Let God pick your battles:

 

As I read this morning’s Bible reading in One Year Bible, I began to think about broken people trying to leave broken lifestyles. Let’s read it together.
Ex 13:17 When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the Promised Land. God said, “If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”

¹⁸ So God led them in a roundabout way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea.^[a] Thus the Israelites left Egypt like an army ready for battle.^[b]

 

We all know the story, 10 plagues, Moses and Pharoah, “Let my people go!”

 

Imagine if you will the mindset of these people. Beaten, broken, enslaved for as long as anyone could remember, suddenly delivered by the hand of God, yet not yet fully trusting God fully yet.

Remember when God called David, and Samuel had a hard time accepting it:

 

1 Samuel 16:7 But the Lord said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.

 

He knows what we are made of, and what it takes to build a strong foundation of faith into our hearts, that one day will allow us to be the warriors, delivers, and victors in life’s battles.

 

If any of you have seen the movie ‘Captain America’ there is a scene where the commanding officer says something like, ‘there is no way we can make a soldier out of him’, then in one of the drills, Cap falls upon a grenade to protect the other guys in his platoon, and the hardened soldier gets some instruction. He had looked at the small stature and fraility of the man, yet his courage in battle revealed his heart.

In this case, God knew the children of Israel were not ready for a battle yet with the Philistines, so He led them on a longer route.

 

Anyone read the Christian classic: ‘Hinds Feet on Hinds Places?”

It is the journey where a fictional character named ‘poor little much afraid’ is transformed through a journey with the Shepherd, to receive her hinds feet to be able to leap around the mountains with a new name: ‘Grace and glory” It’s a great read, but the point that comes to mind is the way that that Shepherd leads her on their journey, the horror of being led directly away from her destination into the desert, instead of up the mountain.

Seems the Shepherd was wiser than her though, because near the end of the book, she discovers the extra miles in the desert had strengthened her to climb the steep dangerous cliffs, and in exhilaration she discovered she had conquered her fears, and was able to leap the tall heights with ease and joy.

 

Over the years, I have worked with broken people, each struggling with some deep dark secret pattern of destructive behavior. Addicts especially come to mind, and how relevant this verse is in their lives. They cannot be around alcohol or drugs of any form for some time, until they become strong, the temptation is too great.

In this Bible reading, the children of Israel were about to come in between a rock and a hard place, with far worse than the Philistines to face, the entire army of Egypt was about to back them up to the Red sea, and you know the rest of the story, God fought for them that day, as a whirlwind, a sea parter, and One who is altogether faithful.

Maybe you are in a fight for your life today. Literally, or spiritually, it doesn’t matter.

 

1 Corinthians 10:13  (ASV)

¹³ There hath no temptation taken you but such as man can bear: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation make also the way of escape, that ye may be able to endure it.

Jesus is the way, and also the waymaker. He will provide, He will deliver, He will lead you away from battles you are not yet qualified to fight. He knows, He cares, He loves.

Let’s Pray:

“Father, I need you to lead and guide me today. Show me Your will and Your way. Deliver me from the brutal circumstances that seek to destroy me, and show me the straight and narrow way Jesus promised is available to me. Amen”

Lead us not into temptation…

Hi everyone,

As I begin my day again, praying the prayer of Jesus, I am again struck by these words: Lead us not into temptation.

And my mind is again drawn to:

James 1:13

Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.

1:14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.

God does not tempt us with evil, He is holy, pure, and there is no evil in Him.

So I read this article: https://www.gotquestions.org/lead-us-not-into-temptation.html

God please don’t take me down the candy aisle today!

I love this illustration: “We might illustrate Jesus’ words “Lead us not into temptation” like this: a mother takes her young children grocery shopping with her and comes to the candy aisle. She knows that taking her children down that aisle will only stir up greediness in their hearts and lead to bouts of whining and pouting. In wisdom, she takes another route—whatever she may have needed down the candy aisle will have to wait for another day. In this way the mother averts unpleasantness and spares her children a trial. Praying, “Lead us not into temptation,” is like praying, “God, don’t take me down the candy aisle today.” It’s recognizing that we naturally grasp for unprofitable things and that God’s wisdom can avert the unpleasantness of our bellyaching.”

As I think back on my work over the years, both in construction and in ministry, I have walked with guys coming out of addictions, or pornography, or one guy who had an anger problem and who liked to fight.

Daily, sometime in their day, the monster inside of them needed be fed, and despite great intentions and firm resolve, they ended up repeatedly back in the muck and the mire of their addictions…

Lead us not into temptation…

When Jesus enters our lives, real change becomes possible:

He is the way and the waymaker, and there is a way out of bondage…

1 Corinthians 10:13 (NASB)

¹³ No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.

Let’s Pray:

‘Father, lead me in paths away from temptation. Keep me from the horrors I would commit, and lead me not into temptation today, and every day, that I might live the life of honor You have called me to live for You Lord Jesus, Amen’

Your Choices Make Your Life!

Generational curse?

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Ezekial 18:19 “‘What?’ you ask. ‘Doesn’t the child pay for the parent’s sins?’ No! For if the child does what is just and right and keeps my decrees, that child will surely live. 20 The person who sins is the one who will die. The child will not be punished for the parent’s sins, and the parent will not be punished for the child’s sins. Righteous people will be rewarded for their own righteous behavior, and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness. 21 But if wicked people turn away from all their sins and begin to obey my decrees and do what is just and right, they will surely live and not die.

I have seen people come out of homes that were drug centers, crack houses, and parents that are still living the lifestyle of sex, drugs and rock and roll.

Yet, they have chosen to live for Jesus, and do right. Fighting to be honest, loving, clean from the way they were raised.

This is the glory of the gospel. Even if someone was immoral, having sex with anything that moved, they become a born-again virgin in him, cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus!

Even if parents were addicts, alcoholics, criminals, liars, and thieves, a child can choose Jesus, life, and a life of blessing, purpose, joy, purity, and peace!

There is no sickness, disease, addiction, or criminal behavior that can be passed down generationally now, to anyone that wants a better way of life. These things are the result of the curse, but God speaks here: The sins, sicknesses and failures of the parents, will NOT be laid upon the children who choose right!

It is written: Galatians 3:13
Now Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law’s condemnation, by himself becoming a curse for us when he was crucified. For the scripture is plain: ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree.

We can freely choose to live honestly, righteously, in purpose and passion before His throne, and our families, our homes, our children can be blessed of heaven, with a bright and glorious future!

Jesus is a good shepherd, and if you decide to seek Him first, and let Him lead you out of the messes life has dealt you, you will discover Him to be all powerful, faithful, and a God of miracles.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (PHILLIPS)

God still governs human experience

¹³ No temptation has come your way that is too hard for flesh and blood to bear. But God can be trusted not to allow you to suffer any temptation beyond your powers of endurance. He will see to it that every temptation has a way out, so that it will never be impossible for you to bear it.

Jesus is the way, and the Waymaker!

Let’s pray:
‘Father, I choose to do right. I refuse to be limited by my past, or the bad choices of my ancestors. I am your child, royalty, and I will fight for purity and righteousness in my life, and this generation. I choose Jesus rule and Lordship in every area of my life, now! Amen’

The Heart of a Curse!

The Heart of a Curse!.

Addicted to Jesus!

 

 

James 4:3 3  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.

How do we ask amiss?

Guess you cannot get around this verse, so I’m going to preach it. God’s desires are people to get saved, instructed and grown up in the word of God, ministry to the poor, healing, prosperity, missions, caring for orphans, building Bible schools, churches, and just about every other good thing.

When we come to the place that we honestly want what He wants, He will give it to us, but so many of us say we will do great things with our money when we get some, but how well we discover that we fail miserably, when we actually have some in our pockets.

God is determined to prosper us, and His prosperity includes much more than money. A life full of purpose, love, joy, selfless giving, abundance, evangelism, and serving in the myriad ministries in His kingdom, will include money, but is not defined by it.

Want to ask for something worth giving every ounce of your life for? Ask Him for the purpose He created you, and press into that. You will then stop having to ask for His blessings and discover that His plan is already blessed.

Movies, expensive vacations, video games, the newest tacky gadget, fancy homes and gardens are all good things, but cannot define us.

1Ti 6:17  Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;

God loves us, and gives us richly, wonderful things to enjoy, just because He loves us!

Yet, unless those things are received in union with Him, for His plan and purposes for your life, they become a waste of your time.

How much stuff is enough?

Solomon, the richest king that ever lived, thought through some of the typical worldly pursuits, we all find ourselves entertaining in our minds from time to time:

Ecc 2:4  I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards:

5  I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits:

6  I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees:

7  I got me servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me:

8  I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts.

9  So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me.

10  And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour.

11  Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.

12 ¶  And I turned myself to behold wisdom, and madness, and folly: for what can the man do that cometh after the king? even that which hath been already done.

13  Then I saw that wisdom excelleth folly, as far as light excelleth darkness.

14  The wise man’s eyes are in his head; but the fool walketh in darkness: and I myself perceived also that one event happeneth to them all.

15  Then said I in my heart, As it happeneth to the fool, so it happeneth even to me; and why was I then more wise? Then I said in my heart, that this also is vanity.

The whole book is about the search of a once wise king, that had been radically blessed by God, to discover something that I can tell you right now, for a fact.

Without Jesus, it is empty, hollow, and vain, and of no eternal consequence.

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

The old king James word ‘quickeneth’ used here, means ‘to make alive’.

Those of us who have been around the movings of God for awhile, are worse in some respects, than the worst case hard core drug addict on the face of the planet.

We’ve found a drug that truly satisfies, and we want MORE! Holy Spirit is a life giving spirit, and one of the incredible privileges is to have Him flow through you, like now, bringing His Word, or delivering a miracle, or in any of the other myriad ways His rivers flow up out of us, to meet the needs of those around us.

I’m an addict, and a pusher!

I pray you get addicted to this life flow like I am.

Solomon eventually figured it out, that nothing here on this earth can truly satisfy, apart from Him.

With Him though, all the vacations, toys, money, buildings, projects, and pursuits, can be a wonderfully fulfilling journey, full of love, life, and joy.

Solomon figured it out, at the end of His life, after trying about everything he could pursue to try to find satisfaction.

So if Jesus is the author of all life, and the sole purpose of passionate pursuit, what should we ask Him for?

Wisdom?

Obviously, as great as wisdom is, it is not enough to keep a man holy.

Solomon was the wisest man that ever walked the earth apart from Jesus, and he found that all the riches, wealth, projects, and women produced, did not satisfy his deepest hungers.

God has designed us, that only He can do that.

Proverbs 9:10

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding..

There is knowledge of holiness, a hunger for purity, for we recognize it is only the pure in heart that can see God…

He Himself becomes the object of our desire, to be found in the beauty of His holiness, and we desire to become vessals of honor, people of holiness, renown, purity, truth, walking in true love and power with God.

Then, we stumble upon this verse:

2 Timothy 2:21

If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.

We see it! The pearl of great price! Every earthly accolade of men, treasure, pursuit, finds true purpose and meaning only in light of eternity, and we embark, even as ‘Christian’ did in the epic tale entitled ‘Pilgrims Progress’, on a journey with Jesus, on a straight and narrow walk called the highway of holiness.

Suddenly, the end of Solomon’s wisdom, becomes our beginning:

Ec 12:13  Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.

To know Him, and to see Him, afresh an anew, in the beauty of His holiness…Like a moth to a flame, and addict seeking his next fix, we run, our lives encircling His throne, moving from strength to strength and glory to glory, and the nations come to see the brightness of our rising!

All of this is in Jesus, our wonderful Lord!

Let’s pray:

‘Father, bring your fire to my heart again, the fire of your holiness, and purity, the passion of Your love! Burn away my games, my lies, my sin, and teach me Your ways of holiness, love, truth, and power towards the people of this generation. Use me Lord Jesus for your glory, as I remain hungry for what only You can truly give. Amen!

I like watching this video with my children: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eB6ydNSI6Sw

The Heart of a Curse!

Galatians 3:13The Message (MSG)

^13-14 Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham’s blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God’s life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received it.

2 Cor 5:20 (Phillips)For if a man is in Christ he becomes a new person altogether—the past is finished and gone, everything has become fresh and new.

This is our positional truth, that we behold and marvel upon as we understand our new birth, and adoption into God’s family as His child!

Yet, even as a Christian, there can be cycles of defeat, despair, that seem to helplessly continue in our families and children. This, theologians have identified as a ‘generational curse’.

Yet, we are redeemed from every curse!

So why do certain bad things continue to happen? Cycles of addiction, defeat, abuse, brokenness in yea even, Christian homes?

Let’s take a look at a couple of Scriptures: Joh 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment. Mt 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Mr 11:26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

The kingdom of God, is a kingdom of love. It is also a kingdom of truth.

We are called to love people, to overcome evil with good, and to: Mt 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; Lu 6:28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. Ro 12:14 Bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not.

Ever had a series of bad things seem to keep happening in your life, a seemingly unending cycle of heartache, betrayal, and bad things?

Seems that as soon as you begin to get over the last heartbreak, bad relationship, or betrayal, another one looms on the horizon of time…. Makes you want to give up in hopelessness…

HOW A CURSE WORKS

This is a curse, and here is how it works. When someone does us wrong, it hurts.

Heart Wounds:

Just like a regular cut or wound, if a wound in our heart is not cleansed and tended it too, it can become infected. An infection in the heart of man, is called bitterness, and it not only hurts us, in making us cynical, sarcastic, and hateful, but it also poisons the every atmosphere we enter.

Heb 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;

So, how do we end the cycle of brutality, and create a better future? You need to see this verse again: Mt 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. When you refuse to forgive, you judge. When you judge, that which you wished would happen to your enemy, continually happens in your life. Simple, forgive! You don’t understand! I have a right to be angry! They ripped me off, (or in many cases, performed much worse atrocities than that!) I did not say you couldn’t, or shouldn’t be angry, but I did say you MUST forgive!

It is a command of God, not a suggestion!

You have a right to be angry, but you do not have a right to judge them, or hold a grudge, and become bitter. Let me make it plain. You have a right to forgive. You have a covenant right to be healed from what they did. You do not have a right to unforgiveness, bitterness, and judgment. In fact, this law of God, of judgment, is what will keep you in your cycle of defeat and betrayal, as you baste in your bitterness. The Bible is the Word of God, eternally established before the throne of God, in the heavens, it is eternal law. Now reread these words of Jesus, in light of this: Mt 7:1 Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

When we judge, we are judged!

The judgment, is simple: “what goes around, comes around.” The exact same thing that we judge others for, we get judged for, and it opens the door for the cycle of destruction in our lives again. Ugh! We can forgive, heal, love, and go free, and discover that: Pr 26:2 As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come,

Or

we go around the mountain one more time….

I believe you will forgive. As you do, I would like to pray for you:

I command, all the horrible things that have kept happening in your life, now stop! In the name, power, and authority, of the Lord Jesus Christ,  it has become your time to heal, and walk in a brighter, more glorious life and future!

Let’s pray together: ‘Father, You know, You see, and You have seen what has been done to me, and what I have done. Forgive me, for my judgment, hatred, bitterness, and for taking offense. I declare right now, before Your throne, that I forgive! Every time I think of what has been done to me, I will stand upon these words, I forgive. Now Father, heal me, restore what has been stolen, lost, broken, betrayed, and shattered, in my life, and the life of my family, for You alone are big enough to do it. In Your name I pray this Lord Jesus, Amen!’