Tag: Humility

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Living A Lie

What lie are you still believing? 

God’s Word says give the devil no room in Ephesians 4:27.

If we neglect that which Jesus left us to protect us, we commit spiritual suicide.

We MUST present our bodies as a living sacrifice, Holy unto God, then the devil cannot infiltrate our temple.  Psalm 91

When we serve God halfheartedly and live double lives, we open the doors to the demonic.  We cannot  be free from what we are part of.

How you get to this place of guaranteed complete deliverance?

We must build a foundation in Christ to strengthen our temple against attack.  Psalm 19:7-11 and 1 Corinthians 3:10-17

The only way is by loving and knowing God.  You have a promise to be set securely high (seated in high places with Christ Jesus) because of your intimate relationship, with Him, which maintains through study of His Holy Word.  Strongly rebuke any idea, thought or action which is in conflict with that Holy Word.  You must use this victory formula…

Set your love on Jesus   Deuteronomy 11:22

Continue to increase your personal knowledge of His mercy, love and kindness   Isaiah 63:9

Trust and rely on Him and know that He will never forsake you          Hebrews 13:5

When you find yourself under attack…CALL ON HIM    Genesis 35:3

He ANSWERS, gives you extra protection, delivers and honors you   Psalm 61

Because of all these elements…you WILL have Freedom, Long Life, and the PROMISE eternal Life today and forever with the FATHER!          

CONFESSION TIME: As believers and disciples of Jesus we must be transparent and sometimes transparency means that we must humble ourselves in such a way that isn’t easy. Here is my testimony. God is never late, and He is always right on time.  We are the ones who stall, stop even ignore His call to us.  Today God is right on time…this moment has been coming and His grace is the reason I am able to testify.  It is nothing I have done but what He has done in and through me.  Back in 1970 I had the opportunity to be baptized, in fact I walked out into the water…however guilt, shame, unworthiness held me back that day. That day I have claimed to be my baptism day for 50 some years.  This became my answer, Yes I lied, why you might ask? I wanted to belong, so I played at being a Christian all the while, I lived in the world allowing the devil to direct my life.  There was help along the way, I chose people that were hurt and lost just as I was, so the cycle of shamed and unworthiness continued. BUT today is the day! YES! God loves me and He has chosen me, forgiven me, my salvation comes by grace, TODAY I stand before God and man and say I AM WORTHY AND LOVED! I DO BELONG TO HIM WHO SET ME FREE! I claim Romans 6:4 “Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.” Today it is time to break off that lie, walk fully into truth because I serve a Loving God who forgives! I AM HIS UNASHAMED AND LOVED!

Sunday Morning August 2, 2020 Generations Church

Be Blessed,Laurie

Jesustruthbeliever 8/2/2020

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I Have Drill Today

Scripture:  I will exalt you, lord, for you lifted me out of the depths and did not let my enemies gloat over me.  Psalm 30:1 NIV

Observation:  I have to go to drill today. That’s periodically reoccurring school for firemen to hone our skills. I’m old fashioned and my glory days as a strapping young fireman with all of the answers have long-since passed. To put it bluntly, all of us firemen nearing retirement need to hurry up and get there and get out of all of the young guy’s way. As I left for work today, Laurie prayed for me that the Lord would protect my crew and me as we are put through our paces. Psalm 30:1 confirmed for me that God heard her plea and I am protected, “…and did not let my enemies gloat over me.” Psalm 30:1b NIV  Thank you Lord!

Application:  I must accept the truth and carry on. I’ve done my job for many years. I know my job and I must trust in the knowledge and training that I’ve accumulated over the years to complete today’s exercises. Thank you Lord!

Prayer:  Thank you Lord for having my back. I pray that I honor you today. Amen

Doug

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Help Me to Know

Scripture: If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” John 20:23 NIV

Observation: I remember having this piece of scripture given to me before. It must mean that God really wants me to understand this truth. It’s pretty powerful and comes with a lot of responsibility. Through the power of the Spirit, we can or cannot forgive sin.

Application: I’m not sure how to apply this truth. I know that it’s not to be taken lightly. If anyone can help me with this I’d appreciate it.

Prayer: Father, help me to know. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen

Doug

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Be Humble

Scripture: Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18 NIV

Observation: This proverb instructs that the arrogant fail and fall.

Application: Take it from me, arrogant people get humbled. It’s not a source of pride for me to admit but I’ve dealt with this myself. I pray for humility from God so that he never has to humble me again.

Prayer: Father, help me to be humble and consider others before myself. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen

Doug

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Consider Others First

Scripture: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves…” Philippians 2:3 NIV

Observation: Consider the welfare of others more important than your own welfare.

Application: The observation is the application. We must consider others before ourselves.

Prayer: Father, help me to consider others first. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen

Doug

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“I Didn’t Do It…”

Scripture: So I told them, ‘Whoever has any gold jewelry, take it off.’ Then they gave me the gold, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf!” Exodus 32:24 NIV

Observation: Aaron took all of the blame for the act that he had committed and laid it off on the fire of all things. “I just threw it in and ‘poof’ out popped this calf, it wasn’t my fault!” This lame excuse reminds me of Adam in the garden answering God, “The man said, ‘The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’” Genesis 3:12 NIV It’s like what I heard a prosecutor say once of an accused’s defense strategy in an up-coming trial, “he’s going to use the S.O.D.D.I. defense…some other dude did it.” I can almost understand Aaron using that excuse with Moses, but Adam trying it with God? Really? When you stop and think about it, Adam really laid it all off on God, “it is your fault God! You gave me that woman.” As my Jewish brothers say, “now that’s chutzpah!”

Application: As Christians we need to man-up and accept responsibility for our actions. “It wasn’t my fault” is a really poor epitaph. When we fail we need to accept it and ask for forgiveness. We need to not make excuses for our behavior.

Prayer: Father, help me to know when I fail and accept that the failure is mine alone. I know that acknowledging sin to you when it is committed and asking forgiveness is what you expect of me. I ask for the strength to accept my failures and humble myself before you. In Jesus’ name. Amen

Doug

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Rituals of Religion

Scripture: Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.”  But others asked, “How can a sinner perform such signs?” So they were divided. John 9:16 NIV

Observation: This passage made it clear to me that some people love the created more than the Creator. In this case the created being the rituals of religion. What does God want, clean hands from proper washing procedures or pure hearts from truly changed lives? I know the answer. The writer aineo from my notes section wrote “Which Are You?”, it makes the point perfectly.
“This made me think of how religious we are sometimes. Ask yourself, if some out of town strangers in an old beat up car were in a bad accident in front of your church right before the service, would your church members dirty up their clothes to help? Would the service be postponed or canceled in order to help those in need? There are all kinds of scenarios that could be painted, but the ultimate question is the same – are you someone that loves people, or are you religious like the Pharisees?”

Application: We need to examine our hearts and know that we are where God wants us to be.

Prayer: Father, help me to know that I am where I should be according to your will. I ask this in Jesus name. Amen

Doug

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Bring Honor, Not Shame

Scripture: May those who hope in you not be disgraced because of me, O Lord, the Lord Almighty; may those who seek you not be put to shame because of me, O Lord.  Psalm 69:6 NIV

Observation: The Psalmist is crying to the Lord to not be the cause of disgrace for him or other believers.

Application: That is my prayer, to not be the cause of disgrace for God or his church.  I owe it to my God, my wife, my children, my church and my coworkers to be consistent in my words and my actions.  If I fail that I bring shame upon myself for hypocrisy.  That hypocrisy is transferred to all believers; the church is harmed and God’s commission is stymied.  We have seen in the recent past how the sins of Christians, specifically famous church leaders, has translated into a “Christ-bashing fest.”  I can think of no greater insult to the Lord than to bring shame upon him and his church because of my sin. I pray that I never bring shame to either the Lord or fellow believers.

Prayer: Father, help me to live out the truth that I proclaim. Don’t let me ever be the cause of shame for you or the church. I ask this in Jesus’ name. Amen

Doug

 

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So That No One May Boast

Scripture: But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things–and the things that are not–to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
1 Corinthians 1:27-29 NIV

Observation: Paul explains how God uses the weak to humble the strong.

Application: This is how Jesus conducted his ministry. He always went to the wretched. He said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor…” Mark 2:17a NIV Jesus made the point that the weak in spirit need the Lord just like the elites. By ministering to them as the “high and mighty” leadership looked on he illustrated God’s plan to be all inclusive and to bring all men to himself through Christ.

Prayer: Father, thank you for wanting me so much that you sent Jesus. I pray that I am worthy of you and of Jesus’ sacrifice for me. Amen

Doug

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Don’t Cause Others to Fall

Scripture: Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.” Acts 15:5 NIV
Scripture: He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? Acts 15:9,10 NIV

Observation: Paul and Barnabas discuss with the Jewish leaders whether or not the Gentiles should be required to be circumcised. It is decided that by requiring the Gentiles to be circumcised they would be demanding them to fulfill a need that they, themselves, could not uphold.

Application: This is an interesting set of passages when read with Acts 16:3, “Paul wanted to take him (Timothy) along on the journey, so he circumcised him because of the Jews who lived in that area, for they all knew that his father was a Greek.” Acts 16:3 NIV Why? Why would Paul argue against circumcision in Acts 15 and then circumcise Timothy before they left on their missionary journey? I believe that he did it so that the uncircumcised Timothy wouldn’t be a “stumbling block” to the very people to whom they were going to minister. Certainly circumcision isn’t necessary for salvation but I really don’t think that circumcision was even the issue to Paul. The issue was winning souls. If the fact that Timothy wasn’t circumcised was going to close the ears of those to whom Paul was going to minister–then Timothy was going to be circumcised. We should learn from Paul. Our actions and inactions can and will affect people. We must take care to guard our speech, control our emotions and attitude, and be careful with our choices. We must care that what we think, say, and do can hinder our witness to others. Otherwise, we will become a “stumbling block.”

Prayer: Lord, don’t allow me to be a “stumbling block” to others. I know that my behavior and what I say can harm my witness to others. Amen

Doug