Define "enemy"

enemy: 
1) a person who is actively opposed or hostile to someone or something

2) one who feels hatred toward, injury towards, or opposes the interests of another

3) something destructive or injurious in its effects

After reading these three different definitions (especially the third one), I realize how deceptive enemies can be.  In fact, I mistake them as friends and allow them to cozy up to their target, my heart, before I recognize them as enemies. Have you been duped by any of these enemies? 

Worry
Anger
Bitterness
Jealousy
Doubt
Self-pity
Apathy
Pride
Grudges
Selfishness
Favoritism
Sarcasm
Laziness
Ingratitude
Self-righteousness
Greed
Evil
Mediocrity
Addiction
Vanity
Hate

Listen to the sales pitch of these opponents and you'll find yourself heading in the wrong direction BUT
God has always been your defense;
His eternal arms are your support. 
He drove out your enemies as you advanced,
and told you to destroy them all." 
Deuteronomy 33:27

God drove out Israel's enemies as they moved into the Promised Land. He also told them to destroy any enemies they encountered.  When they didn't, they paid dearly.  When they mingled with their enemies and adopted their false gods, they fell.  

"Hear my cry for help, 
my King and my God, for to You I pray. 
In the morning, LORD, you hear my voice;
in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait expectantly."   
Psalm 5:2-3

Jesus died to destroy Death and Sin, but He also warned us:
"Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin."  John 8:33

We work with God to destroy what would destroy us or we work against God by letting our enemies move in, assume command, and enslave us. Who will we serve today? Our enemies or the God Who destroys what would destroy us?

Sparkly Spots

On the one pretty Saturday we had in March, Tom and I began Phase One of our annual back yard revival.  We cleared out leaves, washed cushions, and assessed damage to plants.  In the process, I accidentally smacked one of our nicer large pots and put a hole in the side. And all this time I thought that pot was made of durable rubbery material! It had endured hard winters and hot summers, heavy wind, torrential rains, chlorine water, and growing roots to suffer at the hands of my clumsiness. 

I didn't throw it out - it would be too expensive to replace and the break didn't affect its ability to hold a plant yet. The hole, however, faces away from the house, out of sight. 

We all have fragile, breaking places in our lives.  Sometimes we try to appear resilient - made of stronger stuff, but the world loves to find or make holes in believers with just a slap of words like: 
"I thought you were a Christian!" 
     "A real Christian wouldn't do  - or say - that." 
          "A real Christian would help me (out of this mess I'm in due to irresponsibility)." 
               "You're such a hypocrite."
                    "I didn't think Christians got angry."
                         "Is that really what Jesus would do?"
                              "You're being judgmental."

Yes, world - we're weak and imperfect. We're flawed and we make mistakes. We fail. We sin. We doubt. We break and we burn out. We're not Jesus, but here's what separates the sheep from the goats - there is more to us than us.   

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay 

to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us." 

2 Corinthians 4:7

God is interested in the holes in our lives because He wants to fill them with His all-surpassing power. When we point them out to Him for His diagnosis, He doesn't cover the wound but strengthens us with His power. I'm still learning to accept and even embrace my weaknesses as opportunities for God to apply His power. Any one of those statements above could render a believer mute and shamed, chalking one up to Satan in the psychological warfare he's declared on us. Let's not fall for that trick again. God calls us to do the more difficult thing: to trust Him to use our fragile points, our flaws and the gaping holes in our character.  He doesn't want us to hide them but to fill the holes with the treasure He's put in us. The world doesn't need perfect believers but believers with sparkly spots.

Dear God, You are the Treasure worth living for and worth dying for. Fill my weakness with Your strength. You know my struggles and insecurities. I need Your power to overcome them and to come out of hiding.  Shame and regret can ruin a perfectly good pot, but I know You can and will produce fruit in any jar of clay willing to let You turn weaknesses into sparkly spots for Your glory.  

In Jesus Name, the Name of the only sinless One! 

The Real Zapper

"The way a sinful person thinks leads to death.

But the mind controlled by the Spirit brings life and peace."

Romans 8:6

     Yesterday, I heard my co-worker and friend, Valarie, laughing at something on her computer. Not wanting to miss out, I turned to read about a man who bought his wife the anniversary gift every wife needs: a taser gun to protect herself. Please read his story for yourself (minus a few choice words I felt would be innappropriate for the purpose of this blog): 

What I came across was a 100,000-volt, pocket/purse-sized taser. The effects of the taser were supposed to be short lived, with no long-term adverse affect on your assailant, allowing her adequate time to retreat to safety and every woman needs something to protect herself with, right??

WAY TOO COOL! Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home. I loaded two AAA batteries in the darn thing and pushed the button. Nothing!

I was disappointed. I learned, however, that if I pushed the button AND pressed it against a metal surface at the same time; I'd get the blue arc of electricity darting back and forth between the prongs. AWESOME!!!

Unfortunately, I have yet to explain to Julie what that burn spot is on the face of the microwave.

Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn't be all that bad with only two triple-A batteries, right?

There I sat in my recliner, my cat Gracie looking on intently (trusting little soul) while I was reading the directions and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh & blood moving target. I must admit I thought about zapping Gracie (for a fraction of a second) and thought better of it. She is such a sweet cat. But, if I was going to give this thing to my wife to protect herself against a mugger, I did want some assurance that it would work as advertised. Am I wrong?

So, there I sat in a pair of shorts and a tank top with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, and taser in the other. The directions said that a one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant; a two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a major loss of bodily control; a three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water.  Any burst longer than three seconds would be wasting the batteries.

All the while I'm looking at this little device measuring about 5" long, less than 3/4 inch in circumference; pretty cute really and (loaded with two itsy, bitsy triple-A batteries) thinking to myself, 'no possible way!'

What happened next is almost beyond description, but I'll do my best...?

I'm sitting there alone, Gracie looking on with her head cocked to one side as if to say, 'don't do it dummy,' reasoning that a one second burst from such a tiny little ole thing couldn't hurt all that bad. I decided to give myself a one second burst just for heck of it. I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and . .

I'm pretty sure Jessie Ventura ran in through the side door, picked me up in the recliner, then body slammed us both on the carpet, over and over and over again. I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, with tears in my eyes, body soaking wet, both nipples on fire, testicles nowhere to be found, with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position, and tingling in my legs?

The cat was making meowing sounds I had never heard before, clinging to a picture frame hanging above the fireplace, obviously in an attempt to avoid getting slammed by my body flopping all over the living room.

A minute or so later (I can't be sure, as time was a relative thing at that point), I collected my wits (what little I had left), sat up and surveyed the landscape.  My bent reading glasses were on the mantel of the fireplace.
The recliner was upside down and about 8 feet or so from where it originally was. My triceps, right thigh and both nipples were still twitching. My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, and my bottom lip weighed 88lbs. I had no control over the drooling. Apparently I pooped on myself, but was too numb to know for sure and my sense of smell was gone. I saw a faint smoke cloud above my head which I believe came from my hair. I'm still looking for my testicles and I'm offering a significant reward for their safe return!!

P. S. My wife loved the gift, and now regularly threatens me with it!  If you think education is difficult, try being stupid.'

Note: If you ever feel compelled to 'mug' yourself with a taser, one note of caution: there is no such thing as a one second burst when you zap yourself! You will not let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent thrashing about on the floor..


Funny stuff, when it's about tasers, but I couldn't help applyng this story to sin.  Pride convinces us we can handle a "one second burst" of sin, remain in complete control, get over it, ask forgiveness, then move on as if it never happened.  However, many sins need only that one zap to take hold, lodge deep, and begin destruction.  Sin begins by disorienting us from Truth before dragging us down, down, down. 

It's the oldest story around: Good people make stupid mistakes. Godly people sin. God's people think they're safe enough to dally in the occasional "one second burst" of sin.  And before we know it, we're in a fetal position on the floor begging for mercy.

But here's the real zapper: 
     Even when we willfully do stupid things we know will bring no good;
          Even when we're lying in a painful heap of self-destruction;
               Even while we're paying deserved consequences for chosen sin;
                    Even when we refused the way out He provided;
God, Who is Love, is with us - not to say "I told you so," but to strenthen us in the safety of His Presence, to hold us as we pay the consequences, to bring us back into fellowship with Him, to bind our wounds, to forgive us, and to place us gently back on the Spirit path of peace and life.  We, like Peter who denied the Lord, need only to go to Him.  Or, we can foolishly keep zapping the life out of ourselves.

"God is our place of safety. He gives us strength. He is always there to help us in times of trouble.  The earth may fall apart. The mountains may fall into the middle of the sea. But we will not be afraid."  Psalm 46:1-2

Lord, God, we don't deserve Your great love when we're making right choices - but for You to love us when we're flailing in the sin we've chosen - God, we're humbled under the floorboards!  To be Love, to love us as You do and when You do is beyond our understanding. We're eager to point out others' mistakes and faults.  We nod self-righteously as others pay their consequences. Our pride leads us to overestimate our own willpower and to push wrong buttons we're sure we can handle.  Lord, forgive us and thank You for forgiving us time and again every day. Thank You for all the times You've called us and we've listened and avoided pain.  Thank You for the "way out" You provide for every temptation.  Thank You for the path of the Spirit that leads to life and peace. Help us see sin in its ugly fullness.  
In the Name of Jesus Who died for sinners, even as they spit in His Face