God is big enough. He can handle it. We don't need to lie to him about our problems. He already knows them. He is not shocked or upset because of our failures or struggles. He doesn't look down in dismay when we tell him about the sins that we just can't seem to get out of our lives. Even though we hide them from everyone in the world, God knows and understands the problems even better than we do ourselves. These is no deep, dark secret that he doesn't already know.
God is strong enough. He doesn't love us only when we keep his commandments. He is there to save us because he knows we can't fight such huge opponents on our own. The very thing that we believe is coming between us and God is the thing that He is ready to destroy for us. There is no sin that he cannot remove from our lives. Sometimes we ask him to take it away, but we keep reaching out and taking it back.
How do we overcome a problem that we know God wants out of our lives, but that seems to be un-fightable?
First we have to trust that God CAN remove it. Begin with a moment in time where we approach God in prayer and say, "Lord, I admit that there is this sinful part of my life and I ask you to forgive me for participating in it."
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleans us from all unrighteousness."
1 John 1:9
At this immediate moment that sin is forgiven. God promises it. Do we immediately loose our desire to do it again? Not always. Especially if we have accepted it into our lives many times. We must continue to go to fight, but not the way we did in the past. Every time the battle comes back, we must not gather our strength to overcome it, but immediately take it to our champion of spiritual battles and turn it over to him. Jesus fought temptation with prayer and scripture. That is our way as well. Victory over sinful things is a definite thing when God is doing the fighting on our behalf. " Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:11-12
The most important struggle against sin takes place in our hearts and minds. Allowing ourselves to fantasize about sinning is the best way to return to sin and give in to temptation. Once we have agreed with God that this must be removed from our lives, the enemy returns to the spiritual battle of temptation. We fight it with immediate prayer and a call to our God to take up the battle in our minds. Don't wait to pray. Do it immediately when temptation strikes. Step aside, close your eyes and say, "God the temptation is here, the battle is yours and I trust you right now."
We must also make changes in our lives to keep that sin from approaching us. If we have struggle with abusing substances, we must remove them from our houses and ask others to keep us away from them. If we struggle with a relationship that is inappropriate, we must remove those people from our interaction and stop allowing ourselves to "enjoy" the sin in our minds. If we have issues with inappropriate internet pictures and temptations, we must move our computers and only use them in public areas with others in the room.
God alone defeats sin. We fight it successfully only with His strength. We also fight it with trusted believers who are also calling on God's power in our behalf. Stop trying to fight on your own. Ask God to take over and destroy your enemy of sin. It will be a constant battle, but will get easier as we develop the response of going to God immediately on a regular basis.
When Jesus prayed to God the Father, he said, "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil" He knew that constant spiritual war raging in the hearts and minds of those on earth and that the power of God can subdue it. Pray and Surrender to God's Power. You will be overjoyed at the change in your life.
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Monday, December 1, 2014
Nanny 911 and the Children of God
So many times, I have learned about God in a new way by observing the lives of children in relation to their parents. James Dobson related a story of taking his child to get their booster shots and how the child begged him to be removed from the painful situation, but as a father he knew it needed to be done. Recently, one of my daughters related her viewing of the show "Nanny 911" where parents bring in a child behavior specialist (the nanny) to help "fix" a bad family situation. She said the Nanny usually gave the parents advice on how to set rules and boundaries for their children to help them grow into responsible adults. My daughter pointed out to us her understanding of the things her mother and I had done to give her guidance and that she now can see a little clearer the reasons.
I find myself more and more relating to the children in these stories and even more relating to my daughter's experience of coming to an understanding of the reasons that God takes us through painful times. I have often spoken to people who acknowledge God and like an infant, they stubbornly remain angry with God for something they had to go through or are going through now. The younger you are, the less you see that your life is continually molding you and strengthening you. If you always avoid the pain, you do not see the benefits of God's path. You do not develop the quality of trust in God which brings peace to your life. You do not develop the coping strategies or the ability to see and avoid future trouble. You are stuck in fear with no guidance out the other side.
God have given us simple ways to go through troubled times, but sometimes we do not believe it can be that simple. Or sometimes we refuse to let go of our own plans and turn every moment and every pain and every fear over to God. Trusting God is NOT logical in the setting of our life. But at some point you will face something that defies the ability to reason your way out. You will be stuck and at that point, you must ask God to do something supernatural. You must ask him to take control of everything, but most importantly to take control of YOU. You must cry out to God and ask him to step into the situation whether it is logical or not and just be God. If he wasn't someone who could do that, then He is not who he promises to be and not the one to whom I have trusted my life and soul to.
There have been times in my life, many that most people do not know about, but times when I have bowed down to the floor, or I have raised my hands in the air and verbally asked God to take over and bring all those involved into his presence where evil and confusion can not exist. I have asked him to control the spiritual realm around me which is where most of our pain begins.
"12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Ephesians 6:12
We struggle with things we do not understand, but we must ask God to struggle with them, because He does understand them and overpowers them easily. We must ask him to do so continually. He is God and we are not. In our submission He takes over and becomes our strength and it is a wonderful thing to experience. The confusion in your life subsides. The temptations that run rampant become less and less visible to your eyes which are filled with the blinding light of God's peace. We start to learn that things are a lot easier when we do not act as children do and try to take control of that which we are not yet ready to handle. If we are going to be God's children, then let's run to him crying with our hurts and fears. Let's trust that he truly has the answers and the ability to fight off the things in this world that scare us. Then the boundaries and rules God has outlined for us become a guiding rope along the path of peace.
I find myself more and more relating to the children in these stories and even more relating to my daughter's experience of coming to an understanding of the reasons that God takes us through painful times. I have often spoken to people who acknowledge God and like an infant, they stubbornly remain angry with God for something they had to go through or are going through now. The younger you are, the less you see that your life is continually molding you and strengthening you. If you always avoid the pain, you do not see the benefits of God's path. You do not develop the quality of trust in God which brings peace to your life. You do not develop the coping strategies or the ability to see and avoid future trouble. You are stuck in fear with no guidance out the other side.
God have given us simple ways to go through troubled times, but sometimes we do not believe it can be that simple. Or sometimes we refuse to let go of our own plans and turn every moment and every pain and every fear over to God. Trusting God is NOT logical in the setting of our life. But at some point you will face something that defies the ability to reason your way out. You will be stuck and at that point, you must ask God to do something supernatural. You must ask him to take control of everything, but most importantly to take control of YOU. You must cry out to God and ask him to step into the situation whether it is logical or not and just be God. If he wasn't someone who could do that, then He is not who he promises to be and not the one to whom I have trusted my life and soul to.
There have been times in my life, many that most people do not know about, but times when I have bowed down to the floor, or I have raised my hands in the air and verbally asked God to take over and bring all those involved into his presence where evil and confusion can not exist. I have asked him to control the spiritual realm around me which is where most of our pain begins.
"12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Ephesians 6:12
We struggle with things we do not understand, but we must ask God to struggle with them, because He does understand them and overpowers them easily. We must ask him to do so continually. He is God and we are not. In our submission He takes over and becomes our strength and it is a wonderful thing to experience. The confusion in your life subsides. The temptations that run rampant become less and less visible to your eyes which are filled with the blinding light of God's peace. We start to learn that things are a lot easier when we do not act as children do and try to take control of that which we are not yet ready to handle. If we are going to be God's children, then let's run to him crying with our hurts and fears. Let's trust that he truly has the answers and the ability to fight off the things in this world that scare us. Then the boundaries and rules God has outlined for us become a guiding rope along the path of peace.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
