Category: Strength for Today

Ephesians 5:12
“For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.”

When I was a boy, there was a time when candy cigarettes were the thing every child wanted. I remember asking my mother if I could have candy cigarettes only to hear her respond with an emphatic, “No!” I asked my mother why I couldn’t have candy cigarettes, and she said, “We don’t play sin in our house.” When other parents thought my parents were too strict, they understood that if you play sin, you will eventually try it for real.

God commands us in the verse above not to even “speak of those things which are done of them in secret.” God emphasizes this command in several other verses by telling us not to even touch that which is sin. He says in 2 Corinthians 6:17, “…touch not the unclean thing…” So, we are not to speak of sin or touch that which is wrong. It seems clear to me that God wants the Christian to stay as far away from sin as we can. He doesn’t want us to cozy up to sin and get used to it so that one day we partake of it and set in action the death that comes with it.

Why would God not want us to even speak about sin or touch it? God knows that sin is very patient. He knows that if we “speak of those things which are done…in secret” or touch it that it will begin to wear away our sensitivity to its danger. God knows that the more you speak of something, the more you get comfortable with it. Friend, God doesn’t want us to get comfortable with sin. God wants sin to be so distasteful to the Christian that even the mention of it makes us uncomfortable. If you never talk about those things that are done in secret, or if you never touch that which is wrong, you will never have your senses seared to the nastiness of sin.

Every parent needs to take inventory of their conversations and determine if they need to remove some words from their vocabulary. Parents should be hypersensitive about what they see on the television. You may think that I’m going too far, but if your children never see sin, they will never partake of it. Parents, when you see your children playing sinful acts in the home, stop it immediately. Just like my mother told me we don’t play sin in our home, you also should make this the rule in your household.

Moreover, every pastor needs to be careful about portraying sin to their people. I’m afraid in our attempt to use the shock factor of sin to get someone’s attention we desensitize people as to sin’s vileness. NEVER portray people drinking alcohol in a play to your people. NEVER allow sin to be something that your people get accustomed to seeing. As a pastor, it is your responsibility to be sure that sin is portrayed as ugly as you can portray it. Don’t fall into the Devil’s trap of portraying it just to prove a point. If you want to prove a point, show the result of sin. Instead of showing the bar scene, show the drunkard living on skid row. Instead of playing the rock music and showing the rock videos, tell about the end of those who have lived that life. You may have innocent motives in portraying sin, but the Devil will use it to desensitize the Christian.

Let’s not be guilty of playing sin. Instead, make sin sound as ugly as it really is. Always remember that every time you play sin or display it you are desensitizing others to its nastiness. Let’s keep sin as nasty as we can by not speaking of it or touching those things that are involved with sin.

Ephesians 4:1
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,”

We often hear how the NFL tells the players that it is a privilege to work for them. Very few people get the privilege of working in the NFL. It isn’t a right to work for the NFL, but only a select few get to work for them. When they remind their players that it is a privilege, they are also telling them that they need to conduct themselves in a worthy manner as is becoming to the organization.

Serving the LORD is the greatest privilege that anyone could have. To think that a person gets to serve the Creator of the Universe, the Saviour and Redeemer, the true and only God is simply an amazing thought. Of all the things that God could use to represent Him, He chose sinful humans to be His representative. What a privilege!

Paul reminds the Christian of this privilege by saying, “I therefore…beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,” Paul wanted the Christian to understand that it is not a right to serve the LORD, but it is a privilege to serve Him. Because it is a privilege, we should walk worthy of that privilege. We should not take for granted that the LORD chose every Christian to be His representative. There are three areas where we should be cognitive of what we do as we represent Him.

First, walk worthy by having a right attitude. We are reminded that because we represent Christ, we are to live “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;” As God’s representative, always have a right attitude. You should never drive a person away from Christ because of your attitude. Don’t think you are better than others. Don’t be short with people as they grow. If you are going to walk worthy of the LORD, you need to walk worthy with your attitude.

Second, walk worthy by keeping the right priorities. Verse 12 shows us these priorities when it says, “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:” The priority of the Christian should be to live to edify others. You must realize that God uses people to perfect the saints. If you are not walking worthy, you won’t perfect the saints but you will destroy them. Be careful that your priorities don’t take you away from building people. Certainly, we have jobs and careers, but don’t let them take you away from your first calling, and that is to build people for Jesus Christ.

Third, walk worthy by living right. Verse 24 reminds us to “…put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Be careful that you don’t live your life in such a manner that would smudge the name of Christ. Be careful with how you conduct yourself with the opposite gender. Be careful that your habits are not one’s that someone would look at and wonder why you are doing such things. Be careful that the places you go are places where Christians should be. Don’t be caught in a place that is not appropriate for Christians to frequent.

Your prayer should be that the Holy Spirit would help you to walk worthy of your calling every day. Always ask yourself before you do anything if this is worthy of your calling. You represent the true and living God; be careful to walk worthy of your calling.

2 Corinthians 12:9
“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Paul talks about a “thorn in the flesh” that was given to him by God. Three times he asked God to remove the thorn, but God’s answer is seen in the verse above when He says, “My grace is sufficient for thee.” As much as Paul wanted this thorn removed, this thorn was his story of grace. His thorn showed God’s power in his life. If the thorn were removed, the story of grace could not be seen. Paul’s dialogue with God shows us several reasons that God gives us a “thorn in the flesh.”

First, your thorn keeps you humble. Paul said in verse 7, “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh…” Whatever thorn God has given you, He did not do it to hurt you, but to keep you humble. Please realize that if this thorn keeps you humble, it will keep you from God’s judgment. God always judges pride, so He gives you a thorn to keep you humble so that you never come to the point where He has to judge you.

Second, your thorn is God’s story of grace in your life. God told Paul, “My grace is sufficient…” The same grace that offers salvation is the same grace that God gives to help you with your thorn. When your thorn keeps you humble and doesn’t make you bitter, God’s story of grace can be clearly read by others. If you try to change your thorn, you are pushing God’s story of grace away.

Third, God’s story of grace is what gives you His power in your life. The end of the verse above shows us God’s purpose for this thorn is, “…that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” I recently crossed the paths of a preacher friend who I had not seen in years. He was in attendance at a place where I preached. After the service, he came to me and asked about a family member and how they were doing. When I relayed the story to him, he made the statement to me, “This explains God’s power on your life.” He was saying exactly what the verse above says. The thorn in our flesh is there so that God’s power can work through us. God’s story of grace makes what you say more powerful. Without the story of grace, your message won’t be as powerful. God needs you to be humbled with your thorn so that He can work through you.

You can become bitter with your thorn in the flesh, or you can let it be your story of grace and see God’s power working through you. This is why Paul could say in verse 10, “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities…for when I am weak, then am I strong.” He understood that the story of grace showed his weakness and God’s strength. Instead of trying to hide your story of grace, use it to help those whom God has sent along your pathway of life who struggle with the same problem. You can hide the story of grace, try to change it, or you can take it and use it to help others.

Friend, anyone God uses will have a “thorn in the flesh” that will be their story of grace. If you hide it, God will give you another thorn until you allow it to be the story of grace to use to help others. God’s power will always be revealed in your story of grace. Don’t quench God’s power in your life by attempting to change your story of grace.

2 Corinthians 2:2
“For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?”

Years ago, they came out with a lawn mower that was self-starting. I remember them advertising how you would never again have to pull the rope to start the engine. That was a great selling point for anyone who had a lawn mower that was hard to sell. Having a self-starting engine made it much easier for the owner when they wanted to mow their lawn.

Paul asked in the verse above, “For if I make you sorry, who is he then that maketh me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?”  The previous letter that Paul wrote to the church at Corinth was a scathing letter rebuking this church for their worldliness. He said in this chapter that he determined not to come again in “heaviness.” He reminded them that if he made them sorry, who would be the one to make him glad? To some extent, Paul allowed others to influence his ability to be glad instead of being a self-starter.

There are many Christians who, like the Apostle Paul, rely on others to make them glad or happy instead of being a self-starter. If you have to rely on the happiness of others to make you happy, you are going to be like a thermometer that is up and down depending upon the circumstances around you. Sadly, many people have chosen to live this way and are miserable. You can’t be like that lawn mower waiting on someone to pull your rope of happiness to make you happy. If you are going to live a happy life, you are going to have to have self-starting happiness. You are going to have to determine not to allow the circumstances around you to dictate what makes you happy.

How do we acquire this self-starting happiness? Paul learned the answer later in life and revealed it to us in Acts 26:2 when he says, “I think myself happy…” Paul got to the point in his life when he chose what made him happy by thinking about it. I know to some this sounds impossible, but it is not. There are some things that make you happy every time you think about them. For instance, I know what makes me happy, and I purposely think about those things when I need to be cheered up. The day of my salvation and how I got saved makes me happy. Thinking about my wife and daughter makes me happy. When I am struggling and having a rough day, I purposely stop to think about these things to help me get out of the doldrums and into a life of happiness. When I’m thinking myself happy, I am self-starting happiness. You can do the same if you choose.

However, there are going to be times when your self-starter is not working and you will need others to help start your happiness. When you are going through great heartache, and the initial wave of unhappiness hits you, you will probably need someone to cheer you up. The verse above is also teaching not to discourage others because, in those rare times, when your self-starter is not working, you will need them to pull your rope of happiness. In other words, don’t discourage those who can make you happy. Simply put, if you have self-starting happiness, you will be able to cheer others around you so that when your self-starter is not working, they will have the capacity to start your happiness again. Self-starting happiness is the key to living a happy life no matter what you face.

Psalm 48:13
“Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that ye may tell it to the generation following.”

What God did for Israel was truly miraculous. To take a nation from Egypt and bring them through the wilderness and into the Promised Land could only have been done by the hand of God. Not only was God’s deliverance miraculous, but the infrastructure He gave them was second to none.

The psalmist told Israel that they needed to “mark” the ”bulwarks” and “consider her palaces.” He was telling them that they needed to study how their walls, towers and palaces were built so that they could pass along to the next generation exactly what had been handed to them. They were not to change how these things were built, but they were to keep them the same from generation to generation. They were not to tear down the towers, but they were to keep the towers tall and strong so that future generation could be safe. They were to study how the palaces were secure and safe so that future generations could live safely from those outside forces who so badly wanted them destroyed. They were to mark and consider so that they could tell the next generation how to continue to live.

We have a generation today who, instead of telling what the past generation gave us, are trying to destroy the bulwarks, towers and palaces that the past generation built to give us new ones. Friend, you shouldn’t be interested in trying to build new bulwarks, towers and palaces, but you should be interested in keeping alive what the past generation gave us that made us who we are and brought God’s blessings on us.

Mark and consider the bulwarks of the past and keep those bulwarks the same. If holy living, dressing right and living separated lives kept us from sin’s temptation, don’t change what has worked. The bulwarks of the past generation are as good today to keep us from sin as they were for the past generation. Holy living, dressing right and living separated lives will keep you from the moment of temptations as much today as they did in the past.

Moreover, don’t try to rebuild the towers, but keep the towers high and strong. The tower was where the watchman stood. In other words, don’t change the preaching. You need strong preaching today as much as they needed it in the past. Too many people are trying to water down the message in an attempt to bring in more people. Watered down preaching never helped one person or family, but it has destroyed churches, lives and families by the scores. Keep yourself under the type of preaching that is strong and wants you to keep your standards high and your service for God fervent.

Furthermore, don’t change the palaces. It would be good if we looked at how the homes in the past turned out godly children and copy them. Don’t make your home a sanctuary for the world. Protect your home from those outside influences that will destroy the purity and holiness of your home.

Friend, you cannot mark and consider if you are tearing down and destroying what the past generation gave. Your responsibility is to mark and consider what the past generation gave us so that you can give it to future generations unchanged. Don’t listen to the voices of change, but keep what has been given to you the same. This is what will continue to keep the bulwarks, towers and palaces safe and strong for generations to come.

Romans 12:2
“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

I was driving down a country road with a preacher when we came upon a piece of land that was in the beginning stages of being transformed into a construction site to build a large edifice. I commented to this preacher that it is amazing how they take a piece of land, envision what they are going to build on it, and then they transform it into that image. Eventually, that piece of real estate will become a beautiful building that will be used to help many people.

That is exactly what the verse above is talking about. God has a vision for the Christian to be transformed into His image. There is a construction project going on in the life of every Christian to transform them from worldly living to living in the image of God. How do you transform from conforming to the world to living in the image of God? I believe the verse above shows us four steps in this transformation process.

First, it starts by changing the mind. The verse above says, “…be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…” A Christian will never be transformed without changing their thinking process. How do we change the thinking process? Psalm 119:9 shows us how when it says, “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.” The mind will only be changed by regularly spending time in God’s Word.

Second, a transformation happens when you change your habits. Notice this verse says, “…that ye may prove…” This is a person’s habits. You will never change when you keep living the same life you lived before you got saved. You will change your habits by changing who you spend time with and where you go. If you are going to transform yourself into the image of Christ, you are going to have to change your habits.

Third, a transformation happens when you make right decisions. The verse above shows us that we have to continually make the decision between the “…good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” Your decisions will be affected by your habits. If your habits are wrong, your decisions will also be wrong. It is hard to transform from conforming to the world when you are copying the world’s lifestyle. You will only be transformed into God’s image by changing your habits, and those habits will only be changed by making the right decisions. The right decisions will only be made when you daily spend time in God’s Word allowing it to renew your mind.

Fourth, a transformation happens when you live for a calling. In verse 1, God compels the Christian to be a “living sacrifice.” When living for the cause of Christ becomes your sole focus of life, it will not be difficult to be transformed into His image. Having a purpose to live will always cause you to change what you do.

This whole transformation process starts by changing the mind which is accomplished by reading God’s Word. Friend, the world needs to see individuals who are a story of God’s power. The transformation process is a powerful story that will compel others to want to change. Let me encourage you to stop trying to copy the world, and begin the transformation process so you can be a great testimony for Christ.

Romans 8:3
“For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:”

One battle that every Christian battles is the battle over sin. It doesn’t matter who you are, how long you have been saved or what position you hold in a church; you are going to have a daily battle with sin. For anyone to say otherwise is simply a lie. 1 John 1:8 clearly shows that everyone battles sin when it says, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.”

However, we are not powerless in this battle. We have the example of Jesus Christ in how to overcome sin in the flesh. It is interesting that Jesus didn’t join a program to overcome sin. I truly believe we often overthink the battle over sin. In the verse above, God gives us a clear pattern to follow if we are going to overcome sin.

First, you must lay down your robes to overcome sin. When Jesus came to Earth, He laid down His robes of deity to take on the robes of flesh, and He completely understood that He was in the flesh. Of course, Jesus had no sin, but He still had to overcome the temptation to sin. This understanding of knowing that He was in the flesh was the first step in conquering sin. You will never overcome sin until you realize that you are flesh and that you are weak in the flesh. In other words, your title or status among the brethren has no bearing over sin. Sin doesn’t bow down to your status. You must forget your status and realize that you are flesh and that you are weak in the flesh. Without coming to this understanding, you will continue to lose the battle over sin.

Second, you must realize Who you are serving. Jesus understood that He was commissioned and sent by God to die for the sins of man. If you are going to overcome sin, you must realize that you are commissioned by God to do His will. Your commission should be of more importance to you than the pleasure of sin. Until you realize the significance of this commission, you will continue to struggle with sin. Fulfilling your commission by God must be your preeminent goal. It becomes much easier to overcome sin when you realize the magnitude of your commission.

Third, you MUST condemn sin. It says in the verse above that Jesus “condemned sin in the flesh.” I believe this is where most Christians fail in overcoming sin. We have never condemned sin. You will never overcome your battle over sin until sin becomes so ugly that you condemn it. Sin has become too attractive to many Christians. When you condemn something, you will realize how ugly and terrible it is. The only reason you continue to struggle with any sin is because the sin you struggle with has never been condemned; that sin still has an attractiveness to you. Friend, every sin is wrong! You cannot and will not have victory over sin until you condemn it. Call it what it is. See it as it is. When sin becomes ugly and the most disgusting thing you’ve ever seen is when you will begin to have victory over your sin.

Finally, you must continually yield to the Spirit of God to have victory over sin. When you condemn sin, you will find it easy to yield to the Spirit of God. Overcoming sin is truly not as difficult as we make it. You can live the victorious Christian life and conquer sin if these four steps are followed.

Acts 27:44
“And the rest, some on boards, and some on broken pieces of the ship. And so it came to pass, that they escaped all safe to land.”

When the Apostle Paul was transferred to Rome for his trial, the ship he was on encountered a storm. The storm, which is called Euroclydon, is a cyclonic wind that blows in the Mediterranean during the autumn and winter. Euroclydon is a very dangerous wind in which to sail. Paul and those on the ship encountered these winds and through a series of destructive events, including the breaking up of the ship, they made it safe to land.

Every Christian will encounter their Euroclydon. When the cyclonic winds blow in your life, it is important to follow the instructions of the One Who controls those winds. In this event when Paul’s ship sailed through this storm, there were several choices they made that brought them safely to land. These same decisions must be made when you encounter your cyclonic winds.

First, when the cyclonic winds of life come your way, believe God. When the shipmen were trusting human wisdom, Paul was trusting Divine wisdom. It is so easy to trust your instincts and feelings when the storms come, but you must believe what God tells you in His Word. The things that God says that seem right when there are no storms are still right when the storms come. You will never make it through the storms without believing God.

Second, stay on the ship. Paul told the shipmen that they would only make it safely to land if they stayed on the ship. You may think that quitting is the best answer to your cyclonic storms, but that will only make matters worse. Don’t quit reading the Scriptures, praying, attending church or fulfilling your ministry responsibilities. Staying on the ship and doing what you have always done is the best way to make it through your cyclonic storms.

Third, don’t lose hope. After not seeing the sun or stars for several days, those in the ship lost hope. Friend, just because it seems your storm will never end doesn’t mean you should lose hope. It doesn’t matter how long your storm may last; God will stay with you in the storm. When hope’s flame is flickering, keep going. If your hope is placed in God, it won’t matter how long the storm may last. Place your hope in God and you won’t lose hope in the cyclonic storms.

Fourth, give thanks for what you do have. Paul encouraged the men of the ship to eat what they had, and before they ate, he gave thanks for the food. You may not have much during the cyclonic storms of your life, but be sure to give thanks for what you do have. You will always have something to give thanks for in the storm, so identify what that is and give thanks. That is the key to keeping your sanity and hope during the storm.

Fifth, do the right thing. When they were going to kill all the prisoners, one centurion did the right thing and persuaded the soldiers not to kill them. When your cyclonic storms come, continue to do the right thing. You knew how to do right before the storms came, so continue to do what you know is right; this is your only hope of getting safe to land. Don’t change course during the storm. Keep doing right and you will eventually find yourself making is safely through the cyclonic storms.

Acts 20:24
“But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.”

If you are going to excel in any sport, you have to throw caution out the window and be all in with every play. When you watch star football players, you will see them sacrifice their body and future just to make a play. That is what makes them a great player. If they held back for the sake of caution, they would be an average player. Only those who go all in continually make great plays.

There is a reason the Apostle Paul made such an impact in his ministry. The reason his life made an impact was because he was all in and threw caution out the window. The verse above says, “But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself…” Paul wasn’t concerned with anything the world had to offer. He wasn’t concerned with what would personally happen; he was only concerned with finishing his course. When he got saved, he decided to go all in for Christ. That decision resulted in Paul making a great impact on Christianity and the Gentile world.

The same applies to your Christian life. You will never make an impact for Christ until you go all in. Too many Christians seem to serve the LORD in reserve, and then they wonder why they are not making an impact in their ministry or on others around them. No Christian has ever made an impact until they went all in. There has to be something inside of the Christian that says nothing else really matters other than making an impact on this world for Jesus Christ.

Pastor, you will never make an impact on the lives of those who attend your church and in your city without going all in. There is a reason those in yesteryear made an impact with their lives. That reason is that they were all in when it came to serving the LORD. If you are going to make an impact in your city, you must forget about the brethren and stop trying to impress them and go all in for Jesus Christ. The pastor who pastors with reserve is the pastor who never makes a great impact.

Likewise, Christian, you are going to have to go all in if you want God to use you in a great way. One of the things that has driven me all these years is my desire to make an impact for Christ. Since I was a teenage boy, I jumped all in when I surrendered my life to Christ. Friend, as long as you are concerned with what others think about you, you will continue to live the mediocre Christian life. You must live with abandon and go all in if you are going to make an impact in Christianity.

One thing this world needs are Christians and pastors who will go all in for Christ. The key to making an impact in your world is to go all in. If you hold anything back, it will hinder you from making an impact on the lives of others. When you go all in for Christ, this world will have no lure that can pull you away from serving Him. When you go all in, there is no monetary offer that will cause you to quit on God. When you go all in, there is no trial that will stop you from serving the LORD. It is time that you go all in and make an impact on your world. That is the only way you will make a difference with your life.