Fear Not! A Guide to Living a Fearless LifeNäide

Jesus, Could You Please Get That For Me?

“The Lord will establish you as his holy people, as He promised you on oath, if you keep the commands of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. Then all the peoples on earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will fear you” (Deuteronomy 28:10, NIV).

God had set apart the Israelites as His chosen people. All the Israelites had to do to receive all His blessings and protection was to keep His commandments and walk in His ways. The recipe for receiving God’s blessings sounds simple enough, so what happened?

Most of Israel’s failures came as a result of bad habits from their Gentile neighbors. Solomon was the wisest man to ever live, but “his wives led him astray. As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been” (1 Kings 11:3-4, NIV).

They say imitation is the greatest form of flattery. The Israelites, with all their success and blessings, couldn’t resist the lure of sin, picking up the bad habits of their neighbors. This is why God had told Israel when it went into the Promised Land to totally destroy all their enemies, including women and children. Sin is toxic and very contagious; it spreads easily and must be contained.

Sin also comes disguised in very pretty packages. In our society, you need look no further than some staggering statistics on pornography. Pastors.com reported in a survey of 1351 pastors that 54% admitted to viewing porn in the last year and 30% within the last thirty days.

So how do we get back to being holy people, keeping God’s commandments, and walking in His ways? The apostle Paul tells us we are to “present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1, NIV). Pastor Jack Graham, commenting on that passage, said, “The problem with a living sacrifice is that it keeps trying to crawl off the altar.” This is why Paul says, “I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31, KJV).

“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Corinthians 10:13, NIV). Dying to self is not easy, and to do it daily is more of a challenge, but the blessings God promised in Deuteronomy 28 are just as real and available today as they were in Moses’ day. Next time Satan is knocking at the door, simply say, “Jesus, could you please get that for me?”

Prayer: Lord, may I not get sucked into thinking some sin is okay just because everyone else is doing it. Give me the strength to say NO when the enemy comes knocking. Help me to die to self daily, to keep Your commands and walk in Your ways. In Jesus name, amen.