Monday, November 17,
2014, 5:30 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “Awaken the Dawn.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read James 4 (ESV).
Wrong Desires
What
causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your
passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You
covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you
do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on
your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the
world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world
makes himself an enemy of God.
A fight can be verbal and abusive, and/or it can be physical
and violent. Its purpose is usually to win, to conquer and/or to overpower an
opponent (or a perceived opponent). A quarrel is usually an angry dispute
between people, which generally involves personal attacks against the other’s
character, backbiting, crude or rude remarks, slander, and hate-speech, etc. An
example of this might be the actions of the U.S. government and military in
going to war with other nations and/or in going into other nations under the guise
of rescue efforts, yet for the true purpose of conquering other nations and
people in order to bring the nations of this world under a one world government
rule (alias “the beast”).
I believe the Lord Jesus has been teaching me for some time
now that the US government and military (and their allies) are involved in this
conquering of nations and at the cost of innocent lives, even or perhaps most
especially the lives of those who hold to the testimony of Jesus and who do not
deny his name (See: Rev. 12). The Bible speaks much on this subject of
persecution of the saints of God at the end of time, and how the dragon (Satan)
is hotly pursuing those of us who are sharing the full gospel message of
salvation and who stand on the Word of Truth.
Many throughout the world presently are suffering severe
persecution for their faith and testimonies for Jesus Christ, and are even
being put to death for their faith. I believe scripture teaches that there will
be a type of holocaust (genocide; extermination) of Christians in these last
days (See: Rev. 12-14), and for the purpose that Satan and his cohorts can rule
(conquer) the world and its people for a time. Yet, I also believe that God is
absolutely sovereign over all things, and that Satan can do nothing without God’s
permission, so since this is to take place, God is allowing it, and he is
allowing it for a purpose. I believe the major purpose is the revival of his
church, the spreading of the gospel, and it is for the salvation of many souls
on this earth before the return of Christ.
For us personally, we might get involved in a fight or a
quarrel because we want something that is not right for us to have or that is to
be used for sinful or selfish reasons. We may not murder to get it, but Jesus
said hate is the same as murder. So, we may treat with hatred and disdain those
who oppose us and/or who stand in the way from us getting what we want – even those
among our brothers and sisters in Christ. Many within the church are doing
this, even some of the church leadership, because what they want is a church in
conformity to much of the world’s system, because that is what will draw the
world into their churches. They want the world to be comfortable, happy and to
feel accepted in their meetings, so they compromise (make nice) with the world
in order to appeal to the world, so they may gain the world for their
flesh-driven human organizations and businesses. Those who stand on the Word of
Truth thus serve as a threat and must be discarded.
He Yearns Jealousy
Or
do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns
jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? But he gives more
grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the
humble.” Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee
from you. Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands,
you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn
and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble
yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.
Even though God’s grace has provided us with all we need to
live godly and holy lives in this present world, many of us have sinned against
him or are presently involved in willful acts of sinful rebellion against God.
And, God is not pleased. He is still a jealous God! We were promised to one
husband – Jesus Christ. So, we should no longer run after “other lovers,” i.e.
after the “gods” of this world. We should not participate in immorality and
wickedness in any shape or form – either in physical or mental participation,
or in giving approval to such things through allowing ourselves to be
entertained by the sins of others (See: 1 Co. 10).
We are to flee (bolt from; run away from) idolatry in its
various forms. An idol can be a hero, an obsession; something admired and loved
to excess, or something that is worshiped as a god. Worship involves loyalty,
commitment, faithfulness, and fidelity. So, what do we worship? What gets our
heart, time, energies, devotion, commitment, and faithfulness, etc.? What are
we passionate about? What stirs us emotionally? What is uppermost on our minds
when we arise in the morning and when we go to bed at night? What do we feel we
could not live without? There are many things that could be our idols, such as
vehicles, houses, possessions, “toys,” games, entertainment, careers, people,
etc. Basically, whatever gets our hearts, passion, desires, thoughts, time,
etc. has the potential of becoming an idol, especially if it is “worshiped”
over and above God/Jesus Christ.
When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we participate in his
death – in his body and blood – through death to our old lives of sin. And, we
participate in his resurrection through being transformed in heart and mind and
through putting on our new selves in Christ Jesus. We, as believers in Christ,
are now the body of Christ. And, we are now in daily fellowship with him. We,
thus, partake in Christ day-to-day through our times of prayer, worship, and
our times of sitting at his feet, listening to him speak, and then following
him in obedience and surrender to his will, as well as just through having his
Spirit living within us. So, when we follow after the idols of men instead of
following our Lord Jesus, in submission to his will, it is like breaking fellowship
with God. We can’t be in fellowship with the world of sin and with the Lord
Jesus at the same time. We can’t fill our minds with the trash of this world
and then expect to enter into times of sweet fellowship with our Lord. The two
don’t mix.
Speak No Evil
Do
not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a
brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law.
But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is
only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are
you to judge your neighbor?
Not everyone who has a difference of opinion (or belief) or
who contends with another is doing so for selfish reasons. The life of Jesus
and the lives of the apostles are examples of that. Paul, for instance, said
that he was put here for the defense of the gospel, and that he preached Christ
out of love and goodwill, while there were others who preached out of envy and
rivalry, and in order to stir up trouble (See: Phil. 1:15-17). When we stand on
truth against opposing forces, it can sometimes lead to back and forth
discussion where we stand on what we believe, and where we address what we
believe is in error. Yet, it should not turn to quarreling and fighting. Discussions
should be kind and respectful of one another.
We should never say hateful things to one another, and
especially we should not judge one another's thoughts and intents when we have
no knowledge of what goes on in another person's heart. We should not treat
each other as junk. We should not participate in snide or rude comments
intended to put each other down. We should not be involved in character
assassinations of each other or in slanderous remarks intended to make others
look bad. We should speak the truth in love, though, in order to help one
another grow in Christ. We should do so kindly, but never using flattery or
lying to people just to make them feel good. We should also never compromise
truth, our faith or the gospel to make people feel good.
If The Lord Wills
Come
now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and
spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what
tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a
little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we
will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such
boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it,
for him it is sin.
The bottom line in all of this, I believe, is “Who are we
following?” Are we following after other humans, after the gods of this world, and/or
after our own fleshly desires, or are we followers of Jesus Christ? When we
follow anyone or anything other than Christ, we are adulterous people, which is
why we fight and quarrel, hate and murder, and covet and conquer, etc., because
we want what is not of God, and so we discard the truth of scripture, and we
even reject and mistreat God’s servants, so that we can follow after what we
want.
When we are following after our own human flesh, we think we
have control over our own lives, and we get this false sense of security that
life will continue on as it always has. Yet, tomorrow could bring great
disaster and enormous loss of life, and we may never see tomorrow. So, we
should walk in the will of the Lord, and live our lives pleasing to him.
God is calling his church to come out from the world of sin,
to no longer partake in its delicacies, and to put on the full armor of God
with which to fight off the devil’s schemes against us. He has called us to be
a holy people, committed to him. He is a jealous God! He does not want to share
us with other lovers. So, if you are eating and drinking at the table of demons
through idolatry, sexual immorality, greed, gossip and the like, I pray that
you will turn from your sins, and that you will make the Lord your only God
today.
Awaken the Dawn /
An Original Work / January 15, 2013
Based off Psalm 57 (NIV 1984)
O my God, have mercy
on me!
In the Lord, my soul
takes refuge.
In the shadow of Your
wings, Lord,
I find shelter till
the storms pass.
I cry out to my God
Most High.
He fulfills His
purpose for me.
He sent His Son to die
for me,
So I could be saved.
I am in the midst of
lions;
Men whose teeth are
spears and arrows;
Whose tongues are
sharp; words accusing.
They spread a net, my
feet to catch.
They dug a pit, in hopes
I’d fall.
O God, be exalted o’er
all.
Let Your glory shine
to all men,
So they may be saved.
Steadfast is my heart,
O my God;
I will sing of all
Your wonders.
Awake, my soul! Sing
praise to God!
Early I will rise and
praise Him!
I’ll praise God among the
nations;
I will sing among the
peoples.
God’s love reaches to
the heavens,
So we may be saved.
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