Enslaved vs. Effective

Today, I would like us to consider some of the issues that haunted the Hebrew people as Moses led them on their journey through the wilderness to Canaan land.

You'll recall that the people had been slaves for 400 years and had a slave mentality. But God raised up Moses to lead them to deliverance.  And after sending their twelve spies in to search out the land, ten of the spies had no faith that they could dispossess the inhabitants of the land at God's command. Therefore the Lord determined that this entire generation would die and not receive their inheritance.

So, we ourselves ask these questions:  In their wandering in the wilderness did the people ever respond in faith, or were they unbelieving? What held them back? Fear? Doubt? Inability to trust God? They had such favor from the Lord, but when they ran out of food and water they grumbled and complained to Moses, and because of God's amazing grace He provided their basic necessities for 40 years of their wanderings. Water flowed out of rocks - enough for the millions of people and their herds of cattle and flocks of sheep. Manna fell from heaven. Their shoes didn't even wear out. That's so amazing to me, yet that entire generation could not comprehend the love of God for them. They even wanted to go back to being slaves again.

So let's fast-forward to today. After you've been delivered from the strongholds and bondage of the enemy, what seems to keep you enslaved to your wilderness, unable to step into the promised land of  blessing that God has for you?  Is it Disappointment? Doubt?  Fear?  Unfulfilled expectations? Holding on tightly to your personal rights?  Do you continue to go back to your “old way of thinking?” Has your heart become hardened to the things of God - the plan of God? What fills your empty void? Are you placing more importance on things of this world than your relationship with God?  That is so easy to do, isn't it?  But that is not God's plan for us. He wants to make you effective in His Kingdom.

  
Idolatry is defined as “the worship of a physical object as a god or immoderate attachment or devotion to something” according to Merriam-Webster, ©1996. Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary (10th edition). Merriam-Webster: Springfield, MA.

Idolatry happens slowly; you begin to give in to a life that has been dominated by fear and control, and ruled by thoughts that have robbed and stolen you of your joy and peace. For at the very moment you think those thoughts the fleshly desire wins! What feeds your thoughts and desires, then your actions? Who have you allowed to win?

Are you seriously attached to anything that takes precedence in your life other than God? Maybe it is something that literally knocks Him off the throne of your heart and sets Him aside so that you can have immediate relief from the pain you are experiencing. In the midst of your pain, sadness, and sorrow you desire relief. It seems that we all do. External and internal triggers overwhelm our systems, and we desperately desire for the pain to go away.  In times like these do you seek a something pleasurable that would immediately relieve this hole or wound within your heart? What has left you empty inside?

•   loneliness
•   rejection
•   abandonment
•   abuse
•   loss
•   unworthiness
•   feeling worthless

What happens when satan whispers in your ear, “Where is God right now in your sadness and sorrow? Why would God allow you to suffer like this? God would not want His children to experience loneliness, rejection, abandonment, loss, or unworthiness. See, God does not really LOVE you."  Does the enemy speak to you in this way?

 
Consider This…
   
Sin or temptation can be so great that “it” wins. It seems that it always wins! Does the lure of that “short term pleasure” control you? How do you resist temptation that lurks at the door of your flesh? Patiently it waits for the moment when you are weakest. Maybe you just conquered a victory. Sin is like that; it whispers the thought, then waits and waits for the right moment to attach itself to your imagination so that it can take you down.
Here is my point. The enemy only wins if we allow him. Our Savior is our Deliverer.  Jesus is ...

•  Our Freedom
•  Our Joy
•  Our Healer
•  Our Peace
•  Our First Love
•  Our Victory!

Hallelujah! And Jesus will come and be your Deliverer if you'll simply call upon His Name!

Psalms 50:15 reads: “Cry out to me whenever you are in trouble; I will deliver you, then you will honor me.”

The Quest ...

“Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through the baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the Glory of the Father, we too may live a new life!” ~~ Romans 6:1-4.   

It's a promise of new life and deliverance from sin. But in Genesis we read “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must rule over it” ~~ Genesis 4:7.

Our enemy the devil wants you - all of you!! This spiritual battle is real, and we must make the choice in our thoughts to get up and get dressed, and fight the battle to overcome the enemy in the power of the Lord.

In order to be victorious, we need to fill the empty void with the Spirit of God. We can simply ask the Holy Spirit to fill us with all the fullness of Himself, and He will. When Jesus was on earth He spoke these words: “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.'  But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive” ~~ John 7:38-39.

In the original Greek, the word koilia is translated as INNERMOST BEING). It implies that there is a hollow, empty place in the hearts of mankind that is the source of our inner hunger, longings, and thirst. The only way this inner hunger can be satisfied is by drinking of the living water from the Holy Spirit that Jesus offers: “...whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” ~~ John 4:14.

A 17th century French Christian apologist (Blaise Pascal) wrote about this infinite abyss that can only be filled by God Himself. (Pensées VII). Others have similarly described it as a God-shaped vacuum.

What Road Will You Take? ...

So, what happens when you allow unholy thoughts to take you down the road of guilt, shame, and isolation?  My hope is that you will choose to equip yourself in Him through His Word, meditate on His scriptures, and seek Him earnestly in prayer day and night. Rejoice during times of sorrow and sadness believing and trusting that Jesus will RESTORE your peace and joy, and bring healing and fulfillment to your wounded heart. Sadness, sorrow, rejection, abandonment, and loneliness only win if we allow them to take away what He has already given to us - victory, freedom, joy, healing, peace, and His unconditional love.

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things that which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” ~~ Philippians 3:12-14.

Will you go with me and choose the road of life? Will you leave behind your past and receive His love that is so much greater and better than anything and everything that the world has to offer? Do you recognize that included in the free gift of salvation is God's total forgiveness? Yes, He offers to wash us clean as old things are passed away and all things are become new.

Will you make the choice as Paul did and reach forward, pressing onward towards the goal of seeing your Father’s face?

Choose to run with great purpose and joy enduring ALL suffering and sorrow, trusting in Him Who gives peace and joy in the midst of our struggles.

Pray with Me ...

Father, I know that sadness, hurt, and sorrow can overwhelm us. This world can fill us full of lies and deceit. Father, at times I want to run quickly toward what relieves my greatest pain. Father God, I need You! From now on I make the daily choice to run into Your loving arms where my joy is found. I want freedom in exchange for sorrow and sadness. I desire Your love and acceptance to replace rejection. Your acceptance, not abandonment, knowing that You have called and chosen me to be your daughter; therefore, I am no longer an orphan!

Father, what You offer is eternity with You. Help me have an eternal perspective and realize that I am just passing through. When we leave this earth, Lord, I want to live with You and be enfolded by Your great love eternally!

My desire is to be effective for You in Your kingdom - here and now. I ask You to overwhelm me with Your love so that rejection, pain suffering, sorrow, loss, sadness, devastation, or abandonment cannot attach themselves to me! Father, help me to think on eternal things not earthly things.  Amen.

Scripture Passages for Further Study ...

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things that which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” ~~ Philippians 3:12-14.

“Let your character or moral disposition be free from love of money [including greed, avarice, lust, and craving for earthly possessions] and be satisfied with your present [circumstances and with what you have]; for He [God] Himself has said, I will not in any way fail you nor give you up nor leave you without support. [I will] not, [I will] not, [I will] not in any degree leave you helpless nor forsake nor let you down nor relax My hold on you! [Assuredly not]. So, we take comfort and are encouraged and confidently and boldly say, The Lord is my Helper; I will not be seized with alarm [I will not fear or dread or be terrified] What can man do to me?” ~~ Hebrews 13: 5, 6 (AMP).

“Be careful! ... Don't make carved images of any likeness in violation of everything that you were commanded by the LORD your God or you will provoke him to anger... and you'll surely and swiftly be destroyed from the land that you are about to possess. You won't live long in it, because you'll certainly be exterminated... But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, then you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and soul...For God is compassionate. The LORD your God won't fail you” ~~ Deuteronomy 4:23-31 (selected verses in the ISV).

“Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If any man is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water.' But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified” ~~ John 7:37 (NASB).

“But first, be concerned about his kingdom and what has his approval. Then all these things will be provided for you” ~~ Matthew 6:33 (GOD'S WORD).
  
~ Elizabeth Bowman