Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
Sin doesn't just happen to us. For the most part we are not victims of sin but perpetuators. I can introduce situations and circumstances that might cause another to sin, presenting temptation to them and for that I'd be guilty. I can also put myself into situations where I know temptation to sin will be present and then I can presumptuously assume that I'll be able to overcome temptation and remain free from committing sins the temptation is drawing me towards. We are not blameless when it comes to temptation, often inviting temptation and then turning around and lamenting our ability to overcome, to resist the very temptation we've placed in front of ourselves.
Satan wants to disguise temptations as being harmless, seemingly innocent so that we surround ourselves by them and in essence we are tempting God aren't we? Seriously, aren't we? It's a different situation when we come face to face with temptation unexpectedly, but altogether another story when we bring temptation to ourselves. In our society today there is so much corruption it would most likely take leaving the mainstream way of life and entering into the existence of the backwoods sorts to escape. One of the biggest tools of Satan is what we consider our entertainment pursuits. How quickly we become almost obsessed with not missing an episode of one show or another we are watching on televison. How crazily absorbed we are in gaming adventures. We've even let books- ebooks, books on our Nooks or Kindles, and even the old fashioned hand-held books have obsessive qualities to us. To suggest to most people that living with out television, games, books, computers would be cause for saying we are crazy, when in truth it's probably what would be best for us. A lot of us live for our entertainment merely enduring work and the time spent in between our necessities of sleeping, eating, and so on. It makes you wonder a doesn't it, the ol' pursuit of happiness we have a right to. Do you think our forefathers who wrote that 'right' into existence had today's way of life in mind? God, in His word to us told us plainly without mincing words that we are to set our TREASURES in heaven. This world was not sugar-coated by our Savior.
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.
What are we going to have in the world? Tribulation.
Where do we find peace? In Jesus.
Peace, joy, happiness, contentment- these things are NOT to be found in our world, but in Jesus. This goes right back to finding joy in 'divers temptations'. We only find joy because we know that Jesus is working in us, we are being presented with an opportunity to witness to ourselves or publically of Jesus' peace, His love.
Going back to temptations and being tempted, we sabotage ourselves and then like to blame God for not giving us strength to overcome our temptations. The next time you are tempted that you notice- and believe me we don't always notice because these sorts of things have become our way of life- the next time you realize you are facing a temptation and haven't yet succumbed to indulging in that temptation ask yourself if you put yourself in temptation's way. Did you some how perpetuate the situation? Did you know you would face temptation and yet go ahead full steam just because, well, it's part of your life?
Another question we need to ask ourselves is… are we focusing on material temptations and ignoring our internal temptations? Do we sometimes instigate a situation that will have us succumbing to anger, jealousy, envy? There is a lot we need to think about, and to shove it all aside and not think about it does no good at all.
Regardless of how the temptations come about there is one thing we need to talk more about and that is resisting temptation. Seems almost silly to say you need to resist the very temptation you might have encouraged doesn't it, but we are far from free of Satan's influence. So many of us have grown up drenched in Satan's ways- and those ways were called perfectly normal, average, acceptable, expected. When we are called to follow our Savior with a heart that is truly His, we will suddenly begin to notice parts of our lives that aren't truly acceptable.
Temptations need to be resisted, yes?
Jas 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Temptations need to be resisted and we are given the key to that resistance and it isn't a magic pill or potion to swallow, it is active resistance, intellectual resistance. Jesus did not come face to face with Satan and his tempting and close his eyes hoping Satan would leave off, that he would go away. Jesus was prepared for that direct temptation from years and years of immersing Himself in His Father's word.
We ignore the word of God, we scarcely know a verse or two by heart and this is the very protection we are given against the temptations we will face.
Just because we do not have Satan personally presenting himself to us and tempting us does not mean that evil being isn't present in every temptation we face. He's there even if we cannot hear his voice, even if we cannot see his face, even if we cannot reach out and touch him. This spiritual adversary is there and present with all his evil cunning. So when we are tempted we are being tempted by the same evil entity that tempted our Savior in the wilderness. We need to use the same weapon our Savior used against Him- the WORD of GOD.
'It is written…'
We've been told.
God has said.
God's word reads.
God says.
This is the truth of the matter.
This isn't God's way.
God has revealed.
That is wrong because God told us this is right.
We can't fight temptation by saying we don't want whatever we are being tempted with. We do want it that's what makes it a temptation. If we didn't want what we were being tempted with then it'd be easy to simply ignore the temptation- in fact it wouldn't truly be a temptation at all. So trying to tell ourselves we don't want something we clearly do want is fighting temptation with the wrong weapon. Jesus didn't say he didn't want the stones changed into bread, he stated a fact. He stated WHY it would be WRONG for Him to indulge in the temptation to change those stones into bread.
Mat 4:3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
He was hungry. He wanted to eat, to relieve that hunger.
Mat 4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred
Hungry. Very hungry. Desiring food. Famished. Jesus wanted to eat something yet he wasn't given anything to eat, he wasn't near any food, he was in the desert with rocks and sand, not bread and fruit. There was no food, if there had been food then he most likely would have eaten the food. Satan didn't come bearing a platter of meat and cheese with a jug of wine on the side waving it in front of a very hungry Jesus. The outcome would have been the same, because Jesus would not have done anything the Father didn't direct Him to do. He would have refused the food and drink. Some might think that would have been a greater temptation, to have the food right there in front of Him. Yet Satan wasn't really tempting Jesus to simply eat. He was tempting Jesus to DISOBEY God because in disobeying God is where we sin. Satan was tempting Jesus to break the laws of God that were given to human beings. How? By tempting Jesus to set aside the very humanity He'd taken on and reveal His spiritual power selfishly. Satan was trying to get Jesus to shrug off the pains of humanity and use His divinity. Jesus knew that if He used His divinity that He would be admitting that it was impossible for Him to adhere to His humanity and impossible to save those who had been corrupted by Satan.
Mankind was NOT to live for eating and drinking, eating and drinking was not true life. Keeping the body alive means nothing at all without God. There is no point at all in living without God. Obviously mankind does a great job living without God and surviving on food alone, right? Yet the living they are doing is a temporary existence that will perish in the long run. Any scientist will tell you that a man doesn't have to believe in God or His word and he will still live perfectly fine eating. In fact there have been many, many people who have lived their entire lives without God and had seemingly no issues with staying alive. What Jesus is telling us is that life without God is truly a death sentence. At the end of their earthly existence- because there is NOT a single person alive today that was alive 150 years ago and less. We have a life span and when that life span is over there is no living and eating, no keeping alive. The man who has lived out that life span without God will not have eternal life in God, yet the man who has listened and lived by the word of God as well as their food will have life eternal when the Savior comes and raises them from their graves.
Jesus faced Satan and told him - It is written- God has said- that man is not to live only by eating but by God's every word. Living by God's word, following God's word brings life because love is found in God's words, not in food. It's more important to live for God than for self.
It is written.
When you are tempted can you say - It is written?
Maybe we ought to try - It is written, yes?
Jesus used- It is written and He is our example.
1Pe 2:21 For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.
Christ suffered, we will suffer and Christ was our example and we need to follow our example in all things.
Christ faced temptation unlike any we will ever truly face, and when He faced temptation He turned to God's word. We have to use God's word. God's word is our sword-
Eph 6:17 '...and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God'
If we do not arm ourselves with the only weapon available to us how can we ever hope to face the wiles of the Devil and survive?
Seriously? How? We are told to take the whole armor of God- is it just to play dress up? I don't think so. We are to don our spiritual armor to fight this very real spiritual battle. The weapon of choice is the word of God and we desperately need to know the word of God all through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, the living Word of God.
In His love, always!
Amen.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Tempted. It is written.
Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Drawn away of his own lust.
His OWN lust.
We each individually have our own lusts, our own flesh desires.
Lust-G1939
Definition:
1. desire, craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden, lust
We are drawn away from God by these lusts, these desires, these cravings we have that are contrary to God's love.
There is not ONE single thing that is good for us that is denied to us.
Satan tempted Jesus to sin, remember that? Jesus was tempted. Some get all upset thinking that Jesus could ever be tempted. They like to imagine that He was above temptation, that the temptation hit an impossibly impenetrable wall a million miles thick, something forever and ever impossible to tempt. The truth is Jesus was TEMPTED- but His temptation - His LUST was NEVER conceived! He never ever fell to any temptation He felt and He did feel them, He became flesh in order to save us. Jesus became flesh so that He might feels as we feel in all ways, that He might face every temptation we face.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Jesus was TEMPTED- Jesus was draw away of His OWN lust and enticed. BUT the difference, the most crucial difference is HIS own lusts were NEVER CONCEIVED- NEVER INDULGED IN- Jesus NEVER fell victim to temptation but ENDURED, DEFEATED, OVERCAME every single wrongful desire He ever had.
It goes against so much of our thinking to imagine Jesus having any wrongful desires doesn't it? Yet, how could He be tempted in ALL points as we are if He had no real temptation to abstain from? If He were impervious to every wrongful desire, if He came to earth, born of a woman taking on human flesh and utilized a special shield that made it impossible to ever have a wrongful desire- how could He truly be touched with the feeling of our infirmities? How? Every single one of us relates to others and their life stories based on the experiences we've had in our own life, right? We might not go through the exact same things in life, but we will take the closest thing to that thing experienced by another and relate to it through that as best we can. We imagine how they might have felt based on things we have felt on perhaps a lesser degree, a lesser level of experience. If Jesus never felt tempted could He truly be touched with the feeling of our infirmities? Could He? Jesus knew what it meant to be human to feel the human pull towards flesh desires, for wrongful desires- and just FEELING the temptation, just being drawn away towards that wrongful lust was and is NOT sin, it's GIVING into that LUST in anyway- mentally or physically. Jesus did NOT give into any temptation He had but faced and overcame every single one by the WORD OF GOD!
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, IT IS WRITTEN, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Mat 4:7 Jesus said unto him, IT IS WRITTEN again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Mat 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for IT IS WRITTEN, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Deu 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
WE LIVE BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDETH OUT OF THE MOUTH OF THE LORD!
Do you live by the words of God?
Do you face your temptations with the word of God?
Seriously! When you feel yourself being drawn away, do you LIVE by the word of God? Do you say… IT IS WRITTEN? Do those words even begin to enter your mind? Seriously, do they? Ask yourself…do they!? I know they really haven't entered by mind much and I'm ashamed to say that, I really am.
Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
When lust is indulged - we sin- and when we sin we deserve death.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
We need to boldly go to the throne of grace! We only obtain mercy when we go to the throne of grace and find the grace we need when we have fallen into sin, fallen into temptation.
All by the grace of our wonderful God who has not left us without hope, but has given us all the hope we'll ever need in His amazing Son!
More tomorrow by His grace!
Amen.
Drawn away of his own lust.
His OWN lust.
We each individually have our own lusts, our own flesh desires.
Lust-G1939
Definition:
1. desire, craving, longing, desire for what is forbidden, lust
We are drawn away from God by these lusts, these desires, these cravings we have that are contrary to God's love.
There is not ONE single thing that is good for us that is denied to us.
Satan tempted Jesus to sin, remember that? Jesus was tempted. Some get all upset thinking that Jesus could ever be tempted. They like to imagine that He was above temptation, that the temptation hit an impossibly impenetrable wall a million miles thick, something forever and ever impossible to tempt. The truth is Jesus was TEMPTED- but His temptation - His LUST was NEVER conceived! He never ever fell to any temptation He felt and He did feel them, He became flesh in order to save us. Jesus became flesh so that He might feels as we feel in all ways, that He might face every temptation we face.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Jesus was TEMPTED- Jesus was draw away of His OWN lust and enticed. BUT the difference, the most crucial difference is HIS own lusts were NEVER CONCEIVED- NEVER INDULGED IN- Jesus NEVER fell victim to temptation but ENDURED, DEFEATED, OVERCAME every single wrongful desire He ever had.
It goes against so much of our thinking to imagine Jesus having any wrongful desires doesn't it? Yet, how could He be tempted in ALL points as we are if He had no real temptation to abstain from? If He were impervious to every wrongful desire, if He came to earth, born of a woman taking on human flesh and utilized a special shield that made it impossible to ever have a wrongful desire- how could He truly be touched with the feeling of our infirmities? How? Every single one of us relates to others and their life stories based on the experiences we've had in our own life, right? We might not go through the exact same things in life, but we will take the closest thing to that thing experienced by another and relate to it through that as best we can. We imagine how they might have felt based on things we have felt on perhaps a lesser degree, a lesser level of experience. If Jesus never felt tempted could He truly be touched with the feeling of our infirmities? Could He? Jesus knew what it meant to be human to feel the human pull towards flesh desires, for wrongful desires- and just FEELING the temptation, just being drawn away towards that wrongful lust was and is NOT sin, it's GIVING into that LUST in anyway- mentally or physically. Jesus did NOT give into any temptation He had but faced and overcame every single one by the WORD OF GOD!
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, IT IS WRITTEN, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Mat 4:7 Jesus said unto him, IT IS WRITTEN again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Mat 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for IT IS WRITTEN, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Deu 8:3 And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
WE LIVE BY EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDETH OUT OF THE MOUTH OF THE LORD!
Do you live by the words of God?
Do you face your temptations with the word of God?
Seriously! When you feel yourself being drawn away, do you LIVE by the word of God? Do you say… IT IS WRITTEN? Do those words even begin to enter your mind? Seriously, do they? Ask yourself…do they!? I know they really haven't entered by mind much and I'm ashamed to say that, I really am.
Jas 1:14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Jas 1:15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.
When lust is indulged - we sin- and when we sin we deserve death.
Heb 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
We need to boldly go to the throne of grace! We only obtain mercy when we go to the throne of grace and find the grace we need when we have fallen into sin, fallen into temptation.
All by the grace of our wonderful God who has not left us without hope, but has given us all the hope we'll ever need in His amazing Son!
More tomorrow by His grace!
Amen.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Endure temptation
Jas 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
Enduring temptation. Enduring trails.
Some might say that life itself is a trial and they wouldn't be far wrong would they, not considering all that people have to endure day by day. Is it any wonder that if we endure- if we hold fast through all of the temptations and trials we face that we will receive a crown of life?
When we love the Lord, when we put ourselves on the side of God we are placing ourselves on the front lines of a spiritual war. We are accepting the fact that every single trial that comes our way will be led by Satan and he wants our destruction. Remember when we talked about counting it joy when we face temptation?
Jas 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations
We do that because we are trusting in our Savior to see us through every trial, every temptation and NOT relying upon ourselves. If we were to trust in ourselves we would fail miserably.
There is joy in belonging to God, a joy you can find no where else. Giving God our lives- every single problem, every trial, every temptation must be given to God and it is only then that we can begin to call temptations and trials - joy, it is only then we can endure temptations, truly endured them. We endure out of love for God. We live our lives, our lives that are filled with one trial after another, daily trails, daily temptations.
We can't forget this-
Mat 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
We should pray not to be lead into temptation, why? Because our natural inclination is to veer towards temptations, it is. The flesh desires things of the flesh and wars against the spiritual things of God. We are asking God to lead us not into temptation, to take away that natural inclination we possess towards temptations. Temptations come not from God, not ever from God but from Satan.
Jas 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man
Trials will come, temptations will come and they must be endured, and we must get to the place where we can truly count them joy knowing they are all temporary to eternity.
More tomorrow by the grace of God!
Amen
Enduring temptation. Enduring trails.
Some might say that life itself is a trial and they wouldn't be far wrong would they, not considering all that people have to endure day by day. Is it any wonder that if we endure- if we hold fast through all of the temptations and trials we face that we will receive a crown of life?
When we love the Lord, when we put ourselves on the side of God we are placing ourselves on the front lines of a spiritual war. We are accepting the fact that every single trial that comes our way will be led by Satan and he wants our destruction. Remember when we talked about counting it joy when we face temptation?
Jas 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations
We do that because we are trusting in our Savior to see us through every trial, every temptation and NOT relying upon ourselves. If we were to trust in ourselves we would fail miserably.
There is joy in belonging to God, a joy you can find no where else. Giving God our lives- every single problem, every trial, every temptation must be given to God and it is only then that we can begin to call temptations and trials - joy, it is only then we can endure temptations, truly endured them. We endure out of love for God. We live our lives, our lives that are filled with one trial after another, daily trails, daily temptations.
We can't forget this-
Mat 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil
We should pray not to be lead into temptation, why? Because our natural inclination is to veer towards temptations, it is. The flesh desires things of the flesh and wars against the spiritual things of God. We are asking God to lead us not into temptation, to take away that natural inclination we possess towards temptations. Temptations come not from God, not ever from God but from Satan.
Jas 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man
Trials will come, temptations will come and they must be endured, and we must get to the place where we can truly count them joy knowing they are all temporary to eternity.
More tomorrow by the grace of God!
Amen
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
May we be exalted by God alone
Jas 1:9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:
Jas 1:10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
Jas 1:11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
Brother of low degree and the rich. It's safe to say these verses are talking about the poor and the rich. The poor rejoice because they are exalted.
Remember this verse-
Mat 23:12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
Being of a low degree- not having a high exalted position- we can rejoice because of this when the world would rather that we spend our days lamenting the fact we weren't born with that silver spoon in our mouths. In truth there are many more people who are poor than those who are rich. And way too many poor despise being less affluent. There is entirely too much time spent seeking riches- too much time spent trying to acquire things of this world and not things of heaven. The brother of low degree can rejoice because he will not necessarily become rich, but rather be exalted in his low estate.
Exalted- raised, lifted up, elevated. How are the brothers of low degree, the poor, the humble exalted? This is a spiritual exaltation, isn't it? This is a spiritual richness that comes from God and not from any man. And it's not easy for a rich man to become humble enough, to become of low degree enough to see His need of God to exalt him. The rich are often too busy exalting themselves and letting others exalt them to see their need of God's exalting. Only when a rich man realizes that he, like every other human being, is in need-desperate need of God can he understand and be made low. Otherwise, the rich will die in their richness, never realizing their need of a Savior.
Spiritual exaltation. Exalted by God, exalted to understand the kingdom of God, to understand the gospel. The poor, those of low degree have very little to keep them from realizing their need. We are blessed as being poor, blessed.
We should not seek to exalt ourselves either. We could NEVER gain a single earthly treasure that has the power to elevate us heavenward, not one! If we do exalt ourselves we will be abased, we will be brought down low.
This is all about learning that there needs to be LESS of us and more of GOD. God alone deserves a high estate, God alone deserves to be exalted. We are His children, we are His servants, we are His -belonging to Him. He is our heavenly Parent, He is our heavenly Master.
So while the temptation may come to us to covet riches, let us realize how dangerous that is, how dangerous it is to be in a place where you no longer sense a need of God in all things great and small. Riches numb the senses, riches steal from us the sense of neediness. By the grace of God may we NEVER become so rich that we lose sight of our need of God in ALL things. May we forever be brought low so we may be exalt by GOD and only by God and never by us, never by ourselves.
Please Lord, please help us humble ourselves so we may be exalted by YOU. Let our riches be found in YOU and only in YOU. Please Lord God, please let us always understand our need of YOU. In Your amazing LOVE, always.
Amen.
Jas 1:10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.
Jas 1:11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.
Brother of low degree and the rich. It's safe to say these verses are talking about the poor and the rich. The poor rejoice because they are exalted.
Remember this verse-
Mat 23:12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
Being of a low degree- not having a high exalted position- we can rejoice because of this when the world would rather that we spend our days lamenting the fact we weren't born with that silver spoon in our mouths. In truth there are many more people who are poor than those who are rich. And way too many poor despise being less affluent. There is entirely too much time spent seeking riches- too much time spent trying to acquire things of this world and not things of heaven. The brother of low degree can rejoice because he will not necessarily become rich, but rather be exalted in his low estate.
Exalted- raised, lifted up, elevated. How are the brothers of low degree, the poor, the humble exalted? This is a spiritual exaltation, isn't it? This is a spiritual richness that comes from God and not from any man. And it's not easy for a rich man to become humble enough, to become of low degree enough to see His need of God to exalt him. The rich are often too busy exalting themselves and letting others exalt them to see their need of God's exalting. Only when a rich man realizes that he, like every other human being, is in need-desperate need of God can he understand and be made low. Otherwise, the rich will die in their richness, never realizing their need of a Savior.
Spiritual exaltation. Exalted by God, exalted to understand the kingdom of God, to understand the gospel. The poor, those of low degree have very little to keep them from realizing their need. We are blessed as being poor, blessed.
We should not seek to exalt ourselves either. We could NEVER gain a single earthly treasure that has the power to elevate us heavenward, not one! If we do exalt ourselves we will be abased, we will be brought down low.
This is all about learning that there needs to be LESS of us and more of GOD. God alone deserves a high estate, God alone deserves to be exalted. We are His children, we are His servants, we are His -belonging to Him. He is our heavenly Parent, He is our heavenly Master.
So while the temptation may come to us to covet riches, let us realize how dangerous that is, how dangerous it is to be in a place where you no longer sense a need of God in all things great and small. Riches numb the senses, riches steal from us the sense of neediness. By the grace of God may we NEVER become so rich that we lose sight of our need of God in ALL things. May we forever be brought low so we may be exalt by GOD and only by God and never by us, never by ourselves.
Please Lord, please help us humble ourselves so we may be exalted by YOU. Let our riches be found in YOU and only in YOU. Please Lord God, please let us always understand our need of YOU. In Your amazing LOVE, always.
Amen.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
We need wisdom
Jas 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
Jas 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
Jas 1:7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
Jas 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
We lack wisdom. There is no doubt about that. We need the wisdom that only God can give to us. So many of us are filled to the brim and overflowing with our own wisdom- our worldly wisdom. Way too many of us mistake our worldly wisdom for God's wisdom, believing that somehow our wisdom is enough. We need God's wisdom-only the wisdom that comes from God. And God will give us wisdom if we ask for it, in fact we will receive all the wisdom we need if we ask in faith, pure faith.
Pure faith- no wavering.
Did this man waver?
Mar 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Mar 9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
No.
This man did not waver in faith, in fact He went to the only source of faith and asked for faith help. We need to ask for faith help because we cannot believe that we possess a faith that won't waver- we cannot afford to have such arrogance. Our faith comes from God and we have to seek God in faith. Does it seem contradictory?
Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
We all have the ability to have faith, every single human being is given this ability to believe.
Luk 17:5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
Luk 17:6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
Faith isn't something that needs increase in size, but in quality.
The father who said right to our Savior- 'Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.' Had it right, didn't he? He had faith, but he wanted the quality of that faith to be all that Jesus required it be.
We have faith, we believe and we need the quality of our faith to increase. We can't let our faith waver. We can't hesitate in believing that God will answer our prayer for faith. We have to pray as that father prayed- 'Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.'
Jas 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
Jas 1:7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
Jas 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Double minded man.
A believer and unbeliever rolled into one.
So many of us live with this sort of mindset, don't we? We believe and yet we doubt, we waver. We hesitate, we are unstable. We don't want to be this way do we? We want help with our unbelief and we need to pray for that.
Jas 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
We need to purify our hearts.
We have a part to play and that part is to have faith- to believe when so much around us screams for us to not believe, to doubt, to waver, to lose sight of God.
We won't receive anything from God if we don't believe.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Lord we believe! Help our unbelief!
Lord keep us from wavering!
We would have any wisdom You can give to us, any understanding we need to be solely and wholly Yours, Lord!
Please Lord, please!
In Your love!
Amen.
Jas 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
Jas 1:7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
Jas 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
We lack wisdom. There is no doubt about that. We need the wisdom that only God can give to us. So many of us are filled to the brim and overflowing with our own wisdom- our worldly wisdom. Way too many of us mistake our worldly wisdom for God's wisdom, believing that somehow our wisdom is enough. We need God's wisdom-only the wisdom that comes from God. And God will give us wisdom if we ask for it, in fact we will receive all the wisdom we need if we ask in faith, pure faith.
Pure faith- no wavering.
Did this man waver?
Mar 9:23 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
Mar 9:24 And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
No.
This man did not waver in faith, in fact He went to the only source of faith and asked for faith help. We need to ask for faith help because we cannot believe that we possess a faith that won't waver- we cannot afford to have such arrogance. Our faith comes from God and we have to seek God in faith. Does it seem contradictory?
Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
We all have the ability to have faith, every single human being is given this ability to believe.
Luk 17:5 And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.
Luk 17:6 And the Lord said, If ye had faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye might say unto this sycamine tree, Be thou plucked up by the root, and be thou planted in the sea; and it should obey you.
Faith isn't something that needs increase in size, but in quality.
The father who said right to our Savior- 'Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.' Had it right, didn't he? He had faith, but he wanted the quality of that faith to be all that Jesus required it be.
We have faith, we believe and we need the quality of our faith to increase. We can't let our faith waver. We can't hesitate in believing that God will answer our prayer for faith. We have to pray as that father prayed- 'Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief.'
Jas 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.
Jas 1:7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.
Jas 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
Double minded man.
A believer and unbeliever rolled into one.
So many of us live with this sort of mindset, don't we? We believe and yet we doubt, we waver. We hesitate, we are unstable. We don't want to be this way do we? We want help with our unbelief and we need to pray for that.
Jas 4:8 Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
We need to purify our hearts.
We have a part to play and that part is to have faith- to believe when so much around us screams for us to not believe, to doubt, to waver, to lose sight of God.
We won't receive anything from God if we don't believe.
Heb 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Lord we believe! Help our unbelief!
Lord keep us from wavering!
We would have any wisdom You can give to us, any understanding we need to be solely and wholly Yours, Lord!
Please Lord, please!
In Your love!
Amen.
Monday, December 12, 2011
Wanting nothing
Jas 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations
Jas 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Jas 1:4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
We are to count it joy when we face different temptations- trials of our faith. The trials of our faith work patience.
IF we are counting it joy we are doing so because we know that any trial we are facing is given to us to grow in faith. These are TRIALS of our FAITH.
Are we able to count it joy when we face hardships of all kinds? It's something that is so difficult that when achieved then you have perfect patience- and you will want nothing. How does this seem possible? Seriously, how?
Only through our Savior. Only through such a complete faith in our Savior that we are lost to self and found solely in Him. Our lives are so wrapped up in being His that we have lost all sense of selfishness, self being first and foremost. Just imagine that sort of life, living solely for Christ and trusting solely in Christ for all things. How amazing that would be.
Today I received some bad news and as the situation unfolded I felt the old irritation start to rise up in me and I was immediately reminded of yesterday's study and I paused for a moment thinking about it… thinking about 'counting it joy' as I faced this trying situation. I wanted to be upset because it's what I consider a normal reaction in this sort of occurrence and yet I knew that I need to realize that my faith was being tried, that I was being tried in fire and I could succumb to the upset or pray and place my hope in God to see me through everything. I have no idea how the situation will be resolved, and the consequences of it not being resolved are not good ones at all, but NOTHING I can do will alter a thing, nothing. I have no control over anything at all in this particular case and so getting upset will do NOTHING, however, having faith in God will do everything. Having faith- believing truly that God will take care of things even when all outward appearances shout otherwise.
Is it any wonder that if PATIENCE is allowed to have its perfect work through the trying of our faith that we will want in nothing? How can we be in want when we are placing all our hope, all our faith in our Savior?
This is so amazing that it's not easy to comprehend at all.
A full trust in God through ALL things no matter what they may be.
A JOY in the face of heart ache, pain, agony, fear, sadness.
It seems unbelievable yet this is truth, truth we need to learn and live by.
Jas 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations
Jas 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Jas 1:4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
This is a progressive work, very progressive work and that means it will happen over time, a learned process. We fall in diver(s) temptation(s)- plural and this isn't all at once. We fall over and over again every day we live may present a trail, or several in one day there is no telling, none. The trying of our faith- and our faith will be tried over and over- this will work patience in us if we are seriously seeking to deal with our temptations and trials in the love of our Savior. We need to LET patience have her PERFECT work and it is a work and we will be perfected and ENTIRE, wanting nothing.
We'll want nothing because we will possess all that truly matters.
The pure love of our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ!
In His love and grace, His mercy, His righteousness, may His kingdom come!
Amen.
Jas 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Jas 1:4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
We are to count it joy when we face different temptations- trials of our faith. The trials of our faith work patience.
IF we are counting it joy we are doing so because we know that any trial we are facing is given to us to grow in faith. These are TRIALS of our FAITH.
Are we able to count it joy when we face hardships of all kinds? It's something that is so difficult that when achieved then you have perfect patience- and you will want nothing. How does this seem possible? Seriously, how?
Only through our Savior. Only through such a complete faith in our Savior that we are lost to self and found solely in Him. Our lives are so wrapped up in being His that we have lost all sense of selfishness, self being first and foremost. Just imagine that sort of life, living solely for Christ and trusting solely in Christ for all things. How amazing that would be.
Today I received some bad news and as the situation unfolded I felt the old irritation start to rise up in me and I was immediately reminded of yesterday's study and I paused for a moment thinking about it… thinking about 'counting it joy' as I faced this trying situation. I wanted to be upset because it's what I consider a normal reaction in this sort of occurrence and yet I knew that I need to realize that my faith was being tried, that I was being tried in fire and I could succumb to the upset or pray and place my hope in God to see me through everything. I have no idea how the situation will be resolved, and the consequences of it not being resolved are not good ones at all, but NOTHING I can do will alter a thing, nothing. I have no control over anything at all in this particular case and so getting upset will do NOTHING, however, having faith in God will do everything. Having faith- believing truly that God will take care of things even when all outward appearances shout otherwise.
Is it any wonder that if PATIENCE is allowed to have its perfect work through the trying of our faith that we will want in nothing? How can we be in want when we are placing all our hope, all our faith in our Savior?
This is so amazing that it's not easy to comprehend at all.
A full trust in God through ALL things no matter what they may be.
A JOY in the face of heart ache, pain, agony, fear, sadness.
It seems unbelievable yet this is truth, truth we need to learn and live by.
Jas 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations
Jas 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Jas 1:4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.
This is a progressive work, very progressive work and that means it will happen over time, a learned process. We fall in diver(s) temptation(s)- plural and this isn't all at once. We fall over and over again every day we live may present a trail, or several in one day there is no telling, none. The trying of our faith- and our faith will be tried over and over- this will work patience in us if we are seriously seeking to deal with our temptations and trials in the love of our Savior. We need to LET patience have her PERFECT work and it is a work and we will be perfected and ENTIRE, wanting nothing.
We'll want nothing because we will possess all that truly matters.
The pure love of our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ!
In His love and grace, His mercy, His righteousness, may His kingdom come!
Amen.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Joy from pain
Jas 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting.
Jas 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations
Joy.
Counting it joy when we fall into different temptations is not easy.
What is the purpose of being tested? When a person is tested they are given a chance to reveal their knowledge. The harder the test the more knowledge you are expected to have, yes? Is this at all appropriate to this verse? Well if we think about it we are being perfected aren't we? The trials and temptations we face are given to us so that our faith is tested. It's not that we will succeed through every trail we face but we MUST learn from the trials we are given so that if we face a similar trial we will not be overcome by it. We are gaining faith, we are gaining understanding, we are gaining knowledge through every single trial we face. When we fall in to different temptations our faith is being tried, we are face to face with difficulties and we are being tried in fire as gold is tried in fire to perfect it.
We cannot hope to escape trials and tribulations. Trial and temptations of ALL different sorts will come to us, this we have to expect and not just occasionally but often. In fact a lot of times we are barely through one temptation when another will rear up and we are brought face to face with something equally or worse than before. We are being worked! We are being molded! We are being fashioned and we are told as we come to these temptations we are to COUNT IT ALL JOY.
Count it joy. Not count it acceptable. Not count it okay. Not count it painful, depressing, sad, anger-filled, anxiety ridden. We are so used to falling victim to wallowing in the disappointment and pain of the horrible trials we face that we can't imagine truly counting our troubles joy.
There is a huge lesson here that we need to study so that we can count our difficulties joy and not pain.
I'm so tempted to say it's impossible, but it's not. I'm so tempted to say that it's ludicrous to believe that something painful and trying should be counted joy. My Bible tells me that it's not impossible. My Bible tells me that it is not ludicrous. I have to believe, I have to have faith in the word of God. I have to learn from the word of God.
We generally can't plan for temptations, for situations, for trials that come our way. We don't want to plan for the, do we? Who wants to anticipate sickness, pain, despair? How can we plan for the unknown? A lot of people plan for "rainy days', they make financial decisions that will provide for those under their care should something happen. People make contingency plans for situations should things go wrong. They get insurance on cars, houses, valuables just on the off hand chance something will happen, something bad.
So, if we are so incredibly focused on planning for bad situations, why can't we take the time to plan for trials and temptations that we know we are prone to facing? We can't ignore the fact that often Satan goes after us in our known weaknesses. We aren't shocked as a general rule, when a trail comes at us over something we have difficulty with. We might be fed up with ourselves for falling victim time and time again, but we aren't shocked. We aren't however calling it joy when we face these known temptations, are we? We lean towards despair not happiness.
We know that there will be plenty awful situations that come at us completely unexpectedly and throw us for a loop- plenty of them. We know that the shock of those sorts of situations will rip joy from us in a heartbeat, even though we are still to count them joy. We need to fill our minds with the knowledge that it is what God's wants from us- to call it joy when we face trials and temptations. We have to - all by the grace of God- understand that the next time a temptation comes at us we should TRY to count it joy! Seriously, we have to do this, we are told to do this and we need to begin to do this if we haven't done it yet.
Joy.
Out of that joy we should give thanks and praise to God for what we are going through. We need to be aware of the joy. It's so contradictory to us isn't it? Just the mere thought of facing a trial and being joyful sounds very, very odd.
Why do you suppose we are to be joyful in facing different temptations? What does the joy mean? It's not to make us appear insane to others is it? No. The joy is what then?
The joy comes from realizing we ARE being tried, we are being PERFECTED by God! We are HIS! We are under HIS love, His law, His grace, His mercy! This brings us the joy. We don't find the joy in ourselves but IN HIM, wholly in HIM. He is WORKING IN US! This knowledge needs to bring us joy! We aren't to be happy that we are so far from perfection, we are to be happy in knowing we are being perfected. Only that knowledge will bring us true joy.
More on this tomorrow by the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Amen.
Jas 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations
Joy.
Counting it joy when we fall into different temptations is not easy.
What is the purpose of being tested? When a person is tested they are given a chance to reveal their knowledge. The harder the test the more knowledge you are expected to have, yes? Is this at all appropriate to this verse? Well if we think about it we are being perfected aren't we? The trials and temptations we face are given to us so that our faith is tested. It's not that we will succeed through every trail we face but we MUST learn from the trials we are given so that if we face a similar trial we will not be overcome by it. We are gaining faith, we are gaining understanding, we are gaining knowledge through every single trial we face. When we fall in to different temptations our faith is being tried, we are face to face with difficulties and we are being tried in fire as gold is tried in fire to perfect it.
We cannot hope to escape trials and tribulations. Trial and temptations of ALL different sorts will come to us, this we have to expect and not just occasionally but often. In fact a lot of times we are barely through one temptation when another will rear up and we are brought face to face with something equally or worse than before. We are being worked! We are being molded! We are being fashioned and we are told as we come to these temptations we are to COUNT IT ALL JOY.
Count it joy. Not count it acceptable. Not count it okay. Not count it painful, depressing, sad, anger-filled, anxiety ridden. We are so used to falling victim to wallowing in the disappointment and pain of the horrible trials we face that we can't imagine truly counting our troubles joy.
There is a huge lesson here that we need to study so that we can count our difficulties joy and not pain.
I'm so tempted to say it's impossible, but it's not. I'm so tempted to say that it's ludicrous to believe that something painful and trying should be counted joy. My Bible tells me that it's not impossible. My Bible tells me that it is not ludicrous. I have to believe, I have to have faith in the word of God. I have to learn from the word of God.
We generally can't plan for temptations, for situations, for trials that come our way. We don't want to plan for the, do we? Who wants to anticipate sickness, pain, despair? How can we plan for the unknown? A lot of people plan for "rainy days', they make financial decisions that will provide for those under their care should something happen. People make contingency plans for situations should things go wrong. They get insurance on cars, houses, valuables just on the off hand chance something will happen, something bad.
So, if we are so incredibly focused on planning for bad situations, why can't we take the time to plan for trials and temptations that we know we are prone to facing? We can't ignore the fact that often Satan goes after us in our known weaknesses. We aren't shocked as a general rule, when a trail comes at us over something we have difficulty with. We might be fed up with ourselves for falling victim time and time again, but we aren't shocked. We aren't however calling it joy when we face these known temptations, are we? We lean towards despair not happiness.
We know that there will be plenty awful situations that come at us completely unexpectedly and throw us for a loop- plenty of them. We know that the shock of those sorts of situations will rip joy from us in a heartbeat, even though we are still to count them joy. We need to fill our minds with the knowledge that it is what God's wants from us- to call it joy when we face trials and temptations. We have to - all by the grace of God- understand that the next time a temptation comes at us we should TRY to count it joy! Seriously, we have to do this, we are told to do this and we need to begin to do this if we haven't done it yet.
Joy.
Out of that joy we should give thanks and praise to God for what we are going through. We need to be aware of the joy. It's so contradictory to us isn't it? Just the mere thought of facing a trial and being joyful sounds very, very odd.
Why do you suppose we are to be joyful in facing different temptations? What does the joy mean? It's not to make us appear insane to others is it? No. The joy is what then?
The joy comes from realizing we ARE being tried, we are being PERFECTED by God! We are HIS! We are under HIS love, His law, His grace, His mercy! This brings us the joy. We don't find the joy in ourselves but IN HIM, wholly in HIM. He is WORKING IN US! This knowledge needs to bring us joy! We aren't to be happy that we are so far from perfection, we are to be happy in knowing we are being perfected. Only that knowledge will bring us true joy.
More on this tomorrow by the grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!
Amen.
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