When we cooperate with Him, then we can move toward that wonderful future He has for us much more quickly, as we become the people He created us to be.

It's difficult for us because we tend to live by sight rather then by faith, so when we see and hear someone or many people lying about us or a loved one, or saying things that hurt us in some way, or cheating us, or whatever the situation is, we forget all about the Lord and just strike back. We "stand up for our rights", not realizing that often in the process we're negating all that the Lord is trying to teach us and show us. Forgetting that He told us to "love them" unconditionally, and sacrificially; forgetting that He tells us to put their needs before our own. Or, perhaps I should say "I do things like that" and not "we". Like I said though, little by little I'm learning and I really am getting better. While it's often still my first instinct to react in those ways, I'm now often able to prevent myself from going beyond the first thought and turn and do things God's way instead. Someday I hope to be able to always react to people who I feel are hurting me or attacking me somehow, the way He wants me to. I know from His Word that's one of the things He tries to develop in each of us so that we will become more like Jesus and be ready to fulfill the role He has for our future.

Jeremiah 29:11–13 —For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. *Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. *You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. *

 

LiveJournal Tags: david,Deliverance,future,god,Hezekiah,hope,isaiah,Jeremiah 29:11–13,purpose,scripture,trials,troubles

Why do we persist in thinking discernment is a feeling?

From the time I was saved, I've heard people talk about discerning things and almost always it was related to how they felt about something or someone. Since I heard this so much and from so many different people, I accepted it as true. After all, all those christians couldn't be wrong could they??? It turned out that they were though, and I was just plain shocked!
As I studied God's Word, He taught me about discernment, and I discovered it has absolutely nothing to do with our feelings. That makes a lot of sense to me now as I know the Lord tells us that we're not to trust our feelings. But at first, it didn't make sense as I didn't realize that. I kept thinking, "well, if it doesn't involve our feelings, then how do we tell?" Of course the Lord gave me His answer from His Word, and His answer was, "from His Word" Sorry for the pun, but I couldn't resist. In other words, we discern whether or not someone or something is right, true, etc, not by our feelings, but by the Word of God.
Over and over the Lord tells us that we're to trust only His Word. We are not to trust our own philosophies, ideas, and especially not our feelings. I wondered why we weren't to trust those things and again found the answer in His Word. He tells us that when Adam sinned, his mind and heart, or in other terms, his thoughts and feelings, became corrupted by sin, just as everything else did, and this is passed down to us as well. I don't mean that it's passed down genetically, and I probably shouldn't use that term at all. What God says is that sin itself corrupted the thoughts and feelings of Adam and Eve and continues to corrupt the feelings and thoughts of all people since then. That's why we must have the Holy Spirit to guide us and teach us God's Truth. That's why we cannot understand God's Word without the Holy Spirit, because our minds are corrupt, depraved, as are our feelings.
So if discernment doesn't involve our feelings, what is it and how do we get it? Does it just happen like magic, all of a sudden when we're saved? That's the way most folks seem to think it happens, but it doesn't.
Simply put, discernment is the ability to think scripturally, or biblically, which includes the ability to determine if something is or is not of the Lord. There are literally dozens of scriptures that talk about this, but the one that I think nails it down the best is this: Hebrews 5:14 —But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. * This is talking about God's Word and how we should study it constantly and regularly. It's saying that those people who do study His Word regularly, by constant involvement with His Word, literally are training themselves to be discerning. This isn't talking about reading the bible, but studying it, because as you continue reading, he says "lets leave the elementary teachings and go on to maturity". He's berating them for not studying the Word, saying that because they haven't done so, they're still babies in the faith and they need to get busy so they can become mature and discern the truth for themselves.
In our day however, discernment has become thought of as more like something psychic or maybe some kind of mystical awareness. This is of course another of Satan's lies to keep God's people from the truth, for the last thing Satan wants is for us to study God's Word! And he's done a good job of keeping many from it too. After all, why should they study if they already have this magical discernment? I understand now of course that the discernment that many talk about isn't discernment at all. Or at least it's not biblical discernment.
But what about the gift of discernment? Yes, God does give some people the extra gift of discernment to be used for the benefit of the body of Christ, but even though it is a gift, and not something we teach ourselves through constant use, it's a gift He gives to those who are mature already and have normal discernment already. The gift itself wouldn't help someone who wasn't mature since they wouldn't know what to do with it. Giving it to someone who wasn't spiritually mature, would be like a parent giving a two year old a book of matches to play with. We know our Father isn't irresponsible like that, so we know He wouldn't do that. If they weren't spiritually mature already, they wouldn't know how to operate their gift.
There's a couple of great examples of this gift in action in the bible. There's the time Paul used this gift when a girl who supposedly predicted the future was following him around and telling everyone that he was there to tell them about God and how to be saved. Paul recognized that it was a lying spirit, a demon and cast it out of her. Another time is when Peter exercised this gift and determined that Ananias and Sapphira were lying about the money they'd given to the church. In both of those cases, as in all cases of discernment, they did not follow their feelings or senses. They followed the Word of God. They knew what God's Word said, and recognized various things in each instance that were at odds with God's Word. Therefore they knew that these people were not acting according to the Word and needed to be put in their place. To examine the scriptures, and test the spirits, does not mean to check and see how you feel about something. (Acts 17:11; 1 John 4:1)
What I've come to realize over the years is that it's the world that wants us to rely on our emotions and on our own thought processes and judgment, while God constantly tells us not do so, but to instead rely on His Wisdom from His Word and the authority of His Word. I guess I've come to see myself more and more like a child. I used to be proud of my intelligence back when I got saved, but now I could care less about it because I realize it's not worth two cents unless it's being guided by the Lord and His Word.

 

LiveJournal Tags: 1 John 4:1,Acts 17:11,bible,constant use,disceernment,god,Hebrews 5:14,jesus,maturity,obedience,scripture

oh boy, this really convicted me! 2

As I said in the thread, I used to think that I couldn't ever be an idolater... when I was first saved, I thought idolatry was when you believed in and worshiped some false god like the old roman gods... you know, like Athena, and Zeus. It wasn't until I'd studied God's Word more that I began to understand that it's idolatry whenever you put anything ahead of God in your life. It doesn't mean that we have to pray to someone or something else or even think of them as a "god" in order for it to be idolatry. That really blew me away when He showed me that and changed me quite a bit too. It had to change me because there were a lot of things that I had put before Him without even realizing it. But I wrote about all that in that thread.

The Lord had yet another lesson for me though. One I'd studied before, but certainly hadn't applied it to myself - about adultery -spiritual adultery. I knew that venerating people or objects or dabbling in the occult, was spiritual adultery, and I certainly didn't do that, so I didn't think I had anything to worry about as far as that was concerned. I knew that worshiping idols was also spiritual idolatry but again, I wasn't guilty of that either.

It started to get personal though when I discovered that "friendship with the world" was also considered spiritual adultery. Adultery is something that violates the covenant commitment to our spouse, and spiritual adultery is something that violates our covenant commitment to Christ. Friendship with the world, isn't just doing the things that are very obviously wrong, but it's what we might consider the little things as well. Even when we hang out with unbelievers and just laugh at their coarse jokes, or swear and use foul language like they do, both are friendship with the world. It's when a wife insists on being the head of the home instead of encouraging her husband to do so. It's also when a wife refuses to submit to her husband. It's when we cheat on our taxes, gossip with our neighbors (or about them), It's when we put down others who have hurt us, instead of forgiving them and loving them anyway; it's when we hold a grudge. It's whenever we consistently do things the worlds way instead of God's way. I don't mean when we slip up once in awhile, or even when we're first learning that something is a sin, and we still mess up a lot as we haven't yet completely overcome it. I'm talking about when we do those things habitually. When those things are part of our way of life, of how we live, of who we are. Because when we do that, we're not being faithful to our Husband.

We're committing adultery, because we know our husband has commanded us not to do those things. He's told us that we're brand new people and that we're to put on our new self and get rid of the old one. So when we hang on to our old ways, our old selves, or parts of our old ways or selves, we're committing spiritual adultery.

When we have a strong focus on or drive for material possessions, money, or immaterial ones like beauty, looking or acting young, or just a strong focus on our physical bodies, (like someone who might obsess about losing or gaining weight all the time, or other similar things, those are all ways of committing spiritual adultery. All of those things are putting God at least second in our lives because we spend more time focused on them then we do on Him.

Adultery is something that violates the covenant commitment to our spouse, and spiritual adultery is something that violates our covenant commitment to Christ. So anything that we spend more time on, including time spent thinking about them, then we spend on the Lord is something that we may very well be committing spiritual adultery with. And I had to admit that I could see myself in a number of different things.

I've found as that devotional said, "If we follow Him with our entire being—setting aside all that stands between us and Him—the world will look different." - or at least our little part of it, because we'll be different. Seriously though, everything begins to look different to us, the more we set aside the things that stand between us and the Lord. I doubt if I've found everything in my life that's between me and the Lord, but I'm keeping my eyes open, and I've asked the Lord to show me anything that needs to be removed or put in it's place, and I know He will. He always does when He knows we're serious. It seems like a constant battle sometimes, because as soon as I figure I've got it all under control, bam! Something else shows up and I realize I've allowed something I thought I'd taken care of to creep back in. But like Paul said, all we can do is keep plugging away, doing our best with His help and looking forward to that day when our salvation will finally be complete and we'll no longer have to deal with a sin nature. Come soon Lord!

Matthew 6:24 —“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. *

Ephesians 4:22–24 —You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; *to be made new in the attitude of your minds; *and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. *

Colossians 3:9–10 —Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices *and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. *

John 14:15 —“If you love me, you will obey what I command. *

John 15:10 —If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. *

 

LiveJournal Tags: devotional,Ezekiel 6:1–8:18,idols,bible,god,God first,idolater,idolatry,idolatry today,today,scripture,sin,spiritual adultery

oh boy, this really convicted me!

It Will Eat You Alive

Ezekiel 6:1–8:18

Idolatry eats at our souls. And God puts up with it for only so long.
“And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying, ‘Son of man, set your face to the mountains of Israel and prophesy against them, and you must say, “Mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord Yahweh, thus says the Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys: ‘Look, I am bringing upon you the sword, and I will destroy your high places, and your altars will be desolate, and your incense altars will be broken, and I will throw down your slain ones before your idols, and I will place the corpses of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars’ ” ’ ” (Ezek 6:1–6).

Ezekiel portrays God’s view of the true nature of idolatry and the ramifications of living an idolatrous life. When people put wood and stone, or gadgets and entertainment, before their relationship with Yahweh, they are giving up the most valuable part of themselves.

Today, most people place entertainment above God. We value celebrity more than Jesus. We may deny this, but if we closely examine how we spend our time and money, we find that we love our idols as much as the ancients did.

How can we as Christians be instruments for the changes God wants to bring to the world if we conform ourselves to the expectations of our culture? Where we invest our time, assets, and attention reveals what we care about most. If we give ourselves over to worldly priorities instead of God’s, we deserve the same fate that Yahweh prophesied for the children of Israel in Ezek 6:1–6.

But our good and gracious God wants to redeem us, and we should commit ourselves to seeking His blessing instead of His judgment (John 3:16–17; Rom 8). If we follow Him with our entire being—setting aside all that stands between us and Him—the world will look different. Idolatry will be revealed for what it is: a thief and a glutton, stealing the very lives God has in store for us. If we seek God with all our being, idolatry will hold no power over us. It will die from neglect while our lives take on new vitality as we boldly proclaim the glory of our life-giving God.

What idols stand between you and the life God has for you?

Barry, J. D., & Kruyswijk, R. (2012). Connect the Testaments: A Daily Devotional.

boy this really got to me! Especially when he said, where we invest our time, money and attention reveals what's most important to us. It reminded me of what I wrote in I used to think that I couldn't ever be an idolater... I guess I should go and update that thread with the new things I've discovered about idolatry.

 

LiveJournal Tags: bible,god,God first,idolater,idolatry,idolatry today,scripture,sin,spiritual adultery,today

I used to think that I couldn't ever be an idolater...

I used to think that I couldn't ever be an idolater, but boy was I wrong! I also used to pride myself that I could never be called an adulterer and again, I was wrong! When I was first saved, my idea of "sin" was breaking one of the commandments and I took all of them quite literally. (not that there's anything wrong with that). As I grew in my faith though, I came to realize that anything and anyone I put before God was idolatry. Then I got a real shock when God showed me that an idolater was also committing spiritual adultery! Tell you what, those revelations really knocked me down a peg or two!

I'm a pretty stubborn person though,which, by the way, is usually also a sin unless it's being purposely used to obey the Lord, and I was determined that I wasn't going to let anything come before the Lord in my life. Needless to say, the Lord seemed to immediately start throwing wrenches in the works to show me the truth about myself.

One of the hardest things for me to get straight was "other people" and where they fit in my life with the Lord. It seemed like every time I decided to spend time with the Lord, I'd be interrupted. My kids needed this or that, husband wanted something, or others would call and things like that. I knew I was supposed to love others and think of others before myself, so at first I always jumped up and did whatever was asked of me, even if it was just visiting with someone. The hard thing about this was that often when I did that, by the time I was finished, I had to go do something else, like housework, errands, etc. and before I knew it, the day was over and I hadn't had my time with the Lord and His Word.

Then I realized that by allowing that to happen, I was putting all of those people and things before God. I just didn't know what to do then, because I knew that people were important to the Lord but that I also really needed that time with Him and His Word every day. So, I asked Him for help. I asked Him to help me by protecting my time with Him. I'd love to say that He did and no one ever bothered me again during that time but that's not what happened. Nothing really changed much at all.

Finally though I realized that I was going to have to speak up and let people know that I was spending time with Him and would like to have some privacy during that time. My family was fairly cooperative but it was still hit and miss, and again I realized that it was mainly my fault. I didn't have a "routine" set up. I just did it whenever I "felt like it" each day, or whenever I "had the time". So I decided to make a routine for myself to follow and actually schedule time for the Lord at the same time each day. This took some trial and error for me as well as I had to find the time that worked best for me, both physically as well as spiritually. I finally settled on first thing every morning and have been doing it at that time for more years than I care to count now.

Once I had my routine in place, I had to again let everyone know that 6am to 7am was my time with the Lord and I didn't want to be disturbed. Once I did that, the Lord did protect my time with Him, and I've rarely been disturbed. When I was disturbed at first, I simply reminded them about it and that was that. Now, all I have to do is let "new folks" know so they know not to call during that time.

Sounds fairly easy and straight forward doesn't it? It is really, but for me, it was hard to tell people I loved not to disturb me during that time. It wasn't until later that the Lord showed me that by doing that though I had set a good example for my children and everyone else. There was/is no question in their minds that I mean it when I say that's my time with the Lord and no one else. It let them know that He was and is that important to me.

The other part that was hard for me was forcing myself to spend time with the Lord even when I didn't feel like it. I know, it sounds just awful to say that out loud, but there were times when I just didn't want to study His word, or times when I just didn't feel like praying and times when I didn't want to do either one, especially if I wasn't feeling well. It took time, but the Lord eventually showed me that I was once again being idolatrous when I did that. I was shocked because there was no one before Him! But there was. I was putting myself and my feelings before Him. As I prayed about it, I remembered when Jesus prayed in the garden and knew then that He most likely didn't "feel like" being crucified that day either. I felt pretty ashamed of myself then, and since then simply have reminded myself of what He did for me and that took care of that bit of idolatry.

I have to share too though that every single time that I didn't "feel like" spending time with the Lord and His Word, but did it anyway, within a few moments of starting, 5 at the most, the Lord always, always, got me so interested in what we were studying, that I'd wind up not wanting to stop! He's always like that though. Every time we take the smallest step toward Him in obedience, He blesses us so much more then we deserve!

I've also learned over the years that having a routine like this really helps prevent us from backsliding too. Because once you've done something like this long enough, it becomes second nature to you....it's not something you even think about doing, you just do it. When we're studying His Word daily with Him, it nourishes our spirits so they become stronger and which enables us to fight sin and temptation in our lives and win. It enables us, with the Lord's help, to live a life of victory here and now as we apply His Word to our lives each day. Plus, it's through His Word and staying in communion with Him, that He changes us to be more and more spiritually mature.

My idolatrous ways were finally over then, right? Nope. I found another one. Oh, I kept my routine, but sometimes I'd find myself "cheating" and just kind of skimming through things or praying in general or out of duty rather then from my heart. Those were always times when I felt that I was "running behind schedule" and that I had to get here to Fresh Hope and start posting. After all, this was/is God's site and He gave me this job, so didn't' I have to be here for X hours a day every day to do it? If I was "late" wouldn't that mean I was being disobedient to Him? If I was the Lord, I'd have been pulling my hair out over me by this time. Thankfully though, He showed me that working for Him, wasn't as important as being with Him. I always get this picture in my mind of not being plugged in to Him, when I didn't have my time with Him first, so since I wasn't plugged into Him, I therefore couldn't do my job for Him the way it was/is supposed to be done. (my version of the vine and the branches ) I wish I could say that I realized that truth quickly but I didn't. Once He got that through my thick head though, I repented from that as well.

I do still ask myself and the Lord every once in awhile if I'm putting anything or anyone before Him, because I don't ever want to be guilty of that again. Isn't it amazing just how many stumbling blocks we put in our own way when it comes to spending time with Him and His Word daily ....even when we know there's nothing more important??? I guess it shows us just how stubborn our sin natures are though....


Related threads:
oh boy, this really convicted me!

 

LiveJournal Tags: bible,god,God first,idolater,idolatry,idolatry today,scripture,sin,spiritual adultery,today

The Days of Noah & "whatever's been has been before"

Something about Noah's time hit me the other day and I wanted to share it, even though it sounds totally crazy. I recently did a study about Genesis 4:16 through Genesis 5:32 and in that study the Bible talks about Cain's line and what they accomplished. In Genesis 4 it shows a huge population explosion, that they're living in cities and forged all kinds of tools, and weapons from metals, etc. In other words, contrary to what evolution would have us believe, they have a very advanced civilization and weren't living like cavemen in caves.

For some reason, as I was considering this the other day, Ecclesiastes 1:9–10 —What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. *Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. * and Ecclesiastes 3:15 — Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account. popped into my mind. I've always gotten a kick out of those verses...even as a child. I don't know why, I just thought they're really neat.

It just suddenly hit me the other night, what if that's literal? What if God is actually saying that everything we see as great inventions, have been invented before? I know they've discovered batteries and all kinds of things that shouldn't be there, things there's just no explanation for, in excavations of very ancient sites, so maybe it's not all that far fetched. In fact, it seems like I remember reading about something like that that was discovered around the sites of ancient Sodom - that they'd discovered something indicative of nuclear weapons and were suggesting that might have been what God used to destroy them. (I'm not suggesting that's necessarily true, just throwing that in as something I've read about)

What got me thinking along these lines was that thread in Christian chat about What have we exchanged for TV? and how technology has grown so much and we've misused it so badly. I hadn't carried the idea as far as it is now when I first started that thread, so I was a bit surprised when I realized just how bad it's gotten and how vast it's influence has been on families especially which is the foundation of our society. While I realized some of the damage it's done, I guess I hadn't realized the full extent of how it's been used by Satan to destroy the family.

That reminded me of Genesis 4 and how they began to develop technology and became so evil that God had to wipe out the whole world!

In turn, that reminded me of how often it's been pointed out that we've come full circle since the founding of the Church, which is another point showing it's the last days of the end times. I'd forgotten, but I even posted a thread about that awhile ago: [I Coming Full Circle in yet another way (I just looked at it and it's about the letters to the churches like my last post lol)

That saying, "come full circle" kept going round in my head and I began wondering is we had maybe come full circle in yet another way too..... Perhaps, we've also come full circle in how we handle all the advancements of civilization, (such as technology) just as in the days of Noah.

Crazy? Maybe.... but then again, maybe not. It's a lot to chew on, that's for sure. But something tells me that we just may have hit on something important here. Something that the Lord wants us to see and realize.

So, what have we got? In Noah's day, people were just going on with their lives as normal. If you look at what Jesus says, it sounds a lot like today because it sounds like they had become very self centered, just as our society is today. They apparently didn't care about anything that didn't have to with them or didn't affect them. Neither did they want to hear about anything that might make them reconsider their way of life. We know that because we know that Noah preached and begged them to repent and be saved for 120 years and every one of them ultimately ignored him. Seems that they much preferred self help sermons to sermons about what God wants and expects. They preferred gathering like a social club instead of gathering to worship God. They were more interested in their football games and races then in attending a worship service. They certainly had plenty of idols and false teachers and false religions, worshiping both demons and the creation instead of the Creator.

Jesus said they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood actually happened. But how could that be when we know that Noah was preaching for all those years, and that they knew he was building a boat? That seems impossible until you think about how even many "Christians" are today. Many of them know nothing of what's going to happen soon either because they haven't bothered to study their bibles enough to even know what true salvation looks like or what God wants and expects of them, much less what He intends to do very soon. They're much to busy watching their favorite TV shows, and going to their favorite football games to consider that there just might be something important in the Bible they have on their shelf. Besides, they go to their church most every week and hear what their pastor says...(although they couldn't tell you if he's really a believer even) The one thing that strikes me about both groups is that they both seem very self centered and very shallow. But then I guess being self-centered leads to being shallow.

That brings up one final point. I've heard some pastors suggest that the human race is not evolving like many of today's scientists would have us believe. Instead they say that we're devolving - mentally, physically, and spiritually. The more I reflect on that, the more I have to agree that it certainly seems that way to me as well.

What do you think? Have I lost it? It's certainly a lot to chew on.

Matthew 24:37–39 —As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. *For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; *and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. *

 

LiveJournal Tags: bible,christians,days of Noah,end times,false teaching,family,flood,full circle,god,jesus,noah,nothing new,rapture,repeat,self-centered,Sodom,technology