Obedience is Wisdom

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If God is never-changing, then there is always something to be learned from what He told His chosen people, Israel. Before they entered the Promised Land He reminds them (again) to look within, correct what is wrong, stay on the right path, and teach their children this way of life. Deuteronomy 4 could be a textbook for believers today! We must learn to live by its precepts and lead others by the instruction found there. In this, there is no hypocrisy.

Christians today have had the blessing of the written Word of God in every conceivable form.  If our Bibles are to big to carry to church, we can just bring our phones.  If our Bibles are at home, and we are at work, we can look up anything, in any version, on our computers.  We have books galore to teach us more, speakers and seminars to help us grow.  The Word is out there in abundance, so we have no excuse for not knowing what God has to say to us!

But knowing isn't doing!  We can know, yet never do.  This is foolishness!  But if we know, and then obey, this is wisdom!  However, obedience rarely, if ever occurs, without taking a close inventory of what is really hidden inside our hearts.  If we do not see the wickedness there, if we never look at our sinful attitudes and the sinful actions that follow as just that...sin...it will be unlikely that we will just begin to be obedient.  When was the last time you took close spiritual inventory of your sin-stained heart?  Are you aware of what hides deep in the crevices?  Or are you perfectly content being blind to what makes God jealous for all of your heart?  God says, "Give heed to yourself."  Look in, see what's there, take what you see into account when you assess your walk!

Once you have seen what lurks in your heart, drawing you away from God, you must determine to take charge of your soul with diligence.  But remember, you cannot "take charge" by self-works.  To see true heart transformation, you "take charge" by letting go!  Surrender!  You cannot change your heart, but the Holy Spirit can!  Daily praying a surrender prayer regarding those sins in your life releases your control (and inability to change) into the hands of the One God sent to do just that--change you and mold you into the image of the Son!

As you begin to notice those changes being done in you, but not by you, continue to walk in those new ways and attitudes.  This is "walking in the Spirit," for it is Him doing the walking as you daily yield yourself to His power and control.  Then as you see your life changing, share that with others.  You are a teacher to all who are watching you, your natural children or your spiritual children.  Steer clear of the hypocritical walk that demands of them what you yourself refuse to bend to.  Be the example that can be followed!  

You have a God that is so near to you that He is inside of you--the Holy Spirit!  You have a God that has given you His very words to obey.  In these, you have everything you need for life and godliness!  We really have no excuse, then, do we?  What is your choice?  Will you know but not do?  Or will you be wise and "know and obey"?       (Deuteronomy 4: 5-9)

 

On The Banks of Your Jordan

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Israel is camped on the edge of the Jordan, closer than they have ever been to the Promised Land. The years in the wilderness have taken a toll on them, but this new generation is moving forward. Have they learned all the necessary spiritual lessons? Will they finish the journey in front of them in bold and courageous faith? How are you doing on your personal journey? What lies just ahead of you?

When Israel left Egypt, they went out into the wilderness with great faith in their God who had just slayed every firstborn in Egypt.  They had been spared because of the very first Passover.  God had also displayed His great and mighty supremacy over every Egyptian god by the first nine plagues.  They knew their God; they trusted in Him.  And yet, 3 days into their journey home they lost their fervor and their faith.  They stumbled and fell, over and over, in the wilderness.  They became obstinately disobedient and even longed to go back to their former life of slavery and bondage in Egypt.  Their unbelief and evil actions had grave consequences.  Every person (except Joshua and Caleb) of the original group would die in the wilderness, and never see the land of their forefathers, the Promised Land.  

Those who stood on the banks of the Jordan, ready to drive out the Canaanites and take possession of their homeland, were the new generation of Israelites.  As children (spared of the curse of dying in the wilderness) they had observed their parents' sin and disobedience.  Now it was their turn.  Would they obey every command of the Lord their God?  Or would they begin to walk their own way as the parents had? 

Just ahead of them was a river they would have to cross, people to drive out, altars of pagan worship to destroy, armies to defeat, and purity and devotion to God to hang onto!  Each one would have countless, individual choices to make.  And each choice would affect the entire nation.

Today, you too have a river to cross.  It is the river of dying to your own desires, goals, agendas, and plans.  You have sin in your heart that must be driven out, attitudes that need to be destroyed, and a holiness in God to attain.  That is your Promised Land of rest--rest in the peace of God that only is obtained by right relationship with Him.

You are a part of THIS generation.  What your parents did, right or wrong, can have no influence on your choices.  You, and you alone are responsible for them.  How do you choose to walk?  Will it be as an obedient child of God?  Or will others look at your walk and see that it looks a lot like the lost generation of the wilderness?  Will you be facing forward, walking in the Spirit, with eyes on the promises or looking back longingly to the days when you walked in your flesh? 

Go forth boldly!  Walk in the power of the Spirit and true faith!  The promises are waiting for you just on the other side of surrender!

The Idols Of Our Hearts

Pin It Originally: How To Add a Pinterest (Pin it) Button to your Blog/Website http://cs-doon.blogspot.com/#ixzz1ryXJUBEC Israel had seen God execute His judgment on the Egyptian gods by the plagues He sent. Now Israel was being sent into Canaan, their Promised Land, to drive out the wicked Canaanites, their pagan gods, and demonic worship practices. Israel was to go in and utterly demolish every evil thing in order to possess the land God was giving them.  He asks us to do the same thing with every evil thing in our hearts.  (Numbers 33: 4, 50-55)

God will always judge what is wicked.  While we may not always understand how a loving God could orchestrate the annihilation of people, we must grow up in our understanding so that we can discern that God knew the hearts of those He was about to destroy.  He knew that they had already chosen to be anti-God.  He knew the evil of their "worship practices."  And He knew that they would not be converted to a faith in Him.  As a matter of fact, He knew that they would lead His people astray.  Therefore, God, in His infinite wisdom, used His own people Israel to execute His judgment on the people living in the Promised Land.  He did this so that Israel would have a pure nation to dwell in, one that was rid of pagan worship.

In God's direction to His people we clearly see the battle plan:  cross over the Jordan into the land, drive out the people by force, destroy all of their gods and idols, demolish their high places (altars of worship), and take possession of the land.  God certainly did not want any corrupt practices to dwell among His people and lead their hearts astray.  Now can you see where WE are heading?

Inside each of our hearts there camps many gods and idols.  These very gods are not set on a mantle and worshipped.  Instead, they are part of the sin in our lives.  All of us have attitudes that we default to.  We have sins that we practice that are more important to us than God.  Oh, we don't like to say that is true, yet it is.  Many of us can see what the god of our heart is by merely looking at our checkbook, taking note of what we spend our money on.  Many more of us will realize what our god is simply by listening to what pronouns we speak the most:  I, me, my, mine!  The priority of self points to who is really the god of our life! 

If you think God is the only authority in your life then it might be a good thing to consider this list:

Self-sufficiency, self-reliance, self-absorption, selfishness, impatience, hatred, unforgiveness, depression, anxiety, worry, bitterness, self-superiority, argumentative, self-deprecating, gossip, pot-stirring, envy, jealousy, hypocrisy, deceitful, lying, malice, abusive speech, coarse speech, partiality, bigotry . . .  The list is endless!  But we must begin to think in terms that identify these as the very evil practices that they are!  God's Word says they are the evil in our flesh that battles against the Spirit of the Living God in us!

Since God is an unchanging God, then His view of evil practices has not changed either.  If He charged the Israelites to destroy all evil practices so that they could live in purity instead of sin, what do you think our unchanging God will want our battle plan to be?  Of course, He wants us to destroy the very things inside our own hearts that lead us astray and away from Him!

In my forthcoming book (May 1, 2011) God has given me a great way to get these idols and gods into His hands and off of our backs.  It involves first identifying what is really in your heart, and then taking full vengeance on what He reveals to you.  This book, Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, can be purchased right now on Amazon.com, or directly from me (and I will sign your copy!).  Request your signed copy by contacting me at cherylgnagey@gmail.com or at www.cherylgnagey.com.

Take Full Vengeance!

Pin It Originally: How To Add a Pinterest (Pin it) Button to your Blog/Website http://cs-doon.blogspot.com/#ixzz1ryXJUBEC Just before Israel was to enter the Promised Land, God sent them to utterly destroy the Midianites, who had introduced into the camp, through their woman, immorality and idolatry, with severe consequences. Then Israel took matters into their own hands and spared the lives of the Midianite women!  It is so easy to see their error, yet what sins have we allowed to "come into our midst?"  Destroy them!

Looking at the story in its full context we are faced with the diabolical plan of Satan to destroy the nation of Israel.  If it couldn't be done by military force, then the next plan would surely succeed:  destroy them from the inside out!  As Israel was making their way to the Promised Land they encountered the Moabite-Midianite people.  This group was God-less but full of false gods and idols, and they were immoral as well.  As they intermingled with the Israelites, God's chosen people began to "sleep with the enemy" and participate in the worship of their gods.  As a result, God sent a plague on His own people to eradicate the sin from them.  In one day 24,000 perished for their sin.  It appeared that Satan's plan was working.

Now, cleansed from their personal immorality and idolatry, Israel is about to cross over into the Promised Land.  But not before they obeyed the command of the Lord to go back and annihilate the people who had led them astray.  God's exact words were, "Take full vengeance for the sons of Israel on the Midianites."  There could have been no misunderstanding of what 'full vengeance' meant.  God wanted the enemy utterly destroyed!  But as so often happens, these military men decided to take matters into their own hands.  It seems as if the voice of Satan must surely have whispered to them, "Did God really want you to destroy all of these beautiful women.  Kill the men.  They can kill you.  But you don't want to kill these women.  Bring them back; make them your wives."

And that is exactly what Israel did.  They disobeyed the voice of both God and Moses.  They followed their own hearts instead of leading them!  They thought they had done a good thing.  As a matter of fact, what they did was the cultural norm of the day.  Imagine their great surprise when Moses openly confronts their sin and demands that they obey what God said!  Any woman of consensual age must be killed for they were the greater enemy!

Looking at the broader application for us, we can't miss the obvious. Those things that seem the least "deadly" are sometimes bought, quite intentionally, into our midst  with absolutely no fear.   It is time to open our eyes to the reality that the "smallest sin" has the potential to be the very thing that destroys our witness and testimony before others.  Any idol (the things we elevate above God on a daily basis) will destroy us quicker than the "global issues" of the world.  God is looking for personal holiness.  He desires our heart to be filled only with Himself.  He calls to us today to take FULL vengeance on everything that draws our hearts away from Him.  What have you allowed into your midst, thinking that it is perfectly safe?  Today should be the beginning of your spiritual battle to destroy the "enemy in the camp."  That is spiritual healing!  That is overcoming victory!

What Are You Saying?

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Moses knew that his days were numbered.  So he listened intently to God's instructions for His people.  God talked to him (again) about the 7 feasts and all of the required sacrifices.  But He followed up with some laws regarding the making of vows.  God wants His children to DO what they SAY they will do.  He wants them to follow through with what they promise.  He wants our lives to display INTEGRITY.  (Numbers 28-30)

We will bear the responsibility of promises made to God and others.  How often we idly say what we desire to do, yet rarely follow through on what we say.  What have you promised God that you will do?  What have you promised your spouse that you will change?  Have you ever promised your children something that you reneged on?  What ministry have you committed yourself to do that you ended up dumping on someone else for your own selfish reasons? (Do your toes hurt yet?)

Several years ago, my husband and I committed to a pledge an amount of money in our church's building campaign.  It was to be paid over 3 years.  Trusting God to fulfill what He told us to do, we prayerfully were able to offer nine-tenths of it before we were called into ministry in another state.  We left our home and ministry, and moved, thinking all the while that we were "off the hook" for the final tenth.  We were a full year into our new ministry before the Lord brought conviction through the Word.  I opened the Bible that day and read this, "When you make a vow to God, do not be late in paying it, for He takes no delight in fools. Pay what you vow!  It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay." (Ecclesiastes 5: 4-5).

You can imagine my racing heart!  We had  assumed one of two things:  That our vow had been to our CHURCH and therefore able to be cancelled at our discretion, or that God really didn't care if we didn't keep our vow to Him.  Either way, we had assumed WRONGLY!

When we say that we are going to do something, it is our integrity that sees to it that it gets done.  When we don't follow through on what we say, we are showing God, others, and even the world sometimes, that we have no integrity.  In the cases where we do not "do as we say," it would have been far better for us to have kept our mouths shut!

Our vow to supply for the need of our church's building had been minimized the moment we moved.  But conviction in our hearts caused us to rethink what we had promised, what we had  vowed to God in faith.  We began to ask the Lord to bring to us the final tenth so that we could return it to Him, completing our vow.  He was utterly faithful; and we were faithful as well.  Never had such a burning conviction felt so good when it was removed from our shoulders.  Doing the right thing by following through on what we had vowed allowed us to step out of our foolishness and into wisdom!


Do you make promises that you never intend to keep?  Have you made some promises that you now realize you MUST keep?  Do the right thing.  Stop making false promises, and start keeping the ones you have made.  Your integrity is on the line.






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Preparing For Battle

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Balak sought out Balaam to speak curses on Israel.  Balak wanted Israel to be defeated.  Isn't it interesting that he did not seek out his military general to draw up a battle plan to defeat this enormous enemy?  Though Balak was a pagan, he knew that he must defeat Israel spiritually.  How much more prepared would you be today if you would FIRST fight in the spiritual realm with the Sword and prayer?

What enemy do you want defeated in your life?  What sin has hung on far too long, and is now far too large for you to defeat on your own?  Have you been attempting to create your own "military" plan for defeating it?  There is only one way that you will ever defeat sin in your life.  You must be SPIRITUALLY healed!

Every believer keeps hidden in his heart many sins that have yet to be defeated.  If you are looking at yours today, they may appear to be enormous when you look at them all together.  Attempting to "never do/think/say that again" will avail about as much as any New Year's resolution!  Has that ever been successful for you?  Me, either! 

The sin issues of the heart must be attacked spiritually.  It will require your time and effort, but it will not be you, in the end who defeats them.  It will be the Spirit who dwells in your heart who will destroy them.  We have been deceived for a very long time that it is our strength that will over come them.  The enemy likes when we use this battle plan because he knows that we will lose. . . and he will win! 

Zechariah 4: 6 says, "'Not by (your) might nor by (your) power, but by MY SPIRIT,' says the Lord of Hosts."  Do you see that Almighty God is imploring us to STOP TRYING to change our sinful hearts?  His Spirit alone is in charge of that.

So how do you allow the Spirit to fight the spiritual battle raging in you?  Try this:  Let the Lord show you just one of your sins.  Write it on an index card and put it in your bible.  Now here is the part that you can do.  EVERY DAY read the word, with the purpose of knowing your God better.  Then take that card and prayerfully surrender this part of your heart to Him.  Ask the Spirit to now come and do His work in you.  Do this every day.  

This is not a "quick fix."  There is nothing powerful in the card or the plan.  The power is in the Word, in the Spirit, and in the relationship that you will develop with God Himself!  In a month, look inside again, and see if the Spirit has been working!   I think you will be surprised to see His spiritual healing at work in you!

Why not post your results at the bottom of this page!  Others might like to hear your testimony of God's "overcoming" battle plan  that has resulted in healing in your heart.  And don't forget to click "follow" at the top of the page!

Lessons From a Donkey

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Balaam was a man who knew God, but he loved money even more.  After twice disobeying the will of God, God put his heart to the test and showed it clearly to Balaam.  Spiritually-blind Balaam quickly learned that a talking donkey could see what he himself could not--the angel of God who was standing in the way of the donkey to protect Balaam from a wrong course.  Are you going the wrong way?  How do you respond to someone trying to point out the error of your way.  Let's look at this example from Numbers 22.

Three times the donkey "sees" what is happening in the spiritual realm.  Three times the donkey tries to make a "course correction" on Balaam's behalf.  Three times Balaam strikes the donkey for his "willful disobedience."   Now, let's look at it even more closely.

The angel of God can be likened to the Holy Spirit.  He lives inside of us for many purposes, but one of them is to guide us onto the right paths when we get off course or lose our way.  He stands between us and the consequences that we will face when we disobediently choose to go the wrong way.

The donkey might very well be a spiritual friend with whom we are walking on this spiritual journey.  The Holy Spirit uses them to help us make right decisions, to hear the voice of the enemy when we speak to them about our choices  that are not in line with the Word of God, and to steer us in a more godly direction.  They  speak truth and life into our lives, directing us this way and that way, in order to help us get off of our wrong path.  But we are often too stubborn, and intent on going our own way, to listen to them.  Too many times we lash out at them, despising their wise counsel.  As we walk toward the sin, this friend will do whatever he has to to steer us away from evil.  Look at this progression in the story of Balaam's donkey and his ever increasing desire to help:

• Verse 23:  The donkey is on a road.  Seeing the angel, he turns off the way and goes into a nearby field, wanting to turn around and go back. 

• Verse 24-25:  The donkey is now on a narrow path with walls on either side of the path.  Seeing the angel, he has no where to go, so he presses into the wall.

• Verse 26-27:  The donkey is now in a narrow place with no possibility of turning around.  Seeing the angel, he has no way out, so he just lays down, because he is stuck there.

The donkey warned, but Balaam didn't listen.  The donkey tried to turn Balaam around, move him out of danger, and then just laid down.  All three times dear Balaam struck him!  When we make a wrong choice we, too, can become spiritually blinded to the warnings all around us and put our protection in jeopardy.  As we continue in our poor and sinful choices, the path of destruction NARROWS until we are STUCK in our sin.  

Another thing to consider is Balaam's response to the donkey's question as to why he had been struck.  Balaam tells the donkey, "Because you have made a mockery of me."  The donkey had been ridden by Balaam all of his life and had never let Balaam down by taking him the wrong way.  So why did Balaam lash out at him?  Because the donkey was impeding what Balaam wanted, with all of his heart, to do (to go with the men who where going to pay him lots of money for his divination!)

Translate these truths now to your own life.  How do you receive wise counsel?  Do you just want to go your own way with no intrusion from the real truth?  Have you verbally "struck" the very one who is trying to help you?  We all can learn a valuable lesson from Balaam, but even more from his "godly" donkey!

 

Fully Following God's Word

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God told Moses to speak to rock, and it would produce water for the thirsty Israelites. Out of frustration and anger at this rebellious, unbelieving people, Moses did not speak to the rock, but struck it instead--TWICE! His personal unbelief and prideful attitude brought him a consequence that he may have thought he was immune to--God would not allow him to lead His people into the Promised Land. (From Spiritual Healing Facebook fan page 2-19-11)

So often we think that our disobedience is just a small thing. We tend to believe that it is not important to God at all, because He loves us and has already forgiven our sins. But we can see from the example of Moses, that God is very interested in our full obedience.

When the Israelites first left Egypt they were thirsty. Moses cried out to God to help His people. God clearly told Moses to strike the rock with his rod, and water would come forth, and it did! But some 38 years later, when this same company needed water, Moses, who was thoroughly fed up with their rebellious, unbelieving hearts, walked in his own flesh and angrily yelled at those he was leading.

After God had told him to "speak to the rock," Moses took his rod of authority and hit the rock instead. To compound his wrong choice, he hit it then a second time. No one could blame Moses for how frustrated he had become in these 38 years of wandering with this obstinate group. But even if we can relate to his frustration, he had not one excuse for disobeying God.

How lightly do you take your own disobedience? Does it drive you to repentance? Do you consider yourself "immune" to consequences because you are one of God's children? God wants you to fully follow His every command, to repent when you do not, and to walk again in the ways that He has set before you. If we continue to walk in disobedience, which in the end is unbelief, we will never experience the peace and rest of the Promised Land, right here on earth.