How can we live the Christian life with so much evil, pain, sorrow, temptations, and desires which surround us and fill us each day?  We see tragedies occurring as we watch the news. We struggle with ever increasing costs with less to pay it with. Our time is pressed so that the demands of our day seem overwhelming.  We are bombarded by constant inflow of information from TV, Internet, phones, people, email, and text messages.  How do we stand fast in our faith and our liberty in Christ without succumbing to our flesh?  How do we avoid being drawn into the crowd?  How do we avoid being swept under by sorrow, depression, and a sense of doom?  How do we win against our own sin filled nature without getting caught up in self pride and legalism like the Pharisees? 

Galatians 5: 5 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage…¹³ For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another…¹⁶ This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.

¹⁷ For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.¹⁸ But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law….

²⁴ And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

²⁵ If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

The following story may help you understand the importance of filling your life with those things that feed the Holy Spirit.

This story seems to have begun in 1978 when a early form of it was written by the Evangelical Christian Minister Billy Graham in his book, “The Holy Spirit: Activating God’s Power in Your Life.”  This version of the story can be found in Chapter 7: The Christian’s Inner Struggle on Page 92 and it is as follows:

“AN ESKIMO FISHERMAN came to town every Saturday afternoon. He always brought his two dogs with him. One was white and the other was black. He had taught them to fight on command. Every Saturday afternoon in the town square the people would gather and these two dogs would fight and the fisherman would take bets. On one Saturday the black dog would win; another Saturday, the white dog would win – but the fisherman always won! His friends began to ask him how he did it. He said, “I starve one and feed the other. The one I feed always wins because he is stronger.”

Billy Graham continues by explaining the story.  I will now provide a few excerpts to show the connection between this story and the later versions as well of how it’s grounded in Christianity.  “This story about the two dogs is apt because it tells us something about the inner warfare that comes into the life of a person who is born again. We have two natures within us, both struggling for mastery. Which one will dominate us? It depends on which one we feed.”

So, I encourage you to study on the word of God morning and evening.  Probably that means the TV needs to be turned off a little sooner.  Listen to Christian music and sermons when in the car.  You can place Christian ringtones on your phone and text messages as little reminders through the day.  Whenever you feel the world pressing in around you, pray.  The world is every day becoming more complex and I urge you to live in the Spirit by starving the flesh and feeding the Spirit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9O_OyOECm4

The Pharisees were a very strong political, religious sect of the Jews who were very strict in following the old testament law and a few that they had added along the way by keeping "the traditions of the fathers."  They were the extreme legalists of their day and were somewhat like a political party among the Jewish people.  The Scribes, some of which were Pharisees as well, were the "lawyers" of the day and were well versed in the law.  The Scribes could draft all the legal documents of the day.  From the beginning of Christ’s ministry on earth, He often directly confronted the Pharisees and the scribes for their self righteousness and for the fact that they added to the law many of their own "taboos" and traditions as though they were the law from God.  They thought that they were following God; but they were standing upon their own pride and strength to do so.  They were not even able to see their Messiah when He came to Earth.  Let’s look at Matthew 5.

Matthew 5: ¹⁶ Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

¹⁷ Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

¹⁸ For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

¹⁹ Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

²⁰ For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Christ had come to fulfill the law.  He was the only one who could truly live righteously as the righteous, Holy Son of God.  He was the only unblemished lamb who could pay the penalty of man’s sin once and for ever; so that any who believed in Him as their Savior could become justified before God and to be clothed with the Righteousness of Christ.  Every jot and tittle of the law including the atoning sacrifice would have to be fulfilled.  The righteousness that Christ is calling us to is one that comes from the central core of a broken and contrite heart that is seeking God, savoring Him, and is willing to die to self to follow Him.  The Pharisees stood on their own outward righteousness; but their hearts remained so dark to the light of God that they did not recognize Christ as their Savior. 

So where are you?  Are you trying to fulfill the letter of the law with your own might and power?  Do you believe yourself to be a good person?  Or have you stood before a Gloriously Righteous God whom you see as so Magnificent that you realize your utter unworthiness to stand before Him and your desperate need for a righteousness greater than your own that can only come from a Savior?  Have you ever fallen prostrate to the floor crying unto God "Lord, I have nothing within this covetous, self exalting heart to bring before you; except to cling to the truth that Christ died for me.  Let the light of your righteousness shine into my heart to dispel as the darkness.  My greatest desire is to seek, savoir and to follow after Christ with all my heart, my flesh and my soul.  Lord, lead me where ever You will that I might reflect your light and your righteousness to a world that has been darkened by sin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EszGLC5r4bU

Several years ago, I heard the soft, gentle voice of God calling me to become a speaker for Him.  My replies were much like Moses.  I reminded Him of all my inadequacies and that I did best speaking as I was currently one person at a time.  Then, as though part of the training process, I began to teach and speak in a jail ministry.  It was there that I realized that God would provide the words when I needed them.  I also was asked to speak at some conferences for a small church.  I finished writing the three books God had asked me to write and I began the discipline of writing these devotionals for you.  During that time, there was a lot of chaff that needed sifting and a lot of Bible study to do; but God always remained patient and gently guiding each step.  As always, He sent the right teachers each step of the way.  Now, He is drawing me to step out further to be the speaker He is calling me to be; the one He has spent my whole lifetime preparing.  I recently went to the SCORRE conference and realized this is the direction He is drawing me toward and that His Grace will provide the words needed as I "boldly before His throne of Grace, find mercy and the grace to help in time of need"  I realize that it is His Grace that under girds me when I speak and I must ask for that grace each and every time.  Without His coming down to uphold me, then nothing I say can be of any importance or consequence.  Sometimes as I move forward, I look ahead and see such obstacles like Giants in my pathway.  As I keep asking for reconfirmation that this is what God desires for my life, I am amazed at His patience in step by step guiding me along this path.  The Israelite nation was about to cross the Jordan to go in and take the land that God had promised them through Abraham and this was the admonition of Moses, as well as the warning to follow once God had given the land to them.

Deuteronomy  9 (NIVUK) Hear, Israel: you are now about to cross the Jordan to go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you, with large cities that have walls up to the sky. ² The people are strong and tall – Anakites! You know about them and have heard it said: ‘Who can stand up against the Anakites?’ ³ But be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the Lord has promised you.

⁴ After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, ‘The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.’ No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you. ⁵ It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the Lord your God will drive them out before you, to accomplish what he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ⁶ Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.

So when God has called you to bid His Will and step into whatever promised territory He has planned for you, keep your eyes on Him and kept stepping forward.  If when you are looking ahead, you see what appears to be insurmountable Giants standing in front of you; remember this God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire to destroy all those giant obstacles one by one.  Then, there is one more very important principle which I must never forget, nor you when you reach that area of promise.  That principle is that it is not because of my righteousness, nor my deserving anything—it has been grace each step of the way.  It is not about me.  If ever, I forget that; then I pray God rip everything from me before I can cause harm to His ministry in any way. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOkImV2cJDg

 

New International Version – UK (NIVUK)

Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.®Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide

Frequently, I have said that we need to cling to the covenant promises of God as our anchor when sorrows, doubts, or trials come our way.  I must confess that there are those moments when doubts and fears try to bombard my mind; but, it is those same moments that I must run to the scripture and read once more the promises of God.  Here in Jeremiah He has promised not to turn away from me, from doing me good.  He has taken the responsibility for my security in faith as well as He proclaims that He will place in my heart the reverence and awe toward Him so that I will not depart.  He will rejoice over me to do good. Amazing thought, God rejoicing over me.

Jeremiah 32: 39 I will give them one heart, and one way, that they may fear me for ever, for the good of them, and of their children after them: ⁴⁰ And I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me. ⁴¹ Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul.

Much like the covenant promise in Zephaniah 3: ¹⁷ The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing.

So rejoice.  Ahhh, I hear some of you murmuring there that all those covenant promises were to the offspring of Abraham.  Well, then again I say rejoice.  Have you not heard?  All who believe in Jesus Christ through faith are the children of Abraham.  Paul makes this argument throughout chapter 3 of Galatians and also chapter 4 of Romans.  I urge you to carefully read both of those chapters.

Galatians 3: ⁶ Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.

⁷ Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.

⁸ And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

⁹ So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

Now that we have gotten that doubt out of the way.  Let’s go back and claim the truth that God is rejoicing over me with joy, resting in the magnitude of His love; He is pouring out His Joy with singing over me.  Like a mother cradles her small child in her arms and singing a sweet, sweet song.  That is the very way God is singing over me with His comforting song of love and His perfect plans for my good.  Only He in His omniscient, omnipotent power knows what is the very best for me.  He who knows that my hope, my joy, and my peace are secured in my relationship to Him.  I can trust Him even when I don’t see or understand the plan.

Listen closely to the words of this song.  The chorus goes like this:

Oh, there is freedom in surrender, oh I know it
your songs have never stopped
You’ve been singing, always singing over me
Your words are still enough
And You’re singing
Give me faith
Give me strength enough to wait
To stand in faith
And listen for, listen for Your melody

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mb9XGwpZEXQ

There are two major keys that we need in order to help us avoid the pitfalls of pride which are remembering and forgetting our own frailties.  How do I remember and forget at the same time?  It is a matter of focus in the way that we remember and forget.   Whenever God blesses someone with great revelations or understanding, there is a tendency with human nature to begin to think too greatly of ourselves as though the hours of study, the applause of others, the hours of prayer spent, the trials overcome, the temptations we have overcome, and the resulting success had been somehow our own doing.  After all it is "my obedience which lead to my success and this position I now hold with God."  Or did it have anything to do with me?  Can I look at someone else’s Christian walk with criticism, comparing myself to them with some sense of pride?    Was that not what the Apostle warned against in I Corinthians 10, "¹² Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall."

Key #1 Remembering 

I need to remember that "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." (Romans 7:18).  This is when remembering all the times I have failed God truly stands as proof of my utter unworthiness before a Righteous God.  Were I to list for you my life’s horrendous failures as a Christian, I would be here all day; and I would give you reason for pride.  That would not be of any benefit to you. As I remember my own unworthiness; again, as Paul I must say "^{14 …}God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." (Galatians 6) 

Therefore, I must remember the Glory and Righteousness of God which ever increasingly He reveals to me.  The more I know of Him, the more I realize the depth of darkness that lies within my own heart.  That in turn causes me to seek to know Him more because of His Mercy and Grace to this undeserving child.  It is only in that Grace that I might stand or perform anything good.  Not my own acts; but His Glory which reflects back to Him magnified as though reflected in a mirror.  This is not my own light; but reflects outward God’s Glory when and only when I empty myself of me.  This mirror is in constant need of polishing to keep the smudges from obscuring God’s reflection. 

When we remember our own frailty and our own past failures, Satan begins to whisper in our ears "You are such a failure, God can’t use you."  Then we risk becoming paralyzed, focus on our own inadequacies, and once more focus our eyes on ourselves. That is a sense of pride that perhaps my sins are bigger than Christ’s blood to cover them.  Suddenly, I see myself’s inabilities as bigger than God’s abilities.  It is then that we must apply forgetting.

Key #2 Forgetting

God has promised that "¹² For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."  If I truly believe this, then though I may remember it was grace that saved me and grace that sustains me because I have nothing of my own that I can lay before the cross of which I can be proud; yet, His Grace bids me to stand in that Grace. It is upon His Grace I can stand, not my own works.  That reality bids me to forget the past and press forward.  "¹² Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

¹³ Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before,

¹⁴ I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3)

So, to avoid the pitfalls of pride we must remember where we came from.  Never can we cover up our own frailties and our own failures.  That way we can always remember that  "¹⁷ Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights," (James 1)    It has never been because of my own deserving of that gift or my hard work paying off.  Then, I must not remain trapped there in my past; I must forget the power of my past sins and take on the righteousness of God to press forward.  As Hebrews 12 reminds us. "let us lay aside every weight (our guilt included), and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,² Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith"The more I exercise the keys of Remembering and Forgetting, the more I realize the depth of love that God has for me and the Joy He desires to share with me.  He becomes then my greatest treasure which I am drawn by His Love and Grace to seek Him with all my heart, my body, and my soul.  Only then can I drive stakes into this covetous, self exalting heart and stand by Grace Alone.  Romans 5:

"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

² By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God."

WHEN I CAME TO THE END OF ME

So many times I strayed  from you

And wondered what was I  to do

I tried so hard to do your will

I could not see I should stand still

What could I do to bring you a gift

The harder I tried, the more I’d drift

I reached that point, reality

I broke your heart, still you loved me

CHORUS:  When I didn’t have the strength

You were so strong

When my heart was filled with tears

You were my song

You are the love,

you are the peace,

you are the joy that flows in me

When I didn’t have a hope

At the end of my life’s rope

And I couldn’t find my way

Your Grace saved this wandering stray

And now I know a different me

It is your love that set me free

That in this world I might now see

All that you are, your majesty

When I came to the end of me

My love for you, Your love for me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK_dwXcK86E