Friday, March 18, 2016

WHERE AM I ON THE SPIRITUAL BAROMETER CONCERNING FRETTING? PART TWO


YEARS AGO, I ATTENDED A SEMINAR AND THE PRESENTER ASKED A VERY PERTINENT QUESTION: "WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT YOU?"

IT WAS MOST INTERESTING TO LISTEN TO THE RESPONSES OF THOSE IN ATTENDANCE.  HE THEN DECLARED: "YOUR RESPONSES WERE ABOUT A C+!

THE AUDIENCE GROANED!  HE THEN WENT ON REVEAL THE ANSWER: "THE WAY WE THINK"!  MOST CHRISTIANS RESPOND TO THIS QUESTION WITH:  "THAT I BELIEVE IN JESUS CHRIST AND AM BORN AGAIN"!  AS WE STOPPED TO MEDITATE ON HIS DECLARATION, WE WOULD HAVE TO AGREE THAT OUR THINKING AFFECTS EVERYTHING WE THINK, SAY, AND DO

HAVE YOU EVER HEARD IT SAID, "THE BATTLE BEGINS IN THE MIND?" REMEMBER, YOUR MIND IS NOT “BORN AGAIN”!  THEREIN LIES THE BATTLE BETWEEN THE FLESH-MAN AND THE SPIRIT-MAN!

TRAGICALLY, MOST PEOPLE HAVE NO CLUE THAT “THE WAY WE THINK” IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING ABOUT US”! TAKE A MOMENT, TO “THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU FIND YOURSELF THINKING ABOUT MOST OF THE TIME.”  TRY ASKING YOUR FRIENDS THIS QUESTION AND LISTEN TO THEIR RESPONSES! 

CONSIDER THOSE THOUGHTS THAT SO OFTEN “BEGUILE” YOU WHICH RESULT IN FEAR/ FRETTING... THE WAY WE THINK OBVIOUSLY RELATES TO WHAT WE ARE THINKING AND ULTIMATELY THE WAY WE ACT – THE GOOD, BAD, AND THE UGLY!

FRETTING IS THAT WHICH STEMS FROM FEAR…FOR FEAR IS THE PEG WHICH FRETTING HANGS ON!  BE SET FREE FROM FEAR, AND FRETTING HAS NO PLACE TO HANG ITS HAT!

 WE COULD GO ON AND ON CONSIDERING THE RAMIFICATIONS CONCERNING THE WAY WE THINK! ARE OUR THOUGHTS FOCUSED ON HIS PROMISES, AND  THE POSITIVE UPLIFTING FACTS THAT WE WHO ARE BORN AGAIN ARE CHILDREN OF THE LIVING GOD, REDEEMED BY THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, AND THAT “HE WILL NEVER LEAVE US NOR FORSAKE US.”  OR HOW ABOUT THE NEGATIVE AND DESTRUCTIVE “STINKING THINKING” SYNDRONE THAT CRIPPLES US – “I AM TOO STUPID, NO ONE LOVES ME.” AS ONE CHRISTIAN FRIEND DECLARED: ‘I WILL NEVER GET THROUGH THIS THAT IS GOING ON IN MY LIFE, I THINK ABOUT SUICIDE JUST ABOUT EVER DAY!’ OR GOD CAN’T LOVE A PERSON LIKE ME, I WILL NEVER MARRY, I AM TOO FAT/SKINNY, IAM FULL OF UNFORGIVENESS, ANGER, DEPRESSION, HOPELESSNESS, WOE IS ME, I AM SUCH A FAILURE, ETC. ETC.!  AND JUST WHO MIGHT BE THE INSTIGATOR OF SUCH NEGATIVE AND DANGEROUS THINKING?  COULD WELL BE THE "DECEIVER", BUT ALSO OUR VERY OWN FLESH! EVER HEARD THE EXPRESSION “I AM MY OWN WORST ENEMY”?

 IS THIS THE WAY OUR GOD ALMIGHTY WHO LOVES US SO VERY MUCH SEES US? ABSOLUTELY NOT...HE SEES THOSE WHO ARE BELIEVERS THROUGH THE SHED BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST AS PERFECT, EVEN THOUGH WE DON'T ACT LIKE IT ALL TOO OFTEN, SADLY. WE DO HAVE A CHOICE…CHOOSE TO THINK THAT WHICH IS PLEASING TO THE LORD, OR THAT WHICH IS PLEASING TO OUR FLESH!

WHEN WE ARE LIVING IN FEAR WHICH BIRTHS FRETTING, WORRY, AND ANXIETY, WE HAVE TO ASK, “WHOSE SAND BOX ARE WE PLAYING IN AND WHAT MESSAGE ARE WE SENDING TO OUR LORD GOD ALMIGHTY?” COULD IT BE:  “I REALLY DON’T THINK I CAN TRUST YOU IN THIS MATTER, LORD, SO I AM JUST GOING TO HAVE TO DEAL WITH IT MYSELF!”

 JOSHUA GATHERED ALL THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL AND ASKED THEM: “…CHOOSE THIS DAY WHOM YOU WILL SERVE”…ALMIGHTY GOD, OR OTHER GODS? (JOSHUA 24:15) JOSHUA THEN DECLARED “AS FOR ME AND MY HOUSE, WE WILL SERVE THE LORD.” (VERSE 15)

WHAT DO THE SCRIPTURES DECLARE CONCERNING FEAR/FRETTING?

      “GOD HAS NOT GIVEN US THE SPIRIT OF FEAR; BUT OF POWER, AND OF LOVE, AND OF A SOUND MIND.”  (2 TIMOTHY 1:7)

      “ FOR YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED THE SPIRIT OF BONDAGE, AGAIN TO FEAR; BUT YOU HAVE RECEIVED THE SPIRIT OF ADOPTION, WHEREBY WE CRY, ABBA FATHER.”  (ROMANS 8:15)

      “THERE IS NO FEAR IN LOVE; BUT PERFECT LOVE HAS CASTE OUT FEAR; BECAUSE FEAR HAS TORMENT.  HE THAT FEARS IS NOT MADE PERFECT IN LOVE.”  (I JOHN 4:18)

      “IN RIGHTEOUSNESS SHALL YOU BE ESTABLISHED: YOU SHALL BE FAR FROM OPPRESSION; FOR YOU SHALL NOT FEAR; AND FROM TERROR; FOR IT WILL NOT COME NEAR YOU.”  (ISAIAH 54:14)

      “IN GOD HAVE I PUT MY TRUST AND CONFENDENT RELIANCE; I WILL NOT BE AFRAID WHAT MAN CAN DO TO ME.”  (PSALM 56:11) AMPLIFIED BIBLE

      “DO NOT FRET.”  PSALM 37:1

WE COULD GO ON AND ON CONSIDERING THE RAMIFICATIONS CONCERNING THE WAY/WHAT WE THINK!  MAY I SUGGEST THAT YOU MAKE A LIST OF YOUR THINKING PATTERNS.  WHAT DOES YOUR LIST REVEAL…MORE POSITIVE, OR MORE NEGATIVE, OR SOME OF BOTH?

ONCE YOU DETERMINE YOUR THINKING PATTERNS, THEN WHAT? THE OBVIOUS STRATEGY IS TO TAKE THE RESULTS TO THE LORD, CONFESS THE “STINKING THINKING” (SIN) AND ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT, WHO IS YOUR HELPER, TO ASSIST YOU IN CONFESSING/REPENTING SO AS TO BE AN OVERCOMER FROM SUCH HARMFUL/DEADLY THINKING!  FOR THE SCRIPTURE DECLARES: “YOU HAVE NOT BECAUSE YOU ASK NOT.” (JAMES 4:2)

 BUT THANKFULLY, PAUL IN ACTS 6-8, ADDRESSES THIS POWERFULLY!  I RECOMMEND YOU SPEND TIME CAMPING IN THESE CHAPTERS....SO ENCOURAGING FOR US ALL! THINK ON THESE SCRIPTURAL TRUTHS….COULD WELL BRING VICTORY AND CHANGE YOUR LIFE FOR THE BETTER, TRULY!

THE ESSENCE OF THESE SCRIPTURES RESTS IN THE INCREDIBLE FREEING TRUTH, “WE SIN, BUT WE ARE NOT SINNERS”!  HOW MANY TIMES DO YOU HEAR A BELIEVER DECLARE: “I CAN’T HELP IT, BECAUSE IT IS MY ‘SIN NATURE’ THAT IS AT WORK IN ME, THEREFORE I AM ITS SLAVE!” NONSENSE! SUCH A STATEMENT REVEALS THE LACK OF TRULY NOT KNOWING GOD’S WORD, FOR AS PAUL DECLARES IN ROMANS 6:18: “AND HAVING BEEN SET FREE FROM SIN, YOU BECAME SLAVES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.”

WHEN WE BECAME CHILDREN OF THE LIVING GOD THROUGH BELIEVING IN THE LORD JESUS, SUCH AN ASSURANCE IS DECLARED IN 2 PETER 1: 3,4 “AS HIS DIVINE POWER HAS GIVEN TO US ALL THINGS THAT PERTAIN TO LIFE AND GODLINESS, THROUGH THE KNOWLEDGE OF HIM WHO CALLED US BY GLORY AND VIRTUE, BY WHICH HAVE  BEEN GIVEN TO US EXCEEDINGLY GREAT AND PRECIOUS  PROMISES, THAT THROUGH THESE YOU MAY BE PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, HAVING ESCAPED THE CORRUPTION THAT IS IN THE WORLD THROUGH LUST.”  TO REITERATE…WE  DO NOT HAVE A SIN NATURE, BUT A DIVINE NATURE, THANKFULLY!  PLEASE DO NOT ALLOW FELLOW BELIEVERS TO DECLARE SUCH A DISTORTION OF GOD’S TRUTHS!

DOES THIS GIVE US, THEN, LICENSE TO SIN?  GOD FORBID!

PAUL, IN ROMANS 6:15 “WHAT THEN? SHALL WE SIN BECAUSE WE NOT UNDER THE LAW BUT UNDER GRACE? CERTAINLY NOT!” AND IN CHAPTER 7 THE VERY ESSENCE OF IT ALL IS DECLARED: “BUT NOW IT IS NO LONGER I WHO DO IT (SIN), BUT SIN THAT DWELLS IN ME.” (7:17) AND TRAGICALLY, SIN WILL ALWAYS HARASS US BECAUSE OF THE FLESH AND SATAN.  NOTICE THE OPERATIVE WORD “HARASS”, WHICH MEANS THAT IS ALL THAT IT AMOUNTS TO, “HARASSMENT”!
KEEP IN MIND, SATAN CANNOT IN ANY WAY HAVE VICTORY OVER US UNLESS GOD ALLOWS HIM.  CONSIDER THE STORY OF JOB.  TRAGICALLY, HOWEVER, OUR MINDS ARE INDEPENDANT AGENTS – CALLED “FREE WILL” AND GOD WILL NOT VIOLATE OUR FREE WILL!WE HAVE A CHOICE – LIVE IN THE MIND OF FEAR, FRET, WORRY, OR RESTING AND PATIENTLY TRUSTING THE CARING SHEPHERD – OUR LORD GOD, “EL SHADDAI, THE MOST SUFFICIENT AND ALL POWERFUL ONE!”

BUT HAVE NO FEAR, FOR WHAT DOES JAMES WHO WAS ADDRESSING JEWISH CHRISTIANS IN JAMES1:2-4 DECLARE:

          “CONSIDER IT WHOLLY JOYFUL, MY BRETHREN, WHENEVER YOU                         ARE ENVELOPED IN OR ENCOUNTER TRIALS OF ANY SORT, OR FALL INTO VARIOUS TEMPTATIONS. (A TRIAL/ATTACK OF ANY SORT. NOT NECESSARILY TEMPTATION TO SIN)
            BE ASSURED AND UNDERSTAND THAT THE TRIALS AND PROVING OF YOUR FAITH BRINGS OUT ENDURANCE, AND STEADFASTNESS AND PATIENCE. 
            BUT LET ENDURANCE AND STEADFASTNESS AND PATIENCE HAVE FULL PLAY AND DO A THOROUGH WORK SO THAT YOU MAY BE [PEOPLE] PERFECTLY AND FULLY DEVELOPED (WITH NO DEFECTS), LACKING NOTHING.”  (AMPLIFIED BIBLE)

THAT BEING THE CASE, HOW DO WE DEAL WITH SIN THAT DWELLS IN OUR FLESH AND HOW DO WE GAIN VICTORY OVER OUR FLESH AND THE ATTACKS OF THE ENEMY?  THANKFULLY, THE LORD HAS PROVIDED HIS CHILDREN A “SIN CLEANSING” STRATEGY WHICH IS FOUND IN 1 JOHN 1:9 “IF WE CONFESS OUR SIN, HE IS FAITHFUL AND JUST TO FORGIVE US OUR SINS AND LEAD US IN PATHS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS”.  AND ALSO BY GETTING TO KNOW OUR TRIUNE GOD, AND HOW DO WE GET TO REALLY KNOW OUR TRIUNE GOD…THROUGH HIS WORD, BY HIS WAYS AND BY HIS ACTS. ISRAEL WANTED TO KNOW HIS “ACTS”, BUT MOSES WANTED TO KNOW HIS “WAYS”!

CONCERNING OUR THINKING, HOW MANY TIMES DO I HEAR THE RESPONSE:.."I CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT HOW I THINK"!  MY RESPONSE IS WITH A QUESTION: "WOULD YOU EVER THINK ABOUT ROBBING A BANK"? THEY QUICKLY WOULD DECLARE: "OF COURSE NOT...I WOULD NEVER THINK ABOUT DOING SUCH A THING"! REALLY? THEN YOU DO HAVE CONTROL OVER THE WAY/WHAT YOU THINK! THUS I HAVE MADE MY POINT. OF COURSE WE HAVE CONTROL OF WAY/WHAT WE THINK!

RECENTLY, AS WE WERE CLOSING OUR EVENING PRAYER, AS IS OUR PRACTICE TO ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT: "WHAT IS ON YOUR HEART FOR US
TONIGHT?" HE SPOKE THESE WORDS:"MIND THE GATE"!  OBVIOUSLY THAT GAVE US PAUSE FOR THOUGHT! WHAT COULD THIS POSSIBLY MEAN? WE KNOW THAT THE LORD COMMANDS US "BUT BE DOERS OF THE WORD, AND NOT HEARERS OF THE WORD ONLY, DECEIVING YOURSELVES". (JAMES 1:22)

AS WE CONSIDERED THIS THAT HE DECLARED, WE REALIZED THERE ARE MANY "GATES" FOR US TO MIND!  THE FEAR/FRET/WORRY GATE, THE HEART GATE, THE EAR/EYE GATE, THE MOUTH GATE, THE ANGER GATE…ALL THE GATES WHICH ALLOW SIN TO ENTER IN, EVEN IF WE OPEN THEM EVEN A “SMIDGIN”!

PSALM 118:19, 20 IS ANOTHER “GATE” WE MUST CONSIDER: “OPEN TO ME THE GATES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS; I WILL GO THROUGH THEM AND I WILL PRAISE THE LORD. THIS IS THE GATE OF THE LORD, THROUGH WHICH THE RIGHTEOUS SHALL ENTER.” 

HERE IS A CASE OF OPENING A GATE, NOT CLOSING THE GATE…THUS THE GATE CAN SWING BOTH WAYS, THANKFULLY!  WE HAVE THE “WHERE WITH ALL” TO OPEN OR CLOSE THE GATES IN OUR LIVES, DO WE NOT?  HOW IS IT WITH YOU, DEAR READER?  ARE THERE ANY GATES YOU NEED TO CLOSE OR ANY YOU NEED TO OPEN?  I WOULD ENCOURAGE YOU TO ASK THE HOLY SPIRIT IF THERE NEEDS TO BE SOME “GATE” CHECKING!  SOMETIMES WE ARE SO USED TO KEEPING A GATE PART WAY OPEN OR OPEN ALL THE TIME, OR CLOSED PART WAY  OR CLOSED ALL THE WAY ALL THE TIME!

HOW DOES THIS THAT WE HEARD THE HOLY SPIRIT COMMAND US -  "MIND THE GATE" RELATE TO THE TOPIC OF FRETTING, YOU MIGHT ASK?

JUST WHAT IS A "GATE"?  IT IS THAT WHICH IS USED TO KEEP SOMETHING IN OR SOMETHING OUT!  

TIME TO EVALUATE OUR THINKING WITH: "THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT"!  HAVE YOU EVER CONSIDERED THIS? WOULD YOU MAKE ANY CHANGES IN THE WAY YOU THINK? HOPEFULLY THAT WOULD BE A RESOUNDING - YES! YOU MIGHT ALSO ASK...:"WHAT ARE THE RAMIFICATIONS CONCERNING THE WAY I THINK"?  WHAT WOULD MY SPIRITUAL BAROMETER READ REGARDING MY FRETTING,WORRY-
ING, OR BEING ANXIOUS, ETC.?

READ ABOUT PETER AND HIS EXPERIENCE WITH A “GATE”  (ACTS 12:3-19) IN RELATIONSHIP TO THIS BLOG ON FEAR/FRETTING. CONSIDER THIS AS THE "MIND GATE"!  FOR OUR THINKING RESIDES IN THE MIND! REMEMBER, OUR MINDS ARE NOT “BORN AGAIN”! AND THUS WE MUST GUARD OUR MIND GATE, DAY AND NIGHT, KEEPING IT CLOSED AND LOCKED AT ALL COST, BEING ALWAYS ON GUARD IN KEEPING OUR MINDS FROM "LETTING IN" THOUGHTS WHICH ARE DAMAGING/DANGEROUS/DESTRUCTIVE...ESPECIALLY VAIN IMAGINATIONS,...THE "WHAT IF'S", IF YOU WILL, WHICH DEFINITELY CAUSES ONE TO FEAR AND WHICH OPENS THE GATES OF FRET, WORRY, ETC. WHICH THEN CAN RESULT IN MANY HARMFUL CONSEQUENCES.

IF GOD OPENED PETER’S PRISON GATE, WILL HE NOT OPEN YOUR PRISON GATE?

WE MUST DISCIPLINE OUR MINDS TO LINE UP WITH GOD’S TRUTHS
AS IS WRITTEN IN JOHN 8:32, "AND YOU SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH AND THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE"!  AMEN?

                                           *   TO BE CONTINUED   *

MAY I ENCOURAGE YOU TO BE LIKE THE BEREANS: “TO FIND OUT WHETHER THESE THINGS WERE SO” (ACTS 17:11)

BE GLORIFIED, LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, THE ONLY ONE TRUE GOD, THE                                                  
                              GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC, AND JACOB




                                                                                                                     




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