forgiveness

DiM | “Say I Won’t” by Lecrae

Faithful Stewardship 3 Comments

disapproveToday is “Discernment in Music” (DiM) day here at Faithful Stewardship.

2 Corinthians 10:4-6 (ESV)
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

According to Billboard Music, the top song remains Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) by Hillsong United. Since we’ve already discussed that song, let’s move down the list. The #2 song on the list didn’t get there legitimately, it debuted at #2. Market manipulation of some sort, not sure who is behind it, and I don’t really care.  The song is “Say I Won’t” by Lecrae. Apparently he has just released a new album, so this #2 placement is probably due to the marketing buzz surrounding the new album. We’ll look at this new song, but honestly I expect this song to disappear off the charts once marketing money moves to a different song. I truly hope so.

Lyrics (via AZLyrics)

“Say I Won’t”
(feat. Andy Mineo)

[Chorus: Lecrae & Andy Mineo]
Say I won’t (why y’all scared to be different?)
Say I won’t (why y’all scared to be different?)
Say I won’t (we them outsiders, that’s just how we live it)
Say I won’t (and I bet I will)
Say I won’t
I might do it just to show you [x3]
We be like la, la, la, la

[Verse 1: Andy Mineo]
From the same city as the B-I-G
Wanna serve these bars, gotta see ID
Now I’m on their radar, where B-Dot be?
Was a slave for the cars, then we got free
Used to only wanna pull up in a black sport
Just a white man excelling in a black sport
Now I’m really doin’ pull ups
Got a honeymoon for the summer tryna get a six-pack for it
Say I won’t catch ‘Crae slippin’ in the studio at like 3 AM
Autograph that forehead with a Sharpie pen and then Instagram
Might swag out a fanny pack
I might bring Velour back
Nobody wanna change the game, man y’all just want more trap
Okay, say I won’t rap over bagpipes
Say I won’t talk about that price
To know Christ and live life like every night my last night
‘Bout to switch up the program
I rock name-brand, I rock no brand
My whole life GoPro cam, got rap like I had no fans, nope
They say, I know I say, “veto”
Danny DeVito, and Al Pacino, those are my people
Also I’m rockin’ the speedo
This that casino, you bet your revenue
Thinking you’ll stop me, no never not letting you
You must be high on that medical thinking I won’t
But I know better, know that I bet I do (kill ’em, ooh)

[Chorus]

[Verse 2: Lecrae]
Say I won’t sell my shoes and take my kids to Chuck E Cheese with the money
Say I won’t bring my own bottle of Pellegrino to the movies with me
Say I won’t
Look, I’m from an era of fast living and mass terror
Boys cover them cover girls like mascara
I don’t need to keep a gun and a mask ever
I still make ’em put their hands up, ask Derek
My role manager damage all of you amateurs
Sneaking up on a tour bus with a demo to hand to us
When I was younger, I just wanted a chain
Now a chain of events has afforded a change
See, I been a rebel since back in the day, I don’t follow the people
I follow the leader through valleys and shadows of death and I fearin’ no evil
So say I won’t do it, say I won’t turn the music up and get to it
Won’t come down H-Town all the way to their town
In the old school, drop top Buick
And I’m getting, maybe 8 or 9 miles to the gallon
Still feeling like a stallion
I got Andy ridin’ shotgun with 30 gold chains on, talking about he Italian
Say I won’t go drop a double album, and rap double time on all dub-step
Got no producers, just me rockin’ over beatboxin’ by Dougie Fresh
Say I won’t

[Chorus]

Positive Elements

Only 2 lines can even remotely be linked to “Christian” theme (underlined portions). The first (Andy Mineo) is so quickly followed up with a “live life to the fullest” theme that it isn’t worth teasing out. No more significant than an NFL player pointing to the sky after scoring a touchdown. The second (Lecrae) looks like it might pull from Psalm 23, but…well… Coolio also co-opted this passage in his “Gangsta’s Paradise”, so we will not be going there either. This song does not honor God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, or Scripture. This song seeks to glorify its performers.

Concerns

So this song is completely worthless. This song isn’t about Christ, it’s about Andy and Lecrae. It could play on a secular Top40  station, only it doesn’t live up to the grit and debauchery of popular Rap/HipHop, so it might not do very well. This song is on a Christian Chart to get whatever mileage it can for promoting the album.

I’m sure Lecrae has one or two songs that are better than what we might expect from the genre, but that is setting the bar very low. You see, Rap and Hip-Hop are not built around edification or inspiration; rather these styles are built around trash-talk set to a beat. The heroes of the genre are gangsters, thugs, drug dealers, and convicts. The lyrics mostly focus on self-aggrandizement (exaggerating one’s accomplishments) or justifying one’s reckless or even criminal behavior by a twisted victim mentality. That is what the genre is built around. Sure, occasionally you’ll get a poetic anthem about the human spirit from someone like 2Pac, but that is the rare exception rather than the rule.  Even then, it isn’t Biblical. 

The call of the Gospel is to come out of the world. Is there a way to do rap/hip-hop so that it honors God? Yes, but it won’t be popular “in the ‘hood”. Why? Because rap and hip-hop are self-centered musical forms at their very core. Fans of the genre like to take on the persona of the one rapping and feeling a sense of self-empowerment, strength, notoriety, and infamy. The most popular songs are either anthemic declarations of power, a challenge to authority, or shameless carnal gratification. None of these themes glorify God. A similar problem exists with “death metal” and it’s core appeal to rage and anger. While the vast majority of the popularized rap music glorifies “no shame in my game” and extols the achievements of “Old Gangsta’s” a God-honoring rap would be a call to repentance and to come out of that mentality, lifestyle, and to set aside those idols. Those songs exist, but they don’t last long within that genre because they don’t fit the core reason fans of the genre listen to the music.

Conclusion

I hope this song disappears from the chart before it ever gets any “Christian Radio” airplay. I hope this is just a marketing stunt to try to force the song onto unsuspecting listeners and not a reflection of what the industry truly considers to be Christian music. Since I consider this to be a throw-away chart position, I think we should do a bonus review.

Closing Thoughts

I’m not sure Billboard is the best approach for this endeavor, given it’s manipulation of the standings. I’m considering moving to a different chart, any suggestions? I am also open to reviewing songs submitted by readers. In the meantime, please do spend time in God’s Word this week. I’ll do my best to share what I’m studying and reading, but whatever I post here is no substitute for reading God’s Word for yourselves. Take notes and ask your pastors/elders/teachers questions about your readings. Be a disciple of God’s Word and submit to the authorities He has placed over you in the church. If you question any of my posts, take them to your pastors and elders and discuss with them. I just ask that you provide feedback to me so that I might be edified (be it by encouragement or correction).

May the Lord bless you and keep you firmly in His Grace
In Christ,
Jorge

DiM | “Greater” by Mercy Me

Faithful Stewardship 2 Comments

Presentation1Today is “Discernment in Music” (DiM) day here at Faithful Stewardship.

2 Corinthians 10:4-6 (ESV)
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, 6 being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.

According to Billboard Music, the top song remains Oceans (Where Feet May Fail) by Hillsong United. Since we’ve already discussed that song, let’s move down the list. The #2 song on the list is climbing quickly and I think it is far superior to Oceans. Today, we will be taking a look at “Greater” by Mercy Me. If you haven’t heard it yet, check out their official lyrical video below:

Lyrics (via AZLyrics)

“Greater”
Bring your tired
Bring your shame
Bring your guilt
Bring your pain
Don’t you know that’s not you’re name
You will always be much more to me

Every day I wrestle with the voices
That keep telling me I’m not right
But that’s alright

‘Cause I hear a voice and He calls me redeemed
When others say I’ll never be enough
And greater is the One living inside of me
Than he who is living in the world
In the world
In the world
And greater is the One living inside of me
Than he who is living in the world

Bring your doubts
Bring your fears
Bring your hurt
Bring your tears
There’ll be no condemnation here
You are holy, righteous and redeemed

Every time I fall
There’ll be those who will call me
A mistake
Well that’s ok

There’ll be days I lose the battle
Grace says that it doesn’t matter
‘Cause the cross already won the war
He’s Greater
He’s Greater

I am learning to run freely
Understanding just how He sees me
And it makes me love Him more and more
He’s Greater
He’s Greater

So this song’s title and hook comes from a passage of scripture we refer to often here when we speak of discernment.

1 John 4:1-6 (ESV) 1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. 4 Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

Now, the focus of the song isn’t really the same as the focus John had. The focus of the song “greater” is one of resisting the enemy’s condemnation. It is intended as a song of encouragement to the weary Christian. What John is focused on here is discernment and understanding that we who have been redeemed have the Spirit of Living God dwelling inside of us as promised by Jesus Christ. I think that if we take some time to walk through some related scripture we can fill in some of the blank spots in the song to see how Scripture ties these 2 themes together nicely. Keeping the title of the song as both the starting point and the ending point, let us move through the verses of the song.

Positive Elements

The first verse is a call to the tired, shamed, guilty, and pained believers. The closing thought of the opening verse is to remember that those are not your name. As believers, your sin does not identify you. Now, here it is absolutely important to recognize that this song is NOT written for the lost. The unbeliever can derive no hope from this song, because the unbeliever does not have any of the promises in this song because he denies the cross of Jesus Christ. That is not to say that there isn’t any Gospel in this song, but the song is very clearly written to believers. Believers struggle with fatigue and are tempted to despair in their shame. In the second verse we also see that believers struggle with doubts, fears, hurts, and fears. All of these are common to man, but believers have a hope that is in Christ.

I love the second part of the verses that declare that we have been redeemed. That is powerful language if you rightly understand law and gospel. Too often we only think of  Jesus starting at the virgin birth, but He was with God in the beginning, and He is God. He came and gave up His life so that He could pay the debt we couldn’t not pay and in so doing He redeemed us to Himself.

Galatians 3:10-14 (ESV)10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” 11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” 12 But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Galatians 3:23-29 (ESV) 23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came,in order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Finally, the second verse points out that there is no condemnation here. This is important for Christians who are striving to live holy lives, but stumble and fall. You are going to stumble and fall as long as you live on this earth in your fallen and sinful flesh. It wages war against the Spirit of God. Your temptations actually live in your flesh. That’s tough for many to hear, but that is precisely what it means to “take up your cross daily”. We must die to our flesh daily, because our flesh is sinful. That is why we look forward to the day when we will be given new, uncorrupted bodies by the grace of God through faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Knowing this, we also must know that what Christ did on the cross still covers our sin. There will be conviction, and we must repent from our sin (die to the flesh and turn to Christ) daily, but there is no condemnation for believers.

Romans 8:1-4 (ESV) 8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Now, the phrase “walk NOT according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” is what we focus on in repentance. When we sin, it is because we’ve taken our eyes off of Christ and onto either idols or our own fleshly desires. It’s a constant struggle even within our flesh, and we have a true adversary who tempts us to sin and then tempts us to despair in our sin (condemnation) all in an effort to rob from us the promise we have in Christ. He cannot take you from God, just as he couldn’t remove Adam from God, but he will lie to you and discourage you and tempt you to reject the Creator to serve the created.

Now here is where we come full circle back to the title of the song, we must discern what is of the Spirit of God and what is of the spirits of error. Our flesh wages war against the Spirit. Satan tempts us. All who have been baptized in Christ have been given the Holy Spirit. We must discern conviction from condemnation, Truth from lies. That is why we must live in the Word of God.

1 Corinthians 2  (ESV) 1 And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. 6 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 9 But, as it is written,“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”— 10 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. 12 Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God.13 And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. 14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. 15 The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. 16 “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

Greater is the One living inside of me than he that is living in the world. God the Holy Spirit is greater than anyone and anything living in the world. Amen.

Concerns

As much as I like this song and its message, I am concerned by a couple of things. First, there is no call to repentance in the song. So, without repentance the line declaring the listener to be holy give me pause. In Romans 8, if you continue reading, Paul is very quick to move to an emphatic call to live according to the spirit and NOT according to the flesh. He’s not talking about mysticism or transcendence, he’s talking repentance. Denying the flesh that craves sin and obeying the Spirit of God that demands Holiness, not by the strength of our flesh but by the Grace of God. We cannot afford to super-spiritualize this, because the flesh is quick to engage in idolatry. So, the song is all affirmation without a call to repentance. I understand that it is a song of encouragement, and it should naturally be primarily focused on encouragement and affirmation, but completely skipping the call to repentance, I think, is a mistake. The other issue I have with the song which is more minor is the reference to the voices “telling me I’m not right” and “those who call me a mistake”. They are quick lines and I’m not entirely sure what is being said here by Mercy Me. If we are still talking about the world versus Christians, well then the world accuses our devotion to Jesus Christ and the Word of God as wrong, and they insist that we are all a cosmic accident (evolution) rather than a precious creation made by a God who loves us enough to have died for us. However, these are quick lines so my concern here is that some might (wrongly) take this as a blanket affirmation that whatever you think is right is right and anyone who tries to point out the wrong in your idea is clearly “he that is in the world”. Please understand that I am citing this only as a small concern, but given the kind of rampant progressive, seeker-mergent, false theology that has infected the church, it is worth mentioning.

Conclusion

This is one of the better Christian songs on the Billboard Chart today. It is not evangelistic song, especially due to its lack of a call to repentance, but it is clearly a biblical affirmation for the weary Christian to remember the cross. The Gospel is not simply something you heard once to “be born again”; rather, it is where we live, breath, and our daily bread. Christians who lose sight of the Gospel find themselves buried by the law, and need to be brought back to the cross, where Christ has already won the war.

I am also quite pleased to see “We Believe” by Newsboys still up near the top of the chart (#4 today). Both songs come as quite the breath of fresh air on the radio from all of the self-loving, self-aggrandizing, and new-age-spiritualism that dominates the Christian (or “Positive Alternative”) airwaves.

Jude 1:24-25 (ESV)
24 Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, 25 to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

In Christ,
Jorge

CTT | As long as Christ is preached…

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CTTI recently read a blog article that misapplied the following verse in Philippians.

Philippians 1:18 (ESV)  What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice.

I say it was misapplied, because it was inflated to cover all doctrine and practices of a mega-church pastor who has come under fire recently from secular and Christian media over money, messaging, branding, and doctrine. The odd thing here is, that the use of the Scripture did not, in any way,  defend the individual; rather, it got warped into an attack on any who would dare speak out against what may have been viewed to be out-of-step with Scripture. It is even issued as a blanket accusation of pride to any that would dare speak against this particular ministry, and issued a call for repentance. But was Paul attacking Timothy, accusing him of pride, calling Timothy to repentance? Let’s look at the verse in its immediate context:

Philippians 1:1-20 (ESV)
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. Some indeed preach Christ from envy and rivalry, but others from good will. The latter do it out of love, knowing that I am put here for the defense of the gospel. The former proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, not sincerely but thinking to afflict me in my imprisonment. What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed, and in that I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

If Christ is proclaimed, then I can rejoice in that. If the motives of the proclaimers are wrong, but the proclamation or teaching of Christ is correct, then we can rejoice in the latter, but that does not remedy the former. The former is still a problem, for that person, and should not be emulated with reckless abandon. In this case, though, Paul identifies the wrong motive as an attempt to afflict Paul in his imprisonment. Interesting. Paul is forgiving the personal attack for the sake of the Gospel. Paul never forgives false teaching. In fact, look at how he instructs Timothy at the end of his first letter:

1 Timothy 6:3-10(ESV) If anyone teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching that accords with godliness, he is puffed up with conceit and understands nothing. He has an unhealthy craving for controversy and for quarrels about words, which produce envy, dissension, slander, evil suspicions, and constant friction among people who are depraved in mind and deprived of the truth, imagining that godliness is a means of gain. But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.

The doctrine we preach/teach/share matters. If what we preach/teach/share isn’t plainly stated in the Gospel of Jesus, or in the teachings/writings of the Apostles in the New Testament, we need to be careful. There is a big difference between “words” and “Word”. Arguing over “-isms” without relying on the Word of God to explain the Word of God is tantamount to arguing over “words”. When we open our Bibles, the prevailing thought should be, “What does God’s Word say?” Too often, we skip that question and jump right into interpreting the meaning of bits and pieces of scripture without ever really understanding what it plainly says in context.

There is One Holy Spirit. If anyone thinks he has received a direct revelation that cannot be substantiated in the Word (by which the Holy Spirit teaches all Christians)… I recommend he test the spirit (1 John 4) behind that “revelation”.  Am I against mega-churches? Not if they preach sound doctrine. If they don’t preach sound doctrine, my heart breaks because their false teaching is affecting a much larger audience wholesale. We judge a tree by its fruit,  but “congregation size” isn’t included in the Fruit of the Spirit. If the one speaking out against a mega-church is doing so out of envy, then the accuser is wrong. However, accusing everyone who speaks out against a mega-church of doing so out of envy, is equally wrong.

1 Timothy 4:11-16 (ESV) Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

May the Lord bless and keep you,
In Him,
Jorge

If the devil is riding your back…

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There is a church near my home that has one of those marquee signs out front where they like to put up different clever sayings from time to time. I don’t have any strong feelings either way on these signs, other than I think that most of the clever sayings I see are only understandable by the saints. Especially those that look like they are targeting the lost… they just sound odd. Perhaps the worst example of being too clever to be useful was, “Stop, Drop, and Roll won’t work in Hell”. However, this morning I noticed the sign say something that immediately brought to mind Scriptural truth.

If the devil is riding your back
Take off the saddle

Now, since I am already of the mindset that these signs are mostly for Christians, my mind went to Ephesians 4:26-27 (okay, I know I quote Eph 4 quite a bit, but hey, this is a blog about Christian living and faithful stewardship 😉 ):

Ephesians 4:26-27 (NASB, emphasis mine)
26 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not give the devil an opportunity.

Here is the saddle. As Christians, we have been bought by a price and redeemed out of the dominion of darkness and into the Kingdom of Jesus, the Son of God, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin (Colossians 1:13-14). However, as humans we are still susceptible to influence when we yield to the enemy. Allowing ourselves to be overcome with strong emotions (like anger, anxiety, fear, doubt, etc.) can lead to sin (notice, clearly there is room to have an emotion without yielding to sin)… by giving the devil an opportunity, or by allowing a saddle to be placed on your back.

So how do we remove the saddle? By the Truth of God’s word, particularly His promises about who we are in Him and who we have in the Holy Spirit.

2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV) 7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Philippians 4:6-7 (NASB) 6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 5:23-24 (NASB) 23 Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.

Matthew 5:33-37 (NASB) 33 “Again, you have heard that the ancients were told, “You shall not make false vows, but shall fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ 34 But I say to you, make no oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Nor shall you make an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no’; anything beyond these is of evil.

James 4:6b-8 (NASB) 6b Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. (emphasis mine; I recommend studying all of Chapter 4)

As for the sinner, the lost, they are born wearing a saddle. In fact, we were all born broken horses in captivity. Saddled by the world, bridled by sin, corralled by darkness, and destined for death and eternal separation from God. But for His Son, Jesus, we’d still be in that broken and controlled state. Through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we can be set free from our bonds, released from captivity, and inherited into the Kingdom of God to forever be with Him! Amen.

As long as we walk on in this world, we will have to contend with the accuser of the brethren (Rev 12:10) who is constantly looking for  someone to devour (1 Pet 5:8) or to put on a saddle and ride into the ground. The devil cannot steal you away from God, but he can cause you to stumble and fall, especially if he can get you saddled and bridled (James 3). That’s why we must  keep ourselves in God’s Word, praying and seeking guidance from the Holy Spirit daily as we are encouraged in Romans 12.

So yeah… today’s clever message blessed me. I hope some of you were equally blessed. Have a wonderful weekend!

In Him,
FS

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