Stewardship Series: The Discipline of Saying No

There is no greater discipline than the discipline of saying no. If you are a parent than saying no to your child has been a long and arduous task as your child can wear you down with their constant pleading. One day your child will move out and not have anyone to say no to them. They will have to become their own parent and judge what they should and shouldn't do. Unfortunately, we live in a self-indulgent society and we are constantly bombarded with ads that wear us down with their constant pleading until we give in to their sales pitch. Just think about it. There you are on a diet and they keep featuring mouth watering burgers eaten by skinny, sexy models. Realistically, we all know you will not look like that if you eat at these burger places but the companies don't care about the truth they just want to make money even if that means that you will die from their unhealthy food. 

When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
Consider carefully what is before you;
2 And put a knife to your throat
If you are a man given to appetite.
3 Do not desire his delicacies,
For they are deceptive food. Proverbs 23:1-3

Take some time to observe the commercials run during Saturday morning cartoons. The children are bombarded by ads on the latest toys, junk cereals, fast food and fun places they can go. They are being trained from toddlers how to be consumers and saying yes to everything they watch on TV. As we grow up things don't change the items just become more expensive. Take some time to think about the commercials we watch. The message the companies are giving us are all the same. You will be sexier, have more friends, look cooler, be admired by all if you buy all the latest cars, boats, jewelry, perfumes, clothes, beer, and go to the most exotic vacations around the world. They will even offer you the money up front with interest so you can be that wonderful person now. You only need to say yes to their credit cards. 

Here is the problem. Some people have not learned the discipline of saying no. Therefore, they buy things they can't afford, eat things that make them sick, do things that they shouldn't do and waste time they could be using to be productive.  For instance we buy things we can't afford and get into debt because we don't want to wait to save money. We get credit cards because we don't want to wait to save up for things we can't afford now. This lack of discipline causes people to be poor. You may have many luxury items at home but be in so much debt that your large income goes to paying debt every month. Having these items doesn't make you rich. A lot of rich people are just as poor because they are borrowers just like everybody else. Our government is in a huge crisis because they too have become servants to their debts and lenders. They have even stolen from us to pay their debts. If they could only say no. 

The rich rules over the poor, And the borrower is servant to the lender. (Proverbs 22:7)

When it comes to eating we are all guilty of not saying no. We get hungry we eat without a single thought of long term health problems. We go to the nearest fast food restaurant and because we have no discipline to cook at home we stuff our bodies with saturated fats, empty calories, nutrient deficient food that causes to gain weight. In this country we indulge at buffets that have enough calories to support a small village in Africa. The holidays become an occasion to gorge ourselves despite our poor stomach begging us to stop. People smoke, drink, do drugs, and all other kinds of things to their bodies because they can't say no. Whether it be peer pressure, addiction, family traditions, or cultural norm we go along with the crowd not thinking about the outcome. At the end we will be the ones who sit in the hospital bed alone with tubes hanging out of us wondering where all those wonderful friends are and how we let ourselves be fooled into thinking this was a good idea. 

Wine is a mocker, Strong drink is a brawler, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise. (Proverbs 20:1)

Those ad pushers don't stop at tempting us to eat, drink, party, and borrow money so we can have more toys. They also push sex. Sex sells. That's why they use it to sell things that have nothing to do with sex like a hamburger. We are so gullible. There is a problem though, sex outside a godly relationship and covenant makes a huge mess. Just ask the guys who are now in jail for not paying child support or who have lost their license or are in so much debt that they will never pay it off until they die. Let's talk to the kids without dads and the single moms without anyone to help them. Once again people succumb to temporary pleasure instead of doing things the right way. Hey ladies how do you like being cheated out of a nice wedding? How about you guys? Do you like having to marry a girl you really don't love because she got pregnant? Do you like to have your child raised by someone else?
For the ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord,
And He ponders all his paths.
22 His own iniquities entrap the wicked man,
And he is caught in the cords of his sin.
23 He shall die for lack of instruction,
And in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray. (Proverbs 5:21-23).

What if everyone waited until they could afford things, found out more about the person they were dating and counted their calories. I bet we would be less miserable. What if we stood up to the ad pushers became parents to ourselves and said no. What if we thought about the long term effects of our eating habits, spending habits and relationships? What rewards could we reap from being disciplined to say no. Can you imagine being in good health, prosperous and happily married? If you learn to wait, not settle for less and make good decisions, you can have all that... Just say no. 

How much better to get wisdom than gold!
And to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

The highway of the upright is to depart from evil;
He who keeps his way preserves his soul. (Proverbs 16:16-17).

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Jaziz Gutierrez
http://www.loverevivalrevolution.com

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Seduction Exposed!

Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;...1 Timothy 4:1 KJV

In letter to Timothy, Apostle Paul warns of a time in the future when people were going to depart from the faith for two key reasons. First, they would depart because they gave heed to seducing spirits, and secondly because they gave heed to doctrines of devils. Our focus will be the seducing spirits or the spirit of seduction. When you look at the word seducing in the Greek it means exactly what it says. Seduction or seducing is the persuasion to disobedience or disloyalty, to be led away by false promises, to be enticed to sexual desire by arousing hope or desire by artful attraction. To bait, allure, tempt, betray, and finally trap you.

You may ask yourself so what does this have to do with me? Without even knowing it most Christians expose themselves to this spirit on a daily basis. Seduction is a spirit. On a daily basis whenever you listen to music, TV, drive down the freeway, walk down the street, and go shopping it is there.  While you watch TV you are bombarded with commercials that seduce you to eat, spend, drink, go to parties, and arouse lustful thoughts as they show sensual scenes or make provocative gestures.  Just go anywhere, and there is music playing in the background that is planting seeds of sensuality, violence and temptation. If you are driving down the freeway there are signs to come visit the nearest strip joint, go to the casinos, eat, and buy things you can't afford. Then you go to the store, and the aisles are lined up with the latest gossip, with seductive women or men on the front cover; complete with tips on how to become a more sensual person yourself. Then there is TV shows that encourage adultery, fornication, witchcraft, violence, and every other sin known to man. What we don't realize is that by watching, reading, or looking at these things we are giving heed (paying attention) to these seducing spirits.

Still don't think this is a problem let's look at the life of Samson the strongest man that ever lived.

Let's read on to Judges 16:4 Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. ⁵ And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

Here is Samson a strong man who was supposed to be consecrated or separated to God for the purpose of serving Him but lived his life unchecked from temptation. Unfortunately, he comes upon a woman who becomes his downfall. Delilah is symbolic of a spirit of seduction. Her mission is to entice, find out what your weaknesses are, so that you can be overcome, be bound and afflicted. Delilah can also be a man because it is a spirit working through a person. As I mentioned before it works even through media. If you read the rest of Judges 16 you will see that Delilah continues to ask Samson over and over again what the source of his strength is until she finally wears him down.

Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.” ¹⁶ And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, ¹⁷ that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”
(Judges 16:15-17)
As you can see from the above scripture the spirit of seduction will use loyalty or love as a reason for you to give into it. This spirit likes to wear you down until you become weary, and weak in your heart. Delilah is always after our consecration because consecration is the source of God's power in our lives. When Samson gave into seduction he lost all his strength.
When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. ¹⁹ Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. ²⁰ And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. (Judges 16:18-20)

Not only is the spirit of seduction after your consecration it is after your whole heart. It will not stop until you give in to it fully. Without knowing it many Christians have been lulled to sleep while being stroked by this spirit with promises of better times if only we will succumb to it.  The next thing you know the devil ambushes you. The biggest mistake we can make is to think we can shake off the temptation after flirting with it. This is dangerous my friend. No matter how strong you think you are; one day you will not be able to shake yourself free from the bondage the enemy lured you into. Just like Samson you will realize not only is your strength gone so is your relationship with God. God is the source of our strength. I have seen many warriors once strong in the Lord succumb to this seducing spirit, and lose their vision.  They become captives of the enemy, and some of them never return from the enemy's prison camp. I believe this warning is for everyone. We can never play with the idea that we are above temptation or too strong to be seduced. This is a life lesson from the bible.

If we are being seduced the bible gives us the key to getting free from it. We need to stop giving our attention to it. We cut off the cable TV and internet if necessary. We stop looking at the magazines, reading the romance novels, and watching the shows that arouse us to sin. We stop conversing with people who entice us to return to our former party lifestyle, and we cut off all means of communication with people who will not respect our boundaries. We stay away from people who carry a seducing presence on them.  You know who they are. They like to flaunt their body. They like to show a little too much, and like to flatter you. Flattery is hidden hostility. Desperate housewives isn't just a show it is a reality. There is also desperate office guys too. Don't be afraid to rebuke someone who is clearly disrespecting you. I once had to tell a Christian that his lustful conversations were inappropriate, and I had to cut off the communication because he was defiling me with his words. It is with words that this seducing spirit enters the lives of many men, and women. Also be careful who, and how someone touches you. I once had someone hug me at church, and a seducing spirit tried to jump on me. Years later I found out this person ran off with someone, and left their wife. You can be sure that seduction, and lust work hand in hand. Seduction works externally, and lust works inwardly but God's Word destroys both.

I was sitting at Jack and the Box on my laptop the other day when a man asked me if "I was reading nasty e-mails." I told him that, "I ignore those kind of e-mails." Conversation over. People will even use jokes to get you to entertain a seducing or lustful spirit. Don't give it a chance. Walk away. You are in charge of what you see, hear or pay attention to. You have authority to tell it to go. In the name of Jesus I command the spirit of seduction to go! It might stubbornly try to resist you but it has no authority or dominion and it must obey the name of Jesus!

Let's pray. Father, I repent for giving in and paying attention to a seducing spirit. Forgive me and release me from its power and hold over my life. Show me the areas in which I can cut it off and consecrate myself more fully to you. I don't want to be like Samson and end up a prisoner with my vision taken from me. Open my eyes to be more sensitive to this and give me the strength to shut it down immediately. Let your kingdom come into my life and deliver me from temptation. In Jesus name. Amen.

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Jaziz Gutierrez

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