There's a saying I use in counseling: "Show me the money." It's simple: tell me who benefits from an action or choice, and I can tell you who's manipulating a situation, especially in an imbalanced relationship where one person uses power and control for himself. Who benefits when your husband gets angry? He does. Why? … Continue reading Show Me the Money!
Invisible Bondage
Compare biblical misunderstanding with Amnesty International's Report on Torture (New York: Farra, Strauss, and Giroux), 1973 following the Vietnam War. Albert Biderman, a psychologist, studied the methods foreign armies used to extract false confessions from prisoners of war. You may be surprised at the similarities.
A Spiritual Battle
If it doesn't look like Jesus, sound like Jesus, act like Jesus, it's not Jesus. When we see selfish ambition and envy, we know we are dealing with satanic drivers--the same motivations that drove Lucifer to sin against God.
A Natural Response
Where sin is involved, we should not be surprised but, instead, should expect the following responses. It is only by God's grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ that we run to Him when we sin.
The Helper
Last week I addressed, The Cleaner: the idea that women feel the need to clean up after, or remove the consequences of, their husbands failure and sin. Additionally, sinful behavior is perpetuated when churches define a wife, or "helper" as someone who:1) Prevents her husband from sinning2) Equates pleasing a husband with pleasing God. https://dg.imgix.net/she-is-me-snbdvfjz-en/landscape/she-is-me-snbdvfjz.jpg?ts=1498581304&ixlib=rails-4.1.0&fit=crop&w=2000&h=1050 … Continue reading The Helper
James Calls It!
When is the last time someone called out sinful behavior in front of you? It happened at our house yesterday--it's a normal part of life. If that's a one-sided conversation at your house, something's wrong. James says so. James says, "if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as … Continue reading James Calls It!
The Cleaner
So when we clean or cover up another's sin and remove consequences and the opportunity/need for repentance, we are not serving them. We may be serving ourselves without realizing it. We are not working with God, but against Him.
Sin: Bound and Loosed
If an individual is not forgiven here on earth, it's because forgiveness was not sought and repentance was not actualized. If that sin is not paid for and loosed on earth by those who experienced it, it is not forgiven in Heaven. It has never been owned, confessed, forsaken.
A Worthy Sacrifice
A man who uses his wife to exalt himself competes with God. As God's bond-servants may we expose blasphemy and wickedness that opposes Jesus, the Lamb that was slain, the One who alone is worthy "To receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!”
Church Repentance
We call out idolatrous behavior so that others may see the person of Jesus Christ exhibited in our churches and congregations--the holiness, reverence, and love He has for His own. We do not obey for our own sakes, but to make Him known. Hiding the idolatrous, divisive, destructive brother in our midst is not loving for that individual, his wife, children, or the local church. It's time we took a hard look at repentance.
