Do Not Faint!

Heb_12:3 …lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Faint in our minds. That means it is possible for us to faint in our Christian walk, our spiritual selves can faint in our minds, we can grow weary in the lives we are living for Christ, this possibility exists.

Let's talk about fainting for a moment.

Fainting- the dictionary meaning-

Not bright, but dim. Done feebly without conviction. Dizzy or weak, about to be unconscious. Remote, slight. Weakened, losing courage.

Being faint of heart most certainly eludes to being weak, losing courage, losing conviction. If we are fainting in our Christian walk, that means we are not growing stronger in Christ, we are giving into Satan because the hardships of the walk we are called to endure becomes too much for us. We are in essence, relying upon ourselves for strength. We are allowing Satan to interfere.

Luk_18:1  And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint

Pray - Don't Faint.

Prayer is one safeguard we need to use in our striving not to lose courage as we fight our spiritual war.  Just as a soldier in physical combat is given armor and weapons, we too are given spiritual armor and spiritual weapons.  After we are given - in great detail- our armor and weapon, we are told to PRAY ALWAYS. (Ephesians 6:11-18)  Prayer is reaching out by faith to God, it's putting our lives in His hands, for His will to be done. Prayer is powerful and able to keep us from fainting, from giving in. Prayer reinforces our comprehension that we are creatures and our Creator reigns over us. We look to our Creator knowing so much of life is totally out of our control, but it is all in His control.

Pray even if it is a singular cry to our God.

Rom_8:26  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Pray, don't faint.

2Co_4:1  Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not.

Faint not.

2Co_4:16  For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

Faint not.

Our outward man perish… we live in perishing flesh bodies subject to all sorts of flesh ailments. Paul prayed to God three times asking God to rid him of a flesh ailment, and God chose not to do so. Paul who went about healing others constantly, was not healed of the infirmity he possessed in his flesh and why not-

2Co 12:7  And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 

2Co 12:8  For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 

2Co 12:9  And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 

A thorn in the flesh- a messenger of Satan buffeting him… and this thing was NOT healed, not removed from Paul. God's strength was being revealed in Paul's weakness. Even though Paul had to contend with this weakness which was bad enough for him to seek God, asking Him to remove it more than once, He persevered in spite of its continued existence. He didn’t take God's choice not to remove the infirmity from him as a sign that God had forsaken him. That's something we like to do. We like to assume God has decided not to act in our favor when things go horribly wrong in our lives, with us, and with people we love. Nothing could be further from the truth. God's choice to allow all the chastening, all the infirmities, all the buffeting we receive by Satan is for us to grow ever closer to the source of all love, all life. God wants us to partake of His holiness and He is trying to hone our comprehension of what it means to have complete and utter faith in Him.  Paul prayed, God answered, Paul accepted. Paul did not faint.

Gal_6:9  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Faint not.

We can grow weary in well doing. Satan wants us to grow weary. Satan will set up scenarios designed to test us to our spiritual limits wanting us to despise our doing good to the seemingly undeserving, to the ungrateful, to those who turn right around and ridicule and malign us, and go on expecting us to keep doing well for them. And WE MUST continue in well doing, to give in and refuse to do well because we are buffeted relentlessly by Satan, is to faint under the pressure of our spiritual attacker who is using all he can to cause us to faint and give in to him and the limits he's placed upon love, something that is limitless in God. Yes, Satan places limits on love telling us our love is too precious to give to the undeserving, the unappreciative, the abusers of that love. Yet, how we have abused the love of God is incalculable, and He still loves us. You can love with God's love, without compromising the truth of another's hatred and abuse. Your love will not negate their wrongs, it simply allows you to let God's love work in them. They will either come to know the love of God and seek true forgiveness, or they'll dig themselves deeper into Satan's hold and be dealt with accordingly when all fates are decided.  We love, we continue in well doing, and allow them to continue in their path of choice, never letting their choice affect our choice. When we allow the bad choices of others to affect our choice to do well- Satan gains a victory.

Eph_3:13  Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

Faint not.

Tribulations. Yes, life is filled with tribulations tailor made to fit every single life- rich, poor, sick, healthy… you name it, each life no matter how seemingly tribulation free- will have its tribulations.  We cling to the hope beyond the tribulations, all by the grace of God.

Heb_12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.

Faint in your minds.

Jesus paid the ultimate price in tribulations, in facing the mocking. He taught the ultimate well doing in spite of Satan's many attempts to make Him grow weary in His well doing. Jesus, we must look to Jesus, if we look elsewhere- especially to ourselves for our own strength to endure- we will grow faint in our convictions.

Heb_12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:

Don't faint.

We will be taught many lessons. We will be chastened severely. The Lord will allow all this tribulation and we must use it all to overcome through HIM. We will be tempted to despise the chastening, the constant tribulation and to allow ourselves to give up our choice of trusting in spite of it all, in spite of being rebuked by the Lord. We must not give in to the temptation to give in, to faint, to grow weary! We are told it exists! We know it exists! We must NOT give in! Please, Lord, help us NOT give in!

Grievous Chastening.

Grievous chastening. NO ONE likes to be chastened. 

Chasten means- to subject someone to discipline. 

Being discipline means-  enforcing the acceptable patterns of behavior, punishment to teach obedience.

Grievous chastening is not something we are supposed to enjoy. We are to endure it because we know that we are being taught to obey, taught to follow the Lord as we need to. We endure it because we know that the ultimate goal of the many hard learned lessons will be our holding fast to Christ's righteousness, and being partakers with God's holiness. The ultimate result of enduring the chastening and allowing ourselves to be taught obedience to God's will is only for our good.

Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 

The many trials and tribulations we go through in our lives, the many chastening's we endure as we navigate this sin-filled existence, struggling to find the narrow way, struggling to be known by our Savior- known so that we may be called His, belonging to Him- are for a purpose. Teaching us that to obey our Creator, our Savior, to obey our Heavenly Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Only Begotten Son of God.. this is the lesson we must learn. Obedience- surrendering our will which would have us try and demand obedience rather than give it. Surrendering to the love of God. We must be exercised by the tribulations, the chastising, the grievous times of our lives that can happen often, constant, or seldom. We need to allow God to work in us and let it be for His glory. We need to have all the situations we find ourselves in draw us closer to Christ, being exercised by the very things that would destroy us if Satan had his way.

Please, Lord, help us surrender, help us endure, help us learn obedience, help us be YOURS in all things, in all ways!

All through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our Lord, now and forever!

Lives of Tribulation.

If I were to ask you to undertake a top secret, obviously extremely important mission you would laugh at me, wouldn't you? I know I'd most likely laugh at anyone I knew who asked me to do such a thing. Why would I laugh, or expect you to laugh? Because I am a person of little influence, as are most of my acquaintances. I lack the authority, the power to be involved in much that could ever be construed as being top secret, or a mission of any consequence. However, if an FBI agent, or CIA agent, or one of those 'men in black' came to you and convinced you of their authority then asked you to undertake a top secret mission then how would you feel? What do you imagine your thoughts would be? You might be frightened, apprehensive, worried, as well as excited and thrilled to be a part of something deemed important.

Where am I going with all this? Well, the most supreme authority in existence has asked us to be a part of His organization, a part of His plan, He wants us to undertake the most important mission (albeit not top secret) that we will ever be asked to undertake in our lifetime. Are you scoffing right now? Are you sitting there shaking your head as if what I'm saying is a letdown, that it is nothing new and not overall very important. Maybe you already know where this is going and are going to stop reading about now, or you have already and that's fine, you can. It's not like I have you tied to a chair, with your eyes taped open forcing you to read what I put in front of you, no, no and yet another, no. That would be considered torture and manipulation, force that the Highest Authority would never ever consent to being used.

Seriously, God would have us be PARTAKERS of HIS HOLINESS.

Partakers of HIS HOLINESS. GOD WANTS US! And not only does God want us, He wants us to partake of HIS HOLINESS.

When becoming a secret agent, or perhaps joining an organization such as a fraternity, or lodge, or other such club- often as a part of ritual you are subjected to certain traditions called hazing or more acceptably- tests. And yes, some are truly tests of skill to prove your capabilities, while others are simply pranks passed down to intimidate and assert power and authority over others, doing to others what was done to you, making others go through what you had to endure- a rite of passage.

Government agents I like to believe are truly tested, not hazed, and in their testing they are subjected to a lot of situations that are unpleasant, dangerous and possibly deadly.  Why are they tested? We know the answer to that, they have to be prepared for the jobs they are going to undertake, the missions they are called to go on. They are often tested to their breaking point, and part of that breaking is part of the teaching experience. They are broken and then put back together piece by piece if they are deemed worthy to continue on with their training. 

People who join the army might not realize what they signed up for until they are in the rigorous basic training. The realization of what it really is can be a bit daunting for some because it is set up to break down individuality and build up team mentality. It is geared towards stripping a person of individual thought and teaching them to listen to authority, to obey authority even against their own seemingly better judgement. They learn a chain of command and their place in that chain of command under hard training, and yes, a lot of ridicule. Those movies about basic training aren't all lies by any means.

We are asked to join God's army. We are asked to take on the supreme mission of eternal life. We are told that God wants us to be partakers of HIS holiness. God wants us to be a part of HIM. The importance of all God wants of us cannot be stressed enough! This isn't some past time in our lives meant to give us social status among those who believe like we do. More often than not in the Bible those who were called of God weren't called for stagnation, but for action. To spread the good news, or help those called to spread the good news. Spreading the good news was very necessary. And the gathering together was to strengthen one another during the spiritual warfare each person is called to endure once they return to their everyday life. The gathering together wasn't a social event, it was a spiritual event to uplift one another through the guidance of God's chosen to lead others in the truth.

Spiritual strengthening, this is why God told those who choose to follow Him that they are to not forsake getting together. We strengthen each other spiritually by sharing the truth that we are called by God to be partakers of His holiness. We are called to a life most treacherous, most dangerous, more so than any FBI, CIA, Black Ops, etc. agents are called to because their calling may endanger their physical lives, but our calling endangers our spiritual lives.

The recognition that our spiritual life is eternally important is something God allows by His mercy and grace, by His will, because He wants us to be partakers of His holiness in eternity, not a member of a clandestine organization for thirty, forty, fifty years.

We need to remember something very important. People go through a lot of hardship when they are in training, and some training never ends. If I'm to believe some of the shows I watch on television, then training for S.W.A.T., for Navy Seals, for many of those types of jobs- never truly ends. They are constantly striving to stay in shape and on top of things, never allowed to grow soft, or forget their hard training because to do so would mean they would be less efficient at their jobs. They have to work hard constantly, not get to a place where they can kick back and relax because they attained the status, the position they were aiming to attain.

As God's soldiers we are called to such a position. Our training will never end. Our need to be up to date in all our spiritual skills is paramount and if I understand correctly, those skills will be forever honed- never reaching a place of complacency- at least not until the entire battle is over in all its aspects.

You are being called to enlist in a lifelong mission of the greatest importance, yet how many take it that seriously?

We are told we will be spiritually chastened and scourged- and often the spiritual lessons we are being taught through the chastening and scourging are those found in our physical, mental, emotional world that feeds into our spiritual existence.

You may face innumerable challenges all geared to ultimately guide you to a spiritual existence that will culminate in partaking fully in God's holiness as a son or daughter of God's.

When we stop recognizing, or fail to even begin to recognize that our life is such that it is a training ground meant to keep us trained for God's service we fail to live spiritually.

The trials and tribulations we face which can be overwhelming are allowed to exist because we are being called to a spiritual strong hold, called to recognize our nothingness and God's everything.

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 

Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 

Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 

Heb 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 

Heb 12:10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 

Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 

This is truth!

Joh_16:33  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

We live our lives now in constant tribulation. There is NO sugarcoating going on here. Constant spiritual tribulation that stems from the countless number of worldly tribulations that exist all around us in our lives. One tribulation after another, one chastening after another, one scourging after another and NOT to destroy us but to have us recognize that there is an eternity which is the ultimate goal in overcoming as our Savior overcame. NO MATTER what we go through here and now, or have gone through in our past, or may be called to go through in our future- what awaits us in eternity with God, partakers of His Holiness, all through our world overcoming Savior, Jesus Christ, will make it worth clinging to the hope found only in Him. IN HIM ALONE WE HAVE PEACE. Any peace we find elsewhere is meaningless without HIS PEACE.

God please, help us believe! Make our spiritual lives reality far beyond the reality of the tangible temporary training ground we live in now.

All through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, now and forever!!!!!!!

Amen!

Chastened...Why?

Chastened.

Who likes being chastened?

To be chastened means to - make somebody subdued, to be subjected to discipline, to moderate the intensity of something. Here in the word of God we know the term is being used as being subject to discipline.

So who likes to be disciplined?

To be disciplined is to - practice the methods of teaching and enforcing acceptable patterns of behavior, a controlled orderly state, the ability to behave in a controlled calm way even in a difficult stressful situation, mental self-control used in directing or changing behavior or training for something, education, punishment to teach obedience, a system of rules in a religious order.

Here in the passage we are studying now it is being used as punishment to teach obedience.

Well, who likes to be punished?

Punished- to undergo a penalty for a wrongdoing, receiving a punishment for a crime, to treat someone harshly, causing damage or pain, to be treated unfairly, discriminatorily.

Okay, enough of the breaking down word meanings. Let's read the Biblical passage, the message from the Word of God.

Heb 12:5  And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: 

We are NOT to despise the chastening (discipline, punishment) of the LORD.

THE LORD will chasten us! The LORD will rebuke us! We receive this chastening, this rebuking from our CREATOR, from our HEAVENLY FATHER why? How?

Hold up for a moment of contemplation. All of us started out as babes, grew into toddlers, aged into young children, became older children, entered into the teenage realm and then young adults and onwards (depending on your age whoever might be reading this). The point being we grew up with parental figures in our lives and those parental figures tried to chasten us in order to teach us the proper way of behaving in our society. Even if you have the most awful parents (or parental figures, not particularly your biological parents) in existence you were exposed to some sort of chastening during your upbringing. Home, school, wherever it was you had exposure to learning what behaviors were acceptable and what behaviors weren’t acceptable. One way we learned was by behaving unacceptably and when that occurred we were told it was wrong and if we insisted on continuing that behavior we were punished, chastened in order to enforce the comprehension of what is acceptable and what isn't.

Learning to behave acceptably or knowing there are consequences to unacceptable behavior, and choosing to risk those consequences really are the only choices we have in our lives. Behave or not to behave. You may think there are more choices but there aren't- it's all wrapped up right there. Even if you NEVER get caught misbehaving and suffer any of the possible consequences to your misbehavior, you are risking the possibility of receiving the known consequences to your misbehavior.  Behave or not to behave. We live our lives under this rule of life and we also live our lives under the SPIRITUAL rule of life that is the same- behave or do not behave.

In the spiritual realm of this- our HEAVENLY FATHER will do all He can to teach us the necessary right and wrong behavior and guide us to the right behavior.

Let's read a bit more of the passage-

Heb 12:6  For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 

Heb 12:7  If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 

Heb 12:8  But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 

Heb 12:9  Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 

Heb 12:10  For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. 

Heb 12:11  Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. 

Why does our Heavenly Father chasten us- so we might be PARTAKERS OF HIS HOLINESS. He wants us to be HIS! And to be HIS, we need to comprehend right from wrong and choose the right over the wrong. To choose to obey rather than disobey. To comprehend obedience is a gift, true love, true life not a stricture placed on us to hurt us in any way at all.

We all understand the ways parents use to protect children- restricting them in ways they seem to resent. The parents restrict them to protect them out of love. If you have a child who begins to crawl and an open stairway down to a basement, you take precautions to keep the child from hurting themselves. You aren't doing it to be mean, you aren't trying to limit your child from its life- you are protecting the child so the child continues to have a life. God would protect us in this way. If we become willful, as children can, we might succeed in circumventing any protective measure put up to keep us from taking a bad fall down the stairs. The consequence will be us falling and even dying.

God would have us be PARTAKERS of HIS HOLINESS.

The position we were originally created for- to be a part of God's existence in pure peace, in pure love. The joy that waits for those who will partake of God's holiness goes beyond true comprehension in its wonder, try as we might to compare it to something we can only know it now cumbered by sin's degradation.

We are spiritually chastened so we may become PARTAKERS of GOD'S HOLINESS.

More on this tomorrow by the will and the mercy, the love, the grace of our LORD and SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST.

The Race for Eternal Life.

The weight of the world, we've all felt it haven't we? Of course, figuratively speaking we've felt that weight pressing down on us threatening to destroy us. It's those days when everything seems to go wrong. One problem after another arises and the flood of mental, emotional pressure, as well as physical ailments just want to crush us until there is nothing left of us. We somehow make it through- though there are times we end up broken from it all and need a lot of time to heal. Some of our world-weight, crushing injuries are able to be hidden, other times we can't help but wear the fresh wounds for all to see. The term mental breakdown holds a stigma - less so now than years ago- but still, it's a term we use to label those we classify as too mentally, emotionally weak to handle the weight of the world pressing down on them.

Are people who have mental breakdowns weak simply because another person in a similar situation is able to handle it without succumbing to a mind freezing, world altering, numb, strangeness that slips us out of the normal world into an unfamiliar and very scary strange realm of mental existence? Weakness truly has no place in mental, emotional breakdowns- they are the result of sensitivities unique to us all as individuals. You may have a sensitivity to eating mushrooms and they make you break out in hives, are you weak because of that? No. You may not be able to take the same medicine that thousands of others are able to take without bad side effects, does that make you weak? No, it's just who you are. Your heart may have damage to it done from genetics along with various abuses - diet, smoking, lack of exercise does that make you a weak person? No. You may have been born with the inability to regulate your insulin, does that mean you are weak? No. All these things that happen to us in response to the world's influences, through our genetic makeup and the like do not make us weak people, they make us people with sensitivities that are perhaps not average, perhaps not the same as yours, and when the weight of the world comes crashing down on an emotionally, mentally sensitive person and puts cracks in their way of life making things really difficult for them, we need to build them up, help them without stigma and ridicule.

We need compassion to comprehend their differences. Their difficulties in handling this thing we call life is not due to weakness but to their individuality.

Their weakness may exist because of your strength- and if you refuse them your strength they only grow weaker- where does the failing lie in this scenario, in truth? We have the ability to give our strength, and as long as we have no sensitivity of our own preventing that ability to give our strength, then our refusal to give strength to the weak makes us the truly weak ones, the flawed ones so much more beyond the one who is sensitive to the world in ways not fully comprehended.

That the world HAS weight that can crush us is not lost in Biblical teachings.

Some of the weight is of our own making, our own choosing. When we choose to disobey God's teachings and surround ourselves willing with sins we are covering ourselves with weights of this world. When we have knowledge of sin and know something we are doing is contrary to God's love- and we have NO repentance, no remorse, no guilt at all- we can't expect the weight of sin not to crush us.

God expects from us capable of doing so, to choose His love, His compassion, His ways of living. God knows that sin will tempt us and try us threatening to destroy us. We choose God's way over the way of sin, the right over the way of wrong, we choose to live surrounded by the weight of sin's temptation without it piling up on us.

We will never live in this world without sin tempting us on a constant basis. Some sins are more appealing to us than others and do easily capture us and it is those sins we have to lay aside. We have to recognize them and consciously decide to keep from them, to strive to keep from them, to actively choose to stop yielding to the temptation. To repent with a sincere remorse and desire not to yield to the temptation. To seek forgiveness always! To beg for whatever it is we need to keep from us from sinning.

We have entered into the race for our eternal life and along the route are millions and millions of potholes waiting to trip us up. But it's not too hard to avoid a pothole because we see it as being detrimental to our racing. Yet, also along the route are many waystations set up to tempt us to stop racing, offering us every incentive to drop out of the race. These waystations are outfitted with the most personally tempting enticements and often there is a tempter in the waystation with its foot stuck out in front of us ready to trip us up so they can pull us into their station keeping us from running.  We need to run the race with patience- with comprehension that all those temptations to keep us from running are out there waiting for us and we need to purposefully choose to look to the finish line and not let ourselves be taken captive by anything that would keep us from making it there. 

We have to look to JESUS who ran the race and won. We have to look at the horrors that Jesus endured to get to the finish line, paving the way for us. We need to keep Jesus ever before us in the race, not looking away from Him for a moment, ever dragging our focus from the tempting sins and towards Him and His love for us! He endured the greatest of temptations because He had the greatest relationship with the Father. He knew He could drop out of the race all He had to do was say the word. His temptation was so much more than any temptation we can imagine, and He never yielded! He wants us at the finish line with Him! He knows the sin weight of the world would drag us down and keep us from Him if we let it. He is there always to encourage us on toward Him. He comes to know us, every bit of our lives, as we race on and keep in constant contact with Him.

Yes, we may be called to struggle through the darkest valleys, and pits of the thickest mud on the racing route but as long as we keep our hope in that finish line where our Savior waits for us, ever pressing onward He will see us through the most world weight crushing times of our lives. Even when we break under the weight, He is there ready to keep us safe in Him as we heal. 

Our Savior will help us avoid the pot holes, get us through the rough terrain and inclement weather, and He will keep us from turning into the tempting waystations which only want to keep us from finishing the race. Our Savior gives us all the supplies we need along the racing route, we get the refreshing life giving water from Him, we get the bread of life from Him to sustain us, we get all the rest we need safe in His embrace, and the joys of true, everlasting love will be given to us.  All by HIS grace and mercy, His love now and forever!!!!!!!

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 

Heb 12:3  For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 

Eating, Drinking-Living-All to Glorify God.

All, not some of the things, but all the things we do should be done to the glory of God.

If we live our lives with the thought of God in all we do, would our lives be led differently?

Eating and drinking are two very basic necessities in our lives. We scarcely go a day without doing both, and often several times a day. When a person stops eating and drinking it's because they are usually sick and those around the person know that if they don't start doing both soon they could die. Sure, going a day without eating because your stomach feels off, isn't too bad of a thing. But going several days without eating is something very worrisome. To go even a single day without drinking anything is worrisome, two days very troubling, three days then you know something is seriously wrong and your health is in danger. Looking it up on the internet it states a person can go up to a week without drinking, in another place it says three to four days. We can last without food a lot longer, but fluid is a whole other story.

Eating and drinking, again I state, these are two basic needs we have for survival and we are told in the word of God that whether we are eating or drinking we should do it to the glory of God.

Eating and drinking to God's glory.

If God is FIRST in our lives, the place He is supposed to hold before all else, then it stands to perfect reason that eating and drinking, and truly ALL we do is done to God's glory.

Honoring God, recognizing God in everything we do, not just a few things.

Do our lives bring glory to God? 

Do our actions bring glory to God?

If we answer no then we have to reevaluate our lives, our actions.

We cannot take God and set Him aside while we live in a way contrary to Him. Even a person in the lowest estate needs to recognize God and glorify Him. A beggar on the street, a person caught up in a life of sin, needs to recognize God and seek His glory- and seek forgiveness, seek a way to live to glorify God. God has made ways for us to escape any temptation to sin, to disobey Him. We must seek that way. We must strive against sin…

Heb_12:4  Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.

Luk_13:24  Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

We truly have to strive - which the dictionary tells us means- to try hard to achieve something or get something, to fight in opposition to something, to compete resolutely against somebody or something, to struggle, endeavor, attempt, try, go all out, do your best, do your utmost, make every effort, do all you can do, pull out all stops.  

Striving is not a half-hearted attempt towards something, but giving it everything we have to give.

Doing all to the glory of God means just what it says.

1Co 10:31  Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. 

1Co 10:32  Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: 

1Co 10:33  Even as I please all men in all things, not seeking mine own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved. 

We must do all to God's glory, and in doing so we are to live peaceably with everyone- not a single person excluded. We are to glorify God by letting God's love live in us and through us. We are not to love anyone with our own love, but with God's love. We can love all when we love with God's love and not our own. When we seek to help all and in doing so live the example of God's love- glorifying Him for all the help we are able to give to anyone, we are pointing them towards salvation through God. To this end Christ came, to this end we live. All by the power, the grace, the mercy, the will of our Lord, Jesus Christ, now and forever! May we live our lives to glorify God!

Keep Fighting Evil.

Idolatry. We need to choose who we worship. Many might immediately say that they do not worship anyone or anything and in a world without God or Satan that might be possible, but that isn't the case. You may choose to believe there is no God, but that doesn't make it true. Just because we believe doesn't make something a fact. Children believe in many made up stories their parents tell them, it doesn't make them reality. Of course, people will then say just because we believe there is a God doesn't make that true.

For me, it is fact that we were created by God. There can be no other logical explanation. Come up with all the big bang theories you want, there is no logic behind something being created from nothing, and you have to go down, way down to the very first something- and ask, where did that come from.

God who is from everlasting to everlasting, God who always ways, without beginning and without end answers the questions that can't be answered. God Is.

Because God Is, all things can be.

God Is and evil became, the two oppose each other with God able to arbitrarily cause evil to no longer exist. The choice not to simply end evil was a choice made because evil came into existence through a creature's choosing. To absolutely destroy evil would mean that choice to destroy being proven to be made from love, pure love, and the decision that evil would never be possible again.

Evil was possible, and we have no way of knowing how long it was possible before it came to fruition in Lucifer. We do know that once it began it was something that needed to be taken to the utmost limits of its power proven beyond doubt the horror and necessity of wiping it out of existence entirely never to be possible again.

Right now evil is almost at its end and what remains is a short window left and in that short window exists still a chance for us human beings to choose God or Evil.

We have a choice and that choice will only exist for as long as we individually live with mental capacity to choose, after death you cannot make the choice. Or until God proclaims enough is enough, and it is over.  Once God makes His proclamation we are all on one side or the other no longer able to choose.

Idolatry is making the choice to choose anything other than God being first and foremost in our life.

If we live for God, we are not living for the Devil.

We truly cannot live for both, if we do we are living a lie. God sees through lies and into the hearts and knows the hearts. We try to hide our hypocrisy but it isn't something that can be hidden from God.

We provoke God to jealousy when we live the lies trying to enjoy sin for a season while proclaim to love God. There is the knowledge given to us by God to know how to live for Him, the things that come from love, and that knowledge is something a lot of people choose to despise. Once a choice to despise the knowledge of God is made we are in grave danger of becoming blind to the evil that exists. We may then, having allowed ourselves to embrace deception, be unable to comprehend the difference between evil and God.

We are told the truth, we are not forced to live the truth.

May we choose God over all… truly over all other things. May His love be what we live, with Him living in us through the Holy Spirit, through Jesus Christ.

May we actively choose to partake in the war against Satan, by being a warrior for God. May we comprehend we won't win every skirmish we are involved in, but we must continue to fight against evil not allowing the setbacks we encounter to cause us to change sides.

All by the grace of God!

1Co 10:15  I speak as to wise men; judge ye what I say. 

1Co 10:16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? 

1Co 10:17  For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread. 

1Co 10:18  Behold Israel after the flesh: are not they which eat of the sacrifices partakers of the altar? 

1Co 10:19  What say I then? that the idol is any thing, or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is any thing? 

1Co 10:20  But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. 

1Co 10:21  Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord's table, and of the table of devils. 

1Co 10:22  Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he? 

You Believe- But Do You Live For God?

Run as fast as you can from idolatry! Run! Faster! Run! But first…

You have to recognize a threat before you can be frightened by it, or if not frightened at least concerned that the threat exists.  There are many kinds of threats but one thing about a threat it bodes no good for anyone being threatened. Whether you are threatened by something out of your control- say a hurricane threat, or you are threatened by a thief with a knife- neither of these is under your control. When we are threatened by something of our own making, that's where we have to stop and take inventory of our own selves. You've heard it said and maybe quite often, that we are our own worst enemies and that's true a lot of the time. We self-sabotage, we give in and do things that harm us with either short term or long term damage. Some of our harming is ongoing daily, unendingly. People will see therapists to help them stop their own negative self-destructive ways hoping to get out of the habit (natural or learned) of harming themselves- mentally, emotionally and even physically.

The specific threat in this study we are discussing is one of idolatry. We are told to flee from it…

1Co 10:14  Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. 

Yesterday we touched much more in-depth on what idolatry is, today I want to touch on a few of those verses.

Rom 1:25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 

Idolatry- when we WORSHIP the CREATURE MORE than the CREATOR.

I need you to re-read that, and think about what it is saying.

We are in grave danger when we worship OURSELVES more than we worship God. We are in grave danger when we worship OTHER PEOPLE more than we worship God.

The first commandment of the royal law, the decalogue, states this--

Exo 20:3  Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 

You say you don't have any other gods before God, now do your actions prove what your mouth is saying and your mind proclaiming? This is the greater test your life and how you are living it. It is so easy to check the 'yes, I believe in God' box and yet live a life void of the actions to prove the validity of that statement. You might be chuckling and thinking- It's valid, I believe God exists but that doesn't mean I'm going to live my life for Him. The Bible even says that devils believe. (James 2:19) We know devils don't live for God. So it isn't enough to believe.

How many can check the box, 'I live my life for God.'  That's a better gauge than the 'I believe' box.  And if you can check that living your life for God, do you? Is this your daily waking desire, to live your life for God? A life He can use for His purposes, a life He can accept as surrendered to Him? A life that holds true to having NO other gods before Him?

Is the creature (self or others) ranking much higher in your estimation than the Creator?

We are also told this-

Rom 1:28  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient

Retaining the knowledge of God. Do we? To retain the knowledge of God is to not forget God's will. When we choose NOT to retain the knowledge of God we are choosing to discard His will and replace it with our own. And if our focus is our will being done and not God's then we are not God's at all, but liars and deceivers trying to pretend we belong to God by mouthing the words of belief and showing up to church or Bible study without any heart desire for the will of God to be done.

Faking a relationship with God, or having a half-hearted relationship with God to serve our own ends isn't a real relationship with God. As soon as we decide to serve ourselves we are allowed to be godless, we are given up to our own will. The self-serving, godless mind is an awful thing - even if it comes from a beautiful, seemingly sweet, kind, and gentle façade of a pretend God-fearing person.

We must pray with David…

Psa 139:23  Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 

Psa 139:24  And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. 

We need to flee our SELF serving, idolatrous ways. We need to flee idolizing other people. We need to run to God and give ourselves over to Him and His leading, worshipping God and no others.

All by the grace, the mercy, the will of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! Now and forever!

What Is Idolatry?

1Co 10:14  Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. 

If I tell you to flee from something I'm in essence telling you to run away from something, not walk, but run. FLEE! Move as fast as you can from that thing. Do not hesitate, just run! So when we are told to flee from idolatry we are being told to run away from idolatry as fast as we can.

But what is idolatry?  I looked it up online, and then in a few Bible dictionaries, that are on my Bible app and all that information was incredibly informative so I've copied it here. By the grace and will of God we will discuss what we read here tomorrow.  May God bless us, and enlighten us with His truth so we may not live in the darkness of seemingly acceptable sins. May we not be deceived into believing we are above idol worship, that is does not affect our lives, that it does not try to seep into our way of life pulling us away from God.

*******

Idolatry-

Dictionary definitions-the worship of idols or false gods, excessive admiration or love shown for somebody or something.

IDOL'ATRY, n. [L. idololatria. Gr. idol, and to worship or serve.]

1. The worship of idols, images, or any thing made by hands, or which is not God.

Idolatry is of two kinds; the worship of images, statues, pictures, &c. made by hands; and the worship of the heavenly bodies, the sun, moon and stars, or of demons, angels, men and animals.

2. Excessive attachment or veneration for any thing, or that which borders on adoration.

Idolatry

Image-worship or divine honour paid to any created object. Paul describes the origin of idolatry in Rom_1:21-25 : men forsook God, and sank into ignorance and moral corruption (Rom_1:28).

Rom 1:21  Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 

Rom 1:22  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 

Rom 1:23  And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 

Rom 1:24  Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 

Rom 1:25  Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 

Rom 1:28  And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 

The forms of idolatry are,

(1.) Fetishism, or the worship of trees, rivers, hills, stones, etc.

(2.) Nature worship, the worship of the sun, moon, and stars, as the supposed powers of nature.

(3.) Hero worship, the worship of deceased ancestors, or of heroes.

In Scripture, idolatry is regarded as of heathen origin, and as being imported among the Hebrews through contact with heathen nations. The first allusion to idolatry is in the account of Rachel stealing her father's teraphim (Gen_31:19),

Gen 31:19  And Laban went to shear his sheep: and Rachel had stolen the images that were her father's. 

which were the relics of the worship of other gods by Laban's progenitors “on the other side of the river in old time” (Jos_24:2).

Jos 24:2  And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. 

During their long residence in Egypt the Hebrews fell into idolatry, and it was long before they were delivered from it (Jos_24:14; Eze_20:7).

Jos 24:14  Now therefore fear the LORD, and serve him in sincerity and in truth: and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood, and in Egypt; and serve ye the LORD. 

Eze 20:7  Then said I unto them, Cast ye away every man the abominations of his eyes, and defile not yourselves with the idols of Egypt: I am the LORD your God. 

Many a token of God's displeasure fell upon them because of this sin.

The idolatry learned in Egypt was probably rooted out from among the people during the forty years' wanderings; but when the Jews entered Palestine, they came into contact with the monuments and associations of the idolatry of the old Canaanitish races, and showed a constant tendency to depart from the living God and follow the idolatrous practices of those heathen nations. It was their great national sin, which was only effectually rebuked by the Babylonian exile. That exile finally purified the Jews of all idolatrous tendencies.

The first and second commandments are directed against idolatry of every form. Individuals and communities were equally amenable to the rigorous code. The individual offender was devoted to destruction (Exo_22:20).

Exo 22:20  He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the LORD only, he shall be utterly destroyed. 

His nearest relatives were not only bound to denounce him and deliver him up to punishment (Deu_13:2-10),

Deu 13:2  And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 

Deu 13:3  Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 

Deu 13:4  Ye shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him. 

Deu 13:5  And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. 

Deu 13:6  If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers; 

Deu 13:7  Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; 

Deu 13:8  Thou shalt not consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him, neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: 

Deu 13:9  But thou shalt surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 

Deu 13:10  And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 

but their hands were to strike the first blow when, on the evidence of two witnesses at least, he was stoned (Deu_17:2-7).

Deu 17:2  If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, 

Deu 17:3  And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; 

Deu 17:4  And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: 

Deu 17:5  Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die. 

Deu 17:6  At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death. 

Deu 17:7  The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you. 

To attempt to seduce others to false worship was a crime of equal enormity (Deu_13:6-10).

An idolatrous nation shared the same fate. No facts are more strongly declared in the Old Testament than that the extermination of the Canaanites was the punishment of their idolatry (Exo_34:15, Exo_34:16; Deut. 7; Deu_12:29-31; Deu_20:17), and that the calamities of the Israelites were due to the same cause (Jer_2:17). “A city guilty of idolatry was looked upon as a cancer in the state; it was considered to be in rebellion, and treated according to the laws of war. Its inhabitants and all their cattle were put to death.” Jehovah was the theocratic King of Israel, the civil Head of the commonwealth, and therefore to an Israelite idolatry was a state offense (1Sa_15:23), high treason. On taking possession of the land, the Jews were commanded to destroy all traces of every kind of the existing idolatry of the Canaanites (Exo_23:24, Exo_23:32; Exo_34:13; Deu_7:5, Deu_7:25; Deu_12:1-3).

In the New Testament the term idolatry is used to designate covetousness (Mat_6:24; Luk_16:13; Col_3:5; Eph_5:5).

Mat 6:24  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 

Luk 16:13  No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 

Col 3:5  Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 

Eph 5:5  For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. 

Idolatry

Idolatry. Idolatry, strictly speaking, denotes the worship of deity in a visible form, whether the images to which homage is paid are symbolical representations of the true God or of the false divinities, which have been made the objects of worship in his stead.

I. History of idolatry among the Jews. — The first undoubted allusion to idolatry or idolatrous customs in the Bible, is in the account of Rachel's stealing her father's teraphim. Gen_31:19.

During their long residence in Egypt, the Israelites defiled themselves with the idols of the land, and it was long before the taint was removed. Jos_24:14; Eze_20:7.

In the wilderness, they clamored for some visible shape, in which they might worship the God, who had brought them out of Egypt, Exo_32:1, until Aaron made the calf, the embodiment of Apis and emblem of the productive power of nature.

During the lives of Joshua and the elders who outlived him, they kept true to their allegiance; but the generation following, who knew not Jehovah nor the works he had done for Israel, swerved from the plain path of their fathers and were caught in the toils of the foreigner. Jdg_2:1. From this time forth, their history becomes little more than a chronicle of the inevitable sequence of offence and punishment. Jdg_2:12; Jdg_2:14. By turns, each conquering nation strove to establish the worship of its national God.

In later times, the practice of secret idolatry was carried to greater lengths. Images were set up on the corn-floors, in the wine-vats, and behind the doors of private houses, Isa_57:8; Hos_9:1-2, and to check this tendency, the statute in Deu_27:15 was originally promulgated.

Under Samuel's administration, idolatry was publicly renounced, 1Sa_7:3-6, but in the reign of Solomon, all this was forgotten, even Solomon's own heart being turned after other gods. 1Ki_11:14. Rehoboam perpetuated the worst features of Solomon's idolatry, 1Ki_14:22-24, erecting golden calves at Beth-el and at Dan, and by this crafty state' policy, severed forever the kingdoms of Judah and Israel. 1Ki_12:26-33.

The successors of Jeroboam followed in his steps, till Ahab. The conquest of the ten tribes by Shalmaneser was, for them, the last scene of the drama of abominations, which had been enacted uninterruptedly for upwards of 250 years.

Under Hezekiah, a great reform was inaugurated, that was not confined to Judah and Benjamin, but spread throughout Ephraim and Manasseh, 2Ch_31:1, and to all external appearances, idolatry was extirpated. But the reform extended little below the surface. Isa_29:13.

With the death of Josiah, ended the last effort to revive among the people a purer ritual, if not a purer faith. The lamp of David, which had long shed but a struggling ray, flickered for a while, and then went out in the darkness of Babylonian Captivity.

Though the conquests of Alexander caused Greek influence to be felt, yet after the captivity, better condition of things prevailed, and the Jews never again fell into idolatry. The erection of synagogues had been assigned as a reason for the comparative purity of the Jewish worship after the captivity, while another cause has been discovered in the hatred for images acquired by the Jews in their intercourse with the Persians.

II. Objects of idolatry. — The sun and moon were early selected as outward symbols of all-pervading power, and the worship of the heavenly bodies was not only the most ancient, but the most prevalent system of idolatry. Taking its rise in the plains of Chaldea, it spread through Egypt, Greece, Scythia, and even Mexico and Ceylon. Compare Deu_4:19; Deu_17:3; Job_31:20-28. In the later times of the monarchy, the planets or the zodiacal signs received, next to the sun and moon, their share of popular adoration. 2Ki_23:5.

Beast-worship, as exemplified in the calves of Jeroboam, has already been alluded to of pure hero-worship among the Semitic races we find no trace. The singular reverence with which trees have been honored is not without example in the history of the Hebrew. The terebinth (oak) at Mamre, beneath which Abraham built an altar, Gen_12:7; Gen_13:18, and the memorial grove planted by him at Beersheba, Gen_21:33, were intimately connected with patriarchal worship.

Mountains and high places were chosen spots for offering sacrifice and incense to idols, 1Ki_11:7; 1Ki_14:23, and the retirement of gardens and the thick shade of woods offered great attractions to their worshippers. 2Ki_16:4; Isa_1:29; Hos_4:13. The host of heaven was worshipped on the house-top. 2Ki_23:12; Jer_19:3; Jer_32:29; Zep_1:5.

(The modern objects of idolatry are less gross than the ancient, but are none the less idols. Whatever of wealth or honor or pleasure is loved and sought before God and righteousness becomes an object of idolatry. — Editor).

III. Punishment of idolatry. — Idolatry to an Israelite was a state offence, 1Sa_15:23, a political crime of the greatest character, high treason against the majesty of his king. The first and second commandments are directed against idolatry of every form. Individuals and communities were equally amenable to the rigorous code.

The individual offender was devoted to destruction, Exo_22:20, his nearest relatives were not only bound to denounce him and deliver him up to punishment, Deu_13:2-10, but their hands were to strike the first blow, when, on the evidence of two witnesses at least, he was stoned. Deu_17:2-5.

To attempt to seduce others to false worship was a crime of equal enormity. Deu_13:6-10.

IV. Attractions of idolatry. — Many have wondered why the Israelites were so easily led away from the true God, into the worship of idols.

(1) Visible, outward signs, with shows, pageants, parades, have an attraction to the natural heart, which often fail to perceive the unseen spiritual realities.

(2) But the greatest attraction seems to have been in licentious revelries and obscene orgies with which the worship of the Oriental idols was observed. (This worship, appealing to every sensual passion, joined with the attractions of wealth and fashion and luxury, naturally was a great temptation to a simple, restrained, agricultural people, whose worship and law demands the greatest purity of heart and of life. — Editor).

1Co 10:14  Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry.