I failed

I failed yesterday; I let my flesh get the best of me. It just goes to show that even though I walk with Jesus … That I spread His word. That I do my best to live a life worthy of the call. I will fall. It is not a matter of why, but only a matter of when. I am driving yesterday having a great conversation about Jesus with a friend. I look in my mirror and this person is tailgating me so close I can't even see his headlights. I am speeding 10 mph over the limit myself. So when I can finally get over, the person fly's by and gives me the finger. What do I do? Well, I did not do 1^st Timothy 2:1 I flipped him back off myself, Why, because I judged him and he pissed me off. How dare that person tailgate me! So this morning I am reading. I read all of 2 Timothy, but it was 1^st Timothy that nailed me. I actually thought about praying for that person. Lord, cause them to have a wreck so they will slow down. Character is what you do when no one is around. It weighed on me for a couple of hours. That is not who I am, I really hate it when the old man comes out of me. It is not pretty. It happens though, it happens to all of us.

I did pray for that person later on and I did pray for protection. That person I became for that couple minutes is as far from whom I want to be as I can get. Lord thank you for reminding me that I am just a man and not perfect.

The stick was laid down yesterday…. Very quickly.

1 Timothy 2:1
I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them..NLT

1 Timothy 2:1
The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know..The Message

Canaan part IV

Fornication

Actually, this sin includes every kind of sex sin. Sin is still sin, no matter how you spell it. Fornication is popular and sexual promiscuity is acceptable everywhere today—except in the Bible. No wonder men want to burn it, deny it, or crucify it. The Word still sets the standard of faith, gives the rule of conduct, and reveals the character of God. Reading about Samson, David, and others in Scripture is in itself a vital lesson concerning the results of sex sins. But the roll call goes on today. Man after man, who in many areas of life develops the potential of his manhood, is limited because of his sex sins. Both single and married men, young and old, are subject to the desires, appetites, passions, and temptations that take their toll and prohibit them from becoming what God intends them to be. Men's ministries are undeveloped or lost. Men's characters are underdeveloped or weak. God's promise to sit with Him on His throne is given to those who are called overcomers. Overcomers are godly achievers. Every man is given opportunity to enter his Canaan, to develop his potential of manhood to the maximum. When the men of Israel committed fornication, they died in the wilderness, never seeing Canaan. Men still die in their wildernesses, bogged down in a moral morass, missing God's best for their lives.

It wasn't God's plan then or now.

The Word says …… Jesus says ……

Matthew 5:28
but I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. NASB95 This is why I lost my first marriage ………. Pornography. I might not have had slept with other women physically but I did in my heart. I gave a part of me away that was not mine to give. I have struggled in this area before since I found freedom. Today it is more like a hiccup. Like gorging my face with food, or being jealous, or being judgmental. I don't sin in those areas every day. I am free! I told my wife yesterday that I just feel joyful. She said, "The joy of the Lord is your strength" I think for the first time I actually understood what that meant.

So what is Holy Spirit telling you?

 

Lead a life worthy of your calling.

Ephesians 4:1-2
1 Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. 2 Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other's faults because of your love.NLT

This morning's devotion took me to Ephesians chapter 4. I don't know if there is much to say other than when I walk in forgiveness and I am humble, my life has so much peace in it. When I am mad at my children or my spouse all the time for reasons I cannot control or my co-workers. It makes it very hard to live by Ephesians 1-2 and 32

Ephesians 4:32
instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.NLT

So I guess for me the big question would be, do you have peace in your heart? Or do you have anger and un-forgivenenss? Are you still bringing up the past or are you living in the present?

 

 

 

 

Canaan part III

Idolatry page 25 Maximized Manhood

Idolatry is a value system that we create, in which we esteem something to be more worthy of our devotion than devotion to God. Power, prestige, education, money, business, religion, popularity, ego, pornography—can all become idols. Some men worship at the shrine of their businesses; others at temples of recreation and sports. Still others may bow at the sound of the cash register. For some ministers, even their ministry can become an idol. They become so devoted to it that they cannot take time to worship God, wait in His presence, or spend time ministering to Him. For others, their television set has become an idol. All pornography is idolatrous. It's based on man's ability to create in his mind a fantasy or image that satisfies him, and to which he can devote himself. Corporate life in America today has become idolatrous in many instances. Men sacrifice their families for the sake of the company 1 Peter 4:3
For the time already past is sufficient for you to have carried out the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties and abominable idolatries.NASB95 1 Samuel 15:23
"For rebellion is as the sin of divination, And insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king."NASB95 Colossians 3:5
therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.NASB95 These are three very powerful scriptures. The last one really spoke to me. It says all these things are dead in my earthly body. So to me that means when they come back it is not because the enemy is attacking me; it is because I made the choice to bring them back. For me if the temptation of porn comes up, that could very well be the enemy. What I choose to do next is not. If I click the mouse at an ad on the computer or phone, now I have made the choice. The enemy did not make the choice for me. So many times we give the enemy way to much credit when in reality it is our own choices that give in. For me over the years sexual lust has been my idol. Thank you Lord for bringing me women who is mature enough in her walk to see me as just a man and not perfect. So if or when I fall as a man she prays for me and helps me instead of falling apart and making it all about her. A Godly woman who will pray for me so that I can be healed. Thank You Lord!

Right now I can honestly say I have no idols in my life today. I am not going to live in the future nor am I going to live in the past.

If you don't change then nothing changes.

Do you have an idol? Ask Holy Spirit right now.

Canaan pt. II

Murmuring: from Maximized Manhood
Murmuring in its simplest form is nothing more or less than "negative confession."
Complaining, criticizing, faultfinding, rumoring—all and more are classified as murmuring. First Corinthians 5:11 KJV speaks of a "railer," a word we don't ordinarily use today. A railer is a slanderer, a blasphemer, a reviler, and God requires us to deal with them in vehemence and discipline.
1 Corinthians 5:11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.KJV

James 3:5-6
So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things. See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.NASB95
The tongue is like that. Small remarks, cutting comments, or sarcastic jibes eventually create roaring bonfires of hate, warfare, and enmity. Consuming relationships, it leaves nothing but embers. Men murmur about their company or boss at the water cooler, and then complain because they do not get promoted. They murmur against the preacher, and wonder why their children don't respond to the Gospel. They murmur against God's Word, and then complain when they don't see faith take effect in their lives.
Here is my confession "I have done this" There has been many times I have murmured where I have worked or served in because I don't like what I see sometimes. Instead of going straight to the person and just asking questions, I will murmur which turns into judgment and then it gets even uglier. I will murmur with my wife, and instead of making a situation better, I make it worse. It is just a bad deal. I could write more but I think you get the point, You have to be very careful, because when you murmur with anyone and they murmur back. You then just make the situation worse. I have the hat and Tee-shirt for that one.  
 
I think for me the next time I feel like I need to murmur then I should take that problem straight to Holy Spirit and see what He thinks about that.

Do you murmur?

Holy Spirit I ask you to reveal yourself right now and show this person if they murmur and to walk as a Son or Daughter ….. To live free!