Anger On A Short Leash

Somehow, people think when you become a child of God you respond with a smile when someone "accidentally" cuts you off while driving. Laugh out loud. If you're anything like me behind the wheel, happiness is the furthest reaction away from my initial feeling. I'd love to get to the point to where I can crack a smile after being stuck behind someone's 93-year-old grandma for ten miles going 30 in a 45 mile per hour zone (where us heathens want to go at least 55.) Here is where we sink or swim. Looking someone in the eye while we show them only the longest finger on our hand is not the way to go. Rolling down your window to shout out expletives is also the wrong choice. Either or both of these scenarios happen at least once a day. These are just a couple examples of anger that could trigger a sinful reaction. When a husband finds out his wife charged the card on an expensive purchase he does not have the grounds to hit her. If someone wrongs you in any way it does not justify retaliation. Far too often we like to take God's job and give someone what we feel they deserve. All vengeance belongs to Him (Romans 12:19.) 

It is also more than just a physical act. Anger can be mental as well. The "snowball effect" is probably a familiar term used in describing the process of a growing temper and rage is usually the outcome. Satan loves to remind us of past offences. Sometimes things that are months, or maybe even years old. Sometimes things that you've even overcome and forgiven. Without giving the devil too much credit, understand that the carnal brain sometimes loves to satiate itself to those things. Why? Because it feels good to justify yourself. 

It's kind of hard, better yet, impossible to think this way with a mind that is controlled by the Holy Spirit. Think spiritually and your actions will follow. (Isaiah 26:3, Philippians 4:8)

Society, especially when dealing with children, frowns on the entire emotion of anger. Because it is an emotion, it is a natural human response. This isn't just a humanistic theory. God, the Creator of the universe and everything good and just, inspired Paul to write the scripture: 

"Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil." Ephesians 5:26-27 

The social consensus is "an eye for an eye" and "two wrongs make a right." That is social justice. Spiritual justice is turning the other cheek (Matthew 5:39.) Spiritual justice is forgiveness (Matthew 18:21-22.) 

At an early age children need to be taught that indulging in anger is not of God. Instead of hitting a person, hitting a pillow or punching bag could be the trade off. As we learn to practice self-control and patience and the rest of the fruits of the Spirit, we become less prone to allow Satan to trap us in that web. God allows and His children to be angry and He understands it. We were created with a variety of emotions. We were not made to sin. On the contrary, we were made to bring glory to our Creator. I wonder how often He gets angry at His knuckle-headed kids. No, we're not perfect. Yes, we fall short. We whine, we complain, we worry and worst of all, we break His commandments. If we all got what we truly deserved we would be in hell! Be thankful we have a Just, yet Forgiving and Merciful God. 

Breaking the Shackles of Sin

Romans 6:5-23

⁵ For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, ⁶ knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. ⁷ For he who has died has been freed from sin. ⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ⁹ knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. ¹⁰ For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. ¹¹ Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

¹² Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. ¹³ And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. ¹⁴ For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. ¹⁵ What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! ¹⁶ Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? ¹⁷ But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. ¹⁸ And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. ¹⁹ I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness. ²⁰ For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. ²¹ What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. ²² But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. ²³ For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Battlefield

Ephesians 6:10-18
 ¹⁰Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might.
 ¹¹Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
 ¹²For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
 ¹³Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
 ¹⁴Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;
 ¹⁵And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
 ¹⁶Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
 ¹⁷And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
 ¹⁸Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

I find myself talking to God as often as I think of him - which is always. Not just talking, but listening. Reflecting. We've all heard the phrase 'an idle mind is the devil's playground.'  There is 100% truth in that statement, but that's why the Bible tells us to pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:15.) We should never be idle. That allows the entrance of all sorts of wandering thoughts and influences apart from God. If Christ is the center of our thoughts (Philippians 2:5) and we are consistently thinking on whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report (Philippians 4:8,) there is no room for us to entertain anything contrary.

Unfortunately, it isn't that easy to do. If there is anything certain in life, it's Satan's relentless pursuit to oppose everything good and holy. No matter the level of Christian growth or years of experience fighting the good fight of faith, every single day is a battle. It's a little more complex than the illustration of a pint-sized angel and devil on either side of your shoulder. Satan is not some red person with a tail and a pitchfork. Physically, we cannot see him but he is as real as you and I. He is intelligent, crafty, and appealing. His influences are usually subtle and subconscious which is why it is direly important for us to be fully guarded at all times. We are to be sober minded and vigilant (1 Peter 5:8,) meaning that our thoughts should be disciplined and filtered by our allegiance to our Creator. Our mind is the beginning of our actions and that is the exact place where Satan plants his seed of influence. Quite simply, if he can control our mind he can control us. But when we completely yield ourselves to be consumed by God and utilize the tools He imparts in us, we have all victory over the enemy (Luke 10:19.)

From birth, we are sinful by nature which puts us in automatic conflict with God (Romans 7:18a, 8:7.) We are in an unyielding battle with our natural man to be overtaken by the Holy Spirit and empowered to defend ourselves against every attack on our soul (Galatians 5:17.) We cannot rely on our flesh to sustain us. This war is not one that is physical (Ephesians 6:12.) It is spiritual and isn't seen with the naked eye. It is our devotion and our allegiance is that both sides are after. God, who is everything good and holy, wants nothing but to love, protect and give eternal life to those who accept (Psalm 36:5,7 John 3:16.) The antagonist, Satan, wants to steal from us, kill and destroy us(John 10:10.)

The enemy does not wait until we are settled in our day to begin attacking us. From the moment we wake up we are faced up against forces of oppression. The war begins. That's why it is so important for us to access our communication with our Heavenly Father before we do anything else (Psalm 63:1, Proverbs 8:17, Ephesians 3:11-12.) God's Word is our fuel. It is our strength and nutrition for our spirit and it gives us the ability not only to defend ourselves against the enemy, but retaliate. Living without God's Word is like sending a soldier out to war with a water gun. Useless. We make ourselves vulnerable for attack without having our defense which is why we need to be thoroughly prepared (Ephesians 6:11-17.) The Bible is both our offense and defense. In it lies everything we need to be functional and powerful children of God, capable of overcoming an already defeated adversary, the devil (James 4:7.) For this reason we should'nt be afraid anything (2 Timothy 1:7.) As we continue to grow in faith and wisdom and deepen our relationship with the Lord, resisting Satan becomes much more feasible. Although his entire purpose is to oppose everything God wants for us, and never stops coming after us, we can defeat him every time.     
I pray that there is an understanding of the spiritual warfare that we wake up to face every single day, but also the freedom and peace of mind that comes with directing our focus toward God.

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank Your for the privilage we have in being accessible to You, the communication that is available for us at any given point and time and the relationship that comes from learning about You. Thank You for Your Word and the understanding of it. Help me to apply it to my life and direct me in everything I say and do. Lord, I thank You for calling me Your child. I ask that You would allow me to use the power and authority you have given me over the enemy. Help me not to live in fear. Strengthen me and fill me with Your Spirit. Help me to desire the things that are pleasing in Your sight. Father, guard my heart and my mind and help me to take every thought captive that is against Your will. You promised never to leave us nor forsake us and nothing can separate us from Your love. Thank You for your faithfulness and the mercy You show me daily. Use me so that my life is a light to those who are lost and an encouragement to those who are without it. Give me a servant's heart. Use me to bring honor and glory to Your name. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. 

The Christian Allegiance

Our allegiance determines which side we're on. Who do we serve? For those who serve and have served our country, I thank you. You made a decision to sacrifice your family, your freedoms and for some, your lives. When we pledge our allegiance to the American flag we have you in mind. As we pledge toward our country we must not forget who created it. There were attempts to remove "under God" from the pledges. Since Satan is everything anti-God this does not come as a shock. This is just another way of trying to eliminate God from the picture. The same evil force was behind the removal of prayer in the public school system.

Thankfully, I attended a private Christian school. We began every day reciting the pledge to the American flag, the Christian flag, and to the Bible in that order. It's been so long I can barely remember them so I decided to do a little refresher. You may have learned them in Sunday school as well but here you go... 

"I pledge allegiance to the Christian Flag and to the Savior for whose Kingdom it stands. One Savior, crucified, risen, and coming again with life and liberty to all who believe."

"I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God's Holy Word, I will make it a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path and will hide its words in my heart that I might not sin against God."

Wolves In Sheep Suits

In a world filled with distractions from the absolute truth, there is a desperate need for light in the midst of all the darkness. Now, more than ever, the Christian voice needs to be heard. The love of Christ needs to be seen in all of us that profess Him as our Saviour. Too many of us are worried how we may offend someone. Maybe we are afraid of being an outcast. Whatever the case may be, we are not on this earth to please man. We aren't here to blend in with society. Our focus should be solely on being a sweet savor to our Heavenly Father with obedience and allegiance. 

Since the entertainment industry is doing such an excellent job in redirecting our attention away from God, we can ill afford to be complacent, quiet Christians. It’s comforting to know that we have some co-laborers in the mainstream culture. Actors and athletes have the uncanning ability to influence us. Although they are just normal people like you and I, what they say or do has more leverage than us “mortals.” Hollywood is notorious for being a sin pool infested with wolves in sheep’s clothing. 

The devil is truly roaming the earth seeking whom he may devour. He knows he has limited time to loosely claim his own. Don't forget that he has help. The master of deception has countless tactics and tricks up his sleeve to lure us. His work is mostly subliminal so you won't notice him initially if at all. Some of the celebrities and entertainers our culture blindly emulate are part of the process. This is by no means meant to scare but simply to inform. So before you rest your eyes on a screen or bob your head to a song, know what you're doing. The majority of these artists below are probably either on your iPod or someone else's that you may know of. My plea is that you don't just take everything at first glimpse and ignore the signs. Do your research. Don't be so gullible and naive as I once was. There are plenty christian alternatives for the secular artists you can't seem to stop listening to.  Not only is the music wrong for its lyrical content, it is doing the exact opposite of bringing God glory and luring people away from Him.

Birth, Marriage, Then Godly Seed

For those of you who don't know, I'm about 5 months away from officially becoming a father. On Monday my wife and I found out whether we were having a boy or a girl and I can't even put into words the emotion I felt. We were prepared for either but if we were both being honest we were leaning toward expecting a girl. After all, we already had her name picked out and couldn't seem to find a boy name we could both agree on. Everyone thought we were having a girl.


If you were to do a survey on men and asked them if they had a choice of having a boy or girl, most to all would choose boy. We [men] want to have a male heir to "carry the torch" of the family name. We want to show the little guy how to throw a perfect spiral, teach him how to fish, play catch and boy things like that. When I realized we were having a boy there was overwhelming joy. I immediately thought of all the different things we could do together. Then I remembered the most important thing. Besides the fun we can have and the memories we can make, there is one dire necessity in his life. As his parents, God expects us to raise a godly seed. We have the privilege of being trusted to train up a christian child and teach him biblical truth. What kind of hypocrites would we be if we weren't living the same principles we instill in him? There's a real sense of urgency when I pray and ask God to show me any sin in my life. My actions are more intentional. I hold myself more accountable than I ever have. I would love to keep my son from making some of the same mistakes I made and I'm sure every good parent approaches parenthood the same way. My dad always told me he wanted me to be better than him. The best way to teach that to my son is to show him.

Be Careful Little Eyes What You See

The world is full of tricks and traps to entice us with things that are appealing but are contrary to the spirit. It's definitely much worse in our 2k generation. It's so important to monitor what we allow in our homes. Some call it sheltering but I call it protecting. Remember that song we all used to sing in Sunday School? "Oh be careful little eyes what you see... for the Father up above is looking down with love." We decide what we watch, what we listen to, what we wear, what we say. We have a choice. It may sound juvenile but if we would all just ask ourselves if (fill in the blank) will make God happy or unhappy, we'd save ourselves a ton of regret.

Honestly, you almost have to become a monk just to avoid the sin epidemic that is attacking our senses on a daily basis. Men have an especially hard time ignoring temptation. Turning on the TV is a risk in itself. Apparently, sex sells so commercials especially take full advantage of that by incorporating bikini swimsuits and lingerie in between sports games and television shows. Who watches sports? Men. Nine times out of ten the women who watch are doings so next to their husband or boyfriend. So is it coincidental? God forbid. Since Satan is the prince of the power of the air, (Ephesians 2:2) he is the one behind it all. Sometimes I feel like taking a sledge hammer to that one-eyed monster. Even the PG-13 movies are inappropriate adults, not to mention, a child. We've come a long way from the wholesome 60's. There is no modesty in clothing or just pure feminine etiquette. I almost wish their entire gender would adapt the Islamic dress code to keep their skin covered. Whether a woman in a short skin-tight dress is walking down the street or on the TV screen, I don't want to see it. It doesn't take much for our brain to remember an image. Because I'm a Christian man, I'm aware that committing adultery by God's standard is more than a physical act (Matthew 5:28.) Besides the fact it would be disrespectful to my wife to look lustfully at another woman, its a sin against God. It seems everywhere we turn there is temptation but I've found that if and when I keep my mind stayed on Jesus, there's an eclipse of desire. All that formed habits consist of is repetition of the same act. If we consistently place God before (fill in the blank) then He becomes the nucleus of our decision making. Our flesh has to be tamed and trained. There are certain male traits that are stereotypical and happen to be accurate but there should be a difference between a man and a man of God. It all depends whether we function carnally or spiritually. The two cannot co-exist with the expectation of living a life God can smile at. There should be a drastic decline of sin our life that is always heading toward the direction of holiness. By dying daily to our flesh we become closer to the likeness of Christ.   

Nothing Good

I know I find myself sarcastically thanking Adam and Eve for the sin they've passed down the family tree. After all, it is their fault we are natural born sinners and have to fight this flesh war day in and day out. That still doesn't make it okay to embrace sin as a natural act and expect God to negate it due to being something we can't control. We can. Sin is never something to be swept under the rug. It is the very thing that separates us and keeps us distant from relationship with Him. I've been trying to trace the apostle Paul and reach his level of spiritual discipline and his depth of understanding sin. He models for us the life of a truly committed servant of God. There is no question where his allegiance was. Granted, our Christian journey is a never ending process and we all begin as babes in Christ, but I'd like to grown into a modern day Paul before I leave this side of life. I'm aware that there are a ton of things I have to change, habits that need to be broken and new ones that need to be learned, but it's time to stop procrastinating. No more waiting for God to lightning shock me into perfection like the movie, 'Weird Science.' The first step is realizing that me, myself and I individually and collectively produce nothing. Nada. When it comes to the things of God I bring nothing to the table but a foul odor to His nostrils.



 ¹⁴For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
 ¹⁵For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.
 ¹⁶If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
 ¹⁷Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
 ¹⁸For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
 ¹⁹For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
 ²⁰Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
 ²¹I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
 ²²For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
 ²³But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
 ²⁴O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
 ²⁵I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Sin, Rest In Pieces

Well, I was born twice. First from my mother's womb and again from the Spirit of God. The latter is the only one that really matters. I don't have that specific day to distinguish as most do but I do know I was 7 years old when I fully understood salvation and my need for a Saviour. I wanted to be baptized and Jesus was my inspiration behind it. There's not a single doubt in my mind that in that moment the God made His residence in my heart. Although since, there have been periods of backsliding, living out the parable of the prodigal son and succumbing to my own sinful desires. I remember being in my rebellion stage which lasted about a couple years during college. I was involved with things and with people I knew I shouldn't have been involved with. I always had a presence of holiness and biblical understanding that weighed against my worldly actions but I ignored them. I can remember being in those situations and knowing I didn't belong there. It was uncomfortable. Had I not been born into the family of God, every sin and every worldly action would have been comfortable. Thanks be to God for never losing grip of His estranged child. When sin becomes comfortable there's a huge problem and it needs to be dealt with immediately. There's a natural desire in all of us to indulge in the things that look good, feel good and taste good. Those are the things that are of the world and go against our Heavenly Father. Those are the things we are to die to. As we die to sin we become alive in God (Romans 6:11.) Jesus died carrying the weight of all human sin past, present and future. He did so not to give us a loophole to sin. There won't be an asterisk by our name in the Lamb's Book of Life with a footnote saying 'Well, they meant to.' As always, there is a penalty for sin and it's death (Romans 6:23.) We can't just say we're sorry and repeat the same offense. Christians, lets annihilate sin. Let's bomb it like its Hiroshima!