Its important to struggle. Anyone who doesn't struggle in the Christian life is living life in the clouds. The reality is that we all have sins, the problem is we don't like to struggle with them...
Identifying the things that Satan tempts you with is one of the first steps to knowing, confessing, repenting, and living a transformed life with God.
Well, how can we find out what our struggles are?
Last night i told myself, wake up early, pray to God for strength to live the day for Him. Before you do ANYTHING ELSE.
As soon as i woke up, there were so many things in my mind:
"Sleep in, you don't have to REALLY wake up until later...you don't have any appointments, classes or anything..." But i still get myself to get up
"Turn on the TV, see what's on ESPN. What if some crazy news happened since last night?" But i still manage to get to my desk to do QTs.
"Turn on the computer, just look through your Facebook, or Inside UCLA? or Email?" But i manage to keep the internet closed.
"You should work on your school work, get ahead...or at least ministry stuff, you shouldn't slack on that...this is God's work, are you going to put it aside? You're a pastor!"
(FYI, i don't REALLY have these voices in my head, but i REALLY do have these pulls in the morning)
The way i identified these temptations was that, after all that, i thought...why do i want to do anything BUT spend time with God? What's wrong with me? Shouldn't i love to spend time with God? I know that if i spend time with him, i'll be better for it for the rest of the day. I know for a fact that when i spend time with Him, i'll find joy and peace and comfort...why do i feel the pull to do anything else but?
And then i realized that its Satan's deception. He wants us to worship anything besides God. The way he does that is by making us want us to worship created things over the creator(Romans 1). TV, internet, work, school. None of these are bad things. But Satan tries to make you place it over God.
When the things that you do/have become more important than God himself, then you know there's a problem.... there's some idol worshiping going on somewhere. Search your heart...
What distractions are presented to you when you want to seek God?
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I liked this one a lot. Thanks PP =)
ReplyDeleteHey Paul, thanks for the great reminder. Don't know if you've heard of this, but Jonathan Dodson, an Acts29 pastor, put out this book called Fight Club. A couple guys at my church and I have been getting together to do this and it's great. Here's the link for more info:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theresurgence.com/fight_clubs_blogpost
http://www.austincitylife.org/fight-clubs
Flyingbunny: thanks! see you Friday!
ReplyDeleteJohn Park: Sounds good, thanks for the info. I've also been reading "the Discipline of grace" by Jerry Bridges...pretty good so far
Flyingbunny: I can't help but think of Monty Python when I see your screenname.
ReplyDeletePaul In Lee: Jerry Bridges, J.I. Packer, and Chuck Colson have signed an ecumenical document that confesses a faith allegiance with the Roman Catholic Church. Implicit in the document is also the admission that salvation can be attained by people who, in their own native cultural contexts, do not necessarily know the name of Christ yet are searching for a savior or some sort due to their awareness of their own sin and spiritual shortcoming. Sadly, it echoes the message of the Pope, Billy Graham, and other famous (yet erroneous) gospel teachers who are beloved by unbelievers (precisely because what they're preaching isn't the visceral message of repentance and belief that Jesus required of any that would follow after him).
I was so sad to see those three names, among others, whom I appreciate for so many of their books. :(
what the. thanks for the update
ReplyDeleteword, good word Paul. just wat i needed.
ReplyDeletep. Rand: hi, this is Elisa =) I had no idea what your Monty Python reference was about but then I did a google search and found this: http://vodpod.com/watch/328064-monty-python-bunny-scene
ReplyDeleteoh no... so my sn reminds you of a killer rabbit... fail. hahaha. I was going more for a cute sanrio-like character. oh well. haha
Rand: Are you talking about the Manhattan Declaration? I don't really see the "implicit" message that you are talking about... it's addressing a bunch of other social issues and I just think the document is just odd overall. If that is what you are talking about, then you also have to include Wayne Grudem, Barry Corey, James Dobson, Ligon Duncan, Tim Keller, Duane Litfin, Erwin Lutzer, Al Mohler, Richard Mouw, Chuck Swindoll, John Woodbridge, and Ravi Zacharias among the other hundreds who signed it. I think they should've just signed a document with some fundamental doctrines of orthodox Christianity and not particular social issues, but still, I don't think it's as bad as you make it out to be...
ReplyDeleteBut then you might be talking about something else altogether because Jerry Bridges did not sign the Manhattan Declaration as far as I could tell, see the list here: http://www.manhattandeclaration.org/sign/list-of-religious-leaders-signatories
Paul: Sorry for using your comments section for a response, haha. Sarang.