Tag Archives: pride

Forty Days of Praying the Word of God: Day 6

“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.“

Philippians 2:3-4

“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. “

1 Thessalonians 5:23

Father, do a work of humility in us! I pray that Your light will come to shine in our hearts, exposing every place of selfish ambition in us. I pray that every uneven scale of measuring value will be destroyed, in the Name of Jesus. Forgive us Lord, for valuing our own lives above others, valuing our own opinions and even our problems above those of others. Forgive us when our comfort and our own interests come first. Forgive us Father, and cleanse us, I pray.

I pray that a mighty spirit of humility will sweep across Your Church, tearing down selfishness, self-promotion, and even our self-loathing attitudes. I pray that You will root out every prideful, self-full ministry operating in Your Church and dismantle it. I pray, Holy Spirit, that You will bring low every ministry, large or small, that has exalted itself above others. Your word tells us that pride goes before a fall, so I pray that You will sound the alarm on the pride in us as individuals, and as the Body of Christ.

Lord, I pray that You will sanctify Your people through and through. I pray that our minds would be made holy and set apart only for You. Teach us God, to cast unholy thinking from us, to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. I pray that we will walk in sanctified ways Lord, doing nothing from a place of pride or self-promotion, but in all things we will put others before ourselves. May our thoughts, our will, and our bodies be wholly surrendered to You, wholly given to Your purposes.

Cleanse Your people Lord, cleanse us of ourselves. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

top 3 list, but bottom line, read the bible. find God.

In my previous post I talked about the top 3 reasons Christians aren’t reading the Bible. This time, I’m giving my top 3 scriptural reasons why Christians need to read the Bible.

You have been created with purpose, and there are good works that have been planned for you to do.  You need a thorough equipping in order to live the life and do the work God has for you, and it will only be done through Scripture.

But how have many believers twisted this one? By assuming that it means that scripture is useful to us for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training OTHER PEOPLE. So when (if) they spend time in God’s word, it is for that purpose — to prove that others are wrong. I have seen the fallout from those who have used Scripture against other people while ignoring what it says about themselves. It turns people away from the Word of God, and even from the Church. It wounds the Body of Christ.

I want to speak particularly to mothers and fathers. Do not attempt to train your children with the Word of God unless you are allowing it to train you. Do not wield an authority that has not been tempered with humility. We are never more humbled than when we allow the Word of God to tell us we are wrong and then teach us how to be right. If you do not train your children up with humility, it will be done with pride. And pride hurts more than the prideful.

The Word of God, describing itself:  I am alive. I am active. I am sharp. I am penetrating. I divide. I judge.

We know ourselves enough to know there are things that need to change. Thoughts, attitudes, motives. But the trend I have been witnessing is the people of God devouring anything that will tell them they are okay the way they are. Those soothing blog posts that tell us that we need to love ourselves, accept ourselves and be our own champions sound like truth to ears begging for something sweet. Sermons and podcasts that convince us that our greatest mission is to go out, love others and share the Gospel. So we have an entire generation of people doing just that. Just that. Because we forgot to tell them that before Jesus commissioned His disciples, He taught them, and He revealed their own hearts to them. He allowed Peter to deny Him, because Peter needed to know that denial was in him. He revealed the motives of brothers who wanted the best seats. He called His closest followers out for their lack of faith on numerous occasions. We like to look at the stories in scripture and see that His disciples were ordinary people, just like us. That makes us feel better about ourselves. But we fail to see that they became extraordinary people because they had been with Jesus, the Word of God, night and day for three years straight. The disciples did not remain the same people they were before they began following Him. Neither should we.

Jesus is the Word of God. Then and now.

To those first followers, He was alive and active. Sharp. Dividing. Judging. Is He the same for His followers today? Yes. If we are in the Word of God, allowing it to do the work of piercing, dividing and revealing. If not, we are a people learning to love ourselves to death, sharing a Gospel we are not really experiencing.

How can we live a life of purity? How do we seek Him with all of our heart? How do we keep ourselves from sin? Every answer is the same.

The Word of God.

How are you living according to the Word of God, if you are not living in the Word of God? If you are living according to the Word of God, then you are living according to His will and His ways. If you are not living according to His will and His ways — then you are living according to someone else’s will and ways. I’ll give you one guess as to who that someone is.

Where did David hide God’s Word? In the place where sin begins.

“But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.” {Matthew 15:18-19} 

He didn’t hide it in his mind. While knowing the Word of God begins with mental knowledge, it cannot remain there. It must make its way into our soul (mind, will and emotions), into our heart. My personal opinion? We can know the Word of God in our minds, but still not believe it or trust it. But when we meditate on it, choosing to let it go into our hearts and bring forth change, then we are in a place of not just knowing His Word, but trusting it to be true and right.

So let’s review my top 3 reasons that Christians need to read the Bible:

  1.  We need to be thoroughly equipped to live the life God has called us to live. And, we need to be taught, rebuked, corrected and trained by the Word of God. We just do.
  2. We need the piercing, dividing, revealing work of the Word. We have no idea the things that are in our own hearts. We need the Word of God to tell us that we have hidden motives, thoughts, and desires that are contrary to Him, and that it’s just not ok to stay that way.
  3. We need the Word of God to keep us from sin. Bottom line. That will not happen through sermons, or through a brief or sporadic glance at scriptures. It comes when we have lived in the Word of God until it is living in us.

Jesus found me in a hospital cafeteria, covered in sin. I found Him in the scriptures, covered in blood and grace and mercy and kindness and truth and glory.

My life, my character, my motives, my thoughts, my belief system — all changed when I was found by Jesus and surrendered to His lordship. That was the timing of it. But the method of it was by immersing myself in the living Word of God, and staying there.

Read your Bible. Find God.

i can live with that – part one

At the same time the Benjaminites did not drive out the Jebusites who were living in Jerusalem. The Jebusites have lived among the Benjaminites in Jerusalem to this day. {Judges 1:21}

I could go on about how I was in the book of Judges with no idea why I chose to go there. How I was reading along at more of a yada yada pace than taking a contemplative stroll. I could tell you about reading past verse 21, but not really because my eyes kept going back to it even though my brain kept wanting to move on. Get to something interesting. I could tell you all of that, but I won’t. I’ll just cut to the chase. Or to the quick. Whichever it happens to be for you.

What are you co-existing with that you should have driven out?

Personally, I needed a whole minute after that question. Could have been a month. A month of trying not to let it stop at conviction. Forcing myself to stay with it and not push it away as one of those oh, that’s good moments and then go back to being whatever it is that I am. Oblivious. Comfortable. Unconvicted.

I may need more time. But here is where I share my journey with whoever may be listening, so I’ll share a couple of miles or so I’ve gone with this so far.

The Israelites had been told to drive out the inhabitants that were in their promised land. Get rid of them. The promised land was the territory God had given them. Places He had given them the authority to dwell as His people.

What is the spiritual shadow being cast by this physical reality? What is my land, my territory of authority?

My home, family. My marriage. If I were still raising children, my parenting would be a place God has given to me, but now it’s my grandparenting.  Ministry. Calling. Gifting. My workplace. My relationships with God, and with others, inside and outside of the Church.

This is my land, my territory. God has planted me here and given me authority, spiritually.  These are the areas I have felt led to ask myself the question — what have I been allowing to co-exist with me here, rather than driving it out?

Some that I came up with apply to me, and some do not. Maybe they resonate with you, though.

Fear, including the fear of man. The fear of disappointing someone, of feeling their disapproval or criticism. That kind of fear will keep us in a place of striving, trying to please and appease. It will keep us from speaking the truth when truth needs to be spoken. Then there is the fear that comes when we watch the news. That’s the fear that can turn our desire to be informed into an obsession. And because we are obsessed with what is going on around us, we are continually fueling fresh fear.  And no, the answer is not to bury our heads, no longer paying any attention to the news. The news is not the trespasser on our land. Fear is.

{Also, for the record — fear includes control, because control is rooted primarily in fear.  Think about it.}

Pride, which includes a low self-esteem. Whether thinking too much of ourselves, or too little of ourselves — we are still continually thinking of self. Narcissism, which is pride on steroids, is rampant in the Church. One day on social media will confirm that, I promise.  Comparison is also rampant and is rooted in pride. Self-hatred, self-loathing, self-everything — all the offspring of pride.

Pride ensures that no matter where we look, we see ourselves.

{It also includes a judgmental and/or critical spirit, both of which can be traced back to pride.}

Apathy/Complacency. Couch surfing Christians. Those who believe they follow Jesus, but never actually follow Him past the couch. They keep their religion as a “private” matter, never talking about it with others.  Or, they post spiritual memes on their social media accounts and consider that sharing the gospel. It is spiritual laziness and we have made peace with it and allowed it to co-exist with us in every aspect of our lives.

I can think of others, can you? A religious spirit, unbelief, addictions of every kind, and compromise, just to name a few.

To figure out how and why these things are enemies that should not be allowed to co-exist with us, we have to consider what they destroy, or at a minimum, what they hinder in us. We’ll do that in the next mile. Stay tuned!

Heroes: Cain & Abel—What are you pointing at?

By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain did.

I’ve read commentaries. Looked up the original words in Hebrew. Tried every way I know to peek underneath this verse, but the fact is, God never tells us why He preferred Abel’s offering over Cain’s. But we can still go deeper and find the treasures hiding here.

Cain’s response to God’s rejection of his offering is anger. Not repentance. Not humility. Anger and pride. And God took it as a teaching moment and said to him ‘If you do what is right, won’t you be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it.”

Cain did not take it as a learning moment, and instead, killed his brother.

I think, and it’s just opinion talking here, that Cain’s offering was like a man going through the motions with God. It was made more out of obligation than faith. And when he saw Abel, and not himself, receiving the approval of God, he showed his true heart.

It’s almost like Cain’s offering is pointing directly at a spirit of religion. And a spirit of religion is always a mask worn by pride. Note that Cain did, in fact, bring an offering to God, giving the appearance of obedience and reverence. But then God unmasks Cain’s pride by refusing his offering. Once unmasked, we see Cain’s anger and petulance toward God, even when God questions him about the disappearance of his brother.

Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s guardian?”

Unmasked, Cain’s true attitude is on display. And then, we see even deeper, when God tells him the consequences for killing his brother.

“But Cain answered the Lord, ‘My punishment is too great to bear! Since You are banishing me today from the soil, and I must hide myself from Your presence and become a restless wanderer on the earth, whoever finds me will kill me.’”

Again, no repentance. No sorrow for his sin. Only prideful concern for self. And while we can see this on the backside of this story, we know that God knew it before it ever happened. 

In contrast, Abel’s offering was given by faith. And his offering was “some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions”.  The fat is defined as the best, or most excellent of any kind. 

So Abel’s offering, by faith, was a blood offering, made from the sacrifice of the first-born, the best, or most excellent of any kind. And, ultimately, Abel was persecuted for his faith, was he not?

So, if Cain’s offering points to a spirit of religion, is it possible that Abel’s offering points to the Gospel of Christ, and His Church?

jesus-cross

For some reason, this makes me weep, this treasure buried back in the beginning. Not just a collection of stories that we blow the dust off every now and then, but markers pointing to the cross and to the Firstborn, the perfect lamb, who offered the Father His life as our ransom. So that we could become His Church.

And I am compelled to ask God, what about me? What do I take from this for my own life?

Slow down and take a deeper look at what you do ‘for Me’. Do your offerings point to the Gospel of Christ and His Church, or do they point to a religious spirit? Simply put, are your offerings to Me coming from faith, or from pride?

This question goes far beyond tithes and offerings. It seeps into our ministries, into our volunteering, into how we operate in our giftings, our prayer lives, our giving, and even in our presence on social media. The question goes deep into everything we do, including our relationships with others and with God. Because our whole lives are to be the offering.

Are we bringing offerings that please God? Or do we just assume He accepts whatever it is we do in the name of Jesus?

There’s a good chance someone may discover the answers on the backside of my story. But what makes me stop and need to put my face on the floor is this…

God already knows.

if you want it…

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

 

You want to be near My heart? Go where you find injustice. My heart will be there, waiting for you.    loose the chains of injustice

Are you looking for Me? Go to the oppressed. You’ll find Me there.  untie the cords of the yoke…set the oppressed free

You want My heart? Go to the naked and the poor. I am with them.   give to the poor, clothe the naked

Find someone who is hungry. I’ll be there.   share your food with the hungry

Find the sick, the tormented, the lost. My heart will be there with them.  Heal the sick, drive out demons…preach the good news

Look for those who aren’t following Me. Go. I’ll be there.  go and make disciples of all nations

 I am drawn to the broken, the hurting, the weak, and to the lost. I came for the sick, the dying, the desperate. I was found among the sinners and the despised, sent to the brokenhearted and the captives, to those held prisoner by darkness. My heart is with those who mourn and those who live in despair. You want My heart?

Come and get it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jeremiah 29:12; Isaiah 58; Matthew 10:8; Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:19-20; Proverbs 21:13, and many more. 

moses is dead

“After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: “Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them—to the Israelites.” Joshua 1:1-2

mosesMoses is dead. Their leader…the man who met with God for them, convinced Him not to kill them (a bonafide sign of a good leader, by the way), and spoke God’s words to them, was now gone. When a leader goes down, by death or any other means, things can quickly turn chaotic. People get nervous, and plans get put on hold while we figure things out. But not on this day. Moses is dead, and the plan didn’t miss a beat. God handed the reins to Joshua and said, “get ready”.

Disclaimer to the blog post:  From this point on, this post is not what I had in mind to write when I sat down at my computer. Believe me, I kept trying to take it in some other direction, any other direction, than the one it went in. But my fingers adamently disobeyed my instructions. I have come to understand that God wanted me to write it, because He wanted me to read it. Hopefully, no leaders were harmed in the making writing of this post.

So, here we go.

I’ve seen at least two ways the enemy gets at us in the area of leadership and God’s plans.

~ We get overwhelmed, thinking that we will somehow mess up God’s plan. We see our own flaws and weaknesses, and we struggle to believe we have what it takes to carry out what God wants done. Making decisions gets harder and harder, as we let fear lead us into doing nothing. We fear doing it wrong, and we fear what others will think and say about our decisions. Pleasing the majority becomes more important than pleasing the One (although we would never admit to that).

~ Or, we become prideful, thinking we are the only one who can do this thing and do it right. We won’t let anyone give us counsel, because we’re the one in charge. We forget that leadership is actually a servant position. Instead we start developing programs and projects, and eventually stop seeking God for His next step, because we have the next 10 steps already figured out. And because there isn’t anyone who can do the job the way we can, we begin to “manage” people instead of leading them. From there we easily become controlling, and the work becomes far more important than the people.

God’s plan does not depend on any one person, it depends on Him.

Moses was not perfect, but God still got His people out of Egypt. We are far too weak and flawed to be responsible for God’s plans coming to pass. And not a single one of us is indispensable. When Moses died, the plan didn’t stop. God simply chose His next leader.

Today, I am compelled to speak to leaders, as one who has been in leadership, and as one who is called to submit to leadership.

God has called you to lead, so lead. Meet with God everyday and then do what He tells you to do. Don’t be afraid to speak what God has told you to speak, regardless of whether you think it might hurt my feelings or offend me. Just speak it and let God deal with my response. Get counsel from godly people, and then make a decision. Even if the decision may turn out to be wrong, trust that God will correct it and His plan will remain intact, but for heaven’s sake…make a decision. Not everyone will like it, but make it anyway. Not everyone will like you. That’s ok. This isn’t a popularity contest. They didn’t all like Moses either, so you’re in good company.

On the other hand, God has called you to lead, but He can just as easily call someone else. Don’t abuse the authority He has given you. We are not your minions, we are God’s people. He didn’t hand you a scepter so you could rule over us, He gave you a staff and rod so you could shepherd us well. He already has a strong right arm, and it’s not you. Meet with God everyday, and then do what He tells you to do. Remember that God has a plan…so He doesn’t need yours. Speak what God tells you to speak, but bear in mind that God isn’t keen on people speaking words on His behalf that didn’t come from Him. Get counsel from godly people and then make a decision. And then be willing to admit it if your decision was wrong, and let God correct it…and you.

Being a leader isn’t easy. Neither is submitting to leadership. I don’t believe your leadership will be effective unless I do my part. That means I must honor the authority God has given to you, even if I don’t like or agree with your leadership style. I need to stop grumbling and complaining about you, and start praying for you. I have a voice and I have giftings, and I can use them to encourage you, and even to tell you when I sense something is off center. But at the end of the day, you are called to lead and I am called to submit myself to your leadership. If I do that well, your calling will be a joy and not a burden.

“Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.” Hebrews 13:17

follow the leader

 

The leaders and the led. We can both do what we’re called to do if we trust the One who is leading us both.