Blessed If I Do, Cursed If I Don't

     God has broken the power of sin off my life, He has set me free. Therefore I have no excuse for continuing to sin anymore.  When a child is ignorant of something wrong the punishment is light but when a child has been taught right and still does wrong the punishment is much more severe.  To spoil a child means to let them get away with everything, to have whatever they want, but in doing so they rot inside.  Parents who really love their children discipline them so they learn right from wrong.   Likewise God our Heavenly Father will no longer let us get away with sin.  

     God is merciful to sinners drawing them to salvation despite their sin for it is done in ignorance.  When a sinner now becomes a saint a conviction of what is right and wrong follows, and if sin is still practiced justice demands severe punishment.  

     

     When I was in the the world the wrong I did took very little thought now that I am saved I know better and I actually must go against my conscious to do it.  When I do wrong my consciousness now eats me alive.  I can no longer enjoy sin.  I feel this horrible guilt inside, I fear my sin being exposed, and the shame that follows.   The peace I have in Christ is gone, and my world literally falls apart.

     

     The children of Israel wanted to return to Egypt because they got tired of God’s punishment, they wanted to freely sin and get away with it.  They would rather be slaves to sin that deal with the process of being free of it. Once I allow God into my life He will never let me go.  I can never enjoy sin and get away with it again.  

      

      The punishment for sin as a saint seems much more severe than a sinner but really it cannot compare with Hell.  I should rejoice in my suffering for it is producing righteousness.  Just like the children of Israel we are in a process, the wilderness experience, where God is renewing our minds and transforming our hearts so that we can enter into our Promised Land, our ultimate calling where we rule with Him, driving out evil forces in this world until the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of God.

Challenge:  Let's examine the areas of sin in our life and repent for the excuses we have made for continuing in them and believe God for complete deliverance and therefore greater freedom.

Biblical Reference:  Romans 6:6-11, John 15:22, Hebrews 12:5-12, Matthew 9:13, 1 Timothy 1:16, Jeremiah 30:15, Psalm 32:5, Psalm 19:13, Isaiah 49:13, 

Holy Rest

As Ecclesiastes says there is a time for everything. I have recently gone through a busy time filled with many challenges, in which I had a difficulty balancing everything out. It seemed like I had to deal with one challenging situation after the other. Now God has taken me into a time of rest.

Looking back at this difficult season, I see how I have grown in the way I handled these different responsibilities, and I also see where I have room to grow. Having a time of rest is for the purpose of recovery, reflection, and restoration. It may seem like it is non-productive but it actually paves the way for greater grace.

If a land doesn't rest and is overly worked the soil will be no longer fertile. So also our bodies when there is a lack of rest fatigue sets in with sickness and disease following.  God has placed in His word both time for rest to the land and our bodies. Neglect of His word has resulted in the consequences of both natural disasters and wide-spread disease.  It is hard to slow down once the pace has been so fast but it is necessary in order not to fall down.  We need time for healing.  We cannot advance to new challenges if we are still hurting from former ones.

Each season has it's lessons to learn from to prepare for the lesson's to come.  If a student does not take time to study they will not have the knowledge needed to answer the questions on their test.  So also the believer who doesn't take time to reflect on their experiences will not have the wisdom needed to pass the tests to come.  This shortens our growth and we are stuck in the same lesson, repeating the same tests over and over again.

We all need time in our life for reflection.  The bible says to examine our hearts.  Some people are just simply ignorant of their own wrong because they don't take time to examine themselves.  They blindly put themselves in the same situation time and time again. The greatest minds in History who have invented great things have been those who spend much time on reflection.  Wisdom is always available to those who take time to listen for it.

Certain things may be lost in one season from the other.  There are certain negative things that are not to be picked up again, but their are certain positive things that are.  In the busy season I have been in it has been hard to maintain some of the spiritual disciplines I have had in my past.  Reading, writing, praying, etc. have been neglected, because of the responsibilities I faced.

In this new season God is wanting to restore those disciplines in my life.  Through the challenges I faced in the previous season it can actually strengthen those disciplines.  From what I have experienced there are now certain areas I want to have greater understanding in through reading, and with that greater understanding comes better writing.  I also now have more compassion in prayer gained from dealing with difficulties.

The children of Israel had rest every seventh day, seventh year and fiftieth year for Jubilee.  We must know God's timing.  Each individual is at different stages in their walk with God, we must know His leading, there is a season and time for everything.  He has called me to rest, by lessening the load of certain responsibilities, and removing other responsibilities that are no longer necessary.  I simply must follow His leading and not try to hold on to that which He is removing, and not add onto my life things that He is not leading.

Challenge:  Take time to rest to recover, reflect, and be restored.  In doing so you will discover the time and season you are in.

Biblical Reference:  Leviticus 25, Ecclesiastes 3, Hebrews 4, Romans 11:11, Psalm 119:15, 55, Psalm 71:21, Psalm 119:107

Light & Darkness

I cannot believe the things that come out of my mouth or the choices I make sometimes.  I would love if I could take back time.  Many times as it says in the book of Romans I do the things I don't want to do, and don't do the things I want to do.  I hate being so inconsistent.  I can just be so wrong at times and yet so right at other times.  I feel so bad for the people around me especially my wife and kids who have to live with my imperfections.  "Help me Lord" is all I can say!

Thank God for His grace and mercy for somehow He always gets me out of the mess I put myself in.  I am not perfect but I am being perfected.  I have changed, and I trust God that He will continually change me.  For His Word promises that He will complete the work that He has begun.  I will not always be impatient.  I will not always spend money foolishly.  I will not always make selfish decisions that hurt the ones I love.

In Leviticus 24 the Lord commanded Moses to have the people bring pure oil of pressed olives so that the lampstand in the Tabernacle would burn continually.  Now remember everything in the OT was a type and shadow of what we would experience in the NT in Christ.  We are now the lampstand and likewise need God's presence always evident in our life.

He wants to move all our inconsistencies, our sometime-ish ways, until their is no more darkness in our life only light.  Heaven is lighted by the Glory of God.  It is the Sun that brings light, and when the Sun is not present darkness sets in.  So it is with us God's lampstand when the Son is present there is light and when He is not darkness sets in.

For lies to be exposed and darkness removed light has to consistently shine bright.  God wants us to learn how to abide in Him.  How to keep our eyes on Him.  See our eyes are the light to our soul, so what our eyes gaze on will determine what comes forth from our soul.  So for the light switch to remain on my eyes must remain on Him, it turns off when my focus is elsewhere.

World leaders cannot solve the world's problems.  Cracking down on drugs, having stronger borders, better military defense, strikter enforcement of the law, is not enough.  What repels darkness is the light and we are the light of the world.

Challenge:  Examine your surroundings and remove the things in your life that take your focus off of Him.


Biblical Reference:  Leviticus 24:1-4, Genesis 1:4, Psalm 18:28, John 1:5, Eph. 5:8, Romans 2:19, Matt. 6:23, Romans 7:14-25, John 15:4

I have a holy frustration with sin.  There are certain areas of my life I seem to not be free from.  No matter how much I pray and fast and seek God, somethings just don't seem to change.  Why is this Lord?  Doesn't your word say that you are faithful to complete the work that you have begun.

God gives to each grace accordingly and since we are a body only through our connection with each other can we fully grow and develop.   So individually we are limited but corporately in Christ there are no limits.

The Devil therefore wants to isolate us, so our potential in Christ is never reached.  So he works at keeping us divided.  He uses our weaknesses to offend others, causing gossip, judgment, backbiting and the likes.

We are called to encourage, build up, and strengthen each other in the Lord.   We are all in the process of being perfected and God uses each of us despite our flaws to help perfect each one through the gifts and talents He has given.

Fellowship with God alone is not enough we need each other. We need to regularly assemble together if we are going to reach holiness.  God established from the beginning that six days would be for work and the seventh would be a Sabbath day of complete rest, an official day for holy assembly.  In addition to the Sabbath, there are appointed festivals celebrated at their proper times each year for holy assembly.

For Example passover is the first festival each year  to be celebrated where we gather together and celebrate the death and resurrection of Christ.  Sin and death have been defeated and now we can enjoy the resurrected life.  People are to celebrate this event for six days within their family and on the seventh day to gather and celebrate together.

There is also the celebration of pentecost, the day of atonement, the feast of trumpets, and the feast of tabernacles that are for holy assembly.  Each of them have prophetic significance and when celebrated will honor God greatly and produce spiritual growth.  I encourage you to study the significance of each and see how great they can enhance your understanding when followed each year.

Under the name of grace we have cheapened the value of what Christ has done and are not fully enjoying His inheritance.  Yes, we are no longer under the law, we are saved by grace and we are no longer forced to observe the feasts like in the Old Testament.  Yet, when we do so from our own heart a greater grace through the fellowship we have with God and each other is released.

Challenge:  Make it more of a priority to fellowship with other believers.  Go to church regularly.  Study the feasts and plan ahead to celebrate them throughout the year.  A great resource is "the Torah Blessing" by Larry Hugh.

Read - Leviticus 23