Month: February 2016

With yesterday being Valentine’s Day, I thought I would write a blog on love. It’s important for us to have love in our lives. Jesus said in Corinthians 13:13 “The three most important things to have are faith, hope and love. But the greatest of them is love.” Yes we have love for people (our spouse, our parents, our kids, our friends, even our hobbies or TV) but do we make time to love our Father? On a daily basis do we spend time with him? Do we talk to him and then sit quietly and allow him to talk to us? The question is – do we love God enough?

1 John 2:

[15] Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
[16] For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
[17] And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (KJV)

So again… Do we love God enough?

The author, John, tells us that if we love the world, then the love of the Father is not in us. How can we tell who we love more – the world or our Father?

Are we holding onto hatred in our hearts? Are we angry because a person at the Company for a year, got the position we felt we deserved?

Are we doing, saying, thinking or acting in a way that we wouldn’t be if Jesus was standing right beside us? (Note: He always is!)

Do we sit in Church and act righteous and then go out the door and become a totally different person?

If we are searching for something to fulfill a lust or make us happy or want to find something that we can be proud of, then we are walking in the world.

Lust of the flesh is always searching for something to fulfill our needs. For example, gratification with other women or men, pornography. alcohol, drugs, gambling or money and the likes.

Lust of the eyes is always searching for something that puts us in a place of high esteem. We have the need to find something that make us feel superior in some way. We are conceited of how great our body is, how much smarter we are than others, our position in our job or in the community, of the clothes we wear or how great our house is, how much money we have, anything that makes others “wish they were me!”.

We begin to have faith in ourselves, rather than putting the outcome of our lives in Gods hands. We feel we deserve more and if God won’t give it to us, then we will find a way by ourselves to make it happen.

The pride of life comes in right after the lust. We strive to be the best at many things. We have the best job, the best car, the perfect family. We’ve bragged that we “got ahead” by ourselves, we brag about how “I” had the willpower to stop drinking or gambling and now the pride really sets in. We want everyone else to know just how great we are.

John, goes on to say that even though we may have built wonderful lives for ourselves, full of great “things” we have also built a life full of pride. One day Jesus will return and this world as we know it will all pass away. The people who have lived for the world will lose everything in the end, including their salvation.

We cannot serve two gods! God has allowed us the free-will to choose which way we want to live…with Him or without.

So we ask, can Christians have and enjoy good things in our lives? Yes we can and we do. But we must remember that they are blessings from God.

Jesus was tempted by Satan and we will be also. Will we ever be tempted enough to lose ourselves to lusts of the flesh and eyes and the pride of life? Yes most definitely! We were born into sin and so we can be tempted and possibly succumb to those ways, if we aren’t careful.

What can we do in a situation where we are losing ourselves to lust and pride? We can go to our Father, in the name of Jesus, as soon as possible, as soon as we feel ourselves drifting away or when we have failed. Ask for forgiveness, the forgiveness that only He can give us. Be cleansed, start fresh, in a way that pleases our Father.

We must be very careful that we do not spend more time on worldly things than with the Lord. Keep the Father first and foremost in everything. Enjoy the gifts God gives to us, but don’t lust after them and don’t become prideful in them.

On a daily basis we need to cover ourselves with the armour of God and ask Jesus to deliver us from the temptations of the world and keep us strong in Him.

It is extremely important to keep a good balance between God and worldly things. Our eternity depends on it!

Almighty God

You Lord are the one and only true God and I am blessed to know you and to live for you.

Father, sometimes in this life, I am so taken in with these other activities that I inadvertently put you on a back burner. I don’t even realize it most of the time. Please help me Lord.

The lusts of this world are becoming stronger every day. There is TV, Internet, movies, games, etc. There are friends, coffee dates, work, house keeping, and so many other activities that take me away from you on a daily basis.

Every day I plan to include you but when I wake up my “life” immediately starts. The phone rings and I am drawn into the day. My time with you has passed. I promise myself (there I am leaving you out of the situation) that I will spend time with you in the day or tonight. Then tonight arrives and I am so tired, I say a quick prayer while falling to sleep.

Most days, I don’t even realize that by allowing myself to be ruled by the day or by “fun” times, or chores and activities that I am leaving no room for you Lord.

One day these “time hogs” will pass away? Where does that leave me Father? Your Word says that I will pass away with them.

However there is a thing called balance. If I can set up a good balance of my time with you and the worldly things, then when I pass away, I will be delivered to you Lord.

Father I pray against the activities that are used to draw me away from you. I pray that my eyes are opened and I see that these lusts are the work of the enemy.

Now that I am aware of the enemies tricks, I pray that I am no longer going to be drawn into them.

Lord, from now on, I will find the balance. I will make sure to talk and spend some time with you each day and I will still have plenty of time to do the other things as well.

Thank you Father that you opened my eyes. May I always have a good balance in life. Hallelujah.

In Jesus’ name I pray.

Amen

Matthew 12: 36-37

[36] But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.
[37] For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. (KJV)

Psalm 34:13

[13] Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. (KJV)

Proverbs 18:20-21

[20] A man’s belly shall be satisfied with the fruit of his mouth; and with the increase of his lips shall he be filled.
[21] Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. (KJV)

James 1:26

[26] If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain. KJV)

Everyone has heard that our words have meaning. People usually say something like “watch what you say” or “be careful, you may get what you ask for and it may not be what you really want.” There are many other friendly cautions like these. The Bible however teaches us to watch our words because it could be a matter of life and death if we don’t.

In Matthew 12 we are warned that the words we speak are the words that we will be judged by. Our words will either bring us life (heaven) or death (hell). If we have love in our hearts then our words should be reflecting that. If we are continually speaking unkind words then we are showing what our true nature is.

Psalm 34 also warns us to watch what we say. What we have in our hearts usually comes out of the mouth. If we are speaking unkind or hateful words then it shows that our hearts are not clean.

Proverbs 18 Jesus told us we would be known by our fruit. If words are our fruit then the words out of our mouth are very important. Good fruit (kind words) bring us eternal life and bad fruit (unkind words) could bring us an eternity of death.

James 1 speaks of being religious. If we think we are in a relationship with God and yet the words out of our mouths are not life giving then we are fooling ourselves. We need to bridle our tongues. We need to pray about everything before we say anything.

If we cannot stop saying wrong or hurtful things then we should not even try to set any kind of good example because the fruit that we are showing to others are giving us away. People will see that we are not of God. In a case like this it is best to go before God, in the name of Jesus, confess our sin and ask for his help. He loves us and wants to help.

While meditating on these verses, I asked God why anyone would do or say something that we knew was wrong. Why would we put our eternity in jeopardy? His answer: because it gives us a moment of pleasure.  Making a quick joke at another’s expense is wrong (especially if done on a continual basis) or behind their back (done with malice). Gossiping, criticizing, judging, condemning, lying, and the list goes on, can bring eternal death.

Anything that makes us immediately uncomfortable where we think “oh I shouldn’t have said or done that” needs to confessed. Be cautioned: sometimes the habit of wrongful words is so ingrained in us that we may not even be aware. We need to ask God, to allow us to feel the conviction that the Holy Spirit gives us and then we need to make a conscious effort to start watching for them.

Our words curse the receiver and ourselves. Any time we make jokes or spread gossip or do/say anything like that, at someone’s expense, it’s wrong. The word “expense” tells us it has cost someone something. We must be very careful with our words because in cases like these, both the sender and the receiver will have to pay.

Heavenly Father

These verses are very sobering. I now understand that my spoken words show who I truly am. If I’m living in a way that people can see that I am your child and then I spew something ungodly out of my mouth, everything has been lost. Everyone will see the “real me” as I will be showing what is really in my heart.

Sometimes Lord a wrong thought will pop into my mind and before I know it, I’ve said it out loud. That is either lack of listening to the Holy Spirit advising me to keep quiet or I am going against his warning, even though I know it’s wrong. Either way causes me to fall to the enemy’s level.

Forgive me Father for the numerous times I have used wrong or hurtful words. Help me to stay strong in all situations. Help me to listen and obey that still, small voice of the Holy Spirit.

I ask that you would forgive me Father, in the name of Jesus, for the uncountable times that I have used my words in a joking or a hateful way. I’m sorry that the words out of my mouth, said in a quick unthoughtful manner hurt someone and for that I am truly sorry.

Oh Father, I pray that my words and actions may always please you. May I always think before I speak. I want to follow the Holy Spirits guiding. I want to bless others with my words, not curse them.

Thank you that as I follow you, I am learning how to be strong, learning how to watch my thoughts, words and actions. Thank you Father for helping me to stand steady in my faith and that the Holy Spirit will correct me when I start to stray off the path, that leads to you.

Father it’s my desire to live for you, to honour you and to live a true life showing others how wonderful it is when I am standing close to you and that you are working in me.

On my day of judgement may I be found to have lived a good life, in you, one deserving of spending eternity with you.

In the precious name of your Son, Jesus, I pray

Amen