Category: Getting Free

How to Make Permanent Changes-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexual, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor those habitually drunk, nor verbal abusers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God- 1st Corinthians 6:9b-11 NASB

Christianity is a good news bad news kind of a deal. 

The bad news of Christianity is that people are fallen and super sinful (Genesis 3) and because God loves people He does not want anyone to stay that way (Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:17-24, John 3:16). Sin is the most harmful thing in the universe. If it is allowed to run wild it ALWAYS leads to our eternal destruction (Romans 6:23, 2ndThessalonians 1:7-9, Revelation 21:8).  

The good news of Christianity is that anyone who submits their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ will be saved from the penalty of sin (hell) and given the supernatural ability (through the power of the Holy Spirit) to change (Acts 2:21, Titus 2:11-12, 2nd Timothy 1:9, Hebrews 9:28). The Holy Spirit empowers Christ followers to change their outward behavior AND their hearts. The result is that anyone who submits themselves to the Lordship of Jesus can actually become like Jesus from the inside out (2nd Corinthians 2:10, 2nd Corinthains 5:17, James 1:4, Hebrews 5:12-14). It’s a beautiful thing. 

Unfortunately.

We live in a weird world where many people, even many Christians behave as if they don’t really believe real and lasting change possible, even for Christians (Romans 6:11, 1st Corinthians 1:2, 2nd Corinthians 5:17, Ephesians 2:1-9). This view has oozed into how churches do discipleship and deal with sin. It has become disturbingly common for churches and church leaders to just expect new Christians to live as they have always lived. Repentance is rarely discussed, therefore many folks who identify as “serious Christians” have sex with people they are not married to, dishonor their parents, commit fraud or are greedy, selfish, jealous, unforgiving, slanderous, rude, arrogant and ungrateful (2nd Timothy 3:1-3). 

All very sinful and not okay for God’s holy people (1st Peter 2:9-11). 

No where is this situation better demonstrated than with a theology infiltrating many otherwise solid Christian churches. This theology is known as Side B. Side B teaches a person can be a Christian and identify as a gay person if they don’t have sex with someone of the same gender. 

What? 

Since when is that okay? Christians do not identify as their sin. This is no different than saying it’s okay to be a gossipy Christian, a Christian thief or a lying Christian.  God calls His people to change. It is not okay to settle for a consecrated version of our old sinful self. Change is never easy, however if a person is in Christ, it is possible if we do the following:  

Understand and live out our new identity- 

If a person is a Christian, their identity is as a follower of Jesus Christ. Period. Even things like our sex, race and country of origin are no longer our primary identify (Galatians 3:26-29). It is definitely not okay to find our identity in our sexual preferences, our worst sin or our most regrettable personality trait (Romans 8:1).  Believers in Jesus are a new creation in Christ (Colossians 1:1-3, Colossians 3:3, Ephesians 2:19). Understanding and owning this new identity empowers us to live out our new self, made in the image of Jesus. 

Own the problem- 

We must own our sin and call it out as sin. We cannot pretend we are without sin nor can we act as if our sin isn’t wrong if want to have any hope of real and lasting change (1st John 1:8-10). God is unspeakably gracious, kind and patient with us (Psalm 86:15, Psalm 116:5, Romans 8:32, 2nd Peter 3:9). He will meet us where we at as long as we confess our sin as sin. Being real and honest with ourselves, God and our closest Christian friends concerning our sin is a first step towards receiving the power we need to make permanent changes (James 5:16). 

Don’t wait for desires to catch up with behavior-

Over and over again God tells us to behave in a manner that reflects repentance and salvation whether we feel like it or not (Matthew 3:8, Acts 26:20b, 2nd Peter 1:5-11, Colossians 3). This isn’t because God wants to torture us, it’s because He understands how our brains work. God knows that changing our behavior changes the neural pathways in our brains. As our neural pathways change, we develop a desire to keep doing the things that have created those new pathways.  Unfortunately, many folks wait for their desires to change before they deal with bad behavior. This pretty much ensures we will never experience real and lasting change. 

Get some help- 

A pastor, mature Christian friend or a Christian counselor can help us to figure out why we do what we do (Proverbs 11:14, Proverbs 15:22). Behavior has roots. A person may struggle with greed because they experienced poverty as a child. A woman may look to men for affirmation because she didn’t get healthy affirmation from her dad.  A person may struggle with addiction because they want to forget a traumatic event. These experiences do not excuse our sin. However, understanding the why of our sin does help us to change it.  Think about a behavior you have that you want to change and then pray for wisdom (1st Kings 22:5, Psalm 16:7). Spend some time thinking about what happened in your past that might make you prone to that behavior. Then run your thoughts past God, a friend, counselor and/or a pastor. It will not be long before you have a better handle on that behavior. 

And finally:

Ask God to do what you cannot do- 

There are simply some things we cannot do on our own. Change is one of those things, and that’s okay. God does not want us to the Christian life on our own, in our own power and strength (Philippians 4:13). He wants us to ask Him for help. He wants to partner with us on our journey (John 15:1-27, Philippians 2:12-13, Hebrews 13:20-21). It’s how we grow closer to Him and become all He calls us to be (Philippians 1:6). 

The Latest Trend in Pit-of-Hell Thinking

Lisa M. Price3 Comments

A son will not suffer the punishment for the father’s guilt, nor will a father suffer the punishment for the son’s guilt; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself- Ezekiel 18:20

There are basically three kinds of thinking.  

First, there’s good or wise thinking. Good or wise thinking is aligned with what the Bible teaches. Learning to think biblically does not mean life will always be easy or free of trials (2nd Corinthians 4:17-18, James 1:2, 1stPeter 1:6-7).  However, biblical thinking coupled with relationship with God ultimately leads to peace with God and eternity spent with God (Proverbs 3:5-6, Romans 5:1, Romans 12:2).  

There’s also bad or worldly thinking. Bad thinking is not always obviously erroneous. Bad thinking is bad because it is not aligned with the Bible and so it’s off, it’s worldly and therefore lacking in wisdom (Colossians 2:8, Philippians 3:19). This is the kind of thinking Christians end up with when they lean on their own understanding of how to do life rather than God’s (Proverbs 3:5-6). Bad or worldly thinking will not always completely ruin a person’s life, but it will lead them in a less than godly direction and ensure they never quite live up to their God-given potential.  

The final category of thinking is what I call “pit-of-hell” thinking. This type of thinking is literally, and I do mean literally, straight out of the pit of hell. The New Testament refers to it a: “doctrine of demons” (1st Timothy 4:1). Pit-of-hell thinking always has a demonic component to it that makes it very deceptive. Indulging in this kind of thinking ultimately causes an individual to become derailed spiritually, emotionally and morally.

 There’s no scarcity of pit-of-hell thinking in the world today. 

One wildly popular and sinister example of such thinking is a notion that originated with Sigmund Freud (1873-1939). Freud taught that individuals could trace all of their bad behavior, emotional problems and wrong thinking back to something their parents did or did not do to them in childhood. If an adult lacks self-confidence, can’t stand up for themselves, has a tough time making decisions, is angry, hates sex, is addicted to sex, can’t maintain a long-term relationship, allows themselves to be abused, is codependent, drinks too much, uses drugs or is a narcissistic jerk, it is all the fault of that individual’s parents, usually the mom. It is true that we are all influenced by our childhood experiences. Bad parenting is bad, partly because it has a generational impact (Lamentations 5:7). That said, if parents were responsible for all our sin God would have sent us a therapist rather than a savior (Acts 4:12).  

Following are the top four problems with this thinking: 

It prevents individuals from dealing with their problems and sin-

The first step in dealing with a problem or sin is to take personal responsibility for that sin and/or owning our part of the problem (Proverbs 28:13, James 5:16, Psalm 32:3). It is impossible to take responsibility, effectively confess a sin or repent of something that we are blaming our parents for. Conversely, when we take full responsibility for our sin, God forgives that sin and gives us the wisdom we need to move forward in a victorious way that breaks generational curses and sets us free from the bondage of sinful strongholds (Psalm 32:5, Psalm 51, 1st John 1:8-9). 

It leads folks to believe it’s okay to break the fifth commandment- 

Believing the lie that their mom and dad are ultimately responsible for our misery and sin leads us to believe that it’s okay to disrespect or dishonor our parents. This line of thinking is in direct violation to the fifth commandment (Exodus 20:12). This commandment is clear, unambiguous and repeated many times throughout the Old and New Testaments (Deuteronomy 5:16, Matthew 14:4, Matthew 19:16-20, Mark 7:10, Ephesians 6:2). It is one of the clearest teachings in all the Bible. God was so serious about this commandment there is blessing promised for keeping it and curses attached to breaking it (including a death penalty). Furthermore, nowhere in the Bible are we given a loophole when it comes to honoring/respecting our parents. It is impossible to honor or respect someone who you blame for all your problems and bad choices. 

It’s at the root of the estrangement epidemic- 

Children cutting their parents out is now a popular trend. Typically, the parents were not abusive just “toxic”. Toxicity is frequently defined as “not being supportive enough” or “not in tune to the child’s needs”.  The bottom-line is that these kids have bought into the lie that all of their problems and issues are the fault of their parents rather than the result of their own choices. This view is at the root of incalculable misery and hurt. No one wins in an estrangement. The parents are left devastated, and the adult child never really grows up and takes responsibility for their own behavior (Ezekial 18)

It’s not biblical– 

It’s just not. There is not a single Bible verse that indicates that anyone is responsible for our choices or sin except us. Period. People are not soulless automatons preprogrammed by childhood experiences. We are influenced by the experiences we have growing up but ultimately each one of us chooses how we respond to what we experienced.  

All parents are sinners, therefore they all make mistakes. Some even sin against their children (Romans 3:23). This does not make abuse okay or excusable (Romans 3:19). Parents who abuse their children will be held accountable for their sin (Ezekiel 18:4, Matthew 18:6, Romans 14:12). That said, no one is responsible for our adult choices except us and taking responsibility for our own junk is the first step in making a better future for ourselves. 

Myths Christians Believe about God Guaranteed to Produce Spiritual Chaos-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

I urged you upon my departure for Macedonia, to remain on at Ephesus so that you would instruct certain people not to teach strange doctrines, nor to pay attention to myths- 1st Timothy 1:3-4a

One definition of a myth is:

An unproved or false collective belief.

Most myths are relatively harmless, others not so much. It’s no big deal to believe in the loch ness monster. Believing that myth will likely have zero impact on your life (other than people thinking you’re a bit odd).

However. 

There are myths that do cause all sorts of problems. The most destructive myths are the myths we believe about God, ourselves and how we ought to relate to or interact with God. These myths keep us ensnared in wrong thinking, sinful patterns and relational dysfunction.  Because spiritual myths impact how we live out our faith we must take time to examine our behaviors and thinking on a regular basis. Routine self-examination prevents us from wandering from the truth (2nd Corinthians 13:5). 

Following are just a few of the most damaging spiritual myths out there:

God just wants me to be happy-

God has nothing against happiness. In fact, it could be argued by the sheer number of celebrations God mandated in the Old Testament that God loves celebrations and delights in human happiness. However, happiness is not God’s number one goal for our lives.  Mainly because God is far more concerned with our holiness (Ephesians 1:4, Ephesians 4:27, 1st Peter 1:14-16). God’s number one goal for us is to become as much like Jesus as humanly possible (Romans 8:28-29, Romans 12:2). Becoming like Jesus is no easy task for sinful people, sometimes it takes a little bit of adversity and hardship to make it happen. God allows hardship and difficulty because it reveals our selfishness and wrong thinking. When these things are revealed, we have an opportunity to let go of sinful behaviors and wrong thinking and put on new behaviors and attitudes (Colossians 3, Romans 12). If we let go of old behaviors routinely, over the course of time we will begin to look and act like Jesus. 

I should never pray for myself- 

This myth sounds super-spiritual, after all what could possibly be more spiritual than choosing to pray only for others?  It’s not spiritual. Believing this particular myth pretty much guarantees that you will never become a spiritually mature Christian. This is because there are some things you know about you that no one else could possibly know.  No one else could know if you covet, have a critical spirit or have a problem with lust, and all of those sins will trip us up and keep us from becoming mature in Christ.  Don’t get me wrong, it is critical we pray for one another (James 1:16). However, it is equally critical we ask God to help us to grow past the sins and wrong attitudes that are tripping us up and keeping us from authentic transformation.   

It’s a sin to be tempted-

I have met a surprising number of individuals who believe that being tempted to sin is the same as sinning because of what Jesus said about lusting in Matthew 5:28. The conclusion these folks draw from Jesus’ teaching is that if they have already committed adultery (or whatever) in their heart so they should just go ahead and do the deed. This is terrible theology that ignores a whole pile of Scripture that commands us to resist temptation rather than give into it (Ephesians 6:13, Hebrews 12:4, James 4:7). 

If I share about Jesus (or biblical truth) and people reject Him (or it) I’m doing something wrong- 

To be a Christian, we must accept some hard truths. We must believe we are sinners and that we have no way to save ourselves (Romans 3:23). We must also accept the fact that God expects us to repent of our sins and live life His way (Matthew 3:12, Acts 3:19, Acts 17:30). Some people find these truths to be too much and reject them. It is critical we understand people rejected Jesus when He shared hard truths (John 12:48, Luke 10:16) and servants are never above their master (John13:16). Therefore, it makes sense that sometimes people will reject truth no matter how well or compassionately it is presented. Our job is to present truth as honestly and winsomely as possible and to pray for those who reject truth. Sometimes they come back when they are ready to live those truths out.

What I do matters more than what I think- 

What we do does matter. I am in no way an advocate of cheap grace or easy believe-ism. However, all our wrong behavior starts with what and how we think (Matthew 15:18-19).  Therefore, if we change our behavior without getting our thinking in alignment with God’s word we will always go back to the wrong behavior (Proverbs 26:11). 

And finally,

What I do in church is my ministry-

 It is, but it also isn’t, our true ministry is what we do and how we behave when we aren’t in church. Ministry is how we treat people and live our lives. Our ministry is the level of kindness, generosity and integrity we show to the world.

Getting free of these spiritual myths empowers us to be free to be all Jesus wants us to be (John 8:32). 

What is a Spiritual “Loin” and how do we Gird Them?

Lisa M. Price1 Comment

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free- John 8:32 NIV

I am not a Bible translator. 

However.

I do know enough about the Bible and Bible translation to know there are words and phrases frequently misunderstood by readers due to an awkward translation from the original language (Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic) into English.  Occasionally a translation issue arises because there is not a truly suitable English word to use in place of the Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek. Most of the time translation problems occur because the translator really is simply attempting to make a difficult concept easier to understand or less weird for the modern-day reader.

Ephesians 6:15 is (in my opinion) an example of this.  

In Ephesians 6:14 Christians are told to “put on the full armor of God”. The purpose of doing so is to prepare ourselves spiritually to stand our ground against the devil and the various schemes he plots against us. In verse fifteen most contemporary translations tell us the very first step in the “putting on” process is to have: 

 “the belt of truth buckled around your waist”.

Here’s the thing:

I do not like to Monday morning quarterback in a field I am not an expert in.  Mostly because it me makes look like a prideful, dumb jerk. Nonetheless. In my opinion using the word “waist” here lacks accuracy and has led to some confusion as to what the passage is actually saying.  

 In the original Greek, the NASB and a few older translations, it simply says:

“Gird up your loins with truth”. 

There are some really good reasons translators would choose waist over loins. Loins is a weird word. It just is. It makes people uncomfortable and it begs all sorts of questions, such as: 

Does the word loins mean what I think it means? 

How does truth protect my “southern regions”?? 

What does that have to do with any of this? 

For reals. 

The Greek word used in this passage is osphus and it means exactly what you think it means. It means loins, as in loins. As in our inner thighs or to put it more bluntly (and accurately) the part of our bodies that we use to make babies.  

So. 

Here’s some facts we know about our physical loins:

Our loins are the most personal, private place on our physical bodies.  No one (except a few weirdos) shows their loins to complete strangers. Having our loin area exposed is humiliating, so we keep them covered up. Normal people do not make a practice of discussing their loins with anyone. It’s just too weird and personal.  If our loin area gets punched or kicked, it hurts. Really bad. It does not matter if the person is male or female— a blow to the loin area devastates a person’s ability to function, sometimes for a good while. 

Here’s the thing. 

We all have spiritual, emotional and psychological places every bit as vulnerable and sensitive as our physical loins. We all have areas of shame and regret. We have all had experiences we don’t like to talk about—or even think about. When one of those places is exposed or hit in some way (triggered), it hurts like the dickens and we feel broken and shattered. 

These are the places Satan likes to hit the hardest (1st Peter 5:8). 

Satan kicks at our metaphorical loins by reminding us of all the stupid sinful things we have done or have had done to us. He tells us the trauma we have experienced left us damaged beyond repair.  He tells us our past or present sin has disqualified us from ever being used by God in a significant way. Satan tells we are defined by what do and if we don’t do enough or do things the “right” way we are failures. He tells us we are worthless and completely lacking in value. 

All Lies. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. Straight from the literal pit of hell. 

The first verse in this formative passage on spiritual warfare tells us that the very first thing we must do to defend ourselves against the enemy is to protect our most sensitive emotional places WITH THE TRUTH OF GOD’S WORD (John 8:32). Satan attacks us with lies about ourselves, about God and about other people and what those people think about us (John 8:44)

If we do not know the truth about who we are in Christ, where our true value comes from and what God really thinks of us those lies will shake our confidence in the goodness and forgiveness of God, and make us want to quit Christianity altogether. It will leave us unable to function spiritually. When that happens, we’re done for emotionally and rendered useless for the good works we were created for (Ephesians 4:10) 

The secret to protecting our spiritual loins is to know who God is and who we are in Christ. We have to know deep down in our knower that God is good and kind (Psalm 84:11, Isaiah 63:7, Acts 14:16-17) We have to realize that when we put our faith in Jesus and His resurrection we were at that moment made clean by Him (Hebrews 9:14, Acts 13:38, 1st Corinthians 6:9-11, Ephesians 1:4). We have to believe that when Jesus forgives us it’s a done deal. God does not go back and relitigate our sin every time we mess up or make a mistake. We have to accept that God’s love for us is real,  unchanging and endless (James 4:7)

We have to believe God is who He says He is. 

The Unintended Consequences of Refusing to Give it up and Repent Already-

Lisa M. Price1 Comment

Also keep Your servant back from presumptuous sins. Let them not rule over me;
Then I will be innocent, And I will be blameless of great wrongdoing- Psalm 19:13 NASB 

For most of us, our biggest fears besides spiders, snakes and germs are:

Fear of being judged. 

Fear of social shame or humiliation. 

Fear of the future. 

Fear we will not get our needs met. 

With all due respect to everyone’s fears, these are all the wrong things to be afraid of. The short-list of things the Bible says we ought to fear are: 

God (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2, Matthew 10:26, 2nd Corinthians 7:1, 1st Peter 2:17). 

Missing out on the grace of God (Hebrews 12:17, 1st Peter 5:5). 

Getting tangled up in some sort of sin (Hebrews 12:1). 

And:

The obstinate refusal to fully repent of a known sin (Jude 1:4, Psalm 19:13, Hebrews 10:26). 

There are all sorts of reasons why Christians choose not to repent. But, truth-be-told almost all of them go back to the list of all the wrong things to be afraid of. Folks resist repentance because admitting wrong (a crucial aspect of repentance) might lead to social shame or change how people see us. Sometimes we fear the confession that might need to go along with our repentance will affect our future or keep us from getting our needs met.  

So. 

 None of the above concerns are entirely irrational. Those are real issues. Sometimes there are consequences for coming clean and getting things right with God and people.  But we have to remember that all Christians sin.  Most Christians sin mostly on accident, a few sin on purpose but all Christians sin (1st John 1:8-9). There is grace for sin (Romans 3:24), but only when we choose to do things God’s way and repent. Choosing not to repent is effectively choosing misery. It will not result in a loss of salvation but it will create all sorts of other painful problems with unintended consequences, including:

We open ourselves up to all sorts of other sins- 

This is a real thing. Anytime we sin and refuse to acknowledge the sin, feel remorse for it and turn away from it our conscience becomes seared (1st Timothy 4:1-3). The human conscience is an oddly delicate thing. Once it is seared it becomes much less prone to feeling conviction and sinning feels like a lot less of a problem. This is why when a Christian is outed for some form of moral failure there is almost always a long list of their sins. They lied AND they cheated on their spouse AND they used drugs, AND they stole money AND they treated people like garbage. Nevertheless, the whole ugly muddle always begins with the very first sin they refused to deal with God’s way (Acts 3:19, Matthew 3:8, Romans 2:4)

We run the risk of making ourselves sick- 

Again, this is a real thing.  If someone is a genuine Christian refusing to repent always leads to feelings of guilt and even self-loathing (Psalm 32:3). Because there is a connection between our minds, hearts and bodies eventually those feelings of guilt and self-loathing create stress that damages our physical bodies. (Proverbs 13:12, Proverbs 14:30, Acts 2:26).  Symptoms of stress eventually affect every part of our bodies. 

It becomes very difficult to us to do ministry and life well–  

All Christians receive the Holy Spirit when they put their faith and trust in Jesus (John 14:16-17, Acts 2:38, Romans 15:16, Ephesians 1:13). Nonetheless, believers in Jesus are also told to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 9:17). A continual filling of the Holy Spirit brings joy, peace, wisdom and insight which empowers us to do ministry and life well (Acts 4:31, Acts 13:8-10, Acts 13:52).  It is possible to grieve the Holy Spirit. We grieve the Holy Spirit anytime we live in a way that runs counter to the biblical truths we have been taught (Isaiah 59:1-2, Isaiah 63:10, Ephesians 4:30). Anytime we refuse to repent we forfeit the spiritual power and sense of peace that comes with having the Holy Spirit operating in our lives at full capacity. The net effect of this foolishness is we do life and ministry in our own feeble strength and power (Philippians 4:13).  This never leads to anything good or life-giving. 

Intimacy with God is broken-

Sin has caused human beings to run and hide from God (metaphorically speaking) since the fall of mankind. This inclination is literally part of our human DNA (Genesis 3:8-10, Romans 5:12). We hide from God because we understand intuitively sin breaks intimacy with God. This dynamic creates all sorts of problems and unintended consequences in our lives. The worst being that we no longer feel we can run to God for help with the problems caused by our sinful choices. The answer is always just give it up and repent already (Acts 3:19). 

Most of the time we hang onto sinful junk because we really want to maintain complete control of any consequences we might suffer. Control always comes at a high price in this life. God graciously gives us the abundant, joyful life Jesus promised when we make a practice of confessing our sin and repenting quickly (John 10:10). Choosing repentance always leads to peace, intimacy with God, a clean conscience and the ability to operate at maximum spiritual capacity. All of those blessings are worth giving up anything we have to give up.  

The Character Trait that Leads to Spiritual Captivity-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Better a poor but wise youth than an old but foolish king who no longer knows how to heed a warning– Ecclesiastes 4:13 NIV

The book of Daniel begins with what appears to be nothing more than a bit of historical context: 

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.  And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he carried off to the temple of his god in Babylonia and put in the treasure house of his god.Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, chief of his court officials, to bring into the king’s service some of the Israelites from the royal family and the nobility—young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king’s palace- Daniel 1:1-3

However. 

Daniel 1:1-3 is more than a bit of history. The intro to the book of Daniel is actually the grim fulfillment of a prophecy given to King Hezekiah more than a hundred years before:

The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord. And some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood who will be born to you, will be taken away, and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.” 2nd Kings 20:17-18 

Hezekiah did not respond to the prophet’s words the way I would have expected, i.e. with sorrow, alarm and a panicky appeal to reverse the predicted outcome. Instead, Hezekiah made light of the prophet’s disturbing forecast. Hezekiah’s apparently laisser-faire demeanor strongly indicates he was more than willing to trade the destruction of his nation and the future enslavement of his children and grandchildren for peace and prosperity in his own time (2nd Kings 20:19).

Here’s the thing though:

Hezekiah was not a horrible person nor was he a negligent leader. To the contrary, Hezekiah is described as a uniquely good leader and an all-around stand-up guy. He destroyed the places of pagan worship scattered throughout Judah and removed all traces of idolatry from the Temple (2nd Kings 18:1-7). When faced with certain defeat from a bordering nation he prayed and literally begged God to save the nation and against all odds Judah remained at peace during Hezekiah’s reign (2nd Kings 18:9-19:37, Proverbs 3:3-5). Hezekiah was not a bad leader or person. Up until that moment Hezekiah appeared to be a good, God-fearing man driven by love for God and a desire to see his people living righteously and in safety.  

So. 

What happened? How did such a good guy go so terribly wrong? Well. I believe the answer is buried between the lines of a couple verses in 2nd Kings: 

Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in his storehouses—the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine olive oil—his armory and everything found among his treasures. There was nothing in his palace or in all his kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them- 2nd Kings 20:13

When asked about the visit he responded with: 

They saw everything in my palace,” Hezekiah said. “There is nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.”- 2nd Kings 20:14

I do not believe God was angry with Hezekiah for showing the Babylonians the treasures of Judah. It was certainly not the wisest strategic or political move. However, it wasn’t the problem, his focus was.

Hezekiah’s focus went from being entirely on God and the welfare of his people to be entirely Hezekiah-focused. In just a few short sentences the king uses personal pronouns a total of six times. He talks about” his” palace, “his” storehouses, “his” gold, “his” armory and “my treasures. His, his, and mine, mine, not so much as a word was uttered concerning God’s provision or God’s goodness or God’s glory.

It was all Hezekiah all the time. 

Hezekiah experienced a change in attitude that can take place in anyone—even those who sincerely love God and are called according to His purposes. The change of heart he experienced was subtle at first. It took place gradually. As a result, Hezekiah did not even see that he was focused on entirely on himself and motivated by his own success and comfort rather than on what was best for his people and glorifying to the God he served. The end result of his self-focus was the eventual destruction of the nation he loved, seventy years of Babylonian captivity and the enslavement of a man who was likely his own grandson (Daniel). 

Yikes. 

This passage ought to serve as a cautionary tale to all of us because we just so happen to live in an age of self-focus, self-love, self-worship and self-centeredness. We dwell in a society that values self above others. Every. Single. Time. 

Seriously. 

God despises self-focus (Romans 2:8, Philippians 2:3).  He knows that even good, godly people who permit themselves to become self-focused stop caring how their present actions will affect future generations. Even the best people start valuing convenience over righteousness anytime selfishness becomes a part of their operating system (2nd Chronicles 28:3, Jeremiah 19:5, Ezekiel 20:31).  Self-focus is spiritually blinding. It causes even believers to reject obvious truth. 

Self-focus that’s left to fester always ends in moral decay and some sort of spiritual captivity (2nd Timothy 2:26, Colossians 2:8, Acts 8:23, 1st Timothy 3:1-3). 

Just like it did with Hezekiah.  

Breaking the power of our self-focus is a tough but necessary thing if we want to be like Jesus and bless others (Philippians 2:1-16).  

Here’s the thing though:

It’s almost impossible to see our own self-focus in a culture where self-promotion, self-worship and self-centeredness is all regarded as virtue. Getting free of the curse of self-focus requires a willingness to take a hard look at our lives. It requires a ruthlessness in evaluating our attitudes and mindsets. If we want to free ourselves from the curse of thinking about ourselves we have to be willing to humble ourselves and flat-out ask God to show us the stuff in us we really don’t want to see or deal with.

When we ask God to give us freedom the curse of self-focus God frees us from captivity and releases us to be a blessing.

What Does it Really Mean to Surrender Something or Someone to God?

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Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight- Proverbs 3:5-6 NIV

Surrender.

One definition for surrender would be:

 The act of giving something up completely or letting go of control of an outcome. 

Some synonyms for surrender include: submission, relinquish, capitulation, yield and forfeit. 

For the record: surrender is not on the list of my favorite words. 

Seriously.

Surrender sucks.

Surrendering ourselves, our desires, our behaviors, our dreams, our loved ones or the outcome of situations to God is one of the hardest things God asks Christians to do (James 4:1-7, Luke 11:28). 

There is typically some confusion around the differences between making a commitment and surrendering.  Both are agreements we make with God but they are entirely different in their nature. A commitment is more of a partnership, therefore when we make a commitment to something we naturally assume we will have some control over the process. We also assume we will able to take personal pride in a positive outcome.  In surrender we relinquish complete control of the process to God and He gets all the glory for a good outcome (Psalm 32:8-10). Commitments always have an exit strategy if the process becomes too painful or the personal difficulties become too much to bear. 

There is no exit strategy in surrender. It’s do or die.

Surrendering our sin or someone we love to God means we concede we have reached the end of our ability to fix, manage or deal with the problem on our own. In surrender we get real and acknowledge we cannot change anything or anyone in our own power— no matter how desperately we might want to. We recognize the hard, painful truth we simply cannot make anyone do anything. We need God to do whatever needs to be done in us or our loved one or it’s just not happening.

Sigh. 

Because we are all gifted with freewill—AND sinful to the core (Joshua 24:15, 1st Peter 4:3, Ephesians 2:1, 1st John 1:9-10, Psalm 32:5, Psalm 51:5) surrender is always a painful and difficult process — regardless of how long we have walked with the Lord. Additionally, we are by nature a bunch of control freaks therefore, surrender is rarely a one and done. Typically, we have to take the habit, person, situation or sin to God over and over again until the battle is won.

Surrender looks different in different situations.

For some it might mean letting God work in the life of a loved one without running in and lecturing, making excuses for their behavior or enabling a sinful lifestyle. For others surrender means choosing to do something God’s way even when God’s way literally makes no sense (Judges 7, Joshua 6, Matthew 6:25-34, Acts 9:1-17).  For others it means finally being willing to let go of a life controlling habit or sinful coping mechanism even when we don’t know how we will survive without the comfort it provides.  

Surrender is always about trust and trust is universally hard for humans. This makes the choice to surrender our wants, needs, habits and loved ones to God painful and tough. Really tough (Hebrews 12:4, 1st Corinthians 10:13). All that being said, surrender comes with benefits and blessings we literally cannot get any other way.  Some of those benefits include:

Surrender forms deep connection with God- 

It is totally possible for a person to attend church, read the Bible regularly and live the life of a Christian without ever really connecting with God on an intimate level. People do it all the time. Surrender forces us to acknowledge there are simply some things we cannot do without God’s help. This naturally makes us more dependent on God, but it does more than just that. When we surrender we come face-to-face with how weak and frail we really are (2nd Corinthians 12:9). This knowledge drives us to pray about everything and prayer is the ONLY way to build authentic connection and real intimacy with God (Genesis 5:24, James 2:23). The joy, peace and wellbeing we derive from intimacy with God is alone worth the pain of surrender. 

When we surrender we are given a super natural source of wisdom- 

Surrender means we give up and hand control over to God. This act forces us to seek God for wisdom and understanding into our problems instead of leaning on our own limited understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6). When we ask God for wisdom rather than simply asking Him to bless whatever plans and ideas we have worked out on our own He blesses us with the inside scoop on how to deal with people appropriately and problem solve seemingly unsolvable problems (Matthew 7:7-8, James 1:5). The wisdom we gain in surrender empowers us to live every part of our lives victoriously.

We (eventually) get the joy that comes with victory over our flesh-

Giving up control is profoundly unpleasant.  Nobody likes giving up or giving in. Surrendering is essentially admitting failure. Nonetheless, it is the only way to overcome certain sins, bad habits and life-controlling behaviors. There are simply some things we can never do on our own. That said, the joy we experience when it finally dawns on us that we no longer feel any desire or compulsion to indulge in the garbage that was ruining our lives is totally worth the cost to our pride. 

And finally:

In surrender we gain real freedom. Surrender frees us from the need to control the outcome, our fleshly desires, our control freak tendencies and our pride. When we are free of those things we are free indeed (John 8:36). 

What is a Spiritual “Loin” and how do we Gird Them?

Lisa M. Price1 Comment

Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free- John 8:32 NIV

I am not a Bible translator. 

However. 

I do know enough about the Bible and Bible translation to know there are words and phrases frequently misunderstood by readers due to an awkward translation from the original language (Hebrew, Greek or Aramaic) into English.  Occasionally a translation issue arises because there is not a truly suitable English word to use in place of the Hebrew, Aramaic or Greek. Most of the time translation problems occur because the translator really is simply attempting to make a difficult concept easier to understand or less weird for the modern-day reader.

Ephesians 6:15 is (in my opinion) an example of this.  

In Ephesians 6:14 Christians are told to “put on the full armor of God”. The purpose of doing so is to prepare ourselves spiritually to stand our ground against the devil and the various schemes he plots against us. In verse fifteen most contemporary translations tell us the very first step in the “putting on” process is to have: 

 “the belt of truth buckled around your waist”.

Here’s the thing:

I do not like to Monday morning quarterback in a field I am not an expert in.  Mostly because it me makes look like a prideful, dumb jerk. Nonetheless. In my opinion using the word “waist” here lacks accuracy and has led to some confusion as to what the passage is actually saying.  

 In the original Greek, the NASB and a few older translations, it simply says:

“Gird up your loins with truth”. 

There are some really good reasons translators would choose waist over loins. Loins is a weird word. It just is. It makes people uncomfortable and it begs all sorts of questions, such as: 

Does the word loins mean what I think it means? 

How does truth protect my “southern regions”?? 

What does that have to do with any of this? 

For reals. 

The Greek word used in this passage is osphus and it means exactly what you think it means. It means loins, as in loins. As in our inner thighs or to put it more bluntly (and accurately) the part of our bodies that we use to make babies.  

So. 

Here’s some facts we know about our physical loins:

Our loins are the most personal, private place on our physical bodies.  No one (except a few weirdos) shows their loins to complete strangers. Having our loin area exposed is humiliating, so we keep them covered up. Normal people do not make a practice of discussing their loins with anyone. It’s just too weird and personal.  If our loin area gets punched or kicked, it hurts. Really bad. It does not matter if the person is male or female— a blow to the loin area devastates a person’s ability to function, sometimes for a good while. 

Here’s the thing. 

We all have spiritual, emotional and psychological places every bit as vulnerable and sensitive as our physical loins. We all have areas of shame and regret. We have all had experiences we don’t like to talk about—or even think about. When one of those places is exposed or hit in some way (triggered), it hurts like the dickens and we feel broken and shattered. 

These are the places Satan likes to hit the hardest (1st Peter 5:8). 

Satan kicks at our metaphorical loins by reminding us of all the stupid sinful things we have done or have had done to us. He tells us the trauma we have experienced left us damaged beyond repair.  He tells us our past or present sin has disqualified us from ever being used by God in a significant way. Satan tells we are defined by what do and if we don’t do enough or do things the “right” way we are failures. He tells us we are worthless and completely lacking in value. 

All Lies. Every. Single. One. Of. Them. Straight from the literal pit of hell. 

The first verse in this formative passage on spiritual warfare tells us that the very first thing we must do to defend ourselves against the enemy is to protect our most sensitive emotional places WITH THE TRUTH OF GOD’S WORD (John 8:32). Satan attacks us with lies about ourselves, about God and about other people and what those people think about us (John 8:44)

If we do not know the truth about who we are in Christ, where our true value comes from and what God really thinks of us those lies will shake our confidence in the goodness and forgiveness of God, and make us want to quit Christianity altogether. It will leave us unable to function spiritually. When that happens, we’re done for emotionally and rendered useless for the good works we were created for (Ephesians 4:10) 

The secret to protecting our spiritual loins is to know who God is and who we are in Christ. We have to know deep down in our knower that God is good and kind (Psalm 84:11, Isaiah 63:7, Acts 14:16-17) We have to realize that when we put our faith in Jesus and His resurrection we were at that moment made clean by Him (Hebrews 9:14, Acts 13:38, 1st Corinthians 6:9-11, Ephesians 1:4). We have to believe that when Jesus forgives us it’s a done deal. God does not go back and relitigate our sin every time we mess up or make a mistake. We have to accept that God’s love for us is real,  unchanging and endless (James 4:7)

We have to believe God is who He says He is. 

The Seven Churches Series- Laodicea the Church that Gives us Hope (Seriously)

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Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord- Acts 3:19 NIV

If one had to live in the ancient world Laodicea was the place to live. 

Those lucky enough to live in Laodicea were affluent, worldly-wise, healthy and proud for all sorts of really good reasons. 

Laodicea had it all.

It was a major financial center. It was also home to a medical school that trained some of finest medical professionals in the ancient world. The region was famous for its exports, which included an expensive fabric made from a rare and much sought-after black wool and an eye powder renowned for its healing properties. The city was so affluent that when it was leveled by a major earthquake in A.D. 60 the city leaders refused to take any financial assistance at all from Rome. They didn’t need to.

The Laodiceans were a pull themselves up from their own bootstraps’ kind of a people.

The church in Laodicea had taken on all the characteristics of the city of Laodicea. Church members were wealthy, sophisticated and self-sufficient. These same people were also far from God and uninterested in an authentic relationship with Him. The first century church in Laodicea did their level best to avoid hard teaching and controversy and as a result they suffered zero oppression or persecution.  They managed this feat despite living in a city that had all the factors that typically created a lot of problems for Christians (a large and powerful Jewish population, active trade unions and an abundance of pagan temples).

 Jesus begins by comparing the churches spirituality to the water supply in Laodicea.

This was by no means a complimentary comparison. 

For all its resources and natural beauty, the one thing Laodicea lacked was a tasty water supply. There was more than enough water available, however, it all came from a hot-spring located several miles up a hill outside the city. The water had to be piped in and as a result, it had an incredibly unpleasant taste and smell (think sulfur or rotten eggs) as well a warmish temperature, no matter the temperature outside. Jesus starts out by letting the Christians in Laodicea know that their deeds and lack of zeal was so gross to Him that He wanted to spit the whole lot of them out of His mouth. 

Yikes.

 Not exactly an auspicious beginning.

Jesus goes on to say that He was fully aware of what was going on in their hearts and none of it was good or life-giving (Jeremiah 17:9-10). The Christians in Laodicea were conceited and ungrateful for the many gifts they had been given. They also lacked any kind of self-awareness at all (Galatians 6:4, 2nd Corinthians 13:5). The Christians in Laodicea were snooty and smug regarding their earthly riches, physical well-being and abundance of resources. Jesus was categorically unimpressed with them and their worldly success.

 The text is clear.

 Jesus loved the Laodicean Christians but was disgusted with their complete absence of good deeds and lack of humility (Matthew 7:19, Romans 2:10, Romans 12). The church felt good about themselves, their resources and what they had accomplished in life but in all the ways that really mattered, they were shameful, visionless and adrift.   Jesus urges the Christians in Laodicea to repent in the some of the strongest and scariest language in all of the Bible (Revelation 3:18-19) 

Here’s the thing though:  

Laodicea is a spiritual success story.

Apparently, the church took Jesus’ words to heart. The best evidence strongly suggests the Christians in Laodicea heeded the words of Jesus, got their spiritual act together, repented their faces off and went on to make a spiritual difference in their world. 

 In April of 2021 My husband and I visited Laodicea. Our tour guide pointed out there is ample evidence indicating the church went completely underground by early in the second century (hidden churches, secret symbols, etc.).  The church would have had little reason to hide unless they had started to take their faith seriously and, in the process, became offensive to the pagan culture around them.  Moreover, one of the earliest church councils took place in Laodicea. It is highly unlikely Laodicea would have been chosen as a location for an early church council if the church in Laodicea still had a reputation for being spiritually weak, lukewarm and proud of their sin. 

The Christians in Laodicea took Jesus up on His offer to enter into intimate fellowship with Him (Revelation 3:20).

This makes the final letter to the Seven Churches the most hopeful and encouraging of all the letters to all the churches. The outcome of the most messed up of all the churches tells us that no one is ever too lost to be found and even the most worldly of Christians can hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, respond to God’s prompting and become something beautiful and life-giving.  Not all churches fared as well as Laodicea. Some (like Ephesus) ended in a sad, spiritual fizzle.   

This letter and the church at Laodicea teaches us that our deeds and attitudes matter every bit as much as our beliefs (James 2:14-20, Ephesians 2:1-3).

  Jesus does care about what we believe. Doctrine matters (1st Timothy 4:16, Titus 2:1). Every Christian should strive to understand the Bible and every church should teach it with clarity.  That being said, ultimately, Christians prove their faith by what they do and how they live (Colossians 3, 1st Thessalonians 4:1-8, 2nd Peter 3-11). If we say we believe in God and continue to live like every other heathen on our street we probably don’t believe in God at all (John 3:36, James 2:14-26).  The key to a thriving faith is to read the Bible, listen to the Holy Spirit and then DO what we are told to do. 

It’s what keeps us spiritually alive and relevant to the world we live in.

The Curses Christian Families Pass on-

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Riches do not endure forever, and a crown is not secure for all generations– Proverbs 27:24 NIV

There are Christians who believe generational curses are nothing more than fake news.

Others think they’re an excuse weak people use when they don’t want to take responsibility for their own choices. Still others are convinced generational curses are the result of some distant ancestor ticking God off. In His anger God “cursed” the offender and his or her entire family line with a hex dooming them all to generation after generation of sin and misery. Then there are those who believe generational curses are real but they only happen to heathens.  

 Generational curses are real. 

However, they are not really the result of God’s wrath or punishment. They are the logical outcome of human foolishness and spiritual rebellion. A generational sin becomes a family trait when a person chooses to sin and then does not confess their sin or repent of it. Some version of that same sin is then passed down to the succeeding generation in the form of a behavior or attitude many members of the family get stuck in. The most common kinds of generational curses in unsaved families are sexual sin, abuse, alcohol, anger, codependence, drugs, stupidity, anarchy and foolishness. 

Christian families pass on generational curses too. However, generational curses tend to look different in Christian families. Generational curses show up in attitudes and behaviors that dishonor Jesus and hearts that are far from God. Generational curses are the number one reason faith is not passed down from one generation to the next. Following are five of the most common causes of generational curses in Christian families:

We cultivate surface-y goodness-  

Jesus warned repeatedly against cultivating a pretense or façade of goodness and righteousness at the cost of authentic heart transformation and change (Matthew 23, Matthew 25:31-46, Luke 11:37-54, Romans 12). Sadly, it’s not hard to fake righteousness, with everyone except our kids. Our children get a front row seat to the sin we successfully hide from the rest of the world. When we cultivate an illusion of goodness rather than dealing with our sinful junk honestly, we either pass on the horrible generational curse of spiritual fakery (Acts 5:1-10), or our kids develop hearts of rebellion against a religion they assume is either phony or powerless.  Sigh.

We nurse a bitter spirit-

 Because bitterness is almost always the product of actual trauma, suffering and being sinned against, bitterness feels reasonable and justifiable. It’s not. God forbids bitterness because it eventually becomes who we are (Ephesians 4:31). Bitterness saturates our souls, transforms our personality and turns us into an ugly distortion of what God wants us to be. This ruins our Christian testimony and wrecks opportunities for ministry. It also has a defiling effect on our children and grandchildren (Hebrews 12:15). Anytime we choose resentment, anger or bitterness over forgiveness we infect our kids and grandkids with the generational curses of anger and offense. This causes them to become hardhearted towards God and unforgiving towards other people (Proverbs 19:11, Proverbs 18:19).

We indulge in too many “grey area” behaviors- 

Not everything in this life is cut and dried or black and white. This is even true in the Christian life (1st Corinthians 6:12). There are things Christians will not go to hell for doing that also will not help them become better, wiser or godlier people.  The shows we watch, how we treat and talk about people, our church attendance, alcohol use, whether or not we use curse words are all “grey areas”. No one is going to hell for having a beer, spotty church attendance, being rude or saying a naughty word every once in a while.  However, it is also true that how we handle those grey areas will impact how our kids process their faith and live out their Christianity as adults.  If we want to prevent the generational curse of spiritual complacency we must be cautious and prayerful about how we deal with the grey areas of life.  

We don’t honor our parents- 

We live in a culture where almost every family is labeled “toxic” in some way. Even some Christians routinely use the thinnest of excuses to cut their parents or in-laws out of their lives (2nd Timothy 3:1-3). Unless there is a really good reason for doing so, disrespect to parents is a terrible sin guaranteed to reap ugly generational consequences. There are parents who are truly toxic, evil or who were genuinely abusive. The Bible does not command anyone to allow abusive parents to move into their homes or give them free and unfettered access to the grandkids (that would be stupid). Christians should exercise wisdom and discernment in all situations. However, contrary to contemporary thinking, it is not abusive for a parent to be dumb, controlling or less than perfectly tuned into their child’s needs. The command for adult children to honor their parents is the only command in the Ten Commandments that comes with the promise of blessing (Exodus 20:12) and there are no qualifiers given. Adult children are to do their best to figure out a way honor their parents. Period. Even if those parents were less than perfect or the situation is complicated.  The number of generational sins we bring on ourselves and our children when we refuse to honor parents is innumerable. 

A generational sin is not difficult to break, in a Christian family.

However.

We do have to recognize the sin and confess it to God. Then we have to be intentional about changing the sinful behavior or attitude. When we do that God graciously steps into our situation with His mercy, grace and transforming power and does more than we can ask or imagine in our lives and in the lives of our children and grandchildren (Ephesians 3:20)