Believing God Today

Giving Hope and Comfort in His Grace

Monthly Archives: July 2012


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Struggling with Addictions

Opium poppies
(Photo credit Wikipedia)

Have you ever had an addiction? Maybe you find yourself struggling with one even now. For those who have never been addicted to something, they cannot possibly begin to understand what it is like.

An addiction is horrible; it is like dragging a lead weight around that you cannot be rid of. Even if you want to be rid of your addiction, you find that you are drawn right back to it again. Often though, people are addicted to things, and will not admit it or do not seem to care.

I was addicted to many things. At one time I used drugs for a while in my life. Not a good thing drugs. I was even more addicted to alcohol and cigarettes.

The list of addictions I could write would fill pages up! People are addicted to social media, television, music, drugs, porn, movies, blogging, and many more. If you have to have it, or have to do it all the time, it is an addiction!

When I drank it was every day. No exceptions, every single day no matter what. It did not matter if there was an appointment that day, company was coming; nothing mattered enough that it would prevent me from drinking. This is the nature of addictions; an addiction is not something you can just stop whenever you want to. I knew I drank too much; I was not interested in stopping this behavior most of the time.

Addictions are a way of self-medicating because people have problems. Lets face it life is not easy for anyone. If I as a person do not posses a solid foundation on which to stand, I will turn to what helps me…often with disastrous results. The other problem is that if the addiction produces a “high”, some type of pleasurable feeling, then the person becomes addicted to the very feeling and continuously desires more. It is a very vicious cycle that is incredibly difficult to get away from.

I had become a follower of the Lord, but had not given up alcohol yet. Despite what some would say, you can be a Believer and still be doing things you really should not be. People do not become Believers and then just like that all things are nice and tidy in their lives…it does not work like that. One has only to look at King David to see the truth of what I am saying, and yet many a person would disagree with me here.

I am one of the exceedingly lucky ones; God Himself took away the desire to drink from me…I could not stop. For reasons unknown to me (I say this because I know people still struggling) the Lord took this awful burden from me. It happened in a very simple way. I was drinking as usual; I was also reading in the Word. It occurred to me that reading and studying the Word of God while guzzling down beer was not right. That was it; I was done right there and then, just like that.

There is hope for addictions, there is healing. Support groups are great; friends are good as well. First and foremost though I would say a relationship with Jesus is the most important thing. Then one needs a real desire to give up the addiction, this is not a game. Addictions are very serious business. Prayer is a key element as well; ask God to help you, keep praying do not stop. If you fall, don’t beat yourself up about it, get back up and keep trying. Success can and does come because of perseverance.

Satan wants you to remain locked in bondage to your addiction; it serves him well. Do not let him fool you; break free with God’s help! You can do this! Be encouraged that addictions can be beaten. In Christ you can do all things.

Online resources and encouragement:

Setting Captives Free
Addiction Tribe
Think In Today
Darrell Creswell
Good Life

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Do you serve Christ: or expect Him to serve you?

I was listening to a podcast on Solomons Porch Radio recently. This was a very good interview with Peter Guirguis, (Not Ashamed of the Gospel) on what he does in his ministry that is focused on Internet evangelism.

One of the hosts of the show (Mike and Mark) made a comment about serving Christ. The paraphrase of what he said is this; I would serve Christ forever more if He did nothing else for me. That got me to thinking…

Why do we serve Christ, more specifically, why do you the person reading this serve Him??

Do you serve with an expectation of reward, maybe in this lifetime, or assuredly in the next? Or maybe you serve Jesus with no expectations or very few?

What is your motive to serve the Lord? I’m here to tell you, it DOES matter. Lets say that you have a ministry. And lets also say that you do what you do with some expectations that the Lord is going to do some things for you here on this earth because of your service to Him. Or how about this, you are looking for recognition and a name because of what you do for the Lord.

Ever wonder why your ministry just does not seem to prosper? Or that your ministry seems slow to grow, doors do not seem to open? Does the above preceding paragraph describe your ministry, even one that is not yours but you are involved in? When you serve the Lord with these expectations, are you really serving Christ, or are you serving yourself?

The ministries I see growing are those that are not serving themselves, but are in fact serving the needs of others. Let me be clear; I am not talking about the occasional self-serving thought here, we all have those. I am talking about those who have a self-serving agenda wrapped up as service to Christ’s people. I am also unfortunately speaking of the ones who really do want to help God’s people, but yet still have a strong desire for that recognition, self-glorification. This is not in line with God’s will for us.

I will be honest with you; I have struggled with this myself. First we have to admit it, and then we have to do something about it. Take it to the Lord, admit what you have done, and ask Him to help you. Pride comes before the fall, and humility comes before honor.

Serving God should be all about God, not me (me here refers to me personally, but you as the reader as well). Serving God should be done because He cared enough to serve us…long before we even knew He existed.

Keep in mind here that Christ was and is God. I know that you have heard it all before, but again…God stepped out of heaven and became a lowly man. That was a rather large step down was it not? During His time on earth, Jesus gave up His rights to use His Godly power. Jesus did not ever give up His deity…but He did give up His Godly privileges if you will.

During Jesus time here, He served…God served men! Can you imagine sitting in your favorite chair in your living room, and Jesus Christ on His hands and knees before you washing your feet???? Well imagine it! Jesus actually did this for His disciples! Jesus says; give me all your bad things, all your sins, I will take them all…and give you back life in return. In the end, Jesus gave up His life for us.

So, you see my friends that God has done all things for us already even if He does nothing more for us! The Lord God died on a cross for us to have life. We place our faith in Him and serve Him, and we come away with the grand prize.

We are here to serve and glorify the Lord. He made us, and He saved us…we are His bought at a price. Who are we to make demands upon Him?

Prosperity teaching and this feeling of entitlement by some, dare I say many…is just plain wrong. We as Christ’s people are not here to prosper ourselves. We are here to serve Him, and a big way of doing that is in blessing His body. This is and should be a central truth to any ministry. After all, why does any ministry exist? Is it not to serve the body of Christ and in so doing glorify God??? Where do you see self in there?

Do you want to see examples of how to conduct a ministry? Just look around you, look for the ones that do not lift themselves up, look for the ones that are always willing to help. Look for the ones with a humble spirit, a kind word for other ministries. In other words, these ministries will be focused on other people’s problems and helping them find solutions through and in Christ…not on “look how great I am”.

Is your focus on Christ?

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Putting out the Fire in my Mouth

B

James 3:6 The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole person, sets the whole course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

Have you ever in any way had a problem controlling your tongue? Be honest now…

I have and still do at times. In the past I had a very bad mouth, I mean really bad as in like a sailor. This is unfortunately more common then you may think.

What does the bible say about the tongue? James 3:6 says the tongue is a world of evil, pretty strong language don’t you think? Is that really justified???

Proverbs 18:21 The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. The power of life and death…wow. Proverbs 12:13 mentions that an evil man is trapped by his sinful talk. Proverbs 12:22 says that the Lord delights in men who are truthful.

Psalm 64:3 They sharpen their tongues like swords and aim their words like deadly arrows. Words according to the bible have tremendous power, as does the tongue that speaks them. Could it be that we need to seriously reign in our tongues?

Which do you see as better, a physically abusive relationship, or an emotionally abusive relationship? I will answer this later…

Consider James 3:2 We all stumble in many ways. If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his whole body in check.

Consider also James 3:8 but no man can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

No man can tame the tongue; that is pretty serious…and also true. How many times I have gotten myself into trouble by what comes out of my mouth! Sometimes we stumble in what we say without even meaning to. Unfortunately, the damage is already done. We can’t unsay what has been spoken, but we can be more diligent in what comes out of our mouths to begin with.

What does the Apostle Paul have to say about this? Ephesians 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

We can use the tongue for good, we are not required to use it to hurt others, nor are we supposed to. The tongue has amazing power; it is in fact one of the most powerful things on this earth. Why do you think this is, or do you hold another opinion?

Consider these things if you will.

Out of the mouth comes…

  1.  Praise for our Lord in many forms. Beautiful voices lifted up in song, prayer etc.
  2. Worship of the Lord
  3. Witnessing for the Lord
  4. Praise of family and friends
  5. Loving words; affirmation, encouragement, affection, etc

Out of the same mouth comes…

  1. Cursing
  2. Angry words that hurt others
  3. Words that demoralize and degrade others
  4. Lies
  5. Hypocrisy
  6. Boasts and self aggrandizing statements

We all fall when it comes to our tongue; no one succeeds at all times in controlling what they say. To claim otherwise is to not be truthful. We can however learn to be more careful about what we say.

What is the eternal significance of what I am saying?
Is it really important that I say these words?
Will these words of mine cause harm?

It is so easy in the heat of the moment to “say” things we do not really mean. The problem with this is that if we keep saying these things…”I’m sorry” does not hold water anymore. Do you ever have a discussion that turns into an argument and then wonder how that happened? Our choice of words makes things happen, good and bad.

Mom’s advice still holds true…”if you do not have anything nice to say, do not say anything at all”. Is this as hard for others as it is for me at times???

If we learn to think before we speak, pause to consider our words…we will be much better off. Make it a habit to consider what you say before you say it.

Positive words build up negative words tear down. Previously, the question was asked,
“which do you see as better, a physically abusive relationship, or an emotionally abusive relationship?” The obvious answer here is neither one, however if I have to choose between the two, the better one would be a physically abusive relationship. Physical wounds will heal and be gone. The wounds inflicted emotionally will last a long time, and can cause significant damage.
It is important to note here that I am not referring to the escalating abuser who works (his/her) way up to more and more violent acts of abuse. These people are extremely unstable and very dangerous. I stated these things as a comparison only, because it is so important to recognize the tremendous power of our words with others.

This is a whole other post, but I do want to mention that the words, thoughts that go through our mind, things that are not spoken…these have a large impact on us as well.

Ephesians 4:29 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.

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Believers in a Secular World?

IMG_1164
Third Day in concert, photo taken by me!

Recently Mac Powell, front man for the Christian rock band Third Day announced he was doing a country music album. Many people received this news with anticipation; anticipation of what this new CD would sound like. Unfortunately some people have already questioned the wisdom of Mac doing this.

People have said that God’s anointing will no longer be on Third Day if Mac sings non-Christian music. Mac has no business singing anything but Christian music. Really????

People are disappointed that Mac would do this, one guy quoted bible verses as to why it is wrong for Mac to sing country music! Say what????

Marc Martel of the Christian band Downhere went out on tour with Queen, a secular rock band. Granted Queen does not have a nice clean reputation exactly, but so what? Because Marc is a Christian artist…people instantly attacked him for doing this. His faith in Christ was questioned, his judgement, his values…

Does this kind of behavior upset any of you as much as it does me? These people who say these negative things are so ridiculous it would be laughable…except this really isn’t funny.

I have met Mac Powell several times now, gotten to speak to him for a very brief moment as well. I have heard him pour out his heart for God in prayer during shows. I have seen Marc in person with Downhere, and listened to him speak. These guys are the real deal, faithful Believers. They don’t talk “about” the life of a Believer; they live it.

I saw a comment that these guys should not associate with the secular world; please be serious! Why do people instantly think that doing anything in the mainstream is evil? Does it not cross these people’s minds that artists who are Believers can have an amazing impact for God in these “secular” situations?

Who gave anyone the right to judge Mac and Marc because they are pursuing interests that coincide with “the world”? Do these same people ever listen to anything outside of Christian music?

Who decides what the requirements are to be a Believer? Is it not God, or did these people receive special dispensation? Is it any wonder that the “Christian” religion is so fraught with problems? One Believer breaks the mold that someone defined for him, (NO one has any business doing this) and then that someone attacks the one who dared to be different! Hello…are we not shooting ourselves in the foot, while doing a disservice to our God and hurting a fellow brother or sister in Christ?

Why I ask you? Why do people do this? It is both wrong and foolish.

God did not ever say that we are to have nothing to do with those who do not believe! Before anyone throws verses at me saying otherwise…yes; God said do not be unequally yoked in marriage. Yes God wants us to get our deepest friendship needs met by other Believers. Yes we are to fellowship with other Believers, not unbelievers. If we never associate with unbelievers, then how do we witness to them? You do not walk up to someone and hit them over the head with the fact that they are sinners in need of a Savior…and oh by the way you are going to Hell for that; would you like to pray and receive Jesus now??? It’s all about relationship!

Back to Mac and Marc, these two men of God go on tour performing for secular crowds. They do not participate in the boozing, womanizing, and drug use. They are nice guys; clean cut, they act the same way they do at their Christian gigs. Do you see how this would be a powerful witness to the world? The word will be out where they came from…

As to the ones making the derisive comments…what does this make them look like? Do you think it is ok to question someone’s faith, integrity, allegiance to God, etc. in this situation?

I’m going to say myself that these people are narrow minded and judgmental. I’m going to pray that God would open their eyes to see, their ears to hear. I’m also going to pray that God would help me not to do this very same thing. Will you join me?

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Why I’m not God

I see a city, a country, a world; suffering many ailments
I want to fix it, heal the hurts, and comfort the wounded
I want to make the hurts go away, now

I see good people, who do not know God
Some of these people will assuredly not see heaven
In my heart I want to change that

I see the child of a broken home
I see the ravages of divorce
I see the pain of uninvolvement
I want to bring healing to these broken people

I see countries and peoples whom hate one another
I see religions that cannot abide one another
I see hate fostered in so many
I want to undue this plague

I observe hearts breaking; others severely tried
I see the evidence of much heartlessness
I want to the hearts of the heartless; mend the broken hearted

I see pain repaid with pain
I see vindictiveness spread wide
I want to reach out; and replace these with love

I see a world reaching out for vileness
I see people chasing what does not matter and does not satisfy
I want to show them the Truth

I see people so filled with bitterness
I see others who cannot forgive
I see those who care not for others

In my wisdom, I would solve these problems now you see
In my wisdom I would do more harm than good
In my wisdom the world may well be worse

My Father has a plan, far better then my plan
My plan for me did not even work; let alone the peoples of the world
My father has a plan, a reason for all

Our God has the answers, all the answers
I wish I understood a little more
I wish that my wisdom were but a little higher

I must trust in my Lord
Wisdom is His
Our good is in His hands

I could not make the hard calls
The tough decisions would find me wanting
Yes it is good; I’m not God

I will leave The Job to the One
I will gladly be not in charge
Yes I am glad, that I am not God

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Whose Truth do You Follow?

Christ and Pilate
(Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

What is truth? Ever hear of this gem…your truth is not necessarily my truth. I guess that all depends on where you get your Truth from now doesn’t it?

If I expound on what I believe is true, then my statements are open to debate. Truth cannot be based upon what I think, or for that matter what anyone else thinks either.

What I think is my opinion, not fact. Sadly however in today’s society, many people’s basis for truth is what they themselves believe to be true. The modern approach to truth, or the worlds approach to truth is that if you personally believe something to be true, then it is. However, that being said your truth is not necessarily anyone else’s truth. Confused yet?

If I present what is the “real truth”, I’m perceived as being narrow minded; judgemental, intolerant, and even a liar. Contrary to popular opinion, there is only one source for truth. There is only one truth, and that is God.

What is truth anyway and where does it come from? Truth, real truth is based solely on God…always. Jesus said I am the truth, (John 14:6) (John 14:17) and that we would posses the Spirit of truth. God is truth, and all truth comes from Him. Don’t be led astray by today’s world, which is full of foolishness and un-truth. There is an ultimate truth, a single source of truth to live by…the Word of God. As God is truth, so His Word is truth also.

John 8:32 states, “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Knowing Jesus as Savior and understanding His teaching, the Truth, will set you free. Free from bondage to sin, free from death everlasting, free from guilt over your sins, free from a meaningless existence.

If you however subscribe to the “world’s truth” you will not be free, you will in fact be enslaved. Worse yet, your enslavement won’t end in this life, but will continue on into eternity. Truth as the world sees it, (see above) is a very clever trap designed by Satan. Worldly truth is appealing because whatever you choose to believe is true, that way whatever your actions are in life, you are justified. Isn’t that great? The problem with this is your conscience knows better…which is why you have the guilt factor in your life. Your conscience was given to you by God, it is His law written on your heart!

Romans 2:15 since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.

The world’s truth also has a one very unpleasant side affect, your death. So we all die so what? Well after death we all will have one of two destinations, heaven or hell. If you are a follower of worldly truth, you will at the judgment be cast into the lake of fire

(Revelation 20:15).The believers of God’s truth will be in heaven.

There is only one truth, the Truth of God. Believe in it and receive life everlasting. Receive forgiveness of sins. Be free from guilt and condemnation (Romans 8:1). Be right with the Living God…we all will bow before Him, willingly or unwillingly. I choose willingly because Jesus saved me, because I love Him.

Confess your sins to God acknowledging you are a sinner. Tell God you are sorry for your sins. Ask Jesus to come into your life as Savior and Lord, believing that He died on the cross for your sins, and rose to life and is living even now. You will be forgiven and granted eternal life.

Welcome to the family of God!
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God so Loved…

God so loved the world
He gave His only Son

God so loved the world
He let His only Son Die

God so loved the world
He allowed His Son to experience all temptations

Jesus so loved the world
He obeyed all that the Father asked of Him

Jesus so loved the world
He suffered tremendous pain

Jesus so loved the world
He became a man

Oh that my love would compare to His
Nothing compares to the love of God

I wandered away, lost in the world
My Lord pursued me
He never left my side

I refused Him
He followed and watched

I said I do not believe
He said I believe in you

I said I cannot do this anymore
He said take my hand, I will help you

I said the pain is too much to bear
He said I will give you peace and comfort

I gave the Father above my worst
He gave me His best

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Guest post on Not Ashamed of the Gospel

A Happy fourth of July to all my readers out there!!

Independence Day
(Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

Check out my guest post on Not Ashamed of the Gospel. I’m excited to have been able to contribute to this ministry! You can find a feed from Not Ashamed of the Gospel in the middle left hand corner of this blog. I would like to thank Peter Guirguis for publishing my article. You can find Peter on Twitter here.

To read my article on Not Ashamed of the Gospel, please head over to
http://notashamedofthegospel.com/twitter/evangelism-groove/
. (you will not find this article on my site, only on NAOTG)

Happy reading friends, thank you all for your support of my writing, I appreciate it!

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Awards

 

This was originally posted on May 13, 2012.
I wanted to add to this a big thank you to Lyn Leahz over at
http://lynleahz.com/
 for nominating me for the reader appreciation award!
Although I no longer display these awards, I do appreciate the nomination. Thanks Lyn! :)

 

 

I have been thinking about this for some time now. I have decided that I am no longer going to display award images on the home page of BGT.

I am deeply grateful to Drusilla over at
http://drusillamott.wordpress.com/
 and Debbie over at Two Minutes of Grace for nominating me for awards. These will remain in the Awards category but will no longer be displayed. I hope I have not offended anyone in doing this, I just feel that this is the right thing to do for my site. As I said, I have been thinking of doing this for some time now, and have finally done it. Thank you again to Drusilla and Debbie for their support and friendship.

Thank you to all the rest of you who read and comment, or read and don’t comment! I appreciate each and every one of you that come here to Believing God Today. I hope you are blessed by what you find here. :)

Greg

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Of God and men

(Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

Man designed the space shuttle, and it went to the Moon. I have to say that is a rather impressive feat.

God designed the Ark of Noah, and it traversed the earth while the earth was completely flooded…and it held inside two of each of all the animals of earth. That to me is even more impressive.

Many people are impressed with things that man has done or “created”, and rightly so. What mankind has managed to do is truly impressive. A lot of what has been done is way beyond me…how about you? However that being said true creating can only be done by God. Man makes things out of what is available to him on this earth.

Man figured out how to make many different types of metal, boy aren’t we clever. God made all the material we use to make these metals…and He knew we would make them before we did!

Thomas Edison created the light bulb, what a wonderful invention that gave us a readily useable light source. God created the sun in the sky to give us light, impressive huh?

Man designed and built the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, an engineering masterpiece!

(Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

God created the Grand Canyon…what a masterpiece!!


(Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

Man created a machine that uses high-pressure water capable of splitting rock if need be for well drilling. Water has also been used to cut steel…thick steel. God created the oceans and set their boundaries in place…umm wow.

What is the point of this you may be thinking….so glad you asked! Man has done some rather impressive things at least I think so! Has mankind (or womankind) created anything that totally impresses you?

Who created man I ask you? God did obviously. The point is; do not let yourself be overly impressed with what a man has done. Instead be impressed with what the Lord has done. Look all around you; the evidence of the Glory of the Lord is clearly visible to all. Who created the heavens? God did. Who created the earth and everything on and in it? God did.

Give God Almighty His due Glory and praise; worship Him always, each day. Do not worship at the altar of man; man did not make God, God made man.

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Hmmm… Will You Tell?

Reblogged from My Hmmm Collection:

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Drafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, the Declaration of Independence is at once the nation's most cherished symbol of liberty…

In a few days, we Americans will gather across our nation at parades, picnics, and fireworks displays to celebrate our declaration of independence from our mother country, England. While planning for such enjoyable activities, my mind wandered to another symbol of freedom, The Cross.

Read more… 54 more words

Hmmmm...wise words from the Hmmm collection!!