Monday, December 31, 2018

Stay Focused


Ecclesiastes 9:11-12

11 I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all.
12 For man also knoweth not his time: as the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them.

A train is a mighty moving force. They are powerful, productive, useful, and beneficial to those they serve. But for all their power and unstoppable moving force, they can be rendered totally useless in a moments time. Not by attacking the massive train itself, but by attacking the mechanism that keeps the train going in the direction it is programmed to travel. You can only stop the mighty train by derailing it. When a train is derailed, lives are lost and millions of dollars of inventory and equipment are destroyed.

This is exactly the danger we face as believers, that of being derailed, detracted, or distracted from the path that the Lord has set us upon. The Word says that the steps of the righteous are ordered of the Lord. If you are a righteous man or woman you are not where you are, doing what you doing by chance. If you are living obediently you are exactly where God wants you.

We don’t always see this, or believe this, or even receive this truth especially in times of struggle, but it is the truth none-the-less. You may not be where you want to be, you may not be where you dreamed that you’d be, or where some other well intending person told you that you would be, but if you are an obedient child of God, you’re exactly where He called you to be. Don’t let how you feel about your circumstances derail you from God’s plan.

The devil is very subtle and deceptive, we are warned to be sober and vigilant toward our adversary:

1 Peter 5:8 “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:”

And we are told to equip ourselves with the protection that we need against the devil’s attacks:

Ephesians 6:11 “Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”

Wiles are the cunning strategies employed in manipulating or persuading someone to do what one wants. Seldom does our enemy launch full scale frontal attacks against us. An obvious attack would be quickly recognized, causing us to see our own weakness and need, and would send us to our knees in prayer to seek God’s protection by calling on the mighty name of Jesus.

Instead the tactic of Satan is to use subtility, deception, and more often than not, simple distractions to derail us. Things that in themselves are not really wrong, but they are distractions that draw our attention, dull our focus, and weaken our unity with God’s purpose. Like the mighty locomotive, when you become derailed or distracted, you become powerless, you lose your momentum and eventually if it is not corrected you will crash.

Solomon 2:15, “It is the little foxes that spoil the vines.”

It is almost unbelievable, but the truth is in the times when we should be the most settled and the most established and set upon the things of God, is the times that we are the most vulnerable to sneak attacks from the devil. In I Co 10:12 the Apostle Paul warns us, “wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

Satan wants to break your stride, destroy your momentum, and side track you.  When your distracted you are divided, and when you become divided, you are disabled. The devil knows he can’t stop God, and he can’t change the purpose and the destiny that God has for your life, so his only hope is to get you distracted.

When our focus becomes divided or blurred, we lose supernatural energy, God can only empower us for what we are focused on. You cannot focus on multiple things, simultaneously. To focus means to draw the attention, to concentrate on. Distract means to draw someone’s attention away from, to draw apart, or to preoccupy. Distractions are things in your peripheral vision that are not in line with your calling and purpose and can detract you from focusing on the path that God has called you to walk.
These distractions are placed strategically by the devil with the knowledge that in order to clearly see them, we must sacrifice the clarity of our God given purpose. No one focuses on two directions at the same time – you can’t look two ways at once.

Aesop's fable of the “Tortoise and the Hare,” is a perfect analogy for what I am trying to convey.  The hare was a lean mean running machine. The tortoise was a short fat legged bulky creature with a heavy shell on his back. The tortoise was tired of hearing the hare bragging all the time so he finally said, even you can be beaten, so the challenge was on.

The whole forest showed up to watch the tortoise be humiliated by the long-legged hare. On your mark, get set, go! They’re off, like lightning the lean hare leaped into the lead. The hare ran ahead a way, then decided since he was so fast and tortoise so slow, he would take 40 winks, so he did. Then waking up he saw tortoise still way behind. Breathing a sigh of relief, the hare decided he might as well have breakfast too, and off he went to munch some cabbage he had noticed in a nearby field. A carrot here, some cabbage there, a nap here and 40 winks there – all of the sudden he wakes up to see tortoise nearing the finish line. The hare raced like a bolt of lightning, but it just wasn’t enough as the tortoise stretched out his neck and won the race by a nose.

Some would say that the tortoise won because he just kept plodding away, slow and easy. There is some truth in that theory, but what really gave the victory to the tortoise, was the hares over confidence and inability to disregard distractions. The hare had all the advantages, and he had all the strengths, and that was his downfall, the hare believed himself to be so strong enough and fast enough, that he could entertain distractions and still win the race.

That is the genius of using the tactic of distraction, the devil uses your strengths against you. The fact that you feel yourself strong enough to entertain distractions and still win the race – but you can’t. Those who focus, finish, but those who become distracted are derailed. The Apostle Paul warns against overconfidence in our own strength:

Romans 12:3 “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.”

I Corinthians 10:12 “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

This folktale is usually viewed as though you are either the slow, steady, purposeful, and undistracted tortoise, or the fast, overconfident, undisciplined, and easily distracted hare. But I feel today that the Lord would have us understand this story in a different light. Like the Hare, we have all the advantages, we have been redeemed by the blood, we have the indwelling power of the Holy Ghost, we have the Word of God, and the name of Jesus. We have the power and the privilege of prayer. Because of these advantages, we should move through life in a very purposeful, disciplined, and focused manner like the tortoise.

Friends, let us realize that we have everything we need to fight the good fight of faith, to run the race marked before us, and win. But a truth just as real as this is, we will never finish the race victoriously if we allow ourselves to become distracted. It is imperative that we maintain our focus and press toward the mark. It is not impossible for us, for many have already accomplished what we strive for and are examples, witnesses for us to see and follow:

Hebrews 12:1, 2
12 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight (distraction), and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;

Satan’s goal is to distract and derail us from God’s purpose, and to rob you of the crown that God has laid up for you. But the Lord desires that we focus and finish.

Philippians 3:13-19 (emphasis added)
13 Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, 14 I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. 16 Never-the-less, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us mind the same thing. 17 Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk so as ye have us for an ensample. 18 For many walk (but they became distracted), of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.



Tuesday, December 25, 2018

The Missing Gift


It’s Christmas Day, 2018, one more Christmas Eve has passed, in our family the gifts that were laid under the tree are already opened, and for many others they are too, or shortly will be. Friends, I want to ask you this morning, did you get what you wanted? Did you get what you needed? Did you get what you asked for? Was there a gift that was missing?

Now that most of the giving and receiving of gifts has passed and we can settle down and enjoy the day. Maybe now we can take a minute to stop and reflect upon a gift that was missing in all the planned chaos?

Often times we see the Fireworks lighting up the night, people celebrating in the spirit of the holidays, people rushing around trying to make time for just one more little get together, and one more little “cup of cheer” before the night was done. We call it the “holiday spirit,” but it certainly isn’t the true “Spirit of Christmas”. Why? Because from my observation, Jesus was nowhere in it.

Finally the kids that were hyped in anticipation begin to wear down, it's time to go home and settle down for a good night’s sleep – unless you were up all night working the assembly line. Exhausted, most finally crashed into bed, closed their eyes, took a deep breath and tried to remember, “What have I left out? Is there something I forgot? Is there someone I failed to think about? I certainly don’t want to offend anyone. They will never forgive me and I’ll never hear the end of it.”

What gift could they have possibly missed? I know how it is, some of you spent more than you had planned to, and more than you could really afford. There always seems to be just one more person that you needed to add to your list. There’s just one more thing that you forgot to pick up. Some of the famous last words at Christmas time are, “just one more little item and I’ll be done.” It’s always those last little items that wind up breaking the bank account and sending the credit card balance to its limits.

But with all of the money that’s been spent trying to show how much we love and care for those around us, and with all the presents that have wrapped and unwrapped, there is no doubt in my mind this morning that most of the world has left out a few very important gifts. First there is a gift that has been given, but was never accepted. Secondly, there is a gift that should have been given, but wasn’t!
What is that gift that was not accepted?

Isaiah 9:6, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace."

I’m so glad that I am a Christian this morning. I’m so glad that Christmas means more to me than just tinsel, garland, gifts and parties. Christmas exists because in time eternal, from everlasting to everlasting, there was one pinpoint of time upon which God focused all of His love.

Jesus lives in eternity, without time limitations and restrictions. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end. He chose to robe himself in flesh, to become a man for one brief moment of eternity, because He loved you and I so much. God could have just let us go. He could have said, “they chose to rebel, I don’t need them, just forget the whole thing.” But because of His great love, His mercy and His grace, Jesus chose not to forget man whom He had created.

Galatians 4:4-5, "But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."

The Greatest Gift that mankind could ever receive is the Gift of redemption from sin, purchased by the blood of God’s only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet, that is the one gift that most of the world will not accept.

As far as the gift that most people have failed to give, let me say it this way. In all of their worry and concern about offending someone by not giving them a gift or sending them a Christmas Card, it is amazing that very few people consider that they failed to give the most important gift of all – the gift of their lives to Jesus!

Jesus wants a gift from each of us this morning. He wants us to give him all of our burdens. He wants us to give him all of our doubts and fears. He wants us to give him all of our sin. He wants us to give him praise and glory for what He has done, and because He is God. He wants us to give him our hearts and lives in service. That’s only reasonable because He bought and paid for your life with His own blood.

The simple points of this message are:

First, make sure that you open and accept the most precious gift you can ever receive, given to you by God, who robed in flesh to become that baby in the manger, the one who grew up sinless and died on the cross for you. His name is Jesus! Open your heart and accept Him as your Savior, repent and be baptized in Jesus' name for the remission of your sin, and receive the Holy Ghost! Take hold this morning of eternal life and the blessings that Jesus has in store for you.

Second, make sure that you don’t leave out the most important gift of all that you can give to the One who is the most important person on your list. Give your heart and life to Jesus. That’s what Christmas is really all about.

It’s not just that a baby was born in a manger. Babies have been born in adverse circumstances on countless occasions and not one of them has had the impact of this one baby in Bethlehem. It’s not just that Jesus grew up and found favor with men and with God. There have been a lot of people through history who could be described in that manner. It’s because Jesus gave His life on the cross for us all, dying there for your sins and mine, and then rising again the third day so that we could have eternal life. That’s the true gift of Christmas.

Have you accepted that gift? Have you surrendered your life to Jesus? Don’t allow this Christmas Day to pass without receiving and giving the greatest gifts of all.



Saturday, December 15, 2018

Saved by Grace


Genesis 6:5-8
5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. 7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.
8 But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

We live in world that grows increasingly darker with each passing day. There is no denying this fact, if you read the Word of God, and hold to godly standards. There is no sense in trying to whitewash it, or convince ourselves that it's just a little bump in the road, a little turbulence, and everything is going to smooth out. We need to be honest and face the facts.

We are in the times the Bible speaks about. In Isaiah the prophet speaks about a people that pull sin like a cart with a rope. And he describes them as a generation that has no shame and don’t even blush when they sin. He says that this generation will call evil good, and good evil. Isaiah says that they put light for darkness and darkness for light – notice how the liberals call themselves 'enlightened.' The truth is that their souls are dark and they no longer even fear God.

2 Timothy 3:1-5

This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, 3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, 4 Traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; 5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

I know this is sounding really bleak, and depressing and that is intentional because it is the plain simple unvarnished truth - these are dark, evil, times, and I feel mandated by God to truthfully and accurately present to your minds the reality of the times we are in.

I feel like there are very few today that are really speaking accurately and truthfully concerning the conditions and the atmosphere of these times. The majority of the voices that we are hearing today are not speaking accurately or truthfully. Jeremiah 6:14, the weeping prophet spoke of these 'marshmallow' men of God;

“They have healed the also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.”

Jeremiah said, “For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest everyone dealeth falsely.”

I wish I could tell you that we are just going through a rough patch, that it’ll be over soon, but if I am going to be a true to God’s Word, to speak truthfully and accurately to you, then I can't tell you that, because I would be lying. The truth is, all the evil we have seen and experienced up until now has been just a trembling, just contractions, just the birth pains of what is coming.

Brother Clayton, why would you say such things? We read your posts to be encouraged. We read you to receive a ‘bless me word.’ We want to read how everything is turning around and how our society is suddenly going to wake up and be good again. We want you to say that Jesus loves everybody, that He is not mad at anyone, He doesn't judge anybody, and that everyone is saved already, but they Just don't know it yet.

We want to hear how Grace is this great big blanket that covers all of our sins, past, present, and future, so it doesn't matter what we do, because it's already covered. We want to hear that the Holy Ghost never convicts us of sin anymore, all he does now is convince us how righteous we are. Well, if that's what you want to hear, you got the wrong preacher and you clicked on the wrong link, because I'm glad the Holy Ghost is still convicting the sinner of their sins.

Grace is not just a giant blanket for sin, grace is the divine gift of God working through my humanity to give me power over sin. Grace is not a life preserver that that I wear to keep me from drowning so I can swim in a sea of sin and still call myself saved. Grace delivers me from the sea of sin. I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore, drowning from the poor choices I had made, but Jesus the master of the sea heard my despairing cry and lifted me and now I am saved.

2 Corinthians 5:17 – “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature old things are passed away, behold all things are become new....”

I might make somebody angry with this post today, I might knock over somebody's sacred cow, but I'm going to say it anyway. I am not a sinner saved by grace. There's a beautiful song that says, “I'm Just a sinner saved by Grace.” That’s not biblical! It's may beautiful, it may make me emotional, but it's not biblical! I can't be a sinner, and be saved by Grace. I can't be both. Because salvation is not just about saving me from the sea of sin that I'm floating in – the work of The Holy Ghost has made me a new creature, He took the sin nature out of me and made me His dwelling place.

If it is still natural for you to sin, if you still have an appetite for the lusts of the flesh, then you haven’t been born again. I am sorry if that offends you, but you just haven’t. When you’re born again, you get a new nature, and that new nature has no appetite and no desire for sin. That doesn't mean that we are not tempted by sin, or that we do not stumble from time to time, but sin is not our occupation anymore. If you are born again, it is not sin that controls you, it is the Holy Ghost.

I'm not a sinner, I was a sinner I had the nature of sin in me. But I have a new nature, and for me to call myself a sinner now, is to deny the power of the blood that was shed to set me free from the law of sin and death, and to deny the transforming power of the Holy Ghost who has taken residence in my soul.

We are in the world, but we are not of the world. Friendship with the world is enmity with God, whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Come out from among them and be ye separate, touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you. And will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord.

In our text God said: I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. Now listen to the words of Jesus:

And as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. [27] They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.… Luke 17:26-27.

This is what is happening in the world today; it is no surprise, it is Jesus’ words being fulfilled. And I’ll be honest with you, if that was all the word said, I would be completely overwhelmed and cast down without hope. But I want us to go back to Genesis. There is a word here we need to hear.

Genesis 7:19-24

[19] And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth; and all the high hills, that were under the whole heaven, were covered. [20] Fifteen cubits upward did the waters prevail; and the mountains were covered. [21] And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: [22] All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land , died. [23] And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive , and they that were with him in the ark. [24] And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

That doesn’t sound very encouraging, but this is the encouraging part...

Genesis 7:17-18
[17] And the flood was forty days upon the earth; and the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. [18] And the waters prevailed, and were increased greatly upon the earth; and the ark went upon the face of the waters.

This is the word that we need in this hour; we don’t need someone deceiving us with smooth, sweet, silky, flowery words of how great everything is, we need to know and hear the truth: it is bad, it’s getting worse, Jesus said it would. But Just like Noah and his family inside of that Ark, (they were safe,) they were protected; and those who have their hope in Jesus Christ, are Just like Noah. Just like Noah was hid inside of that ark, and rose above the waters that drowned everyone else, those that are hidden in Christ times will rise above these dark times.

Colossians 3:1-3

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

As the flood waters rose; as destruction came on every living thing upon the earth; the ark rode on top of the waters. The waters increased and bare up the ark, and the ark went upon the face of the waters. The waters increased and bare up the ark. Which means that, that which was destruction to one was salvation to the other. And the worse it got around them, the higher they went.

That’s the word the Holy Spirit gave me for his followers today: ‘The darker it gets, the more our light should shine.’ As the world sinks deeper and deeper in the sea of sin, we must rise above it, we must maintain holiness. We cannot let our standards descend so low that we blend into the sea of sin, or we may drown.




Monday, December 10, 2018

Positioned for Transition


Isaiah 43:18-19

18 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.

Remember: To call to mind, to be thought of, to hold in the mind, or to make a memorial. The latter is the one that I feel God is warning against in these verses. In other words, don’t enshrine something as so important or so big, that you cannot move past it. Why? Because we worship what we have enshrined.

The Lord asks in this passage, “shall ye not know it?”

I feel the Holy Ghost saying to His people today that He wants to do something new, something better, something greater, and more magnificent than we’ve ever seen or experienced before, but if we’re still worshipping at the enshrined memory of the past, we’re going to miss it.

When God says, "Remember not,” He is saying: don’t let enshrined memories of the past keep you from moving forward. Don’t misunderstand me, God doesn’t want us to forget the good things of the past, all the miracles we have seen, or the lessons that we have learned, that’s not what I am saying at all. We are to be thankful for the wonders that God has performed in our lives, but we must not become a prisoner of the past, good or bad.

It’s time for a new thing. God said: Behold I will do a new thing! We are quickly approaching the end of 2018, very soon we will be starting a new year. This morning I am feeling a stirring in my spirit about 2019. Some changes have taken place in my ministry in 2018, and I just feel the Holy Ghost telling me this morning that I am positioned for transition. I don't pretend that I know everything God has in store for me, but I do understand that the word "transition" implies movement. Not movement in a physical sense, I don’t see myself going anywhere geographically speaking. I am going to be in the same city, at the same church, being fed by the same shepherd – of that I am absolutely certain. God wants to do something new in me spiritually, and I feel this message is not just for me, but for the people of God.

Let me be even more specific: "Transition” speaks of movement, progress, of forward motion. Transition is always about leaving one place to go to another. Elisha couldn't get to Bethel without leaving Gilgal, and he Couldn't get to Jericho without leaving Bethel. Transition means, leaving some things behind, it requires participation, and it does not happen by accident. Transition is a choice to co-operate and move with the Holy spirit.

Transition has three main components: First, we must let go of the old. Second, we must trust that God is faithful. Thirdly, we have to take hold of the new.

Why is transition so hard? Because most of the time the Holy Spirit doesn't tell us exactly where we are going. He just speaks into our spirit that our environment is getting ready to change. Then we must decide if we want what God has prepared for us, or are we going to settle for the comfortable and familiar.

That was Elijah's role in Elisha's transition: Elijah was playing the devil's advocate. In other words-Elijah was speaking as the devil would, to try and discourage someone from receiving Gods best (see I Kings 19:19-21; 2 Kings 2). Elijah wanted Elisha to receive his mantle. He had poured into his life for over 10 years. But He knew Elisha had to want it enough to transition. in other words; He had to want it enough to let go of and leave the comfortable and the familiar to go after the unseen, and the unknown.

Transition is a difficult place many times because It is an in between place. It is the squeezing place. It's the place where you have left where you were, where you were adjusted, where you knew what to expect, where you had a pretty good handle on everything, and now you don't have a handle on anything. It is the place where faith is tested. It is the place where you are tempted to grumble and complain and start looking back to the old familiar comfort zone. It's the place where you either breakthrough or you break down.

Transition is a necessary place because it is the proving ground, it is where you prove to God by your actions and your attitude that you are more interested in following him than being comfortable. I think one of the most exciting and inspiring things that I learned from the story of Elijah and Elisha was Elisha went beyond his mentor, he pushed for more, he had developed his own spiritual appetite. Elisha wasn’t satisfied with the same things that Elijah had, he didn’t want a replication of the past, Elisha wanted more, he wanted double.

Elisha not only wanted what he had seen and experienced with Elijah, He wanted more, he wanted what he had never seen and never experienced. I believe that, that’s the way it should be. I want what God has for me through my pastor and mentor, and then I want my own. Because when I get ready to go, and it’s time for me to pass this mantle, it won't be another man of God’s mantle I'm passing, it will be mine.

I'm talking today about being positioned for transition. I've been talking about being positioned for transition because one of the most important ways to position ourselves for transition is to know what to expect: In other words; to know what transition looks like and feels like. The Holy spirit is giving as a sense of what to expect as we transition.

Positioning ourselves for transition begins by deciding that if there is more, I want it. If there is something better, I want it. If there is a better way, I want to learn it. If there is a greater anointing, Lord pour it on me, I want it.

I am positioned for something greater, and even if it means I have to go through the wilderness to get there, I am ready to let go of the past, I am trusting that God is faithful, and I am ready to move forward into a greater anointing.



Monday, November 26, 2018

Heaven, We Have a Problem!

II Kings 2:19-22

And the men of the city said unto Elisha, Behold, I pray thee, the situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord seeth: but the water is naught, and the ground barren.
20 And he said, bring me a new cruse, and put salt therein. And they brought it to him.
21 And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; there shall not be from thence any more death or barren land.
22 So the waters were healed unto this day, according to the saying of Elisha which he spake.

In the passage in II Kings, the men of the city come to Elisha the prophet and they tell him in essence, “We have a problem. From the outside everything looks pretty good, but we have a problem.”

I'm just going to get straight to it this morning - some of you have a problem!  How long are you going to keep going around the same mountain, fighting the same battles, struggling with the same addictions, wrestling with the same fleshly lusts and desires, falling down at the same place, and giving in to the same temptations again and again, before you are willing to admit you have a problem?

If you can’t look at a pretty woman without lust rising up in your heart you have a problem!  If you can’t see somebody else blessed without becoming jealous, critical, and envious, then you have a problem!  If every time things don’t go your way you get drunk, or high,  or run to the fridge and gorge yourself, you have a problem!  If you still get angry and resentful and hold a grudge every time somebody says something about you or disagrees with you, you’ve got a problem!  If you can’t keep your gossiping tongue off your brothers, sisters, and pastor, then you have a problem!

My question for you today is: How long are you going to put up with attitudes, addictions, hang-ups, and lusts of the flesh that are self-destructive, and in absolute disagreement with the Word of God before you call on the only name that can release you from your chains? You need to cry out to Jesus and say, "Heaven, we have a problem! “Help me Jesus, I have a problem!”

The only problem that cannot be overcome in Jesus’ name, is the one you will not admit to having. The first major step to a turnaround and a breakthrough is admitting, like the men in the text, that you have a problem.

The next step is taking your problem to the right place.  I believe in AA and other 12-step programs.  They save lives when the person following the steps understands that the only power that can change our situation is the power of God.  But recovery programs are just Band-Aids applied to the surface if you don’t go spiritually deep enough and deal only with the fruit, but not the root.  The only power that can change the root is the power of God.

These men in II Kings took their problem to the right place.  You have to know where to go when you have a problem. You don’t take your car to the dentist to get it fixed, you don’t ask a plumber to fix your teeth, and you don’t want a preacher operating on your brain.  They may all be nice people, but you have to go to the right person when you have a problem or the problem just gets worse. 

You may have some good friends that will pray with you when you ask, but I don’t care how good a friend they are, you are not going to get the deliverance you need sounding out your problems to people who are struggling with the same problems you are.

David said: when my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to that rock that is (higher) than I.  When you’re in a fight, in a struggle wrestling with an Issue, whether it’s spiritual, financial, emotional, or sexual, whether it’s an addiction or a bondage or a habit.  You better go to someone that is higher than you, someone who has that under their feet, someone who is not wallowing in the same mess, you need someone who can show you what it looks like to be free. You need Jesus!

They said to the prophet: This place is pretty, we like the neighborhood. It is a nice place, we like the view, and from all outward appearances, everything looks good.  But the water is naught, the water is cursed, it carries some kind of poison in it and it is making the ground barren.  In other words: It’s killing our future.  It was not killing the men, the women, or even the trees, it was killing the fruit.

We need some men in our country who are concerned with more than pretty, we need some men who desire purity and power, and that more concerned about being good, than just looking good.  We need men who cry to God, “We have a problem!”

The Word says that the water was causing the women to miscarry.  That means nothing was being carried to full term.  Nothing was being birthed.  I’m writing today to some of God’s people that have let something into your heart and it has poisoned your lifestream.  You’ve become unproductive, your life has become barren, you have no joy, no peace, you have no passion for life, and you’re full of bitterness and anger and resentment and unforgiveness.  You’ve let envy, jealousy, and strife creep into your heart, and now even when something good is initiated, it ends up drying up and dying because your lifestream is poisoned.

Proverbs 4:23 “Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” (KJV)

"Above all else, guard your affections. For they influence everything else in your life." (TLB)

Until you get that poison out of your heart your life is going to be barren, you will poison every relationship, every endeavor will be fruitless, and you will make people miserable.  You will poison your ministry, and everything you say and do will carry the toxin of the poison in your heart, and no one will want to be around you.

The biggest problem that most people have is that they want to blame everybody else.  We want to blame it on the preacher, the boss, the wife, the husband, the rebellious kids, all those hypocrites in the church, or the devil.  We want to blame it on our environment, where we were born, what we didn’t have, or what we couldn’t do.  The truth is that we all have things we could complain about, but there can be no change or deliverance until we admit, the problem is me.

There is an old spiritual that says, “It’s not my brother or my sister but it’s me O lord, standing in the need of prayer.”

These men said: Everything around us is not the problem, it’s in the stream, it’s the bitter waters that are cursing the ground and we are losing our future: no babies are being born, no fruit is being produced in our lives.  These men made a decision that day to fight for their future and to fight for their destiny. 

One of the devil’s greatest fears is that you will become who you are destined to be and do what you are destined to do.  You have a divine D.N.A. that was put in you when you were born again. Every time the devil looks at you, he sees your potential.  The devil believes in you more than you believe in yourself and he is afraid of that seed you carry, that potential to become what God has ordained you to become, and he wants to kill the seed before it’s ever born.  Satan is a dream killer! He wants to destroy your future!

The men of the city said in essence, “This is not right and we do not accept it.  It is not normal and we are not satisfied just to be in a pretty place and watch our destiny being stripped away from us.  We have a problem, but we’re going to the problem solver.”

They decided their future was worth fighting for!

I wonder how many reading this believe that your future is worth fighting for?  How many are willing to fight for your children to be delivered from the hand of the enemy, and fight for the destiny of your grandchildren?  Fight for your marriage, fight for your health, fight for your ministry, fight for your God-given destiny?

I’m trying to tell you, if you want it you are going to have to fight for it.  The devil ain’t going to sit back and watch you waltz into your destiny without a fight.  Those children, grandchildren, future prophets, apostles, pastors, teachers, and evangelists are not going to walk into their callings without somebody fighting for them.

There are so many today who have lost their fight, lost their fire, and lost their passion.  They’ve settled down, and they’re satisfied just to know they're saved and not going to hell. All dressed up on Sundays, looking apostolic, maintaining the standards of the church, "having a form of godliness, but denying its power" (2 Timothy 3:5). They don’t care about anybody else.  They’ve become barren, unproductive, sterile, and unable to reproduce.  No spiritual births, no power to heal the sick or cast out devils or deliver the bound and the oppressed.

We need in the church of Jesus Christ, both men, and women, believers who are willing to stand up and say:  We are not satisfied with pretty, we don’t want to just be politically correct, we don’t want to draw a crowd just to watch them wither and die on the branch because the water is bitter.  We need believers who will come to Jesus and say, "Heaven, we have a problem!"

Come and heal our land, Jesus, come heal the bitter waters of our hearts through the purifying power of your Word.


Monday, November 12, 2018

Principle and Power


Principle and Power

The Kingdom of God is a Kingdom of Power

Read: Ezekiel 37:1-10
Zechariah 4:6 “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.”

Ezekiel wrote that, “The hand of the Lord upon me,”

This means that he was led, guided, protected, and empowered by God. It is a wonderful thing to know Gods hand is on your life.

He also said that he was carried out in the Spirit. If we are going to see the glory of God revealed, we must get out of our flesh realm and into the spirit realm. I believe that the reason we don’t experience more glory and more power, this is the reason why we experience so little of the demonstration and the manifestation of the Power of God, is because we are fixed on our flesh. God works through us by the Power of the Holy Ghost, and the only way to participate in the manifestation of His power is to get out of our flesh and walk in the Spirit.

The spirit is not just the feeling of God touching you, or even God moving inside of you, by the Holy Ghost: the spirit is speaking of the realm, and of the dimension and of the environment of God.
The Apostle John said, “I was in the Spirit on the Lords day.”

When John got in the Spirit, he began to see the glory of God. Ezekiel was in the Spirit when he had the vision of the dry bones coming alive and when he saw the great whirlwind of fire, the living creatures, the throne of God, and he saw the appearance of a man who was on fire, from his loins upward, and from his loins downward as the appearance of brightness as the color of amber. I know this is going to sound a little crazy, but that’s where we belong, that’s our environment, I’m not talking about dying and going to heaven, I’m talking about living in the realms of the glory of God.

Galatians 5:16 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”

Galatians 5:25 “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

Please do not misunderstand what I am saying, I am not insinuating that we should all walk around seeing angels everywhere, and hearing voices and trumpets, and that if you’re not experiencing these things that you’re not spiritual.  I’m not saying that at all. What I am saying is that to experience the operation of the Spirit, we must be filled with the Holy Ghost and walking in the Spirit. I am saying that the realm of the glory of God’s presence must become more important to us than this flesh realm.

Healing, deliverance, miracles, signs and wonders all emanate from the Spirit of God. All supernatural activity of the Spirit of God belongs to the Kingdom of God. Jesus revealed to us that Power over the enemy, or power to destroy the works of the devil, or power to cast out the devil was the direct result of the Kingdom of God being present.

Matthew 12:28 “But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you.”

The command to do these things, the authority to do these things, is the principle, but the Holy Ghost is the power. Jesus said that everything He had done, His disciples would do, and even greater things. He said, “these signs shall follow them that believe.” That was the authority, the principle. But he said to wait for the gift of the Holy Ghost, and when the Holy Ghost came upon us, we would receive the power.

We may talk about the kingdom, sing about miracles, preach and teach about deliverance, because we have been given the authority – we have the principle, but principle is not enough. Principle won’t heal the sick, Principle won’t deliver the bound and the oppressed, and principle won’t set the captives free. Principle is important: Principle is the foundation on which we stand, principle stabilizes us, and holds us in the right place. Principle is truth, but just the knowledge of truth is not enough. You can know all the truth about healing and live all your life sick. You can know all the truth about salvation, and still go to an eternal hell.

The Kingdom of God is both principle and power. I Corinthians 4:20, “For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.”

I Thessalonians 1:5, “For our gospel came not unto you in word only, (Not in principle or truth only) but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.”

Jude 1:3, “Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.”

Jude knew by the Spirit that the time would come when the body of Christ would slip into a state of complacency that it would begin to settle into a powerless faith, a faith without substance, a faith that consisted only of words, and ideas, and philosophies. This is a head faith, and head faith is dead faith, it’s a faith that nods its head that the bible is true, but never presses in to experience it personally.

Everything the bible says is ours is ours by right of inheritance, but even though you hold the title deed to a property, you will never benefit from it until you press your claim and take possession of it. God has willed his power to the church, it’s our inheritance. But the majority of the Church World is satisfied just with the principle, satisfied to know it’s true, just happy to know that it’s there, and that it belongs to us by inheritance.

Jude warned us to not accept that powerless message, and not be deceived, and to contend for the original faith that the early church had which was a vital living faith that produced the miraculous. He pleaded with believers to contend for the Apostolic Faith.

I’m not pointing fingers at anybody because I have fallen into that trap. The trap of believing that because I knew it, I had it. I believed that because I could quote it, I had it. The problem was that I was lying to myself. It makes a comfortable cushion, and I began to believe that I had it just because I could say I had it. But the truth is, if you can’t manifest it and demonstrate it, then you don’t really have it. All we have a profession, and there’s a big difference between profession and possession.

Wherever the Kingdom of God is truly present there is a manifestation of power. In other words, it produces what it speaks of. True faith is not just in word alone, not just in the profession, not just in the principle – true faith manifests itself when the principle walks hand in hand with the power. This is the only type of faith that glorifies God and edifies the body of Christ!

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. 8 And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them.

Good things happened, the bones came together, things got shook up, there was some noise, and sinews and flesh came upon them and the skin covered them. But there was no breath in them. In other words: Principle, truth, knowledge, did some good things, it brought them together, it shook them loose from some stuff, it made them look good. But there was no breath in them. They were dead, pretty but dead, all put together but dead, smelling good, but dead, looking good but dead. Had on a suit and tie but dead, had their favorite pew but dead, sang in the choir but dead, payed their tithes but dead. Principled but dead, knowledgeable but dead, biblical but dead.

I don’t want to say this, but I have to say it - The devil is not afraid of Pretty bones! He doesn’t care how many scriptures you can quote, or how programmed we are. The devil doesn’t care that we got all dressed up and we smell good. None of that bothers him because dead is still dead. You can have the biggest church in town and be dead. If all we have is principle, we’re dead! If the kingdom of God is present, where there is principle combined with power, there is manifestation.



Monday, October 8, 2018

God is For Us!


Romans 8:28-39

28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. 29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called: and whom he called, them he also justified: and whom he justified, them he also glorified. 31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. 34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Max Lucado is one of the most prolific Christian writers of this generation. He can take the most complex theological thought, and with a simple phrase or illustration bring its truth to light for any reader of any age to grasp. If you have read his books, then you have probably read about Chippie the parakeet.

"Chippie never saw it coming. One second, he was peacefully perched in his cage, sending a song into the air; the next second, he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over.

Chippie’s problem began when his owner decided to clean his cage with a vacuum. She had stuck the nozzle in to suck up the seeds and feathers at the bottom of the cage when the nearby telephone rang. Instinctively she turned to pick it up. She had barely said hello when--swoop! Chippie got sucked in. 

She gasped, let the phone drop, and switched off the vacuum. With her heart in her mouth, she unzipped the bag. There was Chippie--alive but stunned--covered with heavy gray dust. She grabbed him and rushed to the bathtub, turned on the faucet full blast, and held Chippie under a torrent of ice-cold water, power washing him clean. Then it dawned on her that Chippie was soaking wet and shivering. So, she did what any compassionate pet owner would do: she snatched up the hair dryer and blasted him with hot air. Did Chippie survive? Yes, but he doesn't sing much anymore. He just sits and stares a lot. It's not hard to see why. Sucked in, washed up, and blown over! It's enough to steal the song from any stout heart."

Life is like that sometimes. You never see it coming, but life just sucks you in, washes you up, and blows you over.

I must admit that the last few years have been a pretty good to me. I found a church and a pastor that love me and have accepted me with open arms. I finished my doctorate, got my dissertation published, and God has opened the door for me to minister again despite my failures. I have a new job working with men who love Jesus. All in all, God has been so good to me.

Yet at the same time I have also faced some serious health issues. I won’t go into detail about these because I don’t feel I need to, I will just say for future was unsure for several months this year. I was unable to write, many times unable to work or go to church.

God’s healing power touched me, and I was feeling pretty good. Then, I wrecked my motorcycle in August. I was on my way to work at 5 a.m. enjoying some good worship music and contemplating the blessing of the cool morning air amid a hot Mississippi summer. As I came around a dark corner I hit a patch of sand that had been spilled in the road, it might as well have been ice. I went down hard. The bike, which I had flipped trying to keep it up, land on me and broke six of my ribs and punctured my lung. Worst pain I have ever felt in my life. Like Chippie, I felt knocked down, washed up, and blown over.

It’s funny how life is like that. One minute you are riding a wave of blessing, and the next minute, an unseen pitfall changes everything. I don’t now about you, but when faced with these unexpected trials, but I asked God the normal questions:

God, what have I done to deserve this? Where are you, and why don’t you answer my prayer? God, Is there any hope?

When the Apostle Paul wrote his letter to the church in Rome, the readers were asking the same questions you and I ask when life seems unbearably hard. All they wanted to do was to live their lives faithfully for Jesus, and the harder they tried the more difficult the challenges and hotter the furnace of affliction. I imagine they felt as if they were knocked down, washed up, and blown over.

Amid all this Paul makes clear our victory in Christ. He affirms this fact with a series of rhetorical questions, beginning with “31What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

Paul is not casting doubt on whether God is for the believer. He is using a traditional rabbinical method of teaching to bring home the undeniable fact, GOD IS FOR US!
What does look like that God is for you?

When God is for you, your past does not CONDEMN you.

Joseph was a young man simply doing his father’s bidding. When he turned around, his own brothers betrayed him and sold him into slavery. Then while simply doing his job, he is falsely accused of rape, and imprisoned without trial. To make matters even more unbearable, when he helps a friend he is forgotten by the very one he helped get out of prison and is left to languish.

For 20 years he waited for God to fulfill His promise of destiny. For all his faithfulness, it seemed Joseph received only trouble in return. How would you respond? Would you still feel like following the Lord after 20 years of tribulation and loneliness?

Years later after he had been taken from prison and promoted by the king to be Prime Minister of Egypt, he came face to face with his brothers. When they realized it was Joseph, they were afraid that Joseph would take his vengeance. Rather than get even with those who had betrayed him, falsely accused him and forgotten him, Joseph extends his hand of forgiveness to them. You will remember what he said to his brothers in Genesis 50:19-20

"Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don't be afraid.”
How could Joseph do that? It is because he knew that GOD WAS FOR HIM.

When you know God is for you, YOUR PRESENT PROBLEMS DON’T DISCOURAGE YOU.

Job probably had every reason to blame God and the Devil for his problems. He was a righteous man who in one day lost his children, his livelihood, and his health. Many would have succumbed to his wife’s criticism to curse God and die. But Job never lost his integrity. In fact, while his friends were trying to find every reason as to why Job was being afflicted, he responds by declaring in Job 23:

"But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. 9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. 10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.”

How could Job retain so much hope? It is because he realized that no matter what he experienced in life through it all, GOD IS FOR ME!

When you know God is for you, YOUR FUTURE DOES NOT SCARE YOU.

Jeremiah has faithfully preached and prophesied God’s word for decades, hoping beyond hope that his people would listen and repent. Sadly, after 40 years of preaching, not one convert was recorded in his yearly ministry report. The city had been vanquished by the Babylonian army. Only a handful of discouraged people remained. It appeared all hope for Israel’s future was gone. You would think that in this dark hour, when hardly a soul is left in the city, Jeremiah would simply close the synagogue doors, hang up his parchment and go play golf somewhere.

Even during extreme despair and hopelessness, Jeremiah sings this triumphant song, found in all places, Lamentations 3:19-25.

“I remember my affliction and my wandering, the bitterness and the gall. 20 I well remember them, and my soul is downcast within me. 21 Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: 22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore, I will wait for him." 25 The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him;”
Jeremiah knew then, and it’s still true today, GOD IS FOR YOU!

The Apostle Paul ends his discourse with a triumphant song, declaring emphatically “God is for us!”  He did not say that God was, or that God will be, nor did Paul say that God might be. Paul said that God is—that means God is right now for you. There is no waiting. There will be no probationary time limit. There is no small print to wade through. Right now, God is for you!

The proof is indisputable, the cross is proof that God is for us:

“God did not keep back his own Son, but he gave him for us…. Christ died and was raised to life, and now he is at God's right side, speaking to him for us. (v.32)”

All that we need and receive from God comes to us because of His grace that was displayed on the cross. Because God loves us, He cares for us, and above all, God is for us. The cross is the unspeakable, undeniable proof that God is for you. The Bible declares: 

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

1 Peter 3:18 “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God…”

Our biggest obstacle to seeing that God is for us, is that we’re so familiar with our failures. I want to tell you today, God gave me this word for some of you that cannot see that God is for you because your too focused on your failures, I am a living example that God is for you despite your failures.

The devil will whisper to you: “God might be for other people, but you’ve done too much wrong. You’ve made too many mistakes; you’ve made too many poor choices. I can’t really believe that God would be for you … because God knows all about you.”

The devil is blind to an important fact: Not only is God for us, not only did Christ die for us, but now in Christ we are JUSTIFIED.

“33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth.”

This speaks of our present standing before God. While Satan stands in accusation against us, the Lord Jesus stands in our place. Seeing the shed blood, the Father looks and sees Jesus and therefore pronounces us justified. Since Jesus has died for us and the Father has justified us, our PAST IS COVERED. There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION to those who are in Christ Jesus!!!!!!!!!

Then the Apostle concludes that God’s love is enduring. Nothing can separate us from his love. Yes, there are things that seem to interfere with our ability to feel His love. Unexpected interruptions to our view of how life should be, take our focus off God and onto us. In those times it’s difficult to see that God is for us, because honestly, we’re too busy with pity.

Recently my pastor preached a message, “The Day That the Lord Hath made.” The Psalmist proclaimed, ‘This is the day that the Lord hath made, I will rejoice and be glad in it.”

As our pastor pointed out, it might not be the day you had planned for yourself, it might not be the day you wanted, but regardless of what occurs today, it is the day the Lord had planned and so we must rejoice and be glad ”in” it. How can you rejoice and be glad in sickness, in loss, in financial hardship? Because God is for us, because He loves us, and nothing can separate us from that love. So, regardless of our circumstances, we can rejoice and be glad. After all, “We are more than conquerors…”




Saturday, September 1, 2018

The Anatomy of A Backslider

Jeremiah 3:1-7
1 “They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife, and she goes from him and becomes another man’s, May he return to her again?’  Would not that land be greatly polluted?  But you have played the harlot with many lovers; yet return to Me,” says the Lord.
2 “Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights and see: Where have you not lain with men?  By the road you have sat for them like an Arabian in the wilderness; and you have polluted the land with your harlotries and your wickedness.  3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, and there has been no latter rain.  You have had a harlot’s forehead; you refuse to be ashamed.  4 Will you not from this time cry to Me, ‘My Father, You are the guide of my youth?  5 Will He remain angry forever?  Will He keep it to the end?’  Behold, you have spoken and done evil things, as you were able.”
6 The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king: “Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there played the harlot.  7 And I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to Me,’ but she did not return.  And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

There has been much debate between people in the church over the subject that the Lord has laid on my heart to write about today, but I am not here to debate with anyone, I will let the Word speak on this matter and allow God to help me correctly divide its truth.  Today my subject is the Anatomy of a Backslider.

Backslide (Wikipedia)
Backsliding, also known as falling away, is a term used within Christianity to describe a process by which an individual who has converted to Christianity and then reverts to pre-conversion habits and/or lapses or falls back into sin, when a person turns from God to pursue their own desires.

I was amazed to find that Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary defines the word backslide as: To fall off; to apostatize; to turn gradually from the faith and practice from Christianity.

Backsliding is defined as: The act of apostatizing from faith or practice; a falling insensibly from religion into sin or idolatry

When people are considering leaving the church and they are looking for a reason to get out you will start to see some distinct characteristics in their lives. The funny thing about it is, they do not seem to be able to control it, subconsciously they do not realize they are doing it because they have already drifted far away from the presence of the Holy Ghost.

THEY COMMIT SPIRITUAL ADULTERY

Jeremiah 3:1 (NLT) “If a man divorces a woman and she goes and marries someone else, he will not take her back again, for that would surely corrupt the land.  But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers, so why are you trying to come back to me?” says the Lord.

To understand this verse you must go back and look at Jeremiah 2:2-3 (NKJV):

“Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal, when you went after Me in the wilderness, in a land not sown.  Israel was holiness to the Lord, the firstfruits of His increase.  All that devour him will offend; disaster will come upon them,” says the Lord.’”

At one time everything was great between God and Israel, but somewhere along the way they abandoned holiness and they began to flirt with the world and committed spiritual adultery.  It didn’t happen overnight, it was a gradual process, but one step at a time they walked away from God.

If you think you can backslide overnight, you have some serious scriptural misunderstandings because if you can walk away from God and His Church overnight I do not believe you were ever really saved!  For those who truly love God it is a gradual process.  Yes they love the Lord, but something in the world catches their eye.  Someone or something entices them away bit by bit.  They give up praying for their lust, they give up reading the Word for their lust, they give up fellowship for their lust, and then they give up their relationship with the Lord for their lust.  We must guard our hearts from seeking the desires of the flesh, we must strengthen and feed our spirits, or like the Apostle James says, “We are dragged away and enticed by our own evil desires.”

Look at verse 13 in Jeremiah 2 – “For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water”

Christians are the bride of Christ.  In II Corinthians 11:2 the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians that the Lord was jealous over them with a Godly jealousy because he wanted to present them to Christ as chaste virgins. But the problem was that they were flirting with the world. And unfortunately, if you look around in many churches today, that same problem still exists. People in the church want to be saved sinners, they want to be “carnal Christians,” and Jesus told the church of Laodicea that this idea makes Him sick and He was about to vomit them up.

THEY BECOME INSENSITIVE TO THE HOLY GHOST

Jeremiah 3:2-5

Lift up thine eyes unto the high places, and see where thou hast not been lien with. In the ways hast thou sat for them, as the Arabian in the wilderness; and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.
Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.
Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My father, thou art the guide of my youth?
Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.
(MSG: WARNING EXPLICIT CONTENT)

“Look around at the hills.  Where have you not had sex?  You’ve camped out like hunters stalking deer.  You’ve solicited many lover-gods, like a streetwalking whore chasing after other gods.  And so the rain has stopped.  No more rain from the skies!  But it doesn’t even faze you. Brazen as whores, you carry on as if you’ve done nothing wrong.  Then you have the nerve to call out, ‘My father!  You took care of me when I was a child. Why not now?  Are you going to keep up your anger nonstop?’  That’s your line. Meanwhile you keep sinning nonstop.”

If you have ever watched an episode of the TV documentary show “COPS” then you will have a pretty good understanding of what Jeremiah is saying to describe the backslidden state of Israel.  I have learned from watching that prostitutes seem to have absolutely zero shame about what they are doing. They are in a state of moral degradation and they refuse to be ashamed

It is the same with the backslider, sin makes you insensitive to the Spirit of the Lord.  The sin that used to bring them shame has become normal and they no longer feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit. They are now in danger of being lost forever:

Romans 1:21-28 KJV
“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;”

When someone who claims to be born again begins doing the things which they once renounced, they are on their way to a backslidden state.

THEY BECOME SPIRITUAL HYPOCRITES

When a child of God begins flirting with Satan, they still have a lot of “holy talk,” but they have usually abandoned their “holy walk.”  And the fact is that usually they were doing all of the evil they could get away with right up to the day they walked out on God.

Luke 6:46 - And why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

They are still talking about holiness, but their morals are getting looser and looser.  In church they dress and act as if nothing has changed, but outside of church they are dressing like the world, talking like the world, listening to the world’s music, and the truth is that they are beginning to fit into the pattern of the world more than they fit the description of a child of God.  They take vacations away from home and compromise nearly every standard of holiness that they pretend to uphold when at home.  Spiritual talk and worldly walk are good clues that a person is on their way to becoming a backslider.

THEY BECOME SPIRITUALLY OBSTINATE

Jeremiah 3:7 - And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

The word obstinate means “Stubborn or unyielding to reason”

It is a tragic fact that, sadly, that there have been many who were saved that have died in a backslidden state while the Man of God stood by their death bed begging them to repent.  But they stubbornly breathe their last breath refusing to return to the Lord and admit their sin and in doing so they fulfill the proverb, “The backslider in heart will be filled with his own ways.”

Backsliding doesn’t happen overnight. It may take months perhaps years for a person to backslide from the Lord. It begins with a little compromise, then it becomes full blown rebellion.  I know, because I derived the “Anatomy of a Backslider” through an autopsy of my own past.  I have lived the life of a backslider, I know the progression that takes place in the heart and mind of a saint who turns back to their vomit.  I was blessed in that the Lord sent someone into my life that prodded me back into the church and I repented.  If I had died while in that backslidden state, I am convinced I would be in hell today.  God’s word clearly says that no drunkard will inherit the Kingdom of God.  Praise God for mercy and grace.

Please do not be foolish enough to think that the Lord will continue to allow you to live in willful sin without repercussion.  Your time may be running out, return to your Father and ask for His mercy and grace before it’s too late.  It is my prayer that every prodigal would come to their senses and return to the Father's house.