Posts Tagged ‘Jesus’

Countering Satan’s Lies With the Truth of God

Monday, April 25th, 2011

On May 15, EatingDisorderHope.com is giving away 10 copies of my book Happy for the Rest of Your Life. (To enter the drawing, click here.)  For a preview of what to expect, here’s an excerpt from Chapter 6….

Do you remember when Jesus was tempted by Satan during His time of fasting in the wilderness before He began His public ministry? Satan would distort the truth in order to try to trap Jesus, but Jesus would counter the lie with the truth.

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” ~Mathew 4:1-4

Next, Satan tries to use Scripture to get Jesus to act outside of God’s will and plan.

Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: ‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’” ~Matthew 4:5-7

Finally, Satan tries to use bribery to tempt Jesus.

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him. ~Matthew 4:8-11

Distortion, half truth, and outright lies must be countered every time with the truth. Satan uses the same tactic today to weaken your resolve and hamper your ability to be about your work in this world for God.

Satan didn’t want Jesus to succeed; he doesn’t want you to either. Scripture calls Satan “the father of lies” (John 8:44), and the negative messages you hear in your head have his fingerprints all over them. You must reject them and turn instead to God’s truth to counter their destructive influences.

Through all of the chatter and static this life puts up, one truth should always ring aloud and clear: God created you; He loves and values you. Don’t let anyone else take that truth away from you!

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Merry Christmas In the Name of God We Trust

Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010

Inherent in our celebration of the birth of Christ is our celebration of the Holy Father. God goes by many names, all of which imply the same – unconditional love, of course, but also our unwavering trust.

Webster’s Dictionary defines trust in the following ways: “1 a: assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something; b: one in which confidence is placed. In order to obey what God tells you to do, you need to be able to place your confidence in Him. That confidence is based upon His character, ability, strength, and truth.

God’s character is clearly shown through the names He gives Himself. These are descriptors of His character. Regent University has a wonderful website at www.bible.org that outlines the names of God. They are:

  • Elohim – This is the plural version of the term El, which means “strong one,” and refers to majesty. It is plural, signifying the truine nature of God.
  • El Shaddai – “God Almighty.” God is almighty, or as Luke 1:37 says, “Nothing is impossible with God.”
  • El Elyon – “The Most High God,” stressing God’s strength, sovereignty, and supremacy.
  • El Olam – “The everlasting God.” God does not change, nor does He wear out.
  • Yahweh Jireh – “The Lord will provide.” Note it doesn’t say might or could or may provide; it says will.
  • Yahweh Nissi – “The Lord is my banner.” This signifies God as leading the charge in battle and providing victory.
  • Yahweh Shalom – “The Lord is peace.” This peace is global and personal (Isaiah 26:12).
  • Yahweb Sabbaoth – “The Lord of hosts.” God is the commander of the heavenly armies; He has spiritual resources at His command.
  • Yahweb Maccadeshcem – “The Lord your sanctifier.” God has sanctified you; He has set you apart for His purposes.
  • Yahweb Ro’i – “The Lord my shepherd.” (See Psalm 23, one of the most beautiful poems ever written.)
  • Yahweh Tsidkenu – “The Lord our righteousness.” God provides what you and I are unable to provide on our own.
  • Yahweb Shammah – “The Lord is there,” signifying God’s personal presence. HE is not a way-out-there, disconnected deity; He is there with you.
  • Yahweb Elohim Israel – “The Lord, the God of Israel.” You are included as a spiritual descendent of Israel.
  • Adonai – “Master, authority, provider.” This is also in the plural form, signifying God’s truine friendship.
  • Thoes – “God.” This is a Greek word, identifying God as the one true God, as unique, as transcendent, as Savior.
  • Kurios – “Lord.” Another Greek word, signifying authority and supremacy.
  • Despotes – “Master,” with the connotation of ownership. First Corinthians 6:20 and 7:23 remind you that you were bought with a price and are not your own.
  • Father – I thought it was interesting that this form of the word is found only 15 times in the Old Testament but 245 times in the New Testament. Whatever else and whoever else God is, He is your heavenly Father.

Put all of these together, then, and this is who you are being called to place your confidence, your trust, in. What better place can you think of in which to place your trust?

According to the dictionary definition of trust given earlier, God has the character, ability, strength, and truth to be worthy of your trust. There is, however, a secondary definition I’d like to explore. It is “dependence on something future or contingent.”

Hebrews 12:2 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”  ”For the joy set before him” points to this shading of definition for the word trust. Jesus endured because He was absolutely sure of and dependent upon something in the future, that joy. Jesus trusted God for what had not yet occurred. This future joy tomorrow helped Jesus endure today.

In the same way, you can trust God not only for what He can do for you today but also for what He will do for you tomorrow and into eternity. If all of this sounds too good to be true, too much like an evangelical infomercial, let me just say a couple of things.

First, I agree, it does sound too good to be true. However, God is truth, so while it is entirely too good for the likes of me (and you, if I may be so bold), it is true. You can count on it; you can trust in God.

Secondly, it becomes easier to understand and accept if you’ll concentrate on the last word of the names of God, one of the two I added.

Concentrate on God as love. God is trustworthy with your life and future and happiness because He loves you. He has demonstrated that love to you in the most graphic way possible – by sacrificing His one and only Son in your place so you can be made righteous and able to enter into intimate fellowship with this amazing, all-powerful, almighty, loving Father.

Remember, it’s not about you; it’s about God. You can trust Him because He has put in motion this eon-spanning, intricate, creative plan to outwit evil and death, slavery and bondage, sin and torment. All you have to do in response is give up control, listen and pay attention, obey and trust.

SOURCE: Chapter 9, “God As Your Navigator (Spiritual),” in Happy for the Rest of Your Life by Dr. Gregory Jantz, founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources, Inc.

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How God Provides Answers

Friday, October 1st, 2010

“This is what the Lord says, he who made the earth, the Lord who formed it and established it — the Lord is his name. ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ ” ~Jer. 33:2-3

There is something profoundly unsettling about an unanswered question.

A question is a form of need; a question is a need for an answer. Needs have a way of becoming progressively louder and louder the longer they go unanswered. The longer a question goes unanswered, the harder it is to believe there was ever an answer in the first place.

When things appear to have no answer, no reason for happening, the world becomes unhinged. When your world becomes unhinged, when your life appears adrift upon a turbulent and disconnected world, there is no telling what you’ll reach out for in order to find something, anything, to hold on to. That’s where excessities come in; they are grab-able, easily accessible handholds, as we’ve seen.

Unanswered questions are a casualty of being in this world. Maybe they’re a part of the “trouble” Jesus says we all inevitably have. They’re a reality we have to deal with now, but this won’t always be so.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:12:

“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

There is a time for every question to be answered; we’re just not there yet. So what do we do in the meantime? If unanswered questions and the turmoil they produce have the power to propel us toward useless excessities, is there a way to stay grounded without having the answer to every question, even the deeper ones?

They way I stay grounded when I don’t know the answer, even when I really need to know the answer, is to rest in the faith that God knows even if I don’t. This doesn’t mean that God is somehow obligated by the Jeremiah passage that started this chapter to tell me everything I ask. This isn’t some sort of cosmic math formula with my question and God’s knowledge required to equal an answer.

I’ve got to factor in Isaiah 55:8:

” ‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ delcares the Lord.”

Sometimes the answer is, frankly, out of my league. Trusting that there is an answer, even when I don’t know it or God chooses not to reveal it, requires another one of those leaps of faith. In my experience, sometimes the courage to make the leap is enough of an answer in itself.

While the Jeremiah passage isn’t an equation, it is a promise. It’s also very much in line with how God interacts with us. He is all about knowing the truth and revealing the truth. He’s all about giving answers. That’s pretty much what Jesus did for the three years He was ministering here, walking around on the earth.

Jesus spent his time here …

… showing people why He was sent,

… what He was sent to do,

… where He came from and where He was going,

… when He would be leaving and when He would return,

… how to respond to the truth He presented,

… and who sent Him in the first place.

He fulfilled all of the question words — why, what, where, when, how, and who — with answers.

POINTING THE WAY

There is something so powerful about intentionally turning the focus of your life from a narrow field of vision on self and expanding it out to encompass all that God has planned and purposed for you. He never intended for you to live within a shrunken world, within a tight little spiral of spinning excessities. The truth is out there, and it’s a greater life for you.

Your life has been planned by God from the beginning to display His power. Philippians 2:13 says that God is at work in you according to His good purpose. He’s got a purpose for you. But when you stick to your excessities, you hold back what He has planned for you.

The truth of your life in God is out there, and the life He has purposed for you is one where excessities have no place.

Source: Chapter 14, “God Provides Answers” in Gotta Have It! by Dr. Gregory Jantz, founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources, Inc.

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Is Worry Your Default Position?

Saturday, August 21st, 2010

For some people, worry itself can almost be classified as an excessity — as a Gotta Have It! behavior — because of how quickly they default to a worry position. For them, a state of worry is a state of familiarity. Perhaps for you, worry allows you to prepare for any possible eventuality — and because there’s no real need to prepare for something positive, the eventualities you prepare for always range from bad to worse.

Because you are so familiar with and so good at the worry game, your range is broad and all encompassing:

A negative comment from your boss today means you’re going to be fired tomorrow. A stomachache today means an ulcer tomorrow. A headache is a brain aneurysm. A gained pound is obesity. And on and on it goes.  When anything’s possible, there’s no limit to the possible calamity. In some ways, worry is like watching a movie — except it’s your own private disaster film. That internal viewing can be so compelling, you’re blinded to the reality. The what-ifs crowd out the what-is.  Worry is a real scene-stealer, and the scenes being stolen are bits of your life.

When worry is your default setting, you will often turn to excessities in order to provide just a little white noise to drown out worry’s drumbeat. Often, the excessity is food. I have known people who could eat to their feelings of worry the same as someone mindlessly munches popcorn at the movie theater or a bag of chips while watching television. Eating and worry go hand in hand, like drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette.

Worry, with its constant “on” switch, negatively impacts health. Every week it seems, we are inundated by another study showing the deleterious effects of worry and stress on our lives. Generally, these are followed up by advertisements touting the latest thing to magically ease our worries and make all that stress melt away. But if any of these things actually worked in the long term, our collective worry would be decreasing, not increasing, along with our need for the latest deworrier.

One of the reasons Jesus came to earth was to help explain to us the way things really are. Remember what Jesus said about worry:

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink: or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the bids of the air; they do not sow or reap or stow away in barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are y0u not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?

And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splender was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you? O you of little faith. So do not worry saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. ~Matt. 6:25-34

Every time I read this passage, I am struck by the types of things Jesus says not to wory about. He says not to worry about what you’ll eat, what you’ll drink, or what you’ll wear. These are definite needs; they are even identified as such. Yet Jesus says you’re not to worry about them. That would seem like a flippant, “just don’t'” kind of response to a very real concern if it weren’t for the reason Jesus gives. He says you’re not to worry about them because God already knows you need them. Worry, it appears, takes far too much time and energy away from more important things, like seeking God’s kingdom and His righteousness.

Worry is like an illustration I remember seeing of the levee system in New Orleans during Hurrican Katrina.

On the top of the water, the concrete walls of the levee looked so massive and strong. However, under the water the relentless wave action of the water was gradually eating away at the earthen berm upon which the concrete wall stood. Wave by wave, a little more of the earth was gouged out and exposed to the corrosive power of the water. Eventually, the foundation upon which the levee wall stood was completely undermined — and it failed, allowing the water to rush in and flood the area.

I think worry is like that. Wave by wave, gradually over time, worry eats away at the foundation of our lives, at our emotional, relational, physical, and spiritual foundations. Jesus says the answer to worry is to choose not to and instead put your efforts and time into concentrating on the things of God. This activity, by its very nature, will shore up and strengthen your foundations.

Source: Chapter 4, “Our Need for Reassurance” in Gotta Have It! by Dr. Gregory Jantz, founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources, Inc
 
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Spiritual Intimacy Through Christ: God’s Healing Balm of Life

Friday, April 2nd, 2010

We are told that God is a giver of good things to us, including Jesus.

God does not condemn us, rather he justifies us.

Further, we are reminded that Christ, who took our sins, does not condemn us; he intercedes for us. We are told all of this to assure us that we have a steadfast love in Christ. Ease your fears with the extraordinary words of Romans 8:38-39.

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rules, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Spiritual intimacy with God is a healing balm that blesses our lives. We recognize our need for it. We acknowledge the ways we have been derailed from achieving it. So how do we intentionally reach out and grasp hold of it? Well, how do you develop intimacy with another person? Through spending time and sharing thoughts and a common purpose.

It is no different with God.

Another way to look at this is to see how you have gained spiritual intimacy through prayer (spending time with God), through his Word (sharing his thoughts as recorded in Scripture), and through obedience (accepting God’s purposes as your own).

A wonderful aspect of this spiritual intimacy is that you can begin your relationship with God immediately, and it will be counted as valid. Then, as you mature and grow, your relationship with him will mature and grow in tandem. This is a lifelong, constant relationship. You can pour your heart and soul into it and not be disappointed or deceived.

He will not forsake you.

He cannot die.

He has promised never to leave you.

As we are reminded in Hebrews 10:19, we can enter into God’s presence with “confidence” and “full assurance.” Be not afraid! With God you are special and safe.

SOURCE: Chapter 6: “Spiritual Intimacy,” God Can Help You Heal by Gregory L. Jantz, PhD., founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources Inc.

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Letting Go of Perfection, Yes Even “Perfect” Anger

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

Perfectionism can be a difficult mind-set to release because it can appear so right.

Attempting to achieve perfection can feel so righteous, as Paul talks about in Phillippians 3:9, speaking of his own quest. It can be tempting to forget the “therefore” and just seek to bring about the words of Jesus on your own: be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. There’s just that problem of the “therefore.” Because of your imperfection, your attempts to attain perfection on your own will always be imperfect.

You may believe your anger is perfect; it may be the one thing you are absolutely sure about and, thus, unwilling to give up. This surety may allow you to feel justified in being angry and in determining how that anger is manifested in your life.  But remember the caveat about your anger in James 1:19-20, where he says:

“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.”

Anger, no matter how right it feels, does not produce righteousness.

SOURCE: Chapter 9: “Learning the Power of Acceptance” in Every Woman’s Guide to Managing YourAnger by Gregory L. Jantz, PhD., founder of The Center for Counseling and Health Resources Inc.

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