The Oil That Allows the Armor To Work Together

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(Excerpted from Cheryl Gnagey's book, Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 8)

"Last, but certainly not least, are our prayers and petitions at all times--times of success, failure, ease, and attack.  By praying ahead of time, we are more alert to the attacks the enemy will bring against us.   By praying, we are able to put all the rest of the armor to work for our victory over the sin in our lives.  Do you see how interconnected the armor and constant prayer are?  Prayers and petitions to God are the oil in the oil can that the rusted Tin Man so desperately needed to move effectively in his 'body armor.'  Without the oil, he was destined to be immoveable forever!

With no desire to drive out the gods in our lives, we stand no chance of overcoming them.  When we have no desire to drive out the evil in us, we tend to walk in evil, leaving the sin in our hearts for the enemy to use against us over and over.  If we want to win spiritual victories, we must make the conscious decision to apply (put on) and implement (use) the every piece of the  armor of which Paul speaks.  It's not a gift that we receive that works all by itself!  The full armor of God becomes a useless protection and weapon to us when we allow our gods to keep us from fully following after God and all of His ways.  Laziness in our spiritual walk, including our prayer life,  not only renders the armor useless, but it also renders the armor-bearing soldier useless as well."

Taking a Closer Look

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It is always a good idea to take in information, but an even better idea to apply what you have learned to your life.  But often that will require that you slow down and take a good, close look at your life.  Below are a few questions that will help you both process and apply what you have learned about taking full vengeance on your sins and idols that are a part of your life.  This is your time to introspect.  Take a moment to look within.

1. When we don't take full vengeance on our gods and sin, we actually create an environment in which they will be allowed to grow up in us.  Are you nourishing your weeds, or are you pulling them up and destroying them?
2. What influence do your gods and sin have on your spiritual growth?
3. God wanted the Israelites to eradicate all foreign gods from their lives by taking FULL vengeance on them.  What does God want you to do with your identified gods and sin?
4. There were severe consequences for Israel when the disobeyed God and kept the foreign gods alive by sparing (giving life to) the woman who were so idolatrous.  Are you willing to find out what God's consequences will be for you if you choose to let your gods and sins live, instead of destroying them?  Do you think that you are' bullet-proof'?
5. Why does God discipline us when we disobey?  How do your gods and sin affect your holiness?

It is time to pull up the weeds in your life that are choking out Holy Spirit within you and holiness and purity He longs to bring into your life .  Weeds that are left alone will eventually take over an entire beautiful garden of flowers!

Repairing the Breach in Your Wall

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Every Christian's heart has places of disrepair.  Whenever there is a breach in our heart and sin is allowed to reside there, the enemy has control.  It is time to repair the walls of our heart and to clean out the dirty chambers of our hearts.  It is time for God to have full control of our hearts!

"God desires for you to 'go up to the breaches' and build an unbroken wall around the home of God, your heart!  By giving Him access to your heart to close the breach and destroy your idols, He is able to repair and restore your heart with a strong wall that will protect you in the future from falling head-long into sin and the worship of other idols.  Whitewashing or trying to plaster over your damaged heart will never mend it.  Only God can do that through you, the surrendered you.  (See Ezekiel 13: 5, 10-14).  It is time to begin to consider the members of your body as dead to all forms of sin, for that is idolatry.  (See Colossians 3:5).

Be very encouraged.   God is not through with you yet, if you are willing to walk on!"

Take time to read these questions, but then be sure to examine your true answers to them.  This kind of introspection can lead to heart change, if you will hand God the real truth in humility.

1. What are the gods and sin of your heart that are hidden in its creases?  Let God reveal them to you.
2. Contemplate the ways in which you have trusted in them instead of God.  How have you used them to 'get you through the rough places of your life instead of relying on God and praying through your need?
3. How have you rationalized that these have been helpful to you?
4. Christ-likeness will be the result of the process of sanctification, removing the gods and sin, bit by bit, from your heart where He resides in the form of the Holy Spirit.  Prayer over these issues. and surrendering them to God,  is the power for the victory over them.  How important is it to you to pray every day over your sin- and god-filled heart? 
5. Prayer is the beginning of surrender, and surrender leads to the spiritual healing of your broken heart.  What are you willing to do to see that goal realized?

(Excerpt for Chapter 6 of Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory)

THE RESURRECTED LIFE -- Day 26

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Day 26:  The Two Criminals (Luke 23: 32-33, 39-43)

The beatings and the trial were now behind Him, but the cross still loomed ahead of Him.  While Simon of Cyrene carried His cross, the two other convicted criminals carried their own crosses to Calvary.  Yes, death was just a few hours ahead.

Crucifixion was a torturous and horrific way to die.  But Jesus kept His eyes fixed on the goals:  the sacrifice to be made once and for all, salvation that would be available to the whole world, and a chance for all to have a personal and real relationship with the Father, the Spirit to come, and Him.  But He also focused on the glorious moment that He would return to His Father and be Home again.  But what would lie ahead for the two criminals?  What were they thinking about on the way to their deaths?  What did they have to look forward to?

As Jesus and the two men hung from their trees of death, some of the rulers, the commoners and the guards began to hurl insults at Him.  Even one of the criminals joined in.  “If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us!” he sneered, laughing an evil laugh.

“How could he say those things?” the other criminal thought.  The sheer audacity of that sinful man!  It just doesn’t make any sense that he would be demanding to be saved from the consequence of his own sin!  How could he so blatantly speak out such evil?  Did he not fear God Almighty?

Finding his voice amidst the pain, he had to speak.  “The punishment we received is just and fair for us.  We did what was unlawful and hang here today because of our disobedience.”  Then looking directly into the eyes of Jesus he said, “But this Man, He has done nothing wrong.  Jesus, please remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”  Seeing into the man’s heart, Jesus answered him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

Are you looking for Jesus to save you out of the circumstances of your own sinful life, expecting Him to change them?  Or are you recognizing your sinfulness, confessing it to Jesus, and letting Him change you?

THE RESURRECTED LIFE -- Day 17

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Day 17:  The Woman Caught in Adultery (John 8: 1-11)

Early one morning Jesus was walking by the temple and entered.  He sat down and began to teach those who had already gathered there for the morning teaching.  Commotion filled the air outside, and the sounds of a struggle could clearly be heard.  The voice of a woman crying caught Jesus’ attention over the angry, loud words of the men with her.

“Rabbi, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the VERY act!” the Jewish leaders cried.  Filthy, humiliated, and ashamed, the woman stood in the center of the entire gathering.  The eyes of the crowd burned holes in her heart.  Anger welled up inside of her as she considered the injustice of this law.  “Where is the man who was with me?” her thoughts screamed out. “Isn’t he just as sinful as I am?  Have I been set up?  How did the religious leaders know?  They didn’t just “happen” by that early in the morning, did they?”

Her thoughts were interrupted by, “Our law says such a woman must be stoned!”  It was then that all attention turned toward the Teacher.  It was the first time the woman had taken notice of Him.  It seemed like hours passed while He wrote in the dirt.  She wondered if He would condemn her.  Her eyes dropped to the ground as she realized she had no hope of forgiveness. 

Jesus answered the Pharisees who had brought the accusation against the woman.  “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”  Her eyes still cast downward, she heard the murmurs, then the shuffling of feet, and when she dared to look up, she met the eyes of her Savior.  Turning to where her accusers stood she discovered that not one of them remained in the street.

Do you run in to be the first to accuse, judge, and condemn when someone has been caught in a sin?  Or maybe you are the “adulteress”—caught and in need of repentance.  Either way, we must know who we are……SINNERS, all of us!  Jesus told the woman, “From now on, sin no more.”   It applied to both the woman and the Pharisees in this story.  It applies to us as well.  Which sin do you relate to?  Stop sinning now, if you are.   Or begin now to be the first to love and restore the sinner.

Little By Little

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Israel would soon enter the Promised Land to conquer the people there. But God would not simply and swiftly destroy them. Instead, He told His chosen that it would happen "little by little," knowing that removing all of their enemies would leave them vulnerable. God wants permission to come into our hearts and destroy every one of His enemies, but it will be a process, little by little, until all are destroyed.

One of the hardest things for me in my spiritual journey is that the weeding out of the sinful overgrowth in my heart is taking a long time.  I want the flower bed to be free of weeds right now!  I have figured out that I cannot do the transforming; only the Spirit of God in me can.  But that means I have little say in when my transformation regarding a particular sin will be complete.  As a matter of fact, my only part in that is to surrender to His control, and obey when I hear His voice directing my pathway.

God, in His infinite wisdom, also knows that if I am to grow spiritually, that removing everything now would rob me of the ability to put down deep roots as I grow that will help me withstand the next temptation to fall to that sin.  Quick removal of all my sin would leave me quite vulnerable to the temptation.  When Moses was speaking to Israel about the "little by little" removal of the Canaanites from the land, he warned them that quick destruction of the people in the entire land would cause them to fall prey to the "wild beasts that will grow too numerous" for them.  The same principle is true for us!

God is utterly faithful, though.  By His Spirit His purpose and plan is to drive out every evil thing in us, until they are "utterly destroyed."  Little by little, He will do this as He watches us grow in our trust and faith in Him, and in our patience as well!

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!