We were created out of divine love, by divine love, and for divine love. God loves us and the way we show love for God is to obey.
Adam and Eve are an example for all to see of this truth. As long as they were totally obedient and totally satisfied in that obedience to God, they dwelt in perfect life in the beautiful garden God made for them. But the moment they disobeyed and chose their own way, death entered the world along with it’s darkness and destruction.
Obeying what God commands is the way to life. In fact, Jesus said He came to give abundant life. (John 10:10) He desires for us to choose His life. (Deuteronomy 30:19-20) The way we choose His life is to obey!
When we choose our own way. We are careless. We show contempt for the things God has told us to do. This only leads to spiritual death.
We are told in this chapter of Proverbs that if we get wisdom, we “love life.” (Verse 8) If we “fear the Lord”, or have reverence for God that gives us a desire to obey Him fully, we will be led “to life … (and) rest content.” We will be “untouched by trouble.” (Verse 23)
Obedience to God is love for God and the way to dwell in love. God’s love is where life is found!
”Whoever keeps commandments keeps their life, but whoever shows contempt for their ways will die.“ Proverbs 19:16 NIV
Many are seeking for a life of success. Our libraries are filled with self help books that give “The key to happiness, fulfillment, wealth, etc.” Google search after Google search will point you to the ways to happiness, peace of mind, prosperity, etc. But Proverbs 10 lays out THE TRUE KEY to what we are all looking for— a blessed life. That key is “righteousness”.
Righteousness is defined as having a holy heart, a heart set apart for a sacred use, God’s use. When our thoughts, our decisions, and our feelings are completely submitted to God, obedient to God and depending upon God, we experience a life of fulfillment, joy, and happiness. (Verses 6, 7, 16) We experience the blessed life!
The blessings of a righteous person are many: The righteous person is delivered from spiritual death. (Verse 2) They are spiritually fulfilled. (Verse 3) A righteous person’s mouth is a fountain of life. It is life giving. (Verse 11) It has the good fruit of wisdom (Verse 31). The prospect— hope or expectation — of the righteous is joy…” They are firmly planted not uprooted. They know what finds favor (Verse 32).
How do we experience this blessed life of righteousness? This righteousness that pours out blessing after blessing in our lives isn’t found in all the good works we may do. It is found in Jesus alone! He give His righteousness to us so we can live the blessed life. Our role is to receive what He has given and live His way— submitted to Him. This is the only place we can experience what so many are searching for the true life of blessings in His righteousness.
Folly calls out. She invites the simple and the ones who lack sense to come into her house. But who is she? Folly is sinful acts, living contrary to God’s laws. Solomon warns his son that her guests are “deep in the realm of the dead.” In other words, sin is always calling out to us and enticing us. When we follow after sin, we are foolish because sin ALWAYS ends in death, darkness, and destruction.
But there is a different path that leads to a life of abundance. It is Wisdom’s path of “the fear of the Lord.”
For years I looked at the phrase of “the fear of the Lord” in a negative light. But in truth it is the most positive way to live. To fear the Lord is to see God rightly— He is Holy, Just, All Powerful, All Knowing, Everywhere. He is also perfect Love. He loved us first so that we could love Him and He desires for us to be what He intended for us all along — His image bearers. Seeing Him as such leads us to desire to hate/ shun evil and to aim to obey Him perfectly.
When we come to God with desire to totally obey, totally submit, and totally depend on Him, He empowers us to live lives free of sin, free of folly.
We do not have to go down the path to folly’s house.
A few months ago, I was praying. I heard the Holy Spirit tell me, “Janet, do you know that Satan uses noise warfare?” Since the term “noise warfare” was not exactly on my mind, I decided to do a google search. When I did, I found an article about Manuel Noriega. The implications of his story have been eye opening to me as one who has been subject to “noise warfare” for most of my life.
US Soldiers blaring rock and roll music in 1989
On Christmas Day 1989, The United States decided it was time to arrest and bring to justice General Manuel Noriega, the dictator of Panama. Indicted for drug trafficking charges, Mr. Noriega had holed himself up in the embassy of the Vatican in Panama. The US forces did not want to destroy buildings in order to accomplish a surrender of the surrounded General. So, they engaged in “noise warfare”. They surrounded the Embassy and with a flight of Humvees that were mounted with loudspeakers from which they blasted rock in roll music, nonstop for three days. Noriega, who loved classical music surrendered shortly after. As I read the news report of the events surrounding Noriega’s surrender, the truth set in. This is the exact type of spiritual warfare I have been engaged in most of my life.
Make no doubt about it. Our enemy, Satan, is a liar. Not only is he a liar, he takes great pleasure in repeating lies in our ears over and over and over again. His voice does not tire from spewing lies 24/7 that lead us to choose anxiety, anger, depression, hatred, bitterness, envy, selfishness, jealousy, etc. However, we do not have to be subject to the noise warfare going on within our heads.
About three years ago, I contacted my friend from college. In our conversation, I revealed to her that I was suffering from horrible anxiety. She told me something that to this day rings true, “Janet, you have the Holy Spirit living within you. You know His voice. All you have to do is listen.” It occurred to me that moment that I had listened to the lies of the enemy so long that I had forgotten what it was like to listen for the “still small voice” of the Holy Spirit. I had allowed Satan to shout in my ears and I had been internalizing his lies. It was time to draw a line in the sand and FIGHT!
Do you know that God has a victory plan for the “noise warfare” of our enemy? It is the praise of our glorious God! It silences Satan!
“Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory in the heavens. Through the praise of children and infants you have established a stronghold against your enemies, to silence the foe and the avenger. “ Psalm 8:1-2 NIV
We must make a determined effort to use this weapon we have graciously been given. Satan knows this is true. So he once again will shout his lies, “That won’t work! You look like an idiot praising when you are who you are!” May I encourage you, tell him to “shut it!” and then get your praise on!
Even if the praise you struggle to get out starts with a feeble, “I praise you God, because you are good.” Build on those words with more and more praise. He cannot continue to blare his noise when the praises start! The truth of who God is as you praise Him with His Word will prevail! So, praise and then listen. You will hear His voice. It has been gently speaking all along. In Him is the Victory!
I have rediscovered the past few years how beautiful the sound of God’s voice is! I love it! What I did not know as I listened to the noise of the enemy is that God’s voice was speaking the whole time. Praise helped me to turn the channel of what was being broadcasted in my head. God’s voice is loving. His voice is peace. It is gentle, kind, patient, and good. And best of all, it can be heard! In fact, God longs for us to hear it! He wants us to know His voice and follow no other! Because He loves us and wants what is best for us!
We do not have to live under the constant barrage of the enemy’s lies and his “noise warfare”! We must immerse ourselves in the truth- God’s Word, the Bible, and lift up our voices in praise! Our God still breaks the chains of torment off of the minds of His children! Believe it is so!
“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”Deuteronomy 30:19-20 NIV
This morning I am made keenly aware of the truth within these words. I have contemplated how often I have seen situations where the fruit of these choices are being displayed in my life and the lives of others. There is a blessing of life when we choose God’s Life. God offers us His spiritual prosperity, blessings, and enjoyment of Himself when we choose Him as our life. These blessings are poured out not only upon ourselves but on our children and their children and so on. BUT we must choose to pursue Life in a relationship with Him!
We have another choice which is death and curses. It is living our lives separated from the author and creator of life, God. This life is lived as we focus on ourselves- our wants, our desires, our ways- instead of God’s. It is a life with no relationship with God, apart from Him. When we choose that life, apart from Him, we live far from peace, joy, and love. We are in turmoil. Our emotions reflect that— anxiety, anger, bitterness, worry, etc. Our relationships with our family, coworkers, children, and spouses reflect that turmoil. When we choose our way instead of life we choose turmoil, and that turmoil will consume us and pour out on everyone we are around.
The question we need to ask ourselves is: What have I chosen for my life? God’s Life in relationship with Him or the death of choosing to not follow Him 💯, separated from Him?
“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”Deuteronomy 30:19-20 NIV
This morning I am made keenly aware of the truth within these words. I have contemplated how often I have seen situations where the fruit of these choices are being displayed in my life and the lives of others. There is a blessing of life when we choose God’s Life. God offers us His spiritual prosperity, blessings, and enjoyment of Himself when we choose Him as our life. These blessings are poured out not only upon ourselves but on our children and their children and so on. BUT we must choose to pursue Life in a relationship with Him!
We have another choice which is death and curses. It is living our lives separated from the author and creator of life, God. This life is lived as we focus on ourselves- our wants, our desires, our ways- instead of God’s. It is a life with no relationship with God, apart from Him. When we choose that life, apart from Him, we live far from peace, joy, and love. We are in turmoil. Our emotions reflect that— anxiety, anger, bitterness, worry, etc. Our relationships with our family, coworkers, children, and spouses reflect that turmoil. When we choose our way instead of life we choose turmoil, and that turmoil will consume us and pour out on everyone we are around.
The question we need to ask ourselves is: What have I chosen for my life? God’s Life in relationship with Him or the death of choosing to not follow Him 💯, separated from Him?
I had an awesome conversation with my niece Emily yesterday regarding evil. That conversation and a prayer request for a man who was contemplating and then eventually took his life yesterday has been on my heart this morning. So as usual what’s on my heart gets pecked out by my fingers in writing:
“The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).” John 10:10 AMPC
One of the biggest deceptions of Satan is to get us to thinking that he isn’t that big of a deal or that he doesn’t even exist. We need to be aware of his existence and we need to know his purpose! Satan’s main purpose and goal is to steal from us, to kill the life that God has given us, and to destroy our lives. It is what occupies every thought in his mind and every action he takes. He hates God and since we are the ones God loves so much, he hates us! We NEED to be aware that we have an enemy, and this enemy will go to great lengths to destroy our lives and to lead us to death, darkness, and destruction. Satan is a liar. That is how he communicates. Nothing but lies stream from his mouth. His ability to lie is like none other, because he makes his lies sound like truth. He is the great deceiver His lies are believable. They seem like they are what we should be following. They appeal to our self- life, who we are without God’s new heart He gives us. His lies are a constant attack on the TRUTH. The Truth is the Word of God. We will live our lives constantly beat up by his onslaught as long as we refuse to follow God wholeheartedly and we refuse to be in relationship with God through prayer and taking in His Word, the Bible. Consider where you are in your relationship with God. Are you close to God? If you are not, you are susceptible to the attacks of the evil one. You will experience the loss caused by satan’s stealing from you. You will experience the death of goodness in the situations you come against. Your life will be destroyed. Jesus offers us differently. Jesus said He came that we would have abundant life. We choose. (More on this later)
We come to Jesus for many reasons: Perhaps we see our life is a wreck and we need Him to save us from our poor choices. Maybe we see the direction of our lives and realize that we are separated from Him, eternally lost, facing an eternity in hell. It is true that Jesus came to extend the invitation promised in John 3:16.
““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 ESV.
We come to Jesus longing for safety from hell, but that safety is not the totality of why Jesus extended the invitation to a relationship with Him. We are to become like Him. The question then remains, what is Jesus like?
He is Holy. He is set apart by His sinlessness, His purity, His perfection.
“but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”” 1 Peter 1:15-16 ESV
Reading these words may seem like an impossibility. It may seem that God has set the bar too high for us to jump. Let me assure you,God’s commands are for our good and for His glory!
Sin is like a cancer to our soul. It eats away and weighs us down with death, darkness, and destruction. God knows that the only way we can truly experience all His goodness and all of His life is for us to be like Him, free of sin!
He wants us to not only experience the assurance of salvation free from fear of punishment and hell. He wants His life to be flowing through us, His holy and pure life, free from the destruction of sin!
We may see this as nothing but impossibility. Because we know how badly we fail time and time again. Here is where the good news comes in.
We know that Salvation that gives us the assurance of eternity with God is free! Jesus paid the price. He did it all! Holiness that makes us more and more like Him, free from sin, is not what we conjure up and work on our own. Jesus works this within us when we give ourselves to Him 💯. He does it all!!
“For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.”Philippians 2:13 NLT
There is more to be said about this. For today I want to encourage you to ask God to show you what all this means in your life.
Jesus has offered us the New Life, His own life that is abundant. The New Life is more than we could ask, think or imagine. It is His life working in us!
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,” Ephesians 3:20 NIV
This Life is a life of faith. Faith is defined by Andrew Murray as being, “Nothing other than the certainty that what God says is true.” It is believing the truth of the Word. It understands that each and every promise in the Bible is for the one who believes, as well as each and every command. If we want to live the New Life and experience it’s fullness we must receive the Word by listening, reading, studying, memorizing, etc. Faith comes by the Word of God. We must believe it is true through faith.
“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” Romans 10:17 ESV
When we truly receive the New Life in Jesus, we experience His intimacy and closeness, His power to break the chains of sin off of our lives, His freedom. When we are born again we have new desires. That desire is to no longer do things our old way following ourselves, but we desire to follow God. We want to please Him. We want to OBEY! This requires Faith. It requires seeking God in His Word.
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6 NIV
The New Life is a life that is a life of Faith that seeks God first. It is not a passive life. It is a pursuit! It grows as we seek God and believe what He says in His Word: The New Life of Faith!
Life always produces growth. Think of a seed buried in the ground. All appears dead until the seedling breaks through the ground. The plant with proper care and attention grows. Jesus told a parable in the book of Matthew emphasizing this point.
“He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds come and perch in its branches.”” Matthew 13:31-32 NIV
The New Life God gives us is like that small mustard seed. It is planted in our hearts and it grows. It’s growth spreads out to every nook and cranny of our lives. It’s influence is within every thought we think, every word we speak, every action we take. It’s growth inside of us should not stop, because the New Life is meant to become the entirety of our lives. If we are not seeing the growth and the influence of the New Life in our lives, we need to examine our hearts. Because we are not meant to have our lives with a portion of it dedicated to God and a portion dedicated to ourselves. We are meant for God’s New Life to be the totality of our lives. Our old ways of living that were dedicated to ourselves and our ways must go in order to make room for the New Life growing in us. Just as every weed in our garden that surrounds our new living and tender plant that we are attending must be pulled up and thrown out. We are to live with this realized fully in our lives: The New Life, Christ in us, is our life now!
“For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.” Colossians 3:3-4 NIV
Your Love 