Trusting in God

"Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census of the people of Israel."  -1 Chronicles 21:1

In the Old Testament, David instructed Joab, the commander of the army, to take a census.  This may not ordinarily have been a noteworthy event, except for the fact that David suffered enormous consequences by taking this census.  God gave David a choice of three punishments: three years of famine throughout, three months of fleeing from his enemies, or three days of severe plague.  (2 Sam 24:12) (Ouch!)

Whether or not it was Satan or God who influenced David (the scriptures say it was both), David sinned by counting the people.  In Moses' time, God gave instructions that if a census were to be taken, an offering had to be collected.

"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Whenever you take a census of the people of Israel, each man who is counted must pay a ransom for himself to the Lord. Then no plague will strike the people as you count them. Each person who is counted must give a small piece of silver as a sacred offering to the Lord. (This payment is half a shekel,  based on the sanctuary shekel, which equals twenty gerahs.)'"  -Exodus 30:11-13

But it was David's and the people's disobedience that caused the plague.  He was trusting in numbers instead of in God.

It's great to have a budget, a schedule, or a way to organize or count what we're doing.  But when these types of details supersede our faith and trust in God, they can overshadow our very purpose in life, causing us to trust in our resources, instead of in Him.

Do you place your trust in God, even in the small things?  God knows what we need.  Allow Him to take any area you may struggle in and give it all to Him.  He knows the answer to everything we need.

Dumbing Down Sin

"When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God." -Galatians 5:19-21
 
We live in a dangerous world today. And I'm not just talking about the dangers of drunk driving, murderers, terrorists, or drugs. It has to do with the way we see our humanity.

As our humanity runs the show more and more, more of us try to make our particular brand of sin socially acceptable. When this happens, everything becomes muddied and grey - there is no such thing as black and white morality. But the fact of the matter is, there is a right and wrong. There is a plumb line of morality that exists, that would make our world better if we could all learn to embrace it.

The problem with this as we go on is that we see no need for salvation. We think we are good on our own, (even if we don't feel that way all of the time), and so we go on in life, defensive if anyone calls attention to our sin and cites it as a problem. We may even go to extremes to get the government to agree with us. But in reality, it is a huge problem. Proverbs says, "Whoever stubbornly refuses to accept criticism will suddenly be destroyed beyond recovery." -Proverbs 29:1

When Abraham put Isaac on the altar, it was a prophetic sign of things to come, for Jesus especially, but also for us. You see, when we put what may be dear or close to us on the altar, God can use that greatly. The fact that Abraham put his own flesh on the altar is testament that we, too, need to put our flesh on the altar - we are "crucified with Christ, so it is no longer I that lives, but He that lives in me." (Gal 2:20) The very fact that we need to put things on the altar is what allows us to step into God's kingdom!

Are you willing to put anything in your life that is not of God on the altar today?

Open Doors

 

"If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." -Gen 4:7

 

Once my dad left home from a trip, only to find a surprise waiting for him in his house upon his return. A cat had found its way into the house through the old pet door that wasn't properly sealed. The cat went upstairs, and took his bed for a litter box. Eww!!! It took us several days to find that cat, but we finally did!

Although it's rather uncomfortable and disconcerting to find a "present" such as this upon your return home, it left us with a good spiritual analogy. As we're moving forward, living our lives, we may not know what doors we might have open to the enemy, through intentional or unintentional sin. Of course the cat is still God's creature in this situation, but the analogy here is quite stark. The animal was an intruder; he was not supposed to be there, caused something of a havoc, and took some time to find.

Are there things that you know of that could be causing an open door to allow the enemy access into your life? We all need to examine ourselves from time to time to make sure we do not allow him in. Are we praying enough? Getting enough rest? Taking care of our physical bodies? Treating others with love and respect? Are we compromising in any area we shouldn't? These types of questions can help us discover any doors that may be open in our lives, so that the enemy cannot come in and wreck havoc.

Are there any doors that might be open in your life? If you're not sure, ask God to reveal them to you. Often our greatest enemy is one we do not know. Awareness is half the battle.

Bumper People

"Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective." -James 5:16

What is a "bumper person"? Ford Taylor, in his Transformational Leadership training describes a "bumper person" as someone we trust who can bump us back into place when we start getting out of alignment with God's call on our lives.
 
There are many great people who started out running their race well, but fell out of favor with God due to the enemy's deception in their lives. When we get into things we feel ashamed of, the last thing we want to tell someone - we think they might judge us.
 
But, when any sin is brought into the light, it loses its power. Therefore we need to develop relationships with people we can trust so we won't be caught in anything outside of God's plan. If you are a leader, often it is even more difficult to do this - it is lonely at the top. But, the reality is, we can't do this life on our own, no matter who we are.
 
What are some good qualifiers for bumper people?

1. Friends that are trustworthy
2. People that you trust enough to tell them when you are moving away from God's design, or give them permission to speak into your life

"The righteous chose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray." -Proverbs 12:26
 
I have about 4-5 close friends who I consider to be my bumper people. They can help set you straight when life gets tough! No one has 360 degree vision, so we need different perspectives to see a situation more clearly.
 

Do you have bumper people in your life? If you don't, pray that God would send people into your life who could be that for you, and you for them.


Clear Eyes, Pure Hearts, Can't Lose

"But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." -Matthew 6:15
 
Sometimes life can make us upset. Sometimes people do things that just aren't right - even people who should know better! Or people may unknowingly do things that frustrate or hurt us, without even realizing it. Still, we have to "guard our hearts" in order not to let these "bitter roots" or feelings resulting from these things contaminate our faith and keep us from God's grace. 

"Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many." -Hebrews 12:15
 
It's difficult to let things go when we feel we have a right to be upset. Betrayal by someone close to us is especially hard to overcome. But, anything that anyone does to us doesn't give us the right to any offense, or give us an excuse to lash out - pushing us into our sinful nature. 

"When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God." -Galatians 5:19-21 
 
Are you keeping your heart pure and protected? When people do bad things, are you able to respond with grace and forgiveness? Don't let your soul be pushed into spiritual danger due to someone else's wrongdoing or sin.

Uproot the Root!

 

Source

"And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.'" -Exodus 34:6-7

Have you ever had a problem that you simply could not get rid of?  Have you ever had something, whether an emotion, a habit, or a particular thought pattern, no matter how hard you tried, you could rid yourself of it - even after confession and repentance? After we become a Christian and we are “born again” this doesn’t mean that our battle with sin is over.  It simply means that we have become “new in Christ.”  (2 Cor 5:17)  Freedom from sin is a journey, as God reveals what is hidden in our hearts, bringing them to light and into His cleaning power.  (1 John 1:7)

Sometimes we may struggle with something that we've "always" seemed to struggle with. This problem may have had an origin long ago – even before we were born.  We may notice that those in our family struggle with similar issues, or perhaps we never even noticed it was a sin before we became a Christian. But as we walk on our journey, and the Holy Spirit begins to reveal certain things to us that were once okay and are now not as okay anymore, we may realize that something has a hold on our life that shouldn’t.

Once I heard a man speak to a church group about his struggles with sexual sin.  He explained to the audience that infidelity and sexual thoughts were something that he had always struggled with, and he had never known life without these issues.  He kept on going through “sin management”, where he confessed and repented for his actions but would see the same issue rear its ugly head 6 to 8 weeks later.

Eventually, this man received a revelation from the Holy Spirit through reading the scripture that “confession” means to “discover the root” and repent of the root in order to get free.  Since he had no recollection of when the issue began, he realized he was not the one who opened this door to sin initially. Only when he confessed the “genesis” of these issues, where they began from his father and grandfather, was he able to become truly free of their influence.

Are there any issues in your life that you struggle with continuously?  Pray and ask God to show you where they may have their root.  He is faithful to forgive and cleanse us so we can have complete freedom in Him!

"In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace."  -Ephesians 1:7

Pure Vessels

"And you know that Jesus came to take away our sins, and there is no sin in Him." -1 John 3:5

Are you a pure vessel? Being committed to be a Christian involves a continual process of sanctification, and even more so if you are a teacher of God's word.  (John 17:19, James 3:1)  Although Jesus has paid the price for our sins, and we continually receive His forgiveness, there are still things He will require of us so that we become complete and more like Him.  (James 1:4)  This most often has to do with issues of our hearts. "Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life."  -Proverbs 4:23

Recently my husband and I went to a marriage conference and one of the sessions was about transparency.  The couple that was speaking talked about their journey of sanctification, which involved the man getting free from issues of adultery.   This of course caused a lot of strife in their marriage, and even though the man had repented to his wife for those things that had happened long ago, he found himself in "sin management", trying to manage the effects that this spiritual root of sin had on him.

This couple had been invited by a pastor to minister to a group of people at a leadership conference, but before they arrived, they had had an argument.  The man felt convicted that they should not minister to this group of people due to the fact that there was strife in their hearts.  As the pastor introduced him, he told him that they were not prepared to minister, and that their hearts were not pure.  The crowd went completely silent.  After a few moments the pastor held the microphone and repented for times when he and his wife ministered with strife in their hearts.  Ninety percent of the crowd got on their knees to repent and the Holy Spirit ministered to the large crowd for more than an hour.  It was very powerful!

As this couple described what had happened, the woman said that when we minister the truth of the gospel but have strife in our hearts, people can receive a double message:  one of God's truth, but then also of whatever unresolved sin is dwelling in our hearts. 

Are you a pure vessel?  Do you make repentance a regular practice in your life?   Pray that God will reveal and remove anything that may block His grace, light, and power in your life.  His word says, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." -1 John 1:9