DON’T WORRY

I have shared with you on numerous occasions that I have struggled at times with worry! I come from a long line of worriers. My grandmother thought that worry was a spiritual gift and she possessed it.

The past several days have been stressful for us, as our kids have moved from Minnesota to New Hampshire and Jan (my wife) flew out to help them with the long drive. There were lots of crazy things going on, and each day seemed to bring more and more stress. The more stress resulted in more fatigue, and with the fatigue, the old monster of worry came in like a flood.

One of the amazing aspects of a daily devotional life is how the Spirit of God knows what we need and when we need it. On the morning when the “worry monster” seemed to be hanging over my head, this was the reading for the day from my friend, Oswald Chambers (If you haven’t figured it out — Chambers is one of my favorite guys!):

“Do not fret — it only causes harm!” — Psalm 37:8

“Fretting mean getting ourselves “out of joint” mentally or spiritually. It is one thing to say, ‘Do not fret,’ but something very different to have such a nature that you find yourself unable to fret. It is easy to say, ‘Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him’ (37:7) until our own little world is turned upside down and we are forced to live in confusion and agony like so many other people.

Is it possible to ‘rest in the Lord’ then? This ‘Do Not’ must work during our days of difficulty and uncertainty, as well as our peaceful days, or it will never work. And if it will not work in your particular case, it will not work for anyone else. Resting in the Lord is not dependent on your external circumstances at all, but on your relationship with God Himself.

Worry always results in sin. We tend to think that a little anxiety and worry are simply an indication of how wise we really are, yet it is actually a much better indication of just how wicked we are. Fretting rises from our determination to have our own way. Our Lord never worries and was never anxious, because His purpose was never to accomplish His own plans but to fulfill God’s plans. Fretting is wickedness for a child of God.

Have you been propping up that foolish soul of yours with the idea that your circumstances are too much for God to handle? Set all your opinions and speculations aside and ‘abide under the shadow of the Almighty.’ (Psalm 91:1). Deliberately tell God that you will not fret about whatever concerns you. All our fretting and worrying is caused by planning without God.” from My Utmost for His Highest

Well, God spoke to my heart! I needed that message. Thank You, Lord, that YOU KNOW exactly what your kids need.

Maybe this is something YOU NEED today. I trust it will bless and encourage your heart. Don’t worry!

SECRET SINS AND MY PRAYER LIFE

“All Christians have their secret sins. Psalm 19:12: ‘Who can understand
his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults.” O friends! Who can
reckon up the secret imaginations, the secret inclinations, or the
secret pride, the secret blasphemies, the secret hypocrites, the secret
murmurings, the secret filthiness, the secret discontentment’s, the
secret unbelievings that God might every day charge upon his soul!
Should the best and holiest man on earth have but his secret sins every
day written on his forehead, it would not only make him blush, but it
would make him pull his hat over his eyes, or cover his face with a
double scarf.

Sin is the greatest plague in the world, but never more dangerous when
it reaches the heart. Secret sins commonly lie nearest the hear, the
fount from where that take a quick, immediate, and continual supply . .
. And as every secret sin lies nearest the heart, so every secret sin is
the PLAGUE of the heart.

And as all Christians have their secret sins, so all Christians have
their secret temptations. And as they have their secret temptations, so
they have their secret needs; yea often they have such particular and
personal needs that there is not one in the congregation, nor one in the
family, that has the same. And as they have their secret needs, so they
have their secret fears, and secret snares, and secret trials, and
secret troubles, and secret doubts, and secret jealousies! And how do
all these things call aloud upon every Christian to be frequent and
constant in secret prayer!” — The Secret Key to Heaven by Puritan
Thomas Brooks

Is there a secret sin in your life? Confess it to the Lord and live in
freedom! Taking care of secret sin will have a profound impact upon your
prayer life.

Good words for your consideration.

SATAN HATES WHEN I PRAY

I keep asking myself the question, why is praying such hard work?
Shouldn’t it be easier than it is?

I have been working through a book written by Puritan Pastor Thomas
Brooks, who served in England during the Civil War. The book is
entitled: THE SECRET KEY TO HEAVEN – The Vital Importance of Private
Prayer published by The Banner of Truth Trust.

Brooks writes that one of the enemies of prayer is the enemy himself,
Satan. Listen to these powerful words:

Secret prayer is a scourge, a hell to Satan. Every secret prayer adds to
the devil’s torment, and every secret sigh adds to his torment, and
every secret groan adds to his torment, and every secret tear adds to
his torment.

When a child of God is on his knees in his secret addresses to God, oh,
the strange thoughts, the earthly thoughts, the distracted thoughts, the
hideous thoughts, the blasphemous thoughts, that Satan often injects
into his soul! And all to wean him from secret prayer. Sometimes he
tells the soul, that it is vain to seek God in secret; and at other
times he tells the soul it is too late to seek God in secret; and at
other times he tells the soul it is too late to seek God in secret; for
the door of mercy is shut, and there is no hope, no help for the soul.

Sometimes he tells the soul that it is enough to seek God in public; and
at other times he tells the soul, that it is but a precise trick to seek
the Lord in private. Sometimes he tells the soul, that it is not elected
and therefore all his secret prayer will be rejected; and at other times
he tells the soul, that it is sealed up until the day of wrath, and
therefore a secret prayer can never reverse that seal; and all this to
dishearten and discourage a poor Christian in his secret [prayer times].

Sometimes Satan will bring before a poor Christian the greatness of his
sins; and at other times he will bring before a Christian the greatness
of his unworthiness. Sometimes he will bring before a Christian his lack
of grace; and at other times he will bring before a Christian his lack
of gifts to manage such a duty as it should be managed. Sometimes he
will bring up past difficulties [defeats] in secret prayer; and at other
times he will bring before a Christian his weak desire for secret
prayer; and all to work the soul out of love with secret prayer, yes, to
work the soul to loathe secret prayer; so deadly an enemy is Satan to
secret prayer …

If there were not a kind of omnipotency in it, if it were not able to do
wonders in heaven, and wonders on earth, and wonders in the hearts and
lives and ways of men, Satan would never have such an aching tooth
against it as he has . . .

The more glory God has from any service we do, the more Satan will
strive by all his wiles, and sleights to take us, either off from that
service, or so to interrupt us in that service, that God may have no
honor, nor we no good, nor himself no hurt, by our prayer [prayer
times].”

The bottom line is this – the enemy doesn’t like it when we prayer. He
knows that God HEARS and ANSWERS prayer. So be encouraged, when you
don’t feel like praying, press on, press in and PUSH – Push Until
Something Happens.

WHAT PRICE FREEDOM

Philadelphia! 1776! Fifty-six men met together and signed a new document. That parchment was to stand forever as a partnership between the living and the dead, and the yet unborn. We call it the DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

There is a price tag on liberty. You will recall the last paragraph of the Declaration of Independence states: “We must mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, our sacred honor.” The fifty-six signatures on the Declaration of Independence were kept secret for one half year because the gallant fifty-six who made that promise knew when they signed that they were risking EVERYTHING! If they won the fight, the best they could expect would be years of hardship in a struggling new nation. And if they lost … they’d face a hangman’s noose as traitors.

Now these were men of well means, well educated. Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants; nine were farmers and owners of large plantations. But they signed the pledge and they did indeed pay the price.

In the Pennsylvania state house, now called Independence Hall, the best men from each of our colonies sat down together. On June 11th, a committee was formed to draw up a Declaration of Independence. We were going to tell our British fatherland, “no more rule by redcoats.”

Thomas Jefferson finished the draft of that declaration in seventeen days. Congress adopted it on July 4, 1776. That much is familiar history.

Now here is the documented fate of the heroic fifty-six who signed the Declaration of Independence:

Of the fifty-six few were long to survive. Five were captured by the British and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes looted or destroyed by the enemy. Nine of the fifty-six died in the war from its hardships and bullets. Wealthy planter and trader Carter Braxton of Virginia saw his ships swept from the sea in battle. To pay his debts he sold his home and all his properties. He died in rags.

Thomas McKean of Delaware was so harassed by the enemy that he was forced to move his family five times in five months. He served in Congress without pay, his family in poverty and hiding.

Thomas Nelson Jr. raised two million dollars on his own signature to provision our allies, the French Fleet. After the war he wiped out his entire estate paying back the loans. He was never reimbursed by the government. He died bankrupt and was buried in an unmarked grace. Thomas Nelson Jr. pledged his life, his fortune, his sacred honor.

John Hart was driven from his dying wife’s bedside. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves and returned home after the war to find his wife dead, his children gone and his property worthless. He died a few weeks later of exhaustion and a broken heart.

John Hancock, one of the wealthiest men in New England, stood outside Boston one terrible night of the war and said, “Burn, Boston, burn! Though it makes John Hancock a beggar, burn!” He too lived up to the pledge.

I don’t know what impression you had on the men who met that hot summer night in Philadelphia, but I think it’s important that we remember this about them: They were not poor men or wild-eyed pirates. They were basically rich men who enjoyed ease and luxury in their personal living. They were not hungry men – they were wealthy and prosperous. But they considered LIBERTY so much more important than security that they pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. They fulfilled the pledge … they paid the price … and freedom was born!

Adapted from WHAT PRICE FREEDOM by Derric Johnson

GOOD WORDS AS WE CELEBRATE THIS FOURTH OF JULY, 2006.

THE GREATEST SOURCE OF POWER

I appreciated so much the study that Pastor Strain did for us in June from the Book of Proverbs. Proverbs is one of those books that speaks to my heart daily as I continue the discipline of reading a chapter a day. If you haven’t taken the challenge to do so, I want to encourage you on day 3 of the month of July — start reading a chapter a day and allow the Spirit of God to build character into your life.

I want to share with you some devotionals on prayer that have touched my heart during the month of June. God longs to have you and me come to him in prayer. It is one of the easiest things to do, yet one of the hardest of the disciplines.

This morning I share some thoughts from Oswald Chambers, June 7th, from MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST.

“Whatever you ask in MY name, that I will do . . .” (John 14:13)

This reading is riddled with questions that will help us look at our prayer life. Good questions to think through on this 3rd day of July:

“Am I fulfilling this ministry of intercession deep within the hidden recesses of my life? There is no trap nor any danger at all of being deceived or of showing pride in true intercession. It is a hidden ministry that brings forth fruit through which the Father is glorified.
Am I allowing my spiritual life to waste away, or am I focused bringing EVERYTHING to one central point — the atonement of my Lord?
Is Jesus Christ more and more dominating every interest of my life? If the central point, or the most powerful influence, of my life is the atonement of the Lord, then every aspect of my life will bear more fruit for Him. I must take the time to realize what the central point of power is.

Am I willing to give one minute out of every hour to concentrate on it? “If you abide in Me …” — that is, if you continue to act, and think, and work from that central point — “you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you” (John 15:7).

Ask your selves these questions:
Am I abiding?
Am I taking the time to abide?
What is the greatest source of power in your life? Is it my work, service, and sacrifice for others, or is it my striving to work FOR God? It should be none of these — what ought to exert the greatest power in my life is the atonement of the Lord. It is not on WHAT we spend the greatest amount of time that molds us the most, but whatever exerts the most power OVER us. We must make a determination to limit and concentrate our DESIRES and INTERESTS on the atonement of the Cross of Christ . . .

“Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do . . .” The disciple who abides in Jesus is the will of God, and what appears to be his free choices are actually God’s foreordained decrees. Is this mysterious? Does it appear to contradict sound logic or seem totally absurd? Yes, but what a glorious truth it is to a saint of God.”

Good thought and questions for us to ponder throughout the day.

Join me on KESWICK TODAY this week as I talk with Chris Conners, one of our Colony of Mercy graduates who is now serving in our internship program. You can listen to Chris’ testimony right from our home page — www.americaskeswick.org.

WHEN WISDOM ENTERS YOUR HEART

I trust you have enjoyed Pastor John Strain’s journey into Proverbs during the month of June. I have appreciated his willingness to share his insights from this powerful book.

Do not give your strength to women, nor your ways to that which destroys kings. It is not for kings, O Lemuel, is it not for kings to drink wine, nor for princes intoxicating drink’ lest they drink and forget the law, and pervert the justice for all the afflicted. Proverbs 31:3-5

We complete our journey through Proverbs today. I thank Bill Welte for allowing me to share this month of Freedom Fighters. It’s been a privilege!

These lines from the last chapter speak to two of the issues that prompted the Freedom Fighter email. The Wisdom Writer tells us that we’re not to give our strength to women. Some who fight for freedom fight the battle of sexual addiction. Others in the fight know the power of substance abuse, especially alcoholic beverages. The Proverbs writers come back to these problems one last time.

Those who practice the sexual sins engage in that which destroys kings. If the addiction can destroy a king, what can it do to normal guys like you and me? All of us have read or heard of men who have lost everything to satisfy their sexual addictions. Some have gone to jail. I can’t remember the whole saying, but Bill Welte has told us that “sin will always take us farther than we wanted to go.” Let’s not fool ourselves. Sexual sins are seductive, but they’re also destructive.

The writer moves onto strong drink-intoxicating drink. Those who drink strong drink take the risk of forgetting the law and perverting justice. Again, we’re not kings. We’re ordinary men with all the responsibility that comes with being men. Intoxicating drink will do the same thing to us that it does to kings. We’ll forget what’s right in the pursuit of what is wrong. We may not pervert justice for the afflicted. Many of us know, however, the suffering and injustice our families experience when we pursue our addictions?

Freedom Fighters accept these instructions. We don’t explain them away as though they don’t apply to us. We think clearly about the consequences of addictive behavior, and we take every precaution to resist temptation. We build wisdom into our lives.

I pray this thirty-one-day journey through Proverbs will push you to take the trip each month. May God help all of us discover the wisdom that helps us “live life skillfully.”

Don’t forget: “When wisdom enters your heart, and knowledge is pleasant to your soul, discretion will preserve you; understanding will keep you, to deliver you from the way of evil. . . .”

GAITHER TENOR LARRY FORD IN CONCERT TODAY AT AMERICA’S KESWICK 2:30 HYMNSING followed by the CONCERT AT 3:00 PM. Concert is free but we will receive a love offering to cover the expenses of the concert.

MODERATION

Two things I request of You (deprive me not before I die): Remove falsehood and lies from me; give me neither poverty no riches-feed me with the food allotted to me; lest I be full and deny you, and say, “Who is the Lord?” Or lest I be poor and steal, and profane the name of my God. Proverbs 30:7-9

These three verses stand alone in chapter 30. They don’t connect with anything before or after them. The Wisdom Writer puts them here, and they hit readers like a lightening bolt. As I’ve said often during the month, Freedom Fighters need this instruction. It helps us discover at least one key to the door of true freedom.

If I understand addictions correctly, they are often a pursuit of the unattainable. There’s something more we want, and we keep going farther down the road in pursuit of something. Then we discover that the pursuit has taken over; we’re addicted but never satisfied. We always want more, no matter the cost.

These lines tell us how to avoid the “pursuit of more” trap. Let me give you the key in one word: MODERATION. The Wisdom Writer asks God for enough. He doesn’t want too much for fear he’ll become self-sufficient. He doesn’t want too little for fear that he’ll bring reproach on God in his pursuit of enough. “God, just give me what I need. Please give me enough.” That’s his prayer.

This pursuit of moderation mitigates Satan’s lie that we always need-that we have a right to-a little more. Every addiction ultimately tells us that we need more of something than we have. So, we eat more, drink more, buy the bigger cable package for more entertainment. Enough is never enough. That’s what Satan will have us believe. It’s a lie!

God’s wisdom-the ability to live life skillfully-at work in our lives will help us discover healthy moderation. We’ll know when enough has arrived, and we’ll find satisfaction in it. We’ll discover freedom from the “pursuit of more.”

We also need to see the writer’s motivation in his prayer. He doesn’t want to deny God or profane God’s name. He’s not focused on himself. God’s reputation is more important. He wants to make God look good! He chooses moderation over too much or too little just to protect his relationship with God.

Freedom Fighters will do well to pray the Wisdom Writer’s moderation prayer. Don’t forget: Moderation protects our lives and God’s reputation. (Pastor John Strain — First Baptist of Toms River)

TOMORROW: LARRY FORD IN CONCERT at America’s KESWICK 3:00 PM. Come meet one of Southern Gospel’s finest tenors.

DON’T HARDEN YOUR NECK
He who is often rebuked, and hardens his neck, will suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy. Proverbs 29:1

This word from the Wisdom Writer strikes fear in me each time I read it. It should probably create the same response in many who regularly read the Freedom Fighter. We need to understand the consequence of stubborn refusal to hear God’s rebuke in our lives.

I’ve mentioned this earlier in the month, but please hear me one more time. My experience tells me that many who struggle with addiction don’t like rebukes. Some of us don’t want God or anyone else telling us we’re wrong. We don’t accept confrontation, even when it comes from those who love us. We keep going our own way. We keep refusing to listen. In biblical terms, we harden our necks.

Hear what the Wisdom Writer says about those who harden their necks. “Sudden destruction” awaits them. As I think of this, I remember Paul’s Lord’s Supper instruction to the Corinthian Christians. Some people in that church died because of their disobedience. While God is infinitely patient, He will not continually tolerate our “hardened necks.” This really is a fear-instilling admonition.

Think about the foolishness in all of this. Many of us who read this email every day have children. We’ve known their temper when they’re small. Can you remember holding your small child as they arch their back in defiance? Adults do the same thing to God when they harden their necks. God will put up with our defiance only so long. That stubbornness will cost us. It may cost us everything, and it may be permanent.

These short lines of wisdom offer us a warning and a reminder. That God needs to warn and remind me saddens me. It doesn’t make sense that people like us, who have received God’s grace, will sometimes choose to defy Him. He never wants anything but our best. His rebukes always come to help us, not hurt us. Hardening our necks at His rebuke is foolish, harmful to us and dishonoring to God.

Don’t forget: Freedom Fighters listen to rebuke rather than rejecting it. (Pastor John Strain — First Baptist of Toms River)

Great Quote: …the mechanics of a Spirit-filled life do not provide for a spasmodic filling that is, the Christian is not filled only when doing service such as preaching or teaching, but the Christian who is living a normal life of moment by moment yieldedness to God experiences a moment by moment fullness of the Spirit. No Christian can do with less and at the same time live a victorious life.

Kenneth Wuest

DON’T TRUST YOUR OWN HEART
He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but whoever walks wisely will be delivered. Proverbs 28:26

Autonomy isn’t a word we use much these days. It’s an appropriate word for us to think about, however, as we consider this instruction. Many people who struggle with addictions consider themselves autonomous; they think they’re on their own. No one has the right to tell them what to do.

If you and I live with those thought patterns, the first line of this verse describes us. We’re not autonomous, and trusting our own hearts isn’t wise living. The prophet Jeremiah had a good read on our hearts. Here’s what he said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

The Wisdom Writers tell us that we shouldn’t trust ourselves. We’re not trustworthy in our own strength. If we think we always know what we need, we’re fooling ourselves. Freedom Fighters wake up to this reality and choose a different thought pattern.

The second part of this instruction speaks of those who walk wisely. Difficulty may still come our way, but we have the promise of deliverance. We’ve learned several things about “walking wisely” this month. Let’s review.

Men who walk wisely pursue wisdom, the ability to “live life skillfully.” This pursuit begins with discovering the “fear of the Lord.” We listen to Lady Wisdom as she speaks to us through God’s Word and by His Spirit. Wise men avoid moral failure and spiritual adultery. We discover the value of wise counsel, and we choose our friends carefully. We have a healthy fear of evil, and we hide ourselves when we see it coming our way.

Walking wisely includes listening to counsel; we understand the danger of straying from the words of knowledge. Choosing to do righteousness and the right thing marks the way of men who walk in wisdom. Wisdom leads us to apply the truth to our lives, allowing it to transform us throughout our lives. Wise men avoid “murky springs” and “polluted wells” that poison our souls. We learn to discern danger, and we don’t dance with it. Wise men know they aren’t naturally wise. They receive the ongoing gift of wisdom from the good hand of God.

Don’t forget: The true proof of foolishness is trusting your own heart! (Pastor John Strain — First Baptist of Toms River)

Great Quote: By these things examine thyself: By whose rules am I acting? In whose name? In whose strength? For whose glory? What faith, humility, self-denial and love of God and to man have there been in my actions?

Anonymous

THE DANGER OF WANDERING . . .

Like a bird that wanders from its nest is a man who wanders from his place. Proverbs 27:8

This little line from the Wisdom Writer talks to us about the danger of wandering. We may get into trouble when we wander aimlessly or carelessly from the safe place God has for us. Like a bird out of its place, we are vulnerable when we leave the safety of our place.

Freedom Fighters who know the battle with addictions need to accept this instruction. You may have known freedom from your addiction for a long time. Perhaps you’ve become too comfortable in your victories. Carelessness creeps into your life. You wander from the places that you know are safe. You may wander unintentionally, but still you wander.

Where might the wandering take you? You may go to the wrong place on the internet. You may wander back to the old neighborhood where you scored your last hit. An old affair may come to mind and you reconnect with someone who puts you in a compromising position. Hear the Proverbs Writer today: wandering is dangerous! You’re as unsafe as a little bird that falls from its nest.

As I think about the word, I believe wandering also speaks to a lack of discipline. Those of us prone to wander probably aren’t practicing good self-control. Wandering infers drifting, and I can’t think of anything more dangerous for Freedom Fighters than drifting. Drifting gives Satan an opportunity to take us places we don’t want to go, to places we don’t need to visit.

This one little line of scripture also speaks of this “place” where we belong. It implies that we have a good and right place where we belong. We also know of places where we don’t belong. All of us who choose freedom instead of bondage do well to accept the safe place, even if it sometimes feels like we’re closed in. Safety always includes come level of restraint. We should accept that restraint, not fight it.

If you’re out with your family for a Sunday afternoon drive, wandering is fun. Freedom Fighters striving for victory avoid wandering and appreciate the safety of their “place.”

Don’t forget: Birds and Freedom Fighters aren’t safe when they’re out of place! (Pastor John Strain — First Baptist of Toms River)