Enemies from Without and Within…What can I do?

At one time D. L. Moody was one of the most influential believers in the USA.  He stood firmly what Scripture taught. Obviously, this brought many enemies into his life from outside the Church.  Yet, he also had enemies inside the Church due to ego, jealousy and fleshly thinking. How did he deal with that? It was how he thought that gave him the path to victory. When speaking about troubles in his life this was his mindset: “I have had more trouble with D. L. Moody than with any other man who has crossed my path. If I can only keep him right, I don't have any trouble with other people.” Once when he was asked to be the “evangelist” for a city-wide event, some of the leaders in various Churches desired it to be them. One put it this way: “Why Moody? Does he have a monopoly of the Holy Spirit?” One wise man answered: “No, he does not have a monopoly of the Holy Spirit; but the Holy Spirit has a monopoly of him!”

The outside actions of Moody were the result of what…or better, Who was in control of his thoughts. Moody had two choices, being controlled by himself, sin nature and the Adversary, or by himself, the new creation and the Holy Spirit. We must always remember that the accountability God has given all humans is the free control of what we choose to do. It is not honest to blame Satan for our actions, nor is it stealing glory from God to state that we chose to do what was right. Paul did: 

2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith

Satan is actively behind the direction of our fallen nature, and the Holy Spirit is what empowers our new nature: 

1 Peter 5:8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 

2 Timothy 1:14 Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you. 

It is our responsibility “Who” we yield too. How we think sets the tone of how we act! 

King Hezekiah teaches us many things about that principle, he accomplished two major items:

A. Restored honor to God

        B. Restored independence of Judah

How? He kept several key thoughts before his mind, which produced his actions. Consider:

THOUGHT: Do it right!

Hezekiah did not do a "quickie" for God! He understood that to BE right with God, Israel had to "purge" themselves of ALL their idolatry. 

2 Chron 29:3-5 In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the LORD and repaired them. He brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them into the square on the east. Then he said to them, “Listen to me, O Levites. Consecrate yourselves now, and consecrate the house of the LORD, the God of your fathers, and carry the uncleanness out from the holy place.

THOUGHT: Know why you are doing something!

"Business as usual" creates a negative reaction. Just going through the motions, doing "something" just because someone told us to, yet we do not understand why leads only to a partial commitment. That never accomplishes any true goal! This is why "second generation" Christians fall away so easily, they possess only their parents' faith, they never made it their own faith. Ownership is essential if we want to finish what we committed to. 

Hezekiah knew what God had said to Moses and Israel, so he shared this Truth with the people. 

Deuteronomy 12:2–4  “You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations whom you shall dispossess serve their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. “You shall tear down their altars and smash their sacred pillars and burn their Asherim with fire, and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods and obliterate their name from that place. “You shall not act like this toward the LORD your God. 

2 Chron 29:6-11 “For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done evil in the sight of the LORD our God, and have forsaken Him and turned their faces away from the dwelling place of the LORD, and have turned their backs. “They have also shut the doors of the porch and put out the lamps, and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. “Therefore the wrath of the LORD was against Judah and Jerusalem, and He has made them an object of terror, of horror, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes. “For behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. “Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the LORD God of Israel, that His burning anger may turn away from us. “My sons, do not be negligent now, for the LORD has chosen you to stand before Him, to minister to Him, and to be His ministers and burn incense.”

We will look at several other "mindsets" next time.

The So What: Is what you believe what YOU believe or is it what someone else to you to believe? Do you know why you live the way you live? Do you set up a time of evaluation of your life, or is your pace too fast, so you are just "doing" out of habit?