We made it to Toronto last night! So blessed to be back with our friends and excited to meet many new ones! This multi-cultural church just grows by leaps and bounds every time we visit! It is a “happening place”! Yesterday we began our series on Warning Signs for Christians. Today we will focus on a few more areas of “pitfalls and dangers” that can cause us trouble if we don’t put a stop to them early in the game. You can view yesterday’s post here.
Feel free to join in the discussion, that’s what makes this a community! I truly enjoy this blog so much more if YOU are involved. Hey guys, it’s lonely if I am talking to myself!
Lethargy
Yikes! You mean Christians actually can get that I-don’t-care attitude? Who has the time? Yes, it does happen for just that reason. Because we are so busy, because our plate is so full, things pile upon us so quickly that finally we can’t take any more and we are so weary-with-well-doing that we cave.
If you are in Christian ministry the statistics are high! It is said that more than one-fifth of those in Christian work fall away because of weariness and exhaustion! It doesn’t have to be that way. We must realize we are holding the key to salvation for souls that we come in contact with on a daily basis. They are our responsibility. So we must pour ourselves into the work of God. We must re-focus and re-charge ourselves on a daily basis.
If we are complacent, then our prayer life is definitely lacking. That’s the first place to start!
“Be sober, be vigilant for your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour…” 1 Peter 5:8.
Not a morning person? Then try hard to get up a half hour early every morning. Spending that time with the Lord in the morning is too important to use the excuse that you’re just too tired. Try hard to go to bed a half hour earlier in the evening and that problem takes care of itself. I used to say I was just too tired to get up early to pray but then realized I found time for everything else I wanted to do. I would stay up to read, stay up to clean, and stay up on the computer.
So I would start going to bed earlier in order to be able to get up to pray. Some days I missed of course, but the days I conquered the flesh I was rewarded with the company of the God of heaven waiting for me. He had all the time in the world…just for me.
Prayer is not just time spent on your knees!
It is communion with God, walking with Him all day long, as if He is with you, beside you, and IN you, because HE IS!
And many days will not go as planned; we don’t beat ourselves up over those days. God doesn’t keep track and give us demerits for days missed! But oh, the glorious benefits of those uninterrupted minutes, that turn into half hours, that lead to an hour or more of quality time with our Lord!
If you have never found yourself lost in worship and praise where nothing else mattered but giving Him glory, where His presence enveloped you, tears flowed down your cheeks like rain and the strength and peace of God seemed to carry you into another realm…oh friend, you are missing the world’s greatest blessing!
Now before all of the stressed out mothers and overworked fathers get mad at me, I was a stressed out mother once. I raised My Three Sons, in another lifetime, and realize how difficult it was to find a time of day that WAS NOT interrupted! But I also know that when I pressed for that, the days that I found the time and made myself get up before everyone else did and found a quiet corner in the house all to myself…what a difference it made in ME. It changed ME. That’s when my relationship with the Almighty God took a real turn. Because that’s how relationships grow, you spend time with someone. You get to know them, you talk to them, and you listen to them.
Don’t misunderstand. My relationship isn’t perfect. Far from it. I am just saying I know this is what works if we keep at it! It is a daily walk, a relationship, just like any chosen relationship, it’s communication.
There is a battle going on for the souls of men and women and we are needed in this battle, we cannot afford to be sleeping!
Rebellion
The next sin that can trip us up is rebellion. This is an old favorite of Satan. He is tricky with this one too. It is serious business. Look how it is described in the Old Testament: “Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.” 1 Samuel 15:23.
It is so serious it can cut you off from God!
“God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land.” Psalm 68:6.
Rebellion is linked to the demonic spirit world in the scriptures when it is compared to witchcraft and divination.
In Acts 16:16, we find a woman possessed with a spirit of divination or fortune telling, “And it came to pass, as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit of divination met us, which brought her masters much gain by soothsaying.”
If rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, according to 1 Samuel 15:23, then can we agree that rebellion in a person’s life can open the door to the demonic world if left unchecked?
This is too dangerous to play around with!
Rebellion will also keep you from hearing what the Word of God is saying to you. “Son of man, thou dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house, which have eyes to see, and see not; they have ears to hear, and hear not: for they are a rebellious house.” Ezekiel 12:2.
Rebellion and stubbornness will also blind your spiritual eyesight and keep you from seeing the things of God. “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” 2 Corinthians 4:4.
So many times it starts out with something minor, something trivial and small. We don’t like what was said by the pastor. We come home and discuss it around the kitchen table. Was he picking on US? It sure felt like he was singling us out. And so the soil is dug up, the breeding ground is ready for the seed of rebellion to be planted.
The next time Pastor starts to preach, we decide we aren’t going to be as supportive with our “Amen’s”, or the nodding of our head. We won’t smile quite as much; we might even fold our arms across our middle. When church is over, we leave earlier than normal. He doesn’t want to talk to us anyway; he is probably talking ABOUT us. And so the seed begins to grow.
This is just an example, but one that needs to be stopped before it even gets this far! I could have taken it much farther but I wanted it to be “nipped in the bud” as Barney would say, before it had time to take root!
Rebellion against the man of God will only lead to destruction! When it started, this man should have immediately went to his pastor and cleared it up. He should have asked him if he had done something, was this directed at him? In all actuality it probably wasn’t at all! But the enemy LOVES to stir up discord and REBELLION in the Body! If he can make us believe a lie and magnify it to the point that we react, he’s got us just where he wants us!
Don’t let it get that far. Our prayer life is the key to keeping our spirit in check and rebellion out of our hearts. We must be in tune with the voice of God and His Word must be forever settled in our mind in order that we don’t let the enemy in!
If we can’t hear the voice of God, and we are cut off by playing around in the demonic world, how long will it be before we are not able to get back?
This kind of rebellion and stubbornness is dangerous and evil and comes straight from Satan himself. If you are hanging on to that sin you are playing with fire.
Share by pinning, tweeting or posting to Facebook! Most of all, get involved by leaving your thoughts today! I would love to have your input! Have a blessed weekend and join me Monday as we resume our Warning Signs series and discuss “Modesty”.
Sharing with Happy and Blessed Home, Faithful Friday, Essential Fridays, Womanhood with Purpose, Fun Friday,Motivation Monday
Beautiful words fitly spoken! A homemaker doesn’t look like any other career! I was so happy to be able to stay home with My Three Sons, and they even say today how much it meant to them to come home from school and have me waiting for them. It gave security and stability to their lives.
Thanks for sharing!!
My hubby and I were in ministry for a long time as well. We would see many burned out ministers and wonder why they are so strung out. But we soon learned if we did not keep to our calling, it can drag you down. So often everyone wants to leave it all to the minister and his family to do it all. We quickly learned to seek the Lord for what it was He would have us do. After my health grew bad and we left full time ministry, I still felt incomplete unless I was doing more than my physical body could handle.
Recrimination and accusations of being lazy, often falls on those who have invisible disabilities (FMS, AR, MCS/EI, etc). Some well accomplished individual who is disabled is held up as the example for all with disabilities to become like. And if you cannot strive or accomplish such lofty goals, the recrimination falls. It is the call of the worldly minded to be independent even in Christendom. Independence is idolized. But Scriptures tells us first we are to depend upon God, then family, then church as in the book of Act. We are created to need others and to depend on others.
In one place the Word does tell us to work or we are not to eat, yet if we read we find that was to those of good health who could work and chose not to. There are some who just cannot work to support themselves no matter how hard they try, health simply will not allow it, even if they look healthy, they are not. It was not until I had to start using a cane or a wheelchair that people started to believe there was a real disability, then they let up. Most with disabilities do not have some kind of devise for assistance.
A study was done that said a homemaker had the equivalence of 2 (two) full time jobs, add children to this and it becomes a third. We are made to think a waitress serving a meal in a restaurant is more accomplished than a woman at home doing the same thing. Or those who work for “Molly Maid” are more accomplished than the women at home doing the same thing. Universities are made around domestic skills as professions, yet the homemaker if taught my her mother and grandmother have a far better education in tried and true methods and more accomplish in fulfilling the call of God.
It is true the benevolence work in the Body of Christ was headed by men but done mostly by women. This is sadly lacking today so those who do it are overworked. Titus calling to the woman is for the betterment of the whole Body of Christ. It took me years to answer the call. I am so sadden that I waited so long and find so much sense of accomplishment in the chasm of my soul by answering God’s call over all other.
Being a homemaker does not look like any other career or calling, as God has a different way of doing things. We are not a sub-culture but a counter-culture in the world, so we are called to be a peculiar and different people, similar to the Amish, Quakers, AC’s, conservative Mennonites. Even Noah stood out and other places as the Israelites marched they were seen as different. We are aliens and strangers as we sojourn though this world. We live behind enemy lines in a fallen world, so our connection to our God must be firmly on our knees, well close to it as I cannot get to my knees.
To Him be the glory
Wonderful thoughts Lisha…thank you for sharing. Especially about the mentors in your life keeping you accountable. I should have added that to the lesson! And you are right, everything is just for a season, and you learn from those and make them stepping stones instead of stumbling blocks…then you can minister to others. Thank you for taking the time to comment!! Blessings! ♥
Ah! Lethargy. Yes. I’m there. After months and months of consistently being in a difficult trial – in which I found the sweetest communion with the Lord!!! – I found that as soon as the circumstances changed, even a bit, for the better, and I thought “phew, I can put my feet up now” – I just lost interest in praying, reading, fellowship, etc. And I am struggling more for it. Because I became complacent when I ought not have. (…which, seriously? I don’t think we ever get to ‘put our feet up’ this side of glory!).
God has girded me with older ladies & church leaders who have kept me accountable and are speaking life into me. I know this is just a season but it would have been much better if I’d just stayed vigilant in the first place.
Thank you. <3
A great reminder that we have to choose consciously each and every time.
Thanks for sharing your post at Motivation Monday!
Candace Jo, you have spoken a great challenge here. I have been burnt out and known what it feels like to just want to hide away and give up on everything. Yet, I have been graciously drawn back to the Lord and learnt that prioritising and putting seeking Him above everything else is my anchor in life.
Thanks so much for sharing at Essential Fridays.
Blessings
Mel
wow…amazing the part of rebellion is a confirmation of text we just recently got from the Lord just this past Tuesday…thank you Lord.
Very, very good my sister, thank you!
Oh Ellen I have missed you friend! I have emailed you a couple of times too but I know your email is sporadic. I pray you are doing well. Much love to you. Write me when you can!! ♥
No problem Joanne! I appreciated your thoughts and am never offended if I miss something or someone misunderstands me or possibly could misunderstand. Thank you so much, this is what community is all about and I strive so hard to get people involved. Blessings dear friend. You are most welcome here! ♥
I’m sure your regular readers knew what you meant, but since I am new here I was just making sure that I wasn’t missing your point. I’ve been known to misread things… and mistype things as well! 🙂 Looking forward to more good things from this blog!!!
Excellent post Candacejo!
I like how you’re always so positive that even though these things may be happening in your life, you need to bring it TO Him, not turn away from Him! It’s also timely to warn folks about that which can be so insidious…
Keep up the good work!! Your blog continues to bless me, and all who read it.
Blessings to you and yours-
Ellen 🙂
Good point Joanne…I didn’t mean to imply that all rebellion is demonic. I meant it COULD lead that way if left unchecked and the root is left to grow. I went and fixed it so others would not be mislead. Thank you so much! I love what you said about the crack in the door 🙂 blessings friend!
I was just thinking something similar to this this morning. I don’t know that I would go so far to say that ALL rebellion opens the door to the demonic but I do think that ALL rebellion leads to a barrier to our peace with God. I find that when I am feeling perpetually discontent, I can find at the root of it some sort of resistance, disobedience, or lack of faith. Of course every crack in the door has the potential to become a wide-open entry for every kind of evil. Praising God for the Holy Spirit working to strengthen us!