I fail God continually. Every single day. And if it were not for my faith in the Lord, my faith in the Word, my constant battle — and it is a constant battle, to fight the good fight while in a fleshly body residing in this present world — if it were not for the free gift of grace provided by God, the shed blood and sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Spirit to transform me within as a result of my confession of faith and confession to live for the Lord, my confession to obey and submit — and the resulting forgiveness of my sin by God I would be most certainly destined for the pit of hell.

It is a daily battle in this life. Because while I appear redundant and smug people, those thinking themselves so wise, educated, and moved on from having to have constant reminders because of their imagined superiority — I am not so educated, and I need constant, daily reminders of what God has done and does for me, what the Lord Jesus Christ did and does for me, what the Holy Spirit does for me, and what the Word of God does for me when I turn to it faithfully, obediently cherishing it, studying it, believing it, applying it the best I can in my feeble fumbling manner.

In this raging and escalating by the day spiritual war.

That each of us is in whether we will acknowledge such or not.

Denial of reality does not remove reality.

Delusion, delusion is a belief that, though false, has been surrendered to and accepted by the whole mind as a truth; illusion is an impression that, though false, is entertained provisionally on the recommendation of the senses or the imagination, but awaits full acceptance and may not influence action. Delusion is from Latin deludere “to play false; to mock, deceive,” from de– “down, to one’s detriment.”

It is greatly to one’s detriment to reside in their state of delusion as to what the reality is all around us. And to understand, know this reality the foundation for building a sound, strong structure is the Word of God. Until and unless an individual builds their life upon the foundation of the Word of God they are as the man who built his house upon the sand       Or as a person who hires cheap labor, cuts corners, does not pay careful attention to the building of the structure of their life, or they are just plain lazy and so pliable and manipulated by the wiles and ways of this world they move into government housing. Rather than seeing, hearing, knowing that they can be separate, peculiar, different and build their house upon the Rock. And turn to and base everything in their life on the Word of God. In faith, in belief, in fighting the good fight — and it is a fight.

The Evil One is raging and burning with evil desire to attack, depose, remove if possible, beat down, cause doubt and sorrow and confusion if permitted in believers. He attacks and spends more time attempting to undermine the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ than he does those people in bars, strip clubs, casinos, back alley unlawful deals, sexual depravity, immorality, and more. All those the Evil One already has in chains. In utter darkness as they stumble about deluded they are captains of their own lives, they don’t need God! They don’t need this Jesus! They don’t need that book of myths called the Holy Bible! No, not them!

Satan has them.

He wants to undermine, distract, and take those who are the Lord’s away from their heart being centered on the Lord, centered on the Word, and living thusly.

Do not give the Evil One opportunity.

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

James 4:7 — English Standard Version

Everything we need is in the Bible. It’s all there. Are we?

I was a sinner and here’s something the world doesn’t understand, nor do many who count themselves Christians — and I am still a sinner. The flesh is always at war with the spirit. The difference? I have bowed and submitted to God the Father, God the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Holy Spirit and in faith, confessing my sin, committing to believe and obey, to serve the Lord by the mercy, love, grace, forgiveness, and promise of the Triune God my sin is forgiven. And I am His. No longer this worlds. From out of the darkness into the Light, the Way, the Truth, and the Life!

But I still fail. Daily. I still sin daily.

But I must also pray daily. Study and cherish the Word of God daily. Submit daily. Repent when I am convicted in my heart as the Lord convicts me. And that does not mean to after confessing my sin to God I go about my way and repeat, continue in that sin. It is not remorse. It is not go into a little box and tell a person my sin and have them tell me to throw X amount of hail Mary’s in the air and do this do that — work for it, and don’t forget to drop that check in the box, plate, so on, on your way out.

No, not like that.

Read Mr. Rooney’s fine piece below. It’ll help better than I can.

But do not submit to this world or the whispers, the wiles of the devil.

Be bold and courageous in this spiritual war. Knowing you’re not alone. First and foremost you have Jesus Christ. Make Him your Head. And ask to have a pure and clean heart. For the Lord.

Ask in faith. Believe.

And if blessed with life again on the morrow? Do it all again. Because it isn’t going to ever become easy.

And complacency, being lukewarm or lax, doubting, in despair, beating yourself up after the devil has had you in the ring wailing on your mind for a constant 15 rounds is not the way to walk. It’ll knock you down, perhaps knock you out.

Go to God. Go to Jesus. Allow the Holy Spirit to work in your heart and life.

It’s the only way here. To get there…

And where is that there you truly desire to arrive at my friend, dear one?

Well, there is only One Way — the Lord Jesus Christ. Belief in obedience to.

Period.

Not sure? Well, get those hands on a Bible and your eyes in the words, and allow the Word to work in your heart.

And get back to me. No, better yet, go to God in thanks and praise and honor and tell Him you will take up the mantel, buckle up, stop thinking it’s everything else and you’ll never measure up, it’s just too difficult, and ask God to strengthen you, life you, help you, teach you, show you the way. Believing.

And see what happens.

Knowing we’re all still going to sin. But we live daily to walk closer to being perfected in eternity with the Lord, because of our faith and obedience in the Lord.

And I’ll mess up tomorrow. For crying out loud, I’ll probably mess up 15 minutes from now. But I won’t permit the devil to continue to lie to me, I won’t permit temptation or sin to conquer me.

You needn’t either. Thought you will mess up, sin, just as I will.

But let’s take everything to the Lord in prayer, shall we? And not give the devil room or satisfaction. Let Satan sing that Rolling Stones song in hell for eternity because he could never get no, no he couldn’t get no satisfaction in attempting to undermine and destroy you, or me, or those in Christ.

Ken Pullen

Thursday, February 3rd, 2022

ACP — A Crooked Path

Have You Gone Too Far?

Do our sins cancel out our usefulness to God in the spiritual war?

Wednesday, February 2, 2022

By Dr. Ray Rooney, Jr.

Reprinted from American Family Association

“I’ll never be who God is wanting me to be.”

It’s easy to set standards for ourselves and live up to them. It’s also easy to accept God’s standards and pretend that we are living up to them. What is not easy is accepting God’s standards for holy living while recognizing how often we fall short of fulfilling them.

It’s gut-wrenching to know in your heart how much God has done (and is doing) to ensure your complete success and then see all we do to confound His will.

I’m not one who effortlessly produces excuses for my failures in measuring up to holiness. I know better. My sins are not God’s fault. Nor are they my wife’s fault. Nor are they my kids’ fault or my parents’ fault or my employer’s fault or the liberals’ fault or the world’s fault. They’re mine and only mine.

But I do have some Adam in me. I blame God indirectly (even though I know that He knows it is really a direct accusation). Do you remember Adam’s response when confronted with his sin?  “The woman whom you gave to be with me…” (Genesis 3:12). It is so easy to revert to this when I fail and say, “The standard you have set for me is too incredibly high! I’m certainly not Jesus and I’m not on the level of the apostles or martyrs. I’m not a Martin Luther, a John Wesley, or a Billy Graham. How can you expect me not just to strive for holiness but to “be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48)? I just want to cry out when I sin “Well, what did you expect!?” Then comes the self-abasement as I wonder which ring in Dante’s Inferno I will be assigned to when I die.

And that is when, invariably, I think of King David.

He is one of my favorite characters in the entire Bible. It’s not because I think I am as important to my nation as he was to his. I’ve never slain a giant (proverbial or otherwise), cannot play a musical instrument of any kind, and couldn’t even get a couple of rural churches with flagging attendance to merge into a single healthy congregation, much less unite two kingdoms like David did.

I don’t seem to have much in common with King David at all. Then why look up to him and endeavor to be like him?

To begin with, when Samuel told Saul that his unlawful sacrifice would cost him the kingdom he followed it up with,

But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people…(1Samuel 13:14).

That “man” turned out to be David who had not done anything notable at that point. Yet God saw in him “a man after his own heart.” Obviously, God saw greatness in David. To the point that His own Son would often be referred to as “son of David” (18 times in the New Testament). But God’s omniscience also saw all of David’s foibles and faults. Those include lust, immorality, adultery, conspiracy, and murder. How could that kind of man be said to have a heart that impressed God?

Probably because when confronted with his sin(s) rather than deny them or excuse them or attempt to justify them (as his predecessor King Saul did) David responded to his accuser Nathan the prophet,

I have sinned against the LORD (2 Samuel 12:13).

Kings are not supposed to be harassed about their behavior. Kings are supposed to get what they want when they want, and from whom they want…without question or hesitation. Yet this king didn’t seem to pause for a second in acknowledging his sin(s). He didn’t blame Bathsheba, her husband Uriah, or his general Joab. He unhesitatingly took full responsibility for what he had done and to whom it was done.

Maybe that is what it means to have a heart after God.

Scholars tell us that Psalm 51 was written by David shortly after his encounter with Nathan and subsequent confession. I urge you to read it in its entirety (it is only 19 verses). Look at his confession:

For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me (v.3)…

[I have] done what is evil in your sight (v.4)

Where has this gone in the body of Christ? I have counseled many people over my 36 years in the ministry who were guilty of some of the things David was. I cannot remember a single time when the guilty took full responsibility for their sin(s). “My husband wasn’t paying enough attention to me.” “My wife was always tired and moody.” “I figured God was okay with it since we first met in church and my spouse was living for the devil anyway. At least now I’ve got someone who goes to church.”

I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me.

Look in the psalm at how David acknowledges being tainted and stained by his willful sin:

[B]lot out my transgressions (v.1).

Wash me…and cleanse me from my sin! (v.2)

Purge me…wash me (v.7).

Finally, look at what he craves from God. It’s not understanding or even acceptance. Quite frankly, it’s gut-wrenching:

Have mercy on me, O God (v.1).

Hide your face from my sins (v.9).

Create in me a clean heart (v. 10).

Cast me not away from your presence (v.11).

Restore to me the joy of your salvation (v. 12).

Deliver me from bloodguiltiness (v.14).

Here was a man who spoke to God as he knew God saw him.

This is why I love reading about David. He didn’t use his achievements as a buffer between himself and God. Nor did he allow himself to be deluded by all the people who lauded and praised him (“Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands” 1 Samuel 18:7). When that prophet stuck his finger in David’s face saying, “Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight?” (2 Samuel 12:9), David didn’t run from it, excuse it, or politicize it. He simply agreed: “I have sinned against the LORD.”

David gives me hope. If someone of his status and proverbial stature could own his sins and after confessing and repenting could keep moving on…then maybe I can. Maybe you can. Maybe we all can.

I’m not a king, or a giant slayer, or a great uniter. I’m just me. But “just me” already has vastly more than David could even dream of. I have the finished work of Jesus Christ on my behalf. I have access to Pentecost. I have the testimony of the apostles in the New Testament. I have the living and ongoing witness of century after century of Christian martyrs and theologians and saints who refused to let Satan claim this world and its people as his own.

If David, with all his foibles and faults, could keep chugging along with God by virtue of his brutally honest introspection and confession(s) then I can too. If a king can be honest about his sins then so can a peasant. Me.

We seem to be losing the culture war and there is no good reason for it. Men and women are bowing out in droves because they failed. They failed themselves. They failed God. Maybe they failed their spouses and/or their children. Rather than admitting their sins and crying out to God for a clean heart and a renewed spirit and moving forward like David, they quit. And Satan cheers and the world grows darker.

Stop looking out the window at the consequence of your sins and start looking inside so that God can clean this mess up. Confess your sins. Appeal to God’s mercy and ask Him to cleanse you (Psalm 51: 2; 7; 14 & 1John 1:9). And then get back in the fight. That’s what it means to be a man (or woman) after God’s own heart!