2021 Fast Day Six

Day #6

 

James 1:13-15 “Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.”

 

If you ever had the notion that God was testing you, tempting you, or trying you with evil, then James just cleared that up real quick. And he takes it a step farther and says, that the onus…it’s on you. Here’s the thing, you can’t be hungry for what you’ve never tasted. If you have never had coffee, then it’s not likely you are ever going to crave cofee. But if you have tasted coffee and enjoy it, then chances are…you will develop a hunger for it. Cravings even. This is basically what James is telling us.  It really is difficult to take ownership of our own lust.  It’s so much easier to point the finger at the devil, or maybe even someone who opened the door to that lust in your life. Regardless of who opened the door, it is on you to open or shut it. If you feed the lust by continuing to open the door, remember this…what may seem harmless in the beginning, James says “gets pregnant and has a baby: sin.  Then sin grows up to adulthood and becomes a real killer, choking the life out of you.” Remember this, sin ALWAYS take more than what you bargain for.  Remember the old-time-religion? The shun the very appearance of evil? The light has no fellowship with darkness? We need some more of that today. Ask yourself these 2 questions when you are under pressure to give in to your own lust: 1. Do I have to do this in secret? 2. Does this impede my conscience towards the Lord? If you answer yes to either of those questions, STOP. Give NO PLACE to the adversary. If you give no place to your lusts, then you’ll never have to kick out the sin babies it makes.

Consecration: Self-gratification

Today we are making BOLD moves. We are taking our Day 1 devotion of being a SLAVE OF GOD, to another level. We are taking up our cross, DAILY. We aren’t carrying our cross, we are crucifying our flesh on it today. We are going to practice saying “NO” even in small doses. “No” to that dessert, “No” to that Netflix show, “No” to that thing…yes, you know the thing we are talking about. We have one goal today and it’s to master saying the word “no”. And not NO to someone else, NO to self. And we are going to own our NO. And it’s going to create freedom. Believe that!