Posts Tagged ‘body’

Knowing God, Loving God, and the Truth

Posted: July 20, 2015 in Ancient Faith, ascension, belief, Biblical, Body of Christ, Calling, catholic, Charismatic, Christian, Church, Cross, death, Evangelism, Faith, Father, God, Holy Spirit, Holy Trinity, Hope, Jesus, life, Love, message, Messiah, orthodoxy, redemption, reign, repent, Repentance, resurrection, Sacramental, sanctification, Scriptural, Son, Teaching, Word
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two-commandments

You cannot love God without first obeying the Truth and knowing Him.

“In Him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in Him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God’s own people, to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:13-14 (NRSV)

“He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40 (NRSV)

“When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own, but will speak whatever He hears, and He will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because He will take what is mine and declare it to you.” John 16:13-14 (NRSV)

It is absurd to say you love God without loving the Truth. If you are not engaging your mind in your pursuit of knowing God you are not really loving God. You are not really obeying the greatest commandment.

3 Biblical Strategies for Fighting Lust

Posted: July 16, 2014 in Biblical, catholic, Charismatic, Christian, Church, Church History, Covenant, Covenant theology, Evangelical, Evangelism, life, Liturgical, Ministry, Orthodox, Pentecostal, Reformed, Renaissance, Repentance, Sacramental, sanctification, Scriptural, universal
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Run-Away-Poster

3 Biblical Strategies for Fighting Lust

1. Run From

“So flee youthful passions”

“Passions” refer to our cravings, our longings, and our desires. More specifically the passage speaks of “youthful passions.” These fleshly lusts are said to “wage war against the soul” (1 Peter 2:11). On the surface these cravings are anchored in the members of our body (Romans 6:12), but as we look deeper we find they stem from our sinful hearts (Romans 7:7). Ultimately these passions are forms of idolatry (Colossians 3:5), revolving our lives and desires around created things rather than the Creator.

We must run from these things. Every Christian, even though the Spirit of Christ indwells him or her, still lives in a mortal body surrounded by worldly amusements. These youthful lusts stubbornly cling to our heals. As we see these passions stirred in us, we must habitually flee from them.

This might mean mentally fleeing: bouncing our thoughts away from lustful imaginations.
This might mean visually fleeing: bouncing our eyes away from lustful images.
This might mean physically fleeing: walking (or running) away from tempting situations.

2. Run To

“. . . pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace”

It is not enough to flee from youthful lusts. We must run toward a new passion. We are to “pursue,” that is, eagerly and swiftly run toward Christlikeness.

Christ promises His people a heart of . . .

Righteousness (real integrity, a passion for justice, and a life pleasing to God)
Faith (strong and welcome conviction and trust in God)
Love (benevolent affection toward God and others)
Peace (tranquility in the heart and harmony with God and others)

We are to run hard after these things each day knowing these character qualities are how we were created to live. We pursue these things knowing it is our destiny to live this way. A billion years from now, when sin is a distant memory, we will be living lives of love, peace, and righteousness in the kingdom of God. Have this hope we purify ourselves, just as He is pure (1 John 3:3).

3. Run With

“. . . along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”

We must not only run from lust and toward God’s vision for our lives, we must run with our brothers and sisters with the same vision. We must all find companions for this stretch of the road, those who share our faith and convictions, those in the common struggle for holiness.

These friends should be those who “call on the Lord,” an expression for those who are saved (Acts 22:16; Romans 10:13). These are other men and women who have cried out to God for the forgiveness of their sin from a “pure” (genuine) heart.

Running with others involves a certain level of intentionality. It is not enough to simply know others around us are on the same journey because they profess a Christian faith. We must have real running companions; those who actually help us flee youthful passions and pursue a Christlike heart.

James 5:16 and Hebrews 10:24-25 offer a structure of what this kind of accountability looks like.

Building a good accountability relationship takes time. There are benefits and blessings along the way, but the ripest fruit comes after a real friendship is built.

Thinking of these four building blocks together, they form a structure that gives purpose and shape to our accountability relationships.

The foundation is meeting together. This includes all the basic methods of communication and conversation: meeting for coffee, talking on the phone, writing e-mails, or anything that involves a meeting of minds.
The central pillar in the room is confession of sin: getting honest with God and one another about what we are doing that we should not do or not doing that we should.

The outer walls that support and protect this relationship are prayer and encouragement.

~ Luke Gilkerson

(Luke is the general editor and primary author of the Covenant Eyes blog. Luke has a BA in Philosophy and Religious Studies and is currently working on an MA in Religion.)