Tag: Spiritual Help

CONFESS

  • Have you robbed God by withholding his due of time, talents and money?
  • Have you given less than a tenth of your income for God’s work?
  • Have you failed to support mission work either in prayer or in offerings?

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It sounds strange to ask if we’ve robbed God of what he gives us, but the deep truth is that God provides everything to us and we will show if we can be trusted with it. We have all met people who are happy to take. Are they just as happy to give? Are we this way?

Or how about giving on “my terms.” We want to give what we no longer need or want to whom we choose. Do we disregard what God’s asking us to do… and to do joyfully?

God tells us what he wants for us. He lets us know where we can help, especially when we pray about it. Perhaps we are called to give more of our personal time to serving others. Maybe it’s donating to a special charity, a Christian radio station, a friend or family member in need.

While we confess greed in our lives, we can combat it by giving. The most important element is giving God’s way, which he tells us in our hearts.

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PRAY

Verse: Acts 20:35 (NIV)

“In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”

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CONFESSING GREED

When we worship the things of the world, we do not worship the Lord. We can’t serve two masters. In our worship of the world, we end up making choices that hurt others… and ourselves.

“So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.” — Colossians 3:5

Welcome to part 5 of the Going By Faith series “Uncovering Sin and Finding Forgiveness.” For last week’s confession on hate, click here.

If you want to confess greed in your life, first pray with the Bible verse below. Then, read the questions one by one — answer them truthfully. Confess other areas of your life that are controlled by greed instead of God. Be honest — this is between you and Him.

Every “yes” answer means sin in your life. Name it to God. Let there be no excuse for it — just admit it and ask forgiveness.

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Confessions of Greed

Greed leads to a lonely place. I know because for a short time in my life, I lived there.

And it’s a cruel master when you become its slave. Nothing is ever enough. Nothing can satisfy. Worse yet, it deceives us into thinking we will run out  of the very thing that often keeps us locked in its grasp.

The Bible warns us about greed repeatedly. Luke 12:15 tells us, “Then he said, ‘Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.’”

When does the Bible ever tell us to beware of something without good cause?

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CONFESSIONS OF A PART-TIME CHRISTIAN

Welcome to part 6 of the Going By Faith series “Uncovering Sin and Finding Forgiveness.” For the previous confession, click “confessions of greed.”

If you feel like you’ve been living like a part-time Christian, living for God sometimes and turning away other times, take a moment to repent. You can do this by praying with the Bible verse below. Next, read the questions one by one — answer them truthfully. Confess it if you’ve been irresponsible toward God. Be honest — this is between you and Him.

Every “yes” answer means sin in your life. Name it, and let there be no excuse — admit it and ask forgiveness.

PRAY

Below are three translations of 1 Corinthians 4:2. Reading all three can give us a special glimpse into the true meaning of being responsible with our saved life in God’s eyes.

“Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.” (NIV)

“Now, a person who is put in charge as a manager must be faithful.” (NLV)

“Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy.” (ESV)

CONFESS

  • Are you undependable so that you cannot be trusted with responsibilities in the Lord’s work?
  • Are you allowing your emotions to be stirred for things of the Lord but doing nothing about it?

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Keeping faith in everyday Christian life helps us get through trials, but it also helps us to live, think and trust like Christ — keeping our hearts open to God to do His work in us, through us and around us. In other words, we become responsible and trustworthy stewards of our faith.

Heavenly Father, shine the light of your love into our hearts so that it can pour out to others. Help us walk with you full-time, in every area of this life you have given us to live. May our life show your glory.

Thank you Christ Life Ministriesfor granting permission to use your content (concept and confession questions).

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Confessions of Irresponsibility (the Part-Time Christian)

This weekend I heard a sermon that touched on a few of the biggest disasters throughout history, one of them being the sinking of the Titanic.

Of the 1,347 people who perished, something close to 90% were men who gave up their lives so women and children could live.

In another story, the sinking of a ship called “The Empress of Ireland” in 1914, there were 130 Salvation Army officers on board — some of them old women — who gave up their life preservers, even to strong men, saying, “I can die better than you can.”

What the pastor said made me think: If you were one of the survivors and someone gave his or her life up to save yours, wouldn’t it change the way you lived from that day forward?

Most of us would agree — Yes, definitely!

And yet Jesus gave up His life for us. We have all been on that sinking ship (and maybe still are), but Jesus gave us a life preserver — one he paid for with his life. We have been saved, ultimately, from the greatest disaster.

Has if profoundly changed the way we live? Are we living a true Christian life, or are we only walking with God when it’s convenient?

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Keeping It All to Yourself?

Are there some feelings better kept to ourselves? Most of us would answer yes to this question. I always did. But then I learned a better answer.

A little while back I went through what felt like an eternity (a few days) of feeling extremely vulnerable. Maybe it was due to pregnancy, or maybe because some days we just feel more vulnerable than others. Either way, I admit that in this vulnerability, I was open to attack from the enemy.

My feelings were hurt over something I heard my husband say, and I thought it would be best to confront the issue. I began by asking him not to take offense and to pray for me, knowing in advance I’m not the most tactful when hurt feelings are involved.

What started out as “sharing feelings,” turned into my husband feeling attacked, and me feeling more hurt and alone. Reactivity and counter-reactivity followed.

Then silence.

Then I felt the attack continuing on me.

The words that went through my mind sounded something like this: Maybe it’s better to keep some feelings to myself from now on.

And that’s when a most beautiful realization set in.

As I prayed those words to God, he gave me a much better answer. He told me I wasn’t alone with my feelings and I never had to feel that way. I just had to turn to Him with them.

In Him I am safe to express myself. And so are you.

We can begin by asking Him to hear us, and to hold us in his great mercy, endless love and compassion. When we express our feelings to God, He helps us to see — and also to hear — the truth.

And so if we ever wonder if it’s better to keep some feelings to ourselves rather than share them, the answer is: We don’t have to keep them to ourselves and we don’t have to share them with another, but we can always start by sharing them with God. If it is something to be shared, He can give us the guidance and timing needed.

Only the Spirit can fill us with the wisdom and discernment we need to take the right course. Even when we are not speaking out loud, God is always listening.

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2) THERE’S A BETTER WAY REVEALED

Our past mistakes make us wiser today about what we don’t want to do; what we don’t need to repeat.

As Proverbs 26:11 says, “Like a dog that returns to its vomit, a fool does the same foolish things again and again.”

In an enriching series on Christian maturity, J. Hampton Keathley writes:

The mature believer recognizes that our failures show us what we should and should not do; they become lessons in where we went wrong and why. You know what they say, ‘hindsight is 10/20.’ It can help us avoid the same mistake twice if we will learn from history.”

You’ve learned something more about life, and you can use that wisdom to make better decisions. You can also use your unique experience to help someone going through the same struggles.

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REFLECTING IN THE MIRROR

Sinful nature, you float through me. You burden me and you deceive me. I know you are there; but I close my eyes and try not to see you.

And yet you are in my reflection. Wanting everything to be perfect. Wanting to be right. Wanting to live comfortably.

I once thought I was you and you were me. I once justified your motives, believing they were mine.

Only by the blood of Jesus do I know you exist outside of me, yet you still attack me. And like a puppet hung on strings, I move with your direction only to feel the same sick hangover in the morning.

But you don’t have my heart.

Lord, I confess the selfishness and pride that leaves me blind. Remove these strongholds in my life so that I can live only for you!

There is a battle being waged over my soul.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.
— Galatians 5:19-21a

Thank you for your love, Lord. Thank you for your mercy again and again. Thank you for opening my eyes to see the destruction that occurs when I look away from you.

Thank you for surrounding me with faithful sisters and brothers who trust in you. With church leaders who love you and reinforce your Word. With a heart for Jesus, even when I fail to love like Jesus.

Thank you for giving me a marriage joined by you, not by me.

Lord, you care for your children. Give me eyes that see only you when I look in the mirror.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
— Galatians 5:22-25

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Reflections on a Sinful Nature

Looking in the mirror, I see a person who wants everything to be perfect. Who wants to be right. Who knows that suffering brings perseverance, but desires to live comfortably.

I trust in the Lord but have a tendency to let the waves of life toss me around as if I had no solid foundation.

I write about going by faith in marriage, and two days later hit challenges that leave me questioning that faith.

Some people in my life deserve an apology — there are situations the Lord has opened my eyes to. But I haven’t made a move. I’ve lingered. Wavered.

The things I want to do, I don’t do. Instead — and often without realizing — I do the things I hate.

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
— Romans 7:21-25

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