If you’re enjoying this series on moving from Milk to Meat you may like to check out the Podcasts episode 1 and episode 2. You may like to also check out the posts on Repenting from Evil Deeds, Placing our Faith in God, Baptisms, theLaying on Of Hands, the Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal Judgement.

1. Put away childish things. I Corinthians 13:11, NIV. “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me.”

2. Put the Word into practice. James 1:22-24, MSG. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you are a listener when you are anything but, letting the Word go in one ear and out the other. Act on what you hear! Those who hear and don’t act are like those who glance in the mirror, walk away, and two minutes later have no idea who they are, what they look like.

3. Don’t copy the world. Romans 12:2, TLB. “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how His ways will really satisfy you.”

4. Think for yourself. Exodus 23:2-3, TLB. “Don’t join mobs intent on evil. When on the witness stand, don’t be swayed in your testimony by the mood of the majority present, and do not slant your testimony in favor of a man just because he is poor.”

5. Avoid men’s philosophies. Colossians 2:8, TLB. “Don’t let others spoil your faith and joy with their philosophies, their wrong and shallow answers built on men’s thoughts and ideas, instead of on what Christ has said.

6. Refuse to compromise. II Corinthians 6:8, TLB. “We stand true to the Lord whether others honor us or despise us, whether they criticize us or commend us. We are honest, but they call us liars.

7. Find a spiritual father or mother. Proverbs 13:20, NIV. “He who walks with the wise grows wise, but a companion of fools suffers harm.”

8. Seek to know Jesus more. Galatians 6:14, TLB. “As for me, God forbid that I should boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in all the attractive things of the world was killed long ago, and the world’s interest in me is also long dead.”

9. Prepare your heart for the Word. Matthew 13:23, MSG The seed cast on good earth is the person who hears and takes in the News, and then produces a harvest beyond his wildest dreams.

God wants you to mature. He wants you to grow more-and-more into the image of His Son, who was an exact representation of the Father. The world needs to see Jesus in you.

Do you have any other tips for developing maturity? Love to have your comments.

photo credit: antwerpenR

If you’re enjoying this series on moving from Milk to Meat you may like to check out the Podcasts episode 1 and episode 2. You may like to also check out the posts on Repenting from Evil Deeds, Placing our Faith in God, Baptisms, theLaying on Of Hands, the Resurrection of the Dead and Eternal Judgement.

It’s the condition of our heart that’s important every time we hear a message.

We can all see this happening. Our attitude determines what we get in any service. If we decide we know it all, we’re not going to learn anything new.  If we don’t expect God to speak, we’re not going to hear Him when He does.

I often have people hear a sermon that wasn’t preached. They’ll come up to me after and tell me how amazing it was and the detail they go into is incredible and none of it came from me. God was speaking to them in spite of me because they were ready to hear.

My wife can see it in me. I hear a message and get all excited and tell her about it and she says, “Why weren’t you excited about it when I told you three years ago about it?” The answer is “My heart wasn’t ready to receive it then.”

What’s the condition of your heart? Not just now, but every time you read the Word? Every time you listen to a podcast, or webcast or CD? Watch yourself. If you think you know it all, you’re not going to learn anything new. But if you’re wanting to hear from God, wanting to learn, your going to get meat anywhere.

Intelligent people are always ready to learn.
Their ears are open for knowledge. Proverbs 18:15 (New Living Translation)

God wants you to mature. He wants you to grow more-and-more into the image of His Son, who was an exact representation of the Father. The world needs to see Jesus in you.

What do you do to make sure you’re ready to listen to God each day? He’s speaking all the time.

photo credit: Peter Hellberg

What Does Repenting from Evil Deeds Mean?

Please don’t be offended that I say one possibility for habitual sin is demonic attacks. And don’t think I’m giving you permission to say, “the devil made me do it” to absolve yourself from any responsibility.

If you have named Jesus your Lord, He has given you a new name and His authority. You don’t have to put up with supernatural cravings to sin. Here’s what you need to know.

Unforgiveness, hate, abuse, sin, unclean sex, illness, trauma, and fear are some of the doors that open for demonic attack.

Now without getting into theology or stories I want to give you enough information today to show you that you don’t have to be afraid or ashamed.

You may even be able to deal with the enemy that’s against you by yourself. If you can’t there are people who can help you.

Here are the steps you can use. You can also use “Steps To Freedom in Christ” by Neil T Anderson as a tool to help you focus on specific doors that need to be closed.

1. Forgive everyone you’re offended at.

Let the Spirit show you who that may be. The more specific you can be the better. Follow up forgiving with releasing the person to God and Blessing them in Jesus’ name. If you can’t choose to forgive, you need someone’s help to help cast off the spirit of unforgiveness.

2. Repent of your specific sin in the situation.

Reactions to hurt done to us are understandable and may seem excusable. But they are not from God and open the door for oppression by the enemy. You need to repent of the sins you’ve done in response to the offense you’ve suffered.

For example:

Father, I repent of the resentment, anger and bitterness I have felt towards _________ and I repent of having taken in feelings of rejection, loneliness, and despair over that situation. Help me to turn away from all these feelings and I ask for your forgiveness for them.

3. Renounce all the spirits involved

This is not a prayer to God, it is spoken to the spirit involved who is an enemy out to kill, steal and destroy. It needs to be out loud. For example:

“In the name of Jesus I renounce you spirit of rejection, loneliness, despair and hopelessness.”

4. Close the doors

Close the door to the spirits involved so that when they’re cast out the cannot return.

“In the name of Jesus and by His shed blood, I break the power of the spirits of ___________. They do not have any rights any longer. I will not accept their return.”

5. Cast out the demons

Simply cast them out. If you can’t because it sticks in your throat, or you feel sweat or a strain or you feel nauseated or get a headache, all the doors have not been closed. You can go back and ask the Spirit to show you who you need to forgive, or find someone with experience to walk you through the final steps.

6. Thank Jesus for His deliverance

If you’re free, this will be natural. If you can’t, it just means you need more help.

7. Invite the Holy Spirit to fill all the places now vacant.

If you really don’t feel you can do this – for any reason – ask someone with experience to help.

As a follower of Christ, you are a new creature.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:17 (New International Version)

You don’t need to put up with the lies or attacks of the enemy. Put on the armour of God. Resist the devil and he will flee. I know this is a brief blog post, so please ask any questions and I’ll try to clarify.

We need to confess our sins to God. That is, we need to agree with Him that it was sin. It wasn’t a “mistake” or “stupidity” or “oops” or…it was sin. It separated us from Him and alienated us from others. It’s not in our nature to sin any longer. We are no longer under the control of sin.

We also need to confess to each other. There is healing in confession. We are told to

Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. James 5:16 (New Living Translation)

It’s not good enough to simply keep our sin to ourselves, after all even private sin hurts our relationship with God and therefore hurts our relationship with each other.

We also need to understand repentance.

There are two words for “repent” in the Bible. The first is Greek – metanoeo. It means to change your mind or your thinking. The second is Hebrew – shuv. It means to turn around and go in the opposite direction. To repent means to do both. Change your thinking and turn around and go in the opposite direction.

David was a man after God’s own heart, so when he sinned, he knew how to come before God and be made right. He wrote in Psalm 52:

Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.?Oh, give me back my joy again;
you have broken me—? now let me rejoice.?Don’t keep looking at my sins.
Remove the stain of my guilt.?Create in me a clean heart, O God.
Renew a loyal spirit within me.?Do not banish me from your presence,
and don’t take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and make me willing to obey you. Psalm 51:7-12 (New Living Translation)

I’ve connected with Serena Woods on Twitter and have her book that I’ll be reading over the holidays. I check out her blog  Grace is for Sinners often- the title intrigued me so much I had to find out what her message was. It’s a good one. What she says in this video is what I’m trying to get across in this post. What she says about what to do if you’re in an affair applies well to every type of sin that entangles us:

When a follower of Christ has sinned, and has repented of that sin, trust still needs to be restored. This is how the process of restoring trust begins:

1. Allow them to feel godly sorrow. Ask questions like, “Who has been affected by your sin?” Help them see the broader picture.
2. Lead them through to solutions with questions like “What are you going to do to make it right with those who are affected by your sin?” “How are you going to do this?” and “When are you going to do this?”
3. Stand with them. Don’t set them up to fail. They came to you because they trusted you with their sin. Don’t hold them up to public ridicule. Don’t make them an illustration in your next sermon. If a public confession is needed, make sure the public knows this isn’t a topic of gossip as well as their role in the ministry of reconciliation.

Use what satan intended for evil for the glory and honor of the Father. Honor those who have sinned because the Father has lifted you up to His level while you were still in sin.

Trust is something that must be earned. When it’s lost it must be re-earned. This assumes – as a person they’ve trusted their failing with – you’ll give them opportunity to rebuild trust…which means they’ll have the opportunity to fail again as well.

Don’t set them up to fail. Don’t give them enough rope to hang themselves. Stand with them in their decisions to make things right with as many people as they’ve affected with their sin.

When you’re part of a community, this will ensure honor is part of your DNA.

It’s never easy to journey with someone through a difficult time, but when they want to restore trust, honoring them as who they are brings great rewards.

I’d love to hear about a time when someone stood by you.

If you’ve asked for forgiveness from God, you may still need help knowing you’re forgiven. People have this problem when they want to “feel” like they’ve been forgiven. Truth supersedes feelings. Feelings will follow, but they don’t point to the truth when they contradict what the Bible says. So know what the Bible says about forgiveness.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. ?(1 John 1:8-9 NIV)

Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. (Psalms 51:7 NIV)

…who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, (Psalms 103:3-4 NIV)

“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. (Isaiah 1:18 NIV)

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (Acts 2:38 NIV)

Are any among you suffering? They should keep on praying about it. And those who have reason to be thankful should continually sing praises to the Lord. Are any among you sick? They should call for the elders of the church and have them pray over them, anointing them with oil in the name of the Lord. And their prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make them well. And anyone who has committed sins will be forgiven. Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and wonderful results. (James 5:13-16 NLT)

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense— Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. ?(1 John 2:1-2 NIV)

People who cover over their sins will not prosper. But if they confess and forsake them, they will receive mercy. (Proverbs 28:13 NLT)

You are forgiven from sin that you confess. Work these verses into your thinking if you need to, and pass the truth along to others you can encourage.

Please let me know if there are other scriptures you use that I’ve left out. Let’s build a great resource for people’s assurance.