Monday, February 11, 2013

...Where Satan Lives.

Have you ever considered the implications of this thought?  

Unlike God, Satan is not omni-present, which means everywhere at the same time - I know that seems impossible but if we could understand God and how He works then He wouldn't be a very powerful God now would He?!  Back to Satan's crib.  Satan is locked in time and space.  He was once an Angel who chose to deal in pride and deception and was able to convince a whole lot of other angels to follow him (dumb move on their part).  As a former angel Satan goes from one place to another.  He is locked in time and space just like you and me.  He doesn't know everything nor is he all powerful.  Okay, enough about that.

As a member of humanity I sometimes find myself (even this morning) considering the tactics of Satan to distract me, derail me and cause me to sin.  I say things like, "Satan is really after me today..."  Or, "Satan sure knows which buttons to push."  But I wonder if those are actually a "true" statements.  Is Satan at the root of all my failures and falls?  Does he have nothing better to do than to follow me around, a humble preacher of a relatively small church, and try and get me to fall, or to stop trying, or to give up, or to get so frustrated with my current situation that I just get mad and go do something else?  What really IS Satan's role in my life - and does he even have a role?

Well, certainly Satan exists.  The Bible says he prowls around like a lion seeking whom he may devour.  But if Satan is locked in time and space then he personally can't temp me and someone on the other side of the world at the same time.  Truth.  Ah, but you say that is why he has demons.  Spiritual henchmen who carry out his dastardly deeds.  That is also true.  But how often have you said, "A demon is really after me today..."  Probably never.  But I'm gonna take this a step further.  

Read the next statement.  Do you agree or not?  
Each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Agree or not?  
Let me put it again...
each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Do you understand this fully?  Each person is tempted... BY YOUR OWN EVIL DESIRE!  Look here, I'm gonna make you mad!  You (and I) are tempted BY OUR OWN DESIRE not necessarily by Satan.  Yes, it's easier and not as condemning to say that Satan tempted me or is after me but the truth is, as a New Creation in Christ Jesus, it is NOT Satan who is tempting me but my own evil desire.  

Here's the implication and then I have to go get my son from school... If it is Satan tempting me then I have an excuse.  He's a bad dude always trying to trip me up.  If it's my own evil desire then I have to take ownership and realize that MOST of my sin comes from me, not him.  So when I am tempted I must check myself.  Am I walking by the Spirit in this instance or the flesh?  Am I giving in to my own sexual, selfish, prideful or angry desire or am I submitting to the Spirit?  

The next time I feel "attacked by Satan" I want to check myself against the Truth of God's Word and see if there is an area of my life that is not submitted to Him (God).  And then I need to take that thought or deed captive to the Spirit.  

Don't get me wrong, Satan is active in our lives but perhaps not to the extent that we blame him for.  Perhaps some of the struggles you've claimed to have with Satan are just your own tendency for evil.  Rebuke Satan's work in your life and then see if he was even actually involved in that one... adjust back to the Spirit and keep moving.

Quote from James 1:14,15 NIV

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Keeping vs Giving (More Than week 4 - Thought 1)

I'm reading through the New Testament again this year but the reading plan I selected adds chapters from the Old Testament that correspond to the NT reading at times.  Today, was one of those times.  In fact (love the way God works) the OT reading for today was Genesis 4, it's the story of Cain and Abel.  You remember.  The first murder in the history of the world.  Cain, killed his brother Abel because God approved of Abel's offering but was not so happy with Cain's.

Let me start out with what we don't know.

  • We don't know who told them to make offerings to God.
  • We don't know what the rules for those offerings were.
  • We don't know if they made their offerings at the same time or in the same place or at different times/places.
  • We don't know how Cain knew that God did not find favor with his offering.
  • We don't know how God "took" their offering.  But, typically (like, every time  God consumed the offering like the bull on Mt. Carmel after Elijah had prepared it and the offering that Gideon prepared.  by Fire.  But we don't know how it happened in this case.  
Genesis 4 simply jumps right into the narrative of Cain and Abel with very little background and very little to go on.  
Cain was a farmer.  He grew things.  How he knew how to do all this could be added to the list of things we don't know.  He took some of what he grew and he offered it to God.
Abel was a rancher.  He tended animals. He took some of what he had raised (Gen calls it the "fat portions from some of the first born of his flock) and offered it to God.
God is the creator.  He made everything.  He apparently told the boys, directly or through their parents, what He would accept as an offering and what He wouldn't.  But how this happened or what the rules were we don't know.  We could speculate based on the law given by God to Moses in the desert.  We could speculate that since God never changes the rules would be similar to but we just don't know for sure.  But the narrative says that Cain brought "some" of the "fruits of the soil" as an offering but that Abel brought "fat portions of some of the first born of his flock."  Here are my GUESSES:
  • Cain brought left overs to God - some of the fruit but maybe not the best or from the first harvest.  
  • Abel brought the first and best he had as an offering to God - he held nothing back for himself.
  • When God gave the law He required the best animal from the firstborn of the flocks and herds and an offering from the first of the harvest.  So it stands to reason that God was not happy with Cain because he either brought the wrong sacrifice or an inferior quality.  And since God is a loving and just God He would not have had the boys guess at their sacrifice, He would have told them plainly what was expected.  Given that, Abel obeyed the rules and Cain didn't.
I'm assuming that God told Adam and Eve about the offerings He desired, though there is no indication in Scripture that Adam and Eve ever made an offering to God.  But if you had lived in paradise and perfection for who-knows-how-long and then broke the rules and got kicked out wouldn't you want to try and make it up to God?  Anyway, Cain and Abel surely knew what was expected of them.

But here's what caught my attention this morning.  Cain held something back.  He kept something for himself.  Perhaps he thought that God did't need the best he had harvested or that it was just as good to give God an offering from the last of the harvest instead of the first.  Which means, He kept something back.  He didn't give God the whole offering or the best offering.  He withheld something from God.  There are some pretty extreme cases of people withholding things from God - none of them turned out well, just ask Ananias and Saphira (they were killed immediately for withholding information and sacrifice from God).  

But Abel gave the best and the first and his offering was accepted.  

Is there something you are keeping back from God?  Something He's asked you to give but you're holding on to?  He's asked you to give Him your past - are you holding on to it?  Keeping it for future reference?  He wants to redeem your past and restore the future He has for you but if you hold on to it, keep it so you don't forget who you "are" then you're withholding what belongs to God.  Maybe you're holding on to your family and haven't been able to give them to God, you know, cause you know better than God how they should be raised or disciplined or what they should do with their lives.  Are you keeping back financially and not giving to God like Abel did, from the first and best of what you have been given?  Are you keeping your time so you can decide what to do with it?  Or are you serving and using your time for an eternal purpose.  

We'll look at how Cain and Abel resolved their difference another time, but for today, what are you keeping from God?  He won't use what you don't give Him - don't be a Cain, give from the first and the best that you have and see how God wants to favor you.