Something Truly Helpful

I read a blog today from one of our brothers on this list and he made a statement that I want to address. I want to say from the start that I believe that it is a trustworthy statement, and the intent is pure, and that it is absolutely unhelpful.

Here is the quote,

"No believer can claim that he was overwhelmed by temptation or that the “devil made me do it.” No one, not even Satan, can make us sin. He cannot even make an unbeliever sin. No temptation is inherently stronger than our spiritual resources. People sin because they willingly sin."

Here was my answer:

I am with you on this, but I have to say as an addict saved by grace alone, it means nothing. If you have never had attacks hammered at you day after day after day, seemingly for just waking in the morning and what that does to someone with that bent, it is hard to make them believe the Lord has provided a way out. Or that He has hasn't given us more than we can bare, There have been times I have cried out to the Lord with those very verses, reminding Him of His promise. Most days to no avail. For me it wasn't the urge to use but the vacuum of nothingness and pleading for Him. The impulse to fill that void with anything. I have walked with the Lord almost 40 yrs and in that time have had to completely rethink normal church teaching on the matter. What you are saying is true, but it is more than that. Deeper. For instance when someone finds themselves where they never would be as a good church man, with no real clue how they got there. Or when the Lord leaves you with a particular dysfunction, that most would call sin, for years despite continual pleading for it to be removed, and His assurance that His Grace is sufficient, one starts to realize there is much more to the picture than the glossy three point sermons that are so common these days. We do not need rehashing of the same old stuff in a new package. We need a fundamental shift in thought and action as to how we approach these subjects. Funny thing is if we were to follow Jesus's example of discipleship and give our time to building people most of this stuff would not even be an issue. And when I say time it isn't a class on sunday for 6 wks, or Coffee at Starbucks once a week. It is a group of men with no other motive in the world than to be there and available 24 7 mentoring younger ones teaching etc. It is hard to sin when someone is constantly around. The point of this method is to get the young believers through the growth period protected from the enemy. No it is going to take men who are willing to say a house and job and large income with money in the bank and golfing every saturday is not worth a thing when compared to the Kingdom.


Very few have been taken to the point where everything has been stripped and faith has been built to the point where they believe seeking first the Kingdom is what is important and all the needs of your life are provided. Those are the ones Papa is looking for.

I would like to expound on a couple of points.


I stated in a previous post the necessity of experience to truly own a lesson. A drug and alcohol councilor is more effective if he has been there done that. Every true believer has been or will be brought through the fires of Gods purification. The only way ones fundamental nature can be changed has to come with much ripping and taring and purging and burning. We think that it will happen when we are changed on the day we are taken home, and for some that may be the case. However I think that it happens to most of us on this "planet of probation."


It is easy to give verses to someone who is in the fires, or quick two sentence lines. However they lack the fundamental fruit that Paul says we need to do any Kingdom work Love. When I said above that it means nothing to someone, that is what I meant. Well intentioned as it may be, without Love, that can only come from similar purgings and fires, one cannot communicate the essential question, "WHY?" Brother why do you say that? What lesson have you learned that makes you think that will help me?


Similar lessons produce the necessary humility and compassion for someone caught in a trap of sin or cycle of temptation. And humility and compassion combined produce the expression of Love that is needed. A Saturday church project to go and witness to homeless people is ineffective. Ask any homeless person. Better yet ask me.Take a group of ex homeless people down witnessing and you will learn a very different way of doing things.


We give God our extra time. He is demanding all of your time and He will give you the breaks you need. That is everybody who claims to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus. Didn't He say unless you give up everything? I have seem so many church leaders twist that around to justify their lives or to keep the money rolling in. Prosperity doctrine, even if you reject the blatant display of it by the Copeland types, has crept into every church in America. Contrary to teaching, God does not want you to have and worry about your retirement account, your want for a huge house, at least $50,000 salary. God was always to be our insurance policy. The Word makes that clear folks. Very clear. I have heard it said that if I manage my money well I can do more for the Kingdom. Really? Who gets the glory in that? The Glory that God wants is when things seems impossible and He provides a way. Any other way is playing in Laodician lukewarmness.


There is much more that could be said. The bottom line is we need to be the body of Christ. Everyone of us. There are people everywhere that are begging the Lord for someone to come along side who understands there unique fires and misunderstandings. Someone who feels that one soul is more important than the game on Sunday or the remodel your doing on your house, or dare I say The Church Your Trying to Plant.....


Troy Hansen