A Constant Battle 010914

Do you find yourself dealing with, "If You will .......  I will ......." type prayers or choices?

It is so sy to fall into bargaining with God for His blessing and provision.  And this is especaillly true when we are under any affliction or struggle.

Satan loves to bring to our minds all of our sins and even though they are forgiven in Christ he uses their awfulness to make us think we are condemned - even thoug that is not possible.

So we go to God and try to make a deal.  Or we undertake some duty thinking that if I just do this He will bless me.

This is, above all things, an isnight into the sin that yet clings to our hearts.  It's there and it will continue to affect our thinking and prayer.  But we must pray that the Spirit will expose this to us that we may pray against it.  So we may see it coming and bypass it in our prayers.

Oh if we could only grasp the fullness of His forgiveness.  If we were not so tied to ourselves and could see Him and His love through the self-ness we are plaugued with.

This need to prove that we are either really in need or that we are really worthy of His help drives so many of us to despair and confusion.

Take heart in the fact that in this you are not alone.  Most mature believers will tell you that they still struggle with this.  So you are not alone among believers in your struggle.

But you are not alone beyond that either.  God knows the habits of abiding sin.  He is not shocked when we come to Him this way.  He knows our struggle and appreciated the depth of it.  He knows all of our heart and He would heal it of this struggle.

Acknowledge and confess these "bargain" prayers.  Realize that God can not but give us what is best for us.  Yes, He desires - no, He commands our obedience but that is based on who He is and what He has done.  Gratitude does not nullify grace but embellishes and enlivens it.

OK- enough.  That was on my mind because day I caught myself at it.  Mmmmm figured you might catch yourself at it too.

M

Finger Thinking 042713

I've been reading Isaiah and Jeremiah - wow!!

But what really hit me (blame the Puritans) is how everything God calls His people to account for (Judah and Israel that it) is just as applicable to the "church" today.  As a matter of fact the Puritans had the lovely habit of referring to Israel and Judah (those who had the faith of Abraham no the "religion" of Moses for faith trump form every time) - as the "church in the Old Testament.  So leaping from that, the whole of the prophetic writings apply to the "church of today" as well.

As Martin Luther is reputed to have once said, "A golden plated turd is still a turd."  It's the old "lipstick on a pig," thing.  We are rich and big and hollow.  We are sending men and women into the field for harvest while we let our neighbor do to hell.  We are more concerned about the unborn and guns than we are the hell bound men and women around us.  We are more committed to the Constitution than we are the Scripture.  We are more focused on establishing our own security than trusting Him with it all.

We invite the world and the devil into our homes on giant HD screens.  We watch trash sponsored by trash and see nothing wrong with it at all.  We laugh at sin, we are engaged by corruption and oh how we love the tough guy who just shoots everybody.

We will carry a copy of the Constitution in our back pocket while our Bibles gather dust.  We'll memorize the arguments for the Second Amendment but we know very little of God's Word by heart.  We'll home-school everything except our faith - that we pay others to do.  We have to get our kids into competitive sports so they can learn to "beat"/"defeat" others.

We will sing God's praises because there are 5,000 people in the building on Sunday morning but only a few are believers.  We will sing God's praises with lyrics the prophets would detest and we are happy.  We want excitement and engagement instead of solemnity and our engaging God.  We will read hundreds of books written by questionable teachers but we will not examine their teaching by the Word.

We are indeed the church and we are no different than the "church in the OT."  We are faithless in content, context and commitment.  We are ripe for refining.

We will engage the "culture' in battles over morality but whoa to the Pastor who does so on Sunday.  We hate the "big" sin while we collect the small.  Idolatry is a thing of the past?  Satan and the demonic are not more?  And God forbid you suffer some mental illness that makes folk uncomfortable - there's no place for you pal!

Yeah - I'm pretty fed up with the common "church" and the "common" Christian.  Not that I'm perfect - I could write volumes concerning my faithlessness and failure.  But at least I am aware and willing to take up the fight.  What about you?

Flee - run away! 012313

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness.   (1Ti 6:10-11)

Two things really stood out for me in these verses.  "craving" and "wandered away from the faith."

On the subject of "cravings" or literally "stretching out."  I certainly understand the error of this and it's subtlety.  It is not hard for any of us to find ourselves so dissatisfied with both what we have and what we don't have that we go beyond God's provision or mis-handle God's provisions so that we are indeed "stretched out."

But don't make the mistake of thinking simply in terms of being financially stretched out.  More relationships - especially marriages - suffer greatly from financial "stretching."  but it really isn't the money (I am learning) that is the problem.  It is the fear and guilt of being on thin financial ice.  It is also the conviction of the Holy Spirit working in our hearts and minds and our resistance to it.

Our flesh not only indulges itself in all the recriminations and accusations the unbeliever experiences but it resists the promptings and conviction of the Holy Spirit.  For the young or weak believer all these "feelings" can get mixed together and seem to be one.  But they are not.  We need to take the biblical view that sin is sin and that God has blessed us with the Spirit that we might recognize it and repent.  

This can result in that "wandering away from the faith."  Huh?  Well, when we are in distress and we are sensing a need to be rescued from it our flesh wants us to turn to things of this world in order to solve the problem.  But the critical factor is that the flesh wants us to do this instead of turning to God and seeking His correction and solution.

"Wandering away from the faith," may refer more to wandering away from trusting God than in refers to some theological or doctrinal error (however - this is also very possible).

I have had to simply recognize that the provision I have mis-used came from God and that the provision I need must come from Him as well.  Certainly He can and will use secondary sources to bring that provision but we have to fight the fight of keeping our eyes on Him.

God does not scheme and His people need to avoid scheming as well.  If I had a nickle for every "scheme" I've come up with in our current situation - well, I think I'd be out of this situation.  But the cost of doing it according to the world, the flesh and the devil is much to high (trust me, I know).  I have to really "keep my eyes and ears on Him," sometimes by force.

I have a love/hate relationship with the Puritans.  I love their insight and sensitivity but I struggle with their faithful acceptance of the fact that "here" isn't any kind of priority.  What I mean is that they had such a wonderful hope of heaven that they really did count everything as "dung" compared to the riches of God's grace.  

I consistently read their admonitions to trivialize earthly needs (in relation to heavenly provision) and I am dumb-struck - and not a little ashamed of myself.  They lived in a cycle of earthly need.  They were no strangers to suddenly suffering the loss of their "livings" not to mention their incarcerations.  And yet they were satisfied that God's will was perfect regardless of the earthly consequences.

That's the part I "hate," because it reveals to me my lack of strength and maturity in the Way.  It shows me my weakness and self-centeredness.  It shows me my sin.  Though this is truly a blessing, it hurts deeply and my flesh hates it (another sign of the battle we must fight).

But Paul admonishes us to "flee" from all of this.  If we're not in it we must watch and pray that we might be warned and flee.  If we're in it we must trust and pray and flee from within it.

We are to, "Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness."  as well as:

Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 

(1Ti 6:12)

This is tough to do when the bill collectors are calling or unexpected needs arise.  This is difficult as we struggle to pretend to our brothers and sisters that all is well (not a good thing).  This is difficult when we live in a culture where we are told we have to "succeed" according to the standards and ways of the world, flesh and devil.

But we must pursue these things regardless of where they lead us here in this temporary residence.  We must flee from this evil but we must flee to Him.  Just running away from the problem does not sever the tie.  We must go to the only one who can free us from all the fleshly pain and sorrow even i it is through godly pain and sorrow.

I'm learning - quite late - a lesson I have not studied and absorbed.  It is hard and it is good.

We, Patti and i, are praying for all of you who are where we are and we pray that you will - as we are striving to - break away from the world, the flesh and the devil and flee to Him more faithfully and more whole-heartedly.