I had an “apostrophe” this morning while driving to work. (That was for you Lisa :) ) I like to drive with the radio off sometimes and it seems like when I do, my thoughts just wander to and fro. It drives my husband nuts when he is driving with me because I will have all these thoughts jumbling around in my head and then a question or remark comes out seemingly out of the blue (at least to him) and he’ll wonder “where did that come from?” I then connect the dots for him and it sounds something like this….”I saw that sign back there that made me think of this thing and then I thought about how this one time…and it reminded me of ….. Hence the question whatever happened to….?” But I digress….what hit me this morning was the true nature of the battle of sin.
Now here we go down the rabbit hole….I was praying and meditating a couple of weeks ago about what God wants me to do next. I really wanted to hear from Him and not take off in my own direction just for the sake of forward motion. I remembered this study I did with some friends a while back in 1st Samuel. At one point King Saul does not wait to hear from the Lord (through Samuel) and Samuel Rebukes him (Chapter 13). During this meditation, I heard God telling me to fast so that I can hear from Him. Now growing up Lutheran, fasting to me was what we did at Lent. We give up something that we like such as Chocolate for 40 days because Jesus fasted for 40 days, but I now know there has to be something more to this than my tradition, especially since God Himself is asking me to fast. What do I fast from? How long do I fast?
I decided to Google the key principals of fasting. I came upon several conflicting articles but then happened upon one from IHOP (the International House of Prayer), which is a source I am familiar with and trust. It was a great article with lots of good information, but the thing that stood out for me was from this paragraph:
“Fast and pray in order to humble yourself and purify your worship. In fasting we are not trying to get something from God, but seeking to realign our hearts’ affections with His. In fasting we can more readily say, “We love you, Lord, more than anything in the world.” Lust of any kind is perverted worship, but fasting enables us to cleanse the sanctuary of our hearts from every other rival.”
Fasting is a way to weaken or overcome our flesh nature while prayer and meditation during the fast strengthens our spirit.
Okay now back to this morning. I am driving in my car, and I am chewing on ice. For those who know me, you know that I do this ALL THE TIME. I have even broken teeth doing this, but yet because of my Anemia, it is one craving I cannot seem to get past. I was thinking about how even though I know this is bad for me; I desire it, so I do it. It is the same with certain foods (5 Guys Cheeseburgers come to mind). It got me thinking about what is sin in my life…….
Now on to my epiphany; We like to point at this or that and say to ourselves (and others) “that is sin.” In many cases we point to the 10 Commandments or some Mosaic Law, however, in Romans 7-8 Paul talks at great length about the struggle of sin and law. In verse 7:10 he writes “I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.” He goes on to write that the living by the law is good, but living by the Spirit is what we should do. We have been released from the condemnation of the law in order that we may live by the Spirit. The Spirit convicts us of sin in our lives. Sin is those things in our flesh nature that control us, addictions, cravings, secret desires. We may not even always act on them, but still allow them to control or dominate our thoughts. For me ICE IS SIN. <----My Epiphany! How many times have I said to others…”you can conquer this”…..”Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world”? Yet while saying it I was probably chomping away on my ice. Okay…I am not saying this in such a public place so that the next time you see me chomping away on ice you can point this out to me and “hold me accountable”, just merely to share my thoughts. I am human and I do struggle with (gasp) SIN. I can definitely tell you that ice and bad food is going to be a huge struggle for me and one I am going to have to ponder on for a bit to truly determine the severity of how I allow it to control me and how to conquer this.
I know this may sound silly to some, but sometimes I really feel I have to have ice, and depending upon the severity of my anemia, the cravings come and go. It has no benefit for anemia, but it is well documented.
Hopefully after reading this, you can better understand sin and how God calls us to live Holy complete lives free from this struggle. He gives us the strength and the tools to be “more than conquerors”. I also caution those who would point to sin in others lives and ask you to more closely examine your own. We should see the struggle and relate and feel compassion, for we too face this.
I said recently to a dear friend that I hope that I am never faced with the struggle she has because I am not so sure I would pass the test. Now that I fully realize my own struggle, I realize this is hard!! I totally relate. (Again, I know to some of you chewing ice and eating cheeseburgers seems like a silly struggle, but it’s mine and trust me when I say it is a HUGE one for me.)
I CAN conquer this and there is power in together. I’ll be there to hold your hand and I ask that you be there to hold mine too! I love you because He first loved me.
Your Sister in Christ Jesus
Laura
Now here we go down the rabbit hole….I was praying and meditating a couple of weeks ago about what God wants me to do next. I really wanted to hear from Him and not take off in my own direction just for the sake of forward motion. I remembered this study I did with some friends a while back in 1st Samuel. At one point King Saul does not wait to hear from the Lord (through Samuel) and Samuel Rebukes him (Chapter 13). During this meditation, I heard God telling me to fast so that I can hear from Him. Now growing up Lutheran, fasting to me was what we did at Lent. We give up something that we like such as Chocolate for 40 days because Jesus fasted for 40 days, but I now know there has to be something more to this than my tradition, especially since God Himself is asking me to fast. What do I fast from? How long do I fast?
I decided to Google the key principals of fasting. I came upon several conflicting articles but then happened upon one from IHOP (the International House of Prayer), which is a source I am familiar with and trust. It was a great article with lots of good information, but the thing that stood out for me was from this paragraph:
“Fast and pray in order to humble yourself and purify your worship. In fasting we are not trying to get something from God, but seeking to realign our hearts’ affections with His. In fasting we can more readily say, “We love you, Lord, more than anything in the world.” Lust of any kind is perverted worship, but fasting enables us to cleanse the sanctuary of our hearts from every other rival.”
Fasting is a way to weaken or overcome our flesh nature while prayer and meditation during the fast strengthens our spirit.
Okay now back to this morning. I am driving in my car, and I am chewing on ice. For those who know me, you know that I do this ALL THE TIME. I have even broken teeth doing this, but yet because of my Anemia, it is one craving I cannot seem to get past. I was thinking about how even though I know this is bad for me; I desire it, so I do it. It is the same with certain foods (5 Guys Cheeseburgers come to mind). It got me thinking about what is sin in my life…….
Now on to my epiphany; We like to point at this or that and say to ourselves (and others) “that is sin.” In many cases we point to the 10 Commandments or some Mosaic Law, however, in Romans 7-8 Paul talks at great length about the struggle of sin and law. In verse 7:10 he writes “I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.” He goes on to write that the living by the law is good, but living by the Spirit is what we should do. We have been released from the condemnation of the law in order that we may live by the Spirit. The Spirit convicts us of sin in our lives. Sin is those things in our flesh nature that control us, addictions, cravings, secret desires. We may not even always act on them, but still allow them to control or dominate our thoughts. For me ICE IS SIN. <----My Epiphany! How many times have I said to others…”you can conquer this”…..”Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world”? Yet while saying it I was probably chomping away on my ice. Okay…I am not saying this in such a public place so that the next time you see me chomping away on ice you can point this out to me and “hold me accountable”, just merely to share my thoughts. I am human and I do struggle with (gasp) SIN. I can definitely tell you that ice and bad food is going to be a huge struggle for me and one I am going to have to ponder on for a bit to truly determine the severity of how I allow it to control me and how to conquer this.
I know this may sound silly to some, but sometimes I really feel I have to have ice, and depending upon the severity of my anemia, the cravings come and go. It has no benefit for anemia, but it is well documented.
Hopefully after reading this, you can better understand sin and how God calls us to live Holy complete lives free from this struggle. He gives us the strength and the tools to be “more than conquerors”. I also caution those who would point to sin in others lives and ask you to more closely examine your own. We should see the struggle and relate and feel compassion, for we too face this.
I said recently to a dear friend that I hope that I am never faced with the struggle she has because I am not so sure I would pass the test. Now that I fully realize my own struggle, I realize this is hard!! I totally relate. (Again, I know to some of you chewing ice and eating cheeseburgers seems like a silly struggle, but it’s mine and trust me when I say it is a HUGE one for me.)
I CAN conquer this and there is power in together. I’ll be there to hold your hand and I ask that you be there to hold mine too! I love you because He first loved me.
Your Sister in Christ Jesus
Laura
No comments:
Post a Comment