Job 14:1 – “Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.”  KJV

That is a mouthful Job, but incredibly true!  I don’t recall where I heard it but heard about a little boy leading his sister up a steep mountain path which was very difficult.  She complained and complained saying, “This isn’t a real path it’s all bumpy and rocky.”  He said, “Sure Sis, but the bumps are what you climb on.”  Great attitude!

Reflecting on Job’s statement and the many Bible references to difficulty in life would lead one to ask, “What do you do with the bumps on the path of life?”  How do you handle difficulty?  When I read some of the accounts in the Bible of the incredible difficulty many had to reach the Place of Promise in God, I find it nothing short of amazing and often feel shame in my own heart for my complaints.

Abraham did not become a great man of faith instantly he had to walk out some incredible paths to reach that place where his faith was accounted to him as righteousness.  Remember his life:

• Upon arrival in Canaan, there is a famine. 
• He has trouble with his nephew Lot.
• War breaks out and he has to fight.
• Received bad counsel from Sarah and Ishmael resulted.
• Finally, he receives his ‘son of promise’ only to have God tell him to offer the boy up as a human sacrifice.

Obviously, it got better but those are some of the problems he encountered.  At what point would we have said ENOUGH!

How about Joseph and his rocky road to the place God ordained him to ascend.  Remember his life:

• Pampered by his father.
• Hated by his brothers.
• Sold as a slave.
• Falsely accused and then forgotten in prison.
• Apparently forsaken by the Lord.

Finally, he was brought out of prison and promoted to 2^nd in command in the most powerful nation on earth and used to preserve the Seed Line of the Savior in the nation of Israel.

How about men like Moses, Paul, David, Daniel, and others?  They refused to complain about the road and roughness.  They accepted the trials and difficulties as steppingstones to the Promise, not signs of being forsaken and that is a significant difference!

Many have or feel like quitting thinking that there is no help or hope, so why continue?  Why doesn’t God just remove the stones and make it easy for us?  Frankly, I am convinced if He did most would never climb to the top for truly the bumps are what we climb on and at least a motivation for us to press on and in. 

In Psalms 91 there are eleven kinds of dangers listed such as war, snakes, sickness, terror by night, arrows by day, and more, and God promises Protection from them All…  God has given His angels charge over us to keep us from bruising our feet on the bumps or stones.  They are stepping stones not stumbling stones!  So, lift up your heads and rejoice for GOD IS IN CONTROL!

May the Lord be with you and bless you as you go through this day!

Isaiah 53:1-6 – “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. 3 He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.  4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.  5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.  6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” NASB

Revelation 21:3-4 – “”Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”  NASB

We have considered two of the four categories of PAIN the Physical and the Emotional.  Now I would like to consider the other two and hope that these brief words will become catalyst launching you into your own discovery of remedies in God for your pain or that of someone you know and love.

Mental Pain is so closely akin to Emotional Pain that it is difficult to differentiate and separate and may be the old ‘chicken’ and ‘egg’ argument.  Does emotional pain cause mental pain or vice versa or both?  There is no question that they are closely linked and virtually inseparable. 

Mental pain could logically fall into two categories:  The thoughts and sanity or lack thereof.  The pain referred to is from the troubling or tormenting thoughts which refuse to dissipate.  They are present night and day, 24/7, and may be the result of guilt, shame, anger, resentment, or wounds.

Tragically the one suffering, in this case, plays the video over and over in their minds and continually debates with themselves – “Could I, should I, would I???”  It is as we allow thoughts to conjure up scenarios that are beyond reason and so twist our psyche that we reach an emotional and mental state where rational thought is impossible.  The pain that results is one of the most diabolical that a person can experience.  If this state is allowed to continue long term the individual will become emotionally and mentally paralyzed unable to enjoy even a semblance of a normal life.  The paranoia will become so acute spiraling into phobias and rendering the individual a danger to themselves and others.  This is a horrendous torturous prison and ONLY GOD can relieve one from those chains.

We now come to Spiritual Pain and I see this very differently from the other three although often very closely connected to the Emotional and Mental.  Spiritual pain comes almost directly from Guilt, a Lack of Purpose, and being void of a Sense of Worth! The person has believed The Lie of the devil that God does not value them, love them, or care about them.  When I view the Cross, I find it impossible to not understand that God values me greatly as He does you. 

John 3:16 makes it virtually impossible to miss that truth.  Still, the human mind will follow human reason and come up with a myriad of explanations and justifications as to why God should not or could not love them.  Before my conversion, I was one of those and had the list of why God could not or should not love me. I was under conviction and miserable but convinced that I could not be forgiven.  Thank God He used some loving and praying people to penetrate that wall.  Proverbs 3:5-6 was the catalyst that opened my eyes and opened the door to forgiveness and freedom from my Prison of Pain Spiritually. 

If you have physical pain, I do not suggest that you fail to get a proper diagnosis and treatment.  If your pain is emotional, mental, or spiritual I believe fully that there is a definitive answer for you in God’s Word. I also believe that about the physical but the spiritual has eternal consequences. God wants to free you from Pain’s Prison and allow you to walk into the light of the Fullness of His Love, Light, and Glory.

God bless you as you go through your day!

Isaiah 53:1-6 – “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. 3 He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.  4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.  5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.  6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” NASB

Revelation 21:3-4 – “”Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”  NASB

For the most part, PAIN can be grouped into four categories – – Physical, Emotional, Mental, and Spiritual. Each category can involve other categories and overlap but most of the time we can identify them in one of the four spectrums.

All of us know and maybe have experienced Physical Pain of the kind and quality that debilitates.  I know, have known, and experience physical pain to the point that putting one foot in front of another was an excruciating experience and required all the will-power that could be mustered.  A person in that kind of pain, long term is certainly a target for Pain’s Prison. 

We are told by medical science and research that there are some sources or roots of physical pain that are directly connected to one’s mental, emotional, and/or spiritual state.  There is an often-quoted but seldom heeded passage regarding emotional anger. 

Ephesians 4:26 – “Be angry, and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.”  Assuredly this has to do with our spiritual relationship with God, but could there be another reason for this prohibition or warning?  Modern discoveries say yes!  We find that harboring the emotion of anger, fear, bitterness, and other distressful emotions will adversely affect one’s physical health.  It has been estimated that two-thirds of the people who see General Practitioners are stress-related.  We also find that 25% of people in the USA miss work 16 or more days per year due to stress and that over 50% acknowledged that they are stressed.  

The human body releases chemicals into the bloodstream when either positive or negative emotions are experienced.  The long-term result of negative emotions represses the immune system and makes a person far more susceptible to disease and/or pain. 

Emotional Pain is a diabolical enemy of health and happiness.  Virtually all dictionaries define emotion – – “a strong feeling or state such as excitement, happiness, sadness, love, hate, fear, or anger.”  We call this a person’s mood. Emotional pain surfaces when a person is antagonized or traumatized by their emotions.  It can come from a wound, a harsh word, or some form of embarrassment experienced.  Emotional pain can come through the loss of a loved one or possession.  It could be the result of a breakup, a business failure, a church split where you internalize the anger or the hurt and allow it to fester in your heart to the point that you are debilitated in your emotions. 

Just as in physical pain those dastardly chemicals are released in your bloodstream as a result of the emotions and transported throughout the body affecting your heart, stomach, muscles, lungs, liver, brain, kidneys, and immune system.  It is your daily dose of Poison and becomes a vicious cycle that literally imprisons a person.  The pain never goes away, and the by-products continue to exist and become enlarged to the point that you could not only be an emotional prisoner but literally sick as a result.

God does not want you to live in a PRISON OF PAIN and has provided an escape for you through the Blood of Jesus Christ and the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  I pray now that God so touch your heart that you can release any negative emotions and being to see the healing come.

God bless you as you go through your day!

Isaiah 53:1-6 – “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2 For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. 3 He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.  4 Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.  5 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging, we are healed.  6 All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” NASB

Revelation 21:3-4 – “”Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, 4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”  NASB

In 2010 the Lord enabled me to have a book published titled, “Prison of Pain”.  In that book, the focus is on the often-self-imposed prison that pain can place us and offers the solutions for much of the imprisonment that people experience.  Since I am not a medical practitioner and totally unqualified to make a medical diagnosis I say much because there may be some cases that only God and your medical doctor can resolve.  The solutions that I suggest are cures afforded by the Word of God through the power of the Holy Spirit with your cooperation and participation.  It goes far beyond the symptom to the root of the problem and I believe that true medicine does that as well.

But before I discuss any of this, I want to call attention to the basis upon which I write in more specifics.  When I turn to the above passage in Isaiah, I immediately realize that our LORD truly does understand what we are going through and has experienced PAIN the kind that imprisons.  I have categorized pain into three listings for our discussion purposes:

• Ache

The word is a noun with the associated words:  hurt, soreness, sting, tenderness, hurting, and twinge, throbbing, or smarting.  None of those remotely express the depth or degree of pain that is referenced in the Title – “Prison of Pain.”

• Nuisance

A noun with the associated words:  bother, drag, bind, pest, or menace.  Again, all minor irritants are associated with daily life.  Clearly, these are not what we are referring to in our Title and Topic and will not bring one to the point of desperation in life.

• Grief

A noun with the associated words; sorrow, anguish, torture, or agony.  This is more readily identifiable with that on which we are focusing.  In Webster’s New World Dictionary, Second Edition by Prentiss Hall Press GRIEF is defined as: ‘intense emotional suffering caused by loss, disaster, misfortune, etc.:  acute sorry; deep sadness 2. A cause of the subject of suffering; 3. 20 hardship, suffering, or pain b) a cause of any of these: SYN. See SORROW – come to grief to fail or be ruined.”

The same dictionary defines grievous as: “1. causing grief 2. Showing or characterized by grief (a grievous cry) 3. Causing suffering; hard to bear; severe [grievous pain] 4. Deplorable; heinous [a grievous crime].”  Therefore, by definition, this PAIN that we are speaking of is grievous, hard to bear, severe, and can be described as deplorable and even heinous!  That is the PAIN that we are talking about!  A PAIN that imprisons and steals life from you and it does not have to be and often is not PHYSICAL PAIN!

As we begin our New Year, I am convinced in my spirit that many who read what I am writing have either been in or are facing this type of PAIN and the Imprisonment that comes with it.  I hope in a few short devotionals to give you Hope and point you to the True Help and Helper!

May God be with you as you go through your day!

Philippians 1:12-20 – “Now I want you to know, brethren, that my circumstances have turned out for the greater progress of the gospel, 13 so that my imprisonment in the cause of Christ has become well known throughout the whole praetorian guard and to everyone else, 14 and that most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear. 15 Some, to be sure, are preaching Christ even from envy and strife, but some also from good will; 16 the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel; 17 the former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. 18 What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this, I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, 19 for I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayers and the provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, 20 according to my earnest expectation and hope, that I will not be put to shame in anything, but that with all boldness, Christ will even now, as always, be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.”  NASB

Long text short devotional!  Years ago, I had an elderly preacher tell me that if you use a long text preach a short sermon, and if you use a short text preach a long sermon.  He did not explain why but probably had more to do with the ability of people to stay focused on the matter at hand. 

Paul says something here that reminded me of the adage, “When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade.”  This adage is directed at the idea that you can choose to make of life what you will, and you can opt to turn your circumstances into opportunities.  Here Paul tells the Philippians that his difficulties had been turned by the Spirit of God into opportunities to further the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.  It was a source of encouragement to others facing trials and difficulties to stay strong and faithful.  He even said that some who were coming against him were preaching out of envy or strife, but he rejoiced because the Gospel was being preached.  I guess if God can use a donkey to speak in the animal kingdom surely, he can use a jack*** in men to speak His word.

Paul’s heart and focus were to see the Word of God spread throughout the world and as many won into the Kingdom of God as possible.  He wanted all men to HEAR!  He wanted to encourage those who were in the battle to NEVER give up but to stay strong and faithful.  Sometimes when life hands us lemon after lemon it is hard to make lemonade and not become despondent and discourage to the point of despair, but we have a choice and if we choose God HE WILL NOT FAIL!

So, whatever you are facing or will face in this upcoming year know that God will NEVER leave you nor will He forsake you so STAY STRONG! Take those lemons that the devil brings to you and allow the Holy Spirit to transform them into lemonade.  Remember the promise that “All things work TOGETHER for your good….”

Blessings as you go through your day!

Jeremiah 29:11-14 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”  NIV

The context of this passage was the LORD speaking to Israel about their return from Babylonian captivity. After 70 years there would be an awakening and God’s plan would be put into play.  Israel would seek Him and find Him as they sought Him with their whole heart.  As we come to the last day of 2020 my heart cries out for us to Look Forward rather than Backward.

God has plans for us individually and collectively and those plans include a Hope and a Future!  In any situation or time when people truly begin to seek the LORD with a whole heart, He demonstrates His power and reveals Himself to them.  He has promised that if we Seek Him, we will Find Him.  He is not trying to hide from us or make knowing His will, plan, or purpose difficult or impossible to discern.  It is in God’s interest for us to Know what He wants and then to do what He directs.  Hiding that from us would not serve the purposes of the Kingdom.

Rather than looking back on the disappointments of 2020 let’s look toward the possibilities of 2021.  Rather than lamenting over the failures of the past let’s look toward the victories of the future.  Tomorrow or tonight at 12:01 AM the year 2021 will have fully begun and God will still be God and His plan and purpose for our lives will still be real and possible.  Nothing anyone or any power can do will change that!  The devil may try and will try to get you to lose focus on the prime objective and discourage you but resist his temptations. Fix your focus squarely on the Throne of Heaven and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Take these words in Jeremiah as your personal word from the Lord for 2021 and enter this New Year with HOPE, FAITH, ENTHUSIASM, and CONFIDENCE!

None of us saw, in totality, what we wanted to see in 2020, although we may have seen some significant and wonderful things.  The New Year affords us somewhat of a clean slate and we have the opportunity to begin on January 1, 2021, a journey of faith that will be the most exciting and productive year of our lives.

May God be with you as you go through your day!

Matthew 18:21-22 – “Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.“ NKJV

If you will notice from verse twenty-three on Jesus tells one of the incredible parables about ‘forgiveness’ and/or the lack thereof.  We have the king, the servant he forgave, and the servant whom this servant refused to forgive.  In verse thirty-two when the king finds out about this, he summons the unforgiving servant and said, “You wicked servant!  I forgave you all that debt because you begged me.”  Incredible!

I have learned that in Christianity or Christian circles so often the claim to spirituality fails miserably on the forgiveness front.  We are to forgive ‘just as…’ but here we see something of what is involved in forgiveness and unforgiveness.  We read this story with a Western mentality and miss some of the revelations provided.  The coinage is important for they do not speak in dollars and cents they talk about talents and denarii so we must wrap our heads around a society over 2,000 years ago and hear what they heard.  They are hearing it from one of the most astounding storytellers of all time, Jesus. 

The servant was brought before the king and owed ten thousand talents.  We have little concept of talents and/or denarii so what does that equate to for us?  10,000 talents = 6,000 denarii and the average worker earned about 6 denarii a week.  It would take 1,000 weeks (20 years) to earn 1 talent but this is 10,000 x 1000 weeks.  What is Jesus saying?  The debt was impossible to repay. 

The annual taxes for Judea, Galilee, Samaria, Pariea, and Idemoea were only about 800 talents total and this man owes 10,000 talents.  Can you feel this?  The man pleads for an extension and the king refused to give an extension but rather released and forgave the debt.  It is important to see both words in this context.  The king let the man go free!  It is important that we understand that debts do not just go away.  In a real sense, the king paid the debt and it was an incredibly costly act of benevolence on his part.  The wages of sin are death and Jesus paid our debt!   This is more than just an act of benevolence that can be causally passed over it is astounding!

This servant missed the awesomeness of this act of the king for we find him confronting another who owed him 100 denarii.  I hope you comprehend this.  100 Denair is 1/600,000^th of the debt the other was forgiven.  100 denarii amount to a sizable debt but payable.  If you converted 10,000 talents into nickels it would take 8,600 men carrying sacks of nickels weighing 60 pounds each.  If they walked with about 3 feet between them the line would be 5 miles long but if you take 100 denarii and convert it to nickels you could carry it in your pocket.  Are you catching this? 

The debtors used identical words asking for patience. One was forgiven an unpayable sum and the other refused patience for a payable sum.  When we forgive, we release, or we have not forgiven!  We unlock the prison and let them walk free for we are releasing them to God!   Likewise, when we refuse to forgive, we put them in chains and in so doing bring to ourselves incredible hurt.  There will never be a moment of peace as a result we cannot retrieve that which is owed and the wound festers and grows.

Notice the king did not intervene it was a matter between servants.  One person with an unforgiving spirit can wreck the local congregation.  Remember the account of Achan?  One man affected the entire nation of Israel.  When I refuse to forgive, I am blocking the supply route spiritually to that person and affecting the entire body.  I won’t get into it at this time. 

If you read the rest of the story you find that the king called the unforgiving servant back in and ultimately turned him over to the torturers due to his unforgiving heart.  The king did not reverse his decision he and his family were not thrown into prison as was first decreed.  No, he was handed over to the torturers until the debt was paid which it would never be.  They were Middle Eastern bill collectors and nasty folks at that.  They came by regularly as a reminder and although he was still in his home and his family not sold as slaves it was mentally, physically, and emotionally draining.  He left the other servant in jail, so he clearly did not fully grasp the concept and understand the enormity of forgiveness.

Here is what I want you to catch. In verse thirty-five Jesus said, “So My heavenly Father also will do to you if each of you, from his heart, does not forgive his brother his trespass.”  Remember the words of the Lord, “Forgive us our debts AS we forgive our debtors.”  Sin is our debt we owe God and it is a debt that can never be satisfied by man.  I owe and must pay, but I cannot pay for you cannot forgive yourself and wipe away sin.  But Jesus comes and forgives us and opens the supply routes so that we can be free.  If I have been forgiven an unpayable debt how can I refuse to forgive pocket change? 

How often shall I forgive my brother?   The message of Jesus was an infinite number of times if necessary.  It was to be done remembering our own forgiveness!  You will hurt me if you fail to forgive me, but you will hurt yourself even more.  When we forgive, we release those we have forgiven, and the life flow of God comes to us like a refreshing river.

May God be with you as you go through this day!

1 Corinthians 1:10-17 – “Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. 11 For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe’s people, that there are quarrels among you. 12 Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.” 13 Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 so that no one would say you were baptized in my name. 16 Now I did baptize also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptized any other. 17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void.”  NASB

Most of the time I do not have a significant problem with people following different elements within the Body of Christ as their primary worship center or foundation of faith and practice!  That being said, sometimes I wonder how the heart of God is grieved when we separate, alienate, and seek to annihilate others from differing denominations over schisms and points of faith because we believe that we and we alone are right and they are not only wrong but heretical in their beliefs.

I do not expect everyone to believe exactly what I believe.  However, I do ask that we accept what the Bible teaches and allow the Word of God to be the true and final interpreter of God’s Tenets and Truths.  Paul exhorted the Church in Corinth along these lines urging them to settle or move away from divisions and schisms.  Those divisions were not only points of disagreement but points of separation doing damage to the efforts of the fledgling Church of Jesus Christ.  He went through his list of people identifying with a particular personality as their argument and basis for their rightness.  That is no different than the hordes of people who not just proudly but divisively declare, I’m this or that regarding a particular denomination or non-denominational denomination.

Several years ago, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and said, “You are too exclusive and not open to some outside your group and I want to use them to speak to you.”  I attended some conferences and meetings where men and women were speaking that in the past I had severely criticized as being in gross error.  The Holy Spirit instructed me to LISTEN and that in doing so I would find more to applaud than to criticize. 

At one conference the main speaker preached a message that so stirred my heart I developed several series of messages from his message. God used him to speak a truth to my heart that in a very real way changed my outlook on many things.  The church he was leading and a part of were putting the principles of the gospel in practice and while I still do not agree with all he taught or teaches I will allow the Holy Spirit to speak to me through whatever means He chooses.

I realize that some will say I am compromising my faith and I hope that is incorrect.  I do not excuse or wink at sin nor will I sit silently when I hear what I believe to be heresy taught.  That is especially true regarding those with those whom I have any influence or responsibility.  I always attempt to separate the message from the messenger and identify what I believe the Bible says while refusing to focus on the personality.  If that is compromise, then I guess I am guilty.  But in my desire to do what the Spirit of God instructed me I will follow this practice and ask you to disagree disagreeably if you choose.

May God be with you as you go through your day!

Romans 12:1-2 – “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” NASB

The New American Standard Bible renders this ‘spiritual service of worship’.  The KJV and NKJV – – ‘reasonable service.’  I believe both are correct in the translation of the verbiage and applicable.

The idea presented by the apostle Paul is that we present to God our bodies (temples of clay), as Living and Holy sacrifices of service.  We are also instructed to reject being conformed to the world and receive the Transformation of our spirits by the renewing of our minds and thereby prove or demonstrate the Will of God for our lives in our present world.

If we are to fulfill what we call The Great Commission and take the Gospel message to the world some things must transpire.  If we, as living stones, in the Body of Christ are to be fitly framed into a Spiritual House for God’s service and purposes it is imperative that we seek to have Paul’s instructions become practical and daily realities in our lives.  We are told in Scripture that we are not our own but have been bought with a price thus identifying that we belong to God and His purpose, will, and desire is to be paramount in our lives.

When we present these temples of clay to the Lord, we are to be mindful that defiling these temples is not an acceptable option.  We are to be mindful that while, as Paul declared, bodily exercise profits little he did not say it profited nothing, and seeking to be fit and healthy should be a reasonable objective physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  However, I believe that verse is directed at far more than our individual temporal or physical bodies but the Body of Christ.  We need to be whole to be the best we can be for the Kingdom of God.

I am not a fitness freak so don’t think that this is my focus.  I have learned after years of neglect and lack of discipline that when I discipline my physical body, I am better able to walk in spiritual discipline.  I have made a lifestyle choice that includes a desire and effort to walk in health.  Yes, I still battle sickness from time to time but my desire and effort are to present God with the best temple of clay I can give Him and expect Him to develop in me the best spiritual man that can be viewed from this temple.  I also want to present to Him the best stone in the Body of Christ possible.  I am pressing toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ.  I have not arrived but see the goal and I am looking for a city whose builder and maker is God.  I want what the angels declared in the field to the shepherds the night of Jesus’ birth – – “Peace on Earth and Good Will Toward Men.”

May God be with you as you go through your day!

2 Corinthians  5:10 – “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”  NKJV

Galatians 6:5 – “For each one shall bear his own load.”  NKJV

Proverbs 28:13 – “He who covers his sins will not prosper, But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy.” NKJV

The Bible makes it perfectly clear that we are not pawns to some providence or outside circumstance and that God does and will hold us accountable for our individual actions.  Each of us will stand before God and give account for our lives.  We will give an account for what we have committed and omitted in life.  Sometimes our sin of omissions is as great, or greater, than our sin of commission.

We have an assignment in life or assignments in life and have a responsibility or responsibilities to perform.  If we are parents, the training of our children in the way they should go is an awesome responsibility that we will answer to God for our success or failure on that front.  In our interpersonal dealings with others, whether that falls into the category of business, social interaction, or some other arena we will give account.  We will give an account as to our witness via our words as well as our demonstrated lives.  We will not be able to blame society, our environment, our parents, the church, the government, or anything else.  We will own our lives at that point and God will accept no excuses.  He has given us the guidebook by which to live and if we have ignored it or tried to over analyze it or intellectualize it we do so to our peril.

I have discovered that some of the greatest victories of my life were those times when I stood, as a man, and took responsibility for my actions.  I’ve seen that turn hearts to God and diffuse volatile situations that could have escalated into church splits or even physical violence.  I’ve seen hard men broken when they heard me admit my failure and accept responsibility in an attitude of repentance and humility.  I’ve seen families restored when this action is taken.  I’ve seen estranged relationships in long term friendships restored through this action.

My brothers and sisters in Christ – WE ARE RESPONSIBLE and ACCOUNTABLE for our actions and attitudes, so refuse to blame anything else and just man up.  It will prove to be liberating even if it is not accepted by those wounded in the process leading up to your acknowledgment.  You will be free like never before!

May God be with you as you go through your day!  Blessings abundantly!