1 John 2:16
The boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world
This temptation is at the heart of the New Age Movement: the temptation to direct our own destiny, to rule our own world, to be our own god. Satan teased Eve concerning the forbidden fruit: "The day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). Satan's offer was an exaggerated call to our God-instilled inclination to rule. "Don't be satisfied ruling under God," he seemed to say, "when you have the potential to be like God." When Eve was convinced that "the tree was desirable to make one wise" (verse 6), she and Adam ate.
Satan's promise that the couple would become like God was nothing more than a lie. When Adam and Eve yielded to his temptation, they didn't become the gods of this world as he claimed they would. Instead, they fell from their position of rulership with God, and Satan became the god of this world by default--exactly as he had planned.
Satan tried the same trick with Jesus: "All [the kingdoms of the world and their glory] will I give You, if You fall down and worship me" (Matthew 4:9). When you think about it, Satan's offer was pretty ridiculous. Why would Jesus be tempted to worship Satan in exchange for the world when He already owned the universe? So He replied, "Begone, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the LORD your God, and serve Him only'" (verse 10).
The temptation of the pride of life is intended to steer us away from the worship of God and destroy our obedience to God by urging us to become our own god. Whenever you feel that you don't need God's help or direction, that you can handle your life without consulting Him, that you don't need to bow the knee to anyone, beware: That's the pride of life. Whenever you stop worshipping and serving God, you are in reality worshipping and serving Satan--which is what he wants more than anything else. Instead, your life should be characterized by worshipful humility and obedience to God (1 Peter 5:5-11; John 15:8-10).
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Occupy then Expand (DON'T STOP THERE!)
One of the warriors of old made this statement: "The purpose of war is victory, and the purpose of victory is occupation." In the Kingdom, we add one more step to the process: The purpose of occupation is expansion.
The Lord would not give the Promised Land to Israel all at once because they did not have the ability to occupy all of the territory. By only giving them the amount of land they could occupy, He positioned them for expansion.. Expansion is vital to advancing the Kingdom of Heaven. The man who was given the one talent and buried it simply occupied and protected that accomplishment but suffered tremendously because he did not take what he had and position it for increase (Matthew 25:15-28).
It's important that we view life with the perspective of expansion and forward motion. When we think this way, we are positioning ourselves for increase and promotion. It's not healthy to simply find a place you want to stay in and occupy. The moment you have found a leveling-off place is the moment you begin backsliding.
When your passion begins to decline, you already start to die. You were born to burn. Elisha came to the king and said, "Please strike the ground with these arrows." And he struck the ground three times. The prophet became furious at the king and said, "If only you had struck the ground five or six times you would have annihilated the enemy, but now you're only going to have three temporary victories.." Because the king did not live out of passion, he couldn't carry the anointing that God wanted to give him, and it cost the nation. When leaders don't have passion, it costs everyone who follows.
Passion and the anointing run in parallel courses. A person with passion will take risks. Everything you want in the realm of the Kingdom is found through this veil of difficulty by stepping into the realm of inconvenience. You don't get it by coasting on yesterday's breakthrough. You were born for expansion.
The Lord would not give the Promised Land to Israel all at once because they did not have the ability to occupy all of the territory. By only giving them the amount of land they could occupy, He positioned them for expansion.. Expansion is vital to advancing the Kingdom of Heaven. The man who was given the one talent and buried it simply occupied and protected that accomplishment but suffered tremendously because he did not take what he had and position it for increase (Matthew 25:15-28).
It's important that we view life with the perspective of expansion and forward motion. When we think this way, we are positioning ourselves for increase and promotion. It's not healthy to simply find a place you want to stay in and occupy. The moment you have found a leveling-off place is the moment you begin backsliding.
When your passion begins to decline, you already start to die. You were born to burn. Elisha came to the king and said, "Please strike the ground with these arrows." And he struck the ground three times. The prophet became furious at the king and said, "If only you had struck the ground five or six times you would have annihilated the enemy, but now you're only going to have three temporary victories.." Because the king did not live out of passion, he couldn't carry the anointing that God wanted to give him, and it cost the nation. When leaders don't have passion, it costs everyone who follows.
Passion and the anointing run in parallel courses. A person with passion will take risks. Everything you want in the realm of the Kingdom is found through this veil of difficulty by stepping into the realm of inconvenience. You don't get it by coasting on yesterday's breakthrough. You were born for expansion.
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