Monthly Archives: April 2019

April 10; Aging Parents and Joy

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Judges 16:23-31; I Samuel 2:22-5:12

Eli was an old man. His eyes were failing and he’d gained a ton of weight. I imagine he wasn’t able to get around as easily as he used to. We read in I Samuel that Eli slept in the temple, seemingly pretty much alone. Except for young Samuel. Samuel’s room was close enough to Eli’s that when he called, the boy could get to him.

It doesn’t mention where Eli’s sons were.

I love how Samuel, as soon as he heard his name in the middle of the night, jumped out of bed and ran to help Eli, assuming it was Eli who’d called him.

“Go back to bed,” Eli told him.

Three times Samuel heard his name. Three times Eli told him he hadn’t called him. Three times Samuel displayed concern, selflessness, maybe even love for the old priest. And three times Samuel got out of bed and ran to Eli without complaint.

When you get to be my age, you seem to have a lot of friends who have the responsibility of caring for elderly parents. A former student of mine is caring for her mom who is suffering from dementia, and rapidly declining. This daughter took her mom into her home a couple of years ago and has lovingly cared for her every day since.

One friend visits the nursing home, and has lunch and/or dinner nearly every day to be sure her wheelchair-bound mother is being cared for in that Alzheimer’s unit. She is a bulldog for her mom’s sake.

Several other friends have a parent in their homes, complete with walkers, medicines, and oxygen tanks. Some are enjoying an actual friendship with their elderly parent. I envy them. My parents live in heaven how. And I miss them.

What I notice about my friends who are caring for their failing parents is the wide differences in the attitudes. Some, like my former student, embraces her mom, finds joy in being able to hold her hand even if her mom doesn’t know who she is. She delights in helping her mom remember what she can. This daughter has a job, a husband, three sons of her own. Yet she serves her mom with joy – exhausted joy sometimes – but with genuine joy.

My friend who spends hours a day at her mom’s side in the nursing home, also has a full-time job. But she finds joy in her mom’s presence, her sense of humor, and makes sure her mom has her favorite hat on straight, even when her mom insists on wearing the hat to bed.

That’s not the case with everyone, sadly. Sometimes the hardships of caring for an elderly parent causes resentment, frustration, maybe even anger. I would think that temptation is fairly common among caretakers. I don’t know. I’ve never been there.

But I am praying for you who are. I pray that you can have the same attitude as Samuel seems to demonstrate here in these verses today. I pray that you can serve that elderly person without complaining, that you will be able to look for opportunities to express love to that old person who may not be easy to love, and who probably doesn’t like the fact they need your help any more than you do. And I pray that you can help them with genuine joy.

I know many of you are caring for your aging parents with that joy. I honor you today. You are examples of what I believe God wants for his aging saints. May God bless you as you bless your elderly parents.

But if that doesn’t describe you, I am not condemning you. We are not all gifted in the same way. So I pray that you will have the courage to find someone who can care for your elderly parent with genuine gladness. Eli’s sons weren’t their father’s caretakers. Maybe that was good thing. Scripture doesn’t say. But it does show us that Eli had a caretaker who didn’t roll over in bed when he thought Eli was calling to him. Eli had a caretaker who didn’t consider his own comfort over Eli’s need.

Scripture tells us to honor our parents. I pray you can obey that commandment with joy.

Father, my heart goes out to people who are watching their parents slowly decline. I pray they will allow You to be their strength, that they will honor their parents like You have commanded. Father, give wisdom, give courage, give them the ability to serve their parents with joy, or provide the joyful care their parents need. I pray that You will be glorified in the way adult children care for the parents who cared for them.

April 9; Palms Up

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I Samuel 2:1-21; Psalm 113; Judges 14:1-16:22

I think I’ve told this story before, but I thought of it again as I read I Samuel today. When I was in high school, our youth group wanted to go to a national convention in Colorado. We had bake sales, car washes, and our church hired us to clean the church once a week to earn money to go.

One Saturday I was sweeping the foyer when a lady I didn’t recognize barged in and asked, “Is the treasurer here?”

“He is downstairs,” I replied. “Do you want me to go get him for you?”

“No.” Then she shoved an offering envelope at me. “Give this to him,” she commanded. “And tell him I don’t want a dime of this going to that preacher.”

With that, she turned on her heels and walked away. I stood there, dumbfounded, for a second. Then I leaned the broom against the wall, and headed downstairs to find the treasurer. I handed him the envelope, and I remember feeling embarrassed as I relayed the woman’s message.

“Don’t worry about it,” he reassured me. “She does this all the time.”

The account in I Samuel is actually about the people receiving the offering. They had the mistaken idea they had the right to decide where that offering went. And they were bold enough to demand the best for themselves and the priests.

Today God is speaking to me about giving, about my role in the financial support of my church. We recently started a new capital campaign to raise money to build a new facility on the north end of the island. Right now we are meeting in what used to be the parking garage for the stores located on the first and second floors. Its nice, but it would be great to have our own place.

I gave to the first capital campaign, and when it was time to pledge another three year commitment I had to do some figuring. I’m retired. My income never changes. Do I continue to give what I’d been giving, or do I take a step of faith and up it? What about my general giving?

I was reminded that there are places in Scripture that talk about a 10%, and there are places that speak about giving it all. Moses told the people to give as God prompted them, and they gave so much he ended up asking them to quit giving.

The Bible also tells me God loves a cheerful giver.

Today I feel God would have me be less concerned about the number of zeros on my check, and more about my obedience to Him when He puts that number on my heart. He knows if I’m being honest or not. I want to be obedient.

I also feel God wants me to give that offering with palms up, willingly, joyfully, not trying to control where “my” money goes and doesn’t go.

Then, and maybe this is the most important thing about what God is saying to me today, I need to be in earnest prayer for those who are given the job of deciding how the money will be used for God’s glory. There is a huge responsibility attached to that. In speaking about the servants of the priest who took the choicest offering for themselves, Scripture tells us:

This sin of the young men was very great in the Lord’s sight, for they were treating the Lord’s offering with contempt. (I Samuel 2:17)

It’s the Lord’s offering, His money, not mine. I want to be faithful to give as He prompts me, and to give with palms up. Then I’ll pray that every dime is used in ways that furthers His Church, honors Him, and blesses people in Jesus’ name.

 

April 8; Laying It All Out There

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Ruth 3-4; I Chronicles 2:3-16; I Samuel 1

What I read today seems to be in direct contrast to what I read yesterday. Yesterday I saw people skirting around God’s law, living right on the edge of obedience, justifying sin for a greater cause. Today I see some women who put it all out there, who seems to have trusted and obeyed God completely.

Naomi had lived for a time outside of God’s will.But she’s home now. She didn’t know how she’d be received, didn’t know if she would live or die. But she and Ruth threw themselves on the mercy of the kinsman redeemer. And they were saved.

Hannah prayed from the deepest recesses of her soul, she poured out her heart to God, laying all her desires at His feet. He answered, and she was blessed.

All of these women emptied themselves and fully trusted God to take care of them. That’s what God wants of me, too. Not a woman who lives on the edge, but a woman who thrives right in the middle of His will. Not a woman who tries to manipulate Him into giving me what I want, but a woman who wants what He wants. His desire is that I be a woman who lays it all out there, throws myself on His mercy, obeys Him completely, and trusts Him fully.

Here I am, Lord. I give you my past, present, and my future. I give you my hopes and dreams, desires and need. I don’t want to hold anything back. I don’t want to tell you what to do. Thank you for redeeming me, for welcoming me home by the blood of your Son. Help me to trust you with every detail of my life, like you deserve. I am laying it all out here, Lord. Thy will be done.

April 7; Manipulation

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Judges 21; I Chronicles 6:4-15; Ruth 1-2

They probably shouldn’t have been there in the first place. Sure, there were hard times in the Promised Land, a famine, food shortage. But it would appear Elimelech took the easy way out, picked up his family, and relocated to Moab, an unclean land where people worshiped idols. And God had made it clear His people were not to live with idolators.

But they had food.

Elimelech took care of the physical and placed the spiritual in jeopardy. His sons married Moabite women, something God said should never happen.

But they had food.

In the last chapter of Judges we see what happened after the Israelites nearly wiped out one of their own tribes, the Benjamites, for refusing to repent of a horrible sin. The dust settled, and the other eleven tribes began to feel guilty. There were so few Benjamite men left alive, and not enough Benjamite women to marry them and have Benjamite babies. Would that tribe disappear because of what they had done?

To complicate the matter, the eleven tribes had made a vow, in an emotional response to the blatant sin in Benjamin, that they – none of them – would ever give their daughters in marriage to any Benjamite man. Not ever.

Now that things had calmed down some, the eleven tribes began to think they’d gone too far. So they came up with a plan. If the Benjamin boys “took” some of their daughters for wives, it wouldn’t be like they “gave” them to them. They’d have wives, and the eleven tribes wouldn’t technically be breaking their vow.

Win. Win.

So the Israelite authorities devised a plan for them and the Benjamites to both get what they wanted without losing face.

I see a similarity in both stories, and something God is laying on my heart. The word “manipulation” comes to mind.

Maybe Elimelech looked like some great husband and father to his neighbors. After all, he gave up everything to take care of his family, leaving his home and taking them to places unknown for their own good. Did those neighbors tell each other what a great man Elimelech was because he’d do ANYTHING for his family?

But if you cut away all the dressing, the truth is Elimelech simply did not trust God in the bad times. He took matters in his own hands, maybe justified his choice to disobey God for the good of his family. Noble.

Is it okay for a person to sin for the right reasons?

The Israelites plan to repopulate the tribe of Benjamin involved kidnapping and rape.

Do the ends justify the means?

Can God be manipulated? (Is that even a real question?) I don’t ever want to live on the edge of obedience, or commit a sin while telling myself it’s for a good cause. God is not a fool.

I shouldn’t be, either.

April 6; They Refused

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Judges 19-20

The man was a Levite, a church leader. This story is bad enough, but considering this Levite’s association with the church of that time, it is all the more despicable. He was sidetracked by the temptation to “enjoy himself,” “refresh himself.” It looks like he “partied” with his father-in-law for five straight days. Don’t get me started.

Then, when he was threatened by a group of sexually perverted Benjamites, he tossed his concubine at them instead. They raped her, abused her all night. And she died as a result. Does that make you as angry as it does me?

You can read for yourself what happened. It’s just too disgusting.

Later, when the Benjamites were confronted with their sin, when their brothers told them to rid themselves of the evil, they refused.

THEY REFUSED!

Thousands of people lost their lives because of that refusal. Thousands of people lost their lives.

Chapter 19 begins with, “In those days Israel had no king.” That explains it. When people are allowed to do their own thing, make up their own rules, come up with their own definition of morality, people die.

Yes, we are seeing babies die, kids killing kids, addictions taking lives, wars both abroad and on our own streets. People die every day because too many are living like there is no king, or that they are their own king.

But there is a King. And the King established the rules, defined morality according to His holiness, laid out consequences for breaking His laws, and He has not changed one bit since He inspired His Words to be written down thousands of years ago.

I wonder if we are becoming a bit like the Benjamites. When confronted with our own sin, what do we do? Do we repent, get rid of the evil? Or do we refuse? (and you do know that ignoring a sin is a form of refusal, don’t you?)

The Bible tells us thousands of people died because the Benjamites refused to deal with their sin. I wonder how many people will die today because of their own refusal? I’m not even talking about the physical death. I’m talking about that awful, eternal death that comes from refusing to obey God. How many people will die today without any hope?

Once again, God isn’t satisfied with me thinking about “them.” Generalizing a lesson from Scripture is sure a lot more comfortable than making it personal. But if I am serious about my walk with God, I need to allow Him to make it personal.

I feel God is asking me how many people are going to die that eternal death today because I refuse to eliminate sin in my own life. How Benjamin-like am I? My life touches so many who associate me with the Church, they know I’m a Christian. What do they see that draws them to their Savior? Or do they see things in me that make them want to run?

If I refuse to deal with a sin God reveals to me I know it effects my relationship with Him. I know that I am treading on thin ice. What I’m seeing today is, I may have invited others to join me there on that thin ice without even realizing it.

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me… then I will teach transgressors your ways so that sinners will turn back to you… My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. (Psalm 51:10,13,17)

May I never refuse to repent of sin brought to my attention. For my eternal soul. But also for yours.

April 5; The Past Is The Past

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Judges 10-13

Today we read about two men who became leaders of Israel. Jephthah, described as a mighty warrior, led the people in some decisive victories in a civil war against their warring family. Samson, a man with super-natural physical strength, led Israel against the Philistines. They were both great leaders, albeit flawed individuals.

I am struck by their very different beginnings. Jephthah was the son of a man named Gilead and an unnamed prostitute. His brothers, as soon as they were old enough, drove Jephthah out of their lives. No son of a prostitute was going to get any of their inheritance! But Jephthah used his gifts and abilities, and eventually rose to a position of power in Gilead.

Samson, on the other hand, was born to a married, God-fearing couple whose goal was to raise their son exactly according to God’s plan. It would not have been easy to raise a Nazarite, even back then. But these godly parents were determined to do just that. We’ll read that Samson grew up to be a great leader in Israel.

Sometimes we might be tempted to use our own beginnings as a weight to hold us down. Maybe we weren’t born into a middle class Christian family. Maybe our parents never married, never went to church. Maybe we weren’t able to afford college. So we let our past dictate our present.

In contrast, maybe we were born with that proverbial silver spoon in our mouths, went to the best schools, wore the best clothes, drove the coolest cars. Maybe our parents made sure we were in church every time the doors were open, and we can quote Scripture like a Baptist preacher.

Does one past guarantee success in God’s kingdom while the other guarantees failure? Is how we were raised an indication of our ability to serve God? The answer, of course, is NO!

Your past is past. It’s your choices today that render you useful or useless in God’s plan. A privileged child needs to come to God in exactly the same way as a child who grows up on the streets.

Neither Jephthah nor Samson allowed their past to be a “thing.” Both men followed God and chose obedience.

Here’s something else God has laid on my heart. Sometimes we let our own past sins hold us back from serving God. We tell ourselves we have no room to talk about sin, being the filthy sinner we were. We tell ourselves no one would take us seriously, considering the bad choices we’ve made in our past. I think God would remind us that when He forgives sins, He buries them, washes them away, never to remember them ever again. The past, under the blood of Jesus, is the past.

You can’t control or change your past. But God has given you today – this minute – to choose Him.

…Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:13b-14)

Choose God today. Then see what He can do with a yielded heart. I know that God can use even the likes of you and me.

April 4; That First Step Is A Doozie

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Judges 8-9

Israel, under Gideon’s leadership, enjoyed a decisive victory over the enemy. I get excited whenever the Cleveland Indians win a ballgame. I can only imagine emotions were running much higher there in the Israelite camp when they won their victory that day. The people wanted to make Gideon their king. But Gideon politely refused the offer.

He could have cashed in on his success, but he kept his integrity in check. He didn’t even take any of the plunder for himself, although I’m pretty sure the people would not have objected if Gideon had wanted to walk away from the battle a rich man. Who deserved it more?

What Gideon did, however, was take the first step toward sin. Maybe he did it innocently enough, the Bible doesn’t tell us his thought process. He collected one earring from each of the fighting men, added the things taken from the two defeated enemy kings, and made a gold shirt.

An ephod was a sacred garment worn by priests as they served God. This sleeveless shirt held a lot of meaning to the Jews at that time.

Now, I’m only guessing here, but I wonder if Gideon, like lovers who carve their initials in the trunk of a tree to immortalize their love, wanted to “mark the spot” where God granted them the victory. Was it an ancient equivalent of a memory bench, or an 8×10 photo intended to remind everyone who saw it about the greatness of God?

The thing that’s glaringly absent from this story is God. I don’t see anywhere that Gideon asked God what He wanted him to do. “Here, God, let me do this for you. Surprise!”

The Bible says that the gold shirt “became a snare to Gideon and his family.” People actually started worshiping the gold ephod instead of the God it was supposed to point them to. It became an idol.

Gideon’s collecting of the gold earrings seemed innocent enough, maybe even spiritual, or sacrificial. “Look at what Gideon’s doing for God.” But that first step was like stepping off a cliff. It was a doozie. And the result was devastating.

I would like to challenge us all as we serve God to take steps directed only by Him. You might get a great idea and want to run with it. But let’s learn from Gideon’s mistake and stop to ask God His take on our great idea. If He’s not in it, no matter how good an idea you think it is, it just might “become a snare” for you and for others.

Here’s something else God has impressed on my heart today: what I do influences others for the good or for the bad. If I take a step toward sin, how many people will think it’s ok for them, too? And how many of them will take the sin further than even I will?

I’m reminded of Isaiah’s words:

Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, “This is the way; walk in it.” (30:21)

Let’s determine to listen to that voice, and obey it; to take those steps set before us by our loving Heavenly Father. Because if we aren’t careful, we could find ourselves on the brink of disaster. And taking that first step out of God’s will is a doozie, a step that could take us and others down.

Please read your Bible every day. Pray. Be sensitive to God’s leading. Listen to His voice through His written Word. And obey Him. You will be blessed… and a blessing to others.

April 3; Putting Out A Fleece

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Judges 5-7

I love how often we see God take the most unlikely candidate, and turn him into a hero. When we first meet Gideon, he is hiding in a winepress so that the Midianites wouldn’t catch him threshing wheat. Then God sits down with Gideon and calls him a “mighty warrior.” Aren’t you glad God looks at our potential instead of our present character? I am!

God goes on to tell Gideon he’d be the one to lead Israel into battle with Midian. He even performed a miracle right before Gideon’s eyes to prove to Gideon God was in this.

Now all of this didn’t automatically make Gideon brave. In fact, his first act of obedience was done at night so no one would see him. Then he called the fighting men of Israel to come together. But the man lived with cold feet.

“God, here’s a wool fleece. I’m going to leave this here overnight. If you are really going to save Israel through me, let the ground be dry in the morning, but let the fleece be wet.”

You know the story. The next morning the ground was dry, and Gideon was wringing water out of the fleece.

So Gideon went to war, confident that God was true to His word.

Umm… not quite.

With a sopping piece of wool Gideon then says, “Let’s try something else just to be sure. I’ll leave the fleece out one more night. This time, let the ground be wet with dew, but keep the fleece dry. Then I’ll believe you are going to be with me like You’ve said.”

And our patient God did just that.

The story doesn’t end there. Gideon and Israel enjoyed a victory over Midian in a dramatic, miraculous way. I hope you’ll read it for yourself.

God is challenging my faith today. Do I take God at His Word, or do I keep insisting He give me a sign? Gideon was weak. Gideon was a coward. And Gideon needed tangible proof over and over that God could be trusted.

Does that describe me? When I read the Bible, I’m reading God’s Word to me. When Scripture says, “I am with you always,” what it really says is, “Connie, I am always with you.” When it says God works things out for the good for those who love Him, God is saying, “I am working things out for your good, Connie.”

Warren Wiersbe said something that stopped me in my tracks:

“Putting out the fleece (asking God to do some special thing to verify His will) is evidence of unbelief and not of faith… Immature faith needs signs for reassurance; mature faith takes God at His Word and obeys.” (With The Word; Thomas Nelson Press; 1991; page 146)

Gideon became a hero. In fact, you’ll see his name among the examples of faith in Hebrews 11. What we read here in Joshua is the growing of a hero. He certainly didn’t start out that way.

Am I still at the starting line? Do I need signs and wonders in order to believe God? Do I find myself throwing out one fleece after another, expecting God to perform for me so that I know He’s there? God forbid. He deserves better than that.

May I, may we, take God at His Word. May we be reading what He wrote to us every day, allowing Him to speak, to direct, to reassure us, to scold us, through the pages of His love letter to us.

And may our trust in Him be so mature, that when He tells us to jump, we don’t even ask “How high?” May we jump with all our might.

 

April 2; Eyes Wide Open

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Joshua 18; 3:7-4:24

I don’t think I’ve given much thought to the Levite Micah hired to be his personal priest, until today. It struck me that when the Danites came to town, they recognized the priest’s voice. So they knew him as a member of the tribe of Israel chosen by God to be the keepers of the Truth.

“What are you doing here in Ephraim?” they asked.

“Some guy named Micah hired me to be his personal priest. Sweet gig,” he answered.

The priest even had the nerve to speak for God, but I don’t read where he asked God first. He had become a pagan priest, serving idols in the privacy of Micah’s house, yet passing himself off as a priest of the One True God.

As Christians, God’s kingdom of priests, we are chosen by God to be the keepers of the Truth. People recognize us as “religious,” or “church-goers,” and assume we have a direct line to God. Some may assume that what we do, how we live, must be God-approved by virtue of our identity with Him. (I’m pretty sure that’s where the term “hypocrite” often comes into play)

It occurs to me that the sin of this Levite is grievous. A Levite should have known better than to serve an idol. He couldn’t use the excuse, “I didn’t know,” because he was most likely taught the Ten Commandments before he was potty-trained. He did know. And he chose disobedience with both eyes wide open.

We all know we must live in this world. God does not snatch us up into heaven the moment we accept Jesus as our Savior. We must live in this world – but we should not be living like this world. Maybe the whole town was worshiping idols. “Everybody’s doing it.” But that Levite should have been the one to keep the Truth, and refuse to bow to those images, much less become a priest of evil.

Sometimes it might seem “everybody” is going the way of Satan. It seems people are happier with a church that’s relaxed its standards. Some church-going people talk and act like their unsaved friends six days a week, but still call themselves Christians.

We could point our fingers all day long at a sinful world and a weak church. But what about me? And you? How are we doing protecting the Truth in our own day-to-day?

Does my life, my choices, my words speak the Truth to people who look at me as someone who represents Christianity, who wears the name of my Savior when I call myself a Christian? I know the Truth. I read the Truth every day. So when I choose to blend in with the world (even if I try to convince myself it’s what God wants) I disobey with eyes wide open.

I have been this Levite we read about here in Joshua. I’m not proud of that. But today I stand before you and proclaim that I want my life to stand apart. I want to protect the Truth. I want to live a life that throws a light on my Savior. And I need God to give me the strength and courage to do it.

I’d like to leave you with Paul’s declaration of his own stance. May it be true for all of us:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes; first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. (Romans 1:16)

April 1; Completely

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Judges 1:1-3:36; 17:1-13

One thing that stands out to me as I read about Israel’s take-over of the Promised Land is how easily they gave up. God had promised to GIVE them the land. Yes, they’d have to do their part and go to battle with the inhabitants. But those inhabitants were enemies of God. And He wanted them gone. He would give the Jews victory.

God’s instruction was for them to rid the earth of the inhabitants of Canaan – completely, Don’t let any of the evil survive. He even warned Israel that if they left any of the enemy remain, they’d be asking for trouble.

I count 17 cities – plus surrounding territories – where the Jews failed to eliminate the enemy. Ungodly people were allowed to live with God’s people, which was a total act of disobedience on their part. And by 3:6 we see that the Jews had intermarried with the enemy, and even served the enemy’s gods.

Why hadn’t the Jews rid themselves of the evil like God told then to in the first place? Sure the ungodly people were determined to remain on their own land in their own homes. Who could blame them? Sure, they were strong warriors with state of the art battle gear. But did Israel think any of that was too strong for God?

Why didn’t they step out in faith and let God do His thing, eliminate the sin that so easily entangles? They gave up on God.

I don’t know what sin God is revealing in your life. But I know He wants it gone. Completely. And I know that He is able to help you do the impossible, defeat the evil in your life. I believe God will give you victory – if you let Him.

What’s stopping you? Have you fooled yourself into thinking that one sin is no big deal? That you can handle it and not let it take over your life? Do you think eliminating the evil is too hard because you are too far gone? Or do you think God is either too weak, or too uncaring to defeat this enemy?

I believe God not only wants to, but can give you the victory over whatever sin He wants you to eliminate. Understand that if you decide to live with that sin, you’re asking for trouble. Serious trouble.

We’re going to see the results of allowing sin to exist in the lives of God’s people here in the book of Judges. They were one generation away from not even knowing God. That is the result of tolerating sin, of living with it, of not eliminating it from our lives…

Completely,