Lust

Lust

Psalms 81:12
So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust: [and] they walked in their own counsels.

Lust is an area where we all struggle. Many of us automatically associate lust with sexual lust and while that is one arena that it greatly works in, it is by no means that only one. Lust, is much the same as covetousness. It is the strong desire, passion and delight in a desirable thing or object. Typically, what do we have a strong passion and desire for? Usually it is for the things that we can’t have or that we ought not to have. This is what we commonly phrase, “lusting after the flesh”. It is our flesh that is at enmity with God or at war with Him. It is a battle that we fight in our souls, but finds expression through our flesh. Now, lust could have a good connotation, in that “I lust after the Spirit”, or have a strong passion and desire for God. Certainly this is the direction we would want our lust to take us, but more times than not it is taking us in another direction, the way of the flesh.
In our scripture today the context of what is being talked about is when God brought the children of Israel out of Egypt and was leading them through the wilderness. Lust was a condition of their hearts that led them away from God and the higher purposes that He had for them. It continues on after our theme verse to say in Psalms 81:13-16, “Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, [and] Israel had walked in my ways I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the LORD should have submitted themselves unto him: but their time should have endured for ever. He should have fed them also with the finest of the wheat: and with honey out of the rock should I have satisfied thee.” If we want to be fed with the finest wheat (the bread of Life) and the honey out of the rock (the truth and revelation of Christ), then we have to hearken unto the Spirit and not unto our flesh when the lust of our desires and want to’s conflict with the Spirit within us.
What is the first thing we want to do when our desires or lust conflict with our spirit? Typically we begin to reason, justify and compromise. Let’s put the old mind to work on it, he’ll come up with a way to make it all right. Isn’t that how we generally try and find peace with ourselves, by rationalizing something in our mind? Or we compartmentalize it and justify it by saying to ourselves, “this is okay in this area of our lives, but not okay over here.” We develop different standards depending on whether we are dealing with family, or business, or social engagements, or spiritual activities. The truth is, God has one standard that applies to every area of our lives. Daniel, in the Old Testament, didn’t cease to pray routinely, just because it wasn’t the politically correct thing to do. He was consistent in every area of his life. We must be no different.
What happens when we start shutting the voice and the conviction of the Holy Spirit out and continue on in the way our flesh wants to go? For one thing, we grow hard of hearing and hard of heart. We have a free will and God will let us go our own way, but the more we go our way the more estranged we become with Him and the less clearly we hear His Spirit’s leading and direction.
Temptation is merely the incitement of my passion, desire or lust for something. James, deals with this issue in a very straight forward way when he says in James 1:12 -16, ”
Blessed [is] the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren.” He lays out the progression of lust from beginning to end and then exhorts us, “don’t fall for it precious saints.”
Again, James deals with lust in James 4:1-5, “From whence [come] wars and fightings among you? [come they] not hence, [even] of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume [it] upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?” It is the lust of our hearts that entices us away from God to pursue our own passions that are in opposition to His will for us; thus we become His enemy rather than his friend. Our desires become our idol and God is saying, “Don’t you know how jealous I am over you?” God is envious and desirous of us, of our hearts, our affections and our faithfulness to Him. We become like the adulterer that forsakes his relationship to pursue another lover. We grieve the Holy Spirit in doing this.
The apostle John gives us this exhortation in 1 John 2:15-17, “Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” Peter makes the remark that the corruption that is in the world is the result of lust and the whole reason that God has given us such wonderful and divine promises is to help us escape out of that snare and stronghold that is taking the world to judgement. He says in 1Peter 1:4, “Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” God desires that our desire be first for Him. He loves us with a jealous love and desires that we are faithful. He wants to give us a divine nature that has escaped the corruption that lust brings to our hearts and lives. It is for freedom that Christ has set us free so that we would no longer be in bondage to our lust and former desires. We need the Holy Spirit’s power to help us break the strongholds of lust off of our lives. The more our eyes are fixed on Jesus, the more our hearts are set upon Him and the more we are walking after the Spirit, the easier it will become to overcome these areas in our lives. The Holy Spirit will help us, but He will not act against our will. Only we can submit our will to His.

Blessings,
kent

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Continue to Abide in Me (Prophetic)

Matthew 24:35
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

Continue to Abide in Me (Prophetic)

Linger not over the things that matter so little. This life quickly passes before you and yet you are consumed with the temporal and not the eternal. You labor for today’s bread while passing over the bread of life. Reach out and receive of me the eternal; that which gives life that doesn’t fade or tarnish or die. Look into my face. Look fully upon Me and then you will see how temporal the earthly things are. Labor for the bread that perishes not and grows not moldy and hard. I am the bread of life and daily you commune with Me as you eat the bread of My life and drink from the cup of My blood.
You are My life flow in the earth, bringing life and distributing the oxygen of My truth throughout the world. Whenever truth is cut off, the area from which it is removed begins to die and death is pursuant. As you live and breath out of Me you bring life to that which surrounds you. As you are faithful to live out of Me you give life, health and hope to those dying places. You may not see it. You may not feel it. You may even be persecuted, rejected and cursed at for it, but that is only the decay speaking. Don’t allow discouragement to come in. Don’t discount the difference you make in the world around you. My disciples are life givers, because they abide in Me and carry My life wherever they go. They are the salt of the earth that offer the seasoning that preserves, heals and restores. You are My ambassadors of Life and Giving. My love is best demonstrated through the lives that have been transformed by it. You are the transformers that take the power and love I pour into you and distribute it out to those around you in practical and real ways that they can receive My love and heart for them.
You may sometimes feel your prayers never pass the ceiling, but I hear the heart cries of My people, because I put them there. They have not gone unheeded or unheard. They come up before Me and I am the culmination and administrator of intercession and prayer. Continue to stand in the gap for others. The prayers of a righteous person avails much and I do hear your heart and your prayers that come from a true heart of love and concern. Pray through by the Spirit. Pray with your heavenly language and with your understanding. Your prayers are not in vain, but like the moisture evaporating from the earth that comes up before Me and accumulates in the clouds of My mercy and blessing that in due season will be rained down again upon the earth to water those dry places that you have lifted up before Me. All things work for My glory, in My way and in My time. Patience is the virtue of the saints, because through longsuffering and perseverance you shall receive your reward. All things have their time and their season and only I fully know the time and the seasons.
Be not be overcome with evil, but overcome evil with good. My love does not come without testing and trials, because in the midst of it, it is proven to be the real not just the superficial or counterfeit. Men will test My love in you, because they can’t believe just your words, until they see the reality of your actions. So love not in word only, but in action and in deed. The only way that love perseveres and is genuine is when you are fully living out of My Spirit and not your strength. Your strength and your love will fail, where Mine will stand. So faint not, even when you are weary; I will give you rest. I will be your strength, when yours has failed. Live out of Me daily and daily I will lift you up on eagles wings and carry you where human strength can not fly.
Yes, you are poured out, but it is your life in Mine and because your life is mine it becomes My life in yours. Practice My presence daily in every conversation, interaction, decision and need. Praise Me in all things and let My praises be continually in your mouth and heart. I have come to energize your life as long as you stay connected and plugged into Me.
Come today and let us continue to commune together. Drink of My cup and eat of My bread that you may have life in you and have it more abundantly.

Blessings,
kent