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.