Are We Actually Fighting God?

Are We Actually Fighting God?
by David Brenneman

Are we, by our choices, our resentment, our anger, our bitterness, our choosing to put something or someone in this world before Jesus, actually causing us to be found fighting against His Will for our lives?

"So, consider your investments--not in retirement plans, or in the stock market, or in a college fund, but the kind of payment that "increases to your credit" in eternity.  There is great gain in gospel giving.  Let the life to come determine your spending in your life today, and you will find yourself giving both generously and cheerfully." - Pastor Alistair Begg, Truth for Life Devotional.

Shall we add to our troubles in not finding out what our Spiritual Gifts are so that we are actually sure to be using what we were given?  Shall we add to our troubles by neglecting them altogether? 

My Dear Reader...are your reasons and excuses actually you throwing up your own fears and doubts rather than following in the footsteps of Isaiah "here am I! Send me!"?

We are kings of excuses and we got them from our grandparents to the nth degree.  Adam and Eve started all this sinful mess with excuses. 

Do we, in our choices of hobbies, leisure time activities, put what God wants on the back burner or not even consider it at all?  Are our Spiritual Gifts being used or are they waiting to be even considered?  Are we doing what we THINK it might be and would be found as having been neglectful of what we were given?  Are we providing whatever excuses we feel the best about in order to not really be found doing what we were supposed to be doing?  It happens. To many people. Every single day.

Part of a personal reason why I gave up following sports decades ago had to do with realizing I was giving some man-made franchise what really belongs to God.  I was more fired up and defensive about teams than I was about preaching the Word or telling others about Jesus.  It's the same reason why I liquidated my entire Star Trek collection.  In these recent years much of my desire for my electronics hobby is less and less appealing.  Studying each night in devotional readings and 4 Study Bibles has been far and away more for my soul than anything I've ever turned from God to 'enjoy'.

"Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:1-2 .

"He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.” Isaiah 6:9-10.

"Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!  Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes And clever in their own sight!" Isaiah 5:20-21.

We live in a saturated world of temptations to tantalize all imaginations in order to cloud judgment and to keep eyes that should be able to see from seeing and from perceiving what's right in God's eyes vs what isn't.  Within the Church and outside of it a plethora of temptations cause discernment to fail and people to be sliding into lives without purpose...God's purpose for them.

We can be easily convinced if the right words or images or any other created thing said or viewed comes along.

Satan's had centuries to perfect how to cultivate any and all degrees of selfishness within human beings.  His minions are right there as experts as well in this art of deception. 

They can't get any Christian unsaved but they can distort and twist their thinking in order to make them wholly ineffective.

Not all depression is clinical.  Much of it is spiritual...who knows...after the Rapture we might learn that it all was.  The samples we have of who were healed by Jesus tell a great story on what is a spiritual problem and how it relates to the spiritual world.

We choose what we pursue and oftentimes its without consulting Jesus.  We decide what's right without seeking the Spirit for discernment.  We decide what's good and acceptable without searching the Scriptures to see if it were so.  We are under attack and most don't even have a clue that they are.  There are no conscientious objectors in this spiritual war.  There are no innocent bystanders.  Everyone is at risk.  Everyone. 

We must take our walk with Jesus with the same seriousness as He did in providing the example of Godly living that Jesus did.  We need to, as Paul wrote, to put off the old self with its passions and desires and put on the new self in Christ Jesus.  No its not going to make most people popular. 

What does light have to do with the darkness?  The light of Jesus Christ is indiscriminate.  It is the revealer of Truth. 

We must must must check our motives at the door.  We must find out what our gifts are and be found by Jesus as having utilized them to the full.  We must adjust ourselves to what He's doing in our lives...we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that we might walk in them.  Not that we ever should take the Spirit's direction as a suggestion only. 

Many people want a revival.  Revivals are from the work of the Spirit successfully occurring in the lives of Believers that overflows into a time such as that.  Half-hearted spiritual lives won't bring that about.  Lives that are full of compromise won't bring that about.

Are we fighting God in our lives by our assertions of our wants and desires?  Are we fighting God in our lives because we stubbornly hold onto those things that He's desiring for us to let go of?  Have we surrounded ourselves with only people who agree with us and not necessarily the Word of God?

We could indeed be found fighting against God, His plan and purpose for us when our selfishness is actually trying to actually get Him out of the pilot's seat.

Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you isn't a suggestion.  It's a command.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight. Isn't a suggestion either.

Set your mind on the things that are above and not on the things that are of this world isn't a suggestion as well.

Giving what is holy to that which isn't is what's been happening in this world today by those who claim to be Christians.  We give our heart to something in this world and lie to ourselves about doing it.  We give our love that belongs to Jesus to things and lie to ourselves about it.  We pursue things that lead away from the righteous life that God desires for us and lie about it happening to ourselves. 

And then we wonder why life is the way it is.  We lie to ourselves yet again and don't look to ourselves as being the problem.

Are Christian's going to learn that throughout their lives they were actually fighting the will of God for them?  Absolutely.  Me included.

Reread the Old Testament.  It's full of every kind of way to not do the will of God with all your heart.

Get real with you.  It's time to stop running ahead of Jesus and settle down and obey as He obeyed His Father and ours.  Taking up our own cross and following Jesus as He said for us to be doing.

Yes it's going to mean throwing things out of our lives.  Yes it's going to be nonsense to the rest of the world around us.  Yes it's going to hurt. 

We will count the cost either now where we can get right again with God's plan for our lives or we will count the cost when we give an account of our lives before Jesus later where we can do nothing about our disobedience.

All NASB Scripture Excerpts used by permission.
New American Standard Bible
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