Jonah, the Unwilling Prophet (Part I)

Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,  “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.”  But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Jonah 1:1-3

Jonah was asked by the Lord to go Nineveh and cry out against their wickedness. Jonah did it diametrically different by taking a ship to Tarshish which was in the opposite direction of Nineveh.

Tarshish was the name of a Phoenician port in current Spain which is the West of Israel, and Nineveh would have been East of Israel in the current nation of Iraq. The port of Spain would have been as far West he could have gone at the time. The continent of America had yet to have been discovered by Europeans at the time.

Basically, Jonah was trying to avoid God and His request by running from His assignment as far away as he could. Jonah was a successful prophet as it is mentioned in 2Kings 14:25. The scripture tells us that he was giving the word of the Lord and providing direction to King Jeroboam II. However, he didn’t want to go to Nineveh and preach repentance because the Assyrians were wicked , so he tried to flee from the presence of the Lord!!

God’s call and assignment on Jonah’s life was given to him to be stewarded but not owned. Jonah, regardless of his success or years of walking with God, could not decide which assignments from God he liked and which ones he didn’t.

The same is true for us. We may have been praying for our neighbor’s salvation or for family members for years, and wondering why God hasn’t responded. While God may have been asking us to reach out to our coworker and help them, and we don’t want to do it. We think, our coworker already looks successful, and if they had the Lord like we did, then they would even be more successful. At least now, there is one thing that is negative about them. If they had the Lord, they could be too popular!!

We can’t only pray or go to the people we want to see saved or changed for the glory of God. We must be willing to go to the ones whom we don’t like or even those that intimidate us.

When you look at the early church, they had every reason to reject Saul, but they took the risk of opening their lives and hearts to this man who became Paul. If they hadn’t, they could have rejected all the work that God had purposed through him. Paul was a huge blessing to the early church as well as the body of Christ for the last two thousand years.

Who is in your life that you need to open your heart to and allow God to accomplish His purpose in their lives as well as yours?

While sailing far away from Nineveh, the Lord sends out a great wind and Jonah eventually had to confess to people that it is because of him that the ship is in trouble. People were afraid of keeping Jonah, but they were also afraid of throwing the man of God into the water.

When we are in disobedience to the Lord, not only we cause trouble for ourselves, but we also put other people in vicarious position. People may be impressed by who we are and what we do; but, the question is, “Are we doing what the Lord is asking us to do, or are we doing what we want to do?”

You may be a great teacher of the Word of God or a great organizer, but your spouse has been asking you to spend more time with the family. He/she is saying to you, “Our own house needs better organization.”. Do you consider this unimportant because you’re helping a ministry or have an important corporate job? When your children are listening to your conversations, what do they make out it? Are your spouse’s words not that important to you because he/she is not in ministry or may not hear God well!!?  Most likely our spouses or our children would not dishonor us before others or complain about us, but the fact may remain that they are still not happy with the current conditions.

If we put the Lord first, He will show us how to prioritize our lives on this earth, so we can glorify His name and honor and value our loved ones and others. Ask your family if they feel valued and important to you. Or do they need to compete for your attention because you have other priorities?

 

Being a Just Person (Part II)

Both sides must be heard

True Justice cannot be established unless both sides of the situation are heard. Sometimes even enough time needs to be given for truth of the matter to be unfolded.

We have to keep in mind that generally both sides have issues to work on and most of the time the situation is not one-sided. People can perceive and see a lot of things, but ultimately as a just person we can’t deal with people on a subjective level trying to figure out their motives or prophetically label someone when there is no evidence to back it up. We’re called to evaluate the situation objectively and impartially based on the facts given by both sides.

You may ask, “How can I know both sides since only one of the parties told me their story?” If you have not been picked by both people to judge the situation, then you don’t have the place to judge the situation. Someone has crossed the line to get you involved, and the best thing to do is to encourage that person to follow Matthew 18:15 and talk to the other person. If that doesn’t work, they can involve someone that both sides respect to be a mediator. If you are drawing judgment on a situation without hearing both sides or being invited by both sides you are involved in gossip, not justice!!!

Sometimes people want to speak to us and get our advise or counsel in how to handle a situation. First of all, we need make sure it’s not turning into a gossip or venting session. Also, since we’re only hearing one side of the story, we have to be careful not to assume that we have all the facts or that the issues are expressed and communicated objectively. We have to leave room for the unknown element which is the other person’s view/story. It requires caution counseling someone in those situations. This is especially dangerous in advising/counseling a married person when you haven’t heard their spouse’s side of the story.

Solomon was a good model of judging justly

Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?”1Kings 3:9

Solomon prayed for an understanding heart to judge the people of God. Having an understanding heart is being thoughtful, empathetic, and considerate of others. It’s also having extra sensitivity to the needs of others and trying to put ourselves in somebody else’s shoes.

Solomon understood that stewarding the assignment is a huge undertaking because he is dealing with God’s people who are His special treasure. When we look at people as His treasure, we will evaluate them differently. Jesus was willing to die for a sinful world. The scriptures says, “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8b We need to ask God to give us eyes to see people’s value in spite of their sin, so we can judge them soundly.

Are you willing to be evaluated based on your standard of judgment!?

“Judge not, and you shall not be judged. Condemn not, and you shall not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” Luke 6:37-38

The last thing we need to consider, is that judging is not something we should easily or casually get involved in. It has a high price associated with it. For the scripture says that with the same measure that we use, it will be measured back to us. An analogy for this would be if we set a new law for our city and decide that anyone speeding should go to jail for a day. Well, that sounds great and makes us feel safe until we cross that line and are caught speeding. Now the same law that we established for others, we will be judged according to it to as well. It’s a good reminder of Jesus commanding us to “love your neighbor as yourself.” We have to make the effort to put ourselves in that situation and ask the question, “How do I want to be treated or judged if I were in that situation?

If we want to be influencers in our society and affect change, we need to be standard bearers for true justice. While our legal system has many issues to work on, there are actually some things we can learn from it in this area.

When was the last time you put your own personal preferences aside and took pains to really understand both sides of the story before drawing  a conclusion? Let’s each of us take the responsibility to be just and impartial people.

 

Being a Just Person (Part I)

The Lord is a God of Justice and he desires for His people to be just people. If you are a believer, being a just person is not optional; It is our calling and mandate from the Lord!

In Hebrews, many times the same word is used for “justice” as it is for “righteousness”.

Justice defined in Hebrew (H6664 & H6666): what is right or just or normal, rightness, justness (of weights and measures), of judges, rulers, kings, of God’s attribute, righteousness, justice (in case or cause), rightness (in speech), righteousness (as ethically right).

That tells us that we can’t be righteous apart from being just. Jesus ultimately fulfilled and completed the righteousness and the justice of God on the cross. As His followers, we are called to pursue righteousness and justice and set His standard on the earth.

To be a just person requires the following:

 Accept what God calls true and just

We have to be rightly aligned with God and His truth. We need to see Him as the ultimate judge of the earth. He declares what is right and wrong in His word, and we need to be willing to lay down our values, fears, and preferences to accept His judgment on everything.

Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Mercy and truth go before Your face. Psalm 89:14

The above scripture clearly tells us that His authority is established on justice and righteousness. God is a God of justice. He abhors injustice and false scales. Since God is patient, we may not necessarily see His justice exercised right away because He is also a redeeming God. His mercy balances His justice in that He gives man the opportunity to change His ways, to repent, and to accept His son as atonement for his condition.

We see in the case of Jesus, while he was brutally crucified, God did not judge those who put Him on the cross at that moment. To this day, many question Jesus’ authority and Him being the savior of the world. Someday, it will become clear to humanity that He was, [the way, the truth, and the life], [no one comes to the Father except through Him], and [every knee shall bow before Him]. In the meantime, God is giving opportunity for each person to make that decision before the Day of Judgment comes.

Rightly relate to people

To do righteousness and justice. Is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice. Proverbs 21:3

The Lord cares very much about being a just person. We may love Him and do very many things for Him, but He is looking for those who are living and operating in justice and fairness towards others.

One of the most challenging things about being a just person is that we can develop opinions about someone for the better or for worse based on our perception or limited experience with them. If they are our friends/family, we can quickly jump to defend them. If they are someone that we don’t like or feel close to, we may assume that they are in the wrong. As people of God to be just people and to evaluate a situation justly, we have to lay aside our prejudices and preferences, so can relate to people as Jesus did and represent Him accurately to people!

I was on jury duty a couple of months ago. It was my first time, and I was really impressed by the painstaking process that they went through to pick the jury.

They were looking for people who

  1. Didn’t know either party involved
  2. Didn’t have a prejudice towards their ethnicity or them not being able to speak English
  3. Had not heard about this case through other sources such as online or newspaper
  4. Since the case involved property management, tenant, and ownership, they made sure none of us had any negative feelings towards bad tenants or bad property management.
  5. In the case of jurists with spouses in law enforcement, they asked if they had heard of any rental incidents that their spouse might have told them to skew their perception of the situation.

They actually dismissed quite a few people before they finalized the twelve jurists. While it was about a day process to pick the jury, I really appreciated the process. I understood that they were trying to create an environment that gives each person a fair chance for their side to be heard. They were trying to pick a jury to be impartial enough to ensure they are evaluating the case based on its merit and not their knowledge of the person/situation.

According to Wikipedia, “Since the 15th century, Lady Justice has often been depicted wearing a blindfold. The blindfold represents objectivity, in that justice is or should be meted out objectively, without fear or favor, regardless of identity, money, power, or weakness; blind justice and impartiality.”

All of the above descriptions should be even truer about the people of God. However, I’m sorry to say that as believers we have a lot of room to grow in this area. We can be very sloppy with our judgment of a situation or a person. People have a tendency to show favoritism to those they know and become partial in their actions or words. On the other hand, out of the fear of reprisal some don’t say or do anything to stand for righteousness when they need to speak, especially when justice is not meted out for the underdog.

Does the Lord consider you a just person?

When people think of you, do they see you as a fair and objective person, or do they think of you as a partial person who takes the sides with those you know/like?

 

The Blessing of Fearing God (Part II)

We are called to revere a holy God and fear Him only. In our culture, we either see God as a distant absentee landlord or think of him as a Santa clause who can’t wait to shower his prince and princesses with everything they desire!! Both of those perceptions don’t line up with the truth of the Bible describing him as a holy, loving, and mighty God! He is an all-present God who loves people and has great expectations of those who call Him Lord.

 God is the preserver

Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him,
On those who hope in His mercy, To deliver their soul from death, And to keep them alive in famine. Psalm 33:18-19

The Lord keeps His eyes on those who fear him. Isn’t that awesome!? In a world that people go to great lengths to get the attention of others and keep people’s eyes on them, we can have the eyes of our creator on us all the time. God loves those who fear Him, and he pays special attention to them. He knows that we choose to live life vulnerable and without self-preservation. We resolve not to hurt our enemies or gossip about them because we fear and love God. We choose not to lie or steal to make provision for ourselves. Unless the Lord preserves us and provides for us, we will have no protection or provision in times of difficulty or famine in our lives!!

Joseph is a great example of a man who feared God, and when he had the opportunity, he didn’t sin against His God!! While he went through years of difficulty, God’s eyes were on this man. God’s favor was on him everywhere he was sent and finally in the time of famine, he became the resource/answer through the Lord for saving many lives including his own family!!!

Fear of God is foundational to wisdom

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever. Psalm 111:10

Wisdom is having good sense and discernment to navigate through life, making Godly decisions, and getting along well with other people. The fear of God gives us the open door to walk through wisdom and learn to become a skilled, wise person. If we don’t fear God, our decisions are based on trial and error rather than keeping in mind God’s boundaries in our lives. The fear of God gives us the caution not to get ourselves involved needlessly in things that could cause problems in our lives. It keeps our path clear and narrow.

Just as we desire for our children to be successful in life and make good, Godly decisions, so our heavenly father desires for us to have a successful life in Him. We can pursue this by following His commandments and taking them seriously.

He is the final judge of our eternal state

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28

The Lord is ultimately the only one we need to fear. He is the one who has the power to choose where we will spend our eternity. In light of that, we shouldn’t fear anything or anyone else because He is the one who holds our lives and our eternity in His hands!! We still honor and respect people, but there is no need to fear them.

Christian history is filled with stories of persecuted and martyred believers for the sake of Christ. They understood and lived the above truth very well. Most of us will never be faced with that type of opposition, but we are called just as Jeremiah was: “Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord.” Jeremiah 1:8

Holiness is the fruit of fearing God

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2Corinthians 7:1

The Lord, through His love covenant gives us many promises. In order for us to enjoy the benefits of our relationship with the Lord, we need continually be motivated to keep ourselves from corruption, and seek His holiness in our lives. That means we don’t justify our actions, make excuses for them, or think because God loves me so much, he’ll look the other way. As the scripture tells us; “as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness.” 2Peter 1:3a  We have no excuse before a holy God not to pursue a pure and holy life!!

We live in a culture that trains people in self-esteem and confidence. However, the only true esteem and confidence is established on our relationship with a holy God. Everything else is paper-thin and has no substance to hold up under pressure or conflict. Fear of God develops a true confidence in the one who is worthy, and He esteems us because we are rightly and closely connected to Him!! Thank you Lord!!

It is a blessing to fear God!! Please examine yourself in the light of above scriptures and see if you truly have reverence and a healthy fear of God in your life.

The Blessing of Fearing God (Part I)

As believers, we have a loving relationship with our heavenly Father which is based on the work of Jesus on the cross. However, this personal relationship does not give us the permission to be nonchalant with an awesome and mighty God who is the creator of heaven and earth! The knowledge of God should bring us down to our knees and keep us in reverent fear of a holy God who is all powerful!

The very thing that man fights in his carnal nature by thinking and acting  independently from God is the very issue  that brings us under a curse and bondage to sin. The fear of God brings many blessings to our lives. In this devotional and the next one, I will share some of them with you.

We serve one Master

Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! Joshua 24:14

We are called to serve God. When we choose to serve God, He asks us to put away all other gods. We cannot have two masters. Even in the natural realm, a servant, an employee, or an athlete can only serve one master or a team. The kingdom of our God is in enmity with the kingdom of this world and darkness. Jesus told us that we cannot serve two masters.

While we have a personal relationship with the Lord, we are still called to submit to His authority for the rest of our lives and serve Him only. We will never grow so old or so mature that we would not need to be submitted to the Lord. We always need to have a healthy reverence and fear of the Lord!! We fear God because He is mighty. He is the one who subdued the Egyptians and delivered the Israelites. He can subdue any one of us who is not living according to His plan, or He can deliver  live us we if we live according to His will!!

His fear leads us to transformation

The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple;
 The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. Psalm 19:7-9

Isn’t it powerful that the law of the Lord converts the soul!? Our souls are in desperate need of conversion; our minds, will, and emotions have been corrupted and ravaged by years of living in sin. When we fear God and recognize that His laws need to be obeyed, we see the transformation that we so have been longing for. As our soul gets converted, we get revelation of how God judges because His judgments are righteous and true. It gives us clarity of vision and understanding. It changes our perspective and gives us a fresh, new, pure way to look at things. That brings joy to our hearts because we are not stuck in the darkness of our perspective, but now we have light, and we can see clearly. Praise Him!!!

God Trusts those who fear Him

The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, Psalm 25:14a

Our mighty, omniscient, omnipotent God has secrets that He chooses not to share with just anyone, but he chooses to share them with those who fear Him. If we don’t fear the Lord, we can misuse His secrets by using them to show off, talking about them when it’s not the right time.  The Lord knows those who fear Him are not going to take advantage of them. These individuals know it’s a great privilege for the Lord to share His secrets with them, and they will stay in tune and in step to know what to do with those secrets.

Abraham had the privilege of God telling him that He was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18:16-33). Moses tried to change God’s mind and he succeeded because the Lord told him that if there were ten righteous people in those cities He wasn’t going to destroy them. Unfortunately, there weren’t even ten righteous people in those cities!! That was a powerful position for Moses. What would we have done if God had shared a secret like that with us? Would we have been excited because of their gross sin that God was going to destroy them!? Or would we have interceded like Moses did and asked for God’s mercy?

While our culture indoctrinates people into independence from God and has no regard, respect, or reverence for Him, we know through the scripture and through our own personal lives that there are so many blessings to fearing God and walking closely with Him.

Do you fear God? Do you live life the same way whether someone is watching or not?

 

 

 

 

Building the New Nature

In the previous devotional, I described the importance of dismantling the old self and letting go of strongholds that were lodged in our lives . Our thoughts are key factor as to whether we will live life  according to the old nature or the new one!!

That, however, is not the way of life you learned 21 when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23 to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24 and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:20-24 (NIV)

Change attitude of the mind

The above scripture tells that the “attitude of our mind” necessitates renewal. The new nature, (us) is like God. That’s the one we are called to feed and nurture, so it can grow strong. At the same time, we are commanded to starve and put to death the old nature!! The attitude of our mind is in need of renewal by thinking differently. The below scripture tells us how to think according to our new nature.

8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8 (NIV)

Be redemptive in your thinking

To be redemptive in our thinking will require an intentional, disciplined, alert, faith-filled attitude to think and live!! The world is full of sin and darkness. The above scripture is not telling us to be in denial of what is happening around us. As a matter of fact, it is telling us to think about those things that are true and right. Sometimes what is happening around us isn’t right. There are times that the truth is, something needs to change!! The scripture is not asking us to deny the reality of a situation. However, we are called to think about the situation with hope. With faith we can look at the situation and see it as God sees it, redeemable!! God is a redeeming God, so our new nature must change its attitude and think like Christ!!

Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. Ephesians 4:25(NIV)

Speaking truthfully is paramount

We can’t speak falsely in order to maintain relationships. The enemy will use falsehood as an open door to move us into deception and hypocrisy! What is interesting is the scripture tells us  we need to speak truthfully “for we are all members of one body”. Can you imagine lying or not telling the truth to one part of your body or trying to deceive it!? Our entire body must to be engaged with what is going on and be in one accord otherwise we could be diagnosed with some mental health problem! In the same manner, we can’t stay healthy as the body of Christ if we are living in falsehood with one another.

Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, Ephesians 4:26(NIV)

Anger must be dealt with immediately

When we’re angry, our flesh desires to continue to mull over the offense by stewing over it and rehashing the situation. And, if possible, tell somebody else about it, so they can justify our anger. Then we think about a plan of retaliation, but all of the above is the work of the flesh. This is when we must die to the flesh and say,” I am not giving the you room to have free reign. I’m not happy about this situation, but listening to you isn’t going to make this better. I can’t leave room for a pity party!! I belong to Christ”!!

And do not give the devil a foothold. Ephesians 4:27(NIV)

If we open the door to the enemy in any small way, he will reenter our lives. Those footholds eventually turn into strongholds!! That’s why it is so important to catch the little thought, attitude, falsehood, or anger in its infancy, aborting it quickly, so the enemy cannot lodge himself and start growing it into a stronghold!!

Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Ephesians 4:29(NIV)

Use your speech to build

Just as other people’s words affect us, our words affect others. We don’t want to cause an offense or open a door for someone else to be baited by the enemy. If we have developed redemptive thinking mentioned earlier, then we will speak what is beneficial for others not what we want to unload on other people.

The word “unwholesome ” in King James is translated as “corrupt”

Corrupt (G4550): rotten, putrefied, corrupted by one and no longer fit for use, worn out of poor quality, bad, unfit for use, worthless

Our speech should be loving and nurturing as opposed to harsh and judgmental.  Wholesome conversations are good for other people. There is no rottenness to them. They are good quality. We’re helping people to be nurtured with something good and uncorrupt. When our speech is unwholesome, we are tempting the person’s old nature. We should be in the business of building people’s new nature.

How are you doing building your new nature?

 

Dismantling the Old Nature

What is your relationship with your old nature? Does it have free reign? Do you consider it an ally? Well,  the scripture has some serious things to say about this subject!!

For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. 4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, 5 casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, 6 and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.

2 Corinthians 10:3-6

We as people are continually faced with opposition from within and without. It’s a battle that we are faced with on a regular basis. What makes a believer’s life different is that now we must fight the battle in the Spirit realm rather than in the flesh. As a carnal person, we used to be in self-protection and self-preservation mode. For years we lived away from God, so we have developed an independence in taking care of #1 (us). We lived life as orphans fending for ourselves. This meant anything that looked threatening needed to be fought or avoided.

In the world, many times the battle is fought externally, meaning we think a person or a situation is a problem or a threat. However, in Christianity, we learn that in addition to the world system, we have a spiritual enemy who wants to steal, kill, and destroy the work of God in us. We also realize that we have a flesh (old nature) that needs to be crucified and restrained continually in order for us to live a spiritual life pleasing to God!!

When we are born again, God calls us a new creation, and He empowers us to live a righteous life. Now, our prespective on our struggles and opposition needs to change. Our starting point should be to go to God who allows us to fight the old nature in us. The strongholds that we allowed to be erected in our lives must be dismantled!

Hebrew definition of Stronghold: a castle, stronghold, fortress, fastness,

anything on which one relies

of the arguments and reasoning by which a disputant endeavors to fortify his opinion and defend it against his opponent

Our old nature relied on certain strongholds to be able to survive life and protect us from the world. Some people are very proud. Pride gives a fictitious confidence in order to overcome the enemy and make one feel bigger and stronger than others.

Some people rely on fear. These individuals, in the name of caution or carefulness can be very guarded in order not to show any vulnerability to others. That way others can’t hurt them or attack them easily.

Others rely on manipulation to gain unlawful entry and access into a person’s life for their own advantage. Some have strong reasoning skills, so they reason everything through their senses and make decisions that are just based on limited human understanding. There are many other strongholds that people rely on to succeed or survive life.

When Jesus enters the life of a person, He basically tells us that we must remove all those fortresses that we erected in our lives and instead trust Him. This is not an easy task!! Every part of our flesh wants to scream and protest because we are becoming disloyal to the very thing we were enslaved to for years!!! 

This is the war that needs to be fought and won by our new nature. As we let go of strongholds and our old thoughts, to the same degree we become available vessels useful for the Lord and immune from the temptations/manipulation of the enemy!!

I like the fact that the scripture tells us that we need to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. When you think about the natural world, a policeman holds a criminal or menace to society captive in order for the person not to cause damage to their surroundings. This person is held captive by the authority that sets rules of proper behavior for society. When we hold our thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ, we basically are declaring that the little, “unlawful thought” is a menace to me and to the people around me. I am holding you captive to the authority of Christ, the one who sets the rules of right behavior and thought!!

Many of us don’t realize that the strongholds established in our lives started in the form of a thought, which led to an action or a decision!  Just because others are not aware of our thoughts yet, it doesn’t make it ok for us to entertain them. In this case our thoughts are not our best friends. They can’t just have free reign in our minds. They are familiar to us because we have entertained them for so long, but we can’t afford to be casual with them anymore.

Intimacy with the Lord is paramount in succeeding with dismantling of the old nature! It’s a vulnerable place to be but a freeing one!! We need to let Him minister to us with His love. The more we become confident in His protection and provision in our lives, the more faith we have to let go of our fortresses and strongholds and trust God for His protection. We are not at war with God. He is on our side to help us succeed in this!!!

How is your old nature doing today?

 

 

 

Boundary Lines

Why are boundary lines so important in our lives?  Boundary lines draw a line in the sand to mark what belongs to us and what it doesn’t. They define our responsibility and stewardship of what has been given to us to take care of. Even nations,states, and cities have boundary lines. Most importantly, relationships are in need of healthy boundary lines!! Let’s find out what God says about this important topic!!

O Lord, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;
You maintain my lot. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;
Yes, I have a good inheritance. Psalm 16: 5-6

The Lord maintains what belongs to us

The above scripture is a great encouragement that the territory we have been given, is our inheritance, and we don’t need to strive to keep the boundary line because he maintains our lot!! Praise God!!!

In a competitive world that tells you that unless you’re at the top of your game and continue to compete, you will lose territory, it’s a good reminder to know that the Lord is the keeper of our lot and our boundaries.  This does not negate our personal responsibility to steward what we have been given. Ultimately everything belongs to Him, and someday He will ask us how we used what He gave us. I hope we’d all be excited to show Him how we  stewarded our resources in building His Kingdom!!

Boundaries give us peace and contentment

Understanding the boundary of our responsibility is crucial for keeping our peace and contentment.  The world will trap us with its needs or demand our attention to its agenda. Just because we see something or we care about something, it doesn’t mean it is ours to fix or speak about.

If we have a burden for something, we can always start by praying about the situation or person. We should allow God to lead and guide us to what He desires for us to do. Sometimes people have a tendency to step over the boundary line of someone else’s life. We find it is easier to fix someone else’s life as opposed to allowing them to work on their issues.

We have to stay very sensitive to the Holy Spirit and not take on things out of emotion. If it is not within the boundary line of what the Lord has asked us to work with, it will eventually cause frustration and discouragement because we have taken on something that we are not responsible for.

Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Psalm 127:1a

Sometimes in our zeal to accomplish things, we forget that the Lord is the chief builder of our lives. If it wasn’t for Him, we wouldn’t have even known Him or decided to walk with Him. He has a plan and purpose for our lives that He will unfold over the course of time. We can’t run ahead of Him and  try to build something out of our zeal that is not ours to build.

There are times that we see the need for things to change, but we don’t have the maturity to deal with it appropriately. In those times, the Lord may ask us to “wait”. For example, if we are in a marriage that we would really love for our husband to love God, we may see things that he could do differently to walk closer with God. However, If we don’t have the patience to trust God, we may end up discouraging him by putting our standard of Christianity on him!! For a  season, the Lord may ask us to ,” be quiet, stop looking at him, and keep following me”, so God can do what He wants when and how He wants. In the process He’ll make us softer, gentler, and more patient with our husbands. When those touchy conversations come along, we don’t have to use exaggeration, emotional tantrum, or comparison to another mature man to get the point across. Instead, we’ll be led by the spirit to say what we need to say and allow the Lord to use it in his life to bring him closer to Him.

Perceived Maturity is not a permission to cross over boundary line

Just because we may consider ourselves a mature believer, it doesn’t give us the permission to speak on anything we observe. Jesus certainly saw a lot, and He even knew the heart of man, but He didn’t go after people trying to fix them or improve them. He allowed people to approach Him, and even then He asked questions to open up the person’ heart and allow it to be a mirror before the person.

I have seen prophetic people wanting to jump to conclusion quickly and make a rash statement about a situation. I believe that’s unwise even if the observation is accurate. Just because we see an apple on a tree it doesn’t mean it’s time to pick it. The apple needs to be ripe enough to not only get picked, but to be desired to get eaten. We should be secure enough to know there is a right time to speak on something, but it’s not anytime!!

Lord we ask you to show us clearly our boundary lines in any situation or relationship to steward our responsibility well and let go of what is not ours to handle!!

 

The Peril of Insecurity (Part II)

When Adam & Eve sinned, it separated them from God. As a result fear entered in, and insecurity took over! Man will live in an insecure state until they get in the right relationship with their heavenly Father and continue to depend on Him. Jesus came to redeem us from this state and reconcile us to the Father.  If we are going to be the people of God who represent Him well on the earth, we must confront insecurity, not make excuses for it by blaming others, and pursue living a secure life in Him!!

Secure people get their acceptance from the right source

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, took 5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6 to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. Ephesians 1:3-6

Man’s acceptance is flaky and inconsistent. If I don’t accept myself consistently, how can I be a good source of acceptance for somebody else? Or how can I expect someone else to provide that acceptance for me consistently? The scripture tells us that we are “accepted in the Beloved”. When we get a revelation of that, it will change our lives and focus from looking to the wrong places for acceptance!!

Sometimes, God uses people to help us believe God’s love and acceptance of us. They may mentor us for a season, but even those people should not become the foundation of our security. I look at those individuals as an umbilical cord in the mother’s womb. The baby is fed through the umbilical cord for a season while in the womb. The umbilical cord is not the source of life, but it is the conduit for life- sustaining nourishment. There will come a time when that baby has to take a life of his/her own outside the womb and learn to drink milk and use his/her own lungs. While the umbilical cord served a great purpose for season, it is not needed after the baby is born. Just as the baby still needs a mother, we will continue to need teachers, mentors, or Godly advisors. However, our faith needs to be established in our relationship to Jesus and no other person!!

We can approach God with confidence because of the work of Jesus on our behealf. Each of us must know who we are according to the word of God!! We need to learn to hear the voice of God for ourselves rather than depending on someone else hearing the Lord for us. There may be times that confirmation from another trusted person is necessary, but our security is established in our relationship with the Lord. We can’t depend on others for source of life, and security. The Lord has given us the Holy Spirit, so we can continually stay connected to Him!!

A secure Person is not easily shaken

Insecure people walk around with tainted glasses, and they interpret the world around them as if everything is directed towards them. In addition, if something happened that could be taken positively or negatively, they will go to the negative and think the worst. Insecure people have difficulty loving people and close their hearts quickly. They allow things to get to their hearts easily and as a result can have a hard time with forgiveness because the offense for an insecure person is always in an exaggerated form!

Surely he will never be shaken;
The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance.
7 He will not be afraid of evil tidings;
His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
8 His heart is established;
He will not be afraid,
Until he sees his desire upon his enemies.

9 He has dispersed abroad,
He has given to the poor;
His righteousness endures forever;
His horn will be exalted with honor. Psalm 112:6-9

Secure people are not afraid of man’s response or lack of response to them.  They can live life without fear, so as a result they can judge a situation with greater clarity and fairness.  They don’t use backbiting and gossip to defend their position but stay discreet in handling their differences with others. They are also less prone to reacting to a situation and don’t cause strife and insecurity in someone else’s heart. That allows a secure people to represent the Lord well on the earth, for they don’t perceive every problem as a personal attack against them!!

Do you consider yourself a secure person? If not, who/what pushes your buttons? Allow the Lord to show you and confront those issues!

 

 

The Peril of Insecurity(Part I)

What is insecurity? The Webster’s dictionary defines it as follows:

1: not confident or sure, uncertain,

2: not adequately guarded or sustained: unsafe,

3: not firmly fastened or fixed: shaky

4 a: not highly stable or well-adjusted b: deficient in assurance: beset by fear and anxiety

The World System is designed to push insecurity buttons

We live in a world of sin and darkness which has much uncertainty associated with it. As human beings, it is natural to be insecure. A child cries for the safety of Mom or Dad, school age children get anxious leaving their parents to go to school. Teenagers feel anxiety in fear of not fitting in.

When we become adults, insecurities still haunt us in a variety of ways. People may be insecure about their weight, lack of education, status in life, what car they own, what is their zip code. Hollywood, through movies, music, and commercials plays into those insecurities by urging people to dress a certain way, use a specific make up, have a certain car, drink popular drinks, so they can be accepted, admired and look successful.

Each person to some degree wonders what others think of them, and they prefer to be seen better than they really feel inside!! That is being human living a natural life. However, when we come to Salvation, the Lord starts creating a solid foundation of truth in our lives to create stability, assurance, and security in our hearts. For some of us it is a harder and a longer process than others. If you’ve had safe and loving parents some security was already established by them, so now you can continue to build with God’s truth. For others who have come from unsafe, unavailable, abusive, alcoholic, controlling, or a manipulative environment, there is much tearing down that needs to happen before a solid foundation is established.

There are common characteristics to an  insecure person

 Some of the symptoms of insecurity are: fear, anxiety, or excessive focus on what others think of us, being interested in other people’s business, not wanting to miss out on anything others are doing, being performance driven, excessive spending to keep up with others, bragging, needing to be in certain circles, feeling easily threatened by others,  and so on.

If you notice many of the above symptoms are related to someone or some other people. Because one is not secure, they either have to attach themselves to someone who looks secure, or try to compete with others to feel better about themselves! When one is unsure of themselves, they have to define themselves in relation to someone else. Insecurity is caused by attaching ourselves to the wrong thing!!

The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree,
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.
13 Those who are planted in the house of the Lord
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
14 They shall still bear fruit in old age;
They shall be fresh and flourishing,
15 To declare that the Lord is upright;
He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him. Psalm 92:12-15

The Lord comes to rescue us from this bondage. No man has the capacity to define us, love us, and understand us like the Lord does. He is the only one who has designed us and knows us better than we know ourselves.  The weaknesses that are frustrating to us and wished weren’t there, the Lord knows why they’re there and how he is going to shape them for something useful in His kingdom.

As we stay in the right relationship with the Lord and obey what He asks us, we become like big trees such as a palm tree or a cedar where our roots grow deep in God. He becomes our rock. We’re not shaken by every opinion or wind of doctrine that comes along our way. Because we are well established, we produce fruit and our lives flourish in Him. The Lord is our solid rock and foundation. If we are going to live secure lives, no other person or thing should have that place in our lives!!

Examine your heart, and see what gives you security in life?

 Are you more secure in some relationships than others? Why is that? What are you going to do about it?