Humility Month: Part 2–God is God, and You are Not

 

Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre: Thus says the Lord God:

Your heart has grown proud,
and thus you say, “I am a god;
I sit on a godly throne
in the heart of the seas.”
But in reality you are a man, and not a god,
even though you compare your mind
with that of a god.
Are you as wise as Daniel?
Is no secret hidden from you?
By your wisdom and your intelligence,
you have amassed great wealth for yourself.
You have deposited gold and silver
into your treasuries.
Because of your skill in trading,
your wealth has greatly increased;
and as a result of your riches,
your heart is filled with arrogant pride.

Therefore, thus says the Lord God:

Because you consider your wisdom
to be equal to that of God,
I will bring foreigners against you,
the most barbarous of all the nations.
They will draw their swords
against the beauty of your wisdom
and defile your splendor.
They will hurl you down to the pit,
and you will die a violent death
in the heart of the seas.
Will you then still say, “I am a god,”
when your murderers confront you?
No, you are a man, not a god,
in the hands of those about to slay you.
You will die the death of the uncircumcised
at the hands of foreigners.

I have spoken, declares the Lord God.
(Ezekiel 28:2-10 NCB)

 

As our guest author Karen Pennington noted in part 1 of this series,  “Simply put, pride involves the idolatry of placing ourselves in front of God, in any way, or for any reason.”

In front of God is bad enough. However, in the passage above, the prince of Tyre was making himself EQUAL to God. Definitely a career-limiting move on his part.

The word “pride” in verse five above is accompanied by the word “arrogant. ”  These two words frequently hang out together. It is never a good thing when they do.

Arrogance is a rejection of wisdom. It results from a person elevating incomplete knowledge to a level it does not warrant.

Everyone knows a lot about a few things and a little about many things. A person blinded by arrogance does not make the distinction between knowing a lot and knowing a little.

Pride, then, is arrogance in action. This is when a person professes that their incomplete knowledge is equal or superior to Wisdom and Truth. When left unchecked, this pride can proliferate into a god complex, whereby a person esteems his own intelligence to be unlimited.

This is asking for trouble.

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Only God is God

 

Now it´s not likely that you or I will ever find ourselves ruling a city-state in the Middle East, but pride can creep into the life of anyone in any situation. It rears its head not just when you´re on top, but even when you are at rock bottom. Consider the story of Job.

 

In a single day, Job lost all his children, all his property, and all of his servants. Everything but his wife and his life. Then, to make matters worse, his entire body was covered with painful sores. Yet, he never sacrificed his faith or integrity.

Even so, there´s only so much a man can take, even a righteous man like Job. He goes off on a six-chapter rant, justifying himself and complaining why he doesn’t deserve his circumstances. Then God answers, with seventy-two verses of sarcastic questions, ending with this:

“Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? Or will you yield? Do you—God’s critic—have the answers?” (Job 40:2 TLB)

After a bit more chastening, Job responds:

“You said, ‘Listen and I will speak! Let me put the questions to you! See if you can answer them!’

“But now I say, ‘I had heard about you before, but now I have seen you, and I loathe myself and repent in dust and ashes.’” (Job 42:4-6 TLB)

 

Job exchanged his unintentional pride for intentional humility. As a result, God restored to him double what he had lost, and he lived to a ripe old age to enjoy it.

Strength in Surrender

So as we can see, pride makes us enemies of God, but humility sets things right again. By surrendering our pride, we open up Blessing Blvd. to traffic. God hears our prayers and answers them according to His will.

This is what we need to remember when our circumstances go south. Because they will. In fact, if you take a look at the world around us, they already are.

It is so difficult to look at the chaos of our society and believe that God is in control. But He is. It is WE who aren’t. Because it´s not our job.

For only God is God.

 

 

 

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God Bless America? (Part 2–Fight the Real Enemy)

 

The  most popular post in the history of this blog was Part 8 of the Overcoming the World series, entitled, “The Struggle.” I think the reason that so many people related to this post was simply because we all have the same struggle, that is, remembering that the real enemy is Satan, not the people under his control.

The media has been trying to turn us against each other for years. Social media has driven this divide far deeper.

And the government has only made things worse. The people that side with the political party in power demonize the other side, and vice versa. And the people in power just stoke the anger and hatred instead of trying to put out the fire.

Nevertheless, even the government is not our real enemy, because the government is made of individual people. Peter explained it like this:

Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life in your neighborhood so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.

 Make the Master proud of you by being good citizens. Respect the authorities, whatever their level; they are God’s emissaries for keeping order. It is God’s will that by doing good, you might cure the ignorance of the fools who think you’re a danger to society. Exercise your freedom by serving God, not by breaking the rules. Treat everyone you meet with dignity. Love your spiritual family. Revere God. Respect the government. (1 Peter 2:11-17 MSG)

So, the message here for Truthseekers is that our mission is not to take America back from the radical left. It’s to start taking the individual members of said radical left back from Satan. Remember the second tenet of the Truthseeker Manifesto:

A Truthseeker makes the most of every opportunity to learn and grow, striving to understand other points of view, with the purpose of establishing common ground.

The problem with our discourse in America now is that nobody seeks the common ground. Nobody even seems to believe that there can be such a thing. “How can I possibly reason with someone so stupid as to think that a fetus is not the same thing as a baby?” “Why do I even have to breathe the same air as these domestic terrorists who are a threat to our democracy?”

But if we all just take a breath and look at the situation as it really is, we will see that no matter how polarized our political points of view, we do have common ground. Our common enemy.

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The Real Enemy

Looking back over the years that I have been posting here, it seems I keep coming back to this theme—Fight the real enemy. This is the rule I cling to when the world gets stupid, and I want to break out my beatin’ stick and go to town.

In Reasonable, our study of Romans 12, we observed that people who persecute us are not our real enemies. The biggest reason that Satan doesn’t want us seeking common ground with our earthly adversaries is because if we find it, then we might start doing crazy things like listening to each other, encouraging each other in our common struggles, even (gasp!) praying for each other!

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So, while our real enemy is trying to divide us all into Us and Them,  God is trying to create an Us of every tribe, tongue, and nation. Anyone who responds to the Holy Spirit’s message, and is faithful to obey it, can be one of Us.

This point is absolutely critical, for everyone everywhere, but especially here in America in such a time as this.

Every “Them” is a potential Us. Even though “them” may deny that God even exists, the reality is that “them” were created in His image, the same as Us. This is why God calls us to love our “enemies.” Because “them” are not the real enemy.

At least, until…

The Mark

 

Then a third angel followed them, shouting, “Anyone who worships the beast and his statue or who accepts his mark on the forehead or on the hand must drink the wine of God’s anger. It has been poured full strength into God’s cup of wrath. And they will be tormented with fire and burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and the Lamb. The smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever, and they will have no relief day or night, for they have worshiped the beast and his statue and have accepted the mark of his name.”  (Revelation 14:9-11 NLT)

Nate Bargatze Tickets

There is going to come a day when a great many people will make an irrevocable decision to follow the Antichrist.   They will signify this decision by having the real enemy’s mark (the 666 thing) stamped on their foreheads or their right hand.

Before this day comes, any “them” is a potential Us. But after this day…
Bill Paxton in Aliens saying, "Game over man, game over!"Then, and ONLY then, will these people become a permanent Them. Not until that day will these people become our true enemies. And many Christians believe that we won’t even be around to see that morning.

We have to always remember that the only unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (see Matthew 12:31). Taking the mark of the beast would qualify.

Voting Democrat? Not so much. Marching in a Pride parade? Nope. How about getting an abortion? Believe it or not, even this is forgivable (not without consequences, but still forgivable) in the eyes of God.

So I will say the same thing I say in every election year.   It’s not our job to save America from Them. It may not even be in the stars for God to save America at all.  But it is always God’s plan to build His kingdom.

As such, it should be our primary goal as well.

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Evidence: Part 5–Run the Race

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.  Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.  (Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV)

 

So now, it’s time for the post on perseverance.  Naturally, it has taken me five weeks to write it.  So basically, I’m going to be listing all the things I do wrong.  But I know I’m not alone.

The thing is, life is a marathon, but sometimes, we treat it as if it’s a sprint.  We make to-do lists and cling to them as though we are trying to run the race in one day.

None of us knows, however, exactly how many days we have left on this earth. We don’t know exactly what work we’re supposed to accomplish before we race to the finish line.  We can read (or write) books about finding our calling, and that can be helpful in getting us on the right track.  Don’t forget, though, that we don’t achieve our goals instantaneously.  We need to learn to appreciate the journey.  And every journey proceeds one step at a time.

Therefore, if we fix our eyes on Jesus, and focus on what we’re doing now and what we’re doing next, then we can trust that God will get us where we need to be, and at just the right time.  We will, of course, have obstacles to contend with on the way.

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Distractions

 

The first key to dealing with things that distract you from running your race is to simply be awake and aware of the fact that the distractions are there.  It’s so easy, especially when you do so much of your work on a computer, as I do, to fall down a rat hole on YouTube or Wikipedia or some such.  You don’t even realize it’s happening until two hours have gotten away from you, and you wonder where the day went.  In my family, we have several little slogans that we use to help keep us on track.  Sometimes we actually even follow them!

 

Work first, THEN play!

 

via GIPHY

 

Most of us would rather goof off than work on any given day.  But what typically happens is, at the end of the goof-off session, the tasks remain, and now you have less of the day to get them done.  Plus, you feel guilty about the time you wasted, hours that you will never get back, so you don’t even enjoy the goofing off you were doing.

Instead, push forward and persevere in getting the work done as quickly as possible, so that you can relax guilt-free afterward.

 

If it’s not on the list, it doesn’t exist!

 

I actually started this one when my sons were little and we were broke.  We had a very limited grocery budget, so when I would take them shopping with me, I would tell them, “If it’s not on the list, it doesn’t exist,” in order to ward off any impulse buys on my part and whining on theirs.

Today, this is a mantra that I use (or try to) on my to-do lists.  Especially on days when I work from home, it is so easy to get distracted by things I notice in my house that need doing.  Next thing I know, it’s 2:30, and I haven’t written anything, and I meant to start at 9:00!

I have found that it helps if I focus on the one task that I have to complete.  And then just the next thing after that.  I rarely get it all done, and certainly not in one day, but by the end of the week, I am able to look back and see real progress.  And the following week’s list is smaller!

 

Avoid the fishhooks!

 

This is a reference to James 1:14, which reads, “Rather, each person is being tempted whenever he is being dragged off and enticed by the bait of his own desire.  (CJB)”

Our lives are full of fishhooks.  These are the things that distract us from running our race.  Each person has his or her own problem area, but they all have these things in common:

  1. They are something we enjoy.
  2. They are something we would rather do than what we are supposed to do.
  3. They are something we can see.

Just as a fish is lured by what’s on the fishhook, so we get dragged off of the race track by things that may not seem bad in and of themselves.  After all, fish gotta eat, right?  You’re not going to catch a fish by baiting the hook with something that is not attractive to it.  But what happens to the fish after it is caught? 

Then, having conceived, the desire gives birth to sin; and when sin is fully grown, it gives birth to death.  (James 1:15 CJB)

 

Fishhooks are a big deal.  People try to justify them every day.  “Well, that was a lazy day.”  Or maybe, “Sometimes, you just have to blow off some steam.”  If it happens once in a while, sure.  But it is so easy to slide down into a habit of distraction.  Before you know it, you’ll be baiting your own hooks.  There is only one long-term vaccination against this kind of deterioration.

 

Run the Race with Integrity

 

Yes, if you’ve been around Truth Mission for any significant length of time, you’ve heard this before.  Say what you mean.  Mean what you say.  Do what you say you are going to do.  But most importantly, FINISH WHAT YOU START!

It is easy for well-meaning people, such as myself, to leave a trail of half-finished projects behind them.  It is also easy for such people to beat themselves up over their inability to finish anything.  If allowed to persist, this attitude can give birth to the lie that you are INCAPABLE of getting anything done.  From there, it’s a short detour to, “So why even start?”

Folks, this is a lie.  Call it what it is.  Your life has already started.  It is in the middle of a marathon that began long before you even knew there was a starting gun.  You have gotten things done before.  You can do it again.  But you may have to get hardcore on those fishhooks.

Be kind to your mind.

Be absolutely merciless in removing distractions from your life.  You’re not going to offend the distractions.  Candy Crush or Toon Blast or Peggle or whatever the shiny, colorful game du jour is will not miss you when you leave.  They may send the odd notification, but you can make those go away too.

If you need to install an app on your devices to filter out distractions, don’t wait another day to do that.  I use StayFocusd, but there are many others that can block certain troublesome websites, or at least limit the time you spend on them.

If you’re a cyber-insomniac, enhance your sleep hygiene by setting your computer or phone to shut off when you ought to be going to bed.  Or better yet, a half hour before, to let your brain to wind down.

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Keep your eyes on the prize!

In a race everyone runs, but only one person gets first prize.  So run your race to win.  To win the contest you must deny yourselves many things that would keep you from doing your best.  An athlete goes to all this trouble just to win a blue ribbon or a silver cup, but we do it for a heavenly reward that never disappears.  So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step.  I fight to win.  I’m not just shadow-boxing or playing around.  (1 Corinthians 9:24-26 TLB)

 

The fastest course through the minefield of distractions in your life is a straight line with your goal at the end.  To reach it, you have to keep your goal in view.

Now of course, some distractions are fairly simple to deal with, since we bring them on ourselves.  But what about the ones we don’t?

What do we do when a loved one gets ill?  Or a child goes astray?  Or if we lose a job, a car, a home?

Things happen that are beyond our control, and naturally, we are going to have an intense emotional response to them.  Life is going to throw us curveballs, and we’re not going to be happy about it.  But remember, there is a difference between happiness and joy.

We can endure hardship by keeping our eyes fixed on the finish line, by thanking God that the finish line doesn’t move, even when everything else is in turmoil, and by simply persevering.  One foot in front of the other.  Always facing forward, even if life is knocking us back.

Carry Your Cross.

The verse at the top of this post reminds us to consider Jesus.  He persevered in His ministry, of course, but that last day . . .

Passion of the Christ carrying the cross

You don’t have to be a doctor or an anatomy professor to be able to imagine the incredible pain that Jesus suffered on His last day.  To be beaten within an inch of His life, and THEN to have to carry the heavy, wooden cross to the place where He would be nailed to it.  The root of the word “excruciating” actually comes from the Latin for “cross.”  Harry Potter fans may even recognize that J.K. Rowling used the word “Cruciatus” for the Unforgivable torture curse.  Same word.

So I consider the agony that Jesus endured, but I also consider that He finished His race.  He was able to finish, because He knew what would come after.

Guess what Truthseekers?  We have the same “after” in store for us, only we don’t have to be tortured and nailed to a cross to get it.  When I reflect upon my first-world problems, I sometimes ask myself, “Does this hurt more or less than a crucifixion?”  (My kids HATE it when I ask them that, by the way.)

There are people in the world who are persecuted for real.  They are in fear for their lives every hour of every day for standing up for their faith.  The worst we typically get here in the US is smack talk at work or some fool in the comment section trying to pass his silly self off as an intellectual.

In other words, we can handle this.  There will be days where it will feel like we can’t, but our great God has promised to be strong where we are weak.  So don’t overthink your life.  Look at what’s directly in front of you, and look at what you have in your hand.  And trust that it is enough.

Then move.  One step.  Don’t worry about the next step until you have taken the first one.  Planning is all well and good, but make sure you do it in pencil.  Just stay on the track.

And keep running.  Your perseverance will be the evidence that you know where your finish line is.

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Do Unto Others: Part 6–Courageous

So be strong and courageous!  Do not be afraid and do not panic before them.  For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you.  He will neither fail you nor abandon you.  Deuteronomy 31:6 (NLT)

 

The world can be a scary place, no matter what stage of life you’re in.  We’re all afraid of different things, and we all have our own ways of dealing with that fear.

 

One thing we all have in common, though, is a need for courage.  Courage is the character trait that allows us to take on things that are bigger than we are.  It comes from knowing that we have access to a power that is stronger than whatever it is we are facing.  For this reason, the key to being courageous is making sure that we know and rely upon that power.

Wicky Dog

It all comes down to trust.  It is one thing to believe that God can fight the battles that are beyond our strength.  But do you trust that He will?  Do you trust Him enough to keep moving forward even when it seems like a risky thing to do?

 

The answer to that question depends on the answer to this one.  Do you believe that God wants you to succeed?  I’m not talking about the Joel Osteen “I’m-believing-God-for-a-new-Mercedes” kind of success.  I mean do you really believe that God DOESN’T want you to fail at life?  Do you believe that He knows what’s best for you and has a plan to help you stay on track for that?

 

If you do, then you have either learned or are in the process of learning that obedience is the quickest path to success.  This means that you pray about major decisions, and even the minor ones.  Now I don’t know that it’s necessary to ask God if I should order Sprite or Root Beer at the local diner, but I wouldn’t, for example, buy a car without praying for a green light from above.

 

If you have established and cultivated this kind of a relationship with God, then you have also learned that fear and faith can not occupy the same mind at the same time.  So when we say we “lack courage” or that “our courage has failed us,” what we really mean is that we have not been putting our faith to good use.  Here is one way to make sure that doesn’t happen (or at least happens less often).

 

Practice trusting God with the little things.  Ask Him questions about things you could typically handle by yourself and see if He leads you in a different direction.  Maybe start with “Which route should I take to work today?” or “Should I get gas now or wait to fill up later?”  Simple routine stuff that you do all the time that doesn’t really require “divine intervention.”

 

The point of this exercise is not for the Holy Spirit to save you 3 cents a gallon.  It is to form the habit of trusting by essentially turning your life into a big game of follow the leader.  If you trust that God won’t lead you where His grace and power won’t keep you, then you’ll keep following until it becomes second nature.

Takeya USA

Forming courageous habits is particularly important for parents.  Not only do our kids look to us as an example when they’re young, but someday they’ll be grown and won’t look to us for leadership anymore.  We need to do our part to make sure they have courage of their own to lean upon when they run into their own problems.  So what can we do now, those of us that still have kids at home?

 

  1. Remind your kids of God’s faithfulness. Keep track of His answers to your prayers and tell those stories often.
  2. Train your kids to seek out other godly mentors besides you. They will probably always want to come to you first, but you won’t always be around. Your kids need to know that they have some control over feelings of isolation, a control that they can carry into adulthood.
  3. Teach them obedience. The Bible is full of examples of God giving specific instructions, such as in the verse at the top of this post. The Bible is just as full of examples of what can happen when you don’t follow those instructions.  Although obedience requires surrender, there is power in this surrender, because you are setting yourself up to succeed by keeping in step with God’s plan for you.
  4. Practice integrity by saying what you mean, meaning what you say and finishing what you start. Let your yes be yes and your no be no. Trust me on this—if you fail on this one, your kids will pounce on it and use it against you at every opportunity.  The result of that will not win you many spouse points either.

 

Fear happens.  Fear of failure happens a lot.  Please don’t beat yourself up when it happens to you, as though the fear of failure were a failure in itself.  Don’t worry about what other people are going to think of you if you screw up.  Anyone who would think badly of you for making a mistake isn’t somebody you ought to be concerned about impressing anyway.

 

Be strong and courageous.  Follow God even if nobody is following you.  Acknowledge that your hands are sweaty and that you feel sick to your stomach and move forward anyway.  Not everything in life is easy or fun, but with God on your team, ALL things are possible.

 

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Do Unto Others: Part 2–Mercy

If you love only the people who love you, what praise should you get?  Even sinners love the people who love them.  If you do good only to those who do good to you, what praise should you get?  Even sinners do that!  If you lend things to people, always hoping to get something back, what praise should you get?  Even sinners lend to other sinners so that they can get back the same amount!  But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without hoping to get anything back.  Then you will have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High God, because he is kind even to people who are ungrateful and full of sin.  Show mercy, just as your Father shows mercy.  (Luke 6:32-36 NCV)

 

Many people believe in the Golden Rule—Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  Yet, it seems that many folks are waiting to be done unto before they do any doing.

 

In the passage above, Jesus is advocating a totally different strategy—mercy.  Mercy is not concerned with everyone behaving properly or with showing favoritism toward those who do.

 

As Christians, we are called to set ourselves apart by being merciful as our Father is merciful.  So what does that look like?

 

Romans 5:8 says, “…while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Jesus didn’t wait for us to get in line to meet His standard (which is impossible anyway).  He didn’t ask, or even consider, what we could do for Him.  He went first.

 

This is probably the easiest way to define mercy—mercy goes first.  Mercy looks to the needs of others, and sets about meeting them before considering anything else.

 

This doesn’t come naturally to most of us.  In our culture, we’re used to “getting what we paid for.”  If we are going to exchange our money, time or talent, we generally expect to get something in return.  For this reason, it seems natural for us to think about how we’re going to be paid back before we make an investment.

 

The thing is the people who are the most in need of mercy tend to be the ones who CAN’T pay you back.  But they CAN pay your mercy forward.

 

Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you relied on someone else’s mercy, knowing you wouldn’t be able to reciprocate?  You might have felt gratitude at first, but later, the sense of indebtedness might have made you feel guilty.

 

Don’t go there.  There’s a better way.  Instead of focusing on what you can’t do for the person who helped you out, think instead of what you ARE able to do for someone else who is in a more desperate situation than you are.  There’s always someone.

 

Here’s the catch, though.  The person most in need of your mercy might be someone you don’t like.

 

This is where the “love your enemies” bit comes in.  Jesus never asked us to LIKE our enemies.  Remember though that agape love is not a feeling; it is an action.  As such, it is perfectly possible to show mercy toward someone who has been adversarial to us, even if there’s still a part of us that wants to push them down the stairs.

 

But here’s the part we all need to remember.  We were just as adversarial to God when He chased us down.  He continues to bless us, even when we don’t thank Him.  So if we are endeavoring to be “sons of the Most High,” we shouldn’t be standing around waiting for thanks either.  It feels nice to be appreciated, but remember, this is not the goal of mercy.

 

This is mercy–to listen with compassion to the people who annoy you the most in order to learn what their greatest burden is, then to speak only that which will help relieve them of that burden, and if that is not possible, to remain silent and allow God to do His work in them, rather than burden them further with opinions and judgment.

 

And that is what God offers to us all day, every day.  Think about that for a second.  How does it make you feel to know that you don’t ever have to put on a fake face for God to receive His mercy?

 

Now how does it make you feel to know that you have the power to make somebody else feel a little bit of that?  So go do it.  And focus more on the “you’re welcome” than the “thank you.

 

(Come back for Part 3–Respect.)

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The Kids Aren’t All Right: Part 4–Integrity

I am hurt and lonely.  Turn to me, and show me mercy.  Free me from my troubles.  Help me solve my problems.  Look at my trials and troubles.  Forgive me for all the sins I have done.  Look at all the enemies I have.  They hate me and want to hurt me.  Protect me!  Save me from them!  I come to you for protection, so don’t let me be disappointed.  You are good and do what is right.  I trust you to protect me.  (Psalm 25:16-21 ERV)

 

The words of King David ring true for many today, especially teenagers.  It is so easy to feel isolated and alone at that age.  In many cases, these kids actually ARE isolated and alone.  Sometimes it’s in their own heads, and sometimes it’s external, as a result of normal social inclusion/exclusion rites, or worse, as a product of bullying.

 

I notice this especially with girls.  Gossip and rumor-mongering are bad enough, but today’s technological advances have made hateful talk accelerate to light speed.  Couple that with this generation’s reliance upon/addiction to their mobile devices and it becomes nearly impossible to get a positive thought in edgewise between all of the notifications.

 

So what’s a parent to do?

GAMIVO

I believe that it all starts with integrity.  Integrity and uprightness, or honesty, is all we have left when everything else is taken away.  This is true for adults as well as teens.  If we lose everything–our jobs, our loved ones, our material possessions–then what is left behind?

 

Our character.

 

Who we really are behind all the masks, the social constructs, the rumors and the legends.

 

So who are we really?  If you lost everything except your life today, what would you have left to rebuild your life upon?

 

If you are a person of integrity, that is, you say what you mean, mean what you say, do what you say you are going to do and finish what you start, then you have all you need.  Because you are a person that others can trust and rely upon, then trusting people will do you that courtesy.  If these are the kind of kids we want to have, then these are the kind of parents we need to be.

 

So our primary goal is to be the kind of parents whose children look to us as David looked to God in the above passage.  Obviously, we are not perfect like God, but He created us in His image, which means that we have aspects of His character woven into our DNA.

 

When my children are up against it, I want them to know that they can look to me for help.  I want them to know that I will forgive their mistakes and give them room to grow.  They need to know that they have somewhere to turn when it seems like the world is crashing down on them.  I don’t ever want to let them down.  I want them to trust me to take care of them, even when they are older and don’t really need me to do that anymore.

 

But the only way I can be that kind of a father is to remember that I have a Father who does all of these things for me.  And so do my kids.  So it’s not really me I want them to trust, but God.  His integrity is flawless and will go on forever.  If I can point my kids to that, directly or through my own rudimentary example, then I will be giving them what they need to survive and overcome whatever comes their way.

(For the next step in living a life of integrity, come back for Part 5–Awake.)

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Overcoming the World: Part 10–Be Still and Know

God is our protection and our strength.  He always helps in times of trouble.  So we will not be afraid even if the earth shakes, or the mountains fall into the sea.  God says, “Be still and know that I am God.  I will be praised in all the nations;
I will be praised throughout the earth.
  The Lord All-Powerful is with us; the God of Jacob is our defender.  (Psalm 46: 1-2, 10-11 NCV)

(Originally published March 15, 2017.)

Been an interesting few months, hasn’t it?  Our nation is as divided as it has been in a century and a half. This is taking a toll on our families too.  Truth is nowhere to be found in our government, our media or our culture.  This has created an atmosphere of distrust so thick and noxious that even if this country were to somehow raise up a Truthseeker as a leader, who would even believe him or her?

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Good News!

 

God is still God.  It’s hard to find evidence in these troubled times that He is still on His throne.  But where else would He be?  He does not change, no matter what happens down here.  When we say that the world is “out of control,” we mean that it’s out of our control.  It is never out of His.

 

However difficult this truth can be to hold onto when our lives are in turmoil, we must persevere in doing so.  Whenever our way of life is threatened because of what’s going on in the world around us, we have to remember that this way of life was never meant to last anyway.  We are looking forward to life eternal that will not pass away.  For this reason, we fix our eyes and our faith on the things that don’t move.

 

Bad days are going to happen.  Sometimes we will have seasons of life that could last months or years when we don’t feel God’s presence.  We may doubt His goodness, or even His existence.  However, whenever I find myself in such a spiritual funk, I always come back to what Peter said to Jesus in John 6:68, after Jesus asked the Twelve if they were going to desert Him, as many other disciples were doing:

“Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”

 

I couldn’t go back to my old life if I wanted to, and there have been days where I wanted to.  There are days when it just doesn’t seem worth the effort or the sacrifice that it takes to live the Christian life, because I can’t see the reward from here.  When my fear outweighs my faith, I forget what God has already done, throughout history, and in my life personally.  Some days I just want to chuck it all, but then I always find myself face to face with the question, “OK, then what?”

 

One thing that I have done for myself, and that I highly recommend for others, is to keep a journal of some sort listing every answer to prayer, every unexpected blessing, any time you have seen scripture fulfilled, any change in your life that can only be attributed to the power of the Holy Spirit.  Keep this in an easily accessible place.  I have mine as a document on the desktop of my computer.

 

When times get difficult, or if you’re just in a dry season of doubt, open that up and read it.  Satan can’t get a foothold in your mind if you keep your memories fresh of what God has done for you.  Staying in scripture every day is a good weapon, but it can be even more effective to regularly make the personal connection of where you’ve seen God at work in your life and the lives of those close to you.

 

If you do this, expect there to be some gaps in this journal.  It is not likely that you are going to experience a bona fide miracle every day of your life.  This doesn’t mean that God’s ignoring you.  Learning to trust His timing.  A day always comes when things fall neatly into place, and you can look back and see the progress that led to that point.  You very rarely notice that progress while it’s happening, though.  So when it does, put that in your journal with a note of thanksgiving and praise that God was in control of the situation from the very beginning.  Remember, He can see the end of things long before you get there.

 

It is also critical to remember that God doesn’t always ride in and “save us” whenever we think we need saving.  Sometimes, He lets us go through things for reasons that we aren’t aware of yet.  Sometimes we never learn why in this life.  If we have faith that all of our questions will be answered in heaven, that can help our outlook somewhat.  Remember, God doesn’t come around to our way of thinking; therefore, we must do our best to learn His.

 

The only way to conquer fear is to practice faith.  It has to be exercised just like our bodies.  If you are one of the many who has bought a health club membership, but not lost any weight or inches off your midsection, then you already know that your situation might improve if you actually went to the health club.  Owning the membership doesn’t create actual change.  Owning a Bible without reading it has the same effect.  Knowing about the power of prayer without actually praying—ditto.

 

In the same way, we must keep renewing our minds by reminding ourselves constantly that God does not change.  He does not move.  He is with us and He is for us.  And He always will be.

 

Be still, and know that.

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Overcoming the World: Part 9–The Armor of God

 

Therefore, put on the complete armor of God, so that you will be able to [successfully] resist and stand your ground in the evil day [of danger], and having done everything [that the crisis demands], to stand firm [in your place, fully prepared, immovable, victorious].  Ephesians 6:13 (AMP)

 

First and foremost, remember that the devil is a created being.  Though he would much like to tell you that he is equal with God, or even superior to Him, he isn’t.  Nevertheless, being spirit, he is more powerful than we are in our flesh by ourselves.  This is why we need to call on the power of the Lord to defend us.

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In Ephesians 6: 14-17,  Paul uses the imagery of a Roman soldier by telling us to “put on the full armor of God,” meaning that we need to make use of every resource that God makes available to us to win this struggle.  These are the examples that he lists:

 

  1. The Belt of Truth. If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know this is my biggie.  The first four tenets of the Truth Mission Statement lay this out.  Acknowledge Truth, recognize it for what it is, give credit to the Source of Truth, and never stop seeking it.
  2. The Breastplate of Righteousness. True righteousness is a right standing with God that is given by His grace, not earned through our efforts.  Knowledge of this righteousness that is imputed to us helps us to do the right thing and to keep our word, among other things.
  3. Feet fitted with the Gospel of Peace. A good pair of running shoes provides you with stability and speed.  So it is with the Gospel.  It is the foundation upon which you stand to face the enemy, and the Good News you take out into the world to foil his plans.
  4. Shield of Faith. Faith is more than just belief.  Even Satan believes in God; he has seen Him face to face!  It is only when you firmly rely on God and His strength that you are able to deflect the devil’s attacks.
  5. Helmet of Salvation. It’s your head the devil tries to get into.  Cover it with the knowledge that God has already accepted you and has no intention of giving you back.
  6. Sword of the Spirit. This is referring to scripture itself.  Hebrews 4:12 says: “For the word of God is living and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”  This is the double-edged sword that Revelation depicts coming from the mouth of Jesus at the Second Coming, when Satan is defeated forever.  Guess what?  You have access to that very same Word.  It is the most powerful offensive weapon you have in fighting against the devil.

 

With all of these items in place, now you’re ready to pray like you mean it.  That is what vanquishes Satan.  A person who prays while knowing the One being prayed to, knowing that He’s listening and most of all, knowing that He will honor that prayer with His protection—such a person is unstoppable in spiritual warfare.

So what is it that actually goes on in the spiritual realm when we pray?  Hard to say, as most of us can’t see it.  Some people do have that gift, but I am not one of them.

 

Author Frank Peretti burst onto the Christian Fiction scene in 1986 with his book This Present Darkness, which vividly addressed this very issue.  In the book, angels are constantly engaged in battles with demons over the souls of people.  Prayer is like a caffeine rush to the angels.  When people put on the armor of God and pray, the angels drive back the demons.  But when prayer falters, the demons have the upper hand.

 

Now I don’t know if that’s how it actually goes down (many theologians argue that it isn’t), but it’s a neat picture (and a highly entertaining read as well).

 

The important thing to remember is, like the soldier, we must always be on our guard.  Satan and his minions do not sleep.  Ever.  They’ll keep coming back, no matter how many times you pray them away.  This doesn’t mean your prayers aren’t effective or that God isn’t listening.  This is just what demons do.  It’s their nature.

 

(For some final words of encouragement, come back for the conclusion in Part 10: Be Still and Know.)

Overcoming the World: Part 8–The Struggle

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.  Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.  (Ephesians 6:10-12 NRSV)

 

Back in Part 6, we discussed how fear can gradually wear us down.  By maintaining a continuous level of inner turmoil, we become less effective at pretty much anything useful.  Some of this mental stress comes from what we actually see and hear. Have you noticed though that sometimes what bothered you hours, days, or weeks ago still seems to have some hold over you?

 

Now some folks are better at letting things roll off their backs than others, of course.  This is a process I am still learning myself.  But I am not talking about merely having a good attitude here or learning to relax.  I am talking about nagging thoughts that linger to the point where someone can be sitting still with no apparent external stimuli and be teetering on the edge of a panic attack or a ragestorm.

 

So what’s going on there?  A psychiatrist might look at such a person, diagnose some sort of disorder, and throw a pill at it.  I can personally testify that pills do help somewhat.  However, like any pill, they treat the symptoms rather than solving the problem.  While I do appreciate being able to face my struggles with a rational sense of calm, the struggle remains.

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So what is the real struggle?

 

It’s not about comfort or safety or a sense of belonging.  It’s not about politics or world affairs or getting the last word in on social media.

 

We all have a common enemy folks.  His name is Satan, which means “adversary.”  He is not some made-up cartoon figure with horns and a pitchfork to scare little children.  He is real; he doesn’t sleep, and his primary goal is your destruction and mine.

 

The devil begins his attack with fear, attempting to paralyze you into submission.  If he finds that he can not make you afraid of something or someone, then he will use deception.  He will try to stir up your basest emotions with things that just aren’t true.  If you won’t buy an outright lie, then he will work on you with subtle half-truths.  But if you are on your guard against such nonsense, then he will move on from deception to distraction.  If he can’t win you over, he can at least keep you from doing good.

 

So why is the devil so effective at carrying out his schemes?  Because most of us are unaware that he is even there.  And that’s just how he likes it.

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The reality of spiritual warfare

If you are on one train of thought, and something else intrudes on that thought out of the blue, that is not the random firing of a synapse.  That thought that just popped into your head didn’t just pop into your head.  It was PLACED there.  This doesn’t mean you can’t think for yourself.  That’s what you were doing after all before your thought process was interrupted.  But what will you do NEXT with this new thought?  To answer that, you need to know who introduced it.

 

When Christians talk about receiving a message from God, it is almost never an audible voice.  If it is, many times that is a sign of something else going on that is more mental than spiritual (cue the psychiatrists).  More often, you will hear people use phrases such as “prompted by” or “led by the Spirit.”  Sometimes this is in direct answer to prayer; sometimes it’s seemingly out of nowhere.  However it happens, you can always tell that the message is from God if it is in line with scripture, illuminates the solution to a problem and leads to a good result for all concerned.

 

Here’s where things get sticky.  Sometimes you might have a thought that solves YOUR problem but creates one for someone else.  Sometimes acting on that thought leads to a result that works in YOUR favor, at least for the short term, but has far-reaching consequences that you don’t even notice.  And of course, if you don’t know Scripture, then you have no way of telling if the message you are receiving is in line with God’s will as revealed in His Word.

 

Even worse, if you’re not aware that this spiritual influence is even happening, you probably think that the idea was your own idea in the first place.  After all, no one spoke it to you out loud.  But remember, you didn’t think it up yourself if you were actively thinking of something else when this new thought “occurred to you.”  Satan’s easiest targets are the people who don’t believe in him.  He has the easiest time influencing people who have no idea that they’re being influenced.

 

However, now that you have read this, you are aware and can no longer claim ignorance.

 

(So what do you do now?  Come back for Part 9—The Armor of God)

TRINITY RANCH

The Mission and the Message

 

Who has believed what we’ve been saying?
Who has seen the Lord’s saving power?  (Isa 53:1 NIRV)

 

Some people ask me why I write this stuff without getting paid for it.  Simply enough, I didn’t pay to receive the messages, so I imagine it’s only fair to offer them for free.

 

Basically, I sit down to write, I pray for a message, and I type what comes.  It is no concern of mine who accepts the message and who doesn’t.  My job is simply to deliver it.

 

So is it worth it?  I would say yes.  I do encounter some opposition, but not as much as you might think.  That would probably be significantly worse if I were broadcasting my own opinions, but since I deal in Truth, I am more interested in ending arguments than starting them.

 

Sometimes I wonder though.  Why is it that I don’t encounter any more opposition than I do?

 

Do the messages have more authority because they come from God?  Well, Jesus was speaking the words of God straight from His mouth, and they crucified Him, so that’s not it.

 

Is it because of my superior skills as a writer?  Doubt it, because then somebody would be paying me more for my words by now.

 

Maybe my messages just aren’t bold enough to make people angry enough to respond?  Maybe, but I’ve never really been one to hold back.  If anything, I’m known for erring on the side of Truth rather than grace.

 

So what is it then?  I have an idea.

 

You see, I pray before I write so that whatever message comes out of my laptop onto this page is the message God wants me to broadcast to the world, but I also pray when I’m finished writing, just before I click “publish,” that the message will be delivered to just the people who need to see it.

 

This is where faith comes in.  I am never thinking of anyone specific when I write.  I just write.  I am completely relying on God that the message will be coherent, and understood by those who need to hear it.

 

I don’t get many comments, and I am OK with that.  But it does mean the world to me when somebody drops me a brief note to tell me how something I tossed out onto the internet brightened their day or caused them to look at something in a new way.

 

That is how I know I am fulfilling my mission.  Why would I charge money for that?  Part of the trust and reliance I have on God is that my needs will be met if I obey his instructions.  And they are.

 

I never know what I’m going to write when I sit down to do a Truth Mission post.  Many professional writers will tell you that’s a bad idea, but I am reminded of a story Corrie ten Boom told in her book, The Hiding Place.

 

Corrie would frequently ride the train from Haarlem to Amsterdam with Casper, her father.  He would always have the tickets in advance, but he wouldn’t give Corrie her ticket until right before they got on the train.  The lesson is that she always got what she needed right at the moment she needed it, and not a minute sooner, even though she knew that it was coming.

 

That is how faith works.  God knows what we need before we do.  He holds onto it until just the right time.  This may not be what we perceive as the right time, because we are not patient people.  But faith is trust, and trust involves learning to wait.

 

Life isn’t ever going to be perfect, and things rarely go well on our own schedules.  I would love to be able to post every day on here, and have advertisers falling at my feet wanting to sponsor my site, and make lots of money writing so that I would never have to hear an alarm clock again.

 

But that’s not why I’m here.

 

I am here to plant seeds of Truth.  The harvest is God’s job.

 

I’m not trying to “save the world.”  But if something I felt prompted to write affects even one person’s life, then I have changed that person’s world.

 

And who knows where that might lead?