Friday, November 7, 2008

Destructive Desires...

James 1:13-18 (Amplified)
13Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted from God; for God is incapable of being tempted by [what is] evil and He Himself tempts no one.
14But every person is tempted when he is drawn away, enticed and baited by his own evil desire (lust, passions).
15Then the evil desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin, when it is fully matured, brings forth death.
16Do not be misled, my beloved brethren.
17Every good gift and every perfect (]free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse].
18And it was of His own [free] will that He gave us birth [as sons] by [His] Word of Truth, so that we should be a kind of firstfruits of His creatures [a sample of what He created to be consecrated to Himself].


Last week I had a lady in our church approach me to "unload". It was an eye-opening experience for me. This women who serves in ministry was battling a situation that could lead to destruction...destruction of her spiritually, of her ministry, and of her family. I sat there listening to her rationalize and justify her thoughts, her actions, her potential actions. I listen to her claims of God being ever present within this sin. My heart gasped for a moment for I saw myself in her. I wore those shoes once. I said those same words, had those same thoughts, claimed God's presence within my sin. As I listened I remember praying in that moment "so that's how I sounded Lord? That's how I was thinking? How could I have been so blinded from the truth Lord?"and my heart broke. My heart was humbled. I felt my own shame again.


I was blinded to truth when deceptive desires crossed my past a few years ago. Satan's deception of my heart lead to destructive desires which lead to foolish actions and many many losses. Though in the end the spiritual rewards have far outweighed the pain and suffering, I knew what God was calling me to do in that moment. I got in my friends face and with full spiritual determination I laid her deception out as plainly and as boldly as I could. I had been there and God put me in the her life in His timing to try and stop her from traveling this path, to help her unmask the deception of her heart, her thoughts, her belief and to help her avoid the pain that I went through. Pray for her. She is not alone in this journey. Many, many Christian women have and will wear these shoes. But here is the good news....
For sin shall not [any longer] exert dominion over you, since now you are not under Law [as slaves], but under grace [as subjects of God's favor and mercy].~Romans 6:14 (Amplified)


Satan wants us to live in his darkness, his destruction. He wants us to be dead to the spiritual. God wants us to live in the spiritual, to live as subjects of His favor and mercy. So how do we overcome the destructive desires satan entices us with? CPR for the soul:

Connect with the spiritual

Pray, Pray Pray

Receive the Truth

Connect and center your life on the spiritual-keep focus on God and don't allow anything into your vision, your thoughts or your day that are not from God. Confront the sins and destructive desires satan throws your way with on on-going relationship with Christ.

Pray, Pray and Pray!! Constant communication with God is medicine to our souls. It is the vital step in maintaining our focus on Him. It not only keeps us connected with Christ but also shields us satan's attack.

Receive God's truth about who you are in Him. Meditating on His word gives you His vision and His discernment for His truth. This truth we are called to live in comes from His redemptive grace. Hands down, His truth is our life line to live in the spiritual-to being made in His likeness, unblemished and faultless.
Now to Him Who is able to keep you without stumbling or slipping or falling, and to present [you] unblemished (blameless and faultless) before the presence of His glory in triumphant joy and exultation [with unspeakable, ecstatic delight]--Jude 1:24 (Amplified)

We are called to live out our faith. Yes, we are imperfect and we will fail. But God is there, to pick us up, to carry us, to lead us on. The world does not want us to live in the spiritual. I say its time we changed that. It is time we live openly and boldly for Christ. If He loves us enough to forgive us without stipulations are we not called to love Him back through our life in our thoughts, our words, our actions?

Deceptive desires...be careful. Like my friend, like me, one serving in ministry, assuming to be strong in faith, can be weakened by even the simplest attack from satan and fall into deceptive thoughts that lead to deceptive desires that become destructive actions. Remember that song you sang in children's church ...."Oh be careful little eyes what you see, and be careful little ears what you hear..."? The Father up above is looking down below and He promises to love and protect us. We have to keep focused on Him. We have to boldly live our faith and radiate Him in our life.

I look up to the mountains—does my help come from there? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth!
He will not let you stumble; the one who watches over you will not slumber. Indeed, he who watches over Israel never slumbers or sleeps.
The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your protective shade. The sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon at night.
The Lord keeps you from all harm and watches over your life. The Lord keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.

Boldly for Him~Pamela

10 comments:

Laura said...

What a neat little reminder of what to do when faced with temptation: CPR. I love it! You always have such unique ways of teaching me godly living, Pamela. Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Praise the Lord for His timing and your boldness! God is faithful! We all need a faithful friend to "tell us how it is" and love us anyway! Thinking of and loving you! Continue to allow God to use you! I am blessed by you!

Carol said...

Pamela,

Wow what a wonderful reminder. How we can justfy sin. Praise God that you did not hold back, and shared eith your friend the truth of the deception be weaved.

God uses all of our experiences, and when we listen to His voice and focus on Him, we can be His vessel.

I'm so glad you were there for your friend.

Carol said...

Oh yes and Pam I left you something at my blog when you get a chance to stop by.

LeeBird3 said...

I love the CPR idea...I will definately be sharing that with others.

Thank you for being a friend who isn't afraid to speak the truth in love. Sometimes, the most loving response can be hard to take...but it's worth it.

much2ponder said...

Thank you for taking the time to write this...I like that you speak of sin as something we all are faced with and not just the sin of your friend. Most often it is when we meet people where they are that they will hear what we say. I hope she heard you in your attempts to penetrate the blinders over her eyes to the truth. God knows and he is at work. You were obedient that day, now all there is to do is continue to pray and trust.

elaine @ peace for the journey said...

I know the depths from which you speak your heart...to us and to this woman. I, too, have been that woman, and by the grace of God, I am no longer that woman. I am wiser, yet still prone to the enemy's lies. Beth Moore has said, and I believe she's right...

"When our past begins to work for us instead of against us ... that's full redemption." God is bringing you full circle.

Speak the truth. Speak it boldly and in love, not giving the devil an inch in the matter, for he will try. Try to make you relive it and tell you that you aren't worthy of giving such Godly wisdom.

You are exactly the one to be giving it. You are not responsible for this woman's decisions; you have done your part. But what kind of hyprocrisy is lived when we know the truth yet keep our silence?

Love your heart.

peace~elaine

elaine @ peace for the journey said...

Pam:
Please come over. You won the prize and I need to know if you're going to use it. Thanks, friend.

peace~elaine

Yolanda said...

Pam,

BOLD is good! I love you and He loves you even more.

Yolanda

{darlene} said...

I was not sure if you meant to do so, but the comment section of your Bible Study post says that a Blog Administrator closed your post to comments. So I could not comment there! No problem, I will just comment here.

What a wonderful post you wrote. We are ALL sooooo flawed. I think it is so freeing to be Real, Honest, and share our flaws. Get them out of us, and into the Light!

I love what you said here: "So, if I cant kill her {sin nature}, I much seek to control her and that is only going to happen if God is in control of my life."

Letting God fill us with His Spirit, He can change every choice we make, and control our day! He can guide each miniscule choice. Oh, if I would only submit to Him always!

I wrote on my post about the freedom that also comes when we share our past, and our flaws. I have SINNED, girl. And He has set me free from the shame. Praise Him.

I so enjoyed your post today, and I am blessed to be on this journey with you!
Darlene