Not Victims By Habit or By Denial

                                                     When The Door Slams

The night is far gone, the day of His return will soon be here. So quit the evil deeds of darkness and put on the armor of right living, as we who live in the daylight should! Be decent and true in everything you do so that all can approve your behavior. Don't spend your time in wild parties and getting drunk or in adultery and lust, or fighting, or jealousy. But ask the Lord Jesus Christ to help you live as you should, and don't make plans to enjoy evil.                                          Romans 13:13-14  

         Certain sins have a way of making themselves at home in our lives. We get so used to their presence, we often don't give them much thought. By habit or by denial, we continue to indulge ourselves-to make provision for the flesh.

        This passage confronts such an attitude head-on. It is high time for us to make a change. We are not victims of our habits; we have the power to throw them away and begin again. And we can protect ourselves from their hold on us by wearing the armor of God's truth.

        The apostle Paul reminds us that we are on a journey, and our destination is heaven. Knowing that we will meet our Savior face-to-face motivates us to delay the temporary gratification of sin. We may struggle with temptation to get drunk, or to satisfy our cravings or appetites right away and encourage others to do the same. Perhaps we are in the habit of lying when we make wrong or bad decisions about people or things, or pitting people against true authority figures. 

        Think about this: If we allow ourselves to fantasize about sin, we will eventually give in to it. We are encouraged instead, to "clothe" ourselves with loyalty to Christ and avoid sinful thoughts so one thing won't lead to another. Resisting sin is hard work. Sinful subconscious thoughts are natural. Developing loving motives and behaviors to let go requires the help of our Holy Spirit power. 

Ask the Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin.                                    Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness. 

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Life Is Like Combat

                                                     When The Door Slams 

Take your share of suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, just as I do, and as Christ's solder do not let yourself become tied up in worldly affairs, for then you cannot satisfy the one who has enlisted you in His army.                                                                           2 Timothy 2:3-4

        Whether we are "blown away" by the circumstances of life has a lot do with our expectations. For example, If I believe that life owes me a living even if I don't work, I'm setting myself up for a disappointment. If I think I should never be sick, I am just another number on the doctor's report. If I expect life to be fair, I am hurt by the unfairness that I see.

        One of the reasons a soldier can be effective is that he or she receives training for real combat situations. In their training, soldiers are taught to expect difficulties and hardships. They learn ways to cope with them. Get ready for the hardships. Expect them, accept them, and endure them. Life is like combat. We will have battles to fight and hardships to endure. 

        We will be able to endure times of hardship if we have a single-mindedness or focus. The enduring soldier is one who is centered on the problem to be fought and not on the demands of civilian life.        What are your expectations for life? Are hardships part of what you are assuming will come? Are preparing yourself for those hard days?  

        Think about this: Hardships in life come to all of us. Our success in dealing with them depends on our expectations and our personal preparation for them. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2 Corinthians 4:4)

Ask the Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin.                                    Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness.

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Social Justice

                                                             When The Door Slams

LORD, WHY ARE you standing aloof and far away? Why do you hide when I need you the most? Come and deal with all these proud and wicked men who viciously persecute the poor. Pour upon these men the evil they planned for others! For these men brag of all their evil lust; they revile God and congratulate those the Lord abhors, whose only goal in life is money.                                                                                                                                                                        Psalms 10:1-3   

        Psalm 10 is a beautiful psalm of social justice, written by King David. David saw how the evil people of his world-like the evil people of our day-were constantly looking for ways to take advantage of the helpless. He pleaded with God to deal with the wicked and protect the helpless. 

        Think about this: We have all wondered at times why God allows so much suffering, especially by the innocent and helpless. Why doesn't He stop it right now? Why does He seem to be far away during times of tragedy and abuse? 

        Like David, we may long to call on God to arise from His throne to lift His hand in judgment upon the wicked and to defend the humble. Most of the cruel and malicious people in our world have sociopathic personalities. They renounce God, resent authority, and live in complete denial of the consequences of their behavior.

    In His timing, God will grant our prayers for social justice. He will punish the unrepentant evildoers of the world, and help the humble and poor. 

God grant me the serenity to bear the social injustices I cannot change, the courage to help change the social injustices I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. 

Ask the Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin.                                      Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness.                                                                                                                                                                       Never Rest Ministries

                                                                                                 

A World Of Turmoil

                                                     When The Door Slams

A man with hate in his heart may sound pleasant enough, but don't believe him; for he is cursing you in his heart. Though he pretends to be so kind, his hared will finally come to light for all to see.                Proverbs 26:24-26 

        There are times when it is better to break things off with someone who constantly wants to cause conflict. These individuals will use ridicule at times to stir up strife. At other times they will break out in intense rage. Both of these tactics intimidate, manipulate and keep other people in inner turmoil. The totality of surrounding conditions and circumstances affecting growth or development in this world. 

        Think about this: Often the adult child of a dysfunctional family whose heart is blackened with evil will experience this kind of controlling action on the part of a parent as he or she tries to address the pathological family system. This child finds out in therapy how this interactions in his or her family were dysfunctional. 

        If the child approaches a family member and tries to talk about it, often the response is one of ridicule and laughing it off, or the other extreme of intense rage, causing extremely unpleasant to the senses or feelings. By either response the child is frustrated, intimidated and controlled. The result is that the child is left in a world of turmoil, lacking any real serenity or peace. There are times when we have to set boundaries and move on rather than constantly trying to pursue talking with such a person. 

        Solomon in his wisdom succinctly says "there is no peace" with such a person. If you desire peace, don't allow yourself to constantly get into arguments with such a person. There will be individuals with whom I don't get everything resolved. I need to move on if they keep tension between us. If a wise man contends with a foolish person, whether the fool rages or laughs, there is no peace.

Ask the Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin.                                        Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness.                                                                                                                                                                        Never Rest Ministries    

Man-Made "Religion"

                                                      When The Door Slams

But The Holy Spirit tells us clearly that in the last times some in the church will turn away from Christ and become eager followers of teachers with devil-inspired ideas. These teachers will tell lies with straight faces and do it so often that their consciences won't bother them.                                                                                                                                              1 Timothy 4:1-3 

          Think about this: Those of us who are trying to recover from addiction of all kinds, we are caught in a real dilemma. Our recovery requires dependence on a Higher Power. It also works best if we are intimately involved in supportive, insightful groups within our local church. And yet today's passage warns us to beware of man-made "religion," day or night time talk programs.

          What we see here is that before Christ returns, many believers will depart from the faith. Their children may grow up in Sunday school but never even hear that salvation is by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9). Religious leaders will be forbidden to marry, and people will be instructed not to eat certain foods for "religious" reasons. Paul taught us not to pay any attention to all these rules and rituals. We are living in an age of grace, where all things are permissible, though not all are beneficial.

          Jesus said the Bible is perfect. He said not to put our faith in religion or religious leaders. Even Paul complimented believers who took notes on what he taught them to search the Scriptures for themselves to see if he was right. We can trust God's Word. We should avoid religious codependency, but not the loving believers who can and will support us by God's grace through faith in The Holy Spirit. 

 Ask the Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin.                                    Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness.

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The Fear Factor

                                                               When The Door Slams   

All who believe this know in their hearts that it is true. If anyone doesn't believe this, he is actually calling God a liar, because he doesn't believe what God has said about his Son. And what is it that God has said? That he has given us eternal life, and that this life is in his Son. So whoever has God's Son has life; whoever does not have his Son, dose not have life.                                    1 John 5:10-12

        A Wall Street Journal article reported on a survey in which men and women were asked, "What is it that you fear the most?" The number three fear of all participants was the fear of death. The fear of failure ranked number one, and the fear of loneliness was number two.

        1 John 4:18 says that "perfect love casts out fear." Perfect love has only the good of the person being loved in mind. Perfect love was demonstrated when God sent His only Son Jesus Christ to die in our place. Fortunately that wasn't the end of the story. Jesus was the ultimate victim of my sin, God wasn't going to leave Him a victim forever. death had no power over Him. Resurrection was God's answer to the worst that human beings could do to Jesus Christ.

        I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, I have eternal life. That frees me from my fear of death.                                                                                                                                                                        Think about this. I am welcomed into a caring, supportive group of believers. Together we support each other as we discover what it means to follow Jesus. We no longer need to fear loneliness. This incredible power that raised Christ from the dead is also available to me today. That same power can bring good out of my most devastating failures. Therefore I don't have to fear failure. Because of Christ I do not have to fear failure, loneliness or death. 

Ask the Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin.                                        Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness. 

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The Dangers In Appointing A King Over American

                                                               When The Door Slams

"As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ending my prayers for you; and I will continue to teach you those things which are good and right. "Trust the Lord and sincerely worship him; think of all the tremendous things he has done for you. But if you continue to sin, you and your king will be destroyed."                                                                                            1 Samuel 12:23-25  

          Listen to this: It can be tempting at times to give up on God's people! They are so imperfect and can be so sinful, yet they are His people. Samuel had thoroughly warned the Israelites of the dangers in appointing a king over Israel. Yet they wanted to be like the nations around them, insisting that they were willing to pay any price.   

          Almost as soon as the people were granted their desire, they recognized their sin. But it was too late. What was Samuel to do? They had ignored his warnings. Now they wanted him to continue to minister to them. It would seem appropriate for Samuel to abandon them and allow them to suffer the consequences of their actions.

          Samuel knew, as Jesus knew, that God sends His servants to the sick, not the healthy (Matt. 9:12). Samuel did not take the people's response as a rejection of him but as an indication of their walk with God. Samuel was serving God, not the Israelites. When God commanded him to minister to them, he could do nothing else, despite their resistance to his message.            

          Think about this: At times people will not responds as they should to the message God speaks through you. Don't become discouraged; it is a reflection of their relationship with God. You are God's servant; if Jesus spent His time with the spiritually needy, you can expect Him to ask you do to the same. Don't lose your patience with God's people. Keep in mind that God loves them as much as He love you and me.

Ask the Spirit to search your heart and reveal any areas of unconfessed sin.                          Acknowledge these to the Lord and thank Him for His forgiveness.

                                                                                                             Never Rest Ministries