Biblical Confrontation

When is it appropriate to confront another brother about their issues? Who is the person that should do the confronting? And when do we simply allow the Holy Spirit to do the confrontation and changing?

There are various reasons why I believe that Christians, including me, do not use Biblical methods in confrontation. In some cases, it is a personality trait. In that, people pleasers, like me, are continuously concerned about how others perceive them. As a result, to save face, instead of addressing certain issues or problems, people pleasers tend to convince themselves that they are keeping the peace, but in fact, it is a false sense of peace they are keeping in tact.

Another issue I have encountered is the lack of Biblical training in this area. Christians will read a few scriptures on judging, and base their decision on the desire, ‘I don’t want to be judgmental.’ On the other hand, if the teachings on grace are not clear, people will tend cower away from confrontation, and as I hear plenty of times, “I will just let the Holy Spirit convict them.” Alternatively, it could be that people are not trained, or disciplined in ways to believe that confrontation is a good thing.

Another evil that hinders Biblical confrontation is the abuse of the scriptures. Paul says, “Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.” (Galatians 6:1) The emphasis here is the one who lives by the Spirit. We can be right about certain issues that needs addressing, but most common disconnect is that not all Christian are walking in the Spirit when they decide to address the situation. So, what does that mean? You have wrong motives, wrong timing, wrong tact, or merely not being diligent to think through the whole situation (discernment).

As a mentor, I personally am guilty in some of these areas. As Christian, with the leading of God our motivation should yearn for the goal of bringing a brother and sister back to God. God bless you and have a Blessed Day!  Juan Mendez is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and serves full-time at America’s Keswick

Daily Bible Reading: Job 24-28

Think About This: The custom of sinning takes away the sense of it, the course of the world takes away the shame of it. —John Owen

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow about His promises, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:8-9

Hide God’s Word in Your Heart

I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you. Psalm 119:11

This summer we have challenged our guests to memorize two verses of Scripture that tie in with our theme, “GOING THE DISTANCE.” Hebrews 12:1-2 are the two verses we have been memorizing.

The fun part of this has been that it has been people of all ages memorizing God’s Word. One lady shared with me that she has been a pastor’s wife for several decades and have read Hebrews 12:1-2. It wasn’t until she committed it to memory this summer that the verses came alive for her.

In a recent blog from Pastor Tim Challies (www.challies.com) quotes Dr. Don Whitney’s 5 reasons for memorizing God’s Word:

1. Memorizing Scripture supplies spiritual power.
2. Memorizing Scripture strengthens our faith.
3. Memorizing Scripture prepares us for witnessing and counseling.
4. Memorizing Scripture provides a means of God’s guidance.
5. Memorizing Scripture stimulates meditation.

Challies says: The Word of the Word is the “sword of the Spirit,” but if there is no Bible physically accessible to you, then the weapon of the Word must be present in the armory of your mind in order for the Spirit to wield it. Imagine yourself in the midst of a decision and needing guidance, or struggling with a difficult temptation and needing victory. The Holy Spirit enters your mental arsenal and looks around for available weapons, but all he finds is a John 3:16, and Genesis 1:1 and a Great Commission. Those are great swords, but they’re not made for every battle.

My challenge to you as a Freedom Fighter: will you join me in memorizing God’s Word and hiding it in your heart? You can start with Hebrews 12:1-2 and work on it for the next couple of weeks. Or you can memorize a verse each week. At the bottom of every blog I list a verse to memorize.

Will you join me in adding verses to our spiritual arsenal? Let me know if you will join me. – Dr. Bill Welte is President/CEO of America’s Keswick

Daily Bible Reading: Job 21-23

Think About This: We are not only to renounce evil, but to manifest the truth. James Hudson Taylor

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow about His promises, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:8-9

The Mysterious Exchange

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over Him. For the death He died He died to sin, once for all, but the life He lives He lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. ~ paul, The Least of The Apostles, in Romans 6

Oh beloved, it is true. Many of us who are believers in Christ, have struggled mightily – and failed to an even greater degree. And the only mark we have left on life is more like a marring scar on some beautiful surface.

We felt doomed. And we thought there was no way we could ever be successful in the new walk we had started for Jesus. Each time we made the tiniest amount of progress, we would falter and slip and slide back even further than the first step we had taken.

Something wasn’t right. Everything was just too hard.

We knew that Jesus had died a mightily heroic death for us. We knew that He was the only One who could make the sacrifice. He was perfect, and we knew that He had taken the blow for us. The penalty for our sins had been paid, but we felt powerless to pay Him back for His great work on our behalf.

And then one day the failures become just too much. We come to the very end of our abilities to even try to live for Him. Everything we do just becomes wreckage and sadness and failure and eruption of flesh… Little did we know at the beginning of this moment, that this was the very best place we had ever come to in our newfound Life in Him.

For on the other side of this moment, we looked up to Him and saw something astoundingly wonderful! Suddenly upon surrender to our utter inability to live the Christian Life, we looked to Him. We looked to this same Jesus who was crucified on our behalf, and we suddenly (though we said we believed it before) realize that He is no longer dead.

He is alive! And somehow we begin to understand something through His Spirit at work within us. He has gone through the whole process of dying for the sin we were, but that He has also utterly swallowed it up in victory and regained Life at a level we have yet to understand.

We see in all of His dying and resurrecting an enormous outpouring of Love and Life and Hope and Strength and real Power. And suddenly we understand. This is the power that is at work within us; for it is Him within us. And Him being in us – and eternal – has brought us through the entire process with Himself.

We did not just make some choice to live for a hero. The Hero gave His Life for us, and brought us through the entire death of the sin, and ourselves, into the glorious Light of His presence where there is eternal strength and joy and hope and freedom to simply live as who we already are.

We are in Him. He is in us.

We are now alive with the same strength and power that brought about His infinite and eternal resurrection from the dead.  We are now so alive that all of who we used to be is not able to even exist alongside us.  The old ‘me’ is as eternally dead as we are now alive in Him.

Can we see it? It is not about us! It is, most definitely, all about Jesus. We don’t live for Him. We Live in Him – and He in us. The strength for living comes from His protection without and His power within. There was never any way we could live for Him in our feeble human strength. And upon coming to understand this, we exchange the greatest of religious lies, for the most freeing of spiritual Truths. – Makala Doulos is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and is a frequent Freedom Fighter blogger

Daily Bible Reading: Job 10-13

Think About This: God cannot accept goodness from me. He can only accept my badness, and he will give me the solid goodness of the Lord Jesus in exchange for it. ~Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:29-31

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We’d love to see you this week at America’s Keswick. Manny Mill is speaking Sunday night through Thursday night, and Pastor Robert Reidy is speaking Monday – Thursday morning. You can also watch live at: www.americaskeswick.org. We’d love to see you. Check out our new website or call 800-453-7942 for more information.

So Dig Another Well…

“And Isaac dug again the wells of water that had been dug in the days of Abraham his father, which the Philistines had stopped after the death of Abraham. And he gave them the names that his father had given them.” Genesis 26:18 (ESV)

I ain’t no fan of it, but at times I realize that it is something that has to be done. It is called “starting over.” I also aggressively struggle with shrugging off wasted effort. My daughter, Karen, and I share in this idea that if you worked real hard at something there SHOULD be positive results. After all, starting over just isn’t in the equation and whoever thought it belonged there needs to sit down with me, over a good cup of Starbucks, and explain this position to me. So I wonder why Isaac didn’t seem to have too much of a problem with starting over with digging wells when those wacky herdsmen of Gerar simply said…”HEY, that water is ours!!”

Take a look at the 26^th chapter of Genesis; it sounds a lot like Abraham don’t it? I mean it has the same command to travel somewhere outta your comfort zone and you will receive the blessing. The only difference here is YHVH promises Isaac that the same oath He had with his father, Abraham, He will continue with him, so we have the promise of continuance, which differs from the promise that Abraham had and that was the promise that’s it starts with you. We also see that Isaac and Rebekah have claimed to be brother and sister to the king of Gerar, who just happened to be king when Abraham and Sarah pulled the same stunt. (Hmm, another Freedom Fighter for another time, perhaps) Anyway, it seems that that the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree. But there’s the matter of the wells…

Abimelech, king of the Philistines, put’s a warning out among his people saying “Whoever touches this man or his wife shall surely be put to death.” Sounds like a good time to dig a well to me and so it was with Isaac because he goes back and begins to dig up the wells (the Philistines filled them in after the death of Abraham) that his father dug before him. Now here’s where I trip up in the story because the king kinda says leave these people alone but I guess it’s different out in grazing fields. So after the first well is dug up (ESEK—strife and contention) there is an argument over it, “The water is ours!” Isaac settles the argument over it by letting the Philistine herdsmen have it.

Then the second well that gets dug up (SITNAH—hostility and accusation) and the same argument occurs, “The water is ours!” Isaac settles that argument the same way, “Ah let’em have it”, exclaims Isaac. DUDE!!! What are you thinking? It’s not like the backhoe has been invented yet. You’re digging wells, it’s back breaking work and you’re just giving away the fruits of your labor to a people that the Bible say’s envy you. So there’s a third well dug up (REHOBOTH—broad place). Then it was off to Beersheba where an altar was built and another well was dug. (SHIBAH— the well of the oath, covenant) The thing to glean from all this is no matter where Isaac dug there was water. They could take the well from him but they couldn’t keep the water from him.

Enter Jesus at Jacob’s well. The well belonged to the Samaritans now and they weren’t friendly with Israel (Jacob’s name after YHVH changed it) anymore. But here’s Jesus with a Samaritan woman contending over water and as it builds up Jesus says, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” And there’s the example for all to see…you may lose the well but you can never lose the water. He made a promise, and that promise is put your trust in Him and He will bless and if you stay with it He will bless continually. I got a shovel (rather have a backhoe but they’re expensive). I’m gonna dig a well. Hope you’re with me. Amen? Chris Hughes is a grad of the Colony of Mercy and is a weekly Freedom Fighter blogger

Daily Bible Reading: Job 6-9

Think About This: “We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions.”—Dietrich Bonhoeffer

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:29-31

We’d love to see you this week at America’s Keswick. Manny Mill is speaking Sunday night through Thursday night, and Pastor Robert Reidy is speaking Monday – Thursday morning. You can also watch live at: www.americaskeswick.org. We’d love to see you. Check out our new website or call 800-453-7942 for more information.

While Thus Occupied

“While thus occupied, as I journeyed to Damascus with authority And commission from the chief priests.” Acts 26:12

Where were you when God interrupted your life? For most of us reading this, we have been encountered by the Lord Jesus and have been forever changed. Some of us, it’ been a long time and we were very young and knew at an early age “The Way”. Others, it’s been a little more drastic, a total contrast of the way we use to live.

Paul testified of a “Light” that he encountered on the road to Damascus.  In previous verses he draws a picture of a man who was very diligent in a pursuit to do what he believed was right. He continues his testimony to King Agrippa by stating “while thus occupied”. Going about his business, living life, “doing his thing”.  Paul went on to testified about this Light and proclaimed the name of Jesus, and the rest is “His-story”.

I hope you can relate to a time even if it came after your salvation when you encountered your “flesh” in a way that shows a dramatic difference from the way you see things, to how God sees things. A time when you may be heading down a path of destruction and there comes an illumination of a truth you know from God’s word. Or maybe you’re following the Lord’s leading and are being counseled to go a different direction that, for you an obvious mistake.

I know for me it can be a preconceived idea or a misguided motive that can send me down the wrong road. I have a friend who will sometimes make a statement that cuts to the heart. After trying to justify an action I’m carrying out he’ll say to me, “you might not be right, but you’re sure”, ouch!

When our testimony of the grace of God in our life is lived out by our actions there is no denying the results. Not always easy but it comes with an assurance and we can testify to what Paul says in the 4^th chapter of Philippians, “and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus”.

As we meditate on God’s word, let it guide and direct us down a road that is illuminated by God to help us see the light of the glory that causes us to proclaim His name. Amen! – Rob Russomano is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and serves full-time at America’s Keswick

Daily Bible Reading: Job 1-5

Think About This: Peace is the smile of God reflected in the soul of the believer. —William Hendricksen

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:29-31

We’d love to see you this week at America’s Keswick. Manny Mill is speaking Sunday night through Thursday night, and Pastor Robert Reidy is speaking Monday – Thursday morning. You can also watch live at: www.americaskeswick.org. We’d love to see you. Check out our new website or call 800-453-7942 for more information.

What is the nature of servant-hood? Why is it important?

“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:13, 14)

There are many ways to describe the nature of a servant, and why servant-hood is important? As I began my journey in fulltime ministry, I thought I would just show up and God will direct me. I still believe in that statement. I pray that I have grown in my understanding in how that looks in a more practical way. Though there are many avenues that we could venture, I only deal with three questions: to whom do we ultimately serve, who are we to serve in daily activities, and what is the attitude a servant should have. I hope that this will also reveal why we should serve.

God the creator sent His son as a living example, to communicate his love and redemptive call for humanity. Jesus humbly demonstrates that very love in His few years while on earth. Jesus said ‘I came to serve not be served’ and He asked us to ‘do to others as I have done until you.’ Our gracious father commands us to love and serve each other. We are servants of a Holy God, and as we grow in our knowledge of Him, we are encouraged to take on the very nature of Christ.

“Complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” (Philippians 2:3) “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:5)

The Christian is to take on the mind of Christ, the attitude of Christ, and the purpose or reason that Christ did what he did. These areas are essential to effectiveness and the productiveness in the believer’s call. First, we need decentralize ourselves, and understand that the universe does not revolve around us. In humility, Christ offers us the example by putting the needs of others before his own. In addition, He was not looking for the approval from men. He was not trying to attain any selfish gain. He did ministry out of His love for us, and His obedience to the Father. I ask myself this question: do I serve on my terms and out of convenience? Subconsciously, I know I need an attitude adjustment, that if God called me to a particular service, there should not be a job too small or too big. This type of service is contagious and it comforts those in need.

And who are those in need? Our families, God’s children, and anyone else we encounter with a need, in which, God is calling us to help. He gives us the Holy Spirit, and the desire to complete His mission, and this is the main reason why we serve.

Thank you Lord for allowing me to serve you, and your people! Juan Mendez is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and serves full-time at America’s Keswick

Daily Bible Reading: Proverbs 30-31

Think About This: God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supplies. James Hudson Taylor

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:29-31

We’d love to see you this week at America’s Keswick. Manny Mill is speaking Sunday night through Thursday night, and Pastor Robert Reidy is speaking Monday – Thursday morning. You can also watch live at: www.americaskeswick.org. We’d love to see you. Check out our new website or call 800-453-7942 for more information.

Ring The Bell

“In the same way, I tell you, joy breaks out in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who changes both heart and life.” Luke 15:10 CEV

This year we watched a great DVD called “Ring the Bell.” It is a powerful story about a young man who is a baseball agent and in attempt to sign his next big player, God steps in and does something totally out of the ordinary.

The setting of the story is a boys ranch for orphaned kids. Whenever a young man trusted Jesus Christ as Savior, he would run out in front of the house, ring the big dinner bell, and everyone would come running to congratulate and pray with him.

After watching the movie, Robert Hayes and I began to look for a bell to use at America’s Keswick. This week the Lord miraculously provided a bell for us to use when people get saved. And during our summer week, 8 kids prayed to receive Christ as their Savior.

On Thursday night we had our first bell ringing ceremony and it was so cool.
Dr. Charles Zimmerman reminded us this week that when someone gets saved, there is a great celebration in heaven.

I love Luke 15:10 from the CEV – “ … I tell you, joy breaks out in the presence of God’s angels over ONE sinner who changes both heart and life!” I don’t know how many angels get to party, but my guess is that it is more than one. The vision I have in my sanctified imagination is a grandstand filled with angels and they just go wild over a sinner who gets saved.

We are hoping to hear the bell often at America’s Keswick and the plan is that when we hear the bell, we will go running out to celebrate with the child, teen, young adult or adult who trusts Jesus as their Savior. There will be rejoicing on earth and in heaven.

When was the last time you rejoiced over a sinner coming home? – Dr. Bill Welte is President/CEO of America’s Keswick

Daily Bible Reading: Proverbs 27-29

Think About This: We belong to Jesus because He has purchased us by His blood. He will not return or exchange what He has bought. —Anthony Carter

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. Isaiah 40:29-31

Divine Translation

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1: 14)

Translation is “the process of rendering from one language into another” (Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary). Back in English class we were taught that a word is the basic expression of thought. In the spiritual realm, when God wanted to express His thought to us, He did it by sending His Son into our world in a form which we could understand. In a sense, He was the translation of the mind of God in our terms. All that we need to know about God has been revealed in Christ. This was the answer to the question in Isaiah 40: 13 (NCV), For who has known the mind of the Lord? Paul adds the statement, But we have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16. God’s mind has been effectively communicated to us in Christ, and He has invested His mind in every believer.

There is another step in this spiritual translation process. Just as Jesus became the communication of the mind of God toward us, and we have the mind of Christ in us, so we are to become translators of the Word to the world around us. In John’s first letter he deals with the principle of the believer’s taking the things of Christ and communicating them to the world . In chapter 4: 12-17, he speaks of our translating God’s love into terms our world can understand. He concludes with the clause, as He is, so are we in this world.

Wycliffe Bible Translators was born through an all-night and extended prayer meeting at Keswick. The focus was on the refusal of Mexico to allow missionaries to enter. As the people prayed, the leaders prepared to approach the president of Mexico with the idea of allowing translators to reduce the tribal languages to writing. When this was agreed upon, translators moved in to begin work in the languages of some of the tribal groups . They used as their medium for translation the Word of God. Millions have been reached in their own language through translation. Rev. William A. Raws served at America’s Keswick for 60 years in various capacities, and is the grandson of our founder, William Raws.

Keswick, America’s  (2012-12-13). Real Victory for Real Life Volume 2 (Kindle Locations 7461-7482).  . Kindle Edition.

Daily Bible Reading: Proverbs 19-21

Think About This: All my theology is reduced to this narrow compass – “Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.” —Archibald Alexander

 

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 2 Timothy 4:18

We’d love to see you this week at America’s Keswick. Dr. Charles Zimmerman is speaking Sunday night through Thursday night, and is speaking Monday – Thursday morning. You can also watch live at: www.americaskeswick.org. We’d love to see you. Check out our new website or call 800-453-7942 for more information.

Who Is Your Prayer Partner?

Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrew 7: 25)

Every once in a while, I am reminded of one of the perks that I am blessed with in my place of employment, which is the number of people who pray for me and my family. I work in the addiction ministry at America’s Keswick Colony of Mercy. This ministry has not only existed but produced much fruit, even in the thirteen years that I have been here. I constantly remind folks that we owe it all to the prayers of God’s people.

But I must confess that I am not always faithful to pray for everyone who asks. Sometimes I am preoccupied with other matters and sometimes I just forget. I am human. There are some of the saints that I know who are more faithful and diligent than I in prayer . I count it a privilege to be on their prayer lists. But as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and members of His family by virtue of that belief, we have a prayer partner whose faithfulness in praying for us is without a flaw. He is our Redeemer Jesus Christ.

While on earth, He prayed for His followers. I believe that He was praying for His disciples the night that they got caught in a storm at sea. I know that He prayed for Peter when He knew that Peter was going to fail by denying Him. He even prayed for His enemies who persecuted Him viciously as they hung Him on a cross to die. As a result of Jesus’ prayers for His persecutors, a number of them were saved when Peter preached a sermon shortly afterward in Jerusalem.

All of these instances give me hope, because I know that the frequency and fruitfulness of His petitions are not dependent on my performance or perfection. How grateful we must remain that at this very moment we have the Ultimate Prayer Partner in Jesus Christ our Risen Savior.

Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7: 25). Lord, thank you for the prayers that you utter on my behalf to the Father. Chaplain Jim Freed is the Director of Men’s Addiction Recovery Ministries at America’s Keswick

Keswick, America’s  (2012-12-13). Real Victory for Real Life Volume 2 (Kindle Locations 7433-7456).  . Kindle Edition.

Daily Bible Reading: Proverbs 16-18

Think About This: The true spirit of prayer does not consist in asking for blessings, but in receiving Him who is the giver of all blessing, and in living a life of fellowship with Him. Sadhu Sundar Singh

 

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 2 Timothy 4:18

We’d love to see you this week at America’s Keswick. Dr. Charles Zimmerman is speaking Sunday night through Thursday night, and is speaking Monday – Thursday morning. You can also watch live at: www.americaskeswick.org. We’d love to see you. Check out our new website or call 800-453-7942 for more information.

There’s Always Gonna Be Weeds

“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”  Galatians 6:7-8 (ESV)

Do you remember the day you finally dragged yourself to the foot of The Cross? Maybe someone gave you a helping hand like Simon of Cyrene did for Jesus but do you remember that day? How did you feel that day? Were you so sick and tired of being so sick and tired? Perhaps you were completely emptied of mind and of spirit? Maybe you were only 9 years old and you felt the Spirit prompting you to go forward after the alter call during Vacation Bible School.  Or maybe, like myself, you were face first in hardcore addiction when you heard a voice say…“This has to stop or you’re a dead man walking”.

It is not so much the matter on the how you got there but it being a blessed thing to know you at least got there. Amen?! Ya Know, some people don’t make it there at all and it should make the entirety of Christianity mourn but sometimes we are too focused on ourselves to take notice. Kinda like the way we behave when weeds pop-up in our gardens where, “He walks with me, and talks with me, and He tells me I am His own.” There are so many of us who believe that once we’ve accepted that we’re sinners, need Jesus and have said the sinner’s prayer that everything old in us is gone. I’m here to tell you to be careful with that thought because weeds happen and chances are you’ll be offended.

I had thought that once my life made the 180 degree turn from what I once was everything else was erased…that wasn’t and isn’t the case. Like many, once life became new blessings came but there were things that I had done in my past that had a consequence attached with them that most likely will last a lifetime. And when they rear their ugly head during my stroll in the garden I have to remember that I sowed things into the fabric of my life that others have chosen a position on. I have been told by those close that there will not be any forgiveness and there will be no forgetting. Once in a while I get reminded of that position by them and I do grieve it…for the moment only!!!

I have noticed that many who claim to be His children have much trouble with the same weeds popping up in their gardens and the offence by it happening is alarming. They say “How dare this happen to me, I’m a Christian!!” when they really are almost saying “God…you promised. No Weeds!” The heat of offence gets even hotter when they are reminded that Jesus, Himself said when trials come your way and not if. Especially when a behavior that hasn’t really been dealt with is continued with the same consequence occurring. In my case what I call letting off steam can come across as displaying anger and it can send people scattering away…when I really need them to understand why I feel so passionately about an issue. It’s been getting better but at times my weed of anger still shows itself in my garden while I think I am taking a blissful stroll with the Savior. >heavy sigh<

In John’s Gospel we find Jesus saying these words, “I have said these things to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” Funny how Jesus states that abiding in Him will keep you at peace before He says the world will bring you troubles. If we truly are in Him as we stroll with Him in our gardens, those weeds should be an easy pull from the soil and not an offence that they are there at all. Weeds are gonna happen and we need to understand that the ground under our feet has been cursed since the fall of Adam and Eve. Once we get our focus off the weed and on the One who overcame all this nonsense we can sing, “And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known.” Amen? – Chris Hughes is a graduate of the Colony of Mercy and is a weekly Freedom Fighter blogger

Daily Bible Reading: Proverbs 13-15

Think About This: “If you look at how flawed you are, you will upset yourself and interrupt the presence of God and His perfect work within you. The embarrassment you feel at seeing your own faults is a greater problem than the original faults.”—Fenelon

This Week’s Verse to Memorize: The Lord will deliver me from every evil deed, and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 2 Timothy 4:18