FLIRTING WITH DISASTER

Part 2 - RUN LIKE HELL!

We're flirtin' with disaster, ya'll know what I mean 
And the way we run our lives it makes no sense to me 
I don't know about yourself or what you wanna to be, yeah 
When we gamble with our time we choose our destiny...(Molly Hatchet, 1979)


Yesterday, we looked briefly at the possibility of pitfalls when people play with fire by indulging in what they think is "innocent" flirtation in offices. This is not limited to offices, but men of God and pastors face the same thing when the council females of any age, one on one in their offices. Neither of these actions are wise at all - no way!

I believe in the Sufficiency of Scripture, in that, the Bible has both the illustrations and the examples for us to learn from, glean and then follow as we seek to improve and grow as men and women of God. There are two perfect examples of Temptation and let us look how each person involved dealt with it.


JOSEPH (Genesis 39: 1-12) was tempted by the boss' wife while serving Potiphar, the head official in Egypt. He was obviously a lot younger and a single man so Potiphar's wife began to eye him. She made several blunt approaches and, with integrity, he politely but firmly, declined them all. The final time she tried to seduce him, she actually laid her hands on him and grabbed his coat as he escaped her evil clutches. Joseph, for lack of better terms, ran like hell!


EVE (Genesis 3:1-6) was negotiating with a snake who told the first lies of Creation. He deceived her. She took the forbidden fruit and offered it to the man, Adam, who stood there and watched the entire thing without saying a word, and they both ate it. This was in direct defiance and disobedience to the Word of God and here we are today.


Joseph ran. 
Eve will stand. 
Joseph paid a temporary price.
Eve brought the entire race down.
Joseph later gave life and food to many because God favored him.
Eve led and will lead billions to hell for their sins against Holy God.


How can people avoid this? How can we NOT flirt with disaster? Without writing an entire book on this, which I can do, here are some bullet point steps:

TO AVOID FLIRTING WITH DISASTER:

- Take heed, less ye fall....realize this can happen to you and do NOT get full of sinful pride. Man is not that good. Even the strongest can and WILL be tempted.
-  Realize that, as the song says above, in certain ways, we DO "choose our destiny". The devil tempted Eve and lied and twisted her thinking but here is what the Bible says "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Genesis 3:6 ESV)...
- Realize therefore, the devil CANNOT make you do it. You can walk away! Do NOT negotiate with sin! Do not stand there when she bats her sexy eyes and asks you to lunch, and say "I will think about it, when the answer is NO, I can't go to lunch with you, I am a married man"! Here is what God says you should do from James 4:7 "Submit therefore to God and stand against Satan, and he will flee from you (Aramaic Bible - Jesus spoke Aramaic).
-  Realize the devil is a coward and when you call on everything you have learned from years of church, small group or even if you do not go to church...there were some things called "Marriage vows" - rebuke the sorry son of perdition, Satan and his female acolyte he sent to tempt you and watch him leave you alone! But you have to mean it!

- Realize the devil will only get what you give him. Give him nothing. Give him a firm stand against sin and then give him Jesus, the Name of Jesus and the Word of Jesus to "get thee behind me Satan".

- Realize, when all else fails, you can still run like the wind! Flee immortality, my friends, do not flirt with trouble! Life is full enough of some major stuff, let's not bring pain, emotional scars and suffering to our loved ones by this kind of garbage.

- Realize that we MUST guard our hearts as we are commanded by a God who said this: “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”(Malachi 2:16 ESV). The Lord is saying here "make sure all your flanks are covered" and especially your mind. Don't be flattered that the best looking person in the office or wherever is making a play for you. This is a test of your character, so let us not fail the One Who died for us on the Cross!

Finally do not soil the Testimony God has given you, for the passing cheap thrills of expensive perfume and flesh, which mask the stench of death and destruction. 

Father God, in the Name of Jesus, help us to understand Your Word, Your commands to us, Your demand that we walk in Holiness and Righteousness and never let us take our eyes of the Prize of Christ. Lord, You know that sometimes we are weak and the evil one can attack when we are distracted and not expecting a full assault on our hearts, minds and our very souls. Give us the strength to remember Jesus and do as He did, quote the Word back to evil and just say "it is written" and Father God, that Word, Your Word, will be all we need to rebuke sin, the flesh and the devil and flee the other way, so that we will be free from the fruits of unrighteousness all the days of our lives, in Jesus Holy and Mighty and Strong Name, amen and amen!

(images by google images)

TAKE EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE

BREAK FREE!!!

The word stronghold has two contexts or connotations throughout the Bible.  The literal meaning of "stronghold" is fortress; refuge; helmet or protection. The LORD is called that in Psalm 27:1 when it says "The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? (ESV)


In this verse, the LORD's man or woman testify to the Mighty Saving Power of God, Who can and does do good things for His people. Because God is mighty to save, being our Shield and Protector causes us to live fearless lives for Him!


The other meaning of the word "stronghold" is not so good! In fact it is completely the opposite of the protection of the Lord! In short, this kind of stronghold is a pattern of thinking or a mindset; reasoning or rationale...through a certain belief...which is resistant to or rebellious against the Person and Knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ!


This stronghold is a stubborn, sinful idea which has 'fortified' itself in its own fortress. The main difference is this castle is a prison which keeps the person in bondage to whatever sin has grabbed him or her. This stronghold does not just happen but began simply as a sinful thought that got a 'toehold' in the person's life. If we use pornography as an example, it started as a simple visual or photo which popped up when you mistyped a word in "Google" while doing a research paper for, say, college or even a sermon!


That image then gets stuck in your mind. I know of a woman, of all people, who worked in sales and found herself innocently enough having to sell these laptops. The more she was around them and fellow computer sales folks, the easier it was for them to lead her astray into "oh it's nothing, it's just harmless fun". The next thing you know, this toehold got a foothold in her consciousness and she started going to internet porn sites at home.

Now this was a married woman! Her husband caught her on the computer at home watching the filth after seeing charges on the credit card for strange sounding websites! At first, she tried to rope him in to "enjoy" the experience with her. The moment she started using grocery money for her habit, it had moved from having a foothold to being a demonic stronghold in her life. They are now in divorce court.

The Apostle Paul wrote: "For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:3-5 ESV).


This stronghold of  pornography, adultery, drugs, alcohol or anything which takes you away from a right relationship with Jesus and your loved ones cannot be easily swept aside; dealt with or destroyed. It did not become a stronghold overnight as it was the end result of a sinful process. The good news is God has given us the weapons to pull it down and destroy it!

So Father in the Name of Jesus, I come to You now, knowing that the evil one has set out to seek, kill and destroy each and everyone of Your saints. He has set his stinking thinking to the ruin of the best of us by putting, what some call, just a "little seemingly harmless pleasurable" thought in our mind.  Lord but we know, that the pleasures of sin are only for  season. 


Lord give us strength therefore to resist these thoughts and as the Scriptures says, let us then take EVERY single thought captive and refuse to participate in it. You give us the Word of God to do that, if we only recognize that we have the authority to use it to fortify ourselves. The Psalm says "Thy Word oh God, I have hidden in my heart that I may not sin against You" (Psalm 119:11).


There it is, You have given us Your living, breathing Word - found in the Bible - to fight these thoughts before they become footholds leading to strongholds. You have given us Your Holy Spirit to know an discern these things and see when the enemy is coming after our minds, our marriages or our families. The Spirit has already prepared a way out which You, in Your all-knowing Mind, have prepared for us!


Let us therefore be mindful of that Truth and use the Divine Power, which You have already sub-contracted out to us, to resist and defeat the evil one. Father in the Name of Jesus, if something has already become a stronghold in our lives, let us seek out a more mature believer than us, who can come alongside us and counsel with and pray with us to pull these strongholds down and destroy them through prayer, fasting and confrontational intercession with these demons.


Lord we thank You that You have given us the Spirit of Christ to deal with these awful challenges in life and we claim that Authority now, given to us in John 1:12, under the Power of the Holy Spirit, in Jesus' Holy, Mighty and Powerful Name....as we are now victors in the battle; overcomers and more than conquerors in and through the Word and in Truth, in Jesus' Name,  Amen and Amen!

(image by google images)