Decisions

After much thought I've decided to post God's message here on my blog. I thought about speaking at the BCM, but I feel that God's leading me to share it with everyone. From now on, any word I get from God I shall post it here on this blog. Feedback is always welcome; good, bad, or indifferent.

1 Corinthians 10:13
"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

When we are tempted by Satan, God doesn't allow him to tempt us with anything we can not overcome. We aren't tempted with anything new, just the same old stuff man has always been tempted with. And when He allows Satan to tempt us He always provides a way out. We just have to look for it.

When we sin it's because we, ourselves, choose to do the wrong thing. How foolish we as humans are to fall into Satan's old traps. Why do we so blatantly choose to sin?
If only (myself totally included) we woulds remember that God doesn't allow us to be tempted beyond what we can bear, I feel we could over come a lot more than we do. We will never be perfect that's just a fact, but we could say no to temptations a lot more if we would put to memory 1 Corinthians 10:13.

When we sin it's not God's, Satan's, or our friends' fault; it's our own fault. We choose to sin. The fault is not God's. He's warned us numerous times that Satan will tempt us. He's already judged the temptation, before we get it, to be weak enough that we can overcome it. And to top it off He provides us with a way out. What more do we want? Do we want Him to try out being tempted with some of the things we are tempted with? Ok, He already did that, and He overcame every thing Satan threw at Him. God says in Hebrews 4:15 that He's given us a teacher that has experienced every temptation we will be tempted with. That teacher was Jesus, God in human form.

The world God created was so messed up it took Him coming down to earth in human form to fix it. He choose to take on a human form, be tempted, and die to save us all. that is what I call LOVE, that perfect Agape love. If you are ever tempted to doubt God's love for you, remember that.

So it's not God's fault. What about Satan's fault? He's the one that tempts us. Does Satan make us sin, OR does he just present us the opportunity to sin. Satan can't make us do anything, we have to choose to do things. Demonic possession is the only time, that I know of, where we don't always get to choose what we do, but I'm going to go into that.

Did you know that Satan has to ask to mess with us? As children of God (that's believers in Christ), Satan must go before God and ask if he can tempt us or do anything to us. In Job we find an example of God allowing Satan to "mess" with a child of God.

Satan is called the Accuser in Job 1:6, because that's what he does. He goes around looking to find believers to accuse of things. He's always looking to deceive people according to 1 Peter 5:8, "Be careful! Watch out for attacks from the Devil, your great enemy. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for some victim to devour."

All that Satan has is lies and deception. At the same time he's been using lies and deception since Genesis 3:1-6 when he tempted Eve with the forbidden fruit. He's good at what he does. Knowing that, we should always be on our guard for his attacks. Lies, when you think about them for a bit, normally, can be seen through. Deception on the other hand is often times harder to spot. 1 Peter 5:9 tells us to stand fast against Satan and to remember that other brothers and sisters in Christ are going through the same thing. (No new temptations, same ole same ole. Satan doesn't come up with new temptations just for you, no one is that special. And Satan's not just picking on you, he's tempting everyone.)

All that to say Satan's not to blame when we fall into sin. He only gives us the temptation, and even THAT he only does so after God says ok to how and when he's going to tempt us. God's not surprised by how and when Satan tempts us, because He's already okaied it. And He provides you a way out the moment it happens. Often times while you're being tempted.

If it's not God or Satan's fault who's left? Our friends? I know they're always on my list of who made me do something. But really, do your friends have more power than God or Satan? OR do they just have more pull with us than God or Satan? Here's another question for you to think about: Do you think that your friend would really push you to sin? If Satan's already tempted them into doing something, you don't think he'd use them to convince you (or deceive you) that it's a good idea? Why would he not do that, it's been an effective method since way back in the garden of Eden. Genesis 3:6, "and she gave to her husband, and he did eat." So tell me that Satan won't use your friends and I'll tell you that's a lie straight from Satan himself. But the catch is your friends don't have the power to make you do something, even with a gun. Persuasive as they might be, ultimately you have to choose. You just got to love free will.
When we sin we have no one to blame but ourselves. We choose to do right or wrong, and that's all temptation is; an opportunity to either follow God's path or go off on our own.

I want to encourage you to always be on your guard and to help each other. Hebrews 3:13-14, "You must warn each other everyday, as long as it is called "today," so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ."

You don't show love to your brother or sister in Christ when you sit by silently and let them fall into sin. Approach them in love and don't fear their reaction. If they get upset, God will ease their pain of being corrected. Knowing that, if someone is trying to tell you you're falling don't get mad and not listen, take what they say to heart and seek God's council on the matter. Some times it takes other people to show us where we've fallen short.

I leave you with this verse of encouragement to seek God at all times. Hebrews 4:16,
"So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it."

in His joy,
Stella

Hmmm.

Well, it was fun while it lasted. Hopefully one day I'll stop rushing things. Time tends to just slip away faster and faster the older you get. So what do I do, I try to rush things, instead of being patient. One day love will find me at the right time. I'm tired of it always finding me at the wrong times. I always fall to hard to fast and wind up being hurt. Not because of the other person, but because I don't know how not to instantly fall in love with someone. Is that an age thing or just a me thing? Whatever it is, I've got to learn to stop doing it.

I've never been able to do the whole casual dating thing. I think if you're going to date someone it should be because you see a future with them, and not just because you're lonely. And when you really think about it, if you see a future with a person, why on earth would you date other people at the same time. In my mind that method of dating just doesn't compute. Yes, it can be scary going into a relationship knowing that you're in this for the long haul, but at the same time there's freedom in it if you both start out with that in mind. There's no fear in being open with each other in that type of relationship. If you both know going in, there's no fear of showing each other how you really feel about one another.

That may make me a crazy person, but I hope there's at least one person out there that feels the same way. Otherwise, it'll just be me and God for the rest of my days on earth, and oddly enough I'm ok with that.

ABBA - 1979 Does Your Mother Know

I love this song!