Word of God

Word of God

My wife and I were watching a program and she asked why there is not any shame in the world.  My comment was this:  We don’t have shame anymore because we have become desensitized (1. Make less sensitive. 2. Make (someone) less likely to feel shock or distress at scenes of nudity, cruelty, violence, or suffering by overexposure to such things or images).  Over exposure to movies (R rated), TV (nightly series, soap operas, reality shows, talk shows, etc.), video games, books, magazines, social networks, and the internet have molded and defined our society.  These things have become our bible and I am sad to say that many Christians have bought into this antichrist society.  We are compromising the Word of God by trusting what man has created in our society.  Jeremiah 17:5 Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the LORD.

Recently, I was invited to visit a rather large church that is growing at a phenomenal rate.  They have two campuses with a Sunday combined attendance in excess of 4,000.  The majority of the people were in their twenties and thirties and it was an awesome sight to see all these people coming to worship God.  Unfortunately, most of these people walking into the sanctuary did not have the Word of God in their possession and the few that had a Bible could not read their Bible because the lighting was so poor.  The message was very good, but without the Word of God we will not have the knowledge to overcome the evil in this world.  Isaiah 5:13 says “Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge….  And Hosea 4:6 says” My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being priest for Me; because you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.

So whether it is no knowledge or lack of knowledge, bad things can happen to good, wonderful people who love God and have walked closely with Him in their lives.  Why?  God’s people don’t know every precept from Genesis to Revelation.  We don’t know all that is important to our life or the lives of our families.  We could have missed a few or many of these precepts along the way, opening the door to our problems. 

Knowing God and knowing His Word will not guarantee our freedom.  The church is full of people who can quote scripture forwards and backwards, but the Scriptures are not bearing fruit in our lives.  We have been taught to be intellectually and spiritually superior, but we have not been taught how to defeat our enemy.

The Word is Jesus Christ, a living being, but the defeat of your enemy with the Word can only be fruitful if we believe and make it part of our life in faith.  It is not fruitful if we believe God because of works (Ephesians 2”8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast).   We have to become one with God.  His nature and our nature have to become one in that area of our life.  To become one with the Word is to know what the living being, Jesus Christ, has said as revealed in the Scriptures and believe it.

When His thoughts become our thoughts, we are spiritually changed.  When His ways become our ways, we are spiritually changed.  Only then will we be able to weed out the antichrist society that is dominating this world.

Jeremiah 39:18 For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword; but your life shall be as a prize to you, because you have put your trust in Me,” says the LORD.’”

It is my prayer that you make a commitment to read the Word of God every day which will allow His Word to speak to you and change your life.

AMEN

Can You Compete With Sin?

Greetings Brothers and Sisters,

I stopped bloging earlier in the year becasue I had a distribution list that I used in its place.  I just signed in and I was very surprised that there have been so many views of past blogs.

One of the reasons for not using blog was becasue of the difficutly in posting blogs from my document draft.

I pray that you take a few minutes to read the below piece I put together last week after many revisions.  My wife thought that the original draft may have been a little harsh.  I took her counsel and changed it and I believe the article is better because of the revisions.  I usually keep these to one page, as many will not read if it is too long.  This was an exception.  I hope you enjoy.

Can You Compete With Sin?

We live in a world constantly in competition whether it is sports, video games, positions, finances, credentials, accomplishments, recognition, appearance, etc.  We even compete for the love and acceptance of our parents, siblings, spouses, girlfriend/boyfriends, and church. Men are especially competitive, but women are catching up.  We can say that we are competitive to a fault in this day and age.

Today, we will talk about a competition that we can’t be competitive with no matter how hard we try.  The competition I am talking about is SIN!  Sin in ourselves and sin in others.  God.  Our thoughts, emotions, bodies, actions, and time are in competition with sin.  Sin even affects our heart (Matthew 15:19  For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts).

Anger – When someone is in a state of anger/rage, we have great difficulty reaching this person.  Although we may think we can compete with their anger, we do so with great risk of conflict.  The anger in them does not allow them to see or hear reasoning.  There is a veil over them and they have turned away from the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away).

Broken heart/hopelessness/depression/rejection – Ever try to reach someone who is depressed?  Whatever you have to say will not bring comfort to them. Proverbs 12:25 Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression…..  Anxiety is fear and fear is one of the spiritual roots of depression.

Pride – Ever try to convince someone that what he is saying or doing is wrong?  Jeremiah 17:23 But they did not obey nor incline their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear nor receive instruction.  Or been around an arrogant person and find it difficult to be in the same room with them?  Proverbs 21:4 A haughty look, a proud heart, And the plowing of the wicked are sin.

Fear – What society has labeled stress and anxiety is really worry/fear (Matthew 6:34 do not worry).  Fear will cause great destruction in our spiritual and to our physical (immune system).  Fear cause high blood pressure, headaches, itching, depression, phobias to name a few.  We can’t compete with our fear or the fear of others. Fear (sin) will manifest in us and will hinder God from manifesting in us. John 14:21 He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”  We will fear even when we think we aren’t in fear because fear has become a part of our existence in our mind, body, and soul.

Addictions – Addictions are defined as: to devote or surrender (oneself) to something habitually or obsessively.  Allow me to list a few addictions:  Alcohol, Drugs, cigarettes, shopping, perfectionism, caffeine, video games, TV, sports, exercise, food, sex, gossiping, and many others.  We can’t compete with our addiction and the addictions of other people.  Addiction can become our gods.  Our God in Heaven will not compete with other gods (Exodus 20:5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous god….)

Definition of Conscious: the sense or consciousness of the moral goodness or blameworthiness of one's own conduct, intentions, or character together with a feeling of obligation to do right or be good

Definition of Subconscious: the mental activities just below the threshold of consciousness

One example often used to explain the subconscious mind is the process of car driving. Initially when you are learning to drive, you have full concentration on the road, gear, clutch, etc. You are concentration on the process of driving; you look at every pothole, every bump, and every obstacle. As you get trained on driving, the act goes into your subconscious mind and you tend to drive without making a conscious effort to drive. You automatically avoid the obstacles, you automatically change gears when required while you could be doing umpteen other things at the same time like talking to your companion sitting beside you, listening to the music and observing the countryside.  As you practice driving again and again, you make decisions automatically and you drive naturally. Driving decisions and actions go out of the conscious mind to the subconscious mind.

It is important to know how the conscious and the subconscious mind operate when exposed to sin.  Sin is an acquired trait that will compromise our conscious (knowing right from wrong) and enters our subconscious. Sin now becomes a way of life for us and it is hard for us to distinguish right from wrong because we think sin is normal when it is not.  Even when we know it is wrong, we are powerless to change in most cases.  We can’t compete with sin.

When you are in your sin, it is an object of focus in your life.  Sometimes you are actually thinking about it.  Other times it is there beyond the realm of conscious thought.  You are susceptible to sinful thoughts.  You are susceptible to be programed by sin and that is why your mind needs renewing. 

So what is the answer to this dilemma?  We can say to do this and to do that.  We can say to surrender to God and repent.  We can receive counseling for the same sin over and over again and nothing changes.  I am not suggesting that some of these things don’t work but, in reality, it is very difficult to turn from our sin without help directly from God.

Again, we need help from God?  First, we call on the Holy Spirit to help us (John 14:26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things…).  Second, two paragraphs ago we discussed that our mind needs renewing.  How do we renew our mind?  We do this by immersing ourselves in the Word of God. His Word is a direct link to God because the Word has been there from the beginning and the Word is God. (John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God). His Word will give us understanding, wisdom, knowledge, revelation, discernment, instruction, guidance and His love.  We read and we read and we continue to read His Word until His Word becomes etched in our hearts. (Hebrews 8:10 ….says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people).  His Word becomes our conscious and subconscious. His Word becomes the essence of our being.  His Word and our sin will not coexist.  Lastly, we are to operate in the Spirit in everything we do. (Isaiah 11:2  The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might, The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD).  

The majority of believers do not read the Bible on a consistent basis. How can we truly know God if we don’t read His Word?  How can we know about His promises of deliverance from sin?  Read His Word and He will teach us how to face our enemy, take authority over the dark kingdom, and come out from the bondages of sin so that we can have the special relationship that God the Father wants with us.

God hates sin because it separates us from Him. (Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities (sin) have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear).  Therefore, we are to hate sin as well and not to compete with sin.  We have to make the choice to take authority over sin in the name of Jesus.

Hebrews 10:21-23 (NLT) And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him.  For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 

Blessings to you all,

 Tony Sanchez