Misfire

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“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 ESV

While in boot camp, I was issued a M-16A2 service rifle. Our drill instructors stressed the importance of cleaning and maintaining our rifles. If a weapon was in poor condition, dirty and misused, it could misfire. It may lead to inaccuracy while shooting or even explode in our hands. This fear caused us to carefully study and clean our weapons with great care.

The same can be said about the word of God. In the book of Hebrews and Ephesians, the bible compares itself to a sword. A sword, like any weapon not handled properly, can cause great harm.  If we are not careful in how we handle the scriptures, it can be detrimental. It is important for Christians to truly study the bible instead of simply picking and choosing select verses. The context is just as important as the verse itself when we present it to others. I have seen people, well-intentioned people I’m sure, use the book of Leviticus in particular as a weapon against others. We see in Luke 4, Satan using scripture against Jesus. Twice the bible quotes the devil in using the word of God to try to subvert God’s plan for human redemption (Luke 4:10-11). If we are not diligent in our study of the bible we may fall victim to those who twist the word of God much like Satan in the book of Luke, or worse yet, misuse the scriptures ourselves.

The M-16’s that are issued in boot camp, are weapons that require great care and careful use. The bible too is a weapon that requires great care and study in order to be used properly. I highly recommend picking a book of the bible and reading it through. This will give you a better understanding of the verses and also some insight as to who and why the book was written. It may also help to use a study bible to gain a better understanding of the time and place the book was written.

Ultimately, the whole bible is meant to reveal God to us and to give instruction in how a true Christian should live. It’s easy to get caught up in the Old Testament laws and think the bible is just a book of “do this, not that,” but through study and much prayer we see what the true message is: Love.

Paul sums it up nicely for us in the book of Romans.

“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Romans 13:8-10 ESV.

Before we start throwing “scripture bombs” at our neighbors, we must take a moment and ask ourselves, “Is this love?” Are you bringing scripture to those around you out of love or are you simply trying to attack? Are you trying to point others to Jesus or are you just trying to prove a point?

We are called to love, anything short of this is a misfire of God’s word.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I Surrender…

When I became a Christian I thought that the battles of addiction would be my biggest struggle. Addiction to booze, drugs, porn, you name it and it was an issue. But that wasn’t the case. My desires for those things simply didn’t weigh as much as I thought they would. My biggest struggle was, and still is, myself. Trying to take my eyes off of myself and focus on Jesus Christ has proven to be one of the biggest challenges of my life. I’m selfish. I’m inconsiderate. I’m impatient. I’m human. The bible says in Luke 9:23 NLT, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross daily, and follow me.” Jesus calls us to die to ourselves and He calls us to do it daily. This has been weighing on me for a while now. Every sermon I watch, every book I read, every verse, every song, is telling me to surrender. Why is this so hard? If I take a step back and really look at why I don’t just give in to the call of surrender, the answer is simple and heartbreaking. I don’t trust Jesus. I don’t trust the fact that He truly knows what is best for my life. I don’t trust that He WANTS what is best for my life. So many times I will hear the Holy Spirit speaking to me, telling me the next steps I should be taking, but I choose to ignore it. Why? Jeremiah 29:11 NLT says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” The Lord Himself has told us, promised us, that He has plans for good! Why do so many of us refuse to believe this? We believe that He was raised from the dead and will save us from an eternity in hell, but we don’t fully surrender our lives to Him. I have been living a life of partial surrender for too long. It’s exhausting, it’s frustrating, and it has been my stumbling block for long enough! I’m tired of pretending that I know better than God. From now on, and I encourage you as well, I will start my day off with a prayer of surrender. A prayer that will empower me to live out Galatians 2:20, “I myself no longer live, but Christ lives in me. So I live my life in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” I surrender Lord, I surrender.

Words To Live By

I haven’t written a blog in quite a while. I recently started a new job and it has really been my main focus lately. I’ve had a number of people message me to say they miss my blogs and that reading them has really helped them get back on track. The truth is that since I have started working, my priorities have shifted, and not necessarily in the right direction. As I was doing my daily devotion, which has really turned into a once every other day or so devotion, I came across a verse that put everything back into perspective. Luke 21:34-36 NKJV, “But take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” The verses that came before this one in Luke 21 were talking about signs of the “End Times”, and to be honest, it’s a little scary. I hope that this verse has the same impact on my readers as it did for me.

Carry On My Wayward Son

Most of us have probably heard the story of the prodigal son. If you haven’t, the story is in Luke 15:11-32. It’s basically about a guy with two sons. The youngest of the two asks for his share of the inheritance and sets out to see the world. Not long after he leaves home he has blown through all his cash in “prodigal living” which basically means he partied all his money away. After working for a while feeding pigs, he realized that even the servants on his fathers land had it better than he did at this point. So, he decided that he would go home and beg for his fathers forgiveness. As he was traveling home he prepared this speech that he would say to his father in hopes that his father would allow him to return. The bible says that his father saw him when he was still a great way off and ran to him. Before the son could get halfway through his prepared speech his father cut him off and told the servants to bring out a robe, and start a feast, his son has returned! Now, the other brother heard the music and asked one of the servants what was up, the servant told him that his brother has returned. The older brother got mad because his dad never gave him a party for always being faithful, but as soon as his younger brother returned from blowing all his money on parties and harlots, they have a feast. The father says in Luke 15:32 NKJV, “It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.” I really like this story because it reminds me of my own, except for the older brother part. I was dead in sin and lost to the world. I’ve done my fair share of “prodigal living” that’s for sure, but when I started on my way back home, my Father welcomed me with open arms. The Lord doesn’t care where you have been, He cares where you are going. It doesn’t matter how far away you have traveled from home, your Father will always welcome you back. Luke 15:10 NKJV, “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Knocking On Heaven’s Door

I honestly believe that every word in the bible is put there on purpose. Every word, every sentence, verse, chapter, and book have a message or meaning. Sometimes when I go back and reread a verse I’ll get a different interpretation than the first time I read it. But I always get something out of it. When I was doing my bible study this morning I was thinking about what kind of a message I could post from Luke 13. I could have posted about Jesus healing on the Sabbath and how we get wrapped up in the laws of God instead of focusing on the love and mercy that is Jesus Christ. Or the parable of the fig tree, that’s a message all on its own. But the verses that really stood out to me today was Luke 13:23-25 NKJV, “Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘ I do not know you, where you are from,'” The guy was basically asking Jesus if a lot of people were going to go to Heaven. The question of salvation can be a tricky one. Some believe that once saved, always saved. Some believe that you can lose you salvation. I believe that once you truly give your life to God, it won’t be an issue. Once you fully surrender to God, it won’t be a question of “am I truly saved?” or “can I lose my salvation?” Romans 8:38-39 NKJV says, “For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Once you truly give it all to God, nothing in this world or the next, can ever take away the love of God that is Jesus Christ. I have felt the power of God first hand, the change that takes place in your heart when you accept Him as your savior. Once you truly feel the Holy Spirit, it won’t be a question of salvation anymore. Once I was truly saved, I felt a calling to spread the word of God. I write these posts in hopes that they would reach someone out there, someone lost, someone far from God. The question I find myself asking now isn’t “is God real?” or “am I truly saved?” I know that God is real, I know that I am saved. My concerns now aren’t for myself anymore, they are for my friends, my family, my readers. The verse above isn’t a scare tactic to get you to go to church or read your bible, it’s the living word of God Himself. One day He will come back, and I fear for many out there it will be too late for repentance. It will be too late to give it all to God. “When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you,'”