Seven Suicidal Sins #2 ARROGANCE

Scripture references 1 Samuel 15 and 1 Samuel 31

In the last blog we looked at the Suicidal Sin of Disobedience.  The next Suicidal Sin that goes hand and hand with Disobedience is Arrogance.  In researching this I looked up the word arrogance.  Some of its synonyms are: Audacity, Nerve, and PRIDE!  God says that pride goes before destruction. (Proverbs 16:18)  Have you ever come to a point in your life and all that was happening was destruction?  Examine it closely and ask yourself, “Was I prideful before hand?”  We get prideful when we begin to think we are “all that”, when we start not to lean on God but believe we are the reason we can do what we do.  

Saul said in verse 1 Samuel 15:13“he had performed the commandment of the LORD.”    Or that he had obeyed God’s voice.  Samuel responds by saying, “What means then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen I hear?”  In today’s terms, “What then means this hemorrhaging of your finances I see, or your sporadic attendance at church, or your inconsistent giving of tithes and offerings?”  When we think we have a better way of doing things than God, we have moved from disobedience to arrogance.

When things that we use to shout about, or lay out on the floor thanking God for and now seem to bother us to no end, those are signs of arrogance.  The baby you prayed for and it finally came now you can’t stand to look at it.  The spouse you prayed and wept to have and now you won’t even talk to them.  The job you said to God, “If You give me this job I will always…….”  “LORD if You will only bless me in (an area) I will be satisfied and always give You the praise!”  Then God gave you the desires of your heart as is His promise, and now you spend more time complaining about the blessing than you do rejoicing over the God that gave you the blessing.  Do you feel that you deserve it?  That’s Arrogance slipping into your life.

Arrogance always thinks that it knows more than God, that it knows a better way to get the blessing, or that it knows what it is doing.   Arrogance is self-enthroned egotistical attitudes where you are working it out in your flesh.  Can you hear God reminding you that, “when you were little in your own sight, I blessed you?” (verse 17)  What in your life have you become arrogant about?  What in your life did you use to fall out and cry unto God for, but now you don’t even want to be bothered with?  How have things been at the job since you stopped paying your tithes?  How lacking is your prayer life and your word of deliverance to others since you slacked off reading your bible regularly?  Are we no longer thankful just to be in the service on Sunday morning one more time?  God misses the praise you use to give Him when you were truly thankful.  Arrogance makes us feel like we deserve it.  Arrogance will lead to Rebellion.

Seven Suicidal Sins #1 DISOBEDIENCE

Scripture references: 1 Samuel 15 and 1 Samuel 31 (in case you are not familiar with the story)

If you ever read the story of Saul and how he conducted himself during his kingship reign, you will find some interesting things.  How does a man go from being God’s anointed and chosen man to lead Israel, to being dead, having his head placed in the temple of a foreign god, all of his sons dead and his lineage being stripped of the crown?

Saul committed suicide, but not on that fateful day when he fell upon his own sword.  He killed himself by doing several things.  The first of them was his disobedience to God.  When he was told specifically by God to “go and smite Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have and spare them not: but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass”, he disobeyed God’s instructions and kept the best things for himself.  If Saul felt it had value he did not follow God’s word and instruction but his own selfish desire.  This was the LORD’s judgment on the Amalekites for they had attacked God’s people in the wilderness when they were weak. (be very careful who you attack and when) and they were to be “utterly destroyed”.  Saul directly disobeyed the Word of the LORD.  He thought he knew a “better way” than God and decided to do things his way instead of God’s way.

How many times have we heard God’s Word, or maybe even Him directly telling us what to do (God’s way), yet in our disobedient selfish ways, we do something different (our way) and then wonder what happened and why we die.  Does God ever say, “Have no other gods before me?”  But how many times do we put money, cars, people and even our own prideful, lustful, vain self ahead of the very one who gave us the blessing in the first place?   It’s this spirit of disobedience that causes our downfall, and ultimate death.  Remember the words of the LORD, “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams."  Disobedience is the first step in suicide.  Disobedience leads to pride.

Are you a Living Sacrifice? Part 1

In Romans 12:1 we read these words, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.”  I challenge you to think of this in a new light.  Not as what you have to stop doing, or try to “be better at”, but one as our True Example, Christ was.

What do I mean?  Look at how Jesus was a Living Sacrifice.  You must first remember that a sacrifice was bound or tied to an alter.  Since Christ is and was our perfect example, how did Jesus present Himself?  He was brought, bound to the high priest, “Now Annas had sent him bound unto Caiaphas the high priest.”  John 18:24  And from there, the Bible does not record Jesus ever fighting, struggling to get away, nor even attempting to save Himself, even though He had the full power to do so, and the command of thousands of angels at His disposal.  He went willingly to the cross so that He could fulfill the work which God had created Him to do.

We don’t have an alter to be tied to, so how does God offer us up?  Through the things in our lives that we are tied to, that hurts our flesh and breaks our will.  What has you bound or tied up?   That marriage you’re sick of?  That job that is driving you crazy and when you asked God to move you He said no?  That job with the tough boss who gives you more grief than pay?  What about that relationship with that child that won’t seem to get better no matter how much you pray, fast, and cry?  And as you seek God, He says, “I want you to understand what it is I’m going through trying to raise YOU!”  He says this is the place of your sacrifice! 

All of us have something that brings us to the place of where we are a “living sacrifice” unto God.  We all have something we are tied to that breaks our heart, makes us pray and brings us before God, and God uses that place in our lives to make us priest unto God, and say “Yea though He slay me, yet will I trust HIM!”  How are we living, unto God, in the sacrificial role HE has placed tied us to?  Are you presenting your body a sacrifice to Him?  Are your actions, holy and acceptable unto God?  For it is our reasonable SACRIFICE!

God wants to date YOU!

God wants to date YOU!

The Bible has been called, “The Greatest Love Story Ever Written”.  Given this accreditation, I asked myself, what do you do when you really love someone?  As I began to study and look about information and publications on love and relationships, I found a common denominator.  It didn’t matter if the relationship was new, or if the relationship celebrated 70 years of marriage, the one thing they all did was to continue to date.

What happens on a date?  How does it all take place?  Usually if it is to be special, the meeting is pre-planned.   It is orchestrated, it is thought out, and there is an expectant end.  The couple is alone, even if they are in a busy restaurant; it seems as if it’s just the two of them.  The hustle and bustle of the crowd seems to go unnoticed as the couple talk with each other and communion one with another.  Surprises are planned, hands are held, and at the end of the date, a kiss of affection is given to say, “I did this all for you!”

Whether you are single or married, realize that God desires to “date you”.  What do I mean, Brian?  Well I am glad you asked me.  One gets a phone call saying, “Would you like to have dinner with me?”  And the meeting is planned.  God has pre-planned the meeting with you: “Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord…”  He has orchestrated your life “to give you an expected end”.  God calls us to be alone with Him in the beauty of Holiness, for God cannot dwell where there is sin.  “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord” 2 Corinthians 6:17  Have you ever felt like everyone has left you and that you are all alone and there is no one else to talk to but God?  That was Him divinely setting a “date with you” to woo you closer to Him.  Even though the hustle and bustle of the world is about you, it seems like there is no one else around but you and Him.  Then just when you think it’s all over and everything will come crashing down around you, God surprises you with a gift of health, or a sane mind, or a situation solved, a problem averted.  That is His way of saying He can provide ALL that you need.  And as you sit in awe of what just happened and reflect on how He brought you through, He gently leans over and kisses you saying, “I did this all for you.”  The sunset was for you, the provision was for you, the stranger offering you encouragement out of the blue was for you, and Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross, the beating He took, the humiliation He suffered, the separation from His Father, and the anguish God felt as He watch us crucify His only son, it was all for you!

God wants to date you, daily.  He says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me.”  Revelation 3:20 How is he calling you?   Is it through a circumstance, a job loss, a death of a family member, or is it just a still small voice that keeps saying, “I am waiting for you?  Come unto me if you are heavy laden and burdened and I will give you rest.”  Whatever way it is, answer the phone, and simply say, “Lord, I’m available to YOU!”