If any of you lack faith. James 1:5-14.

When we last talked about James, we ended on this note.

For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. (James 1:3-4 NLT)

• • So, our faith gets tested.
  • Our endurance has a chance to grow.
  • And, because of that, our endurance becomes fully developed.

Developed is the same as “perfect result” in the NASB. It is a combination of two words:

1. teleios meaning brought to its end or finished, and wanting nothing necessary to completeness. And -
2. ergon meaning business, employment,  that in which anyone is occupied. And, that which one undertakes to do, enterprise, undertaking.

So we, as we walk through this life in Christ, are about an undertaking which will eventually come to an end; almost as if we were employed on a contractual basis.

If you want to think about it as work, then what is your payment?
For the believer, our reward is focused on the simple joys that we find in the Lord, not driving around in $100k vehicles; that and an eternity of peace with the Father.

This idea of a lifetime of tests and trials is definitely not a huge selling point when making a pitch for people to come to Jesus. Would you have signed up for this blessed life in Christ, if Pastor Greg Laurie had told you, it would be a life filled with trials, some of which, like the loss of your son due to reckless driving, will attempt to rip your heart out? Perhaps not.

We have been using terms like tests, trials, perseverance, endurance, and faith, but now it seems as if we are thrown a curveball, as James states:

James 1:5 NASB But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

I think I can comprehend how wisdom would play into the conversation, however, the statement about our lacking wisdom could imply that our inability to manage the trials, is completely on us. Now, that might be the case, and one of my previous pastors admonished the audience with, “if you are having problems in your life, you brought them on yourselves.” I don't think that assertion is entirely valid, simply because we have an enemy that is out to kill anything that looks like Jesus.

"Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour, whom withstand steadfast in your faith, knowing that the same sufferings are accomplished in your brethren who are in the world. And the God of all grace, who called you unto his eternal glory in Christ, after that ye have suffered a little while, shall himself perfect, establish, strengthen you." (1 Peter 5:8-10 ASV)

I included a few extra verses because the story doesn't merely end with the enemy in deadly pursuit, it ends with us, standing steadfast in our faith. What else does it say? It says we know that others are suffering in a similar manner. You see, you are not alone in this, we are all being attacked. Your purpose is not to wallow forever, it is to strengthen and establish others, as God, in Christ Jesus, has strengthened you.

Wisdom is the Greek word sophia and yes, it means wisdom, however, the Word Study Dictionary also conveys this: 1. Skill in the affairs of life, practical wisdom, wise management as shown in forming the best plans and selecting the best means, including the idea of sound judgment and good sense. 2. In a higher sense, wisdom, deep knowledge, natural and moral insight, learning, science, implying cultivation of mind, and enlightened understanding.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee helps to define wisdom by stating:

“You and I have troubles and trials and problems. How are you going to solve this problem? How are you going to meet this issue? How are you going to deal with this person? If you lack wisdom in regard to a problem, you need to go to God in prayer.”

So there you are, struggling, crying, and clamoring out to God in every manner possible. Are you asking in faith when you do this?

It seems like a laughably simple question doesn't it; but the obvious part of this, is that most of us do just what I described – we struggle, clamor, whimper, and cry, and there isn't, most of the time, a stitch of faith in any of it. Fortunately, we serve a God of Mercy, that and Jesus sits by the Father interceding for us, constantly.

Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. (Romans 8:33-34 NASB)

By the way, the one who is bringing a charge against you is Satan, and he has already been convicted.
Here is what Eugene Peterson has to say about James 1:5.

If you don't know what you're doing, pray to the Father. He loves to help. You'll get his help, and won't be condescended to when you ask for it. (James 1:5 MSG)

Sometimes the Message just pulls it all together.

James 1:6 NASB But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

“he,” in this verse, is the one who is doing the asking, and they look a lot like you and I, even if it is not up to religious standards.

What is faith, or what does it look like?

I have had moments when my faith was rock solid. I knew that when I prayed God would come through, and in a few rare moments, He did. But then there were times it seemed as if God did nothing, and my words might as well have been swamp water. Don't get me wrong, fancy, well-spoken words have nothing to do with this. It is the motivation in your heart that gets the job done. And, most often you will not be able to explain where the faith to pray came from. In those times when you are struggling, you must learn to lean upon the Holy Spirit, because He will give you a prayer, that in some cases has sounded like nothing less than groaning, for I could not put words together, but I had to pray.

Alright, you prayed, but you whimpered your way through it, hoping that the God you have been avoiding would listen. There was no faith in that, and you doubted He would come through the moment you opened your mouth. James tells us, you are like the guy out in the surf, on a board, and you don't know what you are doing. Those waves are going to beat you up and drive you further out to sea. Who wants to be that guy? No one.

James 1:7 NIV  That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord.

Ever?
Just wait, we will try to fix this.

James 1:8 NIrV  He can't make up his mind. He can never decide what to do.

Who is James talking about?
The one who doubts when they ask.

James 1:9 TLV  But let the brother in humble circumstances boast in his high position—

I will be honest here, many of the translations come across as though we should be praying for money; enough money so that we could snub our noses at others. That thought is so out of character for this conversation that James is having. I used to be involved in the “faith” movement, and the constant push for money and the associated greed made me sick. This TLV translation seems to say it best, however, it leaves you and me to guess as to what it means.

Look at what Dr. McGee says:

"You may say, "I'm just a poor individual. I don't have very much. I don't have any wealth." My friend, if you are a child of God you have a lot of wealth. You have treasure in heaven. And have you ever stopped to think what you have down here, what you have in Christ? We have everything in Him. Paul wrote, "Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours; Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours, And ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's"

Regardless of my circumstances, God sees me in the Son, and the Son, is doing quite well, thank you. Knowing this is no reason to get boastful with people, but you can certainly thank the Father for bringing you into His family.

A confession here. I am notorious for speaking about a subject while being unaware of what the following verses may bring. Such was the case here. Verses 10,11 speak as though this discussion was planned and intentionally integrated. When you do bible study, I suggest that you do a good read of the chapter, and that way you will have an overview, knowing that an obscure verse like 9, will be quickly answered. Fortunately, for me, the Holy Spirit, which leads us and guides us into all truth, has just done that, and so here is verse 10,11.

James 1:10-11 TLV  and the rich person in his humble position, because like the flower of the grass he will pass away.  (11)  For the sun arises with a scorching heat and withers the grass, and its flower falls off and the beauty of its appearance is destroyed. So also the rich man in the midst of his pursuits will wither away.

None of this answers the question of why James touched on the subject of wealth in a conversation about prayer. Perhaps James brought it up because there is a prosperity theme that runs through the promises to God's people; and, it is a topic that God covers in His conversations with Abraham, and then the children of Israel - they thoroughly expect God to bless them, and since we have been grafted into the vine, then God should bless us as well. Ah, but what is a blessing? For some, it is the simplest of things. If your prayers are not being answered and your situation seems dire, then you might easily say, that your circumstances are humble.

Look up the word humble in your Strong's concordance and you will find this: tapeinós, meaning depressed or humiliated. Both of these effects are primarily motivated by what you think of how others perceive you. My recommendation, don't make money your focus. But in consideration of what James 1:11, we are looking at a brother in humiliating circumstances. Those circumstances could have come from a variety of means, and in our current quarantined world, in which the majority of people have lost their jobs because of a disease that has shut down the world. Even if it is NOT your fault, it is often humiliating to stand in a massive line just to get toilet paper, and now meat.

With that, we return to the subject of testing our faith.

James 1:12 NASB Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.

Blessed is the person who perseveres under trial.
To persevere is to hang in there, persist, and carry on – as if the negativity doesn't matter.

I went through an intense test like this when it came time to get married for the first time. To start this story off appropriately, you must know that I found what I thought was the trophy wife; she was beautiful and well made. But there was a nasty flaw that I chose to ignore because like Samson, I wanted her. A little over six months before I married her, she broke up with me and started dating my younger brother. Because I had been involved in the “faith” movement, I knew all the right verses, such as "anything you ask the Father, in my name, believing, you shall receive.” Well, I guess my prayers worked, and I believe they worked because God is true to His word, and I was willing to fight like a Honey Badger to get what I wanted. Are you beginning to detect the selfish underlying motivations I was dealing with? For six months, while she was with my younger brother, I cried my eyes out, pounded the steering wheel of my car, and reminded God of what His word said. We are not married anymore and I am choosing to leave the dirt out, but there were two huge lessons that I learned through this fiasco.

• • God is faithful to His Word, and will “often” give you what you ask for.
  • Be careful what you ask for because it is not always the best thing for you. That woman almost destroyed me.

Take a look at James 1:12 through Eugene Peterson's eyes.

Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life. MSG 

A question we did not get to deal with, and always comes up, is this:
Is God doing the testing?

The answer is NO, regardless of what it looks like. Scripturally we know this:

James 1:13 MKJV  Let no one being tempted say, I am tempted from God. For God is not tempted by evils, and He tempts no one.

Jesus is God, and Satan tried to take Him on, on several occasions. When you read about this time, it seems as if they were mere minutes apart.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit up into the wilderness, to be tempted by the Devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He was afterwards hungry. And when the tempter came to Him, he said, If You are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But He answered and said, It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." (Matthew 4:1-4 MKJV)

Note the cutting jab, “if You are the Son of God.” I can guarantee you that Satan knew exactly who He was. One of my faith teachers declared after the Holy Spirit lit upon Him and God declared that this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, that there would have been no doubt in Satan's mind, but then, what do you do with the fact Mary and Joseph brought Jesus, on the 8th day of his human life, to the temple to have Him circumcised, according to the law. Both Simeon, the priest, and Anna, the prophetess, openly and verbally declared that they had witnessed God's salvation – the Messiah. You can look this up in Luke 2.

Let's take James 1:13 apart.

• • “when he is tempted” - “I am being tempted”
  • “For God is not tempted”
  • ^“by evil”

And the verse ends with this:

• • “And He Himself does not tempt”
  • “anyone”

It seems somewhat logical that God would test and try us, perhaps to find out if we are loyal to Him, but an excursion through these words has made something rather clear to me.
It will make more sense if I point something out.

• • Christ died for sins, plural – past, present, and future.
  • Because we are in Christ, we are made righteous.

So, God is no longer looking for a reason to judge us, because the judgment for sin was all put on Jesus Christ.
If God has no reason to judge us, then there is no need for such testing or a trial.

Now, I know that the religious will read this and scream that I am living in falsehood because I am not acknowledging sin. Oh, that is where you are wrong, for while we live in these bodies we are inundated with sin – a missing of the mark. Thankfully though, Jesus was submissive, and God never looks at those who are His as anything less than the Son.

What is my take away from this?

That the tests you and I go through come from only one other source. Yes, I am aware that these tests often look like people, but they are only a convenient tool for the enemy.

This idea of testing evokes a question, does God also use people to carry out, I cringe to say it, His wrath?

Absolutely, and a primary example was the Babylonian empire.


We will pick up at verse 15 of James chapter one next time. Until then, God bless and cause your needs to be met.

Here it is, April 4, 2020, and I feel a strong compulsion to address fear.

We are surrounded by negativity and fear.

The daily news is feeding into the fear by amplifying aspects of the most recent virus while inflating the death tolls.

What am I talking about?
What we now call Covid 19, and what it has done to global populations.

Here in America, we are supposed to be on home quarantine. Obviously, some could care less.

We have yet, at the time of this writing, to be put on mandatory facial mask usage, and we can still go out to the store for groceries, if necessary. I, personally, have not experienced the lines and mazes, as stores now monitor the number of people that enter, all to maintain “social distancing.”

Watching my pastor on YouTube this morning, he spoke of something that I had made a note of several days ago, as we encounter those in the market, who have masks on, there is an immediate reaction that says, this person is very fearful, or, they are a threat. This last aspect became vital to me about a week ago, as I stood in a self check out line at Walmart. In the next line, approximately eight feet away from me, a lady began to cough repeatedly. I looked to see her inadvertently form a cone with her hand, to do what, direct whatever she was hacking up toward me. I thought, how obnoxious. The ladies behind me and I wished that she was wearing a mask.

This self quarantining, along with mandatory closures of our Churches, has done a great job of adding to the fear.
My wife recently asked me, aren't you afraid of touching surfaces. I responded with, no more than I have ever been, and yet, for all I know, I have never contracted a hideous disease from grabbing a shopping cart. Now I have been entirely disgusted, particularly when some non-caring employee wipes the seat of a chair and then the tabletop.

Recently, before we got excluded from all sit-down restaurants, we went to a small one, that had, at least, closed off every other table to maintain some distance between customers. This particular place is small and always packed. I touched my hand to the tabletop and found it to be sticky no matter where I put my hand. My wife told me, as though she had seen them do it, that they had installed too much resin in the epoxy. Garbage, they did a lousy job of cleaning.

It would seem that we are naive, believing whatever they tell us or we are being lied to.
I just learned that Bill Gates attended a conference in New York, last October, to talk about this very thing, and yet nothing was done to stop it. This was about the same time that the Wuhan/Covid virus was beginning to be talked about.
We all assumed that this stupid disease, much like bird flu, would stay there, but it did not. I have since learned that the author, Dean Koontz, was writing about this very thing, as far back as 1985 in one of his action novels.
Many have spoken of how this so-called virus was intentionally weaponized, and that the Chinese, whom the United States had applied many tariffs, to get them to comply with reason, may have done this deliberately, as the Chinese are now scooping up businesses and properties in Italy – who is next.
It turns out that the powering up of 5G antennas in and around Wuhan may have initiated this disease, as 5G cell towers have been proven to have detrimental effects on living things, and they cause cell disruptions to the point that the cells produce fatal toxins in the body.
It is also possible that the 5G towers can cause these deadly toxins to exude from our bodies in an aerosol form; hence, they now believe that the act of breathing can make us deadly to others around us.

I opened by saying this all feeds into the fear.
Until recently, I had no idea about the ramifications of the 5G cell towers, and they are everywhere at this point.

So, did my naivety leave me fearless?
Are you kidding me? I have been battling with fear my entire life, and sadly, I suspect that many of you have as well.

Is there a Biblical response to this Fear?
Absolutely. Let's start with this.

Isaiah 43:1 NASB But now, thus says the LORD, your Creator, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel, "Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name; you are Mine!

Many translations say, Fear Not, that is not so easy to do, especially when you are getting hit from multiple directions at the same.

God is not asking us NOT to Fear. He is telling us, directly, why?
The answer is in the passage, and the passage tells us, because He redeemed us, and called us, personally, by our names, and we are His.

If you were passing by, would this work for you? Probably not, for it seems as if something more is needed, and that is precisely why the Apostle Paul spoke this prayer over the church in Rome, and recorded it in Romans 15:13. It goes like this.

I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. (NLT)

If God went to the trouble of learning our names, regardless of what we would do, calling us personally, and then redeeming us; then He surely wanted us to have an expectation that someday all the promises he made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and then us, were going to come to pass, and that they applied to us as well. All this means that NO MATTER what happens and what becomes of us, we will be secured in His hands, with Him, forever.

Does this make facing tough times easier? Perhaps not.

Have you ever seen the movie Braveheart? 
I bring this up because, in the movie, common men had to steel themselves and encourage themselves to fight. There was no doubt that some would die in these battles, but to do nothing meant certain death. I don't know that we are in that position as yet; and, I am not sure that I can tell you what to do if we were, but I do know that we are called to pray, and as I have stated on previous occasions, pray as if your life depended upon it.

God is NOT telling us to take up swords and fight; this becomes clear when you read this.

“Put away your sword,” Jesus told him. “Those who use the sword will die by the sword.” Matthew 26:52 NLT 

Then what do we fight with?

We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments. 2 Corinthians 10:4 NLT 

We pray!

Jesus told us, in Matthew 24:8, that the things we have been seeing are the beginning of birth pains.

Do birth pains go on for years?
Perhaps on God's timeline, but take note that He is using human language so that these birth pains can be understood in relatively human terms. The ceremoniously religious will tell you that we can't know when Jesus is coming for His church; they will even quote where Jesus said, no man, not even the Son, knows the day or the hour, but they leave off the part about how He was answering a Jewish question, in a manner that His audience would understand. Those hearing these words that Jesus spoke, knew how the new moon would be here and detectable, on either, one expected day or the other, depending upon the cloud cover; and, if it could not be seen, then the high priest would declare the beginning of the new month because it should be here.
Can you see the variability in this?

 Not knowing the day or the hour is a relative thing, and anyone, with half a brain, understood approximately when the new moon would arrive. Jesus, however, said nothing, at this point, about not knowing the season, and folks, we are in it, neck-deep.

This entire scenario that we are in was created to migrate us into a much larger, full-scale operation.

Do people like Boris Johnson, the Prime minister of Britain, have to end up in the ICU at the hospital in order for the scenario to play itself out? 
Apparently.

The closure of Churches is not a coincidence, and yes, you can scream at me all day about the health reasons, but I have had to make ventures to Walmart, and trust me on this, it is scarier there than in church.

What's the biggest difference between Walmart and the church?
In the church, we pray for each other because the Bible tells us that the prayer of faith will heal them.

What if what is going on around us, was meant to draw you away from God?
Are you going to let that happen? Are you going to live in fear?
Why would you do that when scripture tells us that anything not done in faith is fear, and fear, is missing the mark (sin.)

Here is how you are to live in these last days.

“... And live peacefully with each other.

Brothers and sisters, we urge you to

warn those who are lazy.

Encourage those who are timid.

Take tender care of those who are weak.

Be patient with everyone.

See that no one pays back evil for evil,

but

always try to do good to each other and to all people.

Always be joyful.

Never stop praying.

Be thankful in all circumstances,

for

this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus."

(1 Thessalonians 5:13-18 NLT)

Hebrews 12:2 The act of fixing my eyes on Jesus. An edited repost.

This idea of fixing my eyes on Jesus will not let go of me.

Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author, and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The KJV puts it this way:

"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;"

The Greek word for fixing or looking is aphorao and means to consider attentively.

To be honest, I have a problem with this idea of looking, because it implies distance, and distance suggests that I can never get close to God. Some churches I have been a part of, with their superstar pastors, have demonstrated what it is like to have a leader that is untouchable, and I have had more of that than I can stand. I have also, because of choices I made, experienced infidelity in marriage and divorce. The battle I had to fight was learning that God did not act like the people who have created false imagery in me. While God may never leave me, I sometimes wonder how embarrassed He is with how I talk or act. In the worst of conditions I have never experienced any distancing toward me on God's part, but I can assure you I have felt significantly distanced at times. There is no doubt in my mind that this distance I felt was because of my selfish indulgences.

The NET version says: "keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus,.." This version has pulled in both concepts; keeping our eyes on Jesus, and the idea of our fixation upon Him.

Why would you fix your eyes on something?

Detectives do it because they are on the hunt for something. Artists study or set their eyes upon a subject so that they can capture what they see. We, as believers, are told to fix our attention, vision, thoughts, and emotions upon Jesus because I believe that God wants us to live in a state of peace that passes understanding.

To be filled with peace, at a time when it is illogical, passes my understanding. Yet, having read this, and desired it, I find it easier to comprehend knowing that was God in the situation, though I did not know it, and He only wanted good for me.

Hebrews, the faith book, is meant to train us and establish us with the benefit of a solid information, and believable eyewitnesses. If I could equate this life to a trial, the evidence for the prosecution would be overwhelming and beyond a reasonable doubt. In reading Hebrews, I find out that the peace I just spoke of, requires faith, and is wrapped up in my faith.

Is it my faith or God's?

I suppose both. I have to exhibit some degree of faith in the process of accepting my position within the family of God; I have to act in faith upon God's promises to me to live in this world; And, God has placed His confidence in me that I will succeed and join Him in eternity. Example: There was a brief time in my life that I was keenly aware of a tremendous faith for healing.

How would I know that? I was a shy person who for the longest time was very timid. Speaking out boldly, or placing my hands upon someone for healing, would have been out of character for me. However, in several circumstances, I saw God's hand at work in extraordinary ways. Here is where the faith aspect comes in. God's word tells us to lay our hands on the sick, and they will recover. There is no emotion needed in that, merely obedience. The faith part is acting and letting God do what he said he would.

"Not with bodily eyes, for at present he is not to be looked upon in this manner, but with the eye of the understanding, or with the eye of faith; for faith is a seeing of the Son;" ( John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible)

Having read several commentaries on the passage, I agree with Gill. I believe that the intent is to focus on Jesus at all times and in every circumstance, but that seems impossible to do. When I was at work, I was barraged by customers, to the point that I barely had time for a thought of my own.

Where and how do I squeeze God into this hectic scene?

I know I am not alone in this struggle, because it is a human struggle, and it does not take a detective to realize that few people invest quality time with God to the degree that He becomes predominant in their thinking. For me to say, I am looking at Jesus with the eye of my faith makes it sound like I am very spiritual, although I sometimes wish I could be like Enoch and simply walk off the earth, that will never happen. In reality, this ability to stay focused on God seems to imply some act of our inward man that can operate aside from the circumstances the body is experiencing. What we are talking about here could be nothing more than the ability to reason, and that ability to reason would have to include the mind, would it not?

For the skeptics who think this inward man talk is something new age, I give you Paul's own words.

2 Corinthians 4:16 NASB 16) Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

If you consider our beginnings then this inward man idea may make more sense. In Genesis 1:27 we see God creating man in His image.

NASB “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

God's image is a spirit, therefore the man was a spirit, and, just like the Father, eternal. We don't see a body on the man until Genesis 2:7, after the completion of the earth.

John 4:23-24 NASB "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24) "God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."

This plays a role in our understanding of death as well, for the spirit never dies. Since the spirit never dies, then how did Adam understand this death that was to come upon him should he partake of the forbidden fruit? Because of the eternal nature of the spirit, death, in one regard, would have to mean eternal separation from the Father God. God, in the form of Jesus, had no intention of allowing that to happen as long as He could do something about it, and therefore, through Christ's activities in “death”, we were redeemed. Paul, in Ephesians, speaks of a mystery.

Ephesians 1:6-9 NASB to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. 7) In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace 8) which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight 9) He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him.

It is almost overwhelming when you let it all sink in.

It would seem that the spirit, which wars against the flesh, can function independently of the body.

Galatians 5:17 NASB For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

If that is the case then I should be able to have a conversation with you and the Father at the same time. In truth, I am not that good. If I have too many conversations going on at the same time, then someone is going to lose in the battle for my attention.

I believe that Paul was speaking to this distinction between the spirit and the flesh when he wrote:

For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. 1 Corinthians 14:14 NASB

Perhaps I am missing the point. It may be that Paul is saying that the spirit bypasses human reasoning. I have never been able to pray in the spirit without involving my mind, as something had to initiate this conversation. That does not mean that if I am praying in the spirit (that means praying in tongues to me,) that I am always keenly aware of what I am praying, but I always have a general idea.

Do not despair at the apparent futility of this exercise of the tongue for James tells us that God gives wisdom to those that ask. Is he talking about understanding everything that you might say in tongues? Probably not, but at least we have the opportunity to understand a great deal of what we say in tongues.

Since the topic had to do with fixing our eyes on Jesus. I think we have found that there is so much more to this simplistic phrase. Fixing my eyes on Jesus entails all of me, body soul and spirit. And, the spirit wants to take a well-needed advantage of the desire to commune with the Father. Now, this is where I could move into an entire teaching on aspects of our communications with, not only the Father but the body of Christ as well.

Back to my struggles with fixing my eyes on Jesus (A funny thing happened as I wrote this. I slipped up and wrote ears instead of eyes; I have since fixed that error. Why that might be funny is because if we could hear what God is saying, and respond, then maybe we would be walking as Enoch did. We have no evidence that Enoch saw God. So then, any seeing would have been by faith. Hearing, on the other hand, is a different story altogether.)

So, as I was trying to deal with the continual onslaught of customers at work, I could at the same time be praying in the spirit on the inside If I can pray in the spirit, then I can have communication with the Father at the same time too. I think it would primarily be Him talking to me.

The trick in this is to fine-tune your listening skills.

You should be aware that there are too few of us that have any clue how to listen to others. With your insight, you picked up on something. How does one fine-tune their listening skills so that God becomes the focus? Prayer, which is merely conversations you are having with God, often on behalf of others; that, and spending time in His word. The words that God uses currently, are no different in theme, from those he has already spoken. Trust me on this one, God can speak your language. How many translations of the Bible are there?, many, and yet He has brought innumerable lives into the family by speaking their language or slang. There is always the skeptic who does not believe that God speaks all the time. While God is not just incessantly rambling to hear His head rattle, as we often do, but there is a purpose in everything He says.

Keep this in mind as you read your Bible; everything in that book has a purpose. For example, why does the Gospel of John emphasize things like the cloth that was folded so precisely in the tomb (there was a reason); why is the trip to Samaria a three-day journey?; Why did Jesus go to the Samaritans, they were effectively Gentiles, and going there was contrary to his stated mission? There are things that all throughout the Bible that seem like nothing and yet the Jewish leadership believes that when the Messiah returns (he already did) that he will explain even the spaces between the letters; they are that serious about God's word. If only we were that serious about His Word as well.

Jesus had a thing for hookers.

A former prostitute overwhelmed by the realization that God loved her exclaimed, “Jesus had a thing for hookers.”

Yes, yes he did. But in case you feel left out, he also had a thing for the broken, the poor, the downtrodden, outcasts, sick, demon possessed, and apparently the dead.

You can’t go around making statements like that if you cannot back them up. So here is a few:

Matthew, the tax collector

This man was hated.

Rome only tolerated the tax collectors because of the money, and we can be sure that no decent Jew would have anything to do with him.

Look at what the Pharisees inferred about him.

And having seen this, the Pharisees were saying to His disciples, For what reason with the tax collectors and men stained with such vices and crimes is your teacher eating? And having heard this, He said, No need do those have who are in sound health, of a doctor, but those who are ill; (Wuest’s translation of Matthew 9:9)

Jesus sought Matthew out, not the other way around. A social outcast in Jewish society, his only friends were those who did the same things.

The woman caught in adultery.

John 8:3-11 ISV But the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery. After setting her before them, (4) they said to him, "Teacher, this woman has been caught in the very act of adultery. (5) Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women to death. What do you say?" (6) They said this to test him, so that they might have a charge against him. But Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. (7) When they persisted in questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let the person among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." (8) Then he bent down again and continued writing on the ground. (9) When they heard this, they went away one by one, beginning with the oldest, and he was left alone with the woman standing there. (10) Then Jesus stood up and said to her, "Woman, where are your accusers? Hasn't anyone condemned you?" (11) She said, "No one, sir." Then Jesus said, "I don't condemn you either. Go home, and from now on do not sin any more."

Jesus did not just stumble upon this situation, they Pharisees, in an effort to trap, hunted this woman down and threw her at his feet. Any good Jew would have stoned her.

Does anyone else ever ask, what happened to the man? Women, unless they are hooking, do not, as a rule, pursue men, it is usually the other way around.

I want so much to believe that this might have been Mary Magdalene.

Try to imagine how she responded to Jesus actions toward her.

I know what religion has tried to teach me; that after demonstrating appropriate contrition of spirit, and an extended investment of time in the Word, she would have come to the full realization that she needed Jesus Christ. This would have led her to a place of public confession of her sins, allowing for the redeeming work of God, and over time she was changed into the perfect person that God intended.

Hog wash.

Having never experience anyone or a love like that, she walked away changed. If it has never happened to you, you will never understand.

I can equate this a couple of ways. A book I read, titled “The Shack” was one that changed me, for I have never understood God to be so personal. I walked away from that book with an understanding of love for the Father, and Jesus, like I had never known before. Sure, I knew that God loved me, from a distance, but now I seemed to know that he cared. Another way I experienced this mercy and love is through the broken path my life has taken. I now understand mercy more than you will ever know.

No, that day she walked away different. She walked away with a longing for a relationship with the man who cared for her.

Could the world see a problem with a statement like that? Of course, and I can understand it. It is our broken nature that prevents us from seeing something like the depth of God’s love; our bodies and mind are incapable of grasping fully what his love is, and how he feels about us. Why do you think there are so many marital failures in the world. Unable to communicate with each other we confide in someone else. That seems ok at first, but then you feel so loved all of a sudden. Your appreciation turns to want and then what happens? In the world, the total destruction of a marital relationship.

Look at what the love of God can do to you, and for you.

Luke 7:36-50 NIV When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. (37) A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. (38) As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them. (39) When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is--that she is a sinner."

Let’s take a slight break in the passage. Simon (Peter) must have fancied himself a devout Jew. (Peter is a story all his own.) But in case Jesus was not paying attention to his surroundings Peter gives him the update. This woman touching you, (that should not have happened regardless) is a sinner!

I am laughing as I write this. How would Peter have known this? 

 

Luke 7:40 NIV Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said.

Peter tried to straighten out God himself. Instead of chewing him out for his shallow, judgmental, stupidity, he tells him a story (a parable.) This may have been someone who Peter knew, therefore having an even bigger impact on Peter.

Luke 7:41-50 NIV "Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. (42) Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?" (43) Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said. (44) Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. (45) You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. (46) You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet.

I know it is not important to you, but I have a t-shirt that says, “Actions speak louder than words!” There is a scriptural reference that eludes me right now, but it speaks volumes to me. People can say anything they want, and it can even sound heartfelt, but if you cannot produce then you need to go home. We used to be able to go to the local dairy and get a truck load of that. Your mouth is writing checks that it cannot cash.

This woman did not need anyone to tell her that. She, having been impacted by the loving God, and she is not even forgiven yet, is pouring out her heart in love toward someone who showed her a mercy she had never experienced in her life.

(47) Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little." (48) Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." (49) The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" (50) Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

He knew what her sins were, it did not matter. He would have done it all, just for her. All that sarcasm I spouted on about meant nothing to Jesus. There were no hoops, just action. Jesus just got through explaining how it works to Peter. Now here she is, showing, anyway she knew how, that love in return.

I read a book called “Jesus the man” by Kahlil Gibran. I would not recommend it, but there was one thing that I took away from it, and that was Mary Magdalene’s description of Jesus, and his response to her.

She tells of how he came into her “garden” and sat upon her bench. Spying him through the window, she longed for him. He was, to her, a good-looking, muscular man. She described his face, and the relaxed, but far away look as he stared off into the distance.

She approached him and, like the others, invited him in. She knew what she would do with him, but Jesus was different, and he changed everything. He responded to her like no man had ever spoken. He said, “I have loved you like no man has ever loved you.” She said it was like he looked right through her. He seemed as though he knew my every thought, my every deed, and yet would disclose none of them. So vulnerable and yet so safe. Made speechless by his words she stood there. He on the other hand stood, clasped her hand with both of his; thanked her, and turning walked away. She was forever changed.

The man at the pool.

John 5:1-9 NIV Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. (2) Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. (3) Here a great number of disabled people used to lie--the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. (5) One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. (6) When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?" (7) "Sir," the invalid replied, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me." (8) Then Jesus said to him, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk." (9) At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath,

I suspect that this was not the first trip through this area for there is an amazing amount of information about the setting.

Of all the people there why this man? One of the things we know is that he was a Jew. How would we know that? Because, excited after being healed, he did not go home, he apparently decided to celebrate around the temple drawing the attention of the Jewish leadership. They are the one’s that said the law forbids you! They were not concerned with the nations and how they lived their lives, but they were concerned with a Jew that was breaking the law.

Did you ever think about that? This man laid there for years, and yet had a reasonable degree of clothing on. 

What was it about him that said, “I am a Jew?”

There was only one significant indicator and that was the piece of cloth with the tassels that had the blue stripe in it. This is the same piece of clothing that David cut when Saul came into the cave of Adullam to relieve himself.

Someone must have shown some care for the man by the pool, but we can’t find them anywhere.

The story tells us that the entire area was filled with paralyzed and disabled. The NIV called him invalid. Did you ever stop to consider that the word invalid conveys the meaning of unsound. Everyone lying around the pool was unsound, if for no other reason, the lack of intimate relationship with the Father.

Another thing you should have picked up on.

John 5:6 NIV When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to get well?"

Two things strike me about this. Jesus took the time, to find out something about the man. He learned that he had been here a long time. Why was that important? Asking questions got those around him focused on the subject matter, and perhaps even why. The other thing I notice. Why of all these people, did he choose this man?

I suspect that Jesus, of all people, knew the man's history and ailments, but then Jesus freely gave up his place in heaven to be a man. Did that restrict his knowledge of what was going on? Not at all, but this should come as a relief, everything he did, he gained through the Holy Spirit, just as we can.

The Samaritan woman.

This story baffled me because I could not understand the vile hatred the Jews had for the Samaritans. After going into bondage, one of the kings holding them captive decides that leaving the land vacant is not the best idea, so he substitutes a people in the place of Israel. Samaria then becomes the capital city, and the priests this king brings in to lead the people, take them even deeper in the worship of false gods. The Jews despised them, partly because they were a mixed race, and yet they tried to act the pompous role.

John 4:7-9 NIV When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" (8) (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.) (9) The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

She could not even come when the other women would come. She had been thrown out of their club, and openly talking to a man was forbidden for a decent woman. 

How did she know he was a Jew? That same identifying garment that the man by the pool had on. She knew exactly what it meant.

What was result of her encounter?

John 4:39-43 NIV Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman's testimony, "He told me everything I ever did." (40) So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. (41) And because of his words many more became believers. (42) They said to the woman, "We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world." (43) After the two days he left for Galilee.

She was the one who told Jesus, “I know that Messiah" (called Christ) "is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.” That does not mean that they would know him when he showed up, she just proved that.

How would anyone have known? Sure they had the prophecies, but that required you keeping them in your thinking, and then being on the look out for them to happen. Surely there was someone like that. Daniel was reading through a scroll of Jeremiah, when he realizes that Israel’s captivity is almost over. There is no happenstance, God had everything planned out.

Alright, you are paying attention, looking for the clues, but there were many boys born in Bethlehem that year. Herod knew that as well and had them all killed, and he widened the age range, just in case.

God knew he would have to make himself known. Who was he dealing with? The descendants of Adam, and Adam’s new and not so improved sin nature caused him to try to hide from God. Life between God and man would never be the same. There was only one way to fix it, and that was to restore the relationship by buying the man back. Yes, there is more to it than that, but you get the idea. God had to prove himself at every appearing since.

One of the first outlaw bikers.

Judges 11:1 NIV Jephthah the Gileadite was a mighty warrior. His father was Gilead; his mother was a prostitute.

There are so many things that seem insignificant in the bible, and yet speak volumes to those paying attention. Jephthah made it into the book of Hebrews’ hall of fame. Merely recounting what he did would have, and should have inspired us all. But it is this phrase, “his mother was a prostitute” that will help to make him.

I called him the outlaw biker, but his life did not start that way, none of them do. They were all cute little babies that did not talk back or slap at you when you touched them. No, something had to make them turn.

One of my favorite old songs was one by Waylon Jennings, and it has a line in it that goes like this, “my heroes have always been cowboys.” Why do you suppose that is? Cowboys were good guys and bad. They could take a punch, or in the case of John Wayne, a bullet or two, and act like it was a scratch. They rescued or rustled, and some, when they got caught and hanged, would still spit at your feet in defiance. They were tough as nails, but they too were cute little babies at some point.

Jephthah was not the only son.

It says that Gilead’s wife, not the prostitute, also bore him more sons. In the chronology of this family it appears that Jephthah was the oldest son. The “legitimate” sons drove Jephthah out of the house. Think about that. Either Gilead hated Jephthah, possibly because there was always some embarrassment associated with who his mother was. Or he taught these other sons this hatred. It just occurred to me that Jephthah may not have grown up in the household directly. Wow, this could get deep, it is certainly getting uglier.

It is clear that Gilead had little control over how decently his other boys acted. The idealistic scenery of the Ponderosa ranch, and Ben Cartright, the patriarch of the family, raising three boys, as a single parent, into the fine men we watched for years on television, did not happen here.

There was some huge breakdown of family values going on here. But to give them the benefit of doubt, the nation was ravaged yearly.

Judges 10:6-8 NIV Again the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD. They served the Baals and the Ashtoreths, and the gods of Aram, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites and the gods of the Philistines. And because the Israelites forsook the LORD and no longer served him, (7) he became angry with them. He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and the Ammonites, (8) who that year shattered and crushed them. For eighteen years they oppressed all the Israelites on the east side of the Jordan in Gilead, the land of the Amorites.

Jephthah is driven out.

Judges 11:3 NIV So Jephthah fled from his brothers and settled in the land of Tob, where a gang of scoundrels gathered around him and followed him.

What causes people to follow you?

For some it might be their eloquent manner of speech. I believe our current President is in office because he said the right things, in a convincing tone. He promised change. Do a little research into what the government plans on doing to it’s citizens and you will agree, change is coming. I do not believe that this was the case with Jephthah. Scoundrels are rarely interested in talk.

David, before he became king, had to flee for his life. As he was “hiding” men gathered to him also. What were they described as? The downtrodden, the poor, the oppressed, the divorced, the hungry, men angry with the government, and generally scoundrels.

Do scoundrels occasionally cause you grief? Absolutely, many have no concerns about democratic process, and you may be king as long as we don’t kill you. Having come back from a battle, where they served a mercenaries, they were all exhausted and hungry. What did they come home to? Nothing, for the town had been sacked and their families were gone. These scoundrels wanted to kill David, for what? It was not his fault. 

 

These men gathered around Jephthah because he had become like them. One of the things that stands out in this story is that Jephthah learned what is was to be a Jew. He would not have been included with that hall of fame distinction if it were other wise. In an attempt to clarify what I am pointing out I will use a line from an old “BC”comic strip, by Johnny Hart. There were several of these in which the cave man would walk along the beach, look down at, or pick up a clam, and make a discovery. This excited so much that he would shout out, in case anyone could hear him. In one instance he shouts out, “clams have scruples!”Jephthah seemed to have scruples.

Living were they did, on the outskirts of town, they seemed to be less affected by the invaders that Israel suffered under. When the leadership of town finally had enough of the invasions they came to Jephthah.

Judges 11:7 NIV Jephthah said to them, "Didn't you hate me and drive me from my father's house? Why do you come to me now, when you're in trouble?"

These same brothers that threw him out were now the town leadership. Something is terribly wrong with that picture. 

 

I love his response, “Why do you come to me now, when you are in trouble?” As though the trouble did not effect Jephthah. Of course it did, but then they may have just stolen it back.

Jephthah proposes a deal. If I fight for you, then I am in charge; meet my secretary of state! Jephthah did fight for Israel, and ruled over them. Did a fairly good job of it to, for he led Israel for six years.

I guess you can ascertain that Jephthah had the potential of being a real mess. He hung out with scoundrels, and may have been one himself, but God sees something else. God looks on the heart, and knows the character of the person, a thing that many others cannot see.

When you read a story like Jephthahs’ and the aspects that created are not clearly defined, then you have to step back and look at the bigger picture. People are not born killers. Yes, there is a sin nature in all of us, and only receiving Jesus Christ gives us the edge we need to not pursue our natures cataclysmic demise.

I know that there are people that will argue against that statement, so let me point something out. Noah is the example that Jesus gave of what it will be like in the end. Guess what, we are there.

Scripture says:

Genesis 6:5 NIV The LORD saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.

Genesis 6:12-13 KJV And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. (13) And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.

The bible is filled with incredible stories like this, history really. And God clearly had a heart for everyone of them. He chose to use them, taking the messy paths that their lives took them on, and made something good out of it. People that made marked differences in our lives. Chances are we would not be here if it were not for the Jephthahs’, the Jonahs’, and women like Mary Magdalene, for they showed us a God that cares and shows mercy beyond all expectation.

If you were to ask I would tell you to run to Him. He has always been ready to take you in, no matter where life has taken you. His name is Jesus Christ, the risen one.

Every one that sins, is a slave to sin.

Don’t blame it on me; it was Jesus that said it – the man who came to set us free - “everyone that sins, is a slave to sin.”

John 8:31-36 NIrV Jesus spoke to the Jews who had believed him. "If you obey my teaching," he said, "you are really my disciples. (32) Then you will know the truth. And the truth will set you free." (33) They answered him, "We are Abraham's children. We have never been slaves of anyone. So how can you say that we will be set free?" (34) Jesus replied, "What I'm about to tell you is true. Everyone who sins is a slave of sin. (35) A slave has no lasting place in the family. But a son belongs to the family forever. (36) So if the Son of Man sets you free, you will really be free.

That statement, in and of itself is extraordinarily defeating. Why?

Because we all sin on a daily basis, therefore by default we are all slaves to that sin. And yet my arrogance wants to tell you that I know this not to be entirely true.

Are there some things that do not have mastery over me?

I am certainly better at fending off some aspects of my sinful nature more effectively that others. Let me honest with you, I have a hard time with anger; I exhibited some just the other day. While I allow it to get the best of me at times, and I choose to use my mouth, on occasion to express it, I have not killed anyone (If I found you injuring my loved ones I cannot guarantee you that I would restrain myself.) Spare me your judgment, you foul, lying demon, for you have your horrid issues as well, but you have managed to keep them hidden from view, as you dabble in the darkness.

Allow me to give you give you an example of a secret sin. The mother that cannot and will not allow her children, or anyone around her to grow up, hence she talks baby talk to them, disrespecting them, and ultimately attempting to control them by her words.

What is that called? Witchcraft. If you are trying to control others, though the means may vary, you are operating under the authority of a demonic spirit, and performing witchcraft.

Revelation 22:15 NIrV "Outside the city are the dogs and those who practice witchcraft. Outside are also those who commit sexual sins and murder. Those who worship statues of gods, and everyone who loves and does what is false, are outside too.

Without having a relationship with Jesus Christ, you will be excluded from entering the city of God, the New Jerusalem. But I have accepted him, and know it. Could my relationship be better? Absolutely. Even within my own relationships with loved ones I could definitely work at strengthening them.

We, those who are in Christ because of our acceptance of his death and life for us, are in him. We have a promise of hope; a promise of his return for us; a promise of his gathering us, as a family, back to the Father, therefore I anxiously await his return, and I know that he is coming back to retrieve me and those he loves to spend eternity with him. So I do not have to carry a fear of this exclusion that Revelation 22:15 alludes to. Certainly someone does, but that is for another time.

Does the ability to not give into some aspect of sin have anything to do with human effort?

I suppose the answer to that is couched in the fact that God is the creator and giver of knowledge. Get real – Sin is the result of partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then I can make the statement, everyman knows good. Ah, but can he perform it?

I brought up the subject of Cain and Abel to someone recently.

I pointed out that Cain killed Abel, not the other way around. The listeners response was immediate, and went something like this, “Cain murdered because he was guilt stricken over not bringing his best before God, there in contrast to Abel he was unacceptable.” Psycho babble!

Born with a sin nature Cain and Abel had to fight off their broken spirits nature to sin, just as we do.

Genesis 4:3-7 NIrV After some time, Cain gathered some of the things he had grown. He brought them as an offering to the LORD. (4) But Abel brought the fattest parts of some of the lambs from his flock. They were the male animals that were born first to their mothers. The LORD was pleased with Abel and his offering. (5) But he wasn't pleased with Cain and his offering. So Cain became very angry. His face was sad. (6) Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why are you looking so sad? (7) Do what is right. Then you will be accepted. If you don't do what is right, sin is waiting at your door to grab you. It longs to have you. But you must rule over it."

Cain, knowing to do right, stood there for several seconds as he weighed his options, just as I do. Foolishly, he thought that God would not figure this out. Assuming there is no one else to pass judgment against Cain, how about the people that birthed him. The lack of response from Adam and Eve is something I never really thought about before. This intrigues me, but again, for another time.

The real question I was asking is: What prevented Abel from killing Cain? Abel could have passed judgment upon Cain, killing him for not doing the sacrifice correctly. Not that Abel had anymore right to pass judgment than we do, but what is clear is that one was more inclined to think this process through to a tragic end, carrying out the act. Lawyers tend to call this malice of forethought, or premeditated murder. We Christians just call it sin. Was Abel capable of murder, or at the least sinning? Certainly.

Was this all just a matter of bringing your best before God? I do not think so. Why, because in the passage I gave (see Genesis 4: 3-7) God says to Cain, prior to the murder, “Do what is right, then you will be accepted.” What was right? Offering a sacrifice of a lamb. Yeah, I know, you are struggling with this too. Was not Abel’s sacrifice accepted? Yes! How did Abel know to make a sacrifice? If you are serious you have to admit, we do not have a specific answer to that question. True, we don’t, but we do have a logical path, and we have brains, so let’s use them.

• Man sins, and dies. Does his body change immediately and drastically? No, but physical deterioration does begin. What man had to have noticed immediately was as Obi Wan might have said, he felt a disturbance in the force. Man had to notice a change; something felt different in his spirit. Man suddenly is aware that he is naked and he is ashamed. Something that he had never experienced before. Instead of the close relationship man has had with the Father, he is now hiding from God (something that has followed man ever since the fall.) Oh, everything changed that day.
• Man tries to make clothing because suddenly he knows he’s naked and he is ashamed.
• Man tries to hide from God, but God has no trouble finding the man. God does do something amazing, and that is to show respect, instead of barging in the room screaming, with the direct intent of humiliation.

How does any of this answer the question about where Abel learned to make a sacrifice?

God made clothes for Adam and Eve. Did he just create animal skins, as my ex-girlfriend conjectures? No, God had to kill an animal. And for Abel to know how this was done, and the why of it, only points to one thing; Adam was taught by God, with clear instructions, and Adam then taught Cain and Abel. God would have had no right to make a statement of that nature to Cain, if Adam had not laid the course of action out. (There is the implication that the entire plan of salvation may have been defined in this process. I know, you don’t buy into that either. Why then does the entire eleventh chapter of Hebrews talk about these people as having a hope, a reward, and a home in a city that was to come.)

Things to consider:

1. Abel, without apparent instruction, is making a sacrifice to God, of a lamb.
2. The sacrifice is not spelled out for many years to come.
3. God’s response to Cain over his anger and frustration. “if you do right.” What was right? Apparently Abel’s method of sacrifice.
4. We make assumptions that this was the first time either of them made sacrifice to God. Now that I have opened that can of worms, consider that Cain may have clearly known what to do, done it before, and merely chose not to this time. Beside all that, Lambs cost.
5. Keep in mind that all sin is based in selfishness, and this may exactly what we see happening with Cain.
6. Adam and Eve were suddenly aware that they were naked and tried to cover themselves. God’s response is to make them clothes of animal skins. Animals have an aversion to giving up their skins and we have that to consider.
7. We do see God making clothing out of animal hides for them. This does just happen overnight, and involves a process called tanning. Tanning makes the leather usable, especially against your skin. Man was going to do this on his own after this, and so Adam had to pay attention.
8. If Abel, and most likely Cain, were not there when these instructions were given, then they had to have learned it from someone else, but we do not see anyone else, therefore the only logical choice is Adam. We can make a logical connection between God’s instructions, laid out for Adam and Abel’s future actions, as he sacrificed the lamb that day.

I opened with, “everyone that sins, is a slave to sin.”

Cain was born into sin, and he did not have Paul to tell him that. Like I said, faced with the potential responses to anger, embarrassment, self-pity, humiliation, and anger with God, because after all, God made these lousy rules making it necessary to cover ourselves with the blood of some animal; Cain was a slave before this day began, and clearly he was now captive to it. His anger owned him. He tells God that he is now a marked man; people will try to kill me. (This is whole other path that we won’t cover here.)

What does it mean to be a slave? You do not have the right to decide the course of your day and actions. Are you serious? Yes. But that is so hopeless. Exactly, and there was not a thing we could do about it. There was only one way out, and that was for a relative to redeem us, buy us back from slavery. This is where Jesus Christ comes in. The price owed was our blood, and our souls. No one could give his own life for himself, and there was certainly no one down here, unselfish enough to pay the price for us.

Thank God, there was someone, his name was Jesus. The son of the living God himself.

He voluntarily came down, and poured out his blood that we might live. That day on the cross he forgave the sins of the world, and all they had to do was to accept the fact that he did it.

Paul wrote to the Romans, that Christ died for our sins, and he did. That act took away the penalty of the sin. I no longer have to pay for the sin, in God’s eyes, and He is the last, and moral authority, regardless of what you think. Do I have to pay for my sins while on this earth? Yes. If you are uncontrolled enough to act out your evil, then you should be taken out-of-the-way.

I read Romans several times over; even prepared bible studies so I could teach from the book, but I struggled with the book because there is that want to be free from this sin nature. It seems unnatural to hear about freedom and not want it. I can remember thinking, “if Christ paid for my sin, and took them away, then I can be separated from the sin; right?” Wrong, and that is one of the aspects that Paul talks about. I know what is right, I press hard toward it, but I keep doing things that I no longer want to do. I can understand this. I feel the same way. I do not want to give into the anger, but I am a slave to it.

Sounds pretty hopeless doesn’t it, but it’s not.

Check this out. You are going to have to read this over several times.

Romans 6:1-7 KJV What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? (2) God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? (3) Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? (4) Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (5) For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: (6) Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (7) For he that is dead is freed from sin.

We are dead to sin; get that through your mind.

You have to change your thinking!

I know, you go to church, and all they can tell you is that you’re a sinner. I know of one radio pastor tha cannot get through a sermon without taking a scriptural ball bat to the listener. Even if he is talking about the general world, he is not right in beating people up. You’re a sinner, because the knowledge of good is in as well, you already know that, you struggle with it on a daily basis. What you need to know is that your life is now wrapped up in the one that brought you life. Focus on that.

We are told to meditate on God. What does that mean?

Find things like this passage above and find out what it means to you. Make it your focus until you change the way you think. Doing this establishes the character and nature of the Father in you.

Will you still sin? Absolutely; the trick is we correct our path when we find ourselves going off the correct way. King David said, “your word is light unto my path.” So know that this word that you are going to focus on, and meditate on, is going to make your way clear. Look, in this world you will have tribulations. Those may come in all forms.

An example: I know that I have trained myself to give in easily to anger. It became my defense weapon when I did not learn to use words, or speak correctly. It became my defense against being bullied around by stupid kids that do not have the sense to act right. And I use it to keep up a safety zone around me.

Why? Fear! Fear based in selfishness. Knowing this about myself, I now know that I have to walk away from some people, they are simply not safe to be around, more so because I will react poorly.

We had fifteen minutes left before the store closed Easter evening, and I am on the last fifteen minutes of door duty. I am supposed to be a greeter and ask incoming people “what project are you working on?” Many times the response is, “a light bulb change.” In the last ten minutes a man and I suppose his mother come my direction with about a thousand dollars worth of stuff. For all I know they are headed out the door with it. Why might that be a problem? Because the exit is at the other end of the store, where the registers are. Could I have asked the question in a different manner? Yes, but I did not. I said, “did you pay for that stuff?” The man, who looked like a redneck, hillbilly, biker, cussed me out, pushes the cart to the returns desk (you can pay for your stuff there) and says, “what does it look like I am doing?” To be honest, I am starting to shake from the adrenalin now pumping through me. I said, “looks like your going through the returns desk!” He cussed at me some more, telling me where I could go. May I be honest with you. At this point, if it was my store, I would not only beat you down, but make sure you never speak to me like that again. Ah, but it is not, and I know my limit. I had to choose to walk away, beside a friend of mine just happened to walk up and say, “you are off this door duty, let’s get out of here.” This diffused a little bit. I told him quickly what the guy had done, but also told hm that if I had stayed there a few more seconds I would be out of a job. I do not need that kind of help.

Having had some time to ponder what happened yesterday. I have decided it was demonic. Do not be foolish. Satan knows your weakness, that may not be entirely true, but he certainly knows the ones that you blabbed off about. I have told many people that I struggle with anger, every male in my family does, therefore I am a target. And I am convinced that, though I have several days where I have been keenly aware of God’s presence, this was brought in to bring me down. Much like an alcoholic, I had to make a conscience decision to not react in anger. Yes, I gave into just a bit; I am also pretty good with sarcasm as well.

Have I got this imagery of being a dead man, in Christ solidly in my head? NO!, but I am working at it. And that is all we can do. We will continue to struggle with this until the day of his return. On that day we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye, and this pain we deal with on a daily basis will be gone.

But until then choose to be a righteous, God driven person.