Not today, Satan. Never Again.

You can’t do it. You will never succeed. You will fail.

Such is the sound of the thoughts that run through my mind daily. With each success in life, there is the subtle reminder of every failure that I have endured, every pain I have ever caused, every sin I have ever committed. The whispers in my mind are from the enemy, an accusatory voice that longs to see me muddle through another year, to waste another week, and to be distracted for another day. This week, I found something, a truth that had been there all along, but I had neglected to see.

I thought about 2019 coming up, and thought, “Well, I guess I should just wait until the New Year to start.” Immediately, I recognized the source of the thought. Waiting to start until 2019 was a waste of nearly two weeks. I was about to do exactly what Satan wanted me to do. I was about to wait another day, make another excuse, waste another house.

No more. The clock is ticking, and I am tired of wasting the time I have been given.

I saw a church sign recently that spoke to this truth. The sign read, “Today is God’s gift to you. How you use it is your gift to God.” How true is such a statement? God has given us today, but Satan tries to convince us to waste it, to be distracted away from our calling, and live in the regret of another day that only produced unfulfilled potential.

Joshua reached such a place with the people of Israel. The lack of commitment and the turning towards God, then away from God, then back to God was overwhelming. As the Lord spoke through Joshua, Joshua informed the people that he had made a choice for the course of the rest of his life and his family, then turned to the people to challenge them to do the same.

Today. Not tomorrow. Not next week. Not when a New Year comes.

He said to them that they should choose to follow the Lord. Then, he gave them the alternate options, after he told of all that the Lord had done for them. Joshua put it to them. He demanded an immediate response. He said, “But if it does not please you to worship Yahweh, choose for yourselves today the one you will worship.” (Joshua 24:15 HCSB)

Today. This moment a decision is made, and that decision should influence every moment that follows. Satan says we have tomorrow. God warns that nothing is guaranteed as far as time on earth. Which voice will you follow today? Which is the voice of truth in your ears? For those who choose to listen to the doubts and indecision of a voice of distraction, they will always say they will do it tomorrow. But, today. Today, a choice is being made. God whispers, telling us to give Him all that we have, and He will work through it. The Lord tells us to have faith in His ability to work and in His ability to produce fruit from the seeds we plant.

I will be the best disciple, pastor, husband, father, son, writer, and friend that I can be starting today. I choose to give it all to the Lord and to stop listening to the voice of the deceiver who says I will never be enough. Why? The cross says that I am enough, and Scripture says that I must make a choice. Joshua said, “As for me and my family, we will worship Yahweh.” (Joshua 24:15 HCSB) Which choice will you make today? God has gifted you this day, now what will you do with it? I have chosen to forsake the world and follow the Lord, allowing Him to work through me to change the world. How amazing would it be if we all made such a decision? Things might just change around us!

A Sword or Submission

Not too long ago, I was listening to a message by Adrian Rogers. If you have never heard a message by Adrian Rogers, stop what you are doing now and listen to one of his messages. He was a gifted pastor and the particular message was sent to me by one of the members of my congregation. I listened intently and was blown away by the message. In it, he spoke of Peter and where Peter went wrong and when Peter got it right, a message most of us can identify with if we are honest. Where it went wrong for Peter was when his will became more important that the Lord’s will. Luke captured the moment, “Then one of them struck the high priest’s slave and cut off his right ear. But Jesus responded, ‘No more of this!’ And touching his ear, He healed him.” (Luke 22:50-51 HCSB)

What Peter did, pulling out the sward and defending Jesus, seemed to be the right thing to do. Rather than sit idly by, he took action, but the issue came when his will for Jesus became more motivation than God’s will for Jesus. Jesus had come to be the sacrifice, to give up His life for Peter, James, John, the priest’s slave, you, me, etc. Peter stepped in the way and what he did was actually to strike the one who had no power in the situation. The slave was only doing what he was mandated to do but Peter’s defiance for the will of God led to error because Peter simply could not see what God was doing, though Jesus had warned repeatedly that this very day was coming.

I thought about this truth during the winter storm and the life shutdown that follows when more than an inch of snow falls in North Carolina. Are we seeking our will or God’s will? Though something may seem harmless or even admirable, it is nothing if it not aligned with the will of God. Even the most innocent acts can be sinful if the motives for the acts are anything but pure and set on the will of God.

Do you know what never catches the Lord by surprise? The motives of the heart are never a surprise. He knows what we are thinking, what we are seeking to accomplish, and even more importantly, He knows why. The Bible says this, “All a man’s ways seem right to him, but the Lord evaluates the motives.” (Proverbs 16:2 HCSB) What does that mean? God knows deep down why we are doing the things we do. Yes, they may seem right to us, but the question is are they being done for the Lord and according to His will?

So, it comes to the question of why? Is it about Jesus or is it about us? Is it about Jesus’ will or is it more about our way and our will? Peter seemed to do what was right but all along he was wrong, and time revealed where he went wrong. Time will always tell the motives behind what we do, but we can be sure that God already knows. As a year begins to wind down, now is the chance to get it right by doing things God’s way and in accordance with God’s will. A great place to start is by looking at what is being produced by what we are doing. If it is of God, it is producing more of a reflection of God and less of a focus on ourselves.