I Want What I Want

The familiar story of Jonah illustrates the approaches employed to address the deeper problem of the nature of sin. God was seeking to save a people while salvaging a prophet. Resistance and self-sufficiency jumped to the forefront as fear, evidenced by anger, gripped Jonah’s heart at the thought that God would not judge the wicked Ninevites. Jonah’s strategy to resolve the crisis was to ensure that God would destroy the people of Nineveh. Believing he could thwart God’s plan by refusing to participate, Jonah asserted his willfulness to create his own redemptive process. Unwilling to trust God, Jonah allowed his bitterness to fester and employed his own creative solutions. The story ends with God in the process of salvaging Jonah by showing him he has no ability to independently restore control to his life, because God’s plan will prevail.

BIBLE TRUTH
“Those who worship false gods
      turn their backs on all God’s mercies" (Jonah 2:8 NLT).

HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO ME?
Our exhausted supply of resources leaves us alienated. Loneliness invades as our thwarted efforts become evident. The emptiness of our hearts tempts us to continue the vicious cycle of seeking God-substitutes to fill the void. With continued resolve we contrive another plan of employing people, positions, and possessions for our power to live. Eventually the futility of the endeavor becomes evident through social rejection, compromised health, and a lack of personal energy to pursue the pathological dream. Alienated souls now stand stranded beside the road they thought would take them to the place of completion.
“See, they are all foolish, worthless things.
      All your idols are as empty as the wind” (Isa. 41:29 NLT).

PRAYER
LORD, I am crying out to you in my great trouble. I know you will hear and answer me. I am sinking beneath the waves and the waters are closing over me. As my life is slipping away, I am reminded of you, for my salvation comes from you alone. Therefore, I will offer sacrifices to you with the songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows. (Jonah 2:1–9)


(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)


We would love for you to share in the COMMENTS the insights you have received on your journey.

Evidences of Humility

5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God,
      he did not think of equality with God
      as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
      he took the humble position of a slave
      and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
      8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
      and died a criminal’s death on a cross. (Phil. 2:5 – 8 NLT)

Jesus, who is our unparalleled example of humility, while upon earth literally could have been the embodiment of a super hero or the alien from another world with supreme power. He could have wowed the populace and wooed the noble into following Him. Jesus could have been the conqueror of the world.

With His infinite knowledge and authority over the elements He could have ushered in the generation of technology with His unfathomable wisdom. He could have established colleges and schools of philosophy. Jesus was in a strategic position to be the ultimate human. None of which, however, would have saved the souls of humankind from our sins.

Jesus instead chose to make “Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:6 – 8 NJKV).

Jesus chose to be our Savior, submitting perfectly and specifically to the will of His Father. He asserted, “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me” (John 5:30 ESV).

Humility is understanding that your life is not you own, for it has been given by God and is to be directed at His will. See 1 Corinthians 6:12 – 20.

Humility is based in trusting God who loves you and will work all things for His glory and your well-being. See 2 Corinthians 4:7 – 10.

Humility submits your soul to Christ because His blood has purchased it; and therefore, humility realizes that your life is to be spent for His pleasure. See Romans 12:1 – 2.

Humility empties your soul of self concerning any notion that you have rights that entitle you to preferential treatment over another person. See Philippians 2:3 – 4.

Humility is the attitude of the soul when you have removed from your heart any assertion that promotes self-interest over God's will, and is devoid of any resistance that asserts itself against God's purpose. See Philippians 2:5 – 10.

Humility is the soul finding Jesus relevant to every area of life. The humble waits dependently for Christ seeking to “live out your salvation to its full potential with fear and trembling.” See Philippians 2:11 – 12.

Humility is predicated upon the premise that God has the sovereign right to order your steps in any manner that pleases His holy purpose. See Isaiah 45:9, 11 – 12.

Humility is not simply a disposition or an attitude fostered by an attempt to subdue self. Rather humility is a condition of soul shaped into the image of Jesus through the dynamics facilitated by the Holy Spirit. See Galatians 5:16 – 25.

The Holy Spirit, as He leads us to encounter truth, to believe truth, to be traumatized by truth, and to enter into the brokenness fostered by truth, transforms us into a divine person submissive and obedient to His will. Being therefore willing to give up our willfulness, humility becomes the quintessential [representing the most perfect or typical example of a quality or class] essence and manifest state of brokenness.

With these evidences of humility in mind, would you characterize yourself as a humble person?


Insight Journal
In what ways does my life evidence humility?
In what ways does my life NOT evidence humility?

It's Too Hard

When God calls, how do you answer?

Are we really, fully available, or are we only comfortably available?

Remember Moses response to God when he was asked to be God’s spokesman?

...God called to him from the midst of the [burning] bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”

And he said, “Here I am.” (Ex. 3:4 NKJV)

Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” (Ex. 3:10 NKJV)

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”

So He said, “I will certainly be with you....”

Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?”

And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ ” Moreover God said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.’ Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say to them, ‘The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you and seen what is done to you in Egypt; and I have said I will bring you up out of the affliction... to a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’ (Ex. 3:11–17 NKJV)

Then Moses answered and said, “But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’ ” (Ex. 4:1 NKJV)

Then Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

So the LORD said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.”

But he said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.” (Ex. 4:10–13 NKJV)

...I will be with your mouth and with his [Aaron] mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. (Ex. 4:15 NKJV)

People complain that it is just too hard to do what God is asking. When we protest, “It’s too hard,” we are actually stating that God is not keeping His promise to enable us. Even in Old Testament times, the people protested that God’s ways were too difficult, and so they attempted to adjust His standards of holiness. This was God’s response:

“But you dishonor my name with your actions. By bringing contemptible food, you are saying it’s all right to defile the Lord’s table. You say, ‘It’s too hard to serve the LORD,’ and you turn up your noses at my commands,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “Think of it! Animals that are stolen and crippled and sick are being presented as offerings! Should I accept from you such offerings as these?” asks the LORD . . . “For I am a great king,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, “and my name is feared among the nations!” (Mal. 1:12–14 NLT)

So how is it that we manage to believe we do not have to give God our best? Why are we convinced that He is asking something of us that is too difficult? When will we choose to believe God’s truth instead of falling for Satan’s deceptions? Moses was whining too. “And the LORD told Moses, ‘When you arrive back in Egypt, go to Pharaoh and perform all the miracles I have empowered you to do’” (Ex. 4:21 NLT). In the midst of all our weakness we can rest assured that God will empower us to accomplish what He desires of us.

Satan has perverted the concept of submission, similarly to the concept of dependency, so we believe it is something to be avoided. Through submission we yield our hearts to God’s will and our wills to God’s heart. This surrender creates a reciprocal harmony of fellowship between God and us. Together we walk step by step with the heartbeat of God. We do not have to come up with our own plans or follow our own processes; we can compliantly follow His way. This submission establishes the path of restoration to love, joy, and peace, and produces grateful obedience.

Obedience is the place where divine enablement meets with personal empowerment. Our desires are not merely to rigidly do what God wants us to do, but to fervently seek to know and pursue His will. Our motivation for living is to connect to God in a vibrant relationship where we are studying His Word and communing in prayer and following His design. This yearning for prayer and assimilating the Scriptures is for the purpose of understanding His heart and applying His principles to every aspect of our lives, realizing that His designs are perfect. It is our responsibility to allow God’s Word to infiltrate the void created when we yielded our independence to God. We bow before God, willing to be governed by His sovereignty.

(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)

Insight Journal
Prayerfully discern: What lies am I believing that keep me from an intimate relationship with Christ?

God's Submarine Ride

(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)

The familiar story of Jonah illustrates the approaches employed to address the deeper problem of the nature of sin. God was seeking to save a people while salvaging a prophet. Resistance and self-sufficiency jumped to the forefront as fear, evidenced by anger, gripped Jonah’s heart at the thought that God would not judge the wicked Ninevites. Jonah’s strategy to resolve the crisis was to ensure that God would destroy the people of Nineveh. Believing he could thwart God’s plan by refusing to participate, Jonah asserted his willfulness to create his own redemptive process. Unwilling to trust God, Jonah allowed his bitterness to fester and employed his own creative solutions.

The command to obey God produced a crisis for Jonah, the messenger of God. The possibility of God being merciful and compassionate to Nineveh pressured him to the point of stress and anxiety. Advancing his way over God’s will, Jonah attempted to resolve the crisis and restore control to himself, prompting Jonah to address his redemptive need with a plan to go in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord.

Prompted by the lie that he could actually live independently, Jonah boarded a ship, hoping to escape from the Lord. Temporary relief came as he slept in the hold of the ship. God disrupted Jonah’s comfort with a storm prepared especially for him. Invested in ignoring God, Jonah also shut out the thrashing of the waves, the pitch and yaw of the ship, and the shifting of the cargo until the captain of the ship demanded Jonah seek his God for a redemptive plan. What irony!

But Jonah sought to resolve the crisis with another self-made plan involving a death wish: “Throw me into the sea” (Jonah 1:12 NLT). In the belly of the great fish (Rosscup calls it a “submarine ride”) God once again offered His redemptive plan. After three days and three nights Jonah was ready to follow God’s truth and acknowledged, “My salvation comes from the LORD alone” (Jonah 2:9 NLT). Submitting to God’s plan, he allowed the power of God to resolve his fears and take over his will.

“Then the LORD spoke to Jonah a second time: . . . This time Jonah obeyed” (Jonah 3:1, 3 NLT). When the people of Nineveh “put a stop to their evil ways” (Jonah 3:10 NLT), Jonah’s greatest fear came true. An additional crisis was produced, and depression followed. Jonah’s submission to God’s will did not include adopting God’s heart. He had no desire to see the people saved who were steeped in perversion and debauchery. Self-sufficiency regained its foothold, and with another death wish Jonah pleaded, “Just kill me now, LORD! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen” (Jonah 4:3 NLT). Invested in his own plan, his depression intensified while he justified his mental illness. “The LORD replied, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about this?’ . . . ‘Yes,’ Jonah retorted, ‘even angry enough to die!’” (Jonah 4:4, 9 NLT). The story ends with God in the process of salvaging Jonah by showing him he has no ability to independently restore control to his life, because God’s plan will prevail.

Despite our best efforts, our plans cannot measure up to God’s design. Our feeble attempts to live independently from God result in disastrous consequences. Perversion propels us to further crisis, although God continues to assert His truth that we must be desperately dependent on Him in every area of our lives. Through Christ’s redemptive process we have a new set of options that can overcome guilt, shame, and fear with an overflow of His love, joy, and peace if we are willing to be desperately dependent.

Insight Journal
Describe a situation in which you used selfish ambition instead of relying on the Spirit’s fruit of gentleness. How would this situation be described differently if you were relying on the Spirit’s fruit of gentleness?

Christ Is Relevant to Doubt

To believe or not to believe that is truly the question. Doubt has become a standard problem within the Christian community. Often it is said, by those coming for spiritual guidance, "I am doubting my salvation," "I am doubting God's will for my life," and/or "I doubt if God can love me." Certainly doubt is a heavy burden upon those who bear under its load.

The Christian can have times of uncertainty that lead to anxiety because they do not understand how Christ is relevant to their particular situation. However, what is generally regarded as doubt is something different. Doubt, as is referred to here in its pathological form, is not typically remedied by truth, so it is a condition of the soul's unhealthy state. Doubt is created to avoid confronting the reality that we are abiding in unbelief. Doubt then is a defense mechanism that defends us from having to confess our state of unbelief and therefore protects us from our personal responsibility to believe. This defense then allows us to continue in the fleshly controls afforded by unbelief. Hence, doubt is blatantly condemned in Scripture.

6 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.
7 For that man ought not to expect that he will receive anything from the Lord,
8 being a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. (James 1:6-8 NASB)

The NLT translates the word doubt as "divided loyalty."

6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do. (James 1:6-8 NLT)

“Divided loyalty” of the heart speaks even more specifically to the issue of a toxic soul. We may say, "I can't believe" when in fact it is that I am choosing not to believe. When it comes down to it, doubt is based in not being willing to give our souls fully to God due to wanting to reserve some part of the flesh for self. Therefore, no matter what changes within our situation, we are prone to perceive the changes in accordance with unbelief and the desire to maintain control. When we cover unbelief with doubt, we will always color the circumstances with the hues of unbelief. The only truth that will release us from bondage is to confess to God our actual choice to not believe Him in regards to our plight.

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." (Matt. 6:24 ESV)

We may have a vast knowledge of the Bible, but if this knowledge has never changed us it is because we do not believe what we know to be true. When we believe, we act on what we know is certain. “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see” (Heb. 11:1 NLT). It does not require complete comprehension. Absolute understanding is not a necessity. What is essential is that we trust and follow in God’s way. “You will hear a word spoken behind you, saying, ‘This is the correct way, walk in it,’ whether you are heading to the right or the left” (Isa. 30:21 NLT).

Our inability to trust reveals that we do not believe God at His word. It is imperative that we acknowledge and confess our unbelief. Authentically facing the reality that we do not believe God results in the trauma of truth that challenges our value system. When we acknowledge our inadequacy, genuine concern for ourselves motivates us to seek God for help.

“Unless your faith is firm,
      I cannot make you stand firm” (Isa. 7:9 NLT).

Insight Journal
Are you willing to convert what you refer to as “doubt” and repent of your sin of unbelief?
Are you willing to forsake your unbelief to embrace the truth by believing?

(Selected excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis.)

Great Summer Plans

(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)

So if people, positions, or possessions do not offer freedom or the solution for enjoying a complete life, what is the solution? Galatians 5:16 (NIV) supplies the answer: “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” We are to conduct our lives “by the Spirit.” This requires a relationship with God’s Spirit in which we dependently trust Him with all our needs. The catch is that brokenness is a prerequisite: we cannot depend on God without first giving up our willfulness. We must give up the right to want what we want and trade it for wanting what God wants. “But I don’t want to give up what I want,” you may whine. Then you are not ready for a desperately dependent relationship on God that results in a life that is divinely enabled. This relationship begins by giving up our self-centered lives in exchange for Christ-centered lives that result from the forgiveness of sin. Without giving up our willfulness, we cannot know the heart of God and want what He wants.

Independent inclinations thrust individuals further into crisis, which perpetuates an unending cycle of futility. At best, self-effort can only temporarily affect the crisis of our lives; it can do nothing to address the deeper problem of sin. In fact, self-effort exacerbates the problem, actually increasing the intensity of the nature of sin’s impact on us. Now we have, as a result of our best solutions, even more guilt, shame, and fear. We are even more alienated from God than before. We only sink deeper into the bondage of our sinfulness. Because of humanity’s depravity, we are stuck in the unending, self-perpetuating cycle. Demoting God as the authority; promoting self as the authority; and exploiting people, positions, and possessions for personal empowerment.

The fallout from independently contrived solutions intensifies the symptoms of the sin nature, thereby provoking an even greater crisis. No matter what we do, we are still falling apart. We are still at the place of redemptive need. Only God can help us.
Christ’s redemptive process can only be participated in through the power of Christ as He addresses the nature of sin by bringing us to brokenness. The willingness to give up our willfulness to Christ in exchange for His enabling us to submit to His will, removes our resistance to entering into Christ’s redemptive process. Christ’s redemptive process is characterized by dependence on Him as we see ourselves in desperate need of Him.

Because of Christ’s satisfaction of the sin debt, He can redeem us from our sinful selves and all the crises we have created. He resolves the symptoms of the sin nature—guilt, shame, and fear—and reconciles us to fellowship with God, restoring love, joy, and peace. “He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world” (1 John 2:2 NLT).

Unfortunately, we must still contend with the nature of sin resident within us. Self-sufficiency tempts us to reenter the futile cycle dominated by the nature of sin in our lives. But gratefully, at the point of salvation, we are blessed with a new set of options. No longer are we bound by the power of sin; we may now choose from His abundant resources and allow His divine enablement to personally empower us.

By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence. And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires. (2 Peter 1:3–4 NLT)

God is extending deliverance to us as we rely on Him. “It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies” (Zech. 4:6 NLT). The question is, will you in your desperation depend on God? Will you respond to the invitation God gives to you? Will you continue in your self-effort? Will you believe the same lies? Will you commit the same sins? Will you experience the same problems over and over again? Or will you realize that you are a child of the King with an inheritance already in your possession?

God’s job is to bring us into the image of His Son, Jesus Christ, by whatever holy means are appropriate. God uses love to promote purity (1 John 3:1–3), goodness to promote repentance (Rom. 2:4), patience to promote redemption (Luke 8:4–15), discipline to produce maturity (Heb. 12:5–10), and pain to promote growth (Heb. 12:11). God uses trials to bring us to completion (James 1:2–4), tribulation to produce hope (Rom. 5:3–5), trauma of truth to produce brokenness (2 Cor. 7:8–11), and thorns in the flesh to produce dependency (2 Cor. 12:7–10). All His blessings are for achieving the one purpose of transforming us into the image of Jesus Christ. This endeavor is His most important task. All facets of God’s economy function to produce Jesus’ image within our souls, bringing glory to Him as we depend on Him. God produces His essence within us as we yield to Him.

God has no higher concern and espouses no greater agenda than to promote Jesus as preeminent within our lives. Thus His grace is dedicated to this mission. Grace cannot be manipulated or exploited to achieve our own selfish ambition, nor will it be subservient to our vain conceit. Grace resides securely within the heart and mind of God, having no other master, and can be wielded by none other than His hand.

Insight Journal
Which willful plan do you need to give up for a great summer with God?
Write a personal psalm to pour out your heart to God.

Does This Describe You?

(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)

Does this passage from Jeremiah 5 describe you?

Listen, you foolish and senseless people,
      with eyes that do not see
      and ears that do not hear.
Have you no respect for me?
      Why don’t you tremble in my presence?
I, the LORD, define the ocean’s sandy shoreline
      as an everlasting boundary that the waters cannot cross.
The waves may toss and roar,
      but they can never pass the boundaries I set.
But my people have stubborn and rebellious hearts.
      They have turned away and abandoned me.
They do not say from the heart,
      ‘Let us live in awe of the LORD our God,
for he gives us rain each spring and fall,
      assuring us of a harvest when the time is right.’
Your wickedness has deprived you of these wonderful blessings.
      Your sin has robbed you of all these good things.

A horrible and shocking thing
      has happened in this land—
the prophets give false prophecies,
      and the priests rule with an iron hand.
Worse yet, my people like it that way!
      But what will you do when the end comes? (Jer. 5:21-25, 30-31 NLT)

The benefits of God include His purchasing our freedom through His Son, Jesus Christ. This freedom affords the privilege of entering His home as His child, where we can sit at His table dressed in our royal robes washed in the blood of Jesus. The price was not paid to merely release us to seek our independence or to indulge ourselves with the pleasures of this world. We are now free to belong to Him. It is sad, however, when the selfish mind misses this whole truth and insists freedom gives liberty to sin and do what we want to do when we want to do it. For these deluded individuals, eternal life in heaven is more important than being children of God. The idea of a relationship with Jesus holds no value to such people. It is yet another form of indulgence waiting for them in the next life of everlasting bliss. But for the authentic Christian, relationship with Jesus is vital. Possessing the privilege of the position as His child, our persistent pursuit is His divine nature and Christlikeness.

“And because of his glory and excellence, he has given us great and precious promises. These are the promises that enable you to share his divine nature and escape the world’s corruption caused by human desires” (2 Peter 1:4 NLT).

The great and precious promises of God connect us to His divine nature. As a result of this connection, we possess the moral capacity to be holy and the emotional ability to be healthy. His promises give us the direction to arrive at His ultimate destination of Christlikeness.

Therefore, dear brothers and sisters, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do. For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.

So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later. (Rom. 8:12–18 NLT)

Although we are not fully aware of all aspects of our inheritance, God’s promises provide a taste of the expectations He fulfills so we may live with earnest anticipation as we experience His life living through us. His promises are not merely for the hereafter, but encompass life here and now.

God provides the solution for life change. By acting on His promises we have His resolution to all problems and deliverance from the social ills that plague us. We do not comprehend that the solutions to all of life’s problems stem from believing and acting on the promises of God. God is literally saying to you, “I can solve your emotional problems, your parenting problems, your relationship problems, your mental problems, all of your problems, if you will trust My truths.” If our Christianity does not make a difference with our problems, then we have a problem with our Christianity.

God is extending deliverance to us as we rely on Him. “It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies” (Zech. 4:6 NLT).

The question is, will you in your desperation depend on God? Will you respond to the invitation God gives to you? Will you continue in your self-effort? Will you believe the same lies? Will you commit the same sins? Will you experience the same problems over and over again? Or will you realize that you are a child of the King with an inheritance already in your possession?

Wayward Children

Do you ever wish your children would just make the right choices? You teach, you beg, you plead, but still they insist on their own way!

God teaches, and begs, and pleads too, for His wayward children to stop following after gods that are no help at all.

Jeremiah 3:12-25 (NLT) recounts His heartache. Although this passage was written with Israel as the example, it applies to us too!

Therefore, go and give this message to Israel. This is what the LORD says:

“O Israel, my faithless people,
      come home to me again,
for I am merciful.
      I will not be angry with you forever.
Only acknowledge your guilt.
      Admit that you rebelled against the LORD your God
and committed adultery against him
      by worshiping idols under every green tree.
Confess that you refused to listen to my voice.
      I, the LORD, have spoken!

“Return home, you wayward children,”
      says the LORD,
      “for I am your master.
I will bring you back to the land of Israel—
      one from this town and two from that family—
      from wherever you are scattered.
And I will give you shepherds after my own heart,
      who will guide you with knowledge and understanding.

“And when your land is once more filled with people,” says the LORD, “you will no longer wish for ‘the good old days’ when you possessed the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant. You will not miss those days or even remember them, and there will be no need to rebuild the Ark. In that day Jerusalem will be known as ‘The Throne of the LORD.’ All nations will come there to honor the LORD. They will no longer stubbornly follow their own evil desires. In those days the people of Judah and Israel will return together from exile in the north. They will return to the land I gave their ancestors as an inheritance forever.

“I thought to myself,
      ‘I would love to treat you as my own children!’
I wanted nothing more than to give you this beautiful land—
      the finest possession in the world.
I looked forward to your calling me ‘Father,’
      and I wanted you never to turn from me.
But you have been unfaithful to me, you people of Israel!
      You have been like a faithless wife who leaves her husband.
      I, the LORD, have spoken.”

Voices are heard high on the windswept mountains,
      the weeping and pleading of Israel’s people.
For they have chosen crooked paths
      and have forgotten the LORD their God.

“My wayward children,” says the LORD,
      “come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.”
“Yes, we’re coming,” the people reply,
      “for you are the LORD our God.
Our worship of idols on the hills
      and our religious orgies on the mountains
      are a delusion.
Only in the LORD our God
      will Israel ever find salvation.
From childhood we have watched
      as everything our ancestors worked for—
their flocks and herds, their sons and daughters—
      was squandered on a delusion.
Let us now lie down in shame
      and cover ourselves with dishonor,
for we and our ancestors have sinned
      against the LORD our God.
From our childhood to this day
      we have never obeyed him.”

What God substitute do you keep chasing that is breaking the heart of God?

Which God Will You Choose?

(excerpts from Desperate Dependency by J. Kirk & Melanie D. Lewis)

Those who choose to receive God’s truth and enter into Christ’s redemptive process will move to repentance. Repentance is that place where we turn from our philosophy of self-centeredness to Christ-centeredness. It is opting to live and do life God’s way and giving up our self-sufficiency.

Those who continue in deception may attempt a ritual of repentance. With no true heart change, they may go through the motions commonly deemed consistent with repentance such as crying, revealing sinfulness, asking for forgiveness, going to the altar, making promises to be different, or even a renewed religious fervor. But these actions are merely playing “good” as these individuals attempt to feign something they do not possess. They are not actually seeking to be free from the domination of sin, but merely free from the consequences of their sin.

Deceptive individuals hope to project the virtue of godly change while remaining in their philosophy of self-centeredness. Through an elaborate ruse they attempt to regain power and control so they can once again manipulate trust to exploit others. But as we give up our willfulness to God and relinquish ourselves unreservedly to Christ, submission to God’s authority, obedience to God’s design, and death to our selfish desires will result.

      “Yet they act so pious!
They come to the Temple every day
      and seem delighted to learn all about me.
They act like a righteous nation
      that would never abandon the laws of its God.
They ask me to take action on their behalf,
      pretending they want to be near me.
‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.
      ‘Why aren’t you impressed?
We have been very hard on ourselves,
      and you don’t even notice it!’
“I will tell you why!” I respond.
      “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. . . .
You humble yourselves
      by going through the motions of penance,
bowing your heads
      like reeds bending in the wind.
You dress in burlap
      and cover yourselves with ashes.
Is this what you call fasting?
      Do you really think this will please the LORD?” (Isa. 58:2–3, 5 NLT)

Often evil pretends to be good. When our profession of faith is not congruent with our possession of Christ, sin gets normalized through deceptive rationalizations. The expression of evil is then disguised in the charade of goodness. Evil may present itself with a demeanor of goodness to the point we wonder, How could such a good person do this? Then we must look deeper at the possibility that the alleged goodness is merely a facade to disguise evil.

“Make sure that the light you think you have is not actually darkness” (Luke 11:35 NLT).

“And if the light you think you have is actually darkness, how deep that darkness is!” (Matt. 6:23 NLT).

Some may lead others to believe that their basic heart is good with only random aspects of sinfulness so that their unhealthiness is promptly dismissed as soon as convenient and their evil becomes normalized. After all, we are all going to make mistakes, right?

“Don’t scheme against each other. Stop your love of telling lies that you swear are the truth. I hate all these things, says the LORD” (Zech. 8:17 NLT).

The LORD spoke to Jeremiah about the pretense of Israel. God knows the ache we feel when individuals only pretend to be sorry.

During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, “Have you seen what fickle Israel has done? Like a wife who commits adultery, Israel has worshiped other gods on every hill and under every green tree. I thought, ‘After she has done all this, she will return to me.’ But she did not return, and her faithless sister Judah saw this. She saw that I divorced faithless Israel because of her adultery. But that treacherous sister Judah had no fear, and now she, too, has left me and given herself to prostitution. Israel treated it all so lightly—she thought nothing of committing adultery by worshiping idols made of wood and stone. So now the land has been polluted. But despite all this, her faithless sister Judah has never sincerely returned to me. She has only pretended to be sorry. I, the LORD, have spoken!” (Jer. 3:6-10 NLT)

Do you really want what God wants, or do you just say you want what God wants?

Christ Is Relevant to Feelings

“I can’t change my feelings!”

All too often our feelings expose what we would rather keep hidden. When confronted by the exposure, we argue that we can’t change our feelings. And then we deceptively believe that we must be dictated by our feelings. This may include feelings of anger, love, fear, insecurity, and on and on the list could go.

The excuses come in forms such as:
      “You can’t help who you love.”
      “He can’t control his anger.”
      “This is just the way I am.”
      “You know I can’t change how I feel.”

Jesus teaches that behaviors reveal the soul as easily as a tree is known by its fruit.

"Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions." (Matt. 7:15–20 NLT)

Behavior is a direct descendent of belief that reveals the condition of the soul. Mark adds to Matthew’s narrative by emphasizing the reason the behavior can reveal the heart—the heart establishes the behavior.

And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.” (Mark 7:20–23 NLT)

Our spiritual condition ultimately is what controls our values, which affects our beliefs and establish our thoughts, feelings, and actions.

Behavior modification may work on dogs, and even on people for a time; but if the heart is not set on God and His ways, then all thoughts, feelings, and behaviors will continue to pursue whatever self desires.

“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things,
      and desperately wicked.
      Who really knows how bad it is?
But I, the LORD, search all hearts
      and examine secret motives.
I give all people their due rewards,
      according to what their actions deserve.” (Jer. 17:9–10 NLT)

God must reveal our condition to us as we draw so close to Him that His light can make all things clear. We must desire to see the truth of who we really are and who God really is. Only when we yield our hearts to God’s will and our wills to God’s heart can we know that our values, beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and actions are in line with His desires for us.

Do you have feelings that need to be changed?

Yes, Christ is capable of changing your feelings!