Conquering the Flesh

It's obvious that most Christians don't understand the flesh problem. I'm talking about the battle to be spiritual-minded, not carnal-minded. I'm not talking about the meat under your skin; I'm talking about the way the bodies desires tempt your soul to sin. Most people seem to equate carnality with sexual sin and they think that because they're not failing in that area then they're alright. Well, think again.
Did you ever see that game in the arcades called "whack-a-mole"? A little mole pops it's head out of a hole and the object of the game is to whack it on the head with a little mallet. When you whack it at one hole, it pops up from another hole somewhere else and you get points depending on how many times you hit it on the head. That's the way most Christians fight the flesh. They fight their flesh and deny it in one area and think they're OK. But then it pops up in another area and they fight it there. And then it pops up in another area and they have to fight it there too. The cycle is endless and very tiresome. No one can keep it up for long!
We must understand that the flesh is a many-headed beast. If you only kill one head, another one will pop up somewhere and it will feed through that one. Many Christians will deny their flesh when it comes to sexual sin, or drugs and alcohol, or maybe stealing. But then they will gorge themselves at the dinner table and they don't realize that gluttony is a work of the flesh and therefore their over-eating is keeping their flesh alive! It's like trying to kill a bee in a mason jar. If you don't plug every air hole, the bee will not die. He may get a little weaker, but if there is any hole left through which it can get air, it will continue to live!
The answer is to deny the flesh in every area. We must cut off all it's heads at one time. We mustn't give in to any temptation (even if we feel it is a "small" thing) or the flesh will live on. If you know that something is a temptation to you, stay away from it! If it's something you have failed at in the past, avoid it! Don't give place to the devil by allowing him to use your desires against you. The devil will use even legitimate desires (like food and sex) by tempting you to excess in those areas. Be wise and be careful. Think and pray.

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Cultivate the Relationship

I've had people tell me that they believe in God and they want to live right, but they just can't seem to get started. These are good, generous, kind people who just can't seem to make the life commitment. They want to go to church and serve God, but for varied reasons, they just can't seem to do it. If you are in this position, let me offer some advice.
Cultivate the relationship; that is the first order of business. Going to church is not what saves you. Living right is not what saves you. Jesus saves you. Get alone with Him and cultivate a relationship. Spend a few minutes each morning (or each night) talking with Him. Tell Him how you feel, what you're afraid of, what you want from life. Get to know Him and all the other things will come along naturally. Everything will blossom from the relationship. People tend to get things backward; they want to change and then go to God. But without God, people can't change. Once you get to know Him you will be drawn to that feeling of love and forgiveness and peace that you feel in His presence. Going to church, reading the Bible, and living right will all emerge from that personal relationship.

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Be Myself

The only place I can really be myself is when I'm alone with God; everywhere else I have to be what I'm supposed to be. When I'm husband, I have to be strong, decisive, and manly. When I'm father, I have to wise, nurturing and supportive. When I'm employee, I have to be faithful, hardworking and productive. When I'm minister, I have to be thoughtful, spiritual and caring.
But when I'm with God, He knows that sometimes I'm all those things and sometimes I'm none of those things and usually I'm a good mixture of those things. He lets me be me and it feels so good to just be real and not have to put on a face. I'm no hypocrite; I don't do things just to impress people, but I do feel pressure to play the role. All I have to be with God is His son. He knows the real me anyway, so it would be foolish and futile to be anything but myself! I can feel His love when I'm in His presence and I know that He accepts me as I am. He does let me know when I've done something wrong and I know He expects me to learn from my mistakes and mature, but He corrects me in such a gentle and kind way that I don't feel "judged", just loved.
Go to God and be yourself; it feels great!

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He Believes in You

We Christians are always asking people, "Do you believe in Jesus?", but how often do we tell them that Jesus believes in them? I remember how I felt before I accepted Jesus as my savior. I knew there was a God and I'd heard of Jesus all my life, but I figured that if all the things I'd heard about Him were true, then He certainly wouldn't want me. If He was really perfect and holy and righteous and selfless then He was everything I wasn't and I was convinced that I wasn't good enough to go to Him and ask for anything (or expect anything from Him).
I believed in Him, but I didn't know that He believed in me. I didn't know that He was pulling for me, working behind the scenes to get me where He wanted me to be. I can see now that throughout my life He was leading me to Himself, but I couldn't see it at the time. I thought He would judge me and wanted to punish me for all that I had done. I didn't know that He was waiting anxiously to forgive me and was pulling for me to make it. I didn't know that He believed in me; that He saw the goodness that He had created in me and knew that some day it would come out and I would pull through. I wish someone had told me.
If you don't already know it, I'm telling you now; Jesus believes in you. Even if you don't believe in Him yet, He believes in you. He created you and put a little of Himself into you and He is standing on the sidelines cheering you on. He is your biggest supporter. He wants you to win. It's not that He's some power-hungry monarch who only wants you to bow down and serve Him; He wants what's best for you and He knows that He is what's best for you. He wants to be able to forgive you and take care of you and provide for you and bless you. He believes you can make it even if you don't. Yes Jesus loves you, but He also believes in you!

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Wake Up, It's Christmas!

How did we let things get in this kind of shape? Christmas has become almost unrecognizable! The celebration of Jesus' birth that should bring peace and joy to all mankind has become a season of dread, despair and depression for many and overspending and overindulgence for almost everyone.
I know that Christmas has it's origins in pagan history as the celebration of winter and the "church" adopted it as a celebration of Jesus' birth to keep Christians from being wooed into paganistic revelry by giving them something "Christian" to celebrate. I don't have a problem with that. I think most Christians today know that Jesus wasn't born in December. When we celebrate is not what is important, it's what we are celebrating that is important! We celebrate the greatest gift ever given; God gave His son Jesus as a sacrifice for the sin of the entire world!
Instead of celebrating that gift that was given to us, we decided somewhere along the way that we should give gifts to each other. That decision has led to a perversion of the holiday. Christmas has become a pressure-filled excuse to overspend and overindulge. The only real winners these days are the stores and credit card companies. People who don't have money to spend go into debt that takes them the rest of the year to pay off and those who don't have the luxury of a credit card and can't buy gifts often go into a deep depression. Is it any wonder that the suicide rates soar during the holidays? The season when we should be resting and spending time with our families has become the most busy and stressful of the entire year!
It will never change unless we change it. We need to get back to the true reason for the season. We need to stop spending money and start spending time. We need to stop going to WalMart and start going to Church. We need to start showing our love for each other all year long in acts of kindness instead of one day a year with an expensive gift.

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Doesn't Suit Me

What's with all the suits?! I understand dressing nice to go to church (we always had
"Sunday go to meeting" clothes when I was a kid), and I believe in honoring God with the best we have. But some churches won't allow a man behind the pulpit (or even on stage) without a suit! I believe wearing a suit has become a tradition of men and does more harm than good.
First of all, I believe that when we go to church with the purpose of honoring God, we are robed in the righteousness of Christ Jesus. I don't think that God looks on our outside, but into our hearts. What good does it do to come to church in a $1000 suit and have a dirty heart?
Secondly, I don't remember reading in the Bible where Jesus dressed in clothes that proved He was a "man of God" or a "priest", but Jesus went out of His way to associate Himself with common people. Actually, He scolded the "holy men" time after time for wearing things and doing things that they thought would make them look or sound holier than everyone else!
Thirdly, when I was a non-believer, I could never quite feel comfortable in church because I was dressed in regular clothes and all the other men were in suits. I believe more people would come to church if they could come and feel comfortable being themselves and not feel like they had to dress up. And what if I can't afford a suit? Do you think I am likely to come to church in my regular clothes and sit amongst all those suits? No, probably not.
Fourthly, while I'm sure that some Preachers and Pastors feel like suits make them more "respectable" in the eyes of their congregation, I believe most people feel nervous around men in suits. I think people could get a lot closer to Pastors if they felt like their Pastor was a common man like them.
Hey, maybe it's just me, but I just think that as Christians we should be doing everything we can to show that we're just plain, ordinary folks; not better, just forgiven! I think we should do everything possible to make non-believers comfortable around us. How else will we get to tell them the good news?!

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Follow the Leader

People don't want Jesus because they want to do their own thing without having someone tell them what that thing is. Human beings don't like to be told what to do. They reject God, His rules and His sovereignty, and refuse to be ruled over.
But then people will allow other people, mere humans, to run their lives for them! I don't get it! We allow someone in Paris to tell us what is fashionable to wear; we let Oprah tell us who to vote for; we can't wait to pick up the latest fan magazine to see what some movie star says we should eat, or drive, or think! We follow these people without questioning and won't allow Almighty God to direct our lives! What's going on?!
It has always amazed me that last week Jim Bob Jones was a waiter in a restaurant and nobody cared in the least what he thought about anything, but this week he's been "discovered" by Hollywood and has a hit movie and now people everywhere hang on his every word! We follow the lead of men and shun the leadership of God, even denying His existence!
Everyone is following someone and some people are following just anyone. Haven't our earthly leaders let us down enough already? Open your eyes and ears to Jesus and He will lead you with His wisdom and His love!

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Then We Will See

The day is coming when being a Christian will make you an enemy of the state. It's hard to fathom how, in a country founded and settled by God-fearing men and women, the very ideals and beliefs that has made us the greatest country in the world could become so belittled and hated . But as the old saying goes, "You ain't seen nothin' yet!". So far, being a Christian is only grounds for being mocked and reviled, but soon it will be grounds for prosecution and imprisonment. Preaching will be 'hate speech'. Churches will meet covertly. Bibles and Christian literature will be banned. Then we will see the ultimate meaning of "laying down our lives for Jesus"! It's not as far away as some may think; the groundwork is being laid now.
Then we will see who's real and who's masquerading! Pastors won't have six-figure budgets to command or thousand seat churches full every Sunday morning. There will be no TV cameras or book deals or cheering audiences. Pastors and preachers will be criminals who are hunted down and disposed of. Christians won't have beautiful, air-conditioned churches with padded seats to recline in. Meetings will be held in secret in some dark, secluded place and comfort will be the least of our worries. Our very lives will be at stake! We'll understand what Paul meant when he said "...I die daily...". Christians will be blamed for everything bad in the world and will become everyone's enemy. Profession of faith will be like signing your own death warrant! In those days there won't be people going to Church just to make good business contacts or to use their Church affiliation to bolster their public image. Politicians won't use Church membership to garner votes.
I know I paint a pretty bleak picture. I'm not trying to scare anyone, only to warn everyone! The Bible warns us about the last days and it doesn't paint a pretty picture either! For a true Christian these things are not things to worry about, but things to rejoice over! The end of this life is just the beginning of eternity with Jesus! Look around and see what foundations are being laid! Understand the signs of the times. Read your Bible to get wisdom and pray always! Get ready and stay ready.

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An Inside Job

I think the big difference between Jesus and Buddha, Mohammad and other religious icons is that Jesus asks us to do certain things but then promises to help us to do them. The others are all full of do's and don'ts, but you're on your own to get the job done! Jesus not only promises to help us do what He asks us to do, but actually intends on taking up residence inside us and doing them Himself! What a concept! Religion tells a person to act, think and live a certain way and then leaves them alone to figure out how to do it and then to struggle to get it done. Jesus says He will come into our lives and teach us what to do and what not to do and then help us to get it all done!
Imagine that you're a parent of a little league baseball pitcher and you're standing outside the fence watching him pitch a game. Being older and wiser, you know what pitches he should make to each batter and you yell out instructions to help him. The problem is, even though you can tell him to throw a 90 mile-an-hour fastball, he doesn't have the strength or know-how to do it, and therefore your instructions don't help him, they just frustrate him! Knowing what to do isn't much help if you don't know how to do it or don't have the ability to do it! But what if you could walk out to the mound and climb inside his body and give him all your knowledge and all your strength?! Now he can get the job done! He not only has instructions, but know-how and ability!
That's what Jesus will do for us! He will climb inside and give us His knowledge and His ability! Then we will have everything we need to get the job done right! Please don't settle for just being told what to do and what not to do! Believe me, you can't do it; I know, many of us have tried and none of us can! Go to the one who promises to help. Jesus is the way; He won't ask you to fly unless He plans to give you wings!

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Small Churches

I love small churches. Our church was once a small church and I miss it. Members of small churches can stay closer to each other than members of large churches. Some very large churches have members who don't even know each other! I love the close-knit, family feel of a small church. I like the way the Pastor has a chance to talk with every single member after service is over. I like the way the congregation gathers in the parking lot after church to share their lives. Small churches don't have so many "outreach programs" that they forget to "in-reach" to each other! Small churches have the time to really love visitors and every member of the congregation can come by and shake visitors hands and give them a personal welcome.
I'm not saying there is anything necessarily wrong with a large church. It just seems to me that they are all so busy! I know that time is short and we must all be about our Father's business, but I believe His house should be a house of prayer, help and rest. The world is a busy place; we all need somewhere we can go to find some rest!
I wonder how many members of large churches are members just because it's a large
church? Churches are like restaurants; you can't always judge the quality of the food by how many cars are in the parking lot! Sometimes it's the small, out-of-the-way diner that serves the best food! We should be looking for a great anointing, not a great crowd.
I think some Pastors judge their effectiveness by how many people are in their congregation. Jesus had thousands of people following Him around, but He only had twelve disciples. Quality often surrenders to quantity. I understand the desire to reach greater numbers of people for Jesus, but we are called to make disciples of people, not just pack them in!

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