Canelo Cowboy Church

I was thinking about a song we used to sing in a church that I attended. It went like this, “He’s given me life for my soul, oh how sweet it is! Love peace and joy are the fruit it gives. Though the outer man must die this is my earnest cry, give me life, life, life for my soul!” It’s a rather silly little ditty, but it is a very catchy tune!

The first line, “He’s given me life for my soul…” Now we have been talking about that abundant life that Christ gives us. In John 10:10 Jesus says that, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full _(NKJV).” So he gives that full life here on earth, but also He gives us eternal life! Victory on earth and eternal life all wrapped up in one! What a deal! Eternal life starts as soon as we confess our sins to Christ and ask Him for forgiveness and to come into our lives and stay. It’s as simple as that. Then, “Love, peace and joy are the fruit it gives.” As we grow in our new life in Christ, we start producing fruit. I believe we talked about them last week. Our lives begin to change and we then start producing the “Big Nine,” and Love, Peace and Joy are three of the big nine (Galatians 5:22-23). So we come to Christ, He gives us an abundant life here on earth and eternal life when we die. Then we start producing fruit because we’re plugged into Him as the Vine and we are His branches (John 15).

Then the song says, “Though the outer man must die…” That sounds strange doesn’t it? But what the song is talking about is the same thing Paul meant when he wrote to the church in Ephesus. In Ephesians 4:22 Paul writes, “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;” To put off your old self! Like an old garment, take it off and lay it down. In other words, taking off the outer man and all of its flesh and corrupt stuff that we had before we knew Christ, and put on the new man, or, “to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness (Verse 23 & 24)” The attitude of our minds! How many times have we talked about taking hold of our stinkin’ thinkin’? The attitude of our minds! Remember, our attitude is the only thing that we can control. We cannot control other people. We can’t even control our spouse! Control the attitude of your mind. Make it Godly. Take control of it. See what He does!

Please let me know if you need anything.  Naomi and I love you all.  -Pastor Steve 

Read what Asaph writes in Psalms 73:21 & 22 that “When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You.” Asaph here was saying that he was acting no better than an animal in front of God! Something grieved Asaph and made him mad. He was embittered. One definition of being embittered is, “very angry about unfair things that have happened to you:” Some people would say you have a right to be mad about unfair things that have happened to you, although Jesus wasn’t. And aren’t we striving to be more like Jesus?

I find it interesting that he says, “I was a brute beast before You.” If you think about it, we are always in front of God. He sees everything we do, knows everything we do and hears everything we say. So when we lose our temper with our spouse or children. When we lust after something. When we get mad because we don’t get our way or something embitters us (i.e. treated unfairly), we are acting like brute beasts. In other words we are acting “Animalistic.” No better than a water-buffalo.

But then Asaph goes on to say in verses 23-28 this;-“Yet I am always with You; You hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward You will take me into glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And earth has nothing I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Those who are far from You will perish; You destroy all who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all Your deeds.”

What a beautiful word picture! God holding us by our right hand as we go through life and our daily struggles. Guiding us, telling us what to do by giving us His counsel. Then we die and go to glory. What a deal! He does all the work, we just have to hold on to His hand, listen to what He tells us then go to heaven. It really is that easy but I end up kicking and screaming to be let go and don’t listen to His counsel. But you know what? Because of the blood of Jesus, I still make it into Heaven! So if someone has caused you to be “embittered” and your inner water-buffalo is rising up in side you, just remember that God is watching. Eph. 4:32 says, “Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving one another. Even as god for Christ sake has forgiven you.” Please let me know if you need anything.  Naomi and I love you all.  -Pastor Steve 

This is what the Lord told the Israelites through Moses right before they went into the Promised Land: Deuteronomy 31:6-“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Now you have to remember that there was a lot of opposition for them when they finally got there. There was walled city’s, there were actual giants, and there were established nations that would protect their homeland no matter what the cost. The Israelites had all the reason in the world to be fearful! Did you catch that? They had all the reason in the world to be fearful. From a fleshly point of view it seemed impossible, but the Israelites had a secret weapon! They had the creator of the universe on their side! And He had already done so much for the Israelites parents that they understood that their Heavenly Father could do anything they needed Him to do! They simply had to trust Him. They had to, “Walk by faith, not by sight (II Corinthians 5:7)!”

Do you realize that we serve the same God today that the Children of Israel served back then? Maybe we can’t see our giants or our walled city’s, but they are still there! They come to us as health issues, relationship issues, financial issues and maybe even addictions. Paul tells the Church at Corinth, “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds (II Corinthians 10:4).” In other words our weapons are spiritual weapons. Still the same God fighting for us, but we aren’t using swords and spears, we are using our God given resistance and prayer. Read how the NLT wrote this verse out: “We use God’s mighty weapons, not worldly weapons, to knock down the strongholds of human reasoning and to destroy false arguments.” God’s mighty weapons it says! What are God’s mighty weapons? It all starts with a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus and His blood that He shed on the cross. Then those weapons become stronger the more we’re into the Word of God and strengthen ourselves knowing Him. Psalms 119:11 states, “I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You (NIV).” Simply put, if we know His word it’s much easier to overcome the enemy of our souls! The Holy Spirit is filling you and dwelling in you if you know Jesus as your personal Savior. You and Him can knock down spiritual walls. Try it.

Please let me know if you need anything.  Naomi and I love you all.  -Pastor Steve 

This was the verse that started my devotional one day this week: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws (Ezekiel 36:26-27).” Those words, “I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh,” seemed too jumped off the page to me! So often in my life it seems like I have to perform and do this or that to gain God’s blessing. It’s like I need to strive to be good enough to have my Heavenly Father’s approval. But I can NEVER be good enough! So all I need to do is put my trust in Jesus and allow Him to do all the rest. Like our Scripture says (And it’s God who is speaking.), “I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” And when He does that, according to our Scripture reading, He puts His Holy Spirit in us and He moves us to follow what He says and do what He desires us to do. It is nothing that we do. It’s all Him! All we have to do is be willing to allow Him to work. We must be willing to put down our flesh when it raises its ugly head and take captive our thoughts. God gives us a new heart, we just have to make it function!

Paul puts it this way in Ephesians 4:22-24: “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Paul is telling the church at Ephesus to change your stinkin’ thinkin’! It’s as simple as that! “Put off your old self which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires;” Have you ever been deceived? The definition of deceit is, “The action or practice of deceiving someone by concealing or misrepresenting the truth.” And Paul says here that we can deceive ourselves! Have you ever told yourself, “Oh, just one will be okay?” Have you ever done something you knew that you shouldn’t do but you did it anyway and faced the consequences down the road? Do you realize that we can conceal or misrepresent the truth even in our own thoughts? That’s why Paul says here that we need to put off our old self and be made new in the attitude of our mind! So Paul here says take control and change it! We’re the only one we can control! We can’t control anyone else. So, check your attitude at the door!

Please let me know if you need anything.  Naomi and I love you all.  -Pastor Steve