Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Look At ALL My Stuff! – 1 Chronicles 21:1

1 Now Satan entered the scene and seduced David into taking a census of Israel.
– 1 Chronicles 21:1



Look At ALL My Stuff!
Pride is a funny thing.  It is the great chameleon of sins and the devil knows that if he can just get us to take our eyes off God for just a second, he can start us looking at ourselves and our "stuff," as accomplishments instead of as gifts and blessings from our Father.

Now please know that if David, a man after God's own heart, the mighty warrior of God, the King of Israel, and Commander of massive armies, blessed, and anointed by God, and talked about to this very day – if HE could be seduced by Satan . . . you and I don't stand a chance.  No one does, and I believe God wants it that way because it keeps us in a constant state of needing to deepen our love relationship with Him.

Remember . . . it's only when our eyes, ears, hearts, minds, objectives, motives, and desires are diverted away from God, that the ever-patient enemy can get us to thinking about how good we are, or how much we've accomplished, or how talented we think we are, or in this case with David . . . "Look at how much "stuff" I've collected - MAN, I've done a great thing."

Man's greatest falls have come right after the greatest accomplishments and the biggest victories.  We let our guards down and we stand back with our chests out and our hands on our hips, and we say "MAN, I've just come through a tough battle!"  or "WOW!  Look at what I've done"  or how about this one . . . "Look at ALL that God has blessed me with – I sure am blessed!"

Yes, if we're not careful, counting our blessings can be very prideful and can be just the opening—the proverbial "chink" in the armor—the enemy needs to bring us down hard!

Se let's be mindful of where our blessings, our accomplishments, and our victories come from today.  That means that our minds need to be FULL of God.  They need to be saturated and totally focussed on Him.  We have to seek after that love-relationship with our Father with every fiber of our being so that we don't give the devil an opportunity to seduce us with . . . well . . . with "US"!

God loves to bless His children, and I know first-hand that His children LOVE to be blessed.  We just need to remember that without Him, we would have no blessings.  Without His Love, we would all be left to ourselves, and I also know from first-hand experience, that THAT is not a good thing at all.

So let's keep our eyes on Jesus today.  Let's develop a deep and meaningful love-relationship with our Heavenly Father.  Let's walk in the Power and the Direction of the Holy Spirit.  Let's let our boasts be only in and of the Lord.  I think He would be blessed by that . . . don't you?

Prayer
Father, Thank You for ALL You have given us.  Thank You for Your Love, and Grace, and for the Victories and the Blessings that You have so freely given.  Forgive us for the times when we take our eyes off of You and we start looking around and thinking that we've accomplished something.  Forgive our pride Lord.  Help us to keep our minds, and our hearts focussed fully on You.

Have a Blessed day everyone!

– Richard


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