Christian Liberty

This year's Bible Conference was definitely a blessing and an encouragement to me. It was different with all of the lovely social distancing rules, but I was so glad that we still had it! I want to share a couple of the thoughts that the Lord has been stirring in my mind over the last couple of days.

Are you negotiating with your sin?

Dr. Rusty Smith always does a good job of cutting through the fluff and getting to the heart of a matter. The question of whether I'm eradicating or negotiating my sin jumped out at me. So often we take the time to argue with ourselves when it comes to our sin. When you or I take even the slightest moment to consider whether it's a good idea to sin or not we are putting ourselves in a perilous place. We are asking the devil to explain to us why we should sin. I can save you the argument and assure you that there is nothing beneficial about sin. We need to get rid of the sin in our life and cast it out. Concealment of sin is living in bondage, but confession of sin is living in blessing.

When Nathan the prophet confronted David about his sin with Bathsheba, David cried out to God and confessed his sin. Some of his words are recorded in Psalm 51,

"(3)I acknowledge my transgressions:

and my sin is ever before me.

(12) Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation;

and uphold me with thy free spirit."

David knew that when he was living openly before God that he was living a blessed life, but when he sinned and hid it and tried to erase the consequences, he was living in bondage.

How often do you and I sin and then ignore the Holy Spirit's prompting to confess it and get rid of it? We all know the feeling that comes when something eats at us. It controls our emotions and is a perpetual cloud over our head that infects us and all we do.

How are you and I to witness to others when we have unconfessed sin clouding our mind?

We need to confess our sin at the very least to God, and then to those whom it is affecting. This brings me to the most exciting and most painful thing that I learned. Dr. Johnny Pope spoke on prayer on the last day of Bible conference. I had actually heard the message once, but I went back and listened to it again when he gave it for the closing message, and I'm so glad I did. He addressed many aspects of prayer, but two of them pricked my heart specifically.

First, he asked us to consider if we talked differently to God. If you and I love God more than anyone else, ought we not to speak to Him differently? To illustrate, think of a husband and a wife. A husband and wife love each other more than you or I would love even our best friend, and as a result, they talk to each other differently. A husband may tell his father, mother, or even a child that he loves them, but when he says "I love you" to his wife it is a different kind of love, and can be said in a way that would not be appropriate to say to another relation. Much in the same way, if you or I love God more than our earthly relations then we will talk differently to him. We need to talk to him in a way that reflects the intimate and personal relationship that we should have with him. Make your talk with God one that is long, deep, and sincere.

Second, Dr. Pope asked us to consider how our prayer life affects our Christian life. I don't know about you, but I personally want to be known as a man of prayer. The more you and I communicate with our Heavenly Father, the more we will know him and the closer we will grow to him. Psalm 1 talks about us meditating in God's word. Mediating involves praying with God about what we are reading. If we aren't talking with God, then we will not benefit as much from our time with Him. Yes, God can still communicate to us using just His word, but He can do it better if we're actually talking with Him instead of expecting Him to just feed us. That mediation and communication are what keep us strong in Him. Here is a part of Psalm 1 that talks about the godly man.

"(2) But his delight is in the law of the LORD;

and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

(4) The ungodly are not so:

but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

(6b) --but the way of the ungodly shall perish."

When you and I are not involved in prayer and meditation our walk with God is ungodly and it will perish. If you and I don't want to walk away from God, then we MUST pray with him!

One more thing to ponder. Dr. Pope said this and it hit home with me.

"There are pastors who pray and pastors who play."

I know that you and I may not be pastors, but the same thing applies to us. Think about that statement and whether you're a Christian who prays, or if you're only a Christian who plays around with Christianity. It's not something that you can be only half committed to.

I'll leave Dr. Pope's message here for any who are interested in thinking more about this topic. I would encourage you to take the time to listen to his message.