Subtle Temptations

Today's guest post is by my friend Kastin Atash-Krupinski.  You can enjoy her blog, as I do, here.

So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. (Galatians 5:16)

Lent is a new practice for me, but in the idea of it I find so much beauty and humility. It’s a time of awareness of the very things that place a divide between me and God, the things that are hidden idols, stealing my attention away from Him. It’s a time of observance and examination.

The last few days I’ve sat with God, asking Him to show me the areas of my life where I am separated from Him. I came to realize that it is in my mundane, daily life where I’ve turned toward my own strength instead of His. It’s the areas that I feel are so insignificant and vain. These things are not important enough to bother God. I should be able to get a handle on them on my own. But God lives and specializes in the “mundane”. He is here in the mess, in all the mess. When I choose not to bring these matters to Him, by default I turn to the enemy, who in turn floods my mind with lies. Subtle temptations give way to sin.

The sin I’m struggling with is excessiveness. The good things in life- those things that are God given blessings meant for me to enjoy in moderation- have become temptations that drive me to overindulgence. It’s food, time, money, focus…. me. Sinful desires.

It’s not a matter of removing these temptations out of my life, because they were meant to be a blessing. It’s a matter of taking these temptations before the Lord and asking Him to help me receive them in moderation. It’s a matter of facing the enemy, instead of turning away, and reclaiming these God given gifts.

My idols are the things that put the focus on me- on this temporary flesh and this temporary world. I need kingdom-driven days, living in the ordinary through Christ; approaching the mess as Jesus would; honoring my body in recognition that Jesus dwells in me; approaching others through and by the love of Jesus in my heart. The abstaining and the shedding, the denying of the flesh, invites God’s presence into everything I do.

I anticipate Lent to be a time of awareness and simplification, accepting God’s gifts with gratitude and in temperance.

Jesus, You are enough. Let me accept your blessings and take only what I need. Let me surrender all things to You. Prepare my heart as I move into a sacred space of awareness.

Today's guest post is from my friend Jess Smith of the blog Get Busy Living.  Jess has an amazing story and has allowed God's joy to be prominent in her life!
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When Rob asked if I'd like to guest post, he said maybe I could write something about joy (my favorite topic) and/or my story (I'm a 30-year-old widow). I started thinking on the idea of finding joy even in death and how it all somehow relates to adoption.

Several things popped into my mind: an image of my "blog friend" Lauren when she first embraced her son Mareto at an Ethiopian orphanage...the wide-eyed excitement of my best friend Michelle and her husband Herb, when "the call" came from their adoption agency...and the thought "that must be how God felt when Isaac came home." Isaac was my husband, who went home to be with the Lord last year at 25 years old.

When Rob and Lesa met Matthew for the first time, I imagine there was much joy in that moment. And the morning when my Isaac left this world and met Jesus for the first time...the joy must have been beyond anything we can imagine here on earth.

It may seem strange that I can think of that circumstance as joyful. But, Isaac and I both put our faith in Jesus Christ and believe in the reality of eternal life in Heaven. Rob referenced John 14:1-3 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”

I love how Rob sums up this passage: "In this world filled with many trials and troubling things, God is preparing for your arrival as His adopted child. He has an incredible home for you, one where you get to be in the presence of Jesus. One of the rooms has your name on the door. He has your picture on his wall. He thinks about you every single day."

I've seen, first hand, the joy of an adoptive parent when they finally get to bring their child home. Sometimes, when I find myself feeling sad over my circumstance, I remember that joy. I think about when Michelle and Herb brought their son home and everyone who loved them couldn't wait to stop by their house to meet him. I hope that was what it was like for Isaac. I hope when he got to Heaven, God showed him his room and everyone wanted to meet him and welcome him HOME. And I hope when I get there, that my room is right next to his.

Magic Jesus

Today's guest post is from Rob Shepherd.  You will love the insight and wit at his blog.  Check it out!

I wish Jesus was like magic. Magic is quick and easy. You present a problem and then before your very eyes the problem is solved. All it takes is a few magic words. Oh and a wand. Oh and a cape. Oh and a top hat. All it takes is a few supplies and voila magic happens. Okay, it's not quite that easy. I once had to pay $59.99 in order to figure out how a magic trick worked. I saw a card float and then the magician said for just $59.99 you could learn how to make a card float. I'm a sucker. I said I'd use it become a great magician. I never became a magician. Maybe it's because I don't own the wand, cape, or top hat?


Magic is so great we name things after it. Magic Bullet. Magic Eraser. Magic Johnson. Magic is great...except for the fact that it's fake. Magic is an illusion. A slight of hand. It's entertaining, but it's not real. It would be nice if Jesus would just wave his hand over our problems and POOF they'd be gone. But that's not the way that Jesus works. In fact the Bible paints a very different picture of what a relationship with God is like.

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. 

The Bible compares a relationship with Jesus to running a race. I hate running. Before this year I would often say that the only reason anyone should ever run is if someone is chasing them, and the only reason that anyone should train to run is if they know in advance that someone is going to chase them. Running is hard. Running hurts. Running leaves scars. I started running this past year for exercise and I got really bad blisters. I know, I know buy the right socks. Who knew that they had jogging socks? So now running costs me something. I bought running shoes, socks, and one jogging shirt that says "Running Sucks."

A relationship with God is amazing, but it's like running. It takes discipline. It's not easy. And it comes with a cost, Jesus' life. Sometimes people think that when we run with God it causes God to love us more. They get upset when they do something good for God and they don't get a blessing in return. But running with God doesn't change God's perspective of us, it changes our perspective of Him. Running is the perfect analogy of a relationship with God because it's not easy. Being a Christ Follower doesn't guarantee that you won't struggle. It doesn't mean that life will be perfect. It doesn't mean that you won't hurt. It means that you have someone along side of you who has been there. Running with God changes your perspective of God because you see Him so much more clearly than when you don't run with Him. Like I said, running doesn't change God's perspective of you, it changes your perspective of Him.

Do you love or hate running?

Guest post: Ben reed on self discipline

Today's post is by community groups pastor Ben Reed.  Check out his site for church insights and more.  Here is a sampling of his work:

Future-minded discipline
Self-discipline: the act of doing something you don't want to do to achieve a result you couldn't otherwise achieve.

Self-discipline is all about the future. It may feel like it's all about the present, but it should always have the future in mind.

With just the present in mind, discipline is awful. Debilitating. Cumbersome. Stupid. But self-discipline bridges the gap between who you are right now and who you want to become.

Without self-discipline, who you are right now is who you will be next year. And if you're anything like me, that's a scary thought. I hope and pray that, this time next year, I've matured.

"For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. - Hebrews 12:11

Question: What areas of your life do you exercise self-discipline? Have you seen fruit from it?

Guest Post: The Harvest Is Here

Today's guest post is by Renee Johnson, the "Devotional Diva."  I recently had the honor of endorsing her next work, Not Another Dating Book.  It's terrific!  She loves to bring insight from the Bible and encourage people.

“Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Here is the proof that what I say is true: ‘This year you will eat only what grows up by itself, and next year you will eat what springs up from that. But in the third year you will plant crops and harvest them; you will tend vineyards and eat their fruit’” (2 Kings 19:29, NLT).

I remember growing up and how I couldn’t wait to be an adult. To accept responsibility with bliss. Be my own person.

My mom famously said to me to wait until I grow up because responsibility isn’t what it seems.

In other words, it ain’t easy.

I would flit my eyelashes at her while I roll my eyes and inwardly groan. I wanted so badly to be an adult.

Flash forward many years and the struggles in life. If I were to tell you how many hard things I experienced, I would make YOU groan. The eczema. Anxiety. Panic attack. Years of my life without skin. Forced home schooling. Yeah. Adulthood sucks.

But there was one glimmer of hope.

Writing. No matter how difficult my day was, if I was contemplating suicide, or planning out the next five years of my life—I wrote and wrote about everything.

It would shock you to know that I actually went to college to become a high school math teacher until God shut that down. He opened my eyes to see the truth in His Word and the number of pages I had scribbled while I poured my heart out to God through my pen with huge droplets of tears moistening the pages.

I was supposed to write.

But how? When? I began blogging back in 2004 as a way to get my thoughts about whatever verse I read that day in hopes of encouraging my fellow prisoners in the Lord (Ephesians 3:1). And it stuck. The harvest began.

I was completely satisfied to blog and finish out my schooling with Biola University. That is until my least favorite teacher of the worst class ever had to ruin my plans for a future.

He asked me, “Why aren’t you published?”

Uh. Me?

Hello?

Muah?

NO!

I expected my harvest of peace to come through other means. That God would use my incredible story and testimony of His continued healing other ways.

In 2008 I signed my first book contract and scrounged up all the blog posts I could find from the past 7 years, thus became “Faithbook of Jesus.”

If that weren’t enough, God made me live my words all over again. Suffering came over me like a flood. A tidal wave of Egyptians swirling all around me, causing me to panic.

I couldn’t breathe.

God opened a way through my misery and set my feet back on solid ground. In 2010 I signed my second book contract and began writing about my dashed hopes and dreams of being married called “Not Another Dating Book.”

I told myself I was writing it for all the Christian singles out there that hate dating books and are tired of formulas and people telling them what to do.

Then I met Marc.

It says in 2 Kings 19 that in the third year, Hezekiah would plan and harvest. This is my harvest. I am seeing the benefits to anguish. Planting in tears. Giving up my life to find a new one.

Time Magazine recently put out a study on millenials and called us Twixsters. They talked about why it’s taking so long for the 20-somethings to get going with life, marriage and career.

I don’t know what’s holding you back, but I know for me it was my health and the legitimacy of God’s plan.

He is sovereign.

No matter how much I whined and complained about the so-called lack of harvest, the fact is—the harvest is here and it is now. It is happening all around us if we choose to accept the responsibility.

Do the work.

What about you? Is your harvest now or three years from now?

I am here to encourage you to be patient and endure with joy the difficult days as an adult.

Come on you can do it. The harvest is here!

“So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds and placing our faith in God” (Hebrews 6:1, NLT).

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