Tag Archives: Temptation

RUNNING AWAY

27 Oct

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

I have been most blessed. God has given me three wonderful boys to love, encourage, and enjoy. Each of them has a strong call of God upon their lives, all in different capacities. We call each one by the name God has placed upon our heart – Pastor Jon, Deacon Eli and Chaplain Paul. In the body of Christ, all positions are of equal importance (1 Cor 12:12), this we have shown them so that neither feels of less importance than the other.

Having children called to the ministry is a tremendous challenge. The challenge isn’t in Bible study or scripture memorization, they strive to meet those desires themselves. The challenge is in recognizing the Spiritual Warfare and the schemes of the enemy that tempt them away from the call God has upon them.

Although there are many stories of miracles and answered prayer for each of them, our greatest challenge has been with our oldest son. He is currently a teenager (written in 2000), raised most of his life in Christian education, but placed into the public school system during the 8th grade, when the Christian school he had been attending closed. Placed in an environment he had never been subjected to, the enemy tempted and attacked, stole and taunted. However difficult these trials were, they couldn’t compare to the luring and wooing that called his name.

With peer pressure and Satan’s enticing whispers, he was drawn into a life we never expected. Although the rejection of family values was difficult for us, it was the running away that tormented our family. Where was he? Was he eating? Did he have a safe place to sleep? Who is he with? Why has he left us? Doesn’t he love us anymore?

Doesn’t he love us anymore? Rejection by your own child. Harsh words and accusations fly about. Why didn’t we see this coming? Only prayer brings us peace, difficult travailing prayer. I can’t begin to explain the depth of emotions a parent goes through in circumstances such as these. Love, hope, anger, hopelessness. Faith, doubt, pain, faith. Sorrow, prayer, memories, trust.

As I prayed one night, I asked God if He could understand the special relationship that grows as you hold that baby, child, young man in your arms and protect him from every possible danger that could come against him – God showed me Jesus, sent to earth to be born in a lowly manger, vulnerable to man, protected by the angels; the same angels that he has sent to watch over my son. I asked God if He could ever understand the pain and the rejection of a child not wanting to be near you, after you’ve been his best friend for most of his life – God showed me Jesus, standing before the crowd, as they chose Barabas to live and Jesus to die. I asked God if He knew what it felt like to sit in your child’s room, empty, hollow, except for the memories that line the walls and shelves – God showed me Golgatha, and Jesus’ lifeless body on the cross. I asked God if He could understand the pain of searching every street, every car, looking closely at every child the same age and build, in hopes of seeing your child, even at a distance – God showed me the people at the cross, dividing Jesus’ clothes, cutting into His lifeless body with a spear, laughing at all He was, void of any righteousness or desire of God. I asked God if He knew what it was like, waiting for the phone to ring or the front door to open, just to hear your child’s voice calling again, waiting , praying – God opened my ears to hear Jesus’ last cry, “Why hast thou forsaken me?”

Yes, He knows. He gave His son willingly, to walk in places of evil that all may be saved, even my son. He gave His son to bring hope, life and peace, knowing the pain and agony His son had to feel before it could be done. He watched as everything His son did was rejected and scorned, even as He lay lifeless. Yes, He knows.

Then God reminded me of the many times I have turned from Him. How many times have I turned my back on the family He has placed me in? How many times have I rejected the values and desires He has placed inside me? How many times have I spoken harsh and hurting words to Him, as I ran away to a world of selfish pleasure? How many times have I simply chosen to be somewhere else instead of in the sweet relationship with my Father? How many times have I put other things, people, places before Him? How many others have done the same?

Forgive us Lord, with your unlimited mercy, for all the times we fell to temptation and disappointed You. Forgive me, Lord, for thinking that You could never understand the pain of a Mother. Remind me that you are in control of all things. Help me to trust You and run back to You all of my days.

 

—

Written 7-14-2000

—

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

TEMPTATION

5 Aug

 

“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”     1 Corinthians 10:13

 

I gasp for air,

Shock electrifying my thoughts,

I have just seen the demon,

That torments my life.

 

Its reflection glanced past in a window glass,

And then another, and another.

I’m surrounded by the reality of it.

 

Can I pull free of the very evil that draws so near?

Do I have the strength to push away 

The sin that feeds it?

 

I search my eyes in a mirror,

The demons stares back.

 

Come Holy Spirit and chase away,

The darkness that tries to hide within.

 

Be gone temptation, 

Back to the recesses of time,

That I will sin no more.

 

 

 

Written 2-6-2002

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Generations

17 Jan

Generations

Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;                                                             Exodus 20:5

 —-

Thou shewest lovingkindness unto thousands, and recompensest the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their children after them: the Great, the Mighty God, the Lord of hosts, is his name,                                                                Jeremiah 32:18

 —-

The weight of the sins,

     of generations past,

     burden my shoulders.

 —-

I am tempted and swayed,

     toward an evil I don’t understand,

     and yet I crave.

 —-

I carry the mantle of a cursed generation,

     passed down,

     father to child,

     a covenant of sin.

     In which generation do I fall,

     3rd, 5th, maybe 7th?

 —-

The shadow of a cross

     falls across the path,

     I’ve been destined to walk.

     It breaks the pulling of the grave.

 —-

As I look to the man hanging thereon,

     calling my name,

     I feel the mantle lighten.

 —-

Resting at His feet,

     I look upward,

     into His pain wracked face;

     the blood from His pierced hands,

     falls on the mantle I carry,

     breaking the chains that hold it there,

     releasing the shell,

     it falls to the ground.

 —-

His eyes watch and question,

     “Will you pick it back up?”

 —-

Within my womb rests a nation.

     Their destiny rests within the choice,

     I must make.

     Their blessing or cursing

     rests in the power

     of my decision.

 —-

Do I pick up the mantle

     of my fathers,

     or wear a crown of thorns,

     adorned with the ruby red drops

     of the Savior’s blood,

     one day to be traded

     for a crown of gold.

 —-

There, at the foot of the cross,

     lay the empty shell,

     a wicked generation

     left behind  –  cleansed

     by the flow of blood.

—-

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Eve, Did You Know??

8 Dec

Adam & Eve

“For my words are wise, and my thoughts are filled with insight.”  Psalm 49:3  (NLT)

 The Garden of Eden holds a critical lesson about the frailty of man.  How easily we can be fooled by clever words that play on our earthly desires.  We can be so caught up in receiving those “special wants” that we don’t ask about the lingering after effects.

Extremely gifted people are placed in marketing departments for every major company.  If they can get people to touch their product, whatever it may be, and convince them that their product will dramatically change lives, then they’ve done their job and a product is sold.

How many cars have been purchased for the “sex appeal” marketing and later repossessed because of high car payments, high insurance costs and expensive repairs?  How many expensive jewelry purchases have put difficult financial burdens on young families because marketing says that a diamond ring or necklace is the only way to prove your love to your spouse?  How many young lives have fallen ruin because of movies and commercials showing that “Cool” people drink, smoke, party and are sexually active?

Satan tempted a “perfect” life in a “perfect” world and turned the entire future of man upside down.  Adam and Eve did not understand temptation; they did not understand evil; they did not understand that life could be anything different than it was.  They did understand that there was a rule and it was a very explicit and critical rule:  They were not to eat from the tree.

In Adam’s and Eve’s minds the gain must have appeared to far out-number the potential loss; how bad could the consequence possibly be in a “perfect” world?  We all know that the consequence was the exposure of imperfection, pain, fear, loss of relationship and death.  I wonder whether they would have been as willing to disobey if they truly had understood the consequence.

Many times I have wished that I could have kept my children completely protected from the evils of this world.  I raised them in a Christian school for many years, until it closed.  The harsh reality of life struck each of them in a different way when they started secular schooling and met their first bully.  They were shocked by the negative interactions of student to student and teacher to student.  Had I set them at a disadvantage by protecting their environment?  Would they have had better “worldly” coping skills if they had been exposed to non-Christian behavior in their formative years?  I can only guess and wonder and pray wisdom over my now grown children; each one walking a difficult journey in their lives right now.

Resisting those temptations, bullies and everyday challenges takes wisdom.  Wisdom sets us in right-standing with the Word of God and gives us the direction and skills to fight.  How do we receive wisdom, where does it lie?  It is in Jesus Himself (1 Corinthians 1:30); it is from God, given as a gift (Exodus 31:3); it is shouted in the streets and the public squares by those who have walked the journeys and chosen to encourage and warn others (Proverbs 1:20).  Wisdom is within each of us, if we ask for it; if we will humble ourselves and recognize our frailties; if we will desire not to fall into temptation (James 1:5).

God, please give me the wisdom to teach and guide Your children back to You.  Help me to help them to understand that temptation comes at the hands of skilled marketers, including Satan himself.  Help me to teach them to call out to You for wisdom – for the small things and for the mountains that stand in their path.  Please Lord, help me to remain humble as I ask again for the wisdom I need to continue this journey.

By Linda J. Humes

Written 8-29-2011

Tags: , , , , ,

A PERFECT HEART

12 Nov

 Hand & Heart

And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.  It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.    Luke 15:31-32 KJV

—-

Where is my heart, Lord,

The heart You can see.

Has it wandered much too far,

From where it ought to be?

—-

I rest in Your presence

And wonder where I am.

Have I gone too far?

Have I given up too soon?

You have set a path for me,

Charted by Grace,

Out of bondage,

Through the Wilderness,

Into the Promised Land.

—-

How often do I cast a glance

At the familiar security of bondage?

My memories, sweetened with time,

Draw me back across the Wilderness

That I have already overcome.

My promise of tomorrow,

Looses distance,

By my own temptations.

—-

Yet, at the end of my daily journey,

As I cry out,

You rest with me.

Words of encouragement urge me forward,

The reality of temptation, once again,

Becomes clear.

 —-

There is no anger in your voice,

There is no disappointment,

Only tears of joy,

Fatherly pride,

As I step, once again,

Toward the promise.

—-

Callous my heart, Lord,

To sweetened memories,

To familiarity.

—-

Tender my hear, Lord, toward You.

Let me see Your path with certainty.

Harness my mind and confusion.

Touch the greatest depths of my soul,

That when we meet again,

In the cool of the day,

That I might hear You,

With a perfect heart.

—-

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Little Foxes

27 Oct

fox and vine

Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.   – Song of Solomon 2:15

This year has been a year of weather extremes, with winter storms stronger and longer than ever before.  One night a gentle soft snow came down without the usual winds.  The next morning we woke to a beautiful thick blanket of snow, still on the tree branches and on the tops of the bushes.  I checked on my chicken/duck flock and saw the most unusual thing.

When we built our coop and run yard we put bird netting over the yard to keep the ravens out and the small flying banty chicks in.  The netting is a very thin plastic thread with wide meshing; the type you throw over fruit trees to keep the birds off.  There in the run was the mesh, stretched to the ground, under a foot and a half of snow, blocking the birds inside the coop house.  How could that possibly be??

During the night the gentle soft flakes gathered on the fine mesh, building thicker and thicker as the hours went by, until it pulled the mesh all the way to the ground.  A fast or wet snow would have gone right through the mesh, not sticking.  Only a small, soft, dry snow would lie on top of the thin mesh.

It reminded me of the small temptations and sins that come in.  Just little things like a movie with a “little” bit of poor language, a song with a “little” bit of negative talk, a “little” white lie, a book with a “few” inappropriate chapters, a day with a “little” gossip or a “little” negative conversations; a week without prayer or Bible study.  It is the “little foxes” that spoil the vine, coming and taking just a “little” of the crop each day, ruining the vines and the roots until the entire plant is destroyed.

We don’t even see the foxes stealing in until the vines begin to die.  We don’t realize how much of our life is tainted and our fruit spoiled with the “little” indiscretions in our walk.  Little foxes, little sins, growing to life changing events; sneaking in.

God, let me always be aware of those “little” things that sneak into my life, tainting my walk and my Christian character.  Help me walk past all that tempts my choices.  May I always draw close to Your ways.

—-

Tags: , , ,