Victory: It takes courage

This week, I want to share some of my personal life and family with you, if that is okay.  It will definitely relate to victory, which is our subject matter right now.

I have two beautiful daughters, both in their twenties.  Let me talk about my youngest daughter first.  She has a kind, caring, and compassionate heart for her fellow man.  She loves the Lord and she seeks Him in her decisions.  She is a strong young woman able to withstand most anything that life might throw at her.  Her favorite bible verse is in Deuteronomy:


Deuteronomy 31:6  Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the LORD your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you."

She had this verse hanging on her bedroom wall on a hand drawn and doodled piece of printer paper all throughout her teenage years.  When she was 18 years old, she received a college scholarship to play softball. It was something she had been working towards since she was 10 years old.  The scholarship took her almost 11 hours away from home to another state to go to school.  She knew no one.  She had no friends that were going with her.  We packed up her car, our truck, and drove her to school.  It was a bittersweet day for me as a mom.  This was my baby girl, yet I was so excited for her and the experiences she would have.  I also knew that My God goes before her and prepares the way.  I watched my daughter blossom into her own as a woman.  She then decided she wanted to move again.  She moved to another state even further away.  At 21 years old, she is now a licensed insurance agent, attending college and working towards her  bachelor's degree in the field of social work.  She is in a place without her family and has only the Lord to rely on.  God has done amazing things for her, in her and through her as a result of the decision she made to move. 

My oldest daughter also lives out of town and away from us.  She only lives about 2 hours away, not halfway across the country.  Her favorite scripture has always been: 


Psalms 51:12  Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

As a single young woman, she has completely started over in a new city...a much larger city than she has lived in before.  She relocated for a new job and is also a full time student in graduate school.  She is once again on her own, with no family or friends close to her in a city that is new and foreign to her.  Doing what my daughters have done at their ages is something I am not certain I could have done.  And yet...they have displayed bravery and courage in the face of much adversity and many obstacles.  They have kept the Lord before them and walked according to what He has designed.  It has not always been easy for them.  They both stepped out of their comfort zones and the safety of all they knew to follow what they believed was the path the Lord was directing them to follow.  I am in awe of what my girls have accomplished and their bravery and courage to follow the path the Lord leads.  

Peter did the same thing when the Lord called Him.  He stepped out of the boat and walked on water...until he got distracted by the storm around him and looked away from Jesus. It takes bravery and courage...just like in Deuteronomy. 


Psalms 27:14  Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!

Sometimes we just have to wait on the Lord and keep our eyes fixed on Him to gain the victory over those obstacles that lay in our way.  If our paths are directed by the Lord, then He will see to it that we have the strength the walk it. 


Proverbs 20:24  A man's steps are of the LORD; How then can a man understand his own way?


Psalms 37:23-24  The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, And He delights in his way.  (24)  Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; For the LORD upholds him with His hand.


Proverbs 3:5-6  Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;  (6)  In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.




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Ephesians 5: Walk in the Light

Throughout history good and evil has been portrayed by the colors black and white:  light and darkness.  The old western movies always had the "good guy" in a white cowboy hat and the villlain in a black cowboy hat. Wouldn't it be great if good and evil was so easy to distinguish in today's world?  Unfortunately, it isn't which is why we talked last week about not allowing ourselves to be deceived.  


Matthew 7:17-18  (17)  Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.  (18)  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.

This scripture states very clearly how we recognize good and evil today, right? The problem is we live in a world that is so concerned about being unoffensive and walking such a neutral line that it can be difficult to identify the fruit on their tree, so to speak.  


Ephesians 5:8-10  For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light  (9)  (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),  (10)  finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.

So in the light, out of the darkness, fruit should grow.  The fruit of the spirit grows in all goodness, righteousness and truth.  Galatians 5:


Galatians 5:22-23  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  (23)  gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

So, back to Ephesians 5:

We were once darkness, but now are light in the Lord.  We walk as children of the light to prove what is acceptable to the Lord (verse 10).  How do we know what is acceptable?


Romans 12:1-2  I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.  (2)  And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Our bodies are to be living sacrifices. Not just physically, but think about what a sacrifice actually is:   the act of giving up something that you want to keep especially in order to get or do something else or to help someone

Sacrifice hurts.  Sacrifice means we are depriving our flesh of something it wants.  We are depriving our human nature from giving into the lusts and desires of our flesh.  Paul said crucifying the flesh was something he did daily.  It is a process and Paul states it here again in Romans 12:2.  First, Paul said we are not to be conformed to this world.  We are not to look like the world, speak like the world, or behave like the world.  Conformed means that there is pattern that something is fashioned after.  I grew up with my mom a seamstress.  I spent a lot of time watching her take patterns, pin them to fabric, and then fit all the pieces together to form a garment.  It was amazing to me how awesome she was at what she did.  I could never do it quite right.  But, the pattern never changed.  If she used the same pattern over and over again she would make the same garment, just with a different fabric pattern..and sometimes with the same fabric color and pattern.  the pattern could be used over and over again producing the same results.  

Conforming to the world is the same way as the patterns my mother would use.  Even if my mother would use a different color fabric but used the same pattern, the dresses would all look alike.  When we choose to participate in activities that the world, or nonbelievers (and some lukewarm Christians) participate in, then we will just be a different color fabric cut from the same pattern. There will be little difference in how we look or how we can differentiate ourselves from the world...because we are a production of the pattern we follow.  

Paul goes on to say we are to prove what is the perfect will of God.  Perfect here means complete (as it relates to labor, growth, mental, and moral character).  Moral character can be called into question by the activities we choose to participate in.  Do you see the cycle we can be caught up in so easily?  If we have been truly brought of the darkness, then we should be sharing light with the world.  We are a city on a hill; a beacon in the darkness...,but only if our light is shining.  You know the children's song, "This little light of mine.  I'm gonna let it shine.  Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine."  When you are driving down the road at night on a dark stretch of highway you can see lights from a town or a city for miles before you actually get there. Are you showing that same light that is within you to those you come into contact with?  Are those that are searching for something able to see the One that can fill them completely shining through you?  Are you being the City on a Hill with a light that can be seen for miles?

Genesis 1:26  Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."

God made man in His image, His likeness.  We are fashioned after His pattern.  Can anyone look at you and see you as a production of the pattern you were formed from?

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Ephesians 5: Do not be deceived

Social media is a funny thing.  It can be a great way to stay connected to people you haven't seen since high school or to share photos of the kids and grandkids with family and friends.  We can look at real time news articles or stories.  But in the last two years, we have seen a phenomenon affect social media that has been interesting to watch: Fake News.  

We have had many publications pop up as satirical.  We have had many articles on Facebook released in an effort to intentionally deceive and cause discourse.  Unfortunately it is working and has been extremely successful in causing division in our country.  The success of the deception does not just fall on the shoulders of the newsmakers or those that are releasing false information as a publicity stunt.  The success of the deception falls on the shoulders of the ones that have allowed themselves to be deceived.  What should we do with something we read on social media or that we hear on the news?  We go and verify the story.  We compare other publications to determine whether they are printing the same thing the same way with the same interpretation.  Or if we know it, we can go directly to the source to determine the truth or fallacy in the story we read.  

Ephesians 5:6  Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.

Paul said to not LET anyone deceive you.  Gossip is a way to spread fake news and we all know what the word says about those who participate in gossip.  Did you ever play the old telephone game when you were young?  A group of kids would line up in a line and the first one would whisper something to the second one and the second would repeat what he or she was told to the next one, and so on.  By the time the "secret" reached the end of the line it would rarely resemble what the first child had actually said.  That is what happens when we gossip and that is what happens when we read fake news.  

Christians are really good at participating in gossip and fake news.  Except we put it in the wrapper labeled "Prayer Request."  It could look something like this:  Mary approaches you before the Sunday morning service and says, "Poor Susie...we need to pray for her and for Tom and their marriage.  I saw Tom at lunch with a woman that wasn't Susie.  I just don't know what Susie is going to do."  When the woman Mary saw at lunch with Tom was his sister visiting from out of state.  

Without knowing the situation at hand, Mary should not have said anything to anyone.  This might be an extreme example, but it has happened before.  We always should go to our source to determine the truth when the enemy is trying to deceive us or plant something in our minds that we know to be in direct conflict with the Word of God.  Our source is the word of God, it is Jesus Christ.  Jesus is THE way THE truth, and THE life.  He can bring light to any situation and reveal deception while driving darkness away.  Paul went on to say this:


Ephesians 5:7-8  Therefore do not be partakers with them.  (8)  For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light.

Partakers means in the Greek to be a "co-participant" or in other words, someone who is actively being a part of the deception.  We are not to even entertain those that willfully participate in deception.  We have a responsibility to go to our source to determine the truth. We have talked about this concept a little bit in conquering the thoughts of the enemy in our minds. The concept is the same here.  When we hear something the enemy tells us or thinks something we know does not line up with what God says about us, then we go to the Word of God to determine what the truth is about that thing.  The only way to dispel darkness is to shine a light into it.  The only way to dispel a lie is to bring the truth.  Victory over the enemy cannot come if we are not willing to learn what the Word of God says about us or the situations we find ourselves in from time to time.  We cannot allow deception to take root within our hearts or minds because we are children of light.  We should walk in the light...and in the light darkness does not and cannot exist.  


1 Thessalonians 5:5-6  You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.  (6)  Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.



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