“SO THEN DEATH IS WORKING IN US”

Affliction and adversity allows us the audacity to hope, to demonstrate trust in our Savior -- shining brightly in the face of Bad -- knowing our Lord is in control. It is this “If I perish, I perish", this “Though He slay me I will trust Him" attitude of the heart that hands satan his greatest defeat. You see, our victory isn’t found in whether we live or die, but in our attitude of absolute trust in God as we live or die. The enemy may pursue us with adversity and affliction but we are never forsaken... never alone. And he can bring us to our knees but he cannot destroy the Blessed Hope we have in our Lord -- he cannot touch our eternal life in Christ!  When we refuse to deny God our trust during the onslaught of Bad, disregarding the physical outcome, we demonstrate great faith.

Listen to the words of the great Apostle Paul : “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.  For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  So then death is working in us...” Notice the purpose for being “delivered to death”... delivered to adversity and affliction: “That the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.” Our struggles with adversity and affliction bring submission to the Lordship of Jesus and death to Self, allowing the Christ-Life to emerge within replacing our Self-Life as our life. This is how we are “conformed to the image (nature) of His Son”, predestined to be Christlike. “So then death is working in us ... I am crucified with Christ.”

STRUCK DOWN, BUT NOT DESTROYED

(Ester 4:16; Job 13:15; 2 Cor. 4:8-12; Rom. 8:29; Gal. 2:20)

WE ALL MUST GO THROUGH THE THORNS

The Sower Parable depicts four heart conditions, the way we respond to life… lifestyles by choice. One of these is life in the thorn bushes.

Deception is, literally, mental blindness. The thorns of this world create toe-holds in our heart, patches of ground we have given to the enemy, doors of access. At first we struggle, then we acquiesce, then we embrace “the cares of this world”, and our desire for “pleasure”, “riches”, and the “other things”, the nonspiritual things of this life. Under control of Self -- our unregenerate carnal fleshly nature -- the impulse of desire in the human heart seizes the enticements of the world, holding them fast, giving birth to sin. It is, ultimately, our own desires that entice us, bating the trap that ensnares us. This is how we fall away... one thorn at a time, till we are so thorny we no longer perceive God, literally suffocating the Christ-Life like a flame deprived of oxygen.

Thorn pricks are the direct result of misplaced love: “Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh [craving for sensual gratification] and the lust of the eyes [greedy longings of the mind] and the pride of life [assurance in one’s own resources or in the stability of earthly things]—these do not come from the Father but are from the world itself.”

God commands our love and measures it by our obedience: “And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength … If you love Me, keep My commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments … The person who has My commands and keeps them is the one who really loves Me; and whoever really loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I [too] will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him. I will let Myself be clearly seen by him and make Myself real to him ... And the world passes away and disappears, and with it the forbidden cravings (the passionate desires, the lust) of it; but he who does the will of God and carries out His purposes in his life abides (remains) forever.”

DON’T YOU WANT TO LIVE FOREVER…

(Reference: The Sower Parable; Read all three Gospel passages to get the whole story; James 1:12-16; John 14:21 and 1 Jn. 2:15-17 in the Amplified Bible; Mk. 12:30; JN. 14:15; 1 Jn. 5:3)

CLEANING UP THE COW PIES

Saints, we should not be deceived by our own perception of our own perfection and faithfulness. Nowhere is the old adage “The blind leading the blind” more to the point than when we try to evaluate our own righteousness. Remember what God said about satan “the anointed cherub … full of wisdom… perfect in beauty” who stood upon the holy mountain of God standing guard over the throne of the Most High God:  “You (satan) were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.” We have the same free will satan has, and look how far he fell from the grace of God. Iniquity is simply any and all unrighteousness, anything that removes us from right standing with God. We tend to accept our little “shortcomings”, such as pride, anger, hostility, selfishness, unforgiveness, contentions, jealousies, divisions, envy, slander, deceit, hatefulness, foolishness, and the like; and of course, idolatry… putting anything before God in our desires and love. These are all iniquity in God’s eyes. The great deceiver of mankind traps his human prey with the bait of iniquity he finds in their hearts, or, as James puts it, we are “drawn away by our own desires and ensnared.” It takes “Knee Time” before the Lord to “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God”, Knee Time!

Notice that holiness must be “perfected”, brought to maturity, and it all starts with the desire to be like Jesus… the desire to be holy. Iniquity contaminates everything it contacts, so it is a bit difficult to desire godliness with iniquity lurking about in our heart. Now this is not rocket science, but it is God science. Remember, “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” Doubting God or His word, the Bible, in any fashion is unbelief… iniquity, and places us in the category of the fool. The root of sinful deeds lie within our heart, “For from within, out of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts.” Life is lived first in our mind; our thoughts are our playground. Unfortunately, our thoughts are satan’s playground also: We live out our thoughts as actions and words, so wrong thoughts can be most deadly to our spiritual life. As saints, we need to clean up the cow-pies in our playground by “bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ” as we “set our mind on things above”, and put up no trespassing signs to the powers of darkness. They won’t dare trespass if our playground is holy ground!

KEEPING OUR HEART RIGHT

 (Ezek. 28:15; Gal. 5:19-21; Mk. 7:19-23; James 1:14-15; 2 Cor. 7:1; Ps. 14:1; Mk. 7:21-23; 2 Cor. 10:5; Col. 3:2)