Thoughts that Transform Us

In Ephesians 4, Paul listed some of the strongholds; land we gave up that needs to be reclaimed and this battleground has to do with our thought life!     Our thoughts are so important.     I am in the midst of a study on strongholds.  It has led me to further study the thoughts we think and how these thoughts impact us so deeply.   Briefly consider what the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 4, and then follow the two sermon series called Strongholds and Thoughts that Transform.

Intellectual Foolishness (4:17-18) – futility of their minds, understanding darkened It means that no discernment or wisdom is found within them.    They are alienated from the life of God.  Heaven seems as brass.  Blindness of their heart has deceived them.  Why?  Because of futile thoughts!

Greed and Impurity (4:19, 22) – speaks of uncleanness.   No longer are they bothered by the filth of society.   They have become insensitive to the sinful ways not only of others but themselves.  Deceitful lusts have become their obsession.  Discrete and impurity has led them with an understanding appetite for evil.

Dishonesty (4:25) – (the idea is one of lying)

Paul basically says to the church stop lying!   Stop it, right here, right now!   It has no place in the Christian's life or heart.    Satan wants to get into the area of deceit and if he can get you to lie, he can build a stronghold in your life!

Uncontrolled Anger – (4:26)

Paul warned against a bad temper and unjustified anger.   Anger can truly be a stronghold.  There is anger, which is righteous anger. See Mark 3:5 John 2:13-17.  As followers of Christ are anger must be that of righteous indignation, and not an expression of personal pride, were sinful motives.  Notice how quickly a stronghold can develop:  “...do not let the sun go down while you're still angry.”  This speaks volumes to me concerning the need to swiftly deal with our thoughts in a godly manner.

Unforgiving Spirit -(4:26, 32) - wrath (also note 2 Cor 2:10-11)

He says that our anger can move from just being upset to a settled wrath and it can do so in a hurry.  The only remedy we possess is to be kind to one another and tenderhearted to one another in forgiveness just as Christ has been to us.  Forgiveness is a fundamental Christian virtue because it can destroy the enemy's foothold.

Stealing (4:28) –

Instead of robbing others for the fruit of their labor, Christians are to work for their own living.  Paul’s point is simple:  You should work so you can give to the needy!  Do you know why there are so many needy people around us?  Why are there so many needy people in our community and world?  It is because the church of Jesus Christ is so stingy.  {Did I just write that?}

Laziness (4:28)

The Christian is never to be ashamed or afraid of hard work; it is the duty of all of us.   The Christian motive for earning is not merely to have enough for oneself and one's own family. We should not work merely for our own comforts and luxuries, but to have in order to give to the needy.   Christian philosophy of labor is lifted far above the thought of what is right and fair in the economic world is listed as the place was no room for selfishness for the motive for personal profit of all.   Giving becomes the motive for getting.

When you give place to the devil the devil will enslave you with a stronghold.     The devil wants to so blind you that you think you are doing very well, all he wants is one place of operation in your life and he will take it knowing that one day all the other territory will fall. 

Satan builds a fortress, a pattern of thinking that only the power of Jesus and the blood of Jesus can overcome.

A Saints True Struggle

There is a strange dichotomy living within me. I see it present not only in me but with pastors who I served alongside and members in whom I try to shepherd.  It is not one I want to admit or readily deal with, but it is the struggle between theoretical obedience and applied obedience.  As I was reading the book of Jeremiah.  In the 42^nd  chapter the Israelites come to Jeremiah seeking God's counsel.  In the first six verses they seem it as if they are willing to follow God anywhere, anytime to any place even if it means staying at home.  But when Jeremiah goes to God  and seeks God's answer for their question and later reports to the people, these Israelites stiffened their necks and go to Egypt anyway. 

I'm honestly in the midst of the struggle. I find myself in a deep struggle of obedience, everyday in many ways.    This has become a huge dichotomy for me.  I fear it is a pervasive problem throughout the body of Christ. A problem few address and even fewer acknowledge. 

Here is a very piercing question:  Do you want to worship Yahweh or waste time and effort on a deity we have constructed in our own image?

This construction of an image of God is nothing more than an idle, and I fear it is exactly what the Israelites faced in Jeremiah 42.  A false construction of what they wanted God to be, respond, or say.   Likewise, many in the church today have constructed a “theology of obedience” but have not taken steps to actually weave that theology into the fabric of our lives.  I think this is the issues keeping us from experiencing revival  today in America.

It's not enough for me or for anyone else to have a theology of obedience, what is required is not some superficial supplement, but the right response  is “applied obedience”  to God's revelation this becomes our pure posture of worship, devotion, and commitment to Christ.  Without it we are only playing church and fooling ourselves, but we are certainly not fooling God!

The Path We Take

Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. – Psalm 119:105

Sometimes as Christians we find ourselves climbing sun-scorched mountains or descending into damp dark valleys; occasionally we are rewarded with an endless landscape  of beauty, while at other moments fog surrounds us and obscures our path.  God never promised us it would be easy.   Peter says in chapter 2 of his second letter that the Lord knows how to rescue the godly men from trials.  {See verse 9}  Peter does not suggest that God would protect us from the trial only that God would deliver us from the trial.

As with lengthier journeys, there will be times when we must stop to catch our breath, times when we may get lost and even when we would do well to ask others for directions.

Sometimes we take paths which do not take us where we expected, while at other times we turn a corner only to discover a wonderful view that we have been longing for and struggling to reach. 

The question is simple:  Do we want to worship Yahweh or waste time and effort on a deity we have constructed in our own image? 

Ready4Revival

Our culture desperately needs a spiritual awakening. I happen to believe that God is waiting for believers to cry out to him for it.  If revival is going to happen there are several things that must take place. I jotted down a few of them today:

1:  Ask God to bring conviction. (Brokenness)

If revival is going to occur the people of God must experience brokenness over sin, brokenness over the spiritual condition of our nation, and a brokenness that leads us to repentance.

2.  Pray for the cleansing.

And God cleanses our hearts it will bring purity. Purity will bring spiritual power. That spiritual power only comes after genuine repentance and cleansing occur.

3. Pray for God to give us a spiritual hunger.

Without a spiritual appetite, we will continue to be complacent, lethargic, and apathetic. That which will turn us around is a renewal of our heart. That renewal will come with a desire to draw close to God. This is often referred to as a spiritual hunger where we are  thirsting for the presence of God

4.  Pray for a loving unity.

Whenever the people of God will begin to experience revival there will be a sense of unity among God's children within the church and within the families of the church.    The unity that the church would experience I think would center around the word of God, the worship of God and the work of God.

5.  Pray for a passion to see people saved.  (Evangelism)

When revival comes God's people are reoriented to the task that God has given us to do.  His last command was a command to evangelize the world.  So whenever the people of God experience revival  we have a renewed sense of evangelism.

6.  Pray for a passion for missions.

Let us pray that God would reach the precious souls of people not like us.   Let us pray that God would raise up followers of Christ would be willing to lay aside the comforts of their home, and homeland to go to a people were much different than themselves to share the gospel. 

7.  Pray God will call people into ministry. (Laborers)

many errors are springing up in our land, we have a great need for laborers to stand against them.  Let us pray that God would raise up followers of Christ to boldly stand and earnestly contend for the faith.

8.  Pray that God would rend open the heavens.  (Sweeping Revival)

Before a person, family, church, nation can experience a walk with God, the prevailing power of God must reach into the hearts and destroy any rebellion. What we need is the prevailing power of God to reach in and take away our iniquity.  We must pray the guy would rend open the heavens and sweep our hearts with revival fire.

9.  Pray for God's mercy on our land.

Revival is a great errand the gospel ministers are sent to fulfill. We're to be about the ministry of reconciliation; as investors for God, we are to call upon sinners, to be reconciled to God. We are to call upon the church to receive the gracious invitation to return to him and to humble themselves and to actually be brought by faith into a state of reconciliation with God, then, and not until then, can we be able to walk with God. For all of this to occur we must pray for the great mercy of God upon our land and its people who inhabit it.

10.  Pray for boldness for believers.

To be bold in the Lord we must have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us uninhibited. We must maintain a holy, settled, habitual, and altogether uninterrupted communion and fellowship with God, in and through Christ Jesus. To walk in boldness with God means that we are walking daily in the Scriptures with the complete dependence upon His power that is only found in His the fulfilled promises. The believer who is emboldened will be voluntarily dedicated to the glory of God and will take pleasure only in honoring the Almighty.