July 3, 2009 Thoughts …

I’ve spent the majority of the last week praying for several friends who are going through some nonsense and felt the need to get a few things off my chest.

For one, I am tired of hearing about people lying about, and to, friends of mine to make their own self feel or look better to people around them OR to get themselves out of trouble. Look folks, if you ran your mouth and got caught then just fess up, confess it, and then the healing can begin.

This is what James was getting at when he CLEARLY told us, “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). To continue to conceal sin, to continue to act as if you are not doing something wrong is to sin on top of sin and God just isn’t having it. Your life, even your prayer life, is a farce if you are holding malice in your heart and acting like you are all holy. I shared some words with a friend of mine that I am going to re-share here because it just seems appropriate for this issue too:

(START) Paul discusses our own sinful desire very clearly in Romans 7:15-20: (summarized) he says he does what he should not do BECAUSE of his own flesh-led desires, NOT because the devil is making him do it. In all truthfulness, it is actually our own sinful desire and nature taking control and trying to affect those close to us to “get on our side” and agree with us in our sin.

Salvation is NOT your “admission ticket” to acting holy. It is the beginning of a relationship that most believers (this includes even those we think are mature (and sadly still even within our own inner circles)) are still too busy sucking on the bottle to see that there is more than our own selfish desires and needs to be sought after in this life. It’s a tough call to make, but calling sin for what it is leads to revelation which brings repentance that leads to the Joy of the Lord. Jesus didn’t pull any punches even within his own inner circle (see Matthew 12:48 and Matthew 16:23), and we cannot either. (END)

Bottom line: Quit playing games with God …… He is not impressed.

Second, I have several friends who are really hurting right now (physically, mentally, and spiritually) and my heart is simply aching for them. I am not going to go into a list of names cause you know me I might just forget to name someone (but not intentionally), but considering that I know some are faithful to pray would you simply just pray for my friends? The Lord knows the need and He knows where it strength is needed, so please just think about them.

Well, that’s about it – just wanted to air out a few things. Have a good day.