I AM for You!

Jesus can make satan’s lies tell the truth

2 Corinthians 10:5 NIV84

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

My mental illness doesn’t present itself as voices, either inside or outside my head. What I contend with are feelings and thoughts. Painful, hopeless, anxious feelings that sometimes leave me thinking that I should give up. I call them satan’s fiery darts. And I used to give in to them. Then I battled them unsuccessfully. Now, after thinking about the preceding verse, I ask Jesus to take these thoughts captive and make them tell the truth.

The truth is that Jesus loves us. He has taken care of everything. We do not have to perform up to standards for Him to accept us. He accepts us just as we are. When we trust Him to save us from the punishment we deserve, we become His children. Two thousand years ago He took our shame and blame and suffered the punishment for it. There is nothing else to pay. He freely gives us His righteousness, Spirit, and life. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.

The evil one, satan, attacks us when we are weakest, and attacks the weakest part of ourselves. That’s different for each one of us. What is a constant though, is that satan’s attacks are lies. They may contain some parts that are true, but the message that he conveys is always a lie.

Before I had a personal, intimate relationship with Jesus, I thought I was “pretty good”. I thought I was a Christian, which was a lie of satan (I liked Jesus’ philosophy but I did not know Him personally). I thought the few sins I had were no big deal, which was a lie of satan (they were not few and they were a huge deal). Satan had me completely deceived and so satan just kept telling me I was “pretty good”, I kept believing him, and so he didn’t need to do anymore to insure I was going to hell.

But once I surrendered to Jesus satan went on the attack. I was now a threat to him. He couldn’t change my new eternal destination (heaven with Jesus) but he could try and stop me from taking anyone with me. My experience has been that the more closely I follow Jesus, the more I notice satan’s attacks. And it seems like most of the time those attacks are thoughts and feelings, that is, satan’s fiery darts.

Jesus dealt with satan by appropriately quoting the Word of God, the Bible. We can too. Next time, I’ll post some verses that I’ve found helpful.

Spare change can change your life…

Luke 12 NKJV

¹³Then one from the crowd said to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”¹⁴But He said to him, “Man, who made Me a judge or an arbitrator over you?” ¹⁵And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of ^£covetousness [greed], for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”¹⁶Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. ¹⁷And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ ¹⁸So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. ¹⁹And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”’ ²⁰But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’²¹“So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Your life can be as rich and sweet and full of joy as any millionaire’s, or even more so. And a millionaire’s life can be as bankrupt as anyone in bankruptcy, or even more so. Jesus said our life is not determined by what we own. Money can solve some problems, but it can bring even more of its own, (like the desire for more money). I was never so greedy as when I had more money (and depended on money). I’ve never felt more free to give than when I didn’t have a job (and depended on God to provide).

Have you ever noticed that some people are strong and some are weak? Some rich and some poor? Some are blind and some can see? Some are brilliant and some struggle? Some are healthy and some are sick? The early followers’ of Jesus had a solution to these problems. The strong helped the weak. The rich helped the poor. The blind were healed or helped by those that could see. Those who could think well helped those who couldn’t. The healthy healed or helped those who were sick.

God didn’t give the Rich Man in the parable plentiful crops so that he could “take [his] ease; eat, drink and be merry” for many years. I believe when God gives me more than I need it is to serve with it, not to indulge myself with it. I find more fun in meeting someone else’s need in the name of Jesus, than in buying myself something that I don’t need.

For about the price of a coffee, roughly $1.33 a day, you can change the life of a child by sponsoring them through

Hope for Children part of World Hope International at:
http://www.worldhope.org/page.aspx?pid=511

or Compassion International at:
http://www.compassion.com/

You will give them education, nutrition, and medical care. And the opportunity to meet Jesus.

And giving that $1.33 a day just might change your life as much as your child’s.

Jesus tells us to be "Meek" not Weak!

My son and I were watching an old 1950s era episode of “Denise the Menace”. Denise’s Mom said to his Dad, “If you’re too meek and mild to stand up for what is right, I will”. The Bible called Jesus’ mother Mary, “meek and mild”. I always assumed by the way it was used with the word “mild” that meek meant weak. Then I heard somewhere that the word “meek” meant “great strength under control”. To find out what “meek” really means I looked in: online dictionaries, Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias and Googled “What is the Biblical definition of meek?”

Some online dictionaries define “meek” as “weak” using its current common use as the definition. W. L. Walker in The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia says that: “[‘Meekness’] presupposes humility, flows from it, and finds expression in moderation.” However the most help I received was from Mr. Grady Scott and his explanation of Matthew 5:5 found at the following URL:

http://www.christianlibrary.org/authors/Grady_Scott/matt5-5.htm

Mr. Scott describes Moses as standing up to the most powerful man on earth at that time (Pharaoh Ramses) and yet describing himself as the most meek of men. Jesus controlled nature (stilled the wind and waves), demons (cast them out of their victims) and the elements (turned water into wine) and yet describes Himself as “meek and lowly of heart”.

Mr Scott describes the origin of the word “meek”:

An understanding of the root definition of meek in the original language and how it was used will help us in understanding what Jesus meant.
1. Greek word praus
a. Used to describe a soothing medicine.
b. Used by sailors to describe a gentle breeze.
c. Used by farmers to describe a broken colt.
2. What do all these definitions have in common? They all describe great power under control.

So “meek” does not mean “weak”, rather it means having your strength under control. When someone wrongs you, you don’t lose your temper. You don’t seek revenge. You do what Jesus did and entrust all things to your Father in Heaven and do exactly what He says to do. To those who don’t know Jesus that may appear to be weak – forgiveness, grace, longsuffering, putting others ahead of yourself – can be misinterpreted by the masses. But to the person whom you forgive, give undeserved favor, endure without retaliation, and put before yourself, you convey the unmistakable love of Jesus.

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