A Follower's Prayer

"O my God, possess my soul with such an ardent love of Thee, so buoyant above all other affections, that no one may ever come in competition with it; such a love as may not only subdue all other affections, but purify and make them innocent; such a love as may create in my soul a perpetual pleasure in the contemplation of Thee, and a continual thirst after Thee; a love which may transport my soul with Thy divine perfections, and paint there such bright ideas of Thy glorious majesty, that none of the trifling pleasures and temptations of this world may be able to make on it the least impression."

Charles How (1661-1745)

Bondage

Exodus 5:3-9
Then they said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Now let us take a three-day journey into the desert to offer sacrifices to the LORD our God, or he may strike us with plagues or with the sword."
But the king of Egypt said, "Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!" Then Pharaoh said, "Look, the people of the land are now numerous, and you are stopping them from working."
That same day Pharaoh gave this order to the slave drivers and foremen in charge of the people: "You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their own straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don't reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.’ Make the work harder for the men so that they keep working and pay no attention to lies."

Bondage is not a pretty or fun place to live, is it? Whether it’s a physical bondage - to drugs, alcohol, food - or even a mental bondage, to a person, money, or whatever - bondage is bondage. Not only is it a terrible place to live, God has so much more for us, beyond our bondage.

The history of the Jewish nation’s captivity in Egypt is such a vivid picture of what it is like to live in bondage. And just as God worked to set them free, He also works in our lives to free us from any bondage we may be dealing with. In this passage, Moses and Aaron have gone to Pharaoh and asked that he let the Israelites go to worship God. Obviously Pharaoh says no, and then heaps even more work onto the Israelite nation. Not a pretty picture - downright discouraging!

Isn’t that just the way it is, though? When we really make up our minds and make a motion to be set free, and allow God to work that freedom in our lives, instead of the bondage losing its grip, it tightens it. Instead of life getting easier, it gets harder. It feels like one step forward and five steps back.

Discouraging, isn’t it? Here is where God asks so much of us. When we want to just sit back and tell God that we tried, but it didn’t work; when we want to blame Him for "not showing up"; when we want to just sit down, cry, and roll around in the misery that is our bondage, God asks us to step up, brush ourselves off, and go again. Look how long it took for Pharaoh to finally release his hold on the Israelites! Why should we assume it will be any easier in our situation? Of course, sometimes God is so gracious, and He just cuts the ropes right off, and we are free to fly. But most of the time, He asks us to work, and grow, and try and try again. He asks us to trust Him as He builds our character in the midst of our fight for freedom.

So, let’s not get discouraged when our fight is be set free is fraught with discouragement. Rejoice! It means that God is working in us and our lives, just as He worked in the lives of so many Israelites, so many thousands of years ago. We cannot give up! That would make our "pharaoh" so happy - to just bow under his oppression. We must keep at it, and eventually we will be set free - free to worship our God, just as He intended.

Resist the Devil

James 4:7
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.


The second part of this verse is one that I know quite well. I hear it often in teaching, and meditate upon it frequently. It’s so simple - all I have to do is resist the devil and he’ll flee. Sounds easy enough, doesn’t it? So why is it so difficult to do it? Why does it seem like our lives are full of his work?

I think part of the problem is that we tend to forget the first sentence in this verse (we must remember to look at Scripture within it’s context). When I was reading this verse the other day, the context really took hold of me. The verse before this, and even a couple verses after, James is reminding us to humble ourselves before God, and then he goes on in this verse, where he tells us to "submit [ourselves], then, to God," before he ever talks about resisting the devil.
When I finally took in the whole picture, it clicked. We cannot resist the devil until we have submitted to God! Wow! It really made me take a look at my own life, and I could see that the times when I have really fallen for the devil’s traps, and made mistakes in my life, are the times when I was not submitting myself to the Lordship of God.

We are taught that, as Christians, we have the power and strength within us, through the Holy Spirit, to turn from sin. It no longer holds power over us. So why is it that we keep sinning? Well, I think that it is because we do not continually walk in complete submission to God. When we are submitting to Him, resisting the devil is as easy as it sounds. And of course the devil will flee from us, then - he knows he is no match for the power of God within us.

My very best friend has (and continues to) overcome a trap that Satan lays for many, and he seems to do it with relative ease. He continues to walk in this victory day after day. As I watch others around me fall into this very same trap, I finally asked him how he is able to steer clear, and his simple remark was "God." Not that it doesn’t take his decision to turn from it - resisting the devil every time he tries to tempt him, but he understands that the only thing that gives him the strength to resist is his submission to God and the Holy Spirit within him. What a great example he is to me! What a blessing in my life.

We must submit, friends - daily, hourly, each and every second, if necessary. And the moment we realize that we are not walking in submission, we must bend our knees that very moment and humble ourselves before the Lord, letting Him fill us with the strength to resist the devil and all his evil schemes.

Always Thankful

Ephesians 5:19-20
Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.


Regann, my daughter, has taken to saying the prayer at meals, and bed-time herself. It is such a marvelous and wonderful thing to listen as she talks to God with such innocence and even ease. Even more fascinating is what she talks about. She can go on and on – she might even be worse than me, in that regard. I find it amazing the things that she remembers from our day, each and every one of them gets a "thank You, so much." It makes me smile . . . and think. The other day she even thanked Him for my haircut, something I never would have thought to do. That struck me.

Generally, when we hear this passage discussed, it is in reference to the difficult times in our lives. We are to thank Him for everything, even the bad stuff. Now, I whole-heartedly agree with that, but that limits the verse a lot, at least in our own minds. This verse tells us that we are to give "thanks to God the Father for everything," and in the last couple of days, it has taken on an even fuller meaning for me.

How often do we go through our days taking so much for granted? Sure, we thank God for our meals, and generally thank Him for our family, house, clothes, etc. Yet, when was the last time we thanked God for a simple haircut? For time spent visiting with a friend, or a neighbor? For the air-conditioning or heat in our houses, and cars (unless it has gone out recently)? For sunlight to warm our days, and moonlight to illuminate our nights? For a warm smile from a stranger? For a beautiful flower that greets us on our way into work, or the grocery story? There are so many things that we take for granted, never thinking to thank God for them, and yet, that is what we are to do. We are to thank Him for all things, big and small, significant and insignificant, good or bad - everything.

Oh, to see the world through the eyes of a child. I really do believe that she teaches me at least as much as I teach her - probably more. I thank God that He has revealed so much to me through this precious little one. I really need to thank God for a lot of stuff that, up until now, has been over-looked. Will you join me? Let us go through today thanking and praising God for each and every little thing. Together, we will "sing and make music in our hearts to the Lord." What a beautiful sound that will be in the heavens!

Priorities

1 Samuel 16:7b
The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.


Now that my little guy is 7 weeks old, I have begun the process of getting back into shape. Tedious, time consuming, and tiring, I am beginning to question my motives - or perhaps I should say that God is refocusing me, in this and so many other areas of my life, and this verse says it all.

Not that we shouldn’t strive to be healthy, by eating right and exercising. Afterall, if we are to be the temples of God, we should take care of ourselves. If we do not take care of our bodies - the most important tools God has given to us, we will be in no condition to serve God, will we? But, I think God is helping me to see beyond my normal, habitual way of doing things, to my actual motivations and priorities.

The question God continues to ask me is this: Am I more concerned with impressing people, or God? This is a question that permeates my entire lifestyle. It seems that it is so much easier to find time to work out and count calories, than it is to spend time with God - why is that? It is so much more fun to spend our money on the things people tell us are important to look good and be successful, than to give some money to help those less fortunate. If we have an extra hour in the day, why is that most of us will spend it working out, or doing any number of other things that make us look better to those around us, rather than spend some good, quality time with God? So many times we can’t even find an extra 15 minutes to sit down with our Bibles, and meet with God one-on-one at all. Or if we have an extra dollar in our pockets, we would rather spend it on clothes, or Starbucks than put it in the offering plate. It comes down to priorities. A dear friend of mine puts it this way: you can tell a person’s priorities by looking at their checkbook and their calendar. Ouch.

We need to spend more time looking at the things that God looks at, both within ourselves and in those around us. We need to spend our time and our money on those things that God tells us are important, not people. We need to place priority on those things that will increase our beauty in the eyes of our Creator, rather than the eyes of those around us who can see only the outward appearance. These are difficult lessons - ones that we are all learning, all the time. I know it is a constant struggle in my life. But that makes it no less important.

Friends, we need to put God at the top of our priority list in every way, and watch how placing Him there affects everything else in our lives - turning us into something more beautiful than we could ever imagine.