MERE WORDS OR MORE....

The devil is a trash talker.
In case you had not gotten that one yet.
Especially when we are already afraid or anxious.
Oh - he is a fine master of words.
He knows how to play with the truth just enough to make us believe his lies.
He loves to make us doubt.
How he loves that!
Because doubt breeds fear, which will snuff out faith if we let it.
While reading about Sennacherib this morning, I could not help but think how his words could have come from the inner chamber of the enemy's strategy meetings.

..."Thus says the great king of Assyria: "What confidence is this in which you trust? You speak of having plans and power for war; but they are mere words. And in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?"
2 Kings 18:19-20 (NKJV)

The devil probably could not have said it better himself.
We speak of the weapons of our warfare.
We make plans for battle, but sometimes lack in the follow through.
We know we have the power of the Holy Spirit with us, yet we don't call upon it.
We think we can do this alone.
We trust in our own strength.
We boast in our own confidence.
In doing so, we fail.
When we speak out of our own strength they are but mere words.
He is right- how can we rebel against him alone?
We can't.
The good news is we don't have to.
We were never expected to.

"By awesome deeds in righteousness You will answer us, O God of our salvation, You who are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of the far-off seas; who established the mountains by His strength, being clothed with power; You who still the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples."
Psalm 65:5-7 (NKJV)

The enemy is going to try to beat you and I up with his words. He will remind us of times we have failed. He will remind us of times we thought God failed. Times when things did not turn out like we had hoped or prayed.
When those whispers start to tickle you ears, silence them with truth. Not with mere words, but the Word of the God Almighty. The Word of Christ Jesus. He is your confidence. He is your strength. He is your power.
May we not only be diligent in planning for battle,
may we be deliberate in the follow through.
May we purposefully and intentionally submit ourselves to the Lord God in all our battles.
May we walk confidently in the armour of God, not because of us, but because of Him.
May we silence the lies of the enemy when he asks,
"And in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?",
by responding with two words,
Jesus Christ.
Our deliberate deliverer.

HAND-CRAFTED SIN

So these nations feared the Lord,

yet served their carved images;

also their children and their children's children

have continued doing as their fathers did,

even to this day.

2 Kings 18:41 (NKJV)

You can fear the Lord and still serve your own gods.

That is my handwritten side note beside verse 33 of the same chapter, which states the same thing.

I, Rhonda, can fear the Lord, and still, mistakenly, serve my own gods.

Maybe not little statues, but little issues, you bet.

Money.

Accolades.

Security.

Love.

Anything that I try to put above the Lord God and Jesus Christ will become a god to me.

A god that I myself have created. It tells us the people were serving "their carved images". Someone had to carve them. Isaiah says something very similar.

For in that day every man should throw away his idols of silver and his idols of gold - sin, which your own hands have made for yourselves.

Isaiah 31:7 (NKJV)

Sin that I have made for myself. It might have started out innocently enough.

A man wanting to provide for his family.

A mom wanting her kids to be well behaved.

Just wanting to shed those few pounds.

Writing something and wanting people to think it was good. Insightful.

An employee wanting to make his or her boss proud.

All good things, but the moment they move up the ladder to the top and surpass my relationship with Jesus Christ, they have become gods.

Am I sacrificing my family to make money?

Am I enabling my kids instead of training them up?

Am I obsessed about my weight? Letting it define me instead of resting in who I am in Christ Jesus?

Do I seek the approval of man above the approval of God?

All easy traps to fall into. For me it is usually a slow fall.

Gradual.

A little compromise here, a little give there.

A second look in the mirror followed by a run down of all the things I don't like.

Bribing my kids to behave in front of company, all the time.

Checking my profile status to see how many people have visited.

Sin that I myself have crafted.

If that was not bad enough, sin that can be passed down for generations (note the plural).

If I am obsessed with my body, don't you think for a second my men children won't be with theirs.

If my husband works at the expense of these boys, he is marking the path they will be likely to follow, and pay dearly for.

Diligence is what is required of me.

Listening for the Voice that says this the way to walk.

Heeding the Holy Spirit's nudges.

Keeping my heart and mind grounded in the word of God.

Because I, and you, have been delivered from all of that.

Deliberately.

"NO" MEN

We all have a desire to surround ourselves with people who encourage us, and rightly so. We need people who will lift us up. However, we must be aware of the pit of excess. We see it all the time. People become famous and are surrounded by an entourage of "yes" men. People come into places of leadership, and the "yes" men abound. Doesn't just happen in Hollywood. Happens right here in our own backyards. Successful coaches hung the moon, charismatic preachers can do no wrong, politically prominent men and women wield power unfathomable.

It can happen to any of us. Should we find ourselves in that situation we would be wise to make sure we get a healthy dose of "no" men as well. We need only to look at the story of Ahab, king of Israel, to see how deep the pit can be.

And Jehoshaphat said,

"Is there not still a prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of Him?"

So the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat,

"There is still one man, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord;

but I hate him, because he does not prophesy good concerning me, but evil."

And Jehoshaphat said,"Let the king not say such things!"

1 Kings 18:7-8

(NKJV)

The two kings were considering going to war together. Now keep in mind Ahab was an evil king who had turned from the ways of the Lord. His desire to go to war was motivated by pride and gain alone. Jehoshaphat had requested that they inquire of the Lord, so Ahab called together hundreds of prophets (his personal "yes" men). They all agreed....go to war... the victory is yours... you are the best... you can do anything... the world is your oyster... so on and so on. Yet even in hearing this, Jehoshaphat knew something wasn't quite right. Then there was that one guy...

Our "yes" men need to balanced with the truth of God's word. Which means, at times, they need to be "no" men. Any one of us, left to our own devices, and given a bit of fame, fortune or power, can find ourselves heading head first into a deep pit of pride and self-absorption. Doing what we want, when we want, how we want, regardless of what God wants. Truth be told, I can find myself doing that now (without the fame, fortune or power).

We need to be watchful that we, ourselves, don't become another person's "yes" man. "No" men won't always be popular. We won't always like them,or be liked if we are one, but if they are acting in the love of Christ when they say no, we will treasure them.

Take a look around your circle of friends today. Are you surrounded by "yes" men? Have you gone the other, just as damaging direction, and surrounded yourself with "no" men? Do you have a balance of the two?

Godly correction and discipline will be just as profitable as godly encouragement if we let it. Let us be deliberate in surrounding ourselves with both.