PJ's Journal

One of the most difficult questions as a believer revolves around the area of forgiveness. When do I forgive? Is there anything that needs to be done first before forgiveness can be offered? These are all great questions, but I think sometimes we make them harder because we begin mixing concepts. When I take a look at the parable of the prodigal son, I see a significant truth... Love is not the same thing as forgiveness. Consider with me the reaction of the Father. Upon seeing his son returning home, he could not contain himself and ran to his son, embracing him tightly. The father had no clue at this point that the son was the least bit repentant. As far as the father knew, he could have been returning to manipulate him for more. Who knows, but what we do know is that the father responded in love before he knew the son was repentant. It was only after the son was repentant that the father restored the son, which is what forgiveness does! Forgiveness always leads to restora...

Most of the time we have a negative view of discipline, probably because we abuse that responsibility too often. We see instances when kids are disciplined because they are simply annoying their parents and the parents react. Some go over board and embitter or actually abuse their kids, and some don't do much more than a slap on the hand at best. However, we should never look at the Lord's discipline as a negative thing! Discipline always has the goal of restoration and that is God's ultimate desire. Why? Because He loves you as His own! "And have you forgotten the word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: My sons, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those He loves, and punishes everyone He accepts as a Son." Hebrews 12:5-6 Discipline is a good thing, so do not lose heart. Instead, humble yourself and learn from your mistakes. Think about it this way...If you were t...

Our walk with the Lord is certainly a journey with its setbacks! Sometimes you choose to let your guard down and pursue influences that cause your mind and heart to lean away from God. What do you do when that happens? Should you just give up? Hang your head in shame? If not, what do you do? Paul tells us in Philippians... "Not that I have obtained all this or already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:12-14 Paul recognized that he had not arrived at perfection! He had setbacks in his journey just like us, yet he approached his journey with truth. Recognize that your not perfect, repent of your sin, and move on! Don't wallow in your sin and sha...

What does it mean to live by the Spirit? First we recognize that the Spirit desires what is opposite of our sin nature and then we surround ourselves with influences that feed the Spirit and eliminate those that feed the sin nature. The second thing that is essential to living by the Spirit is in the area of your thoughts. Your thoughts are like a rudder of a ship...you will become as you think many times. "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..." Romans 12:2 "Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body is full of light. But when they are bad, your body is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness." Luke 11:34-35 How we think is crucial to living by the Spirit, because the Spirit always guides us into truth! "But when He, the Spirit of Truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth..." John 16:13 If we think we can hid...

So Paul makes the statement that if we "live by the Spirit we will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature." This statement is good news and it demands a look into what it means to live by the Spirit. This will probably take more than one post, as my goal is to throw out nuggets to be digested than to overwhelm the reader with too much at once. That being said, I would like to look at the rest of what Paul says in Gal 5:16-17... "So I say, live by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want." Gal. 5:16-17 It doesn't surprise us that the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, as a matter of fact, most of us would say, "ok, that's pretty obvious", but Paul's purpose seems to be painting a picture of conflict. ...

It is true that the natural leaning of our heart is toward rebellion, following the desires of our sin nature, but all is not doom and gloom for sure. If that were the end of the story, I would raise my hands up in defeat and scream "I give up!", but God provided us with a more powerful influence in our lives than our sin nature. Right after Paul describes the struggle he experiences with his sinful nature he goes on to ask a question in a tone of self-defeat... "Who will rescue me from this body of death?" It seems logical to ask that question because that is how we feel much of the time. We want to do right, but find ourselves doing the opposite and then we feel empty or even spiritually dead. Death means separation, which makes spiritual death separation from God. When you follow the desires of the sin nature and live outside the box, you put up a barrier between you and God. You don't feel close to God, as a matter of fact, you feel like God could ne...

So obedience is absolutely essential to our purpose in life...to glorify God! We must become people committed to obedience, being intentional about living within God's will. But that being said, we need to explore our tendency to rebel against God. Paul, as he was writing the book of Romans, explains this struggle in chapter 7: "I know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate to do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself doing it, but sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin living in me that does it" R...

For the last month, I have been thinking about and teaching about living within God's will. God's will provides boundaries for us to live and thrive within. Anytime you read God's Word and you see a command that applies to you, it is one of many boundaries that form God's will. Here is the kicker...I have been teaching that there is freedom when you live within the boundaries of God will. Conversely , if you live outside those boundaries you actually find bondage! At first glance you might think the opposite is true. You might say that living within a box (God's will) is bondage, but lets take a deeper look at it. What is the purpose of God's will? Is it to suffocate your life just so God can sit on His throne and watch you suffer? Some might think so, but no! Actually, the opposite is true. The designer of life (God) knows just how life is to be lived to its fullest from an eternal perspective. His will helps you to find the most joy and satisfacti...

Often times it seems difficult to answer the question, "What is the very best way to give God glory?" I believe that giving God glory is directly related to loving God the most! What do the Scriptures say... Simple, Jesus says in the Gospels, "If you love me, you will obey what I command!" What are God's commands? They are based on God's character and design for life. God desires people to live life the way He intended for it to be. These desires are known as His will! God has stated His will for us in His incredible Word! We know how we ought to live, because the designer gave us the blue prints! Giving God glory is not just making Him look good, it is loving Him by living life the way He designed it to be lived...obeying His commands or living within the confines of God's will. Its really simple, live within the boundaries that God has set up and you naturally will give Him glory. So what does this mean. It means that I don't have to b...