God's Windex

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Many evil kings in both Israel and Judah had led their people in spiritual harlotry.  In the land God had given them they openly practiced idolatry and sin.  In the city in which God said HIS name would dwell, foreign gods were worshiped.  In His holy temple altars to other gods had been set up for the worship of the people, and the land was littered with the altars of false worship on the high places.  King after king followed in the evil path, each one seemingly outdoing the previous evil worship practices.  Then along came King Josiah.

Josiah was a man whose heart was pure.  Having been shown a book of God's Law, he realized how angry God must have been with the unfaithful hearts of so many generations.  His repentant heart caused him to rip his clothes and weep before the Lord for the atrocious sins of the people. Then he set his heart and mind to reform Jerusalem, the priesthood, the temple practices, and the hearts of his people.  God, knowing all that was in Josiah's heart, saw that his heart was tender and humble.

A heart that is pure and crystal clear, rid of the sins that want to hide there in the darkness, is a heart that God can write on.  When God writes on a heart, the heart is transformed from doing evil (practicing disobedience) to doing what is right in His sight (practicing obedience).  

A pure heart can be seen by the unsaved.  It is pure motives, love and compassion, that inspire truly pure actions.  God uses pure-hearted people to help those who are unbelievers "see" Him.  But all too often our words, our attitudes, and our actions (or lack thereof) show the hypocrisy of our lives.

Bit by painful bit, our hearts have to be surrendered to God, so that He has control of our hearts.  And when we have surrendered ourselves to Him, to do as HE pleases, the joy of obeying His commands will follow.  

How clear and shiny is your heart?  Windex, anyone?

Who Do You Serve?

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 Have you noticed that I seem to use a lot of pictures of hearts?  It is not because I like them so much.  It is because my message always seems to involve the heart!  And today is no different.

You also often will read in my blog the comparison between our Christian lives today and the lives of the Israelites of the Old Testament.  That is because we are not very different in that area as well.  Today we will look at yet another glimpse of ourselves.


Israel had gone through many kings.  They had all been evil kings who followed in the ways of wickedness.  None of them walked in the commandments that God had given them to follow.  And they led their people astray--from King Rehoboam to King Hoshea.  When God had had enough of their idolatry, He set in motion His plan for Assyria to capture Israel and take them into captivity.  God's list of reasons for allowing Israel to be taken out of their country into bondage is listed in 2 Kings 17: 7-18.  It is a lengthy list, and when read carefully we can see how Israel clearly hurt the heart of God.


But God would not be content to leave His land empty.  He might remove the people, but He would never allow HIMSELF to be removed from the Promised Land.  After the land had been filled with Assyrian people, God caused the king of Assyria to send in one priest to teach them of the "god" of that land--yes, the One True God!  So one priest was allowed to move back to Bethel to teach the people now living in the land.


But here was the problem, and it is our problem today.  The people, while they had learned to fear God, also made gods of their own!  And there were many different gods represented! (2 Kings 17: 29-31)


Verse 29 says, "But every nation still made gods of its own," and verse 32 says, "They also feared the LORD."  Now what is wrong with this picture?  Their hearts were DIVIDED!

And that is precisely our problem today.  While we have believed in Jesus, been baptized, serve in our churches, bring our tithes, pray, and read our Bibles, we still follow after the other gods of our hearts.  Our hearts are just as DIVIDED!  We look to, bow down before, serve unashamedly, and make sacrifices to those things that have a greater priority in our lives.  

God is asking for your whole heart, undivided and unable to be divided from here after.  He jealously seeks it all!  When He looks into your heart today, what will He see?  Will it be your humble submission to Him in all things, or just those areas that you are willing to surrender to Him?  Will you listen and follow God to an undivided heart or will you continue to close your ears and live as you wish?  Verse 41 says, "So while these nations feared the LORD, they also served their idols; their children likewise and their grandchildren, as their fathers did, so they do to this day."


We fear the LORD, but who do we serve?

Seeking Answers

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King Ahaziah was the son of Ahab, and he ruled in the Northern Kingdom called Israel in the days when Israel was divided.  His father Ahab, and the kings that preceded him, walked in evil ways and did not follow after the LORD.  When Ahab died, and his son Ahaziah ruled in his place.  Shortly after taking the throne Ahaziah fell through the lattice of the upper level of the home in which he was staying.  Being severely wounded and failing in his health, Ahaziah wanted to know the answer to just one question:  "Will I recover from this?"  We too have many such questions in our lives, don't we?

God understands that we have questions.  Our questions are designed to bring us to Him!  When the answers seem far off and confusing, we sometimes lose sight of the facts that God is there, He has the answers, and He desires for us to come and tell Him what our questions are.  It is true that while all the previously mentioned facts are factual, we are certainly not guaranteed that God will tell us what He is thinking and planning and doing when it comes to our lives.  But He certainly does want us to turn to Him and ask our questions of Him, talking to Him about all that is on our hearts and in our minds.

You may be asking right now, "Did Ahaziah ask God whether he would recover from his fall and the illness that followed?"  Second Kings 1 tells us that he did not.  King Ahaziah sought instead to get his answers from a false god named Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron.  Does that name sound familar?  Beelzebub is another name for the devil! Elijah the prophet was led to the men who were going to Baal-zebub to ascertain the answer to the question.  An angel of the Lord directed Elijah to say this to these men:

"Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron?" 

These messengers returned (quite quickly, I presume) to their king Ahaziah, and told him what Elijah had said.   Ahaziah did not like the message that Elijah sent back.  So he continued in his plan to find a different answer from Elijah that resulted in the deaths of two of Ahaziah's captains and 100 of his militia.  And eventually his own death.

While reading this story today, I was struck by one single thought.  Am I behaving like Ahaziah, seeking the answers from everywhere from anyone but from God?  How many times have I run to safe places of hiding, to counselors with easy and appealing solutions, to my own thoughts and opinions and guesses as to what the answer might be, and to the false gods such as the internet, friends, and family who might be more prone to "tickle my ears?"  How many times has God looked down from the heavenlies, just waiting for me to turn my face toward His, and witnessed me run away from Him?  

God would have been right, in those moments of idolatry,  to send me a messenger who would say to me the same thing that was said to Ahaziah, "Is it because there is no God who dwells within you, as well as dwelling in Heaven, that you are going to inquire an answer from your own thoughts or your gods?"

God wants His children to trust only in Him.  He is the answer, even if He keeps us guessing for awhile.  Who or what do you run to when you have a question about your life?  Is God your last choice?

God's Priority Checklist

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Do you have a checklist?  Did you know that God does?  In many places in the Word we are able to see what God considers priorities for our lives.  Today, continuing in the Old Testament, we will see His short checklist in the words of Elijah to the widow of Zarephath.  Let's pick up the story found in I Kings 17.

A terrible drought had come upon the land.  God instructed Elijah to go to Zarephath, and there a woman would take care of him.  The moment he came through the gate of the city, he saw a woman gathering sticks.  He called to her to bring him a drink of water and some bread.  Ashamed that she could not fully oblige him, the woman told Elijah that she only had a little flour and a little oil.  Her plan was to return home and make a small loaf of bread and share it with her son.  She was sure that it would be their last meal. 

Then Elijah, the man of God, spoke life into saying this to her, "Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son."

Now I don't know about you, but that would rub me the wrong way.  Why would I use my last flour and oil to make a little bread for a stranger, leaving very little left for me and my only son? Usually, our flesh keeps us from wanting to put others first.  Yet, the woman was obedient, likely because of what Elijah said next:  "For thus says the Lord God of Israel, 'The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the Lord send rain on the face of the earth.' "

Setting our flesh aside for a moment, let me ask you this.  Did you catch the priority "checklist" in the Scripture?  If you didn't, then here it is:  First . . . and Afterward.  It kind of want to hide from us, but there it is; simple, yet profound.  Elijah asked the woman to take care of what belonged to God first.  In this case, it was him, the messenger of God's words.  And then afterward, she would be taken care of until the end of the drought and famine.  This is God's blessing on the obedience she displayed.  She would have flour and oil without end!  Food to satisfy her hunger!

Is God's priority checklist any different for us?  Of course not!  He is unchanging!  Do you hear Him calling to you saying, "Take care of what is Mine first, and then afterward you will be taken care of with My unlimited supply."  How often we turn the priority list upside down!  We want God's unlimited supply so we can give something back to Him.  If our supply is limited, we declare that we have nothing left to give!

Your Divided Heart

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Solomon was not like his father David.  God looked down at David's heart and saw a man who was seeking after His heart.  While Solomon started well, in that at the beginning of his reign he humbled himself before the Lord and asked the Him to bless him with wisdom to rule over Israel, he began to walk in disobedience to the commands of God.

Solomon's sin is easily seen by comparing Deuteronomy 17: 14-20 (God's commandments for the ruling king) and I Kings 11: 1-13.  In the passage of Deuteronomy God precisely states 4 principles that His kings should follow:  Do not multiply horses (trusting in military power), do not multiply wives (looking to them instead of God), and do not greatly increase you silver and gold (trusting therefore in  their material blessing).  

Then God spoke of the desired spiritual walk of the King of Israel.  He was to write himself a copy of the entire Law (so that he might trust in the Lord and His word, hiding it in his heart).  He was to keep God's word with him, read it every day, learn to fear God from it, carefully obeying its commands.  By doing these things the king would keep his heart humble, and therefore not turn away from God and the power of His words.  (Hmmm. . .sounds like what the Spirit suggests to us as well.  But we don't have to write our copy of His word; we just have to pick up one of the many copies laying around our house!)

Solomon knew the commands of God, yet he chose to marry a foreign woman, and then marry 699 more!  Solomon chose the sin of having the love of many women over obedience to the God of his fathers.  And the result had drastic consequences on Solomon's spiritual walk.  They turned his heart away, to follow after their gods.  The heart that once sought the Lord in everything so that he could walk in the ways of God now was torn in two, divided between his wives' gods and the One True God.  Because of his sin Israel would now become a picture of Solomon's heart--it too would be divided.  God's precious land would be divided between the north and the south.  The commands of God were given; Solomon turned away from them; he lived a life of overlooking the sin in his heart; he and all of Israel suffered the consequences of his sin.  Solomon surely did not have the heart of his father.

But it is so easy to read this account and think to ourselves, "How could he have been so wickedly disobedient to God?"  The answer lies in our own divided hearts.  We, too, claim to love God, and yet our lives reveal our other "lovers."  We are just as guilty of idolatry as Solomon was.  But the gods we worship are not called Ashtoreth, Milcom, Chemosh, or Molech.  Our gods have the names of Adultery and Other Sexual Sin, Materialism, Cheating and Lying, Money, Prestige, Popularity, Gossiping, Self-sufficiency, Self-absorption, and the list is endless.  We like to believe that ours are not nearly as bad as theirs, so we continue to justify our attitudes and behaviors, our words and our thoughts, even though we know that God's commands to us in the Bible are against all of them.  

God is looking for men and women who are seeking His heart, through surrender to Him and obedience to His word.  He is looking for those whose hearts are not torn between this world and the next world.  He still desires for His children to be wholly devoted to Him as David was, not just partially devoted to Him as Solomon was.  Our hearts are in need of mending.  Our hearts are desperate for spiritual healing.  Are you willing to assess your own heart and see the gods that sit on its mantle?  Are you willing to surrender them to the Lord in a repentance that turns away from them, never to return to them?  Are you willing to follow His commands by the power of the Spirit within you?  If you are, and you take action, you are truly saying this:

"Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; UNITE MY HEART to fear Your name."  (Psalm 86:11)

 

Remedy For a Sin-broken Heart

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Solomon had just finished his beautiful, powerful prayer to God as he dedicated the newly built temple.  He concluded with a call to all of Israel to devote themselves, their hearts, to the Lord by walking faithfully in all of His commandments.  By setting the Ark of the Covenant in the new Holy of Holies, God would then be able to say, "My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually."  

Solomon's connection between the Ark of the Covenant where God dwelt then, and our hearts where God dwells now is critically important to us today.  It is in our heart, the core of our being, that the Holy Spirit perpetually dwells.  He is the eyes who watch everything we think, do, and say.  He is the very heart  of God in us.  And what is the "heart of God?"  It is the very life of Christ.  That is what the Holy Spirit represents in the life of the believer.

Though we have the life of Christ living in us, we so often try to do every spiritual thing in our own power.  We use our strengths and our sheer will-power to try and overcome sin.  We want desperately to walk faithfully in the commands God gives us to live by, and fail miserably with each attempt.  We so often life in a sin-confess-try again cycle, and usually never realize that this is simply a dog chasing its tail.  We go round and round and round, but we never really get anywhere.

So what is the secret, then, to having an unbroken heart, a heart healed of its sinful ways that obeys the Lord's commands?  Zechariah the prophet speaks loudly the key to having an unbroken heart.  "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit," says the Lord. (4:6).

The healing of the continual sin in your heart will not come by might ("I am trying hard to handle this.  I failed yesterday, but I will try harder today."), nor will it come from your strength and power  ("I am strong; I can get through this; I did yesterday, so I will today as well.").  The spiritual healing of your heart, the very removal of fleshly gods, idols, and sins,  will happen because of your working at it.  God requires one thing from you to become an obedient child who walks in His pure and righteous ways.  He requires your surrender to the Spirit.  Your transformed heart, changing from broken to unbroken, from sin-stained to holy, is the work of the Spirit.  This work happens from the inside out by the Spirit, not from the outside in by your striving flesh!

In every 12 step program, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, the transforming work begins with these 3 principles:  I can't; You can; go ahead!  Do you hear the surrender of such a prayer?  This should be our constant prayer!  Why not begin right now to apply the truth of Zechariah 4:6.  It will sound a something like this:

"Holy Spirit, you have a job to do in my heart, but You require me to seek Your work in me from a place of humility and surrender.  I am struggling with committing the sin of _______.  I have tried to stop and have failed miserably.  I know that my flesh cannot transform my heart.  Only You can.  So I come to You today, with my flesh crucified and my spirit crying out to You.  'I can't get this done in me!  But I know that You can!  So please go ahead!'  I surrender to Your work in me."

By using the "Post Comment" button below, why not report back what the Spirit is doing in you as an encouragement to the other readers of this blog!  And while you are at it, click on the "follow" button to the right!

Wisdom of the Heart

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Recently on Facebook I have seen this question circulating on my friends' statuses:  What would you do if you knew you would utterly succeed in it?  It is a good question to ponder, but we all know that in this life we are not promised utter success.  It did remind me, however, of a statement God once said to a king who was no more than a child.  The Almighty said this to Solomon:  "Ask what you wish Me to give you."  What would we ask God to give us if we knew we would surely get it?  What would you have asked for if you were a mere child?

Solomon responded to God by first conveying both his gratitude and thankfulness for the love that He had shown his father, David.  Solomon knew that he sat on the throne that very day because the LORD God had directed it in response to a promise that He had made David.  God kept His promise because David had walked with Him with a righteous heart.  David lived his life with a God-ward heart, though he stumbled and fell many times.  The promise God made to David was this:  He would always have a blood relative on the throne.  David had just died, but not before appointing Solomon, his son, to succeed him. 

Next, Solomon recognized his own insignificance in and of himself, referring to himself as a "little child" who did not know the "ins and outs" of reigning over a kingdom of millions.  By such a reply, Solomon was humbling himself before the Lord of All and submitting himself to Him as he recognized his own inability to hand his life alone.

Finally, Solomon responded to the implied question, "What do you desire from Me?"  His answer sounded nothing like the responses from the little children I have known.  He didn't ask for fancy gifts or fame and fortune.  Solomon asked for wisdom to be great judge of the people, being able to know the difference between good and evil.  Solomon was asking for wisdom that came from inside of him, from his heart.  He longed to be a "man after God's heart," even as his father David was.

Today, I am asking God for the same thing.  This wisdom of the heart is not reserved back by God for kings only.  This precious gift is reserved for the children of the King as well.  Every fiber of my being longs for the wisdom and discernment that will choose correctly between what is evil and what is good, between the ways of the flesh and the ways of the Spirit of Christ who lives in me.  Solomon received this gift from the hand of God.  So has every believer.  The Holy Spirit is wisdom and discernment.  I need only to thank the Lord for His awesome gift to me and surrender to Him in a humility that knows I am incapable of achieving it on my own.  Will you join me in praying this prayer today?  God is saying to all of us, "Ask what you wish Me to give you."

Lord God, how thankful I am that You have made promises to me that You intend to keep.  You have seen that my heart is turned toward You.  You know the desire of my heart to walk in all of Your ways by obeying Your commands.  But I am still so much like Your little child who does not always know how to walk in You, and out of my wrong thoughts, words, and actions.  I surrender myself to You, knowing that I cannot walk in the Spirit in my power.  I need the Holy Spirit's power to accomplish this, and thus please Your heart.  By the power of Him who dwells within me, grant me knowledge and wisdom and discernment to guide me on Your paths today.  Amen!  And so be it according to Your will for me.

Following in the Footsteps of a Legacy

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The last words of a man are most often his wisest.  When you have lived a long life, having experienced what is common to man, you strongly strongly desire to pass on, to anyone who will listen, the knowledge which you have gained.  Everyone who has an ear to hear can learn from a sage's last words.  They become the legacy that is carried forward, wisdom to the next generation.

King David was about to die, and he had just appointed and anointed his son, Solomon, as the new king of Israel.  What he had to say to his son was the legacy of his own life.  He didn't speak of his accomplishments, nor his failures.  David spoke to Solomon the ageless truths of walking with the God of the Ages.

David challenged Solomon to be a strong man.  David knew that there would be many difficult decisions that he would have to make as king, but just as many difficult decisions regarding his own life.  "Be a man," David said to Solomon.  Life is no place for shallow and weak living.

Then David's words turned and focused on the LORD God, and Solomon's obedience to every word which God spoke.  David spoke of 3 ways that Solomon must live in order to experience the blessing of success in all that he did and wherever he would go.  We, too, should order our lives by these three principles for successful Christian lives:

• Consider God to be your Commander ("keep the charge")
• Follow in the footsteps of Jesus ("walk in His ways")
• Obey all that He says ("keep His statutes, commandments, ordinances and testimonies")

This is the way that David lived his life. Though he was not a perfect man, David had a God-ward heart, and he greatly desired his son, the heir to the throne, to follow in his footsteps.  David recalled to Solomon the promise that God had spoken to him long ago. That promise was that David would always have a blood relative on the throne of Israel if his sons were obedient to God.  Full obedience was the condition that God required if the promise was to be carried out.  This is exactly what God said,

". . . if your sons are careful of their way, to walk before Me in truth (faithfulness) with all of their heart and with all of their soul. . ."

The condition of the promise was a king's heart that was fully following in the faithful footsteps of  their father.  This king would be blessed, his kingdom would be blessed, and they would keep a man on the throne if their hearts totally belonged to God.  

God is still looking for those who will totally surrender themselves to Him.  He doesn't desire a part of our heart and soul.  He wants us to give Him all of it.  And when we do, our lives reflect to others the blessing of God upon us.  The lost of the world can only see the amount of God in us that we have surrendered to Him.  On a scale of 0 - 100% how much of your heart truly belongs to God?  What legacy are you leaving for others to follow?  Can they see your footsteps?

Our Fallout Shelter

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This symbol was very familiar to be as a little girl growing up in the 60's and 70's.  It hung on the door that opened to our tornado shelter in our school.  At the time I never realized that it was a bomb shelter as well.  Protected by my parents, I had grown up never realizing the impact that the "Bay of Pigs" had on them and the difficult thoughts and emotions that hung around long after the danger subsided.

As a tornado shelter this room, where I attended my Brownie meetings at the age of 8 and where I had 3rd hour study hall my junior and senior years of high school, also was a place where I felt very safe when we got on the floor with our heads between our knees when the tornado sirens went off in inclement weather.  It was below ground which lent itself to that great feeling of security.  Not understanding the real meaning of "fallout" I was more than happy to do just that in this shelter from the storm.

Today, I know the reality of the term "fallout shelter."  But my complete trust is in the Perfect fallout shelter--Jesus Christ, my Savior, Protector, and Refuge.  King David knew God as that, as well.  His psalm recorded in Psalm 18 and again in 2 Samuel 22 begins with his thanksgiving for to a God who had always been his "fallout shelter."

Through his words we discover that his shelter looked more like this:

 

"The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn (strength) of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; my Savior. . ."

Are you being battered by a spiritual storm?  Or are you, as David was, under a spiritual attack, led by an enemy of yours?  While our modern "safe places" may not help you in these situations, David's God can.  He is a rock of sure footing that you can walk confidently upon.  He is a mighty and strong fortress that you can run into, and be safe.  He is the shelter that protects you from the enemy who comes out to war with you.  It is He that is the best refuge.  He is your Savior.

What do you usually run to?  What are those things that you try to hide yourself in?  Is it a sin that brings you physical comfort?  Or is it the attitude that flows out of your victim mentality?  Do you seek the Shield that has the ability to deflect the fiery arrows, or do you seek a friend that will sympathize with you and let you stay in your pouting, whining, 'feel-sorry-for-yourself' moods?

As for David, he proclaimed, "I will call upon the LORD. . .in my distress I called upon the LORD, Yes! I cried to my God; and from His temple He heard my voice, and my cry came to His ears."  (2 Samuel 22: 4a, 7)  Who or what will you call upon?  Your Fortress is waiting for your call!

 

Wrong Way! Go Back!

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David should have been at war.  It was springtime, and his military troops had returned to battle to complete what they started before the long, rainy, cold winter set in.  Instead, David remained in Jerusalem.  Pacing the floor of his balcony, likely thinking of the his men and worried just a little that he hadn't accompanied them, David glanced over and saw Bathsheba.  At that very moment every thought of his nation's battle and his lack of entreaty to the Lord stopped plaguing him, and his mind, as well as his eye, lingered on Bathsheba.  Thus began a snowball of sin coming down the mountain of his life.  Or so I used to think.

As long as I have been reading my bible I was sure that this one moment in David's life, of falling to a fleshly temptation, had ushered in a bushel of horrible choices.  But the truth of the matter is this:  David's sin began long before that fateful night on the balcony.  It began the moment David took his second wife. 

God had clearly given the command that the men of Israel were to be monogamous.  God put the parameters of "one wife" around them to protect them.  Yet David "overlooked" this particular commandment and justified himself as he took wife after wife, and concubine after concubine.  For several years his disobedience appeared to also be "overlooked" by God.  But it wasn't.  With God, appearance is irrelevant.  God hated sin, so He gave commandments to show His people what He expected out of their behavior.  God hated David's sin,  and not just in the moment when he fell to the temptation of not looking away from Bathsheba.  God hated David's sin the moment he fell to his selfish lack of control that opened the door to a second marriage while still married to his first wife.  God hated the lust in David's heart the presented itself long before his sleepless night of pacing.

Caught in his sin, David would now suffer the consequences of leaving his lust unchecked.  Countless times David could have confessed to God regarding his sinful heart, but he never did.  Not until he had been caught by the prophet Nathan in a wicked scheme to keep his infidelity a secret, a scheme that involved lies, betrayal, and a murderous plot.  Nathan called David's honor and integrity into account, and David, truly heart-broken over his sin, confessed to God the truth He already knew.

The ugliness and sin in David's heart began as a tiny seed of dissatisfaction with the wife of his youth, but it grew into a massive, strangling vine.  God let it grow until He had finally had enough.  What David thought God must have "winked at," he now realized had been a critical flaw in his character.  

What sin have you been committing for a very long time now?  Has it seemed that it is just "no big deal" to God since He really hasn't challenged you in regard to it?  Learn from the life of David.  What hasn't been dealt with will surely be!  God is not willing that evil reside in any of us.  If you have let it go unchecked, as David did, you can count on God pulling the rug out from under you sooner or later.  Take a good look into your heart.  What is your ugly, sinful vine?  Surrender now and confess it to God and walk away from it..  It's the wrong way!  Go back!  Get on the right path!  Better to handle it that way than to wait for the discipline of the Lord!

Japan's Tsunami--A Picture of God's Power In Our Hearts

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Not very long ago I watched a 5-minute video on Facebook of the tsunami in Japan that followed their recent earthquakes.  The images were disturbing from a human point of view.  My lack of personal knowledge of this particular type of catastrophic event kept me in an ignorant place,  thinking that if you were a good swimmer you might just have a chance to survive.  Moments into the video it became crystal clear to me that the powerful force of the water would have prevented any such thing.  The water crushed everything in its path.  My heart ached for anyone in its path, knowing death would be the primary result.  So vivid images were left indelibly inscribed on my usually optimistic thoughts.  

It is no wonder that those very images surfaced today as I read the Word this morning.  In 2 Samuel 5 I was reading again the story of David becoming the king of Israel.  Almost immediately war was eminent with the Philistines.  Not wanting to "do what was good in his own eyes," David sought God's wisdom.  Having understood God's response that he should surely go to war and soundly defeat his arch enemy, David did just that.  This was what David proclaimed after his unprecedented victory:

"The LORD has broken through my enemies before me like the breakthrough of waters."

I have read that verse so many times; I have used it in counseling others; I have used it to fight spiritual battles in my own life.  But this time, the Lord opened my eyes to see what David meant by that, by bringing the pictures of the tsunami to mind.  God was using what had been, and still is,  so devastating to Japan and the entire world to show me with great clarity what it means for Him to spiritually break through my enemies, the sin in my life that so easily entangles me.

As my mind hit the replay button of a horrible picture of death and destruction, God began to replace the cars,trucks, buildings, boat docks, trash, boards, and yes, even bodies, with pictures of my flesh.  The countless cars turning up on end became my self-sufficiency being destroyed just before sinking under the ferocious rising water.  The buildings that were crumbling from the force of the ocean against them became my self-reliance.  The unidentifiable trash swirling around in the raging water became the words and thoughts that are constant reminders that I am sinful in my innermost being.  And then God made the analogy for me.

When the power of the Holy Spirit is unleashed within a surrendered and repentant child of God, the sinful enemies that seek to destroy their spiritual walk are moved up and out of that believer's heart.  The Holy Spirit acts as a tsunami and destroys every evil thing in His path.  He breaks through the hardest of places in our hearts so that our hearts my be transformed, making them holy and pure.  But the believer must come to a place of repentant, sorrowful surrender if he desires this kind of victory over his sins.  

Do you want God to display the kind of power that will defeat your persistent sin?  Do you really want Him to annihilate your strongholds with His overwhelming force?  Your life, lived before others, will be the evidence of how you answered those questions.  And then you will be able to say, 

"The LORD has broken through my enemies before me like the breakthrough of waters!"

Breaking the Chains of Unforgiveness

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Bound in Chains

Do you struggle with bitterness? Do you have a hard time forgiving those who have hurt you? The story of David and Saul is a great reminder that, with God, you can find the strength to forgive and move on, not harboring the bitterness that will only destroy you. David knew some principles that we need to put into practice if we desire to break free of the bondage that unforgiveness will always bring to our lives.

Saul asked David to come into his palace from time to time and play his harp to help soothe his mind.  Saul had a tormenting spirit  that  terrorized him.  The door for that evil spirit was left open by Saul who chose to disobey God in such a way that God removed HIS spirit from him.  David would play his melodious tunes, and Saul would be comforted.  Oh,  how Saul loved David because of what he could do for him!  But as soon as David became popular with all of the palace, and then all of Israel when he killed Goliath, Saul's heart began to envy David.  Daily his jealousy grew greater and greater.  

Saul's jealousy began to turn to bitterness and even hatred, though David had done him no wrong.  The root was becoming a full-grown vine that was wrapping itself around Saul, choking the spiritual life out of him.   But David escaped the grasp of the vine, for he did not think about Saul in the same way that Saul thought about him.  

How did David escape from thoughts of bitterness and hatred?  How was it that no matter what Saul had done or continued to do, David acted in love toward him?  How did he avoid the tormenting evil thoughts that often come when you have been wronged, when you are undeserving of the evil that has come to you?

Though David was not a perfect man, and he failed God on so many occasions, we can see by his actions and responses that he lived by different principles than Saul.  Though Saul tried to pin David to the wall with his spear on three occasions, and he created at least two murderous plots, David always held his king, anointed by Samuel the priest, in the highest regard.  Let's look just a little closer at the principles that ruled David's heart.

David trusted in his God to handle the consequences of sin in Saul's life.  David saw no need to take out his retribution and revenge on Saul.  He considered that God in all His power was the only One who had authority to do so.

Because he trusted in God David was able to truly just let it go.  That doesn't mean that he never had a thought about it; it simply means he didn't let the thought go any farther than that. And he never seemed to sit around and dwell on it, either.

David thought the best of Saul.  Even though Saul was doing evil things to him, David continued to look at him in a positive light, not a negative one.

David knew that he himself was not without sin and that God still loved him and was forgiving of those time he had fallen woefully short.  If God would forgive him, then surely he could expect, and even desire, God to forgive Saul.

And finally, David practiced these things OVER AND OVER again!  Once would never be enough for David to be untouched by the sin of Saul.  When it came to his mind, and I am sure that it did countless times, David practiced these principles again...and again....and again.  

Saul was a man bound up by his hateful attitudes, who acted evilly because of them.  David was a man set free from hateful attitudes, and therefore, he did not practice evil against Saul.  Which man does your life resemble--Saul or David?