GOD MAY RELENT
"Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish."
Jonah 3:9

Growing up as a kid on Stetson Avenue, our backyard had an apricot tree. There was one year when the tree produced so much fruit that one of the branches snapped. I remember how we all heard it, as well as our neighbor, and all went out spending a great deal of time collecting the fruit to share with neighbors, friends, and people at church. I also have another vivid memory related to that tree. That was the summer of the 'great apricot war'. I do not remember completely how the battle started, but I remember the ending. The toss of one rotten apricot, probably by me, caused retaliation. Before long every rotten, smashed, slimy apricot found on the ground, as well as a few hard fresh ones still on the tree, became ammunition. From head to toe my older brother and I were covered in apricot guts. I cannot help but laugh still as I remember how we looked when we were called in for dinner that night. After being commanded to get out of our goopy clothes, dad pulled us aside and told us that if we ever threw another apricot, we would be in trouble.
Leave it to me to put dad to the test. A few days after the initial battle, while my friend was over, I instigated another battle. This time my mom watched the entire event happen, reporting every detail to my dad. As I waited in fear of the punishment, I tried to think of what was about to come. Would it be a grounding? a time out? a spanking? Dad had never said what it would be, only that it would be something. If ever a time for prayer and fasting was had, this was it. I prayed that dad would go easy on me, relent, and forgive my disobedience. And then the door opened to dad's room where I was called in. Without going into detail, I will admit I had a more painful time sitting at the dinner table that night. I had learned my lesson, though. In fact, to this day I hate apricots. Maybe it was because we had so many yearly on the tree, eating them for every possible dessert. But I venture to say my hatred toward them has more to do with the association of apricots and a painful backside.
While I think back to how I spent that night learning my lesson the hard way, hoping my dad would relent, I recall a story where God Himself did relent. It was in consideration of a city named Nineveh. Because of their great wickedness, God had determined an exact time in which He would destroy the city. However, before He did so He gave warning. God asked Jonah to go and proclaim that God's destruction was coming. After Jonah ran from God, spent a few nights inside a fish and was vomited out, and then finally obeyed, the proclamation was made. As the people heard this warning, however, they began to believe the words. In fact, the city declared a fast. Once the king caught a hold of this warning, he too declared a fast. The king went even so far as to declare a fast not only of the people, but also of the animals (Jon 3:7). He reasoned, "Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish." Talk about a serious change of direction for Nineveh.
As God watched the change in the hearts of the city, He did relent. Jonah 3:10 goes on to say that, "When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, He had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction He had threatened." I don't know about you, but I read that and find myself stirred with hope. God knows the many stupid things I have done, and the sins I have committed both on accident and on purpose. Yet in reading this story I am encouraged to consider that maybe God is saying the same thing to me. Perhaps God is warning me to get right so as to avoid destruction. It would only seem to make sense. From the beginning in Genesis God has only wanted for us to obey His decrees, follow His ways, and serve Him only. Is that any different than what He desired from Nineveh? Is it any different from what He desires from us now? So then maybe instead of being hard headed and walking around with cotton balls in my ears, I should listen and obey. Maybe it is time for a fast, a change, and a requesting of God to forgive me as I recommit the path I am on. There is hope for us all that God will relent, but we first must admit our errors and change our ways as Nineveh did.

BURN IT
“So Elisha left [Elijah] and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.”
I Kings 19:21

It is said that in the spring of the year 1519, a Spanish fleet of 11 ships and roughly 500 men sailed the seas. News had reached the governor of Cuba that land had been spotted just past the oceanic horizon, and Spain desired to expand. The governor appointed Hernan Cortes to lead this mission. Although not fully qualified, Cortes was full of zeal and courage. So with his limited army, Cortes took on and destroyed the Aztec Empire of more than five million men. Never before had an army so small conquered a force so massive.
Cortes explored the coastline of the Yucatan Peninsula before choosing to land at Tabasco. There he had no trouble enlisting the natives as part of his army. It was also there that he learned of the great wealth of the Aztec Empire. Establishing his troops northward at Vera Cruz, his men trained for battle as he planned their attack. He was giving the men purpose, a piece of the action, and a prize if they won. Many of the men he had first traveled with were part of the second stage of Spanish settlers in Cuba, and by this time the property in Cuba was sparse. He had made no declaration of this mission being a second thought, therefore they knew the dedication related to this mission. But as the troops began to fear their outcome and desired to go home, Cortes made one simple command that would change their passion for the fight. “Burn the ships.”
Cortes left no way of retreat for his army. The only option they had for leaving the vanguard was either by death or in the boats of the Aztecs. As the men overcame their fear, strength welled up inside them and urged them to continue the fight till finally they overcame the Empire. Cortes and his men continued to defeat several other native tribes, forming alliances with previous enemies and enlisting support. However, despite all the training, preparation, battle plans, and ideas, the rampage on the Aztec Empire would be another failed attempt if he had not removed the ability for retreat. It was as I was reading the call of Elisha that I found the same tenacity, and same example, that we too may be able to gain from.
Following the still small voice of the LORD that Elijah heard, God gave Elijah three tasks. The prophet was to anoint Hazael king over Aram, anoint Jehu king over Israel, and anoint Elisha as his successor (I Kings 19:15-16). Each of these tasks was carried out in obedience to the LORD. Yet we read in the Bible a little more detail concerning the calling of Elisha. While plowing the field with twelve yoke of oxen, Elijah came up behind Elisha and threw his cloak around him. Elisha left the oxen and requested that he be able to bid farewell to his family. The request was granted, but Elisha did more than say his goodbyes. We read that Elisha also slaughtered his oxen and burned the plowing equipment (I Kings 19:21). Have you ever wondered why?
May I suggest that like Cortes, Elisha was also getting rid of his backup plan; getting out of retreat mode? Being a prophet in those days was not a lifestyle many wanted. One wrong prophecy and people would have your head. Hebrews 11:37 records that some were stoned, sawed in half, and put to death by the sword. It was not a carrier for the faint of heart. Yet Elisha closed the door on retreat, burning his yoke and killing his oxen. If he did decide to come back after a hard day’s work, he would have nothing to come back to.
Reading this story last night caused me to question my devotion to the calling God has given me. I once heard it said that God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called. As Christians we are going to have hard days in our calling. For that matter, as humans we have hard days. But have we kept our retreat plan? For years my retreat plan was pornography. It is not any longer. No, I decided long ago to burn the yoke and slaughter the oxen of that addiction. What yoke do you need to burn, and oxen do you need to kill? Once the retreat option is gone it is amazing how well we will fight.

RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME
“So [Elijah] did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there.”
I Kings 17:5

Have you ever found yourself in the right place and at the right time? Maybe you were standing in line one day and became the lucky one hundredth customer, therefore receiving the prize of a year’s supply of free product. Perhaps you were fortunate enough to be the lucky recipient of a parking spot near the front on a day when the parking lot was overly full and you were sure you would have to walk from the back. Or maybe you just so happened to be walking and found a $10 bill on the floor. Whatever it was, and wherever you were, at that exact moment you just so happened to be in the right place at the right time. For many who experience this, it could just be luck. Yet for others it may come as a result of listening to God’s voice and being obedient, no matter how crazy it may sound.
When the army of Israel marched on Jericho under Joshua’s command, the order to march once for six days, quietly, may have seemed a little bazaar. Yet they just so happened to be in the right place at the right time on day seven, following God’s orders, when they received the victory over the city. And the same is true of Gideon. Taking an army of only three hundred, and being told to stand still, they obeyed God and also received His blessing for being in the right place at the right time. In both these instances, and so many more found in the Bible, obedience to God paid off. This should serve as a reminder to us to obey God.
Even though I understand the concept of obeying God and the pay off for doing so, I was once again enlightened last night as my children and I read our nightly devotional. We read the account of Elijah as he was fed by the ravens in I Kings 17:1-9. The account starts out with Elijah going before King Ahab and declaring that God was going to shut off the skies, allowing no rain or dew to be found for the next few years. From here, God told Elijah to go to the Kerith Ravine. In obedience, Elijah went. The ravine served to quench Elijah’s thirst, but what about his hunger? God had this taken care of also as He provided ravens to come twice daily with bread and meat for the prophet. When the ravine dried up due to the lack of rain as prophesied, God spoke to Elijah again and commanded him to go to Zarephath.
In reading this account, the obvious details are remembered as I think back to the display of this story on the flannel board in Sunday School. But God showed me something deeper last night. How many times do we move out and expect God to bless our move as opposed to waiting on Him to tell us where to move? We read in I Kings 17:5 that Elijah did what the LORD had told him. Elijah went to the Kerith Ravine. He didn’t go to another city and expect God to still take care of him but rather went to the exact place God told him to go. This begs the question of whether or not God would have still taken care of him had he gone to another ravine, another city, or another hiding place apart from God’s direction. The blessing of food and water that God told Elijah about was waiting for him at this exact spot. It wasn’t at another place.
So bluntly, let me ask you. Are you where God has told you to be? Are you at His commanded Kerith Ravine, or are you at another ravine still waiting for this promise to come to pass? The blessing comes when we are in the right place at the right time. So are you? And deeper still, are you obeying His voice regardless of how crazy His request may sound? I am asking myself these same questions more and more recently, and maybe for good reason. I too have heard God’s voice in the past and refused to obey, yet sit around wondering why I am not seeing His hand of blessing. Is it really any wonder why, now? Deuteronomy 11:26-28 tells us that God places before us the decision of life and death. Life comes in obedience to His ways while death comes as a result of our disobedience. Which one we choose is in our hands. Which then will we choose?

EVERYWHERE I GO
“Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I climb up to heaven, you are there; if I lie down in Sh’ol, you are there. If I fly away with the wings of the dawn and land beyond the sea, even there your hand would lead me, your right hand would hold me fast.”
Psalm 139:7-10 CJB

It was my freshman year in college when I heard the best definition of integrity I have ever come to know. Sitting on the tile floor during hall meeting, my chaplain called out that integrity is who we are when no one is looking. Eighteen years have passed since I first heard those words, and yet they still play over and over in my mind. All the little things I think I hide, whether they be from my kids or from others, someone still knows about. Every little thought, every little action, every little place I go when I am alone is not hidden from God no matter how well I try to hide it from others.
When I would drive from Oklahoma to California during college I would always pass an XXX club outside of Amarillo, Texas. I would be telling a lie if I said that the thought had never crossed my mind to go inside during those travels. After all, who would have known? Many times I was traveling alone, and reason played games in my mind that it would just be ‘our little secret.’ But I never stopped. Maybe it was because of the words my chaplain had spoken. Yet just last week I drove past this club once more. With only myself in the car at 3am, and the red XXX beckoning passersby, I continued on. Was it again the words of my chaplain that played in my mind? Was it my maturity in Christ after eighteen years? Or was it because I knew that even if no one else knew, God would know? Honestly, I think it was a little of all three.
As I was studying once again the Torah portion for this week, titled Re’eh, my eyes landed on Deuteronomy 12:28, which reads, “Obey and pay attention to everything I am ordering you to do, so that things will go well with you and with your descendants after you forever, as you do what Adonai sees as good and right” (CJB). It seems only obvious that the Lord would not see visiting a strip club as good and right. But isn’t it just as obvious to understand that the Lord would not see living a lie as good and right also? Who we are when the door is closed needs to match who we are when the door is open. But does it?
My mind journeys back to the movie, The Truman Show, where Jim Carrey’s character’s life is secretly being filmed for all the world to see. Unbeknownst to him, every action he performs is public. Every tear cried, every woman loved, and every aspect of his morning preparation is watched by the world. This idea scares me, but why? Could it be that I have a secret life that I am still trying to hide? While my life may never be displayed on a jumbo-tron in Times Square, it is seen constantly by God. There is no such thing as privacy in God’s presence. Perhaps this is why David wrote the lyrics of Psalm 139:7-10. “Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I climb up to heaven, you are there; if I lie down in Sh’ol, you are there. If I fly away with the wings of the dawn and land beyond the sea, even there your hand would lead me, your right hand would hold me fast” (CJB). David knew that there was nowhere to hide from the eyes of Adonai.
In our challenge to do what is good and right in the eyes of God, we must remember that He watches all that we do. God watched as I drove past the XXX club both years ago and just recently, but He has also watched as I have told lie after lie to friends and family, as I have cheated, as I have flipped channels late at night, and as I spoken words I should never have said. Even if you haven’t seen it, God has seen it all. And God has seen all that you also have done. The awesome part is that He offers forgiveness to us for these actions if we ask Him. There is nowhere we can go to escape His view, but there is also nowhere safer than in His arms. With this, I urge you to run into His arms, confess the sins He already knows about, and allow His love to wash away your sin. He loves you so much; that is why He is watching. Friend, you are the apple of His eye.

ROAD TRIP LESSONS
“…Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 1:6

Another road trip has come and gone. In July I was asked to help my mom move from California to Texas which I quickly jumped at the opportunity to do. However, in a spontaneous twist of events, I was asked to make the same trip again, alone this time, driving once more from California to Texas for a few things that got left behind. As I drove down the I-40 I asked God why I was making this journey again. His response to me was because there were things He wanted to share with me that could not have been done any other way. If I stayed home I would have been distracted by my children or the TV. If I went with another person I would have been in constant conversation with that person. So in order to speak directly to me, I had to be alone. And after driving 37 hours, and most of those in tears, I would like to share with you just a fraction of what God has shown me, for they may be the same things God wants to show you.
I was reintroduced to three things that over and over, God continued to impress on me. Right from the start as I ventured out, God began to speak to me about my dependence in Him. In many cases I trust only what I have the ability to control still. I see a mountain but plan for the conquering of that mountain in my own terms. A great illustration of this is debt. I know that I personally have not been the best steward when it comes to my finances, and as such I often pray that God will allow overtime at work. When overtime comes I rejoice. I cannot say that overtime has always been God’s answer, but it is the answer I assume for the prayer I have prayed. As such, I have come to put my trust in overtime as opposed to God’s provision. But as I was out on the road, driving in the Tucumcari area of New Mexico, a storm was brewing. The truck was getting pounded by the strong wind and flashes of lightening seemed to hit the ground only miles from the road. Honestly, I grew scared. I was not in control of the storm and had to place my full trust in God for those fifty or so miles. In that moment my dependence in what I could control was quickly given over to God, where it should have been all along.
My second lesson started back right outside of Flagstaff, Arizona. I had brought with me a sermon series on anger by Larry Huch. As I listened to the first of four CDs, God began to call my attention to my own areas of anger. To describe it the best, God showed me that I go through moments where I am like a soda can, shook up and full of pressure. When the tab is moved to release the pressure in the can, the can explodes and the drink spews all over. Sadly enough, God showed me I am the same. Instead of releasing my pressure in healthy ways, I allow the pressure to build up until finally, that tab, that one last thing, puts me over the edge and BAM!, I explode. My explosion of pressure seems to land on the wrong people, though. When I was married it would land on my wife often. Sometimes now it lands on my children, or pets, or friends, or customers I work with. Yet God showed me that this was only a symptom, not the root cause.
It wouldn’t be until around Amarillo, Texas that God would help me to understand the root issue better. As I listened to another CD series by Dr. Brian Adams concerning the power of forgiveness, God began to open my eyes to a fact that I was trying hard to push down. Through my life I have made a series of stupid choices, many of which I have shared to some degree with you before in past devotionals. However stupid, I have always believed that God was willing and able to forgive me. Yet there has always been one person who has never been able to forgive me. He is myself. For the many stupid acts I have done in my 36 years I have not forgiven myself. I have not felt as though I have deserved to be forgiven.
In the final hour of the drive, God showed me how this all fits together. It is this lack of forgiveness toward myself that has opened the door for my anger to swell and become pressurized. I feel that this has also fed my control issues because I fear to let others know the pressure and self-hatred I house inside, and have worked to control it as well as my circumstances. But the truth is I have to let it go. I have to cast down my self-hatred. I have to ask God to help me forgive myself. I have to allow God to be solely in control. I have to surrender to God…ALL…just like I wrote about a few days back. God taught me so much on this trip, so much I never want to forget. If this is the benefit of a road trip, then I will gladly go again. I will continue to go until God helps shape me into the man He desires I become. I thank the Lord that He is not done with me yet, and I am expectant as this man comes more into view.

WHATAYA WANT FROM ME
“’In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple.’”
Luke 14:33

American Idol used to be one of my favorite reality shows to watch. Back when it was first fresh I would watch it religiously. I knew who the contestants were and involved myself in the snippets of their back stage life. My intrigue, or infatuation of the show, finally subsided a few seasons back as I realized I was more concerned with the show than with other details of life. However, I can still name the winner and runner up of each season, as well as pick them out on the radio when I hear them. With all that said, as I was in the car driving this weekend I heard Adam Lambert’s, Whataya Want From Me playing on the radio. As I sang the words I knew along with Adam, I began to think about the song’s title.
My son and I have had fun with the song, changing some of the words around. Our favorite spoof is to sing it as a boy getting his lunch money taken from him. The boy says, “Whataya want from me” to the reply by the bully, “All of your lunch money.” But listening this time, and trying to sing louder than the radio, I found myself singing these lyrics as a question to God. I belted out, “Whataya want from me?” It didn’t take long to hear in my heart a response that cut right to where I was at as God sang back, “I want your everything.”
My ‘everything’? I’m not sure God knows what He is asking sometimes by asking for my ‘everything’. Surly God knows who I am when no one is looking and knows those little pieces I struggle with that I try to hide under the carpet when company comes over. And I am pretty sure that God has seen the mess I make in so many areas of my life. True, I do have my good moments and characteristics, but I am embarrassed to give Him my ‘everything’. How about I just give God the good parts instead? However many times I try to barter this idea with God, He always responds the same way. He wants it all.
Giving God all is not as easy as the church song makes it sound. “All to Jesus I surrender…” sounds like it is just a happy and pretty thought. How hard is the real action, though? I would venture to say that the reason God keeps asking for our all is because we are unwilling to give it. Yes we give parts to Him and surrender what we think will please Him, but we never give it all. It’s almost the same way we view obedience and honesty. We obey some rules and we tell some truth. But isn’t partial obedience still disobedience, and partial truth still a lie? So then let me submit to you that partial surrender is not the giving of our all to Jesus and fits in this same line of thought.
Do you remember what happened to Abraham when he gave God his everything? The promise God gave to Abraham was that he would be the father of many nations. After Isaac was born, though, God commanded him to sacrifice his son (Gen 22:2). Now it wasn’t that God suddenly became stupid and forgot that Abraham had only one son, but that God wanted to see if Abraham would give his everything. And Abraham did; he held back nothing. He laid his son on the altar and had the knife ready before God interrupted him and commanded him to stop (Gen 22:10-11). Abraham was willing to go all the way in complete surrender to God which allowed him to not only be named the father of faith, but also the father of nations.
This testimony of Abraham’s willingness to surrender reminds me of a response Jesus gave to those following Him in Luke 14:25-33. As the large crowds were following Jesus, probably so enamored with him that they were chanting their allegiance to Him, Jesus spoke to them and explained the meaning of being His disciple. In the end, He explained that being a disciple of Christ means being willing to give up everything one has. These followers, like us, believed they were doing it right in how they were following, but Jesus set the bar a little higher. Instead of just hitting the average marks, He told them He wanted it all. And why not? Didn’t Jesus soon after give His all for them when He laid down His own life?
Adam Lambert’s song could have been written with any variety of lyrics to follow the question, but in my singing this song as a duet with God, I received only one response back. “I want your everything.” As hard as it is to give, it must be given. To truly be a disciple of Christ we must give Him our all.

THE POWER OF GOD’S WORD
“Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God…”
Ephesians 6:17

Some mornings when I go walking I bring my ipod and keep in stride with the beats of TobyMac or Skillet. Other mornings, such as today, I walk with only the sounds of nature in the background. These are normally the mornings when I find myself talking to God and He in return talking to me. Honestly, these are the mornings when I feel the most refreshed spiritually having spent an hour or so just conversing with God. As I found myself in one of these conversations today, I found myself excited about what God was telling me. It is nothing new, nothing I didn’t already know, but it was something I have failed to really do and have a new outlook on. What is it? It is combat against the enemy with the Word of God.
In Ephesians 6:17 we see that one of the pieces of our spiritual armor is the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. When Christ was led into the desert to be tempted in Matthew 4, the weapon Christ used against the devil was the Word of God. The devil first came tempting him with food, since it had been forty days since He had eaten or drank. Jesus’ response was that man did not live on bread alone, found in Deuteronomy 8:3. Then the devil tried to tempt Him by telling Him to jump off a cliff, knowing that the angels would catch Him. Jesus again responded with the Word by stating not to test the Lord your God, Deuteronomy 6:16. Lastly the devil tried to tempt Jesus with the splendors of the world, to which He quoted Deuteronomy 6:13 about worshiping the Lord your God only. For every temptation that the devil threw out there, Jesus came back by swinging His sword of the Spirit, God’s Word.
Yesterday, as I was alone and in charge of the TV remote, I found myself watching an old childhood show, Gospel Bill. This exact same message was being portrayed in this episode. The clumsy Nicodemus came up to the Sheriff, Gospel Bill, and shared that in the past he had chewed tobacco. Recently he was being tempted again. When he saw others chewing, he wanted to chew. When he saw others buying, he wanted to buy. When he saw others spitting because of the tobacco, he again longed to have it in his possession. So he asked the sheriff what he should do. The sheriff’s response was to get in the Word so that, like in a gun fight, he would have ammunition against the tempter.
It is such an easy lesson to hear yet I think we struggle with the simplicity of it. I know I do. I have heard it said that the longest distance in the world is from our head to our heart. This is a lesson that is so important that we need to catch it now. The devil knows the Scripture better than some of us, and because of this he is able to twist the words of God for his benefit. He did that with Adam and Eve. “Did God really say not to eat from that tree?” Yes God did, but this twisting of God’s word caused doubt, which opened the door for sin. How many times have we fell prey to the same thing? God’s Word says “NO!”, yet we hear the devil in our ear twisting the truth and we give in instead of standing firm on what God said, using the Bible against the enemy. If it worked for Jesus to use Scripture, would it not also work for us?
I cannot answer for you, but for myself I know that I need to continue to be in the Word. I need the ammunition in my gun. I need my swinging of the sword to count. The devil will come, but the devil will also retreat when we fight the way Jesus did. The passage of the temptation ends in Matthew 4:11 stating, “Then the devil left him…” Let’s use our swords the right way, as more than decoration, and watch the devil leave.

VERTIGO
“Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God – I say this to your shame.”
I Corinthians 15:34

About a year ago I was talking to a co-worker who advised me his wife had been diagnosed with vertigo. I was unaware of what vertigo really was so he took the time to explain it to me. The technical definition would be a dizziness one has, feeling like they are in constant motion when really they are not moving at all. In many cases one can experience nausea with vertigo, as he wife was, and one can also have troubles simply standing up or walking. Doctors have found that in most cases vertigo can be caused by a concussion or vestibular migraine, while a few cases have been linked to excessive drinking or a disease known as Meniere’s disease.
Now I by no means claim to be a doctor, so I will spare you with anymore fancy wording and disease names that I found only when researching vertigo itself. However, I do want to ask one question. Do you think it is possible that God gets vertigo from our actions? Let me explain. I have seen many Christians, and probably fit in this category myself when I am honest, who long to do God’s will. They start off well and on fire, then find the draw of sin to be more than they can handle. Soon enough they give in. Yet in time, and sometimes by a life defining accident or change, they come back to God with a new zeal for Him and a promise to once again live for God all the days of their life. But ‘all the days of their life’ is only about another couple weeks, months, or a year before they are again enjoying the sin that they swore they would never return to. I wonder with all this back and forth, promising and breaking promises, if God ever gets vertigo.
When Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthians, he made a point to address their habit of sinning. Paul wrote, “Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God – I say this to your shame.” We should look at this verse in context. Just verses before Paul writes concerning the sin of Adam and how in Adam all men have died, so in Christ all men are made alive (v22). Our sin no longer defines us, but also no longer has power over us. In fact, according to verse 27, God puts everything under His feet. Because of this we no longer have the excuse that we are sinful man, helpless to ever change. No, through God is our ability to change. And because God not only wants us to change but helps us to change, then we should do as Paul states and come back to our senses, ceasing a lifestyle of sin.
In Matthew Henry’s Commentary he writes concerning this passage, “Let us not be joined with ungodly men; but warn all around us, especially children and young persons, to shun them as a pestilence. Let us awake to righteousness, and not sin.” This is a bold and strong command to stop sinning, but it is God’s command and we must obey it. The truth is I believe God does grow weary of our back and forth. God suffers from vertigo when He watches us so casually flip from one side to the other. Do you want to know why I say this? Because of Revelation 3:16. Going back and forth from sin to a right lifestyle, then back to sin, then back to a right lifestyle, is nothing more than going from hot to cold in our spiritual walk. It is to the one who is lukewarm that God says, “I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” If one of the symptoms that comes with vertigo is nausea, then I pray it is not I who makes God sick and dizzy any longer.

HARD HABITS TO BREAK
“However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Matthew 17:21 NKJV

Yesterday I wrote to you concerning the starting of habits, mainly the habit of getting into a right relationship with God. It is important that we take time to meet with Him daily, study His word, and learn His ways. Although this type of habit is a good rhythm to get into, there are also habits that are destructive. Habits such as biting our nails or cracking our knuckles may be able to be worked on within the stated twenty-one to sixty-six days if we are aware of the issue and desire a change. But I venture to say that some things we label ‘habits’ may really not be habits at all. I’ll use my life as an example. At the age of eleven, when I saw my first pornographic magazine, I viewed it out of curiosity. Little did I know that even in that simple ‘harmless’ viewing there would be a spiritual gripping on my life, enticing me to come back for more. Soon I brushed it off as ‘habit’. I made a ‘habit’ of going back to that place, or searching out pornography anyway I could get a hold of it.
Although I called it a ‘habit’, the truth was that it was a spirit. Now not knowing the religious background of all those that read these devotionals, I realize that I may come off as a little crazy in saying that a spirit attached itself to me. But let me ask you this. If spiritual warfare was not a real thing, would we have been given spiritual armor in which to fight against the devil with (Eph 6:10-18), as well as a warning to watch for the devil who prowls around for someone to devour (I Pet 5:8)? Spiritual warfare is a real thing, and sadly I would venture to say that third world countries understand the truth of spiritual warfare more so than Christians in America.
But look with me at Matthew 17:14-23. It is in this passage that a father brings his son to the disciples in hopes of having his son return to his right mind. The disciples were unable to bring restoration to the son and as a result the father then approached Jesus. He explained, “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water” (15). Now as I shared, I have heard of the habit of biting nails or cracking knuckles, but I have never heard of the habit of falling into the fire or water, which is another translation of the word ‘often’ used here. We read on that Jesus rebuked the demon and the boy was then healed from that moment. This again proves that some ‘habits’ are in fact demons. Yet still, look in the passage a little further. The disciples came to Jesus and asked why it was the demon would not leave when they prayed. Jesus’ response in verse 21, which for some reason is not in every translation of the Bible, including the NIV, is simply that, “this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
It is on this thought that I want to close today. For years I wanted to be rid of the ‘habit’ of viewing pornography. I answered the altar calls, worked in accountability groups, got counseling, snapped my wrist with a rubber band, you name it and I probably tried it. Yet the habit was never kicked. It wasn’t until I put the pieces together and finally understand that the habit was a spirit that I found freedom. This spirit came out through prayer and fasting. These are words we either embrace or run from in the church today, but words that we need to understand. Prayer is one of our weapons and a vital part of our armor (Eph 6:18). Yet fasting is as important. It is in fasting that we deny ourselves the pleasures we want so that we can become open to the changes that God longs to do in us or with us, as in the case of Esther. Jesus was able to rebuke the demon that had a hold on the boy because He was in tune with God as a result of His fasting on our behalf. Would it not be wise of us also to consider that what may indeed be the ‘bad habit’ holding us back may actually be a spirit that will only come out through prayer and fasting?

HABIT MAKING
“But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.”
Psalm 1:2

I have often heard it said that it takes only twenty-one days to form a habit. If you Google this idea, you may actually find a variety of answers ranging from twenty-one to sixty-six days, and the timeframe ranging based on the type of habit you are trying to form. One psychologist I found stated that if your goal in life is to drink more water, then the smaller number of days may just be true. However, if your goal is to do fifty sit-ups before breakfast, the timeframe may be greater. I have found this to be true myself. As I have continued in my walking toward 500 miles this summer, I have found it becoming easier to accomplish. Where once the complaints and excuses were present, I now found myself antsy and pacing the floor if I cannot get out of the house to walk. But it has taken sixty-seven days to get to this point.
The reason I bring the idea of habits to our attention today has much to do with what I felt God showing me just yesterday while out walking. Many times this year I have challenged our devotion toward God. Last night, though, I felt God challenging me in my devotion. It isn’t that I have slipped off the God wagon or anything, but I feel like God has been desiring to work in me in a few areas since returning from my vacation to Texas. One such area is my personal relationship with Him. Don’t get me wrong, I find that much of what I share with you in these devotionals is from God. But sometimes God wants to tweak a few areas in us so that we can be better used and fit for ministry. This is the place I now find myself. And this is the best place to be.
I want to be putty in the hands of God, but I cannot be this if I do not give myself over to His molding. In essence, this is what I feel is being spoken of in Psalm 1. In verse 1 we are told that it is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, stand where sinners stand, nor sit where mockers sit, that receives blessing. Verse 2 further explains that, “his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.” This idea is finished up in verse 3 where it is stated that this man is then like a tree planted by the streams, yielding fruit, and constantly prospering. It is this man that I desire to be. But to be this, I must first start with making a habit of meditating day and night in the law of the LORD.
Today is a great day to start a habit. We are fresh into a new month. Now while I cannot say that come August 21 I will be set in my ways of making time with God commonplace, I do hope to find that I am closer to a habit than I am right now. I want to find that same antsy feeling of not taking time to study His Word that I find when I am not out walking daily. But just as with the habit of walking, the beginning is tough. I will find complaints and excuses in meeting with God just as easy. I will find other things wanting my time and attention such as television, work, sleep, and who knows what else. But I want to be in right relationship with God, and because of that I need to force myself to meditate until it does become habit. And how about you? Are you willing to join me, starting today, to ward off the things that have kept us from time with God so that we can delight in what truly matters instead of what doesn’t? If so, then join me now. What better time to start than today?