Cheating on God

Purity of Mind: Day 19 - A Different Way of Thinking

1 John 2:15-17
Do not love this world not the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.  For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything thing we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions.  These are not from the Father, but are from this world.  And this world is fading away along with everything that people crave.  But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

Today's devo challenged me about what I want in life, I think it challenged me simply because lots of the things I want are super worldly, you know the regular things, a nice house, a good job and some nice stuff to go with it all, but this stuff and seeking after this stuff doesn't actually please God at all, in fact it turns him away.  Sure I can enjoy these things, i think, as long as my heart is after God's heart and not the satifaction that comes from having the nice stuff.  One verse that really stuck out for me was this: 

'You're cheating on God.  If all you want is your own was, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of god and his way.  And do you suppose God doesn't care? The proverb has it that 'he's a fiercely jealous lover.' And what he gives in love is far better than anything else you'll find.' James 4:4-6 (The Message)

I think I have spoken about this before, but I really need to start trusting God a bit more when he says he knows what's best for my life, rather than desperately trying to stay in control like I am, because I can't have it both ways.

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Afraid No More

Purity of Mind: Day 13 – No Fear

1 John 4:17-18
God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day - our standing in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life - fear of death, fear of judgment - is one not yet fully formed in love.

Tonight’s devotion hit me pretty hard. I am a really anxious person, maybe even a little paranoid. I worry about lots of things, little things and big things and I worry all the time. Something I know are stupid to worry about and then there are other times that I worry if I am not anxious enough. There have been a number of times that I have been able to hand over the bigger things to God and experienced a real peace about the situation, but its not something that I do daily.

Tonight I realised, even though I think I already knew, that my fear/worry/anxiety is something that I have allowed the devil to have as a really powerful tool in my life and I need to put a stop to it. Earlier this year at my cell we did a study of fear, and the speaker (some American lady on the DVD) taught that the answer to fear is always God…and that there was nothing my God could not be the answer to. She got us to ask our most anxious questions, for example right now mine is What if there is a fire in Castlemaine and the answer is God. Its always what if….then God and I need to start holding on to this a little tighter.

At school I was given a bible verse to help me through my exams and that was Mark 5:36 “Don’t be afraid, just believe” in another translation it says ‘just have faith’. I need to start living this, really living this. I want to be fully formed in love, and fear is stopping me.

So God, break the chains that fear has in my life. I want to be free, I want to just have faith, I want the answer to my ‘what if’s’ to be ‘then God’. For the big things and for the little, everyday things. Do something new in me. Let me know that peace and freedom that goes beyond all understanding.

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