We were getting our vehicle gassed up on Sunday about noon and someone passing by the pump where we were parked was speaking about someone who was "doing stupid". Without getting a closer ear on this gentleman's speaking, might we also take a look within ourselves and check our hearts as well? There are times when certain things stand out as being "stupid" or doing " stupid".
If you have been with us here the last several years, you know we have touched on this subject before and for some people, that which seem as "the sound Biblical", is only a presumed man's wisdom.
And would you believe there are some secular sayings that sound so religious people often believe they came from the Bible? These are but 5 sayings repeated among men and women that are not a part of Scripture….
God
helps those who help themselves.
I’m sure
you’ve heard it and may be you possibly even said it to encourage someone to pull
themselves up by their bootstraps and get it done. But this verse is not in the
Bible. And its premise is not true. To the contrary, God helps those who admit
they can’t help themselves.
1. Scripture is loaded with examples of
God calling weak, humble people who would have been inadequate for the Lord’s
work without His enabling strength.
2. Scripture says that Christ’s power
is made perfect in our weakness. And Paul states “I will boast all the more gladly
about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
3. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I
delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in
difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10,
NIV).
Furthermore,
James 4:10 tells us “Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will
exalt you.” If God helped those who helped themselves, that verse would read:
“Show yourself capable and God will come along and help.” Many times those of
us who believe we can help ourselves don’t feel we need God and therefore, we
don’t rely on Him. God wants us to admit we’re helpless so we can start
depending on His strength to get us through situations that may occur daily. That is called a faith walk!
I think
we’ve all said this at one time or another, primarily to comfort another
believer or even an unbeliever who is struggling with something and some speak it being fearful that
something bad might happen to them. But this verse does not exist. And this statement
does not hold true. God will often give us more than we can handle so that we
will depend on Him to carry the burden for us.
1. Philippians 4:13 says “I can do all
things through Christ who strengthens me” (NKJV), and Matthew 11:28-30 tells us
to come to Him when we are weary and take His yoke upon us so we can bear a
load that is too heavy to lift ourselves.
2. I believe we get the idea that God won’t give us more than we can bear from 1 Corinthians 10:13 which tells us “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” That verse tells us God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we are able to resist. But He will allow us to struggle beyond our capacity in other aspects of life so we understand what it means to surrender and allow Him to carry the burden for us.
3. We are all God’s children. Here’s another one that sounds true. And although God is the Creator of all, He is not the father of all. Romans 8:9 clearly tells us “if
anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.”
1. Jesus
said those who are apart from Him are children of Satan, the “father of lies”
(John 8:44)
2. Romans
8:15 tells us when we receive God’s spirit we have received “a spirit of
adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’”
3. God
adopts us through our surrender to Christ Jesus. Therefore, a more accurate
saying is: We are all God’s creation, but we are not all God’s children.
4. The
sinner’s prayer. As I was disciplining a
young believer, I asked her if she had ever said “the sinner’s prayer.” She
read it in the discipleship material we had in front of us and then asked me
where it was found in the Bible. “Well, it’s not. It’s implied,” I said.
This is a tough one for us because
we want to point to something in the Bible that someone needs to actually say
in order to be saved. However, Romans 10:9-10 says “if you confess with your
mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the
dead, you will be saved; for with the
heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he
confesses, resulting in salvation.” No wordy prayer involving the words
“repent” or “confess” or asking Jesus to “come into our hearts” exists in
Scripture.
What we do
find, however, are short heartfelt cries for God’s mercy, including: “Jesus,
remember me when you come into your kingdom” (Luke 23:42), and “Lord, I believe”
(John 9:38).
Ephesians. 3:8-12 8 To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, 9 and to make all see what is that fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; 10 to the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and power in the heavenly places, 11 according to the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, 12 in whom we have boldness & access with confidence through faith in Him.
God is willing to lead us into His wisdom when we are willing to accept Him from Him. That manifold wisdom of God is to be made known by the church to principalities and power in the heavenly places. It is according to the eternal purpose that God the Father has accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.
God's word in us should speak and does it? Do we even fill up reading His word to give our spiritual man nourishment for the day?
I have told
my husband more than once a week for several years that I do not want to be a “stupid”
person. For being found in that position
can be “the one” who refuses to take truth from God, who refuses to hear Him
speak for certainly the humble must appear before Him. But do we regard
ourselves as knowing more than God does? Yikes!
And if we
humble ourselves, how will God manifest in our life when humility is found?
Philippians 2:8 “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and
became obedient to death- even death on a cross!” THE Ultimate picture of
humility!
Matthew 27:54 “ When the centurion and those
with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake & all that had
happened, they were terrified,& exclaimed, "Surely he was the Son of
God!" The very Presence of God was made manifest as a result of the submission
of Christ's humility to God for mankind!
Can you
imagine a deep darkness that filled the sky when Jesus died and the ground that shook like an earthquake? Hearing rocks
falling, loud noises….and there is nothing but blackness all around? Do you think people
were running around while the ground shook or did they stay in that place,
frozen with fear, when they could not see in front of their face and still the
loud sounds of rocks falling and screams were heard all around them?
I have paid
attention to people who have come through tornadoes, who continue to live
another day and they give frightening accounts of the horrific winds and the
sounds that shake a home and turn it inside out in just minutes!
Written
Word: Matthew 4:4, 5-7, 8-10 NKJV 4 But He answered & said, “It is written,
‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the
mouth of God.’” When we do this: the devil
can hear us and God’s words spoken through us shakes the enemy in his tracks!
Matthew
4:5-7 Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of
the temple, 6 & said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself
down. For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you” and, “In
their hands they shall bear you up, lest You dash Your foot against a
stone.” 7 Jesus said to him, “It is
written again, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’”
From this the devil had taken Jesus up to a
holy city, seated Him on a pinnacle of the temple….then devil tries to quote
scripture. In this passage, it is taken from Psalm 91 & within that we are
to have the Lord as our Refuge, even verse 9 tells us because you have made the
Lord, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil befalls
us from v. 10. Trust is everything /it must be in God.
FAITH……MUST FILL OUR HEARTS THAT GOD
WILL DO IT!
Matthew
4:8-10 NKJV 8 again the devil took Him up
on an exceedingly high mountain, & showed Him all the kingdoms of the world
& their glory. 9 & he said to Him, “ All these things I will give You
if You will fall down and worship me.” 10 then Jesus said to him, “Away with
you Satan! For it is written, “You shall worship the LORD your God and Him only
you shall serve.
We are to serve God in His bidding
not that of the devil. It is only God Who is concerned in His heart for each of
us! Nearing the end of a 40-day fast, Satan shows up to tempt Jesus! Jesus
abstained from that which was to mortify the body or appetite. One meaning for
the word ---to fast---given was to abstain from food but also voluntarily as a
token of grief, sorrow & affliction. Can you imagine the grief Jesus
experienced for those who fell to sin? Can you see the sorrow He felt for
mankind and what step of faith in trusting His Father to deliver Him after the
crucifixion? (You can see this kind of fast taken in the book of Esther: Esther
4:15-17)
The
Manifested Word Spoke as His Father Had Spoken:
Jesus: the Manifested word spoke a word to the devil, & interesting
how Jesus told satan to worship the LORD your God & Him only you shall
serve….since we know why satan fell to earth…in that he was serving his own
agenda to place himself above God. The devil could have stayed within the
confines of the loving God, but he did not do that. Although the devil has some
authority over the world, still the kingdoms of the world belong to God: Psalm
2:8 Ask of Me, & I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, &
the ends of the earth for Your possession.” KINGDOMS!
Proverbs
8:32-36 Now therefore listen to me, my children, for blessed are those who keep
my ways. 33 Hear instruction and be wise, and do not disdain it. 34 Blessed is
the man who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of
my doors. 35 For whoever finds me finds life, and obtains favor from the LORD;
36 But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul; all those who hate me love
death.
1. The ancient paths of God are to be
listened to for they lead to His plan
2. Was with God in creation & delights
in humanity: Rejection of Him & His wisdom is a sorrowful contrast on those
who refuse Him & His wisdom for life
John 8:28-29 Then Jesus said to them, “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as my Father taught Me, I speak these things. 29 And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.
Jesus ‘
behavior was drawn directly from God the Father remaining sinless. May our behavior
be like the declaring Word manifested through Jesus that we would speak as our
Father speaks:
In this day
& the present hour, we are Declaring the Word that speaks that doctrinal
differences would give way to demonstrating the Spirit and power we find in : 2
Timothy 1: 7-8 NKJV For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and
of love and of a sound mind. 8 Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of
our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the
gospel according to the power of God.
In this day
& within the present hour: We declare that the Light of Truth will dispel
any darkness and expose the lies. In Him was light, & that life was the
light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not
overcome it.” (John 1:4-5) Everything owes existence to Jesus!!!!
We are
thankful for the covenant of blood that has come by repentance, for
restoration, unity for God’s people, those He calls sons! Amen. The Word of
God, Jesus was manifested to bring light into dark places. And we declare the
word of God and His message of the Cross with power: "For I will give you
words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or
contradict. Everyone will hate you because of Me. But not a hair of your head
will perish. Stand firm, and you will win life." (Luke 21:15, 17-19)
Let’s find
what is really in God’s written word so that His wisdom will flow through us in
that river of life to others. He has given us the words & wisdom to speak
that none of our adversaries will be able to resist or contradict. We thank the
Lord, that not a hair of our head will perish. We stand firm in Him and we win in this lifetime!
Thank You
Lord for words of truth!
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