"Friendship was given by nature to be an assistant to virtue, not a companion in vice." - Cicero
Nothing is like a friend. A friend who knows where I am and is able to speak to my situation at the moment, with clarity and conviction, is like a fine mist in a desert place. I had the chance to talk to a friend of mine Friday. I was calling to share in a recent, great happiness of his. Instead I had the opportunity to be encouraged by his wisdom. He told me of a major lessons which God had taught to him, which helped him to become more self-aware. The lesson concerned awareness of his tendencies to give in to temptation, and of the steps that he could develop to fight the sin that would so easily entangle him.
This particular lesson is exactly what I am learning at the moment. You know, I must be honest with you: I have had the tendency, when I have convinced myself that sinning is inevitable, to just go ahead and and fall/jump into temptation. After all, it _is_ just _one_ sin. How displeasing could God possibly be?? I have been serving him for a long time, as best I can. One little bump in the road cannot make the whole trip impossible!
Numbers 20:8, 11-12 Take the rod, you and Aaron, your brother, and make all the people come together, and before their eyes give orders to the rock to give out its water; and so make water come out of the rock for them, and give the people and their cattle drink.
And lifting up his hand, Moses gave the rock two blows with his rod: and water came streaming out, and the people and their cattle had drink enough.
Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you had not enough faith in me to keep my name holy before the children of Israel, you will not take this people into the land which I have given them.
All it took for Moses was a bump in the road, and that after a long stretch of paved goodness.
Because of my friend, I have been challenged to take a stand. He admonished me, that I should take firm hold of God's word that, according to Ephesians 3:20, he is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. So, I will ask to become all that my Lord has called me to be, and I think that Christ has placed holiness within my grasp. I have made resolutions in the past, the vast majority of which were based on willpower, and only after I had engaged in deliberate sin. This time, I resolve to fight from a pure heart, not a guilty one. I will be present one day before God, and in exceeding, great joy.
Jude 1:24-25 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
Nothing is like a friend. A friend who knows where I am and is able to speak to my situation at the moment, with clarity and conviction, is like a fine mist in a desert place. I had the chance to talk to a friend of mine Friday. I was calling to share in a recent, great happiness of his. Instead I had the opportunity to be encouraged by his wisdom. He told me of a major lessons which God had taught to him, which helped him to become more self-aware. The lesson concerned awareness of his tendencies to give in to temptation, and of the steps that he could develop to fight the sin that would so easily entangle him.
This particular lesson is exactly what I am learning at the moment. You know, I must be honest with you: I have had the tendency, when I have convinced myself that sinning is inevitable, to just go ahead and and fall/jump into temptation. After all, it _is_ just _one_ sin. How displeasing could God possibly be?? I have been serving him for a long time, as best I can. One little bump in the road cannot make the whole trip impossible!
Numbers 20:8, 11-12 Take the rod, you and Aaron, your brother, and make all the people come together, and before their eyes give orders to the rock to give out its water; and so make water come out of the rock for them, and give the people and their cattle drink.
And lifting up his hand, Moses gave the rock two blows with his rod: and water came streaming out, and the people and their cattle had drink enough.
Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you had not enough faith in me to keep my name holy before the children of Israel, you will not take this people into the land which I have given them.
All it took for Moses was a bump in the road, and that after a long stretch of paved goodness.
Because of my friend, I have been challenged to take a stand. He admonished me, that I should take firm hold of God's word that, according to Ephesians 3:20, he is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us. So, I will ask to become all that my Lord has called me to be, and I think that Christ has placed holiness within my grasp. I have made resolutions in the past, the vast majority of which were based on willpower, and only after I had engaged in deliberate sin. This time, I resolve to fight from a pure heart, not a guilty one. I will be present one day before God, and in exceeding, great joy.
Jude 1:24-25 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.
posted from Bloggeroid
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