Passion and Desires

Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. John 12:24-25

When it comes to our passions and desires nothing seems cut and dry. It’s like trying to navigate mirky waters - just what exactly is what? But the profound truth remains - everything starts with a desire, whether its doing good or doing evil. Given the tricky nature of desires, I suppose it’s no wonder the Bible notes, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9). Of all unruly things in existence, who has mastered the heart? Who has tamed it? For the heart is the seat of a man’s will and desires.

“The greater the potential for good, the greater the potential for evil,” Elisabeth Elliot, wife of martyr Jim Elliot, wrote in speaking on the struggle she and Jim endured as they waited to be united together in marriage. “A good and perfect gift, these natural desires. But so much more necessary that they be restrained, controlled, corrected, even crucified, that they might be reborn in power and purity for God.”

At the crux of every trial and temptation is a struggle between the self and God; we wrestle with God over who will be in charge: us or Him. We struggle between choosing His will or our own. The more valuable the prize, the greater the struggle. Deep down we want to be captain of our destinies, we want to be seated on the throne of our hearts. We are willing to obey, but only if it means we get what we want. We say, “I will surrender to the will of the Lord, but only if He gives me (fill in the blank) in return.” We want to know what’s in it for us should we choose to surrender.

Hell's Best Kept Secret

When we preach the gospel, are we adequately preparing people for the Christian life?
"Why do 80-90% of those making a decision for Christ fall away from the faith? What is the principle that Spurgeon, Wesley, Whitefield, etc., used to reach the lost? Why has the Church neglected it? Don't let anything stop you from listening to this incredible teaching."


http://www.livingwaters.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=2:hell\'s-best-kept-secret&Itemid=305&lang=en

Searching for Treasure

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter;
to search out a matter is the glory of kings. Prov 25:2

Knowledge and wisdom are priceless. “Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding, for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her” (Prov 3:13-15). People have commended me as one is both wise and knowledgeable, and while I do not deny that I do indeed have the spiritual gifts of knowledge and wisdom, I do not feel that I am somehow special and worthy of such praise. I appreciate the sentiment, but I was not born with an innate gift for knowledge and wisdom, rather, I learned them. They did not come naturally to me. What did come naturally to me was a hunger for the knowledge and wisdom of God, but only after asking the Lord to give me that hunger.

Anyone can be wise and knowledgeable in the Lord. What it comes down to is how much you value truth. It has been my own experience that knowledge is not something that falls into your lap, you have to seek it out. However, I do not believe truth is far from any of us. It is not in God’s nature to withhold good things from those who ask Him. “Indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God. For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding” (Prov 2:3-6).

A City with Walls

“And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will” (2 Tim 2:24-26).

In my early college days, I was known among my friends as the truth-teller. Now that title might sound good, but trust me, it’s not. I was opinionated and passionate, blunt and direct. Everything was black and white. And since it was black or white, I had to be right, I couldn’t be wrong, there was no gray. It was everyone else who was wrong. That meant that I had the right to present the truth to them in a forceful way. I would argue with them until they would see things from my-point-of-view. Can you guess how that worked? It didn’t. You can’t argue someone into the truth.

What struck me when I first read the above passage is that it is within the context of being right. Nevertheless, it instructs us to gently rebuke or correct those who oppose us, in hopes that they will come to see the truth and repent. Even when we are right, it does not give us the right to present the truth in such a way that shows a disregard for the feelings of others. We must communicate the truth in a way that is honoring and gentle, preserving the dignity of the other person. “Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions” (Prov 18:2). We are not merely to air our own opinions, however right we may feel they are; we are to seek to understand where the other person is coming from because the communication is not one-way, it is two-way.

The Mystery of the Kingdom

“Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Matt 6:10

When you think of a kingdom, you may be thinking in terms of its modern definition, which is a defined territory. However, that is not how the kingdom of heaven or kingdom of God is defined. A kingdom in ancient times represented a sphere of reign and influence. When we ask for God’s kingdom to come, we are asking for more of His rule and reign, where His will is done “on earth as it is in heaven.” God has full and supreme rule in heaven. But the earth is different. God’s solution was to entrust mankind with the task to subdue the earth for Him (Gen 1:28).

Like Father, Like Son

Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. John 5:19-20

What comes to your mind when you think about God? What immediately pops into your head to describe Him? AW Tozer once said, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.”

Children learn from their parents. What they see mommy or daddy do they will do too. It’s the nature of the parent-child relationship. Children by nature do not act independently of their parents. Of course, that begs the question: How do you see Your Heavenly Father? What do you see Him do? Because what you see your Heavenly Father do, you will do also.

Against All Hope

Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. Rom 4:18-21

Have you ever tried living without hope? It’s a strange dilemma. Either you hope and you hurt, because hope means you have not yet received, or you lose hope and your heart begins to die slowly. Do you hope against all hope or decide it’s hopeless? Elsewhere in scripture it says, “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” I guess when you put it that way, we all have faith in something, even if it’s not in God. Because you can’t just not hope, for without hope you die inside. So then the question becomes, where do you put your hope? What do you put your faith in?

You could put hope in your spouse, in your friends, or in your dreams for the future. It isn’t always obvious what you have put your faith/hope in until you hit an obstacle to that hope becoming a reality. When faced with an obstacle, feelings of anger and anxiety emerge. If you put your hope in your dreams for the future, what happens when you hit an obstacle? You will start to become angry and anxious because you have so much on the line.