Don't Make Doctrine Out of Opinion!

Don't make doctrine out of opinion! Men of God, do we release the power of our speech in our everyday lives?   "In the same way, the tongue is a small thing that makes grand speeches. But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire. And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.  People can tame all kinds of animals, birds, reptiles, and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is restless and evil, full of deadly poison. Sometimes it praises our Lord and Father, and sometimes it curses those who have been made in the image of God. And so blessing and cursing come pouring out of the same mouth. Surely, my brothers and sisters, this is not right! " (James 3:5-10 NLT) Do we release men of God the correalation between speech and lust and how this combination can truly set us up for disaster if we're not careful?   God grants us the ability to "speak decrees" or literally speak things into existence, law.  If we as men do not tame any foothold that we have left for Satan to devour, it will devour us! "Don't let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, "God is trying to trip me up." God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one's way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer." (James 1:13 MSG) So moving forward, men of God, let's realize the attack that Satan is planning for all of us. If we allow lust, in all forms, to remain in our hearts, Satan will us it against us.  The most common way is through our speech, and the things we say to others and ourselves.  So let's be aware of our words and the power of them!  God bless.

Press or Pressure?

Press or Pressure... Often times, men of God, it is so easy to feel inadequate when confronted with life's speed bumps. We look at the bills due, then the bank account, we look at our children's grades, then our work schedule, we look at the situations in front of us and determine that "this mountain is too high to climb". Have we ever evaluated our minds & seen the flaws with us? In Acts 14:21 MSG version, "After proclaiming the Message in Derbe and establishing a strong core of disciples, they retraced their steps to Lystra, then Iconium, and then Antioch, putting muscle and sinew in the lives of the disciples, urging them to stick with what they had begun to believe and not quit, making it clear to them that it wouldn't be easy: 'Anyone signing up for the kingdom of God has to go through plenty of hard times." We realize that Paul himself, did not have a life so smooth that he did not have to face any trials or persecutions, but rather upon doing the work of Christ, they grew in occurrences, why do we think this was? Faith! What voice are we listening to when our struggles come, the voice of the deceiver who discourages us into believing that due to our inadequecies "we're not good enough" or the voice of our daddy proclaiming "it's already taken care of!". It's time for us to lead our families, neighborhoods, and friends by first identifying the spiritual, then being confident in our victory.