Monthly Archives: June 2021

He Delivers Us From Temptation

He, the God of heaven and earth, the God of everything, always meets us right where we are. To all believers in Christ this is foundationally the most basic understanding of our faith. It is this aspect of the Father that permeates throughout every jot of scripture. A holy God, whose perfect standard could never be achieved by any one of us, doing the necessary work for us. A loving God, who does this not out of pity for us unworthy sinners, but out of a passionate desire to have fellowship with us. So much so that He sent His only son to take our place of punishment in order that we may enter in. Enter into a relationship with Him!

If that’s not meeting us right where we are, I don’t know what is. I dare you to find a better example! You can’t, because such constant love as this is foreign to man. Only something supernatural could fulfill the requirements of a perfect, sinless being graciously choosing to die for the inferior and guilty. Only the Creator of the universe. Only Jesus Messiah! Yes, only Him!

He delivers us from death. He delivers us from sin. He delivers us from temptation. In dying on the cross He offered the way for all three of these deliverances. Death entered through sin and sin likewise offers the entrance to death. Temptation is the gateway to both. When Jesus’ blood was shed their effects were rendered dead! Being delivered from these spiritual chains is what delivers us into the arms of the Father!

There’s nothing we could do to defeat those death traps on our own. Again, this is the Lord meeting us right where we are! The path to salvation is the greatest expression of that truth. But even after we have entered into a relationship with Him, He continues to meet us where we are. One of the ways He does this is by offering us a means of escape every time any temptation to sin is on the horizon.

1 Corinthians 10:13 says this, “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.” This verse makes it clear that God is not cruel or unrealistic about His expectations of mankind. He knows we are weak and offers His helping grace at every turn.

In this, none of us are tempted more or in heavier ways than another. We have all faced the same tempting weight because our collective flesh’s temptations are universal. There is only so much of it that we can possibly endure before we give in though. Only the Lord knows the limitations of our strength and will not allow that line of endurance to be breached unless we willingly desire the breach more than Him. He always provides an escape, the choice to take it is always ours.

Maybe you doubt that the Almighty intervenes in the temptations of believers. I can assure you that He does! I’d like to share with you several means of escape that the Lord has offered me, and almost certainly offers you, to prove it. One major way of escape that is never a step away is the freedom we have to pray for strength to turn away. Another available option is to open His Word for a bit of discernment and/or encouragement to abandon temptation’s course. But, we are often so caught up in the allure of available temptation that we forget these easily accessible alternatives. When that’s the case, an interruption from a loved one usually reveals the route.

There’s no question that we’ll never be able to overcome sin’s tempting on our own. We need His ways of escape. We need Him to be our ultimate escape! Thank God that today I can leave you with this simple promise: He delivers us from temptation!

“No matter how many broken things in your life that have left you feeling unprepared and disadvantaged, God meets you right where you are with his powerful grace and works to restore you to what only grace can make you be.” – Paul Tripp

“And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen!” – II Timothy‬ ‭4:18‬

The Hard Work of Writing

The title of this post is pretty straight forward. Coming off of writing about a writer’s mind and how we are all creators of some sort under the Creator, it makes sense for me to write about how hard that can be. We are not always fully inspired to create because of the simple fact that life is tiring, and many times exhausting. Waiting for the day that life is entirely fulfilling and never draining is one of my spirit’s groanings for redemption!

Praise the Lord that this day is coming! It’s not here yet though, so I want to be honest with you about the difficulties of creating in man’s current condition. Writing happens to be the main form of creating that I have been created and called for, so it is from this context that I am sharing. And let me tell you, writing is some hard work! The amount of time and effort it takes can only be truly appreciated by one who considers themself to be an author. Amen, Logan!

A little self support can’t hurt. Lord knows I need as much help as I can get! Every step of the writing process has its challenges and, as I do my work from an eternal standpoint, requires the direction of the Holy Spirit. It is an immense undertaking to get every piece I write done because I must employ every ounce of my intellect, emotion, and understanding of Truth to get the pieces the way they need to be. It also carries a great weight of responsibility since it is not merely for my own purposes that I write. I’m working for the King!

Of course this comes as a wonderful privilege, not as a dreadful duty, but that doesn’t remove the heavy discipline essential for following through. Pushing past my inadequacies, excuses, apathy, and procrastination is the beginning of the battle. This is not the type of task where putting things on autopilot is possible! When writing nothing is done by muscle memory; every production is entirely unique. And there are often variations and fluctuations in the routine.

Consistency is not a natural aspect of the writing process. But consistency is necessary if you want to get anything done. That’s a pretty difficult paradox to navigate. Staying constant is undoubtedly the hardest part for me! Isn’t that true for all of us in every facet of life though? I would be shocked if you disagreed. I am therefore trusting God to be the consistent one! To be the source of my every inspiration.

And don’t even get me started on writer’s block! It is not only real, it is tangible! It feels like a physical barrier as much as a mental one. I am not exaggerating when I say that sometimes I have to audibly cringe/sneer/sigh/emote my way through it. This is part of where my need for the Spirit’s inspiration comes in. There are many times when prayer for a new word or revelation is the only thing that gets my brain going again. I write with eternity in mind, so the spiritual regard cannot be overstated!

Have I even mentioned how daunting the task of coming up with loads of content can be? It’s the most intimidating part! Why is that? Because I have committed myself to sharing a post a week. I would say how many weeks in a year there are, but I don’t want to freak myself out by writing down the number. And I plan to do this for as long as possible, so the number wouldn’t matter anyways. I really need to hold myself to this “post a week” commitment too. For me, neglecting to do so for a week has the potential to mean not doing it for three months.

That means, to keep the trend up, working on like 10 different posts at once and scheduling them in advance as I finish them. If I’m not making wise decisions, this gets overwhelming real quick! I’ve got to put forth a lot of effort to remain intentional about my God-given purpose. My flesh loves the easy path though, so spiritual warfare rages on even in this seemingly innocent scenario. Jesus offering me strength in my weakness is the only way to overcome this hurdle.

That leads me to the even more obvious weakness I experience with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and how that affects my writing. The process demands just about all of my limited strength and energy. And during bouts of writer’s block, when I have a eureka moment it’s impossible to get back to writing with ease. I can’t immediately access the tools to continue. I must wait until help is available and then received. That results in sitting on my ideas for much longer than I’d desire. When writing does commence it rarely seems to entirely match my original idea. I try to view this as the Holy Spirit taking the time to perfect the thought, but my frustrated reactions don’t always reflect that.

By the way, developing all this blog content isn’t the only project that I’m committed to or idea that I have in store. I have quite a bit going on! I produce weekly videos on various outlets, intend to write several more books, and plan to develop my ministry in countless other ways! I also have relationships to invest in and recreation to take part in. Getting posts written in advance and in bulk is no easy task! Where can I possibly find the time? How do I rest in between? The Savior alone provides these answers.

With all of these challenges involved, I’m not even sure how many people are reading either. It takes major patience and perseverance to keep that from discouraging me! This is a full-time job that begs a lot of me, so having no idea how far it reaches or how many it impacts can serve as a nagging distraction. A voice that hopes to lead me to abandon the course. I refuse to actively listen to and obey that voice! I need as much support as possible to avoid giving in!

Would you pray for me to continue in strength? Would you offer some inspiration? I promise to do the same for you in your work!

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.” – Ecclesiastes‬ ‭9:10‬

“And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us, And establish the work of our hands for us; Yes, establish the work of our hands.” – Psalms‬ ‭90:17‬