Idolatry

After proclaiming his goodness, the Rich Ruler gets the answer he didn't want to hear.

Luke 18: ²²When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

²³When he heard this, he became very sad, because he was a man of great wealth. ²⁴Jesus looked at him and said, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! ²⁵Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."

Ouch!! After all of his attempts to be "good" he was still lacking. The rich ruler had put his money before God. He had one thing in his life he didn't want to part with. Greed and Idolatry.

I don't know if I even need to say it. Christ warned us about greed, God warned us about greed, the scriptures say it over and over again and yet, we still struggle. We either have it and don't want to part with it or we don't have it and covet those that do. Such a struggle. Search your heart continually for the spirit of greed. If you find you have put your material things above the things of God, it may be time to make some changes. God is in the business of repairing hearts and when your ready, He is willing to make a change in you and your attitudes about money.

I have to be make a confession here, the words of Jesus scream to me about my own need to repent in the area of Idolatry in my life. I recently heard Mark Driscoll speak about idolatry, he talks about making good things into God things and how it becomes a bad thing. Anything, and I mean anything, that gets in front of God in our lives is bad. Money, Relationships, Our Children, Our Ministries.....

Is there something in your life you would be angry at God for if He took it away? What if it was for your own good, would you be willing to give it up? I am not making any judgements here, I am personally in the middle of being called out for this in my own life by a dear Christian friend. I am putting the feelings of one person above what God is putting on my heart. I love God and want nothing more than a life filled with His glory and yet, I am bowing my head like the Rich Ruler, I don't know how to do this. Pray for me and I to pray for you and the things you choose to put before God. May we all find the strength, the courage, and the humble attitudes required to step out and faith and put God as number one in our lives.

This verse comes to mind as I think about idolatry in my life and I am reminded that there is a transforming power in Christ and He is doing a work in me.

^{Romans 12:1-2 (msg)} So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.

Confess

Day 1
Confess

homologeo: “to speak the same thing,” “to declare openly by way of speaking out freely, such confession being the effect of deep conviction of fact”.

Confession is to be in agreement with God. By speaking the same thing, calling sin, sin and saying Christ is Lord you are declaring your agreement with Him.

Wow!! So, I have to admit when I start studying the word confess I thought I would be focusing on repentance and the importance of confessing sin. Little did I know that when I took a real look at scripture that I would be focusing on two important parts of my faith. I hope you will enjoy this study, it has certainly changed my perspective. God does amazing things when he pulls us into his word to find the truth. Confession is not just about acknowledging your sin, it is a declaration of what you believe and why you believe it.

James 5:16
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

1 John 1:8-10
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Romans 10:8-10
But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

2 Corinthians 9:12-15
This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!


Day 2

I want to focus on confession of sin today. Mainly to help us understand how it affects our relationship with God. Have you ever come to a place in your walk with God where you feel far away from Him? You know He is there but you are not taking time with Him. I have found, after much reflection, that when I am making excuses, not having enough time for sincere prayer or making time to get into the Word I am keeping something from God. Sometimes it is a conscious choice. Other times I will go a week or more and not realize that I have not had a real conversation with God. Usually, after sifting through my justifications and excuses I will find that there is something that I just don’t want to fess up to yet. Yep, I am admitting to you all. I sin and don’t always want to admit it.

Now that you are over the shock, I will get to my point. When I finally confess sin for what it is, sin, I get back into the relationship with God where I belong. I will still have to pay the consequences for the choices I make, but by taking responsibility for them I am once again in the hands of my creator. It isn’t that I ever left his hand, but by putting a barrier between myself and God I was cutting off the blessings and joy of being in His presence.

David gives us a heartfelt confession in the psalms. He chose to separate himself from God. You can read of his pain and struggles of not having that relationship. After confession, God forgives him and loves him. We know that David still had to pay the price for his choices but we also know that he once again finds peace in his life. I have included Psalm 51 for you to read. I know it makes today’s devotional a little long. Take the time if you can to read and feel what David was feeling when he opened himself up to confession.

Psalm 51
For the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.
2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.
4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.
5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts ;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.
7 Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
9 Hide your face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
11 Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will turn back to you.
14 Save me from bloodguilt, O God,
the God who saves me,
and my tongue will sing of your righteousness.
15 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will declare your praise.
16 You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart,
O God, you will not despise.

Day 3

Romans 10:8-10
But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

How much importance is placed on confessing with your mouth in these verses?

2 Corinthians 9:12-15
This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. And in their prayers for you their hearts will go out to you, because of the surpassing grace God has given you. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Why must actions accompany our confession with our mouth?
What indescribable gift is this scripture giving thanks for?

Day 4

To be in agreement with God, what an amazing concept. Not only do I agree that sis is sin, but because I confess that Jesus is Lord my sins have been covered by His sacrifice. Confession is understanding that I am now a new creation in God’s eyes. Wow! How amazing is God’s grace?

Do you find it easier to confess sin over confessing your place in the Kingdom? Is it easier to confess your place in the Kingdom and not admit your sins? As Christians we are called to find balance. Can you be humble, call sin-sin? Can you proclaim the gift of forgiveness and mercy and not be self-righteous?

Take a moment to read about Paul’s struggle with sin and the gift of Life that we are given

Romans 7:7-8:17
Struggling With Sin
7What shall we say, then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! Indeed I would not have known what sin was except through the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, "Do not covet." 8But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of covetous desire. For apart from law, sin is dead. 9Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. 10I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death.
11For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death. 12So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. 13Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
14We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. 15I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. 20Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.
21So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God's law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
Romans 8
Life Through the Spirit
1Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. 3For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, 4in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.
5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
9You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you.
12Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.


Day 5
For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. ~Romans 10:10

Take a moment to evaluate your relationship with God. Is there something you are keeping from Him. When was the last time you confessed with your mouth that Jesus is Lord? Is your life an expression of what Christ did for you?

Heavenly Father, I praise your Holy Name. I am truly unworthy of the gift you have given me. Forgive me for my sins. Lord, I want to be in agreement with you. May my words and my life be an expression of my confession of your grace and mercy. Thank you Lord for your Word that teaches and shows me the plan you have for me. In Jesus Name…..

The Woman Who Lived A Sinful Life

Day 1

The Woman Who Lived A Sinful Life

She was a notorious sinner, possibly a prostitute or adulteress. Rather than trying to defend what was indefensible in her life, she admitted her sin and made a spectacle of herself in a passionate display of love and gratitude.

Her sorrow: That she had offended God so grievously.

Her Joy: That Jesus forgave her sins and commended her for her great faith and love.

Luke 7:36-50

A Sinful Woman Forgiven
36 Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisee’s house, and sat down to eat. 37 And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, 38 and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, “This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner.” 40 And Jesus answered and said to him, “Simon, I have something to say to you.” So he said, “Teacher, say it.” 41 “There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?” 43 Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have rightly judged.” 44 Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. 45 You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. 46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. 47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.” 48 Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49 And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” 50 Then He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”

Day 2
Washing Feet

This is one of thirteen instances that Scripture talks about washing one's feet. The sinful woman did not act reserved for the lowest, most inexperienced servant of the household.

Most people in Palestine wore sandals or went barefoot, so their feet were constantly dirty from the dust of the roads and fields. When they went into a house, they removed their sandals at the door. A good host or hostess made sure guests' feet were washed as soon as they entered the home. A basin of cool water and a towel were all the equipment that were required. After walking on hot dusty roads, the foot washing provided not only clean feet for entering a home but also a refreshing start to a visit.

When the three visitors came to Abraham when he was living "near the great trees of Mamre" (doesn't that sound like a wonderful place to live?), Abraham provided water for them to wash their feet (Genesis 18:1-5). There are several other stories about washing feet. You can find them in Genesis 19: 1-3, 24:32, 43:24. In Exodus 30:19 -21 the priests were told they must always wash their feet and hands before going into the Temple.

Not surprisingly, the list of good deeds that New Testament widows should be known for included washing the feet of the saints.

The fact that foot washing was a task reserved for the lowest servant in the household makes Jesus' act of washing the disciples feet (John 13) all the more poignant. His simple act shocked them and showed them in the clearest way possible how to be a servant leader. Washing. Touching feet fouled by dust and grime. Kneeling before those who by rights should kneel before him!

Today, there may be a task on your list of things to do that you would rather not do. Maybe a different approach would help. Today, that task can be an offering to your Lord. After all, it is not the task that is important, it is what is in your heart when you do it. How can you be a light today? How can you become a servant to someone who needs a refreshing start?

Day 3
The Sinful Woman's legacy in Scripture

Luke 7:36 - 43

What do you think the woman was looking for when she came to see Jesus at Simon's house? Attention? Forgiveness? An opportunity to express her love? Do you think everyone at the dinner knew who and what she was?

Describe what sort of feelings this woman might have had as she entered the house. When have you felt that way? Were you brave enough to continue like this woman did, or did you stop? Describe the situation and your actions.

How willing are you to be totally transparent in your worship? What should need to happen to make you as open in expressing your love for Jesus as this woman was?

Describe the Pharisee's attitude toward Jesus and toward the sinful woman. Who are you more like: the judgemental Pharisee or the broken woman?

In what ways can you be understanding and sympathetic toward those whose lives have been shattered by sin, like this woman? Toward those whose lives are characterized by judging others, like the Pharisee, who needs forgiveness more?

Jesus made this woman an example to Simon. Has there been a time when you have felt insignificant and someone has made an example of you? How did you feel?

What way do you prepare your guests for a refreshing visit? What do you like from a host when you visit them? If you have a minute, let me know. I am always open to learning how to be a better host and servant to my guests. I will post all the answers for reference. Thanks.

I will start. I always try to have nice music, clean front room and kitchen and yummy food or candle scents. I love it when I visit a home that make me feel welcome by a lovely greeting (smile and a hug). I appreciate an environment that is open for fellowship.

Day 4

Though this woman was a notorious sinner, she recognized her great need for grace. Repentance turned her world on its head, opening up an entirely new view of things. Simon, by contrast, was a religious man who, no doubt, had done his best to live a respectable life. His sin was tucked away, hidden even from himself. His habit of judging others had formed a fence around his one-dimensional view of the universe, shielding his neat and orderly life from the unpredictable power of grace.

But Simon and the woman both owed a debt they could not possibly repay. Though Simon's sin was less obvious, it was the more dangerous. He was like a man who was following a map he was certain would lead to heaven - but when heaven came down and walked into his house, he didn't even know it. The woman realized just how lost she had been. Forgiven much, she loved much. She found heaven at the feet of Jesus.

Luke 7:47
47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”

Praise God for the power of forgiveness in your own life.
Offer thanks to God for he is still ready to forgive you no matter how frequently or seriously you sin.
Confess any self-righteousness that has crept into your life.
Ask God to protect you against pride, to enable you to see your sins and believe in his desire and power to forgive you.

Day 5

Lift your heart
How long has it been since tears of repentance have washed your soul? Do you spend more time lingering over the failings of others? This act of harshness towards others will not only separate you from others, it will dry up your love for God.

Now is a good time to write down all those you have judged. Release your judgements against them and ask god to forgive you for these acts. Next time you start to pass judgement, make sure to remember this exercise. When you are finding it hard to love others, take the time to repent from your attitude of judgement and you will find it easier to love them.

Dear Lord,
this week was a lesson to the innermost of my being. Lord, I praise you for those who have loved me and not judged me. Lord I praise you for your love and your mercy. Lord, please forgive me for those I have not given grace and mercy to. Please continue to give me a spirit of love and acceptance to all who you place in my path. I will continue to worship you daily in all things, even those tasks that seem so tedious, I will open up my home to be a place where others will be welcome, no matter their sin, no matter their status, for, in the end, we are all your children, deserving of the same loving kindness that was revealed in this story of a woman who lived a sinful life.