The Ropes that Hold Us Down

[My friend] Orville finished the checklist [for liftoff]. The tower gave us the go-ahead. He glanced out the side window [of the plane] and blanched: "Oh my gosh! Look at that! We haven't untied the ropes! ...I can't believe we were getting ready to take off without untying the ropes! That's a good one." I wanted to get out of the plane...  If I am not yet living according to what I believe matters most, it is no accident. There are forces or habits that have a deep hold on me that I will have to get rid of.  The writer of Hebrews puts it like this: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us" [Hebrews 12:1].

DON'T BE DECEIVED

 

Colossians 2:8  See to it that no-one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. (NIV)
The gospel is attractive to spiritually hungry people, and those who submit to Christ receive forgiveness, enter a new family and start a new life. But these spiritual infants are vulnerable and need to be protected. Paul knows that spiritual predators are always nearby waiting for an opportunity to hijack young believers. So he warns the church not to be moved away from Christ as their only hope.

These deceivers want to claim, capture and own people ... making them serve them and their cause. They use 'fine-sounding arguments' (Colossians 2:4) but their ideas are hollow: they deceive with empty promises. These liars use human ideas offering promises of security, favouritism or power in exchange for devotion, service and money. Looking at them objectively, they are simply running a business, trading in people. But they are spiritual frauds, offering a 'contract' of spiritual benefits in exchange for worldly assets of wealth, honour and obedience to human rules. 

God Uses Broken Vessels!

I cannot begin to tell you how many times I have been broken during my Christian walk and yet God continues to use me, He continues to love me and cherish me.

At the end of last year I was challenged by my own flesh playing up, the good that I wanted to do, I seemed not to do and the evil I didn’t want to do that kept on presenting itself. Feelings of frustration, un-forgiveness and resentment wanted to plague me for a season yet every time I tried to disqualify myself from the race, God would show me through His Word how many broken people were intricate parts of His family and plan for this earth and I really wasn’t any different.

Fear chokes the Word

Many lose the Word in their heart through fear, which is a manipulative tool of the enemy. Never give room to fear in your heart, for fear chokes the Word. Rather, through faith, receive the engrafted Word of God into your spirit and safeguard it therein.

Everything in life stems from the Word of God. God's Word, which encapsulates prosperity, health, success and victory is in your heart, and the devil is bent on stealing it from you. Therefore, you're to mount guard over your heart and safeguard the Word in your spirit.

The way to do this is through prayer and meditation. Meditation drives the Word deep into your spirit, causing your understanding to be broadened and as such the Word you've received stays. Prayer, on the other hand, concretizes it!

Through prayer your spirit is positioned and conditioned rightly to receive and retain God's Word. So, when you hear the Word, as you've done even now, don't neglect to drive it deep into your heart by meditation, and then concretize it with prayer! Otherwise, you could be creating an inroad for the enemy to steal it from you. Never let that happen.

Pastor Chris

Can This Wait?

Thomas Lynch is a mortician-poet who has written a surprisingly witty book called The Undertaking: Life Studies from the Dismal Trade.  He tells how often people instruct him about what kind of funerals they want, and his response is always the same: "The dead don't care."  One of them is a wealthy, worldly Irish priest who rides in a big car and has his eye on the cardinal's job. "No bronze coffin for me," he tells Lynch at the cemetery one day. "No orchids or roses or limousines.  The plain pine box is the one I want, a quiet Low Mass and the pauper's grave. No pomp and circumstance."

God is drawn to the diamonds -in- the- rough

You may have heard the phrase, “A diamond in the rough.” Usually, it is talking about that bad guy or girl who has lots of potential but so many rough edges. Some people have an eye for diamonds-in-the-rough; others dismiss them. But most people don’t know exactly what to do with them to make their true potential come out. They see good in there, but how do you chip away all of the hardened, rough rock surrounding it?

God knows exactly how to make diamonds come forth. It is His specialty, in fact. If you look at all of the people in the Bible He chose to work with for His plan, you’ll see soon that they are a bunch of diamonds-in-the-rough. Moses, for one, was chosen to be a speaker when he was a criminal ex-patriot with a speech problem. David was chosen to be King, though he was the least valued in his family and just a little shepherd. Mary was chosen to carry the King of Kings, Jesus, though she was poor and unmarried.

THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST

Colossians 2:9-10  For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the Head over every power and authority. (NIV)
Christless religion keeps God and humanity remote from each other. That approach seems reasonable to imperfect people. It preserves the dignity of the deity, and protects weak humanity from the full force of the god's anger. It also suits any religious hierarchy by preserving mysteries which only they can understand and teach to others. But faith in Christ is totally different. Jesus Christ was God in a human body - offensive to some but gloriously liberating to those who receive Him.

What if God...?

I picked this one in my inbox the other day, and I thought, Oh my GOD! What if any one of these things were to happen due to negligence, ignorance and oversight? I hope you get inspiration to live for God daily, hourly, every second of your life.

What if God
Couldn't take the
Time to bless us
Today because  we
Couldn't take the
Time to thank Him
Yesterday?

GOSPEL PAIN

Colossians 2:1  I want you to know how much I am struggling for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally. (NIV)

Paul is not ashamed of his personal struggling as a servant of the gospel. Everything which is worthwhile will involve some kind of suffering (the word used here is 'agona'). Examinations, athletics, construction and school teaching - they all have rewards when done excellently, but they will all involve struggle and suffering. Much time is sacrificed, skills are painfully refined, outcomes are clarified, strategies are devised, problems are anticipated; and everything is committed to the task irrespective of the cost - because the outcome is important.

A moment to weep

One way or the other, as humans, we are bound to break out. I have. I guess what I needed the most was just a moment to scream and shout and pray loudly. After so much time, staying in the house and just singing praises and hardly reading the bible, I felt an urge to just shout it all out.

I still am yet to do it - actually, I hope to do so this day when I walk into church. Why have I felt so?

There are these circumstances where as a leader, you need to be strong for those you lead. At times, you have to take the beatings and look alright. Though deep inside, one is vulnerable. I am torn between so many emotions and I really dont know how to deal with them. Maybe the best is to deal with one after the other - but i am not sure how to separate the emotions.

Dealing with self

As I pen this down, I feel totally bad, cause I know what it means to live with something that you shouldn't do, but you still do it. I am equally guilty of resorting to a self blemishing exercise each time i feel pressured, rejected, anxious, out of sorts and sad.

Do you know what sexual sins do to a person? They erode a bit of self, it is endulgence that can leave you empty, feel guilty, and each time you want to stop, you find yourself back at it again. And so much for trying to live a Godly life.

I wondered, why it gets to be so difficult to drop a bad habit picked up a long time ago, when no one knows about it, and when you just do it in protected privacy. Like you lock the door, so you don't get an unexpected visitor in the midst of your experience, like you wait up until everyone has gone to bed, or when you just feel lonely like I sometimes do, then you get back into that habit of your own, when no one else, but one watches.

God is watching us, nomatter how often we may try to run. God is watching.

It takes acknowledging that you have a problem, sharing it with someone you trust and working on stopping that seemingly litle yet significant habit.

Some preacher the other day spoke on the ten elements of integrity. What struck me was one of these elements, and i found myself asking God, why then do we find ourselves involved in sins of sexual nature??

Pornography, masterbation, prostitution, fornication, adultery,and many others that I may not know of are some of the sexual sins we commit and put our integrity on the line. We need to stop, we need to change, we need to be sexually pure in order to live a life of integrity.

How then are we able to defeat the devil when we deny our sins before God? Let us go before God in our weakness, and beg him to forgive us and purify us. It is in our vulnerability, sincerity and willingness to beg, that we find forgiveness, restoration and renewal in Christ.

You have to deal with those personal aspects of you that exposes you to the devil's whims. I am overly confident that God is unlike man that he should lie. He says in his word come to me for his yoke is lighter. Let us go before the almighty and beg for forgiveness, and beg for purity, and seek for a fresh start. God will always provide for that because he loves us, so much.

Dear Lord, we come to you in our weaknesses seeking purity from all sexual sins. We seek that the desire and quench be destroyed from my body for it is your temple Lord. We seek that your spirit overwhelms us in all dimensions to create a pure being who walks in integrity. Thank you for the love that you have shown by giving your only son to die for my sins. heal me, and purify me Lord that I may be a worthy and blemish - free sacrifice on the altar of grace, in Jesus name, Amen.

Thank you so much for admitting your wrongs.

God bless you and may he cleanse you, Amen.