Gun Control or Self-Control?

Contemplate the pseudo-psychological solution

To remedy the emptiness of my condition

When what I need is simply power from on high

To take this earth bound heart and give me wings so I can fly 

(Sterling Brown, The Power of Love)

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  Acts 1:8

If we confiscated all the guns on planet earth, would that make our world a safer place?  If we confiscated all the guns on planet earth, would that keep innocent people from dying?  The obvious answer to both of these questions is no. 

I was reminded of this fact the other day while my three sons watched one of their favorite television shows.  The Deadliest Warrior is a history show that tries to determine who is the mightiest warrior of all time.  One of the ways they try to ascertain this is by judging the effectiveness of the weaponry used by each warrior during their time of prowess.  The weapons featured on the show such as throwing stars, the katana, swords, arrows, axes, bombs, etc. are all reminders that human beings have no problem creating weapons to kill people.

In fact, box cutters and airplanes were used by terrorists to bring mass destruction and death on that horrific day when the world watched the attacks on the Twin Towers in New York.  Today, we can’t even carry a bottle of water onto our flight because it might contain some material that could be used to crash the plane.  I never would have thought that a bottle of water could be so threatening.

While writing this blog the horrific “breaking news” of the bombings during the Boston Marathon flashed across my television screen.  It was another unfortunate example that human beings do not lack the creativity for hurting, maiming and even killing innocent people.  Oh, by the way, the Boston Marathon terrorists did not use a gun!

An honest assessment of gun use in our country tells a much different story than many of our pundits and politicians.

According to the “Loaded Questions” article in the February 23, 2013 edition of World Magazine, the FBI reports about 13,000 homicides annually in the United States.  About two-thirds involve firearms.  In 2012 mass shootings took less than 100 lives—less than 1 percent of all homicide victims.  Nearly eight times as many Americans died from physical beatings.

The most controversial gun laws President Barack Obama has proposed since the mass shootings in Sandy Hook likely wouldn’t stop much of the urban violence in places like Chicago and Atlanta: Many shooters use handguns—not the kind of assault weapons the president has proposed banning.  (And though some proposals for expanded background checks make sense, most urban shooters don’t buy guns legally.

Indeed, some wonder whether the measures would stop massacres like Sandy Hook and others: In Newtown, Lanza used weapons his mother bought legally in a state with strict gun control laws.  The Virginia Tech shooter, who killed 32 victims in 2007, passed a background check despite serious mental health issues.  And the Columbine High School massacre happened during the federal assault weapons ban spanning 1994 to 2004.

When it comes to the proposal to ban high-capacity ammunition magazines, Robert Levy of the libertarian Cato Institute believes a ban on magazines with 20 rounds or more makes sense, and possibly could stop a mass shooter from inflicting mass causalities.  (The president and some legislators advocate a ban on magazines with 10 rounds or more.)  Either way, Levy notes a significant problem: Homemade magazines are easy to build.

Levy successfully argued the Supreme Court case in 2008 that overturned a ban on most handguns in Washington D.C.  During the 32-year ban, gun violence and homicides in the district soared, as criminals maintained their arsenals, and many law-abiding citizens went unarmed.  The court’s 2008 decision underscored citizen’s Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms.

Jeffrey Shapiro, a former prosecutor in D.C., notes since the court struck down the gun ban, murders in D.C. dropped from 186 in 2008 to 88 in 2012—the lowest number of homicides since the district enacted the gun ban in 1976. (Loaded Questions by Jamie Dean, World Magazine, February 23, 2013)

So, if guns are not the ultimate threat to our safety, and if gun control is no guarantee to prevent the murdering of innocent people, how do we address the issue of violence?

First, we have to deal with the real problem.  What’s wrong with the world? What is the problem?  Sin!  The real threat to our safety is the human heart!  (Genesis 6:5, 8:21) 

I was talking to a friend of mine the other day about his new job.  He works for an agency that tries to help foster children.  He was lamenting over his frustration about how the agency can never get anything done to help the children.  The employees are more concerned about their job title and the feeling of power they think their title gives them.  The power of their position is more important than the people they are hired to help.  In addition to the struggle for power and control, the kids are never taught how to deal with their issues because it is politically incorrect to really identify the problem.  In other words, they won’t call sin…sin!

When a person repents of their sins, and puts their faith in Jesus Christ to receive Him as Lord and Savior, two of the great benefits he/she receives are the gift of the Holy Spirit and a new heart.  The Holy Spirit identifies a person as a child of God, leads that person in truth, and helps that person bear the fruit of God’s Spirit.  Galatians 5:22-23 lists how the fruit of the Spirit manifests in a disciple of Jesus.  We should pay careful attention to the first and last fruit of the Spirit—the bookends, if you will, of God’s Spirit!

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.  (Galatians 5:22-23)  A disciple of Jesus must be motivated by love, and must maintain self-control in order to possess joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and gentleness.

In Proverbs 25:28, we are reminded that protection and safety are linked to self-control.

Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control.  Proverbs 25:28

Walls are built to keep a city safe and protected from those who would dare to do it harm.  When the walls of a city are broken down, evil-minded people have easier access to commit their heinous crimes.  Like the broken walls of a city that invite terror, a person with no self-control is more likely to get hurt, and hurt or even murder innocent people.

Here are a few of my other favorite Scriptures on self-control:

Better a patient person than a warrior, one with self-control than one who takes a city.  (Proverbs 16:23)  A person with self-control possesses an internal fortitude that is more powerful than a mighty warrior who can overtake a city.

Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,  (1 Timothy 3:2) A key attribute for leaders who oversee people should be self-control.

If we want to solve the problems and crimes we face in America in the 21^st century, we must start by accurately identifying the problem.  The problem with America today is a refusal to call sin for what it is…sin!  Once we identify the problem, then and only then, can we begin to offer a solution.  The only solution for sin in the human heart is the Holy Spirit!

Country music singer Kenny Chesney, in his hit song "You and Tequila", sings: "It's always your favorite sins that do you in."  He is absolutely right!  That is why Romans 6:12 says, "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires."

Government policies, such as gun control, will never solve the dilemma of our condition.  We cannot legislate morality.  The less self-government or self-control the citizens of a nation possess, the more external government they need to try to maintain order.  These legislative attempts, without the Holy Spirit, are always in vain!

I’ll conclude with a very insightful and wise statement form our second President, John Adams, who understood the only people possible of maintaining order and decency in a nation are moral and religious citizens.  He said, "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

Do we need more government policies such as the ones that promote gun control, or do we need more power from the Holy Spirit that provides self-control?  You know which one I choose!

How about you?

Where was God and Where are you?

22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown god. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.

24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by man’s design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him (Jesus) from the dead.”  Acts 17:22-31

As we conclude our first month of 2013, I want to encourage you with this thought: God is not far from us!

Amid the "most wonderful season of all" in 2012 came the tragic news of a deranged young man entering an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, killing 27, including 20 children.  Tragically, Christmas for these families was one of grief and despair. 

Tragic events like this one cause people to ask many questions about God.  It is interesting to me that traumatic events either lead people to question God or call on Him.  Even President Obama, who spent countless hours campaigning for re-election without referencing the Bible, quoted from Scripture as he addressed the nation after the school shooting.  He even mentioned Jesus’ name when he said, ““Let the little children come to me,” Jesus said, “and do not hinder them—for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”

Where was God?  Why does God allow this to happen?

In his new book, God's Not Dead, Dr. Rice Broocks writes: "Atheists claim that the universe isn't what you would expect if a supernatural God existed.  All this death and suffering, they say, are plain evidence that a loving, intelligent God could not be behind it all.  The truth is that God has created a world where free moral agents are able to have real choices to do good or evil.  God made a world where choices are real and humanity is affected by the choices of other humans.  Drunk drivers kill innocent people.  Some murder and steal from their fellow men.  Though God gave clear commandments to humanity, we have for the most part ignored these directives.  The mess that results is not God's fault.  It's ours."

Why do tragedies like this happen?  Why do we respond with shock and awe?  Psychiatrist Keith Ablow said, "This kind of shock registers with people—because it seems like the unthinkable keeps moving into the sphere of our reality."

Franklin Graham wrote in a recent article:

The "unthinkable" first surfaced in mankind thousands of years ago when Cain killed his brother Abel out of mere jealousy and rivalry. God had warned Cain, "Sin is crouching at your door," but Cain ignored God's word and committed murder. God punished Cain for taking innocent life but the violent shedding of blood has continued for centuries. Why?

The Bible answers this question with certainty, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). In fact, the Bible gives clear testimony to just how evil the human race became. "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord "was grieved in His heart" (Gen. 6:5-6).

Tragedies happen because people have wicked sinful hearts.  That is why we need a Lord and Savior to rule in our hearts.  Once again, Franklin Graham explains our need for a Savior well.  He writes:

Society craves violence as long as it comes in the form of entertainment. Our outlook changes when we become its victims. This is precisely why God did not stand by unconcerned. His love for mankind is so overwhelmingly powerful that His wrath against evil is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and the unrighteousness of men (Romans 1:18). The Bible says that people suppress the truth through unrighteous behavior that begins in the mind.

During this time, we should turn our minds and hearts from wickedness and remember what God has done for the world He loves. He sent His only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to point us to the way of truth. "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). His innocent blood was shed to cover our sinful hearts, and to those who will seek Him, He offers His abiding peace. He is the peace that surpasses all understanding.

The same God who gave the world His greatest gift, will also comfort the hearts of the grieving—in Newtown, Conn., or anywhere else—for He understands grief. He became a curse for us so that His promise would be fulfilled through faith in Him (Galatians 3:13). This is the shocking awe, that God would send so great a message in the form of a child.

Where was God?  Religions, creeds, and philosophies teach us in vain how to get close to God or become like God.  Christianity is not a religion, creed or philosophy.  It is about a relationship with God.  Christianity teaches that Jesus came to earth from heaven to be close to us.  When we repent of our sins, and put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  This means that God, by the presence of His Holy Spirit, actually lives in all who have called upon the name of Jesus for salvation.  That is pretty close wouldn’t you say? 

Why wouldn’t we want to teach children how to have God live in them?  Why do we want to remove God from our schools and then wonder why God isn’t present?  Remember, it is Jesus who instructs us how to treat others like we want to be treated, how to love and pray for our enemies, how to control our anger because it can lead to murder, and many more teachings that have changed the world for the better (Matthew 5-7).

It is true that heinous acts are committed when God is not close.  No external laws are ever going to change the nature of the human heart.  Only Jesus can do that!  The sinful nature will always find a way to do evil.  Creating more laws is like putting a Band-Aid on a person and thinking it will cure them of cancer.

It seems that the more we remove God from school, the more we invite guns to take His place.  Robert Winthrop, Speaker of the U. S. House, knew how important it was to have God rule in the hearts of people.  He said, "Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled either by a power within them or by a power without them; either by the Word of God or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible or by the bayonet."

We can continue to argue over gun control, but in doing so we miss the bigger issue of heart control.  The most important issue is who is ruling and reigning in our hearts.  I appreciate former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee’s courage to boldly speak out on this issue.  He said:

Well, you know it’s an interesting thing. We ask why there’s violence in our schools but we’ve systematically removed God from our schools. Should we be so surprised that schools would become a place of carnage because we’ve made it a place where we don’t want to talk about eternity, life, what responsibility means, accountability. That we’re not just going to have to be accountable to the police if they catch us, but one day stand before a holy God in judgment. If we don’t believe that, then we don’t fear that. And so when people say, ‘Why did God let it happen?’ you know, God wasn’t armed. He didn’t go to the school. But God will be there in the form of a lot of people with hugs and with therapy and a whole lot of ways which I think he will be involved in the aftermath. Maybe we ought to let him in on the front end and we wouldn’t have to call him to show up when it’s all said and done at the back end.

I have one final thought about God being close to us.  Adam and Eve were created in the image and likeness of God and enjoyed a close relationship with Him.  When they disobeyed God’s command and sinned by eating the forbidden fruit, they hid from the Lord and covered their nakedness with sewed fig leaves.  God didn’t forsake them, but called out to them, “Where are you?”  (Genesis 3:6-9)

We reject God, hide from Him, and even remove Him from our schools, yet He still calls out to us in His love, grace and mercy.  He has always been right there…real close!  We shouldn’t be asking, “Where was God?”  To me the real question is: “Where are you?” 

God isn’t lost, He isn’t hiding, and He is not far from any one of us.  He’s just waiting for us to seek Him, call out to Him, find Him, and realize that in Him we live and move and have our being!

Where are you?

Hold on to the Good!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17

One of the incredible benefits we receive in Christ is that He makes all things new in our lives. He gives us a new nature, a new hope, a new purpose and a new future. In Christ, we get a new start. Who doesn’t need a new start?

2013 is here and at the beginning of every New Year there is the possibility of embracing the new things that God has in store for us. I can’t believe 2012 has come and now is gone. Many of my Facebook friend’s status updates on New Year’s Eve indicated that 2012 had been a difficult year for them. I must admit 2012 was also a challenging year for me in many ways. For as long as I live, I will always remember 2012 as the year my father went to be with the Lord.  I miss him tremendously.

  

There is something about entering into a new year that always brings a fresh hope to my soul.

In Isaiah 43:18-19 the Lord says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. (19) See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.”

In this passage of Scripture, the Lord is reminding us to not dwell on the former things, but focus on the new things in the upcoming year. When we only focus on the unpleasant moments of the past, it causes us to not perceive the new blessing that is going to spring up in the future. God has the supernatural ability to make refreshing springs in the desert and wasteland places of our lives. He can turn that which has been barren into a fruitful place in the future.

One of the keys to entering the New Year in the right manner is practicing the discipline of letting go of the bad and holding on to the good. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 says, “Test everything. Hold on to the good.”

Unfortunately, it is human nature to forget the good events and only hold on to the miserable moments of life. When we do this, bitterness develops in our soul that poisons us, and causes us to be disillusioned with life.

I am committed to entering into 2013 “holding on to the good” and releasing the disappointments of 2012. I will use them as learning lessons, make the necessary changes in my life, and move forward in faith.

How do we hold on to the good?

We do it by giving thanks to the Lord, remembering that he is good, and his love endures forever (Psalm 118:1). As our Eternal Father, his thoughts toward our future and us are positive ones.Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Remember, as you enter into 2013, make sure you leave the old behind and grab a hold of the new things God wants to do in your life.

What old things of 2012 are you releasing, and what new things are you reaching for in 2013? I would love to read your comment and pray for you!

Happy New Year!

The Unexpected Christmas Gift!

There is one Christmas that stands out to me during my childhood. When you are a kid, Christmas is a much anticipated event and usually needs no hype to get one excited. However, this particular Christmas for me possessed an even greater sense of expectation. My Dad had been telling me for several weeks that he had a special gift for me. I couldn’t wait for Christmas day to come. In typical Christmas tradition at the Miller home, we opened first all the gifts under the tree. The special gifts were always hidden somewhere safe from curious young boys. As soon as we got done opening the gifts under the tree, my Dad told me to close my eyes as he escorted me outside. As we were standing in our driveway, he told me to open my eyes to see this gift I had been anxiously waiting for. To my utter disappointment it was an basketball goal. I remember saying to my Dad, “Why did you get me a basketball goal? I will never use it.”

To make a long story short, I attended Florida State University on a basketball scholarship. Countless hours of my life were spent on that basketball goal perfecting my shot. I’m sure the sound of a bouncing basketball drove my neighbors crazy. Just as I do now preparing for sermons, I spent most of my practice time shooting at night. As my Father, my Dad made a personal unexpected investment in my life that paid huge dividends. He saw a talent in me that I had not yet discovered. His $125.00 gift paid for a degree in Communications and a Master’s Degree in Sports Administration. It also paid for room and board during my college years. His investment did two things. First, it launched me into part of my destiny. And secondly, it gained a huge return.

God’s investment into our lives should produce the same two things. It should launch us into our destiny and it should produce a great return. Apostle Paul was a benefactor of the unexpected investment God made into his life through Jesus. 1 Timothy 1:15-16 says, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. 16But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.” Notice how God changed his life and how he became an example for others to follow. It’s hard to comprehend the amount of people that were impacted by Apostle Paul. What a return on an investment!

Here is a great Christmas story about a couple who demonstrates the gratitude they have for the investment Christ made in them. Richard and Donna Hamann found a way to make their entire town happy. Anthon, Iowa, a community of 650 people, received an unexpected Christmas present from this retired farming couple.

The Hamanns paid the electric bill for every home and business in the town of Anthon. The bills, all due on Christmas day, totaled $25,000. Everyone appreciated the surprising and generous gift, and they expressed it with a stack of thank-you cards and letters.The only question anyone had was: Why?

Richard answered it this way: "The Lord has been very good to us, and so have the people of this community, so I always thought we ought to be doing something in return if we could."

Christmas reminds us that Jesus Christ has unexpectedly done so much for us.  Let's make the most of this investment, and in return, live to bring glory to God.  Merry Christmas!

Renew or Return!

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  2 Corinthians 4:16

One of the great benefits of faithfully following our Lord Jesus Christ is that He is constantly renewing us and bringing us into the new things He has for us to receive.  One of the challenges of following our Lord Jesus Christ is that He is constantly renewing us and bringing us into the new things He has for us to receive.  That paragraph was not a typo!

In his book, “The Glory Within”, Corey Russell writes: “We need to realize that we were made to come alive and discover God as we fight and contend and wrestle for our faith.  The greatest war that we are in right now is against the spirit of complacency.  So many of us are lazy in our approach to growth in the Kingdom of God.  In other words, we live our lives trapped in the cycle of rejection, fear, anger, bitterness, self-hatred, and addiction, and we agree with the lie that this is our portion: “This is just the way things are.”  We deny the true power of the Gospel, and rather than stand and fight, we run toward comfort—food, sleep, pornography, entertainment—anything to numb us and take the edge off the pain without requiring us to exert ourselves.  Although it is true that we receive salvation freely, we have to fight to gain breakthrough and take ground in the Kingdom.”

It’s human nature to resist change, while taking the path of least resistance, and remaining in a state of complacency.  It is also more natural for people to return to the place of familiarity and comfort.  The truth is that if you are not embracing the new things God is doing in your life, you are shrinking back from God’s best for you and missing your opportunity for breakthrough. 

Every time I just try to “maintain” during my workouts, I always end up getting weaker, running slower and adding a few inches to my waistline.  I never just “maintain”!  The only time I get stronger, run faster and reduce the number on the tag of my jeans is when I am pushing myself to shatter previous physical workout barriers.

In fact, I am convinced that when we live in complacency or just try to maintain in life, we will actually digress to the old way of living that was not beneficial to us in the first place.  If you don’t commit to renew, you are making a choice to return.  The Israelites are a perfect example of this in Scripture!

The combination of God’s providence and a famine in the land led Joseph, his family, and the sons of Israel to Egypt.  Faithful to His dominion mandate and promise, God prospered the Israelites while in Egypt.  In fact, they became so numerous, the new king of Egypt feared they would become too powerful and leave the country.  The new king devised a plan to oppress the Israelites with hard labor, and kill their first-born male babies by throwing them into the Nile.

The oppression was so great that the Israelites began to cry out to God for deliverance.  God heard their cry and called a man named Moses to lead them out of their slavery and bondage in Egypt.  God had a new place for them to live, a good and spacious land flowing with milk and honey, called the Promised Land.  In order to inherit their Promised Land, the Israelites would have to pass through the Red Sea, endure the desert journey and it’s harsh conditions, cross the Jordan River during flood season, and defeat the giants in the land.

These obstacles to their promises caused the Israelites to request a return back to Egypt way too often.  After watching God do miracle after miracle to deliver them out of Egypt, the Israelites lamented their exodus from Egypt as soon as they faced their first adversity at the Red Sea. 

Read their plea in Exodus 14:10-12.  It says: “10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?  What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!

Instead of embracing resistance as God’s refining process, the Israelites grumbled and complained during their journey to the Promised Land.  As crazy as it may sound, they even longed to return to their slavery in Egypt.  This negative attitude and lack of proper perspective caused their whole generation to perish in the desert and not enter into the new land God had for them. 

It is important to note that God had the Israelites pass through the Red Sea as He parted the water.  After the Israelites arrived safely on land, God made the water crash down and destroy the pursuing Egyptians.  God had to make sure there was a physical barrier from Egypt, the Red Sea, because He knew the Israelites would want to return to Egypt.

In Proverbs 26:11, Solomon uses a vulgar example to remind us that fools return to things or repeat behavior that is not conducive to their future success and prosperity.  It says, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.”  Just like a dog that doesn’t look for a new meal, and goes back and eats the same food that made it throw up, fools return to behavior, situations or places they should leave behind. 

Since it is easier for humans to return instead of renew, how do we position ourselves to receive the new and best God has for us?

Romans 12:1-2 gives us some great revelation on how to do this.  Let’s read it!

Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

From this passage of Scripture I try to apply 5 principles that help me embrace God’s renewing process in me.  I hope this helps you also.

(1) Rely on God’s mercy to help you.

(2) Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.  In other words, daily submit yourself to God’s will by following the Lord Jesus Christ.

(3) Do not follow the world’s way of making decisions or doing things.

(4) Embrace God’s transformation process in you by praying, worshipping and reading the Holy Bible.

(5) Thank God that His will is good, perfect and pleasing (especially when you are experiencing resistance and going through trials or tough times).

Do you want to receive the new things God has for you?  Do you want to possess your Promised Land?  If so, you are going to have to embrace God’s renewing process in you, while resisting the temptation to return to the old and familiar way of living.

Any personal trainer or body builder will tell you that strength is built through resistance.  And strength of spirit is built in the same way: through resistance.  As we learn to press against the pull of our emotions, bodies, and circumstances that influence us to return to the old, we begin to grow in strength and receive power to walk in the new spiritual breakthrough and stand steady during difficult times.

I’ll conclude with the words of Walter Wriston: All life is the management of risk, not its elimination.

Are you renewing or returning?