HOPE FOR THE STRUGGLER

HOPE FOR THE STRUGGLER

I'm reading a daily devotional book called "Stand Firm Day by Day: Let Nothing Move You: A Men's Devotional" by Walk Thru the Bible. Each morning it gives a Scripture and a short commentary and application on the verse. Monday morning's verse is/was: 

 “For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.” Romans 7:8

The Apostle Paul is writing about the struggle of the heart for those who are following Jesus. Paul had been following Christ for a couple of decades when he wrote this. He was being used of God in mighty ways: missionary, evangelist, church-planter, pastor, disciple-maker, and writer of Scripture. In spite of all of his successes,  he was still battling the flesh, and sometimes the flesh won. 

Paul is amazingly transparent here: though he desires to do what is right, his sinful nature still fights against him. It’s a reminder that even the most faithful are not immune the struggle. Paul’s words are about the conflict between wanting to live a holy life and falling short again and again. And for us "ordinary folk" who are trying to follow Jesus, it’s usually not that we aren't trying to live godly lives, it’s that, in our own strength, we simply cannot overcome sin. 

This realization shouldn't lead to despair but rather dependence on God. God never asked us to be perfect in ourselves. Instead, He offers us the power of the Holy Spirit to live differently. At the end of the chapter, Paul says, "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Rom 7:24-25) 

And He will deliver us as well. 

Are you tired from trying to do what’s right and continually falling short? Lean on God’s grace and strength to bring you through the battle and walk in victory over not only the flesh, but the enemy also. Look to Jesus who is the author and finisher of your faith, and your will experience the victory in your struggles. 

Contending with the Dark Side

Wednesday evening we began a new Bible study on forgiveness. To guide us in our study, we are using a book written by a friend of mine, Dr. Randall O'Brien, (who graciously provided the books for us). I had read the book several years ago, and was helped and encouraged by it.

The first chapter is "Understanding our Dark Side." By "dark side" Dr. O'Brien is referring to the carnal, sinful nature ingrained in every human being. The Bible calls it our "old man" and we all have one. Even those of us who have been saved still have to deal with the old nature. Even the Apostle Paul recognized he had dark side. In 1 Timothy 1:15 Paul declares, "This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: 'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners'—and I am the worst of them all." (NLT) Notice Paul doesn't say, "I USED to be the worst of them all," or "I WAS the worst of them all." He said "I AM the worst of them all" - present tense, active verb.

Paul also reveals his battle with his dark side in Romans 7:15-23. He wanted to do right, but didn't; he didn't want to do wrong, but he did. He even says there was a war going on within him (v.23).

The reality is saved sinners still sin. Though we should sin less, we aren't sinless (only Jesus achieved that status). So what do we do when our dark side flairs up and gets the best of us from time-to-time? How do we contend with our dark side? A few suggestions ...

1. Run to Jesus. Sin has separating effect on our relationship with God and the old man wants to run and hide when we've sinned and messed up. This has been true from the beginning (see Genesis 3). But don't do it; don't run from Jesus, run TO Him. Paul knew this. At the end of the confession of his battle with his dark side, Paul writes - "Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord." (Rom 7:24-25 NLT) Even though his old man was undoubtedly wanting to run and hide like Adam and Eve in the garden, Paul knew that he had an advocate with the Father who had atoned for his sins, and he could run to Jesus knowing that he was forgiven.

The Apostle John writes: "My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous.  He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins..." (1 John 2:1-2a NLT) Jesus knows we will sin, He's accounted for it and He's already taken care of it. That's not a license to sin (note the first line of the above verse, "I'm writing this to you so that you will not sin"), but it is a recognition that the sovereign Lord of the universe isn't surprised by our sin, and He isn't discouraged by it, because He has already dealt with it. You can run to Him because He loves you, forgives you and restores you.

2. Give yourself some grace. I'm always harder on myself than anyone else. I don't know about you but I tend to dwell on my failures. I can still remember striking out in a Little League baseball game with two outs and two runners on base and the game on the line ... and I still feel bad about it. (I even remember the name of the guy who struck me out ... 44 years ago.) I also tend to dwell on my spiritual failures, and not only do I feel bad about them, I usually beat myself up over them.  I also have an accomplice that helps me with my self-abuse - the devil who is the "accuser of the brethren" (Rev 12:9-11). He likes to help me beat myself up and tries to convince me that God is mad at me, and that I'll never change, and God could never love me or use me. None of that is true, of course, but it hurts.

In times like these when I get down on myself I have to remind myself that I am loved by God. And though He doesn't approve of my sinful behavior, He has already proven His love for me, and He has already forgiven me through His grace (see Romans 5:8). If God has forgiven me, and has shown me grace, I can have grace for myself ... and you can too. There is nothing you have done that would ever cause God to love you less. Your sin is dealt with on the cross and your forgiveness is secured by Christ ... so give yourself some grace. What happened has happened, and there is nothing you can do to change it, but you can move on from it in His grace.

3. Give grace to others also. Everyone has a dark side - that means every person you meet every day has the nature of sin and the potential for their sin to hurt you. When my "old man" slips out and I sin, it doesn't affect just me, it affects those around me as well ... and vice-a-versa. And just as I need grace from God, I need grace from others, and they need grace from me. If we aren't gracious toward others who have a dark side, we haven't fully understood the gospel. We forgive because we have been forgiven. We can love those who hurt us because we have been loved by the One we hurt the most. His grace is sufficient ...

Contending with our dark side is an ongoing war. Through Christ we will overcome and experience ultimate victory over the dark side (ours and THE dark side).  Even if we lose a battle every-once-in-a-while, don't give up, don't give in, and don't stop fighting the good fight of faith and grace. Contend with the dark side knowing that the outcome of victory is already secured.

Spiritual Warfare: What You Really Need to Know!

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Ephesians 6:10 (NIV)

 We've been studying spiritual warfare for a few months now in our Wednesday night Bible study at church and for the past few weeks we've been studying the Armor of God. Before that we spent several weeks talking about our enemy - his nature, purposes and strategies. In a previous blog I wrote about the purpose of the enemy being to "steal, kill and destroy" (John 10:10) and what that looked like in my own experiences. For me, the enemy seeks to steal my joy, so he can kill my peace, and ultimately destroy my confidence and contentment in the Lord. He wants to move me from being unhappy, to unsettled, to uncertain. He's good at what he does because he's been doing it a long time.

But God has not left us defenseless against the attacks against the enemy. Ephesians 6 10-20 is the pinnacle passage on spiritual warfare (though not the only one). Lately our study has focused on the various pieces on the Armor of God, but the foundation to standing against the attacks of enemy is found in v.10 of that passage - "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power." The word translated "be strong" is written in passive form, meaning that it is something that happens TO you, not BY you. It literally means to be empowered by the Lord, or to be strengthened by Him. In other words, He doesn't just tell you to be strong in Him, He also does the strengthening. To be clear - this isn't about OUR strength and mighty power, it is about HIS strength and mighty power being manifest in us.

But how does He strengthen us? Does He just magically make us strong and powerful? That's not been my experience - in my life God has worked through the Holy Spirit to strengthen me through my obedience to His word. In other words, He tells me what I need to do and as I do it, His Spirit empowers me to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. It is a cooperative effort; He's doing the work as I am obeying the word. 

So how does He empower us to be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power? Again, this is my experience and not an exhaustive study on spiritual warfare and how to defeat the devil, but this is how God has worked in my life when I'm facing the foe. This is how He has made me to be strong in the Lord. I'm strong in the Lord when ...

1. I rejoice in Him - As I said in the previous post, the enemy wants to steal my joy, because the joy of the Lord is my strength (Nehemiah 8:10). If he can rob me of my joy, he can weaken my confidence in God. Joy is a powerful weapon in the war against the enemy. That's why the Bible repeatedly tells us to "rejoice in the Lord." In fact, that exact phrase is used at least 12 times in Scripture (Psalm 32:11, 35:9, 64:10, 97:12, 104:34; Isaiah 29:10, 41:16; Joel 2:23; Habakkuk 3:18; Zechariah 10:7; Philippians 3:1, 4:4). When the Bible repeats something that many times, it is important!

My "life passage" is Habakkuk 3:18-19 - (Paraphrased) "Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation, for the Lord God is my strength and He makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and makes me walk upon my (spiritually) high places." God gave me that passage more than 30 years ago, and when I've practiced it (rejoicing in the Lord), He has strengthened me and empowered me with His mighty power, and He will do it for you as well.

BTW - rejoicing in the Lord isn't a suggestion ("try this and see if it works"), it is a command from God. And it isn't something we do on our own, but something He does within us. When I choose to rejoice - choose to be joyful instead of fearful, frustrated, anxious, worried, discouraged, etc. God grows my joy and I am strengthened in the Lord. When we face attacks from the enemy, we may not FEEL like rejoicing, but OUR FEELINGS ARE NOT GOD - God is God and He is greater than our feelings and His commands are greater than our feelings. So do what God commands us to do - rejoice in Him because the joy of the Lord is our strength. (Jim Johnston has written an excellent article on "Why Are So Many Christians Unhappy?" on the Desiring God website; it's a great encouragement on this subject).

       Secondly, I'm strong in the Lord when ...
2. I obey His commands - This kind of piggy backs on the previous point, but it is important. When God elevated Joshua to the leadership of the Israelites after the death of Moses, He gives him clear instructions about what Joshua is to do to lead the people into the Promised Land. Twice in two verses (6&7) He tells Joshua to "be strong and courageous." Then, to drive home the point in v.9 God says, "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid, nor be discouraged..." In other words, "Joshua, do what I am telling you to do! Be strong and be courageous!"

Honestly, for most of my life when I read or heard the word "commands" from the Bible, I thought of the Ten Commandments, and I generally thought of them as a list of "don'ts" - don't steal, don't kill, don't commit adultery, don't lie, etc. To me, obeying God's commands was about not doing bad things. But as I read the Bible and grew in my relationship with the Lord, I realized there were a lot more "DO's" in the commands of God, than there were "DON'Ts". Contemporary writer Eric Metaxas says, “Being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God's will.” When I actively obey God's commands, I grow strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.

     Finally, I'm strong in the Lord when ... 
3. I rest in the promise of His presence - A tactic of the enemy is to isolate his prey and cause him/her to feel like they are alone, perhaps even that God has abandoned them. When we are experiencing trials, going through life storms, or if we have sinned against God, he (the devil) whispers things like "God has given up on you. If God really cared about you, you wouldn't be having such a hard time. He's abandoned you because you've failed Him again. If He loved you, you wouldn't have so many problems." His goal is to cause you to doubt God's presence and power in your life.

But multiple times in His word God says, "I will never leave you, or forsake you" (Deuteronomy 31:6,8; Joshua 1:5; 1 Chronicles 28:20; Matthew 28:20; Hebrews 13:5 just to name a few). In Joshua 1, God gave Joshua his marching orders, commanded him to be strong and courageous, and then assured Joshua that He would be with him wherever he would go (Joshua 1:9). God's response to our every need and in every circumstance is "I am with you," and if God is with us, we can be strong in the Lord.

I've never served in the military, but I have a lot of friends and family who have and I am thankful for their willingness to serve our nation. One of the things I've picked up over the years is that being a good soldier is more of a mindset than almost anything else. As a soldier, you can have the strongest armor, the latest and most effective weapons, but if you don't have confidence in your commander, faith in your mission, and courage in your heart, you're probably not going to be very effective on the battlefield. You will make decisions based on fear instead of faith which will probably lead to your defeat.

I think there is a correlation to spiritual warfare - you can appreciate all the promises in the Bible, understand all the strategies of the enemy, and know all the pieces of the armor of God, but if you aren't first "strong in the Lord and in His mighty power" you're not going to be very successful in the battle. You will make decisions based on fear instead of faith, which will probably lead to your defeat.

The really GOOD NEWS is that the ultimate battle has been won by Christ, and if you are in Christ you ultimately win over the enemy. But if we "win in the end" shouldn't we also be winning the daily battles against the attacks of the enemy? Does God want us to live defeated, discouraged and disappointed lives until we die and go to heaven? I don't think so, or else why would He teach us so much about spiritual warfare in His word? Make no mistake about it, we won't live our "best life now" in this world - it is fallen and broken and is governed by the enemy (John 12:31-33, 14:13, 16:11; Ephesians 2:1-3, 6:12-13), but we also don't have to live our "worst life now." God has won the ultimate victory for us, and we can live in victory now as well! BE STRONG IN THE LORD AND IN HIS MIGHTY POWER!

Worry into Worship - Battles into Blessings

As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.  When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.  So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword. Exodus 17:11-13 (NIV)

I have several friends and family members who are facing some tough times and much of it is spiritual warfare. As I was praying this morning God brought to mind the story of the Israelites battling the Amalekites in the Valley of Rephidim. It was the first major conflict the Israelites had experienced since coming out of Egypt. According to Deuteronomy 25:18 the Amalekites attacked Israel from the rear, attacking first those who were weary and worn out from the journey. The enemy often focuses on those who are tired and struggling. 

Moses called on Joshua to choose out some men for battle and go fight the Amalekites at Rephidim, and Moses would go to the hilltop and stand with the staff of God in his hand. As the battle rages, as long as Moses holds his hands in the air, the Israelites have the upper hand. But when his arms get tired and his hands are lower, the Amalekites have the advantage. Moses is joined by his brother Aaron and another man, Hur. When they realized what was happening, Aaron and Hur brought a stone for Moses to sit on and they stood one on each side and helped him keep his hands in the air. As a result, Joshua defeated the Amalekites at Rephidim. 

As I was reading the story again, it hit me that raised hands are often a sign of praying, worshiping, and praising God (see Nehemiah 8:6, Psalm 134:2, 1 Timothy 2:8, and others...) As long as Moses' hands were raised, God's people were winning the battle, but when the hands dropped, the enemy gained control of the conflict. As long as God's people are praying and praising God we are winning the battles, but when we stop praying and praising we begin to be defeated by the enemy. 

In this world, we will have trouble. We have been set free from the Egypt of our sin and we are journeying to a Promised Land of eternal salvation, but for now we live in a world infected by sin and infested by an enemy who seeks to kill, steal and destroy (John 10:10). There will be battles, and they will come when we are weary, tired and worn out from the journey. The key to victory in the battles is to pray, worship and praise the Lord until the victory comes. 

Sometimes we will grow tired in the battle, and we will need some "Aarons" and "Hurs" to help us. We were never meant to fight alone, so don't resist help from God's people. And sometimes it will you who need to be an Aaron of Hur for someone else; don't let those opportunities pass you up - others need you too. 

By the way, though the Amalekites were defeated that day, that wasn't the last time the Israelites had to fight them. But God made a promise that one day He would "completely blot out the name of Amalek from under heaven.” (Ex. 17:14) The battle you are going through now won't be the last one you will fight; the enemy will continue to harrass and attack as long as he can; but we have a promise from God that one day the enemy will be removed and will never disturb the people of God again (Revelation 20:10). Until that day, fight the good fight of faith, and use the weapons pf prayer, worship and praise to experience the victory God has promised you!