The Center of Sin…

My husband was talking to me the other day about something that the Lord had shown him… maybe for a future sermon. He said that it had become clear to him that “I” was the center or starting place sin. You might have already thought of this, but I hadn't thought of it in exactly that way.


The very beginning of sin was when Lucifer, chose to put himself first... above God. Isaiah 14:12-14 (NKJV) tells us about it…

The Fall of Lucifer
12 “ How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
‘ I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’


He put himself above everything else… “I will…” and this is what he lead Eve to do too! He is the Father of Lies, and he told her that she would become as wise as God… She took it from there and put herself above what God had told her. “I” became the center of her focus instead of keeping her focus on God.



Isn’t this the center of ALL sin? We sin whenever we put “I” (ourselves) in front and don’t keep God in the center of our lives… I’ve been thinking about it and so far I haven’t found a sin that doesn’t come from a person putting himself ahead of God or what God asks him to do… like put others first before what we want…


I think this is something I need to think long and hard about until it becomes a part of me… It is MY job to “Seek first the Kingdom of God and HIS righteousness…”and not what "I" want...

The Truth Shall Set You Free..

I’ve heard this verse before MANY times during my life... and learned about it... and it has given me hope, etc. but I heard someone on TBN talking about it in a different (for me) way that gave me something to think about.

“You shall know the Truth, and the truth shall set you free…” One BIG truth that I need to remember is that God loves ME AND, has a PLAN for MY life.

Jeremiah 29:11-13 (NKJV) says:

11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.


God wants to be MY Father… my DADDY, and ADOPT me which makes me a daughter of the God of the UNIVERSE! A much loved Princess (somehow, I have a hard time seeing myself in that position.)

When I choose to follow Him and grow spiritually, THEN He will make ALL things work together for good… HE will help ME to grow because He has put HIS Holy Spirit within me and made me a NEW creation. As I am faithful in a little, and prove I can be trusted with that “little” (following His Word more and more) then He will add the MUCH—the POWER to do more and more to bring glory to Him and happiness and fulfillment to me!

How’s THAT for Truth that will set you FREE! Now… if I can just keep that in my MIND, heart and soul…

Don’t straddle a barbed-wire fence...

“Don’t straddle a barbed-wire fence…” Matthew Hagee

I heard this from a preacher that was talking about today’s world and how so many are trying to straddle the fence on so many issues. He went on to say that out where he lives, most of the fences were made of barbed wire, so he had learned, early, that it isn’t wise to straddle the fence.

I thought about that and have noticed that over the past several years, as I’ve gotten closer to God, that things have gotten more Black & White in a lot of areas as I’ve held them up to God’s Word. I think, as we get closer to the time when Jesus returns, that those that are really seeking God and His ways AND searching out the real God from the Bible and not a god that they have made up in their minds from things they’ve heard, will also see things in a clearer light.

It doesn’t matter if Jesus’ return is tomorrow or 50 years from now, each day IS closer, and we need to be ready for when that time comes. He’s kept ALL His other promises, and I believe He will keep this one, too!

Back to straddling the fence… we need to be very careful which side we get off on, though, for BOTH sides may look, on the surface, to be beautiful pastureland, and if we don’t read the posted signs, we can get ourselves in trouble.

For example, if the sign says “Beware of Bull,” and we don’t SEE the bull ourselves, so decide to cut across that beautiful pasture to fish in that beautiful stream, we could find ourselves in some major problems. If, though, we follow the sign that says “Good fishing” on THIS side of the fence, we will find a wonderful place of blessing, rest and abundance.

As a Christian, God’s Word needs to be my sign post, or map of the area, and I need to believe it AND act on it. I need to get off the barbed wire fence where I can also end up getting hurt, and be sure that I get off on God’s side!

Manna

God provided Manna for the Children of Israel for the entire time they were wandering in the desert. This was “food from Heaven.” When they finished their wandering, just after crossing the Jordan River (which had been parted during its flood stage like the Red Sea had been parted) the Manna stopped. They had come to a place where there was food for them and, like the poem "Footprints in the Sand," God no longer needed to "carry" them.

During the desert wandering, they received a wonderful gift that tasted sweet… almost like a dessert, and they had it so much that they grew tired of it and grumbled. How often are we given wonderful things that we get so used to having, that we want something MORE, and grumble, instead of asking in praise, when we don’t get the “More.”

It is possible that we would be blessed with the “more” if we just asked in praise and appreciation for the gifts He HAS given us. He says that we don't "have" because we don't ask, or we ask amiss...

Often, I don’t think we even know what the “more” is that we want, BECAUSE our eyes aren’t on the blessings that God is giving us today… Tomorrow is NOT promised. Smell the roses that are around you today! Look at the glistening diamonds shining in tiny rainbows of color in the dew, or laying on the blades of just watered grass…

Even IF we are traveling in the desert at the moment, with oasis’ few and far between, if we just look, we will find that there ARE blessings around us that God has given.

Is the desert there because we didn’t trust and follow God’s leading in the first place? If this is the case, He is waiting for us to ask, and He will guide us back to the blessed path that He has planned for us if we will just follow Him.