Tag: Sin

Stumbling Block

Posted on by Dorci

“‘I have the right to do anything,’ you say—but not everything is beneficial. ‘I have the right to do anything’—but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others.” 1 Corinthians 10:23-24

As we grow up in Christ, we learn to put away our so-called rights. We learn that just because we can do something doesn’t mean we should. It doesn’t mean it is good for our walk, good for the building up of our brothers and sisters in Christ, good for our witness to the unsaved world, and good for glorifying our Father.

As our love grows, so does our desire to put aside those things that would keep us from shining as brightly as we can in this dark and aging world. More than the “thing”, we desire to magnify the Name of Christ and to be about our Father’s business, not our own.

If you had one week to live, what would you put away for the good of Christ and to make the most of the time you had left for Him? People are dying around us, if not physically, then spiritually. If we have a chance to be Christ for them, so to speak, to be the embodiment of the Spirit, which we certainly are, and to show them there is a different way, a holy way, a godly way, is the “thing” worth it?

People may not say it, but they are looking for something different. Something other than what the world offers, because what it offers is sin and disillusionment and destruction and death. They are looking for a way through, an answer, a peace in the middle of the storm, a purpose.

They don’t know it, but they are looking for Christ. Is the “thing” you would give up a stumbling block, for yourself or for them? Is it worth it? Life is short and we have one purpose: to glorify our Creator. To know Him and make Him known. Is it time to kick the stumbling block out of the way?

In Christ we have the freedom to do, but even greater is the freedom we have to give it up.

In His great grace,

He Loves You!

Posted on by Dorci

Don’t let new year begin with even the slightest shadow of doubt in your mind about the fact that God loves you.  Know that His capacity to love you is greater than your sins, deeper than your understanding, wider than your choices, and further than anything your future holds.

He loves you!

And if you do doubt, if you wonder, if you’re afraid….look at the cross.  See Him there…..bloody, spat on, beaten – beyond recognition – struggling to breathe, exposed…..and know that it’s for you.  He laid on that cross and and let the nails go through flesh and tendons and nerves..for you.  He hung there and died…for you.  For your sins.  Every. Single. Last. One of them.

Oh how He loves you!

 

 

Drowning in His Grace,

The Fiercest Battle

Posted on by Dorci

Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn
“‘a man against his father,
a daughter against her mother,
a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—
a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.

Matthew 10:34-36

Whoa.  That is some pretty inflammatory language Jesus is using here.  Did not come to bring peace?  A sword?  Enemies?

What on earth could Jesus be talking about?

First, we need to understand who He’s talking to.  Jesus is giving instruction to the twelve disciples as He sends them out, specifically to the Jews, as His witnesses to heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those with skin diseases and drive out demons.

But before they head out, they need to understand His message, and what they’ll be up against.  Many, even the disciples, were under the impression that when the Messiah came He would set up His kingdom on earth and reign over all, bringing peace, ending famine and wars.

But Jesus makes it clear that is not His mission.  Not yet, anyway.

As they went, they were to proclaim this message:  the kingdom of heaven is near.  The Messiah has come.

And He came to be the fulfillment of the law.

The law showed us we were sinners, and sin requires a payment of death.  Jesus came to die in our place to pay for our sins.  He came to make truth known, even as He Himself is truth.  But not everyone wants to hear that they’re a sinner. And of those who know they’re a sinner, not everyone wants to be saved from it.

Jesus references the words of the prophet Micah in Micah 7:6.  Micah lamented about the terrible times in which he lived when sin was rampant, and there were few who held onto faith and righteousness.  And many of those who did found that their sons or daughters or other family members fell into the other camp—the one that reveled in immorality–and that caused strife, to say the least.

Centuries later, the disciples would find that, again, there would be relatively few who would choose faith and righteousness, even among the ancient sons and daughters of God.  Few who would choose to align themselves with the truth—Jesus Christ.  The disciples themselves would be among the few who stood in a world full of people who would rather deny the Christ and live in their own sinfulness.  Even then the disciples were unaware that there was one among them, a friend, a fellow servant, who would choose sin over Christ.

And now, centuries later, the story is the same.  Sin is rampant and there are few in this world who acknowledge their sin and put their faith in Christ.  And even among those who call themselves Christians, there are fewer still who are willing to submit their whole lives to Him, leave the world behind, take up their crosses daily and live upright lives before their God.

And for those who do, for those who know that truth triumphs over sin and evil and destruction and death, for those who desire to live in that truth, we will, sooner or later, be called on to make a choice.

Someone we love, a close friend, a fellow servant, someone in our own family, someone who doesn’t adhere to the truth, will want to sin and drag us along with them.  They won’t understand why we won’t do this or allow that.  And a son will be against his father, a daughter against her mother, a fellow servant against another.

And a battle will ensue.  This is the metaphoric sword Jesus speaks of.

The battle could get bloody.  Sharp words may well be thrown our way. Wounds will be inflicted.  Relationships could die. We could feel as though our heart is being ripped clean out of our chest.  And all the while we’ll need to keep loving them and praying for them.

The inner struggle will be to not to let our flesh take over, to not retaliate with harsh words of our own, but to keep praying, remembering we don’t battle against flesh and blood but against an enemy we cannot see.

Prayer is the real battleground, and whether or not we choose to remain in prayer is where the battle will be won or lost.

Through it all we might have an inkling of the pain Christ suffered on the cross.

Are we willing to risk it all for Him?  Is His cause our cause?

It’s at this moment when the foundation of our faith will be revealed.  Is it sure?  Do we stand on the Rock which does not move, is not shaken and does not compromise? Is our love for Him real?

Or will we falter?  Will we choose sin over truth?  Now is the time to choose, not when we’re in the heat of battle and the enemy is coming at us full force.  Put on the spiritual armor and don’t take it off.

Satan comes to kill, steal and destroy.  He will get at us any way he can, even through family members.  Especially through family members.  He will come and whisper “It’s just a little sin.  Just a little compromise won’t hurt.  And you love them, right? You don’t want them angry with you.”

If we listen and give in, before we know it we’re far from God, and so is the one we love.

Stand strong.

Love them enough not to compromise.  This is not a battle for mere ground or castles or other earthly kingdoms.  This is a battle for hearts and eternities.

And love Christ more.  He saved us and He wants to save the other person in our lives whose ways are at odds with His, whose heart is far from Him and whose eternity will be a bitter one unless they have a lighthouse to show them the way.

Better than keeping a false, temporary peace, be a light shining the truth of God, so they can find their way to Him and experience real, lasting, eternal peace.

One day you may see a glimmer of hope. You’re gaining ground.  Hearts are softening. Christ is winning.

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”  Galatians 6:9

How to Pray

Posted on by Dorci

Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”  Luke 11:1

It was a wise request, and we would be wise to ask it, too.

So what did the Lord say?

“When you pray, say:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us day by day our daily bread.
And forgive us our sins,
For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.”
Luke 11:2-4

A lot of people take this instruction literally, and this is the only prayer they pray.  But God doesn’t want us to just recite words; He wants our hearts. Prayer is not getting God to do what we want, but it’s a gracious open door of communication so that God can show us His will and change the rhythm of our hearts to beat with His. Jesus gives His disciples, us included, a peek into God’s heart through this prayer.  So let’s unpack it just a little a bit and see how we are to pray.

“When you pray, say:”

This word prayer means worship.  Prayer is not a time to jump in, ask for a bunch of things, and leave.  It’s a time where we enter into worship of the Most High God.

“Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.”

These two sentences are very telling.

Jesus introduces the radical notion that we have the privilege of calling God our Father.  He is closer to us than some impersonal God “way up there.”  He loves us as a parent loves a child (and even more) and when we go to Him in prayer we can be assured that He hears us and will provide us with every good thing.

At the same time Jesus reminds us our Father is hallowed, or holy.  He is not like our earthly fathers.  He is sacred, pure, blameless and righteous.  Any fears or emotional baggage we may have because of our earthly fathers do not apply to our Heavenly Father.  We can trust Him.

Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.

The word kingdom means rule, a realm or a reign.  Now that the Holy Spirit has come, we who have put our faith in Christ have the privilege of knowing God not just from the outside, but from the inside.  And to properly worship God in prayer we must continually give Him permission to rule our hearts.  It’s so easy to take back the reins, if you will.

As we give our hearts to be a kingdom for God to reside, we’ll want His will, not ours.  In heaven everything happens God’s way.  There is no sin.  It is filled with the glory of God and all He is.

In Isaiah 55:8-9, God tells us “’For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’”

God’s thoughts, desires and will, are all so very different, so much higher than our own.  And when we pray that God’s will be done here on earth like it is in heaven, that’ll mean He’s going to shake things up a bit, and it’s going to start with changing our hearts.  Are you willing to let God do radical things in and through you?

“Give us day by day our daily bread.”

God doesn’t give us what we’ll need tomorrow today.  He gives us what we need today today, so we need to go to Him every day.

Not only do we need to get physical bread—food, and even on a broader scale, physical or material needs–but we need spiritual bread.

Most of us would never think of going a day (or even a few hours!) without eating.  We need to be spiritually fed as often.

“And Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.’” John 6:35

Jesus is our sustenance.  As we remain in Him, He will bless us with everything we need.

“And forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us.”

When we hold unforgiveness (or any sin) in our hearts, whether we’re resisting repenting of our own sins or forgiving someone who has sinned against us, we put up a wall between us and God.

“But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.” Isaiah 59:2

Ask God to bring to your mind those things you need to specifically repent of, and the people you need to forgive.  There are times that past, hurtful situations come to my mind and it’s easy to sit and stew in the anger all over again.  But those are divinely-inspired opportunities to forgive someone who may have slipped from our consciousness, but God knows that anger is creating a root of bitterness, and He brings them to our minds to give us a chance to forgive.  We may have temporarily forgotten, but God hasn’t. He knows the destruction it causes in our hearts.  Remember, forgiveness is a choice, not a feeling.

“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.”

This literally means to rescue us from the evil one–the one seeks to steal, kill and destroy.  We’ve repented of our sins and the last thing we want to do is rush right back into sin through the temptations we face.  We need discipline and as we hold onto the Lord, He will give us the strength and courage we need.

The concise way of saying all that is to remember ACTS:

Adoration – praising God for all He is
Confession – repenting of, or turning away from our sin
Thanksgiving – thanking God for all He’s done, all He does and all He will do
Supplication – presenting our needs before the God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills

This is a good guideline to get our hearts right as we enter into worship so we don’t get a case of the “gimmes.”  You know, give me this and give me that.

The National Day of Prayer uses this acronym:

Praise
Repent
Ask
Yield.

And just as important as knowing what to say, is knowing how to be silent.  To sit before God and let Him speak to our hearts is a precious gift indeed.

God bless you as you pray,

 

 

 

Why Pray?

Posted on by Dorci

“And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’

For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’

And the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them?  I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?’ Luke 18:1-8

This Thursday, May 1, is the National Day of Prayer, and our country and world are in desperate need of it.  Prayer has taken a back seat in favor of entertainment, the pursuit of money, even religion.  Our time with God has been neglected.  How do I know?  Because I look around at the state of things and I see the fruit of it.

I see morals being thrown out the window by the bucketful.  I see people using one another for their own gain.  I see adults’ behavior regressing into immaturity and downright childishness.  I see the family unit disintegrating more and more. I see disrespect and even hatred on a whole new level. I see sin coming out of the darkness and living proudly in the light for all to see, and I see people afraid to stand up against it.  I see the pain and suffering caused by rampant sin.

And more and more those who call themselves Christians are looking and walking and talking no differently than non-believers.

Yet I see Christians pointing an accusing finger at the world and talk about how awful it is and if they’d just straighten up and fly right everything would be okay.  But God says that “if MY people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

God doesn’t tell the world to change, He tells His own people that if we will repent, and if we will submit and turn from our old man and live righteously before Him, then God will our land.  We are the example to the world.  We are to be salt and light.  And when we are right with God then we will be able to, by the grace of God and the blood of Christ, stand in the gap between God and unbelievers and pray that God will open their spiritual eyes and that they will be saved.

It starts with us.

I was saved, because of the persistent, year-long prayers of a Christian, when I was 25 years old.  By that time I’d already formed a lot of erroneous beliefs.  One was that abortion was acceptable since our laws give us a right to it, and the other was that God and satan were equal powers, the only difference being that one was a power for good and the other for evil.

But the moment I was saved and indwelt by the power of the Holy Spirit, my eyes were opened and those two beliefs were dispelled.  I knew immediately that abortion was wrong and that God’s power over satan was infinite.

The only way to see our country and world transformed is to pray for them, one person at a time.  To pray that God will soften hearts and open eyes, like He did mine, and that people will be saved.

A lot of us are weary, though.  We’re weary of seeing sin gain the upper hand.  We’re weary of trying and feeling like we’re moving two steps forward and one step back.  We’re weary of praying and praying and praying and not seeing results.  I get it.  I’ve been there.

There are some things I’ve prayed years for and still have yet to see fruit.  But that doesn’t mean nothing’s happening.  God is making things happen behind the scenes that I’ll never see.  He waits for circumstances, other people, our hearts and a multitude of other things to be just right before He can answer prayers.

Some He’ll answer quickly, and some take a lifetime. But His timing is always, always perfect.  There are some answers where I’m beginning to see the bud develop, but it’s taken an excruciatingly long period of time.  And there are some things I prayed a long time for, and now know those things will never happen.  And in those instances hope can take a hard hit.

But God says don’t give up.  Hope in Him.

In the Luke 18 parable, Jesus illustrated that if even an unrighteous person relents to someone’s pleas simply because they don’t give up, how much more will God, who is fully righteous and loving towards His children, give to them when they continue to seek Him?

Yes, you’re weary.  And distracted.  So am I.

So why pray?  The bottom line is this: God wants to see our prayers answered.  He wants to show us His will.  He wants to broaden our dreams and give us victory in this life. And what’s more, He wants us to have the peace and courage and wisdom we need every day, and the only way to have those is through prayer.  That’s why He tells us to pray and keep on praying.  Some answers to prayer simply take a long time.  And what if we give up before it’s time?

So let’s find a little corner and sit down at the feet of Jesus—the giver of strength and peace and wisdom–and pray, and gain our strength again.

Let’s stand in the gap for our family, our church, our friends, our neighborhood, our state, our country, our world.

Our children and grandchildren are growing up fast and the legacy we leave them in this world will depend on if we choose to pray or not. It’s a responsibility and privilege we can no longer take for granted.

Here is the link to the website for the National Day of Prayer.  I hope you’ll choose to be one of those on the front lines of prayer for our nation and our world as the time draws closer to the Lord’s return.

And when He does, as Jesus asked, will He find faith?  Will you and I be the ones He sees holding onto our faith in Him as we continue to seek Him in prayer?

Tomorrow we’ll talk about how to pray.  Please pray for me as I seek the Lord for wisdom.

God bless you as you pray!