Life is a Struggle

Pastor Colin Smith

  

"All these I have kept since my youth!" Mark 10:20

On one occasion Jesus talked with a brilliant young man about the 10 Commandments. The man said, "I've kept them all." He really believed he had. What about you? Where do you stand in relation to the 10 Commandments? I want to suggest 3 possibilities:

Some of us feel we've kept them

The man hadn't murdered anyone. He'd been faithful to his wife. He hadn't told any big lies or raided a bank. He was a good, upright citizen, who flossed his teeth and paid his taxes. There are lots of folks who feel like this. Some of them hang out in churches.

The problem is that he didn't understand the commandments. Jesus made it clear that the commandments aren't limited to actions. They search the thoughts of your mind and the feelings of your heart (Matthew 5). If you don't know about the struggle of keeping the commands, it probably means you haven't started climbing.

Show Gratitude ... in Everything

 

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. —1 Thessalonians 5:18

The anointing is the power of the Holy Spirit that enables me to do things with ease. It could be greater insight, greater energy, greater joy, or greater blessing of any proportion; and I want a greater anointing. One of the quickest routes to a greater anointing is to show gratitude to God—in everything.

Thanking God for everything and thanking Him in everything are not exactly the same thing. Not many people thank Him for everything. We may end up doing that—when enough time rolls along that "all things work together for good" (Rom. 8:28, KJV). Then we may thank Him for things that were once evil and caused grief. But I do not counsel that we must thank Him for everything at any given moment.

The Power of Song

“On that day Deborah and Barak son of Abinoam sang this song…” — Judges 5:1

This Torah portion for this week, Beshalach, is from Exodus 13:7–17:16 and Judges 4:4–5:31.
The Haftorah for the Torah portion of Beshalach is taken from the book of Judges and tells us the memorable story about two biblical heroines — Deborah and Jael. Deborah was a prophetess and the leader of Israel. She was commanded by God to defeat the armies of Jabin and their General Sisera through her own second-in-command, Barak.

After Barak insisted that Deborah accompany him on the battlefield, the two defeated the enemy armies and only the enemy general, Sisera, escaped on foot. Sisera took refuge in the home of someone he considered an ally and friend, Jael. But instead, Jael chose to help Israel and killed Sisera in his sleep. The war was won, the enemy completely vanquished, and Deborah celebrated victory.