Scripture

Little by little I will drive them out before you, until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.

~Exodus 23:30, NIV

Quote

Sanctification is a lifetime process; not a quick fix.

~Ya’akov

Does your besetting sins annoy and vex you? Mine certainly do me. I got in the habit of using bad language when I was a boy and by age 14 I had a mouth like a sewer, but I got convicted in a Revival service, and I asks God to take that horrible habit away and He did. From that point on, I never had a problem. But, there are other things that I have begged Him to take and yet I still struggle with them today. Is there a reason why some sins are more difficult for us to deal with than others? Why do we struggle at all? Do those in weight training struggle? What increases their strength? Is it not resistance? How can a swimmer get stronger? Swim against the current. We have a tendency to ask God to remove all resistance, but it is the resistance that enables us to become stronger. When you come up against someone who is hard to love and you by grace love them anyway, your love will grow. When you rejoice in a bad situation, your joy is going to grow. What makes the oak strong? The roots yes but don’t forget the wind.

I read the Psalms every day and David talks about his enemies a lot. I know that David is referring to flesh and blood enemies like Saul, but I don’t see my enemies as flesh and blood. My greatest enemies are pride, lust, anger, fear, impatience and self-pity. If God took vulgar language in a heartbeat, why doesn’t he take road rage the same way? Exodus 23:30 helps: God doesn’t defeat all our enemies at once. He didn’t do that for Israel. He deal with them one by one and little by little he will drive them out.

Three things to remember: [1] It is a work of grace–God drives our enemies out, not us. [2] He uses their presence to make us stronger. Yes, God uses sweet people to encourage us, but He also uses the A-holes who cannot say a kind word but find fault with everything we do. [3] He uses them to make us totally dependent on HIM. The first thing we have to realize is that we are no match for our enemies and there is no victory over any of them apart from Jesus and His marvelous grace. God uses our enemies to keep us humble. If everyone patted us on the back, we would be so arrogant that no one could stand us. Our enemies keep us aware of our sin and weakness. If I am aware of my sin, wretchedness, pride and vanity–how can I be proud! I have no doubt, God uses this resistance to keep us humble.

Extra

Starting new tradition: Granny-T spends the night with Lexi on Friday and keeps Jackson so Lexi can get some rest. I carry Granny’s breakfast on Saturday morning and hold Jack, Jack as Big Mama calls him, while Hannah eats breakfast. He is spoiled rotten. He wakes up every two hours wanting to be feed. He does great as long as you are holding him. He is living up to his name. I guess we could call him Jackson the great……………………….grandchild. Get it!