Although I hate football, even I know the principle that the best offense is a strong defense. In his book Stealth Attack Ray Pritchard asks the questions, "how do you fight against a shadowy enemy you can't even see, who doesn't play by the normal rules of warfare, and whose deepest values run counter to those taken for granted by civilized people. Former US ambassador to the U. N. Human Rights Commission Michael Novak argues for what he calls a 'foreword-leaning defense.' What does it mean for the Christian to practice a forward leaning defense? Satan fights his dirty war using many different weapons. Satan tempts us today in the same way he tempted Jesus in the wilderness. From the very beginning a battle has raged for the souls of men and women, a battle that touches all of us sooner or later. " This does not mean we give up or retreat. In this great war, Christians can NEVER SURRENDER, NEVER RETREAT.
Because as the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Rome, "what, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us who can be against us? He did not spare his own Son, but gave Him up for us all--- how He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has CHOZEN?" So I WON'T LOSE, even though I'm not worthy! You protect yourself by putting something between you and those or that which wants to harm you. You put up boundaries, right? So doesn't it make sense that five of the six pieces of armor the apostle Paul tells us to take up in his letter to the church in Galatia are defensive pieces?
Because of my near-death experience I suffered a dramatic brain injury in the form of an open-head wound(a depressed skull fracture to be more specific.) An open head injury occurs when an object such as a bullet, backed by strong force, fractures the skull and damages brain tissue or the surrounding membranes. Depressed skull fractures are often the result of a severe blow to the head with a blunt object. Unlike linear skull fractures, which only break the surface of the skull, broken skull fragments from depressed skull fractures penetrate or compress brain tissue and can cause severe brain damage. Because of this I really understand the importance of a helmet. And that is where I believe we should begin this series on training and preparing for the battle. The psalmist wrote, "oh God the Lord, you are the strength of my salvation, you have covered my head in the day of battle.
Jesus' Hebrew name, YESHUA means salvation. The prophet Jeremiah wrote, "for He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head." The apostle Paul followed this as he wrote in his first letter to the church in Thessalonia, "but let us who are of the day be sober, putting on a breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. Who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him."
In his letter to the church in Ephesus the apostle Paul gives INSTRUCTIONS for Christian living saying , "so I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of their ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in Him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and Holiness."
Since it is December, what better place to start our defense against Satan then with Jesus the light of salvation? On that note let me go ahead and wish you a merry Christmas . After all because of Him, we are WINNERS and NOT GUILTY. The apostle Mark tells us in his letter to Christians in Rome about a time when one of the teachers of the law asked Jesus which is the greatest commandment to which Jesus replied, "Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul with all your mind and with all your strength." That is what this blog will cover, the helmet of salvation, what it protects and how it works together with a breastplate of righteousness.
IN MY HEAD?
For me the importance of wearing a helmet during any physical activity that may affect my head is greater than most. The whole purpose of the helmet is to be a boundary between the head and whatever may harm it and its contents. After my accident I didn't allow surgeons to put a protective plate inside my head thus leaving my brain vulnerable to any foreign object penetrating it. In his letter to the church in Rome the apostle Paul wrote, "the sinful mind is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God. You, however are not controlled by the sinful nature but are in the spirit, if indeed the spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ."
In the foreword of the book Pure Eyes, Stephen Afterburn says, "the struggle against lust and immorality in our culture really is a war-- a war that feels like heat-seeking missiles coming at you every day. You cannot ESCAPE the lust bombs passing by, popping up on the web, featured in movies, or glaring at you from billboards and magazines. It's as if someone has alerted the cosmos that you were vulnerable, an easy target, and likely to FALL BACK into the very thing that has brought you the most shame, remorse,, frustration, helplessness, disconnection, and confusion. The temptations are there--- they are not going away--- and all of the new starts with more effort are not ever going to be enough to help you survive the war with your integrity intact."
The apostle Paul continues in his letter to the church in Rome, "do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be TRANSFORMED by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--- His good, pleasing and perfect will." The helmet of salvation the apostle Paul tells us to put on in his letter to the church in Galatia first protects our mind. In his book Think Like Jesus author George Barna says, "the real benefit of thinking like Jesus is that it applies to everything."Barna believes that whether the issue is cloning, divorce, vocation, voting, media content, relationships, or family issues--- it doesn't matter; it's all covered when you start thinking His way. If imitation is indeed the sincerest form of flattery, what better way is there to express your love for God than to commit yourself to thinking like Jesus?
Luke tells us in the book of Acts that Peter and John testified before the Sanhedrin about Jesus, "salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved." Then the apostle Paul told the church in Corinth in his first letter, "we have the mind of Christ." And in his second letter to the church in Corinth he wrote, "for though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ."
Pritchard continues in his book Stealth Attack, "Satan attacks rapidly from different angles, any ground left unguarded becomes open territory for the devil. Pay attention, keep your eyes open." I mentioned in my last blog that My little brother is a Calvary Scout in the Army. His job is to go out ahead of the frontlines and scout the territory for the enemy. He is equipped with a helmet that has night vision which allows him to see in the dark. All of you Faith riders out there probably know the advantage of wearing a motorcycle helmet with a full face shield on it. Those types of helmets keep the wind and bugs out of your eyes. It's hard to FOCUS when SOMETHING IS IN YOUR EYES.
According to Matthew Jesus put it this way, "why do you look at the speck of sawdust in someone else's eye? How can we say, 'let me take the speck out of your, when all the time there is a plank in your own our? You HYPOCRITE, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from the other person's eye." In her book Wait For Me , Rebecca St. James writes, "the eyes don't lie, Matthew tells us, 'the eye is the lamp of the body. If you are the good, your whole body will be full of light. But if you're eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!'
St. James continues, if the eye is the 'lamp of the body,' then we should be very careful what we allow to gain entry into our minds through our eyes. Our eyes have been referred to as the 'windows of the soul,' so we really need to put spiritual blinders on to protect our hearts and minds. Just because you made a mistake in the past doesn't mean you have to keep on making the same mistakes. I don't know who said it first, but I like this quote,'you can't change the past, so perfect the future.' How do you do it? Former supermodel Kim Alexis offers these five practical steps on her website:1. Make a firm commitment to save yourself for marriage from now on and believe you can do it. 2. Get away from people, places, things and situations that can weaken yourself-control. Sometimes the healthiest thing we can do is avoid people who tempt us. 3. Avoid intense hugging, passionate kissing, and anything else that leads to lustful thoughts and behavior. Anything beyond a brief, simple kiss can quickly become DANGEROUS. 4. Find nonphysical ways to show your love and appreciation. 5. Remember that anyone can start over, including you. When you focus on commitment and self-discipline, you can control your impulses.' After Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they ran and hid from God in a attempt to cover their shame. Guilt is a very powerful thing. It clouds one's vision and can really paralyze a person. That's exactly what Satan wants. One of Satan's greatest tools is isolation." Robert Bly once said, "growing up is making your body do what it does not want to do."
Our eyes are a very important area that we men especially need to protect, Satan loves to attack us here, he doesn't leave much for us to have to imagine and he picks us off like toy soldiers, if we don't. I will go ahead and confess that this is area I have failed in. A few months ago I told you about my favorite romantic movie A Very Long Engagement which is a foreign film that has nudity and sexual content. But I justified it because it was a romantic movie. After all what is a helpless romantic without someone in their life to be romantic with? Just helpless. You are probably thinking, what does spiritual warfare have to do with romance and relationships? The answer is, a lot. Scripture is clear that Satan cannot stand a God-honoring relationship. Why do you think he attacked the first family in the garden? Given the statistics of divorce, he is still up to the SAME OL' GAME. If you are in a Christian marriage or a God-honoring relationship, the devil is going to do anything he can to ruin it.
In his classic book Point Man author Steve Farrar writes, "families are dying all over America. They are dying on my street and on yours. In every one of these dead homes, the autopsy would be the same. Strategy number 1. effectively alienate and sever a husband's relationship with his wife. Such a division can either be physical or emotional. Both are equally effective. The enemy cannot kill a family without first dividing the husband and wife, so that is where he puts his efforts. And it is working. It's a strategy that's been around for thousands of years. It's called divide and conquer. But there's a flipside to the story. When a husband and wife refuse to allow anything to divide them, they become an impregnable force in the war on the family." That is why we need ministries like Focus on the Family.
Craig Cross says in his book Pure Eyes, "while sexual triggers seem obvious, it might not be. Of course, pornography is a sexual trigger, but what really is pornography? Definitions vary widely from culture to culture and even state to state. Since pornography and sexual triggers are so specific to each individual, we've created a very simple definition: a sexual triggers anything that stimulates you sexually. The psalmist wrote, "I will be careful to lead a blameless life-- when you come to me? I will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart( will discuss the heart later, let's focus on the head for now.) I will not look with approval on anything that is vile." Job said, "I made a covenant with my eyes, how then should I look lustfully at a young woman?" The apostle John tells a story in his letter to the Gentiles about a conversation between Jesus and a blind man. "Jesus asked him, 'do you believe in the Son of man?' 'Who is He, sir?' The man asked. Tell me so that I might believe in Him.' Jesus said, 'you have now seen Him; in fact, He is the one speaking with you. For judgment I have come into this world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.' Some Pharisees who were with Him heard Him say this and asked, 'what? Are we blind too?' Jesus said, 'if you are blind, you would not be guilty of sin; but now that you claim you can see, your guilt remains.... I am the Good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know my voice." James Merritt recently said, "a shepherd is a sheep's only salvation."
Cross continues in his book Pure Eyes, "essentially, you want to create a 'victorious environment' for yourself. If you want to avoid catching a cold, don't drink from the cup of a person who has a cold. If you want to triumph over this addiction, avoid your triggers." Pastor James Merritt said it best when he said, "I guarantee that if you don't put yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong person. That you never have to worry about doing the wrong thing!" Because of this you won't find me IN THE CLUB. Rebecca St. James continues in her book, "Not too long ago I had the opportunity to sing at Billy Graham's ministry headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was great because I was able to share with the staff how much I admire Mr. Graham. He is a hero of the faith to me. He will not ride in a car with another woman unless his wife is present."
If you know me, you know that I don't allow women to be alone with me in my home. This is a boundary that I put in place years ago to help me not compromise my faith and commitment to God to. But I need to be like Job and have COVENANT EYES. In his book Dug Down Deep Joshua Harris states, "the Bible is full of encouragement to fight our fleshly desires. We can't live in peace with the flesh. We have to attack it and deny it and kill it" referring to the apostle Paul's letter to the church in Rome, "for if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if you live by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body. You will live. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let's put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." .
Harris continues in his book Dug Down Deep, the problem is that too often Christians make friends with their flesh. In fact they feed their flesh. That's what "making provision" means in Paul's letters to the church in Rome. We feed our flesh when we do things that encourage or foster our old sinful desires. This is choosing to live like who we used to be. Giving into temptation, dwelling on sinful thoughts. And spending time with people in places that celebrate sin are like giving our flesh three well rounded meals a day with snacks and dessert. We might think that since we've been freed by the cross, it's okay to indulge the flesh, but that's not true . For Paul wrote in his letter to the church in Galatia , "you, my brothers and sisters, were called to be FREE, but do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires." And there is a real problem when we feed the flesh ... our flesh can grow then before we know it, our flesh is bigger and stronger than we are and starts to push us around. That is why we need to starve our flesh. We want the flesh gaunt and feeble. When we starve the flesh, it's easier to resist temptation and to walk in obedience ."
In his book Pure Eyes Craig Cross writes, "we've gone over the basics of the soul-searching a man must do when struggling with an addiction to pornography. We pointed out the importance of admitting to yourself and others that you have the struggle, committing yourself to overcoming it, and understanding addictions nature. We've even defined the boundaries and ultimate destination for your sexuality: sex and all sexual activity ought to exist only within marriage and between the partners of that marriage. Let's outline the points you need to travel through to go from wanting to stop looking at pornography to actually stopping. We call this process 'starving the addiction' because, ultimately, our goal is to quite literally starve it out of our brains." This is where we go on a DIE-IT in our training. The mind and eyes are only two areas protected by a helmet.
There is a 17th century carving over a door of the famous Tōshō-gū shrine in Nikkō, Japan. The carvings at Toshogu Shrine were carved by Hidari Jingoro, and believed to have incorporated Confucius’s Code of Conduct, using the Monkey as a way to depict man’s life cycle. In Japan it is simply a proverb regarded as a Japanese Golden Rule. Some simply take the proverb as a reminder not to be snoopy, nosy and gossipy. Others believe the message is that a person who is not exposed to evil (through sight or sound) will not reflect that evil in their own speech and actions. Today "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" is commonly used to describe someone who doesn't want to be involved in a situation.
King Solomon wrote in the book of Ecclesiastes, "it is better to hear the rebuke of a wise person than to listen to the song of fools. Like the crackling of thorns under the pot, so is the laughter of fools. This too is meaningless." So it's a good thing most helmets cover our ears. Perhaps like me when you were little you heard the saying, "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." And probably like me you have been hurt by words. In today's society of political correctness, it is easier than ever to be offended by names. Be honest, words do hurt don't they?
So does the lack of words, Silence speaks a thousand words. Ask a wife who longs to hear her husband say, "I LOVE YOU." Ask the little girl that lives for the moment when daddy says "I'm beautiful." Ask the helpless romantic that is waiting for MORE THAN WORDS. Ask the cancer patient waiting for some good news. The words that we speak , are they life or death? Do they give us hope or discouragement? John Stott writes, "A man who loves his wife will love her letters and her photographs because they speak to him of her. So if we love the Lord Jesus we shall love the Bible because it speaks to us of Him. The husband is not so stupid as to prefer his wife's letters to her voice, or her photographs to herself. He simply loves them because of her. So, too, we love the Bible because of Christ. It is His portrait. It is His love-letter."
Since we are held responsible for every word we speak, I think we had better listen very carefully to what we are saying, not just to our brethren, but also to ourselves. In his letter to the church in Ephesus the apostle Paul wrote, "do not let any unwholesome talk out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen... Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just us in Christ God forgave you. Follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. But among you there must not be Not Even A Hint of sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity, or agreed, because these are improper for the Lord's people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving." It's a good thing Christians don't have curse words! In the book of Proverbs Solomon says, does not wisdom calls out? Listen, for I have worthy things to say; I open my lips to speak what is right."
John tells us in his letter to the Gentiles that Jesus told his disciples who were grumbling, "the Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you--- they are full of the spirit and life." King Solomon tells us in the book of Proverbs, "from the fruit of the mouth people's stomachs are filled; with the harvest of the lips they are satisfied. The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat it's fruit. The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life, but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence. Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers all wrongs. Wisdom is found on the lips of the discerning, but a rod is for the back of the one who has no sense." Last month while watching Dancing With the Stars(hey I'm a dancer at heart) I saw "professional" dancer Maksim Chernovsky lose his cool and voiced his frustration with one of the judges on live television. This is what happens when we let our emotions get bottled up and we speak without thinking.
In the book Deadly Viper (character assassins) Mike Foster confesses, "one time I was pummeled by the assassin of Amped Emotions at work when I found out some interns had lost a day's worth of critical recordings we had just tapped for a client. I was fuming, knowing we couldn't get it back. The simple lack of attention and priority had led to this failure. Well, I let my emotions take the driver's seat and I lost control. This is no exaggeration; I actually made one of the male interns who was responsible break down in tears and start sobbing. I know, I'm a jerk, and I felt horrible afterward. I asked for his forgiveness and tried to make it right but I will never get that moment back. As leaders, we need to positively identify the trigger points of our emotions." I'll go ahead and admit that this is another area that I have messed up royally and made my share of mistakes when it comes to talking especially about someone I care about. In his book Boy Meets Girl Joshua Harris asks, "in our relationships what's the best thing you can do with your lips?" Personally, I vote for kissing, thank you so much God for freeing of that boundary! Harris explains, "the most important thing we can do with our lips in a relationship isn't kissing: it's communicating. Authentic communication is a skill that takes time, effort and determination to learn. And it also takes humility. Men especially often have a lot to learn in this area. But let's not dismiss our weakness as a 'guy' thing. Instead, let's push yourself to grow so we can bless the women in our lives and experience the joy of rich relationships. And women shouldn't assume they can't learn something to."
A lot of times we pray for God to speak to us or to give us a word. However we often forget that in this relationship with God that He wants us to speak to Him. So we must tell Him and that is why the Bible tells us you must SING YOUR PRAISES to God and He will hear us from Heaven. I am not talking about the times when we ask God HELP ME OUT! The times we spend talking to God are better than a hallelujah to Him. Brother Keith, I think you'll give me an amen on this next point. In his book Stealth Attack Ray Pritchard says, "if we want spiritual victory over the devil, one way to get it is to sing our way there. Preaching is one thing. Prayer is one thing. But music is something else. It touches the heart and soul at a level too deep for words. Music is not better than preaching or better than prayer, but music takes the words of a sermon and brings them home to heart and music lifts our spirit to believe the words we bravely utter in prayer. Music is a weapon of spiritual warfare. The devil hates it when we sing and worship God. He hates our music because our singing arouses our souls, gives us COURAGE, lifts our hearts, restores our faith, builds our confidence, unites our voices, and lifts it up to the Lord like a mighty banner. Music is not just preparation for warfare. Music is spiritual warfare. When God's people sing together, we INVADE the devil's territory."
While I was writing this blog I heard her sermon about the Jewish Shofar which is a horn-like instrument blown at the beginning of the Jewish holidays and to announce the start of a war. These were the ones that Joshua used to make JERICHO SOUNDS and bring down the walls( I'll talk more about walls in just a moment.)
The apostle John tells us in the book of Revelation that the battle of Armageddon will begin when the trumpet blows. The word for trumpet used here is shofar. But what got me the most about this story of the shofar is how it's made. Shofars are usually made from the horns of Rams that have been sacrificed, which dates back to when God asked Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. The story is told by a prophet Moses in the book of Genesis and culminates with Abraham raising the knife to slay his son only to have God stay his hand and bring his attention to a ram caught in a nearby thicket. Abraham sacrificed the ram instead.
Because of this story some Jewish commentaries claim that whenever the shofar is blown God will remember Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son and will therefore forgive those who hear the shofar’s blasts. After a horn( which is used by the ram to defend itself) is separated from the ram, it is placed in boiling salt water to soften it and prepare it to be hollowed out and shaped into the right form to produce the best sound. Sounds like a refiner's fire to me.
I learned years ago while mountain biking to keep my mouth closed or else something might fly in that I didn't want to eat. This is another area that a helmet with a face shield protects us, our mouths. Matthew tells us about a time that the Pharisees and teachers of law questioned Jesus about the disciples not washing their hands before they ate. To which Jesus was replied, "listen and understand. Whatever goes into your mouth does not a defile you, but what comes out of your mouth, that is what the files you. Don't you see whatever enters your mouth goes into the stomach and an out of the body. The things that come out of your mouth come from the heart, and these defile you. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what the file you; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile you." In his letter to the church and Philip Paul wrote, "do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, but by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Jesus Christ."
MY HEART TOO?
When I had my near-death experience in my twenties I learned a lot about the brain and what it meant to be really dead. Take for instance the human brain does not finish developing until a person is in the early twenties. That means throughout our entire school( K-12th) years our brains are still growing. While the heart is fully developed by around age eighteen. The recorded time of death is when the physician actually pronounces the patient dead. The patient can be pronounced dead on the basis of brain death (with the heart still beating.) Medically and legally, the patient is dead at that point. But, the actual time of death is that when a person is brain dead, not when the heart stops beating, although the brain can survive for about five minutes after the heart stops beating, because it is the heart's job to provide oxygen and blood to the brain.
The heart has it's own pacemaker independent of the brain. As long as it has oxygen, it continues to beat. The heart could actually be removed from the body, placed in a saline solution, given oxygen, and still continue to beat. Therefore, the brain can be dead and the heart may continue to beat. Do you see how our heads and hearts work together? No wonder the apostle Paul tells us to put on a breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate protects our hearts which helps keep our minds working properly. Woodrow Wilson once said, "When you have read the Bible, you will know it is the Word of God, because you have found it the key to your own heart, your own happiness, and your own duty." The Bible is full of Scripture about the heart. Matthew tells us that, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see the glory of God." Everything in our lives rotates around the glory of God, whether we know it or not. We want to take those steps forward to see God. This pathway is called purity. purity of heart is an examination of our lives at the heart level. Righteousness describes our activities; fear of God touches our attitudes and behaviors, but purity speaks about the way we utilize our heart. In a sense, it is the most strategic of all examinations. For the loyalties of the heart betray the weaknesses of one's life. Satan knows those weaknesses. He sees our hesitations. He doesn't tempt us right away. Often he lets us become leaders and have greater influence on others and then tempts us. John tells us in his letter to the Gentiles, "During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Jesus,"
Maybe you have noticed throughout this blog all the Scriptures where Jesus confronted the Pharisees. The Pharisees were the experts in the law, they knew in their heads what the Scripture said, yet they never really understood where Jesus was coming from. Have you ever wondered why? Matthew tells us about time when the Pharisees decided to test Jesus and asked Him, "why then, did Moses command that a man give his wife a certificate of divorce and send her away? Jesus replied, 'Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because your hearts were hard. But it was not this way in the beginning. I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual morality, and marries another man commits adultery." Did you get it? Their hearts were hard. And what happens when our hearts stop working? Our brains soon stop working. But even with all of that head knowledge, they had no heart knowledge. I guess we could say they were spiritual ZOMBIES. When our hearts are hard we can't see clearly can we? Not long after my accident, I had a close family member say something to me that really hurt me and my heart grew so hard that it took years and an act of God to soften it, which is what I call God's heartwork and He does it from the inside out.
I still have written down in an old devotional when I prayed for God to help me be more compassionate and forgiving(We''ll talk more about forgiveness in a minute.) It wasn't until that family member was dying and I had to take care of them(after all, I am a Promise Keeper) that my heart began to soften. Sometimes that is how God works, He will do WHATEVER IT TAKES to change your heart, He even allows us to be sweetly broken. Remember the Shofar? God has a way of getting our attention doesn't He? And this can be especially difficult for us men, we think that if our hearts are soft we are toy soldiers, so we put on our POKERFACE. It doesn't matter how big, how tough or how hard a man is, God can get to him, his heart is not fireproof against God. All it takes is one moment of TENDERNESS and our WALLS come down, don't they Danny?
For some it happens at the sight of their newborn baby, ask Sanctus Real's lead singer and guitarist Matt Hammitt. For others it might be a spark in the eyes of a brown-eyed girl. Just ask Jacob, he saw Rachel one time at a well and his heart melted. Then he worked fourteen years to have her as his wife, even after her family deceived and manipulated him.
While I was biking on Thanksgiving Day, I heard a quote by Beth Moore that has stuck with me. She said, " we Christians know that God changes lives. But we need to realize that God can change your day. No matter how things may be HERE IN THIS MOMENT, God can change it before you realize it." The apostle John Mark tells us in his letter to the Christian Gentiles in Rome, "Jesus said, "it is easier for camel to go through the eye of a needle then for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.' The Disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, 'who then can be saved?' Jesus looked at them and said, "with human beings this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God." During this last week of working on this blog, I have seen God work quite a few miracles in my life. But, honestly, I am hoping for one more MIRACLE, I will wait for that miracle. Because only Jesus Saves and only God can OPEN MY HEART.
Because of our sinful nature we were born with defective hearts. The prophet Jeremiah put it this way, "The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?" King Solomon warned in the book of Proverbs, "above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it." No wonder the psalmist cried out, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me." That is actually what happens when we get this NEW LIFE, God begins to give us a BRAND NEW heart. Luke tells us in his letter to the Gentiles about time when Jesus explained in the parable, "a farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path; it was trampled on and the birds ate it up. Some fell on rock and when it came up, the plants withered because they had no moisture. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up with it and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil. It came up and yielded a crop one hundred times more than what was sown.' When He said this, he called out, 'whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.' His disciples asked Him what this parable meant. He said, 'the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of God has been given you, but to others I speak in parables, so that, though seeing, they may not see; though hearing, they may not understand. This is the meaning of parable
I recently heard a message by Jonathan Falwell about the heart. Farwell asks, "have you ever wondered why you give God your best and it seems like a waste of time because there is no joy, no peace? I think Luke's account of Mary and Martha can help us understand this, Luke says, 'as Jesus and His disciples were on our way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to Him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what He said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had been made. She came to Him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me?' To which Jesus replied, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed--- or indeed only one. Mary has chosen the one that is better and it will not be taken away from her." Farwell explains the issue isn't what we are doing for God, it's why we are doing what we do 'for God.' Are you doing it with a right heart?" I'm sure you're thinking that Martha had good intentions.
Maybe you've heard the saying, "the road to Hell is paved with good intentions." Here's the problem, the word intention comes from the same root word as intend. Both of which happen in our heads, they are our plans. When we talk about getting saved, we don't say, "let me get my head right with God." No, we say,' let me get my heart right with God."The apostle Paul says this about the heart in his letter to the church in Rome, "a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God. Not other people." Does that sound like the Pharisees to you? I think that the Pharisees were victims of the High and Mighty assassin . In their book deadly Viper(character assassins) Mike Foster and Judd Wilhite write, "some people are jerks. They are snooty, proud, arrogant, self-absorbed and high and mighty. They think their job title gives them license to run over other people. They can't see past themselves and they blow off the needs of others. The odd thing about the high and mighty assassin is that everyone else knows you've been clobbered by it, but you. Success can ruin your life. Success can take us to some wonderful places, but it can also take us to some places we don't want to go. So how do we parry the tactics of the high and mighty assassin? We've found that asking some important questions can help: 'when was the last time I admitted I made a bad decision? When was the last time I said, 'I'M SORRY? How often am I the first one to say, I'm SORRY?"
As Christians, WE APOLOGIZE. I refuse to let a hard heart BURY ME. That is why I must let God's chisel to CHISEL ME and give me that new heart. God can change a heart as easily as He changes the leaves in the Fall, but the most important change happens HERE IN MY HEART. I refuse to let bitterness and forgiveness HOLD ME DOWN.
In her book Wait for Me, Rebecca St. James says, "FORGIVENESS is not an option. Recently, I spoke with two friends of mine who had some really good things to say about the issue of forgiveness. Rob shared with me that he didn't become a Christian until he was twenty-six years old. Unfortunately, he made many mistakes in the area of sexual immorality before becoming a believer. I asked him to share his thoughts on sex and forgiveness. This is what he said, 'first of all, the world has made sex too important. Even in marriage, too much emphasis is placed on it. I now realize that sex is not the biggest part of intimacy in marriage--it is an extra blessing, but not the primary blessing. Forgiveness... is not an option. If we belong to Christ. Then God has forgiven us, therefore we have no right not to forgive others, or ourselves. Every one of us has things that we regret in our pasts, but the thing we need to keep in mind is that God is bigger than any obstacle we can face. Nothing is too big(or bad) for God's forgiveness. God can heal anyone. One of the other things that Rob said was that in order to let God be Lord of our lives and really heal and renew us, we've got to take ourselves off the thrown!" I wonder HOW MANY KINGS we need to remove from our lives? The psalmist wrote, 'He has removed our rebellious acts as far away from us as the East from the west."
After fourteen years of celibacy, I can personally agree with Rob on both statements, sex is OVERRATED and GOD IS BIG. For God has a big, big heart. This is how I know, He has forgiven me for all of the junk I have done in my life. And will do in my life.
That is what Heaven's heart is all about, forgiveness. If you've read my last few blogs, you know that I've been struggling with forgiving friends that have betrayed me. It's not easy, because forgiving is a labor of love. But, I know it is on my Christmas wish list. I have come to the conclusion that LETTING GO and letting God be God means that I let God do what no man can do, change my heart. After all, only Jesus saves; a wife can't save a husband, a boyfriend can't save his girlfriend, nor can a parent save their child. Right brother Steve? So, it's OUT OF MY HANDS. I am not sure who said it, but it has been said, "forgetting happens in the head, but leads to forgiveness in the heart." Max Lucado once said, "I choose peace.… I will live forgiven. I will forgive so that I may live." Edwin Hubbel Chapin said, "Never does the human soul appear so strong and noble as when it forgoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury." That is why we are a people of the second chance. The Pharisees missed this even when Jesus hung up on that cross trying to teach them and us this, even then they couldn't see that GOD IS IN THIS PLACE.
Listen to some of Jesus' last words, "Father, forgive them. For they know not what they do." Even while Jesus was on the cross, He was praying for the Pharisees, because their hearts were still hard. In his book Stealth Attack Ray Prichard says, "He didn't say much that day, only seven or eight sentences. Oh, what words they were. What power! What truth He spoke! How could you ever forget them? He had done nothing wrong. Nothing to deserve this. He closed His eyes, as if in prayer. Then He looked again at the that howling, wild mob. 'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.' Forgive them? When they were guilty of the greatest crime in all of history. Forgive them? But He was innocent... and they knew it. Forgive them? But they had twisted the truth, made up lies, slandered His name, bribed His treasurer, rigged the trial, and guaranteed His death. It was murder, Sure and simple. They meant to kill Him... and they did. Forgive them? He came to show us how to live, and He came to show us how to die. He came to save us while we were yet sinners. He even came to save those who put Him to death. 'Father, forgive them.' I'm so glad Jesus said that, because it shows us that forgiveness is always possible. If He could forgive, then anything is possible. If the Son of God can rise above anger and hatred, if He could find a way to forgive His enemies, then so can we--- with His strength, not our own."
Isn't that what Christmas is really all about anyway? God forgiving us through the birth and sacrifice of His Son. "Forgive them" are words that are forever WRITTEN ON MY HEART. Over the last few weeks, I have prayed that God would harden my heart towards someone because I was hurting. The more I pray that prayer, the more I realize why God won't do it. Because that is not Heaven's heart is it? Brother Steve, now I get what you were trying to tell me, now I understand why God won't allow my heart to get hard. I understand now more than ever, that heaven's heart is love and love is forgiveness. In today's health conscious world, we are getting one thing right, we need to keep our hearts strong and healthy. Especially if we are going to win our battles in spiritual warfare. In his second letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul wrote, "for this reason I remind you to stir into flame the gift of God, which is in you through lying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self discipline. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God, who has saved us and called us to a holy life--- not because of anything we have done but because of our purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time, but it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus, who has destroyed death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel."I hope in closing this blog that you see how vital your helmet and heart are in SPIRITUAL WARFARE.
