Cleansing the Temple: Self-Worship
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spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 28, 2023 at 11:43 pmThat would be a wise way to love yourself. But there is a self-love that is sin and idolatry.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 12:12 amYou may as well know this too, Timothy, that in the last days, it is going to be very difficult to be a Christian. For people will love only themselves and their money; they will be proud and boastful, sneering at God, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful to them, and thoroughly bad.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 2:58 amThey will be hardheaded and never give in to others; they will be constant liars and troublemakers and will think nothing of immorality. They will be rough and cruel, and sneer at those who try to be good.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 3:00 amThey will betray their friends; they will be hotheaded, puffed up with pride, and prefer good times to worshiping God. They will go to church, yes, but they won’t really believe anything they hear. Don’t be taken in by people like that 2 Timothy 3:1–4
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 3:02 amLet’s flesh this out and ask the Holy Spirit to convict us of our own sin so that we don’t judge only others we see doing these things.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 3:02 amLook at these words in light of social media, online discussions, how we treat our families, act in traffic and when standing in long lines, or whatever else pushes your buttons.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 3:03 amThe J.B. Phillips translation of the Scriptures is an entirely accurate version that was designed to help people at the time of World War II understand that the early Christians faced very hard times as well. Here’s how this passage is rendered, and “men” is used here to mean humankind.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 8:25 pmWe’ve rendered it here in a list form: But you must realize that in the last days the times will be full of danger. Men will become utterly self-centred, greedy for money, full of big words.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 8:26 pmThey will be proud and contemptuous, without any regard for what their parents taught them. They will be utterly lacking in gratitude, purity and normal human affections.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 8:27 pmThey will be men of unscrupulous speech and have no control of themselves. They will be passionate and unprincipled, treacherous, self-willed and conceited,
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 8:28 pmloving all the time what gives them pleasure instead of loving God. They will maintain a facade of “religion”, but their conduct will deny its validity. You must keep clear of people like this.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 8:30 pmWhile it’s easy to see this behavior among those who do not know Jesus, we Christians are hardly exempt from this forms of self-worship.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 8:30 pmThe fact is, “these people” are unlikely to believe this passage applies to them. That means it may well describe us and maybe not in total, but possibly in part.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 8:31 pmThe love chapter, as it’s sometimes called, in 1 Corinthians 13, illustrates what love looks like and is an opposite view of the dangerous ways we are to avoid.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 8:32 pmThe most pure and sacrificial love is evident in Jesus. We’re called to love others as He did. Upon reading 1 Corinthians 13:4–8, one verse that jumps out is: “Love is not self-seeking.”
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 8:33 pmThat one verse sheds light on whether we’re worshiping God, or ourselves. Whom are we seeking? Do we live to please the Lord, or are we living to please ourselves?
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 8:33 pmThy Will, or My Will? In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus uttered the most powerful seven words ever recorded.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 8:34 pmHe knew the loneliness and suffering that awaited Him at the cross. He sweat drops of blood as He prayed for the cup to pass Matthew 26:36–39
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 8:35 pmYet He prayed: “Not my will, but Yours be done.” Whose will are we praying to be done? Often we pray presumptuously for God instead of praying to God.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 8:36 pmWe presume we know the outcome God wants in our prayer. Instead of praying Thy will be done, we pray that “my will” be done. Our lives and prayers should reflect His heart’s desires, not ours.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 8:37 pmThe will is the part of our soul that is hardest to tame. We were created with the freedom to choose to worship God. We have the free will to choose obedience or disobedience. The decision is ours.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 8:39 pmThis is why we should pray and seek His will over ours. Praying for our will to be done leaves us susceptible to what I call “witchcraft praying”: It’s imposing or forcing our will on someone else in prayer, which may not be at all God’s will for that person.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 8:40 pmFor my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts Isaiah 55:8–9
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 8:40 pmChecking Your Heart Here are some helpful questions to consider as we examine our hearts before the Lord. And these are questions to consider regularly.
spiritdoc1Prayers: 40264Requests: 2394
August 29, 2023 at 8:41 pmThe first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength.
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