Archive for the ‘Inspiration’ Category


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 15:22 Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. 

People with tunnel vision, those who are locked into one way of thinking, are likely to miss the right road because they have closed their minds to any new options. We need the help of those who can enlarge our vision and broaden our perspective.  Seek out the advice of those who know you and have a wealth of experience.  Build a network of advisers.  Then be open to new ideas and be willing to weigh their suggestions carefully.  Your plans will be stronger and more likely to succeed.


Under Gods Command
Samson and Deliah 

Judges 16:01 One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute.  He went to spend the night with her.    

It appears that Samson totally forgot the mission that God called him to do.  Samson was supposed to be plotting the demise of the Philistines.  First we find him planning a wedding.  Imagine getting measured for a tux when you’re supposed to be planning an attack against your bride’s family! AFter that did not work out, he is distracted again with a prostitute.  Samson was so distracted by his constant pursuit of sexual gratification that he never became the Moses like deliverer that God intended for him to be. 

Lets Bring it Home: What about us? Are we also distracted by your interest in sex?  Would you be forced to admit that you spend a good bit of time trying to satisfy your desires in ways that you’d never want anyone to know about?

Do you read trashy novels?

Do you spend time in Internet chat rooms flirting with total strangers?

Do you download pornographic pictures onto a top-secret dis?

Do you watch adult movies when you’re home alone?

Do you visit strip clubs and adult bookstores when you’re out of town?

Do you masturbate regularly?

Do you call 900 (phone sex) numbers?

Do you concoct lies and excuses to cover up these activities?

Do you have a secret intimate relationship with someone?

Do you find ways to excuse behavior that you know in your heart is inexcusable?

If your answer is “Yes” to any of these questions, then my friend, you have strayed far from where God wants you to be.  It doesn’t matter if you still give some of your time and energy to God service.  Any amount of time invested in the pursuits listed above is an indication that you have lost sight of God’s plan for your life.  Lust is controlling you, and if you don’t take action to correct he problem, it will ruin your life.

 


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 14:04 Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest. 

When a farmer has no oxen for plowing, his food trench for the animals will be empty.  The only way to keep your life free of people problems is to keep it free of other people.  But if your life loses its meaning.  Instead of avoiding people, we should serve others, share the faith.  And work for justice.  Is your life clean, but empty? Or does it give evidence of your serving God wholeheartedly.

 


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 13:09 The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out. 

Living right is like posting a guard for your life.  Every choice for good sets into motion other opportunities for good.  Evil choices follow the same pattern, but in the opposite direction.  Each decision you make to obey God’s Word will bring a greater sense of order to your life, while each decision to disobey will bring confusion and destruction.  The right choices you make reflect your integrity.  Obedience brings the greatest safety and security.


Under Gods Command
Samson

Judges 15:18 Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the LORD, “YOU have given your servant this great victory.  Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”

Samson was physically and emotionally exhausted.   After a great personal victory, his attitude declined quickly into self-pity.  “Must I now die of thirst?” Emotionally, we are most vulnerable after a great effort or when faced with real physical needs.  Severe depression often follows great achievements; so don’t be surprised if you feel drained after a personal victory.

Lets Bring it Home: During these times of vulnerability, avoid the temptation to think that God owes you for your efforts.  It was his strength that gave you victory.  Concentrate on Keeping your attitudes, actions, and words focused on God instead of your self.


Under Gods Command

 Proverbs 9:1-5 Wisdom has built her house; she has hewn out its seven pillars.  She has prepared her meat and mixed her wine; she has also set her table.  She has sent out her maids, and she calls from the highest point of the city.  Let all who are simple come in here! She says to those who lack judgment. Come, eat my food and drink the wine I have mixed. 

The banquet described in this chapter has some interesting parallels to the banquet Jesus described in one of his parables (Luke 14:15-24).  Many may intend to go, but they never make it because they get sidetracked by other activities that seem more important at the time.  Don’t let anything become more important than your search for God’s wisdom.


Under Gods Command
Samson

Judges 15:1-3 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife.  He said, “I’m going to my wife’s room. “But her father would not let him go in.  “I was so sure you thoroughly hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your friend.  Isn’t her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead.”Samson said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them.

Judges 15:8-11: He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them.  Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.  The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi.  The men of Judah asked, “Why have you come to fight us?” “We have come to take Samson prisoner, “they answered, “to do to him as he did to us.”  Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rook of Etam and said to Samson, “Don’t you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us?  What have you done to us?” He answered, “I merely did to them what they did to me.”

Samson’s reply in 15:11 tells the story of this chapter;  “I merely did to them what they did to me.” Revenge is an uncontrollable monster.

Lets bring it Home:  Each act of retaliation brings another.  It is a boomerang that cannot be thrown without cost to the thrower.  The revenge cycle can be halted only by forgiveness.


Under Gods Command

Proverbs 7:1-5 My son, keep my words and store up my commands within you. Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye. Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart. Say to wisdom, “you are my sister,” and call understanding your kinsman; they will keep you from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words.

Sons often neglect their father’s instructions and warnings. If they forget them, they will not be ready, when temptation is in their eyes, ears, heart, and loins. And the temptation here is dangerous and powerful – a beautiful and skilled adulteress (7:5-27). The same lesson applies to young women, when they are infatuated with a handsome man. Solomon begins and ends his warning with appeals to remember his advice (7:1-4,24).

The dangers of not remembering are great. How will a young man resist, when his eyes are full of her beauty, his ears full of her flattery, his heart full of her offered love and submission, and his loins full of desire (5:3;6:24-25; 7:13-21)? How will a young woman resist, when her eyes are full of his manliness, her ears full of his flattery, her heart full of his attention and affection, and her body craves his full embrace (Gen 34:1-3)?

By nature, a son does not value his father’s warnings. He deceives himself to believe that his father is out of touch with the world, that his father overstates the danger, that his father wants to deprive him of pleasure, that his father never met a desirable woman, that his father did not have sexual lusts, or that he can escape the consequences his father describes. All these are damnable lies from a foolish youthful heart and the father of lies.
Sons must trust fathers and esteem their advice and warnings. Every father was once a young man with the same desires and temptations. But a father has survived youth and reflected much on what is best for his son. He has long-term success in mind, not short-term pleasures that will ruin his life! Fathers love their sons more than any woman will ever love them, even a virtuous wife! Young man, keep your father’s commandments!

Young men must resist the attraction and temptation of a whorish woman by having their minds firmly established in their fathers’ commandments long before they encounter this very dangerous creature. Once they are even slightly captivated by the appearance, flattery, or offers of a seductress, it becomes almost impossible to recall any warnings. But what will a young man do, whose father does not teach or warn him about such a woman? He will be helpless before the drawing power of her body and wiles. Such fathers are accomplices in the destruction of their sons! Though he may have advised and warned about many dangers, he neglected the most harmful. Fathers, save your sons!

Reader! God your Father has given His commandments and law to you. Do you keep them as the apple of your eye? Do you read them daily? Do you meditate upon them? Do you tremble before their warnings and rejoice at their instruction? Or do you deceive yourself that you can forget or neglect them and survive? Do not be a fool!


Under Gods Command
Samson

Judges 14:19 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power.  He went down to Ashkelon, struck down thirty of their men, stripped them of their belongings and gave their clothes to those who had explained the riddle.  Burning with anger, he went up to his father’s house. 

Samson impulsively used the special gift God gave him for selfish purposes.  Today, God distributes abilities and skills throughout the church (1 Corinthians 12:1).  The apostle Paul states that these gifts are to be used “that the body of Christ may be built up,” that is, to build up the church (Ephesians 4:12).

Lets bring it home: To use these abilities for selfish purpose is to robe the church and fellow believers of strength.  As you use the gifts God has given you, be sure you are helping others, not just yourself.


Under Gods Command
Samson

Judges 14:1-4 Samson went down to Timnah and saw there a young Philistine woman.  When he returned, he said to this father and mother, “I have seen a Philistine woman in Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.”  His father and mother replied, “isn’t there an acceptable woman among your relatives or among all our people? Must you go to the uncircumcised Philistines to get a wife?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me.  She’s the right one for me.” (His parents did not know that this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines, for at that time they were ruling over Israel.) 

Samson’s parents objected to his marrying the Philistine woman for several reasons:

(1)  It was against God’s law (Exodus 34:15-17; Deuteronomy 7:1-4).  A stark example of what happened when the Israelites married pagans can be found in 3A:A5-7.

(2)  The Philistines were Israel’s greatest enemies.  Marriage to a hated Philistine would be a disgrace to Samson’s family.  But Samson’s father gave into Samson’s demand and allowed the marriage; even through he had the right to refuse his son.

(3)  He was supposed to be plotting the demise of the Philistines, but instead he was planning a wedding.  Imagine getting measured for a tux when you’re supposed to be planning an attack against your bride’s family!

When his parents did try to raise the issue of the girl’s spiritual heritage, Samson reacted harshly, nipping the discussion in the bud.  In essence, he said, “Who cares if she’s a pagan?  She’s hot and that’s all I care about” There was absolutely no consideration of the spiritual ramifications of romancing the girl.

Lets bring it home: The next time you feel a twinge of sexual desire toward someone or something illicit, stop and remind your self of a simple but important truth that Samson obviously forgot: that the primary difference between and an animal is that a man has the ability to act according to reason rather than instinct.  Let those two words settle in your mind.

Reason and instinct.  A man has the ability to reason his way through a situation, weighing the pros and cons, evaluating the risk and rewards, and considering the spiritual ramifications, while animals act entirely according to instinct.  This means that when you throw reason to wind and act solely according to the impulses of your flesh, you become no different than your dog or the old tomcat that prowls the alley behind your house.