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I was given a copy of “The Shaking” in exchange for an honest review. This book deals with a topic that is hard for most Christians to handle, homosexuality, and the author did a wonderful job. Though this isn’t the main topic of the book, it is an important part. This story is about a young woman in the last days who finds she is in a Church that is more concerned with rules and regulations than in reaching the lost. A great story of forgiveness and grace, and finding who you are in Christ. I give it five stars. No swearing or sexual content so I can recommend for teens and up.
Tag Archives: freedom
About Midnight
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Acts 16:25-26 (NIV), “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.”
Midnight is generally the darkest part of the day, just like noon is the brightest. Paul and Silas had not had a good day. They were about the Lord’s business of preaching and teaching, evangelizing the gentiles in Philippi. Unfortunately, when they cast the spirit of divination out of a young slave woman, all hell broke loose, literally. Her owners were not pleased.
Acts 16: 20-24 (N IV), “They brought them before the magistrates and said, “These men are Jews, and are throwing our city into an uproar by advocating customs unlawful for us Romans to accept or practice.” The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten with rods. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. When he received these orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.”
There they were, beaten, surrounded by soldiers, feet in stocks (metal manacles chained to the wall or floor or wooden beams with holes for your feet), and what were they doing “about midnight?” Yep, they were praying and singing hymns to God. Now, I think I have been a little distracted by the pain, or maybe in the throes of the biggest pity party ever, but not these men of God. They kept their focus and the other prisoners were listening. They weren’t mocking them, or cursing them, they liked what they were hearing, it gave them hope! So about midnight, at the darkest hour, God came through for them, and not just for them, there were glorious salvations from that act of praise.
Acts 16:27-34 (NIV), “The jailer woke up, and when he saw the prison doors open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself because he thought the prisoners had escaped. But Paul shouted, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.”
That isn’t even my favorite part of the story, the next morning those same government officials sent word to let Paul and Silas go free. This wasn’t acceptable to Paul.
Acts 16:37-40 (NIV), “But Paul said to the officers: “They beat us publicly without a trial, even though we are Roman citizens, and threw us into prison. And now do they want to get rid of us quietly? No! Let them come themselves and escort us out.”The officers reported this to the magistrates, and when they heard that Paul and Silas were Roman citizens, they were alarmed. They came to appease them and escorted them from the prison, requesting them to leave the city. After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left.”
There darkest night turned into a morning of honor as the magistrates came and escorted them out of the prison!
Never lose hope, never give up or give in. If God is for you, who can be successfully against you?
Without Hypocrisy
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Romans 12:9 (NASB), “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good.”
James 3:17 (KJB), “But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.”
There is nothing that irritates me more than phony people. After years of working with kids, it was obvious that they can spot a phony from a mile away. Jesus railed on the Pharisees for being fake and phony.
Matthew 23:23-33 (NIV), “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. “You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. “So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’ “So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. “Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. “You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?”
There were a lot of things He could have found fault with, their non acceptance of Him for one, but what He calls them on the carpet for is their hypocrisy, their phoniness, the fact that they wanted to appear righteous, but on the inside were still full of sin. I love the analogy of the whitewashed tomb! Now, before we judge those Pharisees too harshly, let’s take a quick look at The Church. Historically, we have spent more time trying to change our out word appearance than our hearts and minds. Some denominations have lists of what you can wear, what you can eat, and who you can hang out with; they even want to regulate how you can pray. Again, if you don’t go to one of those Churches, let me caution you not to judge before we take a look at our own lives.
How many of us put on our “Christian Mask” before going to Church on Sunday, or when we invite the Pastors over to our house for dinner? How many of us behave and talk one way at work and at home, but behave in a completely different manner at Church? Do you hide your past? Are you afraid to share what is in your heart, the temptations that you face? Then we are a new breed of Pharisee. It ought not to be so!
It is time that we are real. We have not been perfected yet. We are all working out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Putting on a “mask” is detrimental to the Body of Christ. People can see through the cracks and they will label you as a hypocrite. This never brings glory to God. The whole concept of the mask is to either hide your insecurities, or because you are full of pride. It’s either one or the other. Neither one is about Him, and neither one will build the Kingdom. When we accept the liberty that Jesus bought for us, that God has called us to, we don’t have to wear a mask. Our security and confidence isn’t in what we can do, it’s in the finished work of Christ. We also have nothing to be proud of, it wasn’t our righteousness, it was and is all His.
This is the way God showed me the whole concept of being real: I saw a scarecrow in the middle of my garden; he had the shabby clothes, the worn hat, the burlap bag face, and straw sticking out everywhere. His job, his calling was to keep pests out of the garden. God then asked me a simple question, “Why does the scarecrow look like a man?” My immediate answer was that crows and other little garden pests are afraid of men. So, the scarecrow is a fake man. He isn’t real, he can’t move, talk, or yell at the pests. He can’t fire a BB gun, or bang a few pans together. He just stands in one place and pretends to be a real man. That is a picture of us when we “play Church” or put on our Christian mask. Just like Pinocchio wanted to be a real boy, shouldn’t we want to be real Christians? That scarecrow will work for a while, maybe longer on some of the less than sharp minded pests, but eventually they will figure it out. We have all seen scarecrows with crows perching right on their heads or outstretched arms. That is like us trying to wear our mask and rebuking the devil. He is smarter than any crow or rabbit. He knows who is really surrendered to God and who isn’t. He has to obey those that don’t wear the mask. He doesn’t have to obey the ones who are pretending to follow Christ.
We don’t even have to be perfect! To walk in our calling and fulfill the purposes and plans God has for us, we just have to be real and to allow the Spirit to lead us, humbly allowing ourselves to grow in the things of the Lord. So what if you are still a babe in Christ, that’s better than being a carnal Christian. Determine to grow up and in the meantime, serve Him. Let’s go back to the garden analogy again. Let’s say the pests have gotten wise to our friendly scarecrow, so instead we put a three year old in the garden. Can that little one fulfill the call? You bet! They may trample a few plants, and get distracted by a few bugs and butterflies, but they will make enough noise and move around enough to keep every pest away. The few plants that get lost can’t compare to the damage that those pesky pests can destroy. I know I had every bean and pea plant destroyed by those cute little bunnies! The goal would be that as that little one grew up, less damage would be done, and there would be more focus and fewer distractions.
God is that patient with us. He isn’t waiting for us to be perfect to use us. He doesn’t want us to pretend that we are, that again is either pride or insecurity. We are real, we make mistakes, we get distracted, and we stumble. However, God tells us that the righteous may stumble, but that they keep getting back up. (Romans 24:16, Psalm 27:34)He also promises that those who obey Him, and love Him, that even if they make a mistake, He will turn in around for our good. (Romans 8:28) He chose us, the messed up ones, on purpose. When we get something done for the Kingdom, or stand up and rebuke the enemy, or resist temptation, it’s not us, it’s Him in us, and He gets all the glory!
God has called us to liberty. In this freedom, through Christ, there is never any reason to put on an act, to pretend we are something we aren’t. We aren’t sinners saved by grace. We were sinners, now we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. No, we aren’t perfect, far from it in fact, but God chose us, He called us, and if anyone has an issue with who we are then they can take it up with God. This is never permission to sin, or to cause others to stumble. We stay humble and acknowledge our need for Him. We allow the Holy Spirit to use us. The key word is USE. God wants to use you. He wants to use us. He has big plans for us. Walk in the liberty He gave you. You can’t earn it, it is a gift.
Get real with God, with each other, and most importantly with yourself. Be who God created you to be.
Take off the mask.
Watch and Pray
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Right after the last Passover meal with his disciples where he tells them to eat his body and to drink his blood, they go to the Mount of Olives. Jesus is about to spend His “hour in the flesh” and he asks a few of His disciples to watch and pray.
Mark 14:37-38 (NIV), “And He came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? “Keep watching and praying that you may not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”
When we remember his blood, shed for us in love, when we remember his broken body that purchased our healing, it helps us to watch and pray. It keeps us from temptation. We aren’t so ready to believe the lies of the enemy. When he tries to tell us that God doesn’t really love us, or that we aren’t worthy, we can remember the love that compelled the Father to give His son, or the great love that held Jesus on that cross. We don’t want what He did to have been in vain. He did so much for us so that we could live a transformed life. Shouldn’t we be diligent then to watch and pray? Yes, our flesh is week, but our spirits are willing.
Those words, “keep watching and praying” are just as important for us today as they were for the disciples that went with Jesus to the garden. Our flesh is still week. Satan’s desire is still to “sift us like wheat.” When we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, when we “set our faces like flint,” we can withstand every temptation.
I Corinthians 10:13 (NIV), “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.”
Today let’s purpose to remember His blood, the atoning blood that took away all of our sins, those from our past, those for our present, and those in our future. They are all gone. And let us remember His stripes, the lesions from the thorns, the holes in his hands and feet, and that cut from the spear. Those wounds that He “received in the house of his friends” and let us accept all the redemptive gifts that they purchased for us.
Father, we thank you for your perfect plan of redemption. We choose to remember and accept the finished work of Your Son, Jesus Christ and to cherish His great act of love in our hearts.
Book Review for “When Godly People Do Unglodly Things: Arming Yourself in the Age of Seduction”- Christian Non-fiction
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I think this book has been one of the most important books I have read to date. I strongly encourage every Christian to read “When Godly People Do Ungodly Things: Arming Yourself in the Age of Seduction”. Not only would this be so helpful for someone who has fallen into sin, more importantly it will help prevent a fall to begin with. Beth Moore is a great teacher, she is kind and simple in her writing style. I am going to recommend this book to all of the ladies at our bible study and to all of my followers. I give it five stars only because I can’t give it more. Appropriate for teens and up.
Opportunity Prayer
Father, I pray that You help me to walk as You want me to, live the way You intended, and to build Your Kingdom with all boldness and zeal. That I not waste one minute, one penny, or one opportunity to serve You and others in love and gratitude.
I Corinthians 9:19-23 (ESV), “For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.”