One Year Bible, August 10

EZRA 10:1-44                                                                                                                      
REPENTANCE AND SANCTIFICATION:  By the Law, comes the knowledge of sin (Rom 3:20).  Then it took prayer and fasting, courage and the help of others, and three months of judging to cleanse the country of spiritual adultery.  All the men who took unsaved wives are listed BY NAME in the Bible!  How would you like to have that happen to you?  And notice this: the leaders went first!

RESPONSE:  Leaders first!  That's the way it works with repentance.  The essence of repentance is a re-joining of ourselves with God, and so taking unsaved wives is a particularly noxious sin.  They made gods of their wives when they did that.  If repentance does not include reconnecting with God, then the repentance is not complete.

1 CORINTHIANS 6:1-20                                                                                                     
JUDICIAL COMPETENCY:  Who would dare do violence to the majesty of Christ and the greatness and power of the church, by their moral failures?   Not only do you NOT judge those INSIDE the church, that you SHOULD have judged, but you go OUTSIDE the church to those who are beneath you - ("unjust" - devoid of justice) for judgment that belongs in the church.     If you really need an arbitrator, then choose the dumbest person in the church - he'll still do better than an outsider!

SELFISH INTERESTS:  It is a deep evil to have disputes between the brethren; it is better to be defrauded.  And the "defauder" is even more evil!  Do what you can to secure justice, but before your resort to going to an outsider, let yourself be robbed.   Have we failed to understand that when we are morally deficient and fall back into sin, we un-do the deliverance of Jesus when He brought us out of darkness! ??

"BUT"... "BUT" ... "BUT" ... "Washed, sanctified, justified":  Those vices belong to the past, from which we have been separated.  We have been cleansed and set apart from pollution.  We have been translated and transformed, and that changed everything!

SPIRITUAL MATURITY:  I can do whatever I WANT, as long as it won't hinder my walk with God, and as long as I don't come under the power of it (addictive).   Remember, the definition of SIN (it takes place in my flesh) is "I want to do what I want to do, when I want to do it." So, don't use Paul's statement to STUPIDLY justify evil.  If my behavior causes evil IN me, or TO my neighbor, then it is WRONG.  Don't allow your Christian "liberty" to bring destruction!

TAKE YOUR BODY WITH YOU:  Food is for the belly, and the belly was made for food.  Your body, on the other hand, was made for God and God is for your body.  Your natural appetites will be gone someday, but your capacity for God is eternal - so don't use your body for "fornicating". ("intercourse" with substitutes for God - becoming "one spirit" with unbelievers, or with substitutes for God - your own appetites, for example).  Your body will not perish - it is the "temple of the Holy Ghost." It's not yours to do with as you want!

FIGHT SIN, BUT RUN FROM FORNICATION!!!  This is how adulterers and other sexual perverts are made: by having intercourse with someone else and becoming "one spirit" with them.   Now you are a slave of that sin!   Sexual sin is against your own body, which you take with you everywhere.  It's not like drunkenness, that you can walk away from, for example.  So sexual sin effects your spirit.  Fornication involves degrading physical union that is incompatible with our spiritual union with Jesus Christ.

RESPONSE:   Years ago, I wanted to live in Hawaii. I love the smells, the sounds, the water, the music, the people, the sand, the laid-back feeling.   So, I spent a day begging and wheedling God for permission to live there.   I actually heard Him answer me, "You are a Christian and you can live anywhere you want to! HOWEVER, you will have leanness of soul if you do."  That refers to Psalm 106:14-15 where it says that when the Israelites lusted for QUAIL (meat, as opposed to manna) in the wilderness, God gave in to their whining, but sent "leanness of soul" with it.   There are only two ways to do anything: God's way and the wrong way.  There is no such acceptable way as "your way".  If I want spiritual maturity and richness in my life, I must stay in the center of God's will. Test everything for purity and God's leading.

PSALM 31:9-18                                                                                                                      
REJECTION:  ”Have mercy on me, O Lord, for I am in trouble...." "Trouble" means "besieged or pressured."  The problem this time is REJECTION, including SHAME and ABANDONMENT and REPROACH.  A lot of people claim to suffer from REJECTION, so let's just see what the cure is: When everyone is against me, God is still FOR me.  God never disappoints me because His love is ardent and most tender. God has "goodness” laid up for me - what will empower me to fulfill my purpose and be fulfilling to me. God can hide me in His Presence from slander and lies and preserve me for Himself, and that's REALLY ALL I NEED.  I take courage from being His and from trusting Him completely, and "He will strengthen my heart". (PICTURE an athlete with his knees locked so he can't be thrown down.) Repent of mis-belief, realize you are utterly helpless - and instruct your heart to accept God's love.

PROVERBS 21:3                                                                                                                   
To make religious sacrifices (offerings, tithes, going to church, reading your Bible, praying) and then not live it, is hypocrisy.

RESPONSE:   I really can't control what other people think about me or even say about me. I have suffered from rejection, abandonment, and shame in the past and NEVER AGAIN! I have learned to feed my abysmal, desperate need and hunger to belong from God.  We ALL want to feel included and accepted and "inside".  If we are saved, WE ARE INCLUDED.  We can instruct our hearts to accept that truth. DON'T LIVE BY LIES ANY LONGER! REJECTION IS A LIE! No human being can ever make you feel accepted or included all the time.  How we FEEL is a CHOICE we make, based on information or Truth.  The Truth is that we are "accepted in the Beloved" (Eph 1:6).   As we tell our hearts the truth, that it is SAFE and GOOD to trust God with our hearts, He will strengthen our hearts so we can't be knocked out again!  As soon as a "mad, sad, or bad" thought hits your head, QUICKLY begin instructing your heart of the Truth - God loves me, and I won't allow myself to be separated from that fact. (Rom 8:39)