My Utmost For His Highest
http://www.myutmost.org/12/1227.html
WHERE THE BATTLE'S LOST AND WON
"If thou wilt return, 0 Israel, saith the Lord. . . ." Jeremiah 4:1
The battle is lost or won in the secret places of the will before God, never first in the external world. The Spirit of God apprehends me and I am obliged to get alone with God and fight the battle out before Him. Until this is done, I lose every time. The battle may take one minute or a year, that will depend on me, not on God; but it must be wrestled out alone before God, and I must resolutely go through the hell of a renunciation before God. Nothing has any power over the man who has fought out the battle before God and won there.
If I say, "I will wait till I get into the circumstances and then put God to the test," I shall find I cannot. I must get the thing settled between my self and God in the secret places of my soul where no stranger intermeddles, and then I can go forth with the certainty that the battle is won. Lose it there, and calamity and disaster and upset are as sure as God's decree. The reason the battle is not won is because I try to win it in the external world first. Get alone with God, fight it out before Him, settle the matter there once and for all.
In dealing with other people, the line to take is to push them to an issue of will. That is the way abandonment begins. Every now and again, not often, but sometimes, God brings us to a point of climax. That is the Great Divide in the life; from that point we either go towards a more and more dilatory and useless type of Christian life, or we become more and more ablaze for the glory of God - My Utmost for His Highest.
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1) Why do we sin?
- Desire to be worshipped like God
a. Sex, Lust: Want my boyfriend/girlfriend or wife/husband to want me or love me physically, emotionally, etc. more than anything else
1. Why am I jealous over a past boyfriend or girlfriend of my love? I want to be FIRST! Worshipped
b. Fame: Want to be more popular than anyone else
c. Vanity: Want to be prettier than anyone else
d. Piety: Want to be respected more than anyone else
e. Drugs: Want to feel like I'm on top of the world, wild, fun, dangerous, cooler than anyone else
f. Money: Desire to be more powerful than anyone else (BETTER)
g. Job: Want to be more significant than anyone else
h. Things, Possessions: Desire to be looked up at, for the things that I have (tell everyone what I got)
2) Do you believe the Bible relates to today's problems?
- 1 Corinthians 10:13 "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man."
- Leviticus 18:20 "Do not have sexual relations with your neighbor's wife & defile yourself with her."
a. Adultery (Sex out of marriage)
- Proverbs 23:1-3 "...given to gluttony. Do not crave his delicacies, for that food is deceptive."
- Exodus 20:15 "You shall not steal."
- Exodus 22:1 "If a man steals an ox or a sheep & slaughters it or sells it, he must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep."
- Ephesians 5:18 "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit."
a. Debauchery
1. excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures; intemperance.
2. seduction from duty, allegiance, or virtue.
3. a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity [syn: orgy]
4. excessive indulgence of the appetites; especially, excessive indulgence of lust; intemperance; sensuality; habitual lewdness. (Spring Break, Graduation Party, Bachelor Party, Friday Night, etc.)
- Ephesians 5:19-20 "Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."
a. What do the things we say, the way we talk, and the music we listen to say to God and to others about what is in our hearts?
3) What does God promise?
- 1 John 3:5-10 "But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins..... Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother."
- Psalm 119:11 "I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you."
- James 1:12-16 "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Don't be deceived, my dear brothers."
a. Remember Eve in the garden, how she did not want the fruit until it was pointed out to her how it would make her like God?
- Matthew 5:6 "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."
4) Where the Battle is won!
- Jeremiah 4:1-2 "If you will return, O Israel, return to me," declares the LORD. "If you put your detestable idols out of my sight and no longer go astray, and if in a truthful, just and righteous way you swear, 'As surely as the LORD lives,' then the nations will be blessed by him and in him they will glory."
- Our personal battle has to be won first and foremost. What is your personal battle? That thing that you have to sacrifice, because it is more important to you than God? What is it deep in your heart, that only He knows? He expects you to overcome that battle before you can expect any external battle to be won, any blessing from Him.
- What are things that we do to try to "win" our way into "goodness" ?
a. Tithing.
b. Volunteerism.
c. Witness to others.
d. Invite others to church.
e. Go to church ourselves.
- It is all meaningless, without God's blessing, until we've overcome that internal battle before Him.
- We must first make Him King internally. Then we are open to conviction in all areas of our lives. When this takes place, then and only then, are we truly witnesses for Christ. This is the way that God reaches others in our lives, thru our transparent, witness of humility. Once we lose ourselves to Him, it cannot be hidden from anyone.
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“Incarnation” by Denise Day Spencer
December 24th, 2008 by iMonk
He stands,
poised on the brink of two worlds:
One, land of eternal day,
the other, earth of mire and clay.
Behind Him,
legions of heavenly host,
bright faces covered, praising,
all chanting, voices raising.
Before Him,
chaos yawning, swift and deep,
known, yet unknown. Fear unfurling,
death and darkness churning, swirling.
He turns.
One last look at golden glory.
The Three part; He is now One.
The Father’s voice says, “Go well, my Son.”
He leaps
into the abyss.
His next memory will be a Mother’s kiss.
~ Denise Day Spencer, January 1999
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