Daily Devotional: 9/1/2018 - TUG OF WAR PT. IV


"From that sin by the blood of that cross, I'm yours." Andy Mineo - Tug of War

It has been a while since I posted something, for some reason August has been a rough month for me, the past couple years. This August I fed off the devil's lies with a combination of writer's block. Also I did not want to be a hypocrite (which I was being) and put up crappy work.

I just got back from Cooperstown from umpiring for the week so I was constantly busy and would have been distracted if I tried writing anything. But I am back and starting the month off right.

  • I was letting the devil win the tug of war and I was in the desert. I would like to say I am out of the desert stronger and better with more knowledge on how to deal with things. I did this all with the help of music, a sister (shoutout you, Lina), and reading. Sometimes we need help, we cannot live this life alone.

Tug of war is a contest in which two teams pull at opposite ends of a rope until one drags the other over a central line. Now about a month ago, before a mid-week two brothers and I had a little brother dinner where we just talked and ate. While eating a group of guys started to pile in. They usually come and hang daily, play volleyball and practice for their tug of war competitions. They use one of the big trees next to the court. They wrapped a rope around the tree and pull to build of strength.

  • This is something we do we God. We try to play tug of war with something that we are never going to beat and that is virtually immoveable.

In the previous parts I talked about having a tug of war with the devil/the flesh and having a tug of war with God. Today I am going to talk about what happens when we let God take control over our life.


A trail of broken hearts, a man full of regrets
The thrill has left, the empty promises of sin sets
-Andy Mineo (Tug of War)

If we let the devil win and we go against God we live in a world of darkness. Imagine this, a place where it is you and nothing else. A place where it is just dark and dreary, the ground is hard as rock. There is not even a drop of water to be seen. The air is so thick and thin at the same time that it takes away your breath. You are about to suffocate by the thoughts that are piling into your brain. You cannot tell of the birds that are flying around your head are vultures or doves.

  • You are in the desert. This is a place where you can either grow or fall. It can be a place where you want to be or a place you do not even want to be another second.
  • Deserts lack water. It is hot and dry. You lack food. You lack protection, you are out in the open vulnerable to the devil's schemes. And lets not fail to mention the dangerous animals like snakes.

An example for someone that was in the desert, the desert you do not want to be in was Lot and his family. In Genesis 13, the land was getting to much for both Abram and Lot so Abram let Lot choose where he wanted to settle. He had the choice of all the land, he could have chosen anywhere but he chose Sodom. He chose Sodom even though "the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD" (v.13).

  • He chose the fertile land and abundant water for animals. He overlooked their reputation of sin. "After all, Lot believes he is strong enough to stay away" (Weidner, "Pure the Journey"). But little did he know that his "strength" is what was his major weakness.

Lot stood in sin. He may not have partaken in it, but he was there. He was the by stander. He was in the dark, he did nothing to stop it. He let the sin overtake his heart and blind his mind. "The whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt" (v. 10).

  • This is what the devil uses. He uses worldly desires, worldly eye pleasers as the blinder for our heart and mind. He used the fertile soil and the abundant amount of water to shade the sin and as the foothold to get into Lot and his family.

Lot stood with sinners and stood in the dark desert for too long he was lost. He and his wife became accustomed to the sin and the darkness that was covering the Light. He did not know what was being stolen right in front of him, his spiritually authority and his wife.

  • Lot's wife was so lost in the sin that she could not help back. When it was time to leave. Two angels came to Lot to tell him to leave and get out before it was too late (Genesis 19:12-13), but yet he was reluctant. These two angels were almost raped and murdered (Genesis 19:4-5), but yet he was reluctant. "Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!" (Genesis 19:17) screamed the angels, but yet Lot and his wife was reluctant.
  • We just like Lot and his wife sometimes no matter how many times we are told to do something by God we do not believe, we are reluctant. We like Lot's wife look back. But the good thing is that we do not physically turn into a pillar of salt, but our heart does. We are tempted with sin. We live in a sinful world, there is no escaping it, but we can do something about it. We think we are bigger than sin, but we are not even bigger than a grain of salt, compared to what the sin can do to our life.

A trail of broken hearts, a man full of regrets
The thrill has left, the empty promises of sin sets
-Andy Mineo (Tug of War)

If we let the devil win and we go against God we live in a world of darkness. Imagine this, a place where it is you and nothing else. A place where it is just dark and dreary, the ground is hard as rock. There is not even a drop of water to be seen. The air is so thick and thin at the same time that it takes away your breath. You are about to suffocate by the thoughts that are piling into your brain. You cannot tell of the birds that are flying around your head are vultures or doves.

  • You are in the desert. This is a place where you can either grow or fall. It can be a place where you want to be or a place you do not even want to be another second.
  • Deserts lack water. It is hot and dry. You lack food. You lack protection, you are out in the open vulnerable to the devil's schemes. And lets not fail to mention the dangerous animals like snakes.

Lets turn to Matthew 4, do not worry I will wait, let me know when you are there. In this chapter Jesus went to the "desert", he not only went to the desert he was led to the desert. "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil" (v. 1). WHAT?!?!?!? HE WAS LED BY THE SPIRIT TO BE TEMPTED BY THE DEVIL. But before you skip this point turn to 1 Corinthians 10:13, that stereotypical overused verse to justify every little thing is finally making sense; "And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide the way out so that you can endure it." God tests us, God wants us to grow. Sometimes the only way to grow is to be tested, but life can be at the same time harder or easier than the spelling bee that you failed in first grade.

  • Jesus was led to the desert. He lacked water and he lacked food. He went forty days and forty nights without these valuable resources in order to focus on the most valuable of resources, God. In the desert he lacked protection, he was vulnerable to the lies and schemes of the devil. But Jesus set the example for us, instead of cowering in a corner and feeding into the lies he stood tall. He stood tall and stood their with Truth. He responded to every lie with Truth, we the Word. When we lack "protection" we are protected by the armour of God with the sword of Word.

We have to submit to God. This is something that we are called to do, it is what God wants. We submit to our parent and to the authority figures into our life. How come we cannot do this with God? When we submit to God it is out of obedience. When we obey God it is out fear. When we fear God it is out of trust.

  • This is the same as our mother or father. It is what is in our blood and what we are conditioned to. God is not only a god, but he is our Heavenly Father.

James 4:7 says, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

  • When you have God on your side the devil is scared. He will have no way to get to us, he will not be able to penetrate our armour. God is our best defense. All we have to do is submit and let him take control of our life.

It's so clearer now, it’s painfully apparent that I can't have my sin and my savior, they're not for sharing
Anything that I lose to follow you is not a loss
My girlfriend, my friends, my money, even my job
-Andy Mineo (Tug of War)

God does not like to share. He wants all of us, not just some of us. He is a jealous God, but he is our God. He does not want us to serve other gods and to waste our time in the world, when he came take it and guide with a single move of a finger.

  • Exodus 20:5 says, "You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers of the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me."

Philippians 3:7-11 says, "But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ - yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead."

  • God is going to give us some things in order to see him. There are things and people in the world and our life that blind us from seeing the Light, the one true glory.
  • We give up our eternity for temporary bliss (WHATUPRG  - Aquafina). Nothing of this world is going to follow us to heaven. Everything starts over, we are all the same when it comes to the Promised Land. We are all on the same playing field.
  • Whatever of this world that we lose is a gain in to Christ. We get to see him more, it will free up time for him.
  • Nothing is greater than knowing and being one with him (v. 8-9).

You calling me to freedom, I think that it's time to walk
I don't see every step but the next is out of the dark
I'm the filthiest of them all but I'm Yours if you wash me
From that sin by the blood of that cross, I'm yours
-Andy Mineo (Tug of War)

Paul tells Timothy and the Ephesus church in 1 Timothy 1:15, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners - of whom I am the worst."

  • The closer one gets to God the more apparent one's sins become.
  • We are all terrible horrible sinners, but Jesus came to this world to save us.

We have to be in full submission to God, let go of the rope and let him win (for he has already won).

Do not be like Lot's wife. Do not look back, look forward. Right into the eyes of our Father.

Matthew 11:25 says, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."

"And I been fighting for control and fighting for my soul and
This is war, it’s a tug of war"

Lord, you are the rope you are the way. I thank you for paving my path. Give us the strength to submit and obey. You are our one true Father and we give our life to you. Lead us to you and to you only. Give us the answers to the test for I know we will not ace it, but we want to see you in the end. I pray all this in your son's glorious awesome name, Amen.



#LetsBeAMovement

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